Friday, August 16, 2013

Kenya Journal, Last Days, Animals


Appreciation is due to the many friends and well wishers who told me to have fun on this trip. I love you and I'm grateful for your kind thoughts, but fun was not my purpose. As I mentioned in my first journal entry, I felt that I was going on a spiritual journey. My prayer was for Him to show me what he wanted me to see and teach me what he wanted me to learn. Well, I would say that surely happened beyond my expectations!

The Bible school lessons are done, the school and church visits have concluded, food and many other items have been left behind in donations. There is still much needed in the world and it is up to every one of us to follow whatever we are called to do to make it better.


 
















 

 







 

 







 

 


 


 
 




 

 
  Spending a full day from morning til mid afternoon at Sweetwaters Game Park was great fun! It's a 90,000 acre reserve for some of the remaining wild animals of Africa to live in their natural habitat. The top of the vans we had travelled in to remote areas all week now popped their tops up for us to stand for great close up views! We saw all kinds of gazelles, antelope, élan, water buffalo, elephants, cheetahs, lions, dik dik, wart hogs, chimpanzees, a rhino and lots of zebras! Oh my! One of the lions was a young male just starting to grow his beard and mane; he came right up to the back of our van and boldly, proudly walked past. The other two lions were female and we saw them slowly approach a herd of zebras, antelope and gazelles. The herd immediately went on high alert and established a large antelope guard at one side and a zebra on the other end of their grazing area, amazing to watch! After scouting all the wild life, we had the best meal of the whole trip, an African/Western buffet with French desserts served in their tented restaurant and they had western bathrooms! What a treat!

Driving back to Nairobi in intermittent showers, we came upon a long line of traffic stopped on a two lane road. Someone up ahead had some sort of accident and no one was moving. Sammy , our faithful driver, knew the urgency of the time schedule for our evening meal and then airport departure. He was not about to fail on his duties so he decided to detour on a side road to move ahead of the wreck. Ahead of us on this same dirt/ mud road detour was a bread delivery truck. The truck did not make it up a very steep hill & was backing up when Sammy chose to make a pass around it. We were just past the truck when a back wheel slid off the road and into the ditch, smoking the brakes as he tried to drive out of the hole. Despite his best efforts, we became embedded deeper in mud. A lot of people along this route showed up to offer advice and assistance and Sammy told all the men to get out and help and the 3 women to stay in the van. They brought on rocks and branches to pack the mud under the wheel and physically rocked and pushed the vehicle back into position. You've heard, it takes a village! Since Sammy had jumped back in to drive while the man were pushing he had to keep gunning past the crest of the hill to be sure not to slip backwards; our men had a ways to walk to catch up to us. Always an adventure here! We were on time for our dinner reservation and our flight thanks to Sammy, the villagers and God's providence.

We're now on the last leg of our journey home, (day 12) flying on British Air from London to Dfw. The flight monitor on the seat shows us to be just entering the skies over Newfoundland, Canada. Almost home...

People may assume that those in extreme poverty have nothing to give. Everything I saw in this journey testifies against that notion. We gave time, financial support, food, supplies and listening ears. They gave love, gratitude and blessing upon blessing til it overflowed. What do you think was the best part?

Matthew 5:3-12 The Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...

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