Jet Lag Stinks

So I just got back from a two week trip in the States (it was wonderful, by the way!)  I'm now dealing with jet-lag.  Just when I thought, "Maybe I'm starting to grow out of this jet-lag thing..." then it rears its ugly head and bites me.

I woke up this morning at 3AM.  Nevermind that I kept myself up as late as possible and finally turned out the light at 1AM.  So I forced myself back to sleep and after a series of funky dreams, I woke again shortly before 5AM.  This time I was up for good.  Dang it! I hate getting up early.  It makes the day seem so long. 

Yesterday I slept all the way 'til 7AM.  Wow.  A regular Rip Van Winkle.  But that was sleeping pill assisted. 

So what am I to do? I don't know.  Just deal with it I guess.  They say it usually takes one day to adjust for every time zone you cross.  That means 8 days for me.  Yippee.

(On the plus side, all this extra time in the morning gives me time to write my bi-monthly blog entry.) 

Hurry Up and Wait

So I have this truck that's broken down.  It's broken down in Northern Kenya, about 12 hours from Nairobi.  It's pretty much my main means of transport into the bush, but now I'm stuck using public busses and the ever-hated matatu. 

Well, last week I set about to finish fixing the old beast.  I travelled to Wamba with a mechanic.  We spent the next day pulling out the transmission, looking inside it, putting the transmission back in the vehicle, pulling it out again, looking inside it again, and so on and so forth until we came to the conclusion that the transmission needs to be repaired in Nairobi.  "Yay! Another ride in a matatu to Nairobi!" I thought to myself very sarcastically. 

Well, I made it to Nairobi and I even got the transmission fixed in about two days.  That was three days ago.  Now I'm still here.  Why? Because in Kenya they have a saying, "Hakuna Haraka", which means "no hurry".  It's pretty much the way of things here and that probably well explains the guys you see just sleeping on the side of the road as you drive around the country.

No Hurry is a nice mantra when you aren't too excited about doing something, and it's equally useful when you need an excuse to be lazy.  But when you have nothing else to do, it get's really frustrating. 

You see, the thing keeping me held up in Nairobi is that a shop-owner owes me money.  I bought some parts from her and when it was clear that they weren't the right parts, I returned them.  I paid 20,000 shillings - a handsome sum of change around here - and I want my money back.  It's that simple.  So she said she'd give me the money on Friday.  Friday came and went, no money.  She said, "Tomorrow... No hurry..." Well, like the musical Annie, tomorrow is always only a day away and it seems that's where my money is perpetually stuck.  Arghhh!

So I wait... and wait... and wait... pretending to be in no hurry, but knowing that I am in a hurry to fix it and move on with my life.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get my money.  

New Sudan

So I write this from the country of Sudan.  I now have another country to check off in my list of travels.

We are in a town called Yei in southern Sudan.  It's about 50 miles from the Ugandan border.  It took us three days by bus to reach this place.  But it's beautiful here.  This is not what I expected Sudan to be like.  I expected it to be like Samburu District in Kenya where it's hot and dry, there's nothing green, no water, etc.  But at least this part of Sudan is lush and green.  The weather is comfortable, but humid.  It's really quite lovely here.

The mango trees are just ripening now, so mangoes are everywhere.  Any time the wind blows, they come crashing down.  It sounds like a bomb if one of them happens to land on a tin-roof and you're underneath it.  I only mention bombs, because it wasn't too many years ago that bombs were regularly dropping on houses here.  The people of Southern Sudan have been through a lot.  Many of them are just returning as refugees from Uganda and Congo.  They all have remarkable stories. 

There is one family that was just dropped at the side of the road by the UN High Commission for Refugees and basically told, "have a nice life..."  They've got no food.  They had to build a basic house.  But they basically have nothing and have to start their new life that way.  There are a lot of stories like that here.

We are here on sort of survey mission.  We wanted to see the spiritual atmosphere here and see about possible ministry in the future.  We've been staying at a compound called Harvesters - Reaching the Nations.  (see www.hrtn.org) They run an orphanage and school here.  We were hoping to be able to get a pretty good glimpse of ministry with the locals, but unfortunately most of the time we're in the compound and we don't have any translators to go out with us and visit the local villages.  We do visit houses every evening for fellowships, but we're not out for very long.  So our vision trip to Sudan so far has been a bit short-sighted.

You can keep us in your prayers.  We'll take that 3 day bus ride back to Kenya on Monday, travelling in Africa is always an adventure.  But you can also keep Sudan in your prayers.  There is a window of peace here right now, but in 2011, there will be a referendum and the people of Southern Sudan will have a chance to vote for independence.  Pretty much everyone believes that the independence vote will win, but the question is will Khartoum honor it?  Probably not.  And so this place will go back to war.  I generally don't get involved in rebel movements, but I can say that I support the southerners on this one and I'm just waiting for official recognition of a new country called New Sudan.

God Bless the New Sudan!

Kenya Update

I hope you’re doing well.  Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote.  So much has happened that I’d love to tell you about, but most of it will have to wait for now. 

I’m here in Kenya now with two young men from the US: Bryan Lent and Tony Garcia.  Both have been out here before and both wrote to me asking if they can come out to Kenya again for a longer time.  So they’re with me until May.  It’s truly been a blast having them out.  I’ve been able to see Kenya again through the eyes of ‘newbies’.  Everything that I’ve gotten calloused to, they see with fresh excitement and vigor.  From the poverty and corruption on the one side to the hospitality and friendliness of the locals on the other side, it’s been wonderful to see Kenya afresh through their eyes.  Even the other day, the remark was made, “Look, that woman is carrying a table on her head!”  It’s definitely fun!

So tomorrow, we will be heading to a place called Osegel.  It’s in Maasai territory.  We’ll be visiting some schools and leading some Bible studies with the locals there.  There’s still a great number of Maasai that don’t know Christ, so we’re hoping that we can make a difference for eternity there.  We’ll be there for six days, so please keep us in your prayers as we travel there and minister there.

In March, we’ll be heading to Samburu District to continue the ministry there.  We want to spend the entire month out in the bush doing some serious, life-changing ministry.  We have a lot of ideas and have done a lot of preparation for March, so we’re praying that God will be with us as we work there.  We’ve prepared some lessons to teach people the basics about the God of the Bible and why Jesus Christ had to come.  It’s our prayer that we will be able to lay a foundation for people to put their faith in Christ.  Please keep us in your prayers for the month of March.

But the big news is that in April we plan to go to Sudan.  We were in Nairobi two weeks ago getting our permits and no the road is clear for us to go there.  There are still a lot of details to work out, like how we’ll get there.  The guys want us to drive there, but I dread driving that journey – I’d rather fly.  We hope to spend 2 to 3 weeks there visiting an orphanage and encouraging the local churches in the area.  I know a lot of people think of Sudan as a death zone and say, “How could you go there?!?”  I’d rather you not be worried for us, but pray for us that God will open up the way and guide us as we go there.

There are so many more stories and things I’d love to tell you about but because of space, I can’t.  So keep us in your prayers.  I thank God so much for you.  Thank you for your support, prayers, and encouragement!

Take care and have a great day!

My Bottom Nine List of Names for Children

So here's what my friends have suggested as possible future names should the opportunity of naming another child ever present itself.

From best (or least worst) to worst (with comments):

1. Arianna (I don't know what this name means, which therefore puts it in the lead.)
2. Rahab (not a very good name, I try to generally avoid naming children after famous prostitutes, but the others are so bad that this one comes in at no. 2)
3. Hezekiah (a good name if the child was a Jewish king living three thousand years ago.)
4. Uriah (this was actually a 'non-suggestion' but it's better than the other suggestions, however its closeness to the word 'urine' holds it back from going up higher in the list.)
5. Atila (as in 'the hun', another 'non-suggestion' that ranks better than the others.)
6. Carlos Garcia (would be a good name as long as the child was not ashamed of his/her non-hispanic identity.)
7. Julibobsteve (any name that combines three other names needs work.)
8. Greg-is-good-looking (I'm not even sure what to say about this suggestion.)
9. Camel's Breath (this might work for a foul smelling candle, but Camel's Breath is not the most flattering moniker that you give a child. Sorry, you come in last.)

So there you have it: my bottom nine list of names for children.  Any comments?