Mission: Samburu - Part 2

The second half of our time in Samburu was supposed to be split between two locatoins: Liangilani (not sure on the spelling for that one) and Nkisseu. The former trip never took place for bad reasons. A church in Wamba wanted to go on a mission out there, so we were going to take them and work with them. In Kenya, there are a lot of well-meaning people who will never find the means to do what they aspire to, so it wasn't a huge surprise when we found out that no one had raised any money for the trip, thus postponing it till August. This left us with extra time on our hands, and there was no desire amongst any of us to spend more time doing nothing in Wamba...so we lengthened our stay in Nkisseu- nine nights. If Samburu is Eric's main target here in Kenya, then I would say Nkisseu is his primary place to be doing ministry. The people there love him and all know him, and enjoy having him there. I was there last year for a week, and the time was good. We had church under a tree, and spent a lot of time with the kids in that area each morning. Since then, Eric and two other guys have put up a small structure and a roof over it- the first permanent building in that place. It's the makings of a church, and the people love it. Eric is challenging them to meet him halfway and help with the completion of the building by building walls, because Eric really wants it to be their thing too, or else they may neglect it. It's hard, because you want to help, but sometimes too much help just encourages laziness and won't really help the need.
The first day we were there was easily the hardest. We each carried two, ten foot long, 2x4's from our camp at the dry river up to the church. It's a forty minute walk up the lazy slope to the church, and that's without carrying heavy boards. My comment on our walk up there was "I hope this is the closest I ever come to carrying my own cross." With these boards, we built crude benches without backs for the building, which is miles past sitting on the church's dirt floor.
When I think of what Eric has done there, it blows me away. He has brought so much to that place, and the building is just the surface! If we could look into the hearts that have been changed by his efforts there, we would see a silver city. They made a cool hat for him that reads "Welkam Mista Arek", one women asked him to name her child, a child was named after him, and on Sunday, the day we left, a women stood and asked that we pray for her. She said that she wanted to become a better believer, and those few simple words touched my heart in a very special way. Sometimes when we're out here we wonder, "Are these people getting it? Is this working?" And at a time like that, you know something was done right. In a place where people can't read the bible for themselves, have no permanent pastor or guidance, and who have only heard about God for the first time about a year ago, it's amazing to think that someone could be so willing.
We saw the cancellation of the other trip as a disappointment until we realized how great our time at Nkisseu was, and we now know it was God's plan all along. That area has been so touched by God, and we have all left powerful marks there. In fact, the last day we were there a women was telling me that she wanted me to stick around and live there. Some of the other women promised us that the next two kids born would be named Tony, and Bryan respectively. I couldn't believe it, and I look froward to the day I might be able to visit little Tony and little Bryan.
When we drove back to Wamba at the end of our trip--ready everyone?-- the truck broke down. We were able to get to town, and there we assessed the situation: the transmission isn't shifting into second, or third (we were even more thankful that we didn't end up going to Liangilani after that happened, because it was a ten hour drive, and we would have broke down out there almost certainly). We were planning on leaving for Nakuru early the next morning, and now we didn't have a vehicle. We could have driven to Nakuru in first, but it would have taken three days. Bummer. There isn't really a good mechanic in Wamba, so repair wasn't an option. Instead, we decided just to get back to Nakuru by matatu (mini-bus) and then Eric would have to find a guy later that he could hire to go out there and fix it. So we took a grueling nine hour matatu ride to Nakuru. We have become very seasoned travelers, and are familiar with the local modes of transportation. It's good to be back...sometimes out there I couldn't wait to be back here, or back in America. But the night before we left Wamba, I thought something that came as a surprise. "You know, now that we're about to leave, I don't think I'd mind if we had to spend a few more days out here..."
And that's Samburu in a nutshell.

Now...off to Sudan.