ENDING A CHAPTER

‘There is nothing like a good book’ ….however….. experiencing the ‘real thing’ is definitely richer.

When Ron and I married some 35 + years ago, we did not fully recognize our mutual love for adventure…. As that spirit grew over the years, it fortunately grew in both of us …..so here we are living some amazing adventures.

Beyond the sights and sounds of a new place there is a pulse …. a heartbeat. Becoming truly involved in the lives of locals in Kenya has brought us to the emotional heartbeat of this place. It has been an amazing blessing.

But back to good books – we read an ‘out of print’ book while we were here called My Kenya Days. We enjoyed it not for its literary brilliance but for its ability to engage us in Turkana back in the 1960s. It gave us a way to connect many things to the realities we experienced there in 2008/2009!

Still speaking of books, we purchased a Safari Guide to East African Wildlife after being on Masai Mara and were thus introduced to an amazing photographer - Jonathan Scott. The book we bought is not his best photographically speaking, but if any of you who like photography can find one of his books in the library – be sure to check it out! He has a web site which is worth finding and his wife, Angela, is also an excellent photographer.

Back to ending a chapter - a good chapter … it makes you want to go the next…. but that one of course is not yet written in the physical realm….. although God knows it well. We do not know if we will return to Kenya again but we are surely willing!

So, how to describe the chapter which has just closed? It was surely full of surprises, challenges, new sites, rough roads, hard paces, and some pretty uncomfortable beds. There were those poisonous spiders in our hotel room, a few unidentifiable meals and other inconveniences. But these are not the things we will remember. That which is clear in our minds eye is all amazing:

· Travelling to what initially felt like the end of the earth and finding there neediness ….but also perseverance, commitment, adaptability, determination, faith, and sharing.
· Wonders of creation including the most beautiful sunrises imaginable
· Opportunities to serve, connect with, mentor and work alongside some of Kenya’s finest individuals.
· The challenge to the heart and mind when there are far more needs than possibilities and to move forward without becoming discouraged
· Adapting to travelling with armed security escorts when our basic leaning is to not get close up and personal with guns of any kind!
· The privilege of sitting under an acacia tree with the Turkana women listening to them chatting and sharing womanly things without using words.
· Dancing with the locals and hearing their laughter (at us!)
· Listening to the people sing in their own language a song which declares –‘we don’t now the future but we know that God will guide us’.
· The inward ‘embarrassment’ of watching tiny women who eat only one small meal a day pick up a 50 kg sack and walk off with it on their heads when I cannot even lift it off the ground without help.
· Witnessing the Turkana people who sit and wait patiently for food for many hours in the blazing sun and blowing sand.
· Being humbled to be given Turkana names – Akal (Lauris) – meaning Place of Rest and Ewoi (Ron) (aye whoi) meaning Acacia Tree. This is an act of love and acceptance and we were indeed honored.
· The generosity of people who have little….. sharing their possessions in blessing to others, including ourselves.
· The blessing of being loved and respected while simultaneously agonizing over farewells to colleagues who will be forever in our hearts.

In the midst of one chapter now closed…. there is also anticipation of the next and the next and the next. God is good – He holds the future – He makes us willing. His grace is sufficient. He supplies our needs. Praise be to God and thank You for a great chapter!!