Last Day

The orphanage worker meeting was good. There were various issues that we had to discuss, but no major problems. We talked about ways to ensure that older kids, as they reached the end of their time in the orphanage, were counseled regarding their options for training and education after high school. This is an issue that the GCR Orphans Board has been concerned with for some time. We want to know what the options are for each area; what jobs are available, what training is important and available. Each of these men has a heart for their kids. They are increasingly seeing them as their own. They are fighting for them. It’s beautiful to watch.
After the meeting, I met with our office staff. We trained on the mystic art of mail merge in Microsoft Office. It seems like kind of weird thing to do, but it is part of a new plan we have to increase the response rate to the introductory lessons that we send out to new students. By mailing them from Nairobi, we hope to cut the time between enrollment and receiving the first lesson. Hopefully more enrollees will continue with the lessons and have their hearts and minds changed by the gospel. Typical of many of the things I do, not traditional ministry, but technical support for ministry. It felt good to do it in Africa.
Soon it was time to leave for the airport and home. Mbuvi took us on one more adventure on the way, driving on a road under construction. In America, when a road is being built, you can’t drive on it. The construction companies go to great lengths to make sure you don’t. But in Kenya, its common. We actually drove around dump trucks and other construction machines. This new road will connect the Nakuru Highway west of the capital with the Mombassa Highway, bypassing the city center. It will cut hours off the transit time for trucks moving from the port to the interior. It will also take a lot of trucks off the streets in Nairobi. That’s a good thing I can assure you. It will also cut our time to get to and from the airport in half. It saved us 30 minutes this time, even though the road was not complete and we detoured several times.
We arrived at the airport expecting our usual four hour wait after clearing security. At the check-in area, however, we were informed that our flight had been “rescheduled” until 11:45am the next day. They were going to put us up in a hotel overnight. We were not interested in that, so we appealed to the supervisor. He was a very large, very intelligent Kenyan who was sympathetic to our plight. “We have children at home!”, “We have connections that can’t be missed!” etc. He was able to book us on the KLM flight to Amsterdam, and then another KLM flight from Amsterdam to London in order to make our originally scheduled Continental flight to Houston.
We were worried about the connections; they were all very tight. In London, a Continental gate agent actually pulled us out of the security line and rushed us through, in order to make the flight to Houston. I am writing this post from that flight, so you know that our Kenyan friend was successful. I only hope we make the flight to Midland; it would stink to get so close and be left behind. So now if you ask me if we went through Amsterdam or London on the way home, I will just say, “yes.”
So now that the trip is over, I am experiencing my usual post-Africa funk. Every time I am there it feels a little bit more like home. Now that Susie has been, and seen me at work there, I know that our lives will never be the same. I was changed by Kenya after my very first trip. The faces of the kids that we are helping to save are intoxicating. Now that Susie has experienced it first hand, she understands what drives me to return, and to do whatever I can to save more and more of them. My role is a small one, but it’s easily the most important thing I have ever been a part of.
But the most amazing thing of all is to experience the swirling whirlwind of the Holy Spirit moving in his people. It’s like standing in the eye of a hurricane. The church is alive! The hundreds of people who turned out to meet us, the church members who have been helping the starving by themselves because of their love of Christ, the silent labor of the chosen leaders in Kenya, this is the power of His holy church. This is how we will reclaim the world for God. As Charlton would say, ‘This is Christ redeeming the word through the power of the resurrection.’ Great stuff!