More at the Village

So we had a wonderful time at church on Sunday. Saw at least 16 people receive Christ after a stirring message, 11 from the community. and 5 from the team. We went on a lovely hike to the falls after the service, but a sad reminder of how short life is here when a man was found dead beside the gravel marem pit on the way to the falls, having fallen in the pit the night before too drunk to observe the fence around the pit.

We got to take a brief detour in the afternoon to see the widow's greenhouse that we had built last summer. It was amazing to see how tall the tomato plants were at the greenhouse, how many thousands of tomatoes were growing on the vine, and how many hundreds of additional dollars this greenhouse was going to be able to provide in additional income for each of the ten families involved in this project.

In the evening we went to one of the children's homes, Amani home, and had a wonderful time. We got to meet the two newest boys in the home, Edwin and Kiprono, both who just came from the Remand Center, their only crime having been that they were homeless. Nevertheless, when they came to the village, Edwin kept saying, "I love this place"! over and over. He slept in the corner of his bed for an hour expecting to have to share his bed with three or four other children like he did at the Remand Center until Mama Sarah came in and told him that he could sleep in the middle of the bed because this was his own bed. He seemed overwhelmed but very happy and has since adjusted very well to life at Open Arms Village.

We completed the medical camp on Tuesday having treated 1570 people. seeing about 160 people receive Christ, and several hundred more miraculously healed before they ever got to the medical camp. It was a great experience.

We also got to go to the Kambi Teso feeding program a second time and do a little mini-medical camp there as well. It always seems that the feeding program is so very exhausting simply because the children there are so starved for attention but this time it was physically strenuous for both Cheryl and me as we found a way to develop quite a line of children waiting to go on a little ride with Matt and Cheryl.

On Thursday, we spent our last full day in the Eldoret area by taking a break with the team and going to Naiberry, a small resort and restaurant about 15 miles on the other side of Eldoret. It was a fun, relaxing time with a great team (but what's up with the lack of privacy in the bathrooms - this photo was taken from OUTSIDE of the men's bathroom in the hallway)

On the way back, we stopped at Elizabeth's Kiosk for some last minute shopping and then said our goodbyes to the children at the village.

Early the next morning we began our long journey home. We flew out of Eldoret, arrived in Nairobi, immediately encountered the usual horrible traffic, and spent the next 80 minutes trying to get to the Elephant Orphanage.

We made it in time to get in for the show, and it was fun for the team, even if I have been there more times than I can count on both hands. We even got to see a wild warthog outside of the orphanage and were told that recently a wild lion was sighted roaming near the elephant orphanage that was feeding off of the local warthog population (better warthogs than me). We stopped for a yummy lunch at Java House, and popped over to the Giraffe Sanctuary where it was Matt's turn to kiss the giraffe...YUCK!!!

A quick trip to Kazuri Bead Shop had the unexpected surprise of some wild monkeys greeting us, and then an obligatory trip to Karen Blixen's Home was made so that we could truly so we were heading "Out of Africa".

The grueling and long trip home was met with some nice breaks in Zurich and Chicago, but most pleasant was that our luggage was waiting for us in Portland and so was our family. It was good to get back home, but at the same time, we miss our kids in Kenya, and look forward to the time again soon when "Daddy Matt" and "Mama Cheryl" can head back to greet the children at Open Arms Village.