Update June 20

Gabe called today, so I got to talk to him for a few minutes. They were in Mombasa for a night, and will be on a short safari Thursday all day and Friday morning, so I know they are really looking forward to that. I hope they see lots of wildlife and that they leave Kenya with positive thoughts.


Monday Gabe & Jaime took Vince & Trent to the "nice" (even by American standards) Kilifi Bay Beach Resort hotel to spend some time at the beach and relax after their grueling weekend. They didn't figure Vince & Trent they would enjoy sitting through a day-long meeting with the Board of Directors of the Kilifi Christian Resource Center, which was what Gabe and Jaime needed to do. Let me tell you, a group of African men can sit and discuss, discuss, discuss til you think the thing cannot be discussed any more, and then they will discuss it again. And, most likely, it was in Kigiriama, and an all day discussion in a foreign language could drive anyone to insanity, so...I'm glad they took Vince & Trent to the resort. Gabe said the meeting went well and it was a good day for everyone.


Tuesday they went to Malindi to meet with many of the leaders there and discuss the Orphans Project, but I don't have a report on that. Then Wednesday they made their way to Mombasa, which is where Gabe called me from this morning.


Gabe said the trip has been successful and they are really glad they went, but I think it has been very hard on all of them, especially Vince and Trent. It may take coming home, getting some rest, and processing everything in the coming days and months to make sense of it all.


Africa is a rough and shocking place. It is also a simple and beautiful place. It is full of paradoxes. While living there, I struggled at times with my own cynicism, negativity, and hopelessness with the way things were. The whole "losing the wallet" episode caused that feeling in me to rear it's ugly head. I doubt the wallet was "lost". I know a huge part of why the guys are exhausted is because of the horrible public transportation system they have been subjected to the last 2 weeks. Why can't they fix the roads? Millions of dollars are given each year for roads and it never ends up filling in a pot-hole. And those people can't just get on a plane and fly away to a country where they drive their own air-conditioned cars on smoothe, well kept roads. So much corruption.... makes me furious.

I don't like to feel that way about Africa.

I want to remember the beautiful people we knew there, and the friendships that are dear to us. I want to remember the joy of greeting a Giriama woman in her mother-tongue and seeing her face light up. I want to remember watching Giriama women learn to read so that they can read God's Word for themselves. I want to remember the gifts and blessing that so many people there were to us. I want to imagine many familiar Kenyans being among the great multitude from every nation in heaven some day. So...I look forward to hearing from Gabe about his trip and about what God is doing in Kenya. I know He is working amazing things through people there and that the stories will bring us much encouragement.


The trip is almost over. Plans to come home have been moved up. Vince and Trent will be flying out of Nairobi Friday night. This will put them into Lubbock on Saturday night and allow Vince to rest for a day before going back to work on Monday. Gabe will attend the graduation for Duncan in Nairobi on Saturday, and then will fly out of Nairobi Saturday night. He had planned to do some things in Nairobi on Monday and Tuesday, but the plans didn't work out. He will arrive in Dallas on Sunday afternoon and we are excited because we plan to pick him up there. We will spend a night or two with my parents in Dallas and then drive home together. It will be good to see him sooner than expected.


Thank you all again for your prayers and concern for Gabe and for us while he is away. Of course we are busy here and having a great time with family, but I often think of you all and appreciate your prayers for Gabe. I will let you know if I hear more before he gets home.

Jill