Kijabe and Back and Then to Mali

After venturing to Kijabe, Kenya, East Africa with my husband in 2006, I embarked on an even greater adventure in 2007. I took two mission trips to a remote village in Mali, West Africa in both July and September with some women from church. Here's a bit of my story.

Name:
Location: Northwest Arkansas

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Catching Up . . . or is it Ketchup?

We've been home four days. Jet lag has hardly bothered Gene. I've not been so fortunate, but there is life after jet lag. I will make it. I've finally remembered which faucet is hot and which is cold . . . it's the opposite at RVA but the same as the States in other locations in Kenya. Go figure that one! All the suitcases are unpacked. The clothes are washed. No, they're not ironed. Give me a break! We've gone through two months of mail -- 2/3 of which was junk. We didn't have to water the lawn because it rained yesterday. Yeh! My brother-in-law faithfully mowed while we were gone, so we're okay there. The cupboard was bare, but thanks to the only place to shop in Northwest Arkansas because the home office is located here, we will not starve. And our own king-size bed is SOOO comfortable!

During the last four weeks in Kijabe, we were privileged to stay with our friend, Chuck Baker, who teaches wood shop and metal shop at RVA, and also lives on campus. We've not officially introduced him to you before now . . . so we would like you to meet -- drum roll, please -- Chuck Baker! We felt very much at home in his apartment, to the point we often forgot that we weren't at home. We were blessed with many comforts after so many weeks away.

The morning we left Kijabe, Joseph, one of our students came by to tell us good-bye and to pray with us. It was a privilege to have this young man holding our hands and praying over us. He will be a fine pastor some day!


As we headed out for our final trek down the hill to lower Kijabe station on Sunday afternoon, we paused for a picture at the entrance to the RVA campus. [Notice the change in our attire from this picture to the next one down -- only about 45 degrees difference!]


And, as we arrived in Northwest Arkansas, we were first of all greeted by my best friend and sister, Jenni. It was so good to see her standing at the bottom of the escalator waiting for us. I really missed her. I'm very grateful we live near each other.

And not far behind her was a group from Grace Point, our home church here in Northwest Arkansas. [Jenni's there too; just on the other side of the camera. See her? Hum. Guess not. She'll show up in another entry.]

All of these and so many others stood in the gap for us before the Lord . . . and while in Kenya, we knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we were being prayed for daily. Without these faithful pray-ers, our mission would not have been successful. Asante sana to all of you!

2 Comments:

Blogger AfricaBleu said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

10:33 PM CDT  
Blogger AfricaBleu said...

Greetings! My parents were missionaries in Kenya, and I attended Rift in the 80's. I now live in northeast Oklahoma, VERY near the northwest AR border -- small world, eh?

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading your posts and looking at your pictures; it brought back a lot of memories. I'm glad you had such a good trip.

10:36 PM CDT  

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