One thing that I have learned in planning these trips is not to be too aggressive in traveling near the end of the trip. After so many days of moving from place to place, my body and mind all get too tired to be effective and I get snappish, and even a bit discouraged. Homesickness is always there, but it is magnified by fatigue. On this trip I have scheduled easy days here towards the end. After visiting Ndhiwa, Grace House, and Manning, we took a whole day to get back to the VTC. Friday was a meeting day.
At least once a year on an oversight trip like this one, I bring all the directors together for a big meeting. We always have many topics to discuss, and invariably the conversations all go back to one thing, money. Even though we all know and trust that God will keep providing all that we need, the requests for funding various improvements and projects are constant. I keep a running list of projects and am always praying for wisdom to know which ones are the most important. The directors have learned to be patient as we wait for God’s timing.
I have also learned that a significant portion of these meetings needs to be just instructional. As I was inspecting locations on this trip, I noticed that many of the deficiencies I was seeing seemed to revolve around the kitchens. Issues of stoves, smoke, firewood, and portion control were pretty consistent. As a result, I spend a couple of hours in this meeting just trying to teach on the nature of fire, smoke, air movement, toxic gasses, etc. I tried to stay with an instructional tone, hoping that a deeper understanding of the fundamentals would help them figure out how to make improvements on their own. Only time will tell.
These meetings are always inspirational for me, because the questions and discussions really reveal the depth of their love for the orphans and widows. They help keep me on track with my priorities and do their best to lift me up. Our time spent in prayer is especially precious to me. To a person, these are all very high quality Christians that I would trust with my life. It’s a real blessing to be able to work with them. Most aid organizations look long and hard for good people that they can trust in foreign lands, and God has handed me a select team on a platter! He is so much better that I deserve.
Today we have just driven down to Kisii and are resting here for the day. Thomas, Alfayo, and Bernard have now joined us and we will be together until we all leave for America Tuesday night. I can sense the excitement in these three. Visiting America will be one of the highlights of their lives; a true adventure. I can’t wait to show them my home, after spending so much time in theirs. Understanding the context of the people you work with is so important, now they will get to learn about ours.
Tomorrow we have a long day of traveling to our final feeding station, Chebaraa, for church. We could probably make it to Nairobi by tomorrow night, but that would mean transiting the city at night. In case of a breakdown or bad weather it could put people at risk, so we will just stay at Narok and arrive in Nairobi Monday by noon or so. There is a hotel there that we visited on our way out that needs to be tested anyway.
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