Mission: Samburu - Part 1

Here is a more detailed report on how our trip to Samburu went.

Like I stated before, a very clear thought went through my head when we first reached Eric's small house in Wamba. "My standard of living just dropped through the floor," I thought as I surveyed my new surroundings. I pulled the cobwebs I had walked into off my face and gazed at the numerous insects that covered the white cement walls. Most of them were dead, which only made them a less comforting sight. When I was there last summer, we stayed in tents at the Life Ministry office so it felt like camping. We all knew it was only for a few days so you just live with it. This time however, I felt different. This wasn't camping, it was living. It was life in a small hot, tin roofed house, with a noisy, thin-mattresses bed to sleep in, and stiff, handmade furniture to sit in. Crying kids wake you up early in the morning if the roosters don't, cows wander into the compound and poop where you walk, and you never know when the tap for water located in the middle of the compound (which is supposed to run once a week) will begin to run. We rarely were able to shower without several witnesses to the activity- the cockroaches on the walls always kept us company. The bathroom was worse, and wasn't able to be used during the day because it was so filled with flies. We sprayed some raid into there once, and the sound of all the flies coming up from the whole in the floor was almost deafening. Luckily for us, we didn't have to use the bathroom too much. While out in the bush, a strange thing happens to us: we don't have to poop very often. That may sound weird, but it's true. It's not constipation, it's just simply not going. My record is seven and a half days. We call it bush mode, and it's not something we complained about.
That first night I laid in bed and thought through my new situation; life was going to be different there.
The days in Wamba were usually boring and we were left with nothing to do. In fact, one guide book to East Africa that Eric had said something like this about Wamba, "There really isn't any reason to go there." Of course, that person wasn't a Christian missionary. We would read, play a game with some dice, or just sit around and talk to pass the time. Bryan used a hammer and chisel to make a mancala board for us, and that got some use. We spent about fourteen nights total in Wamba in between the missions we took, and the rest of the time was divided between three different locations.
First we traveled to Ngali (pronounced Engali) for a three night stay. Engali is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and hills. It was pretty green this time around, and the river at the base of the hill we camped upon was flowing. Each night I would walk down to the river and bath in it's warm, clear waters by the moonlight. By night, the air would get very cold and it was usually windy, but the water would retain some of it's warmth from the day and felt warm to the touch at night. That area has had missions work done there before, but all that's left from those old efforts is a house built by missionaries about twenty years ago, and a small church that had been abandoned for the last fifteen years. A local pastor, Steven, now occupies the house and is working to reach out, minister to, and disciple the people there. We did visitation during the day- that is, we would walk to the scattered, small housing compounds called manyattas. One manyatta consists of five to ten, four foot tall, mud huts. We would present the gospel at each of these, usually being able to visit up to 6 in a day, if we split our group up. Lot's of walking involved.
Our time there went well. The people are open to the gospel and Pastor Steven has made some headway since we had last been there. He's a good guy, and his dedication to that place is surprising. It can be hard to find dependable, hardworking people in Kenya sometimes, especially in ministry, but Steven is a good guy. His house "broke" (that's how he put it; it made me laugh) when a storm came through once- he lost his roof. But he told us the story with a smile on his face, and he isn't leaving.
The next place we hit up was called Swari. My running joke was, "What is that, like a fancy Christmas party or something?" Swari has a small Catholic church there, but like Ngali, it was abandoned. Eric says maybe some guys go out there to hold services on Easter and maybe Christmas. We went there with a pastor from Wamba by the name of Michael who had been there before and has a vision for a church there. We spent our time doing visitation and had a Sunday morning service open air style. While were there, the pastor met with the elders of that area to ask for land so he could have a place to build the church. It looks like things with be working out for him.

More tomorrow...