Kikitemo and Nairobi

Kikitemo and Nairobi

After our emotional and exhausting visit among the Pokot and the drive to Nakuru, we left from the Kunste to visit our friends at Kikitemo.  This former IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp is now one of our newest feeding stations.  The turn around here has been miraculous, worthy of an entire book one of these days.  We were very pressed on time so we saw the place, met briefly with the people and left medicines and gifts and got back on the road to Nariobi.

We landed at the Nairobi Java House in Gigiri, where we always have our lunch on the last day of medical trips.  Everyone really enjoyed themselves and Larry Conway, a Kenyan resident missionary from Odessa, dropped by to meet us.  Larry grew up with Vicky Durham at Eisenhower in Odessa, so it was a sweet reunion for them.

Then it was time for shopping at the downtown market.  It was really fun for me to watch the Americans interact with the semi-aggressive hawkers as they searched for the perfect souvenirs.  Danielle was really concerned, she doesn’t like bargaining, but by the end she was a pro, holding her ground on price and getting what she wanted.  Susie was pretty tame, but she knows we still have a couple of days in Nairobi to fill her checked bag with.

After that, we went to the Capital center, where last minute repacking for the departing people, (Brad, Ruth, and Bob Sears and Dr. Cochran) was accomplished in the parking lot.  We hung out there for a while at their Java House until it was time to take our leavers to the airport.  The rest of us went back to Kamulu for one more night before we split up.  One of the Made in the Streets guys drove the Safari people to Wilson airport Sunday morning and the Mbuvi’s and I went back to Kikitemo for church.

On my last trip here, I promised them I would preach at their church, so we came to fulfill that promise.  They made the most of the mzungu visit.  Grace invited four neighboring churches to worship with us and have a day of baptism.  They dug a temporary baptistery on the top of the hill, lined it with poly and filled it for the occasion.  When we arrived, John asked me if I would baptize the people they had been studying with and I agreed.  There were 22 of them.  I have baptized two others in my life, a good friend and my daughter, so this was quite an experience for me.  I know that they were not being baptized because of me, but they were waiting to be baptized by me, and that is a high honor.

After the baptisms we had church.  John Kariuki brought all of the kids from the Training Center for church, (two of them I baptized) and with the neighboring churches we had a full house.  Church went on for 4 hours, with my short (35mins) preaching at the end.  There was a meal for everyone and it was a joyous time.

A rainsquall came through, giving us a timely reason to be on the road, so we headed back into Nairobi.  We had invited the Mbuvis to be our guests at the Safari Park Hotel for two nights, so we could rest and enjoy some time with our good friends.  Last night we saw the newly revamped dinner show featuring all kinds of African dancing.  It was really a hoot.  This morning we slept in, and after having breakfast we are about to head out for a day on the town.  I’ll blog more in a couple of days.  Pictures on Facebook a little later.  Thanks for caring.