Sunday in the Country

Yesterday we spent Sunday in the country at the shamba of one of Marv’s Kenyan colleagues, Elijah Terer.  It is about 40 minutes from Tenwek and he was kind enough to come and pick us up. The last 2 miles to his house are unbelievably rocky and rough.   How his tires hold up on this road day after day is unknown to us!  Kenyan tires are amazing!  He built his tiny house about a year ago and is very proud of it, his three cows, two goats, chickens, and his fields of cabbage and tomatoes.  When we asked him why he built so far from the hospital, he replied that this is his village and his people.  That seemed like a good reason to us as we noted how peaceful and quiet our surroundings were. 

Elijah’s wife and his five year old daughter joined us for church which was a short distance from their home.  Last year when I was here we worshipped in a tiny frame building and saw the new church rising next to it. This year the roof is on the new church and worship takes place in it.  The floors are still dirt and the windows are not in yet but it works just fine.  We enjoyed the lively music song in Kipsigis.  The new young pastor was remarkably good and preached on James 3: 1-12 and the tongue.  He was organized and fairly brief! (One hour)  He also alternated from English to Kipsigis for our benefit which was wonderful and I imagine very difficult to do.  Marv and I were both asked to speak which is common for visitors to do. 

The parents of one of the Nursery moms at Tenwek attend this church. It was fun to show them pictures of their new granddaughter and to reassure them that their daughter was doing well.  After that greeting we went to Elijah and Emily’s for some good Kenyan rice, stew and mashed peas, with pineapple and mango for dessert.  Of course it was accompanied by Fanta and Coke as we dare not drink the water.   Since Elijah had a Bible study to lead in the afternoon we did not stay too long and once again ventured onto the rough road.  Sadly we saw people with buckets looking for water.  This area has not had the rain that we had at Tenwek last week.  It is a very urgent problem for them.  We arrived safely back home just in time for a short but restful Sunday afternoon nap!

Mom