Saturday - June 29 2019

It’s Saturday morning – my last one in Africa. . .for now.  After talking it over last night, Jeremiah and I both decided today was a good day to. . . . do nothing.  We determined this was our best chance to catch our breath before everyone arrives tonight and the insanity begins for next week.  Thus, we’re hanging at the school today and doing as little as we can get away with. 

By Friday night, I’ll be back in my comfortable home with hot water, consistent electricity, stable and strong Wifi, excellent roads (by comparison) and a million other luxuries.  Meanwhile, these children will still be here.  When I woke up this morning, I was keenly aware of that.  And of them.  I could hear them singing, laughing and playing together. Even now, I hear them working on clearly the construction debris from a barn they tore down earlier in the week (a job I would NEVER allow children that young to do back home – I’d be terrified of cuts on their hands / legs.  They seem to share no such concern).  They’re working all over this campus, getting ready for our team to arrive tonight.  They’ve been washing windows, freshing up the paint, cleaning the floors, scrubbing the toilets and doing their best to put their best foot forward. 

It’s humbling really.  Them working so hard to prepare for us.  Would we do the same for them?  There’s no way I can communicate the challenges these kids face on a daily basis – and this is a much better scenario than most of the kids I’ve seen walking around Ongata Rongai.  Their happiness speaks to the love they clearly feel and the security they know from being here.  There will be breakfast, lunch and supper.  They will have a bed to sleep on.  They will have clothes to wear and they will have shoes for their feet.  Everything else is gravy for them.

My original plan never called for me to be at Magnet for a full week before everyone else arrived.  I never intended to spend such an extended time here.  But clearly the Lord had it in mind.  I’ve learned so much in my time spent here, mostly about living and loving as a community and sharing what God has given each of us for His glory sake.  My prayer is that the Lord will use this time I’ve spent here to remind me of His goodness to me.  His kindness to my family.  His overwhelming grace has granted me this privilege.  I’m praying I don’t forget to be grateful for the blessings I have, not disgruntled for the ones I wish I had.  I’m praying for the peace of mind for trusting God as freely and securely as I’ve seen here.  I’m praying I’ll cease worrying about how I will afford the things I want – like my dream Mustang – and remember I cannot take it with me it anyway.  What I CAN do is invest in the eternal souls like the ones here at Magnet.  They’re not the only ones of course.  But it’s something we can invest in and represents the best of the efforts we have around us. 

One note I neglected to mention yesterday.  On our way back yesterday afternoon, we stopped at the church building to see the progress on the new chapel.  Baraka and Fadhili (Bishop’s oldest sons) were working on final preparations for Sunday.  It’s beautiful!  Quintessentially African, it’s not unlike our church architecture back home.  That said, they have a LONG way to go in finishing for tomorrow.  There was construction debris everywhere.  Scaffolding in some places (well, what they use for scaffolding.  Let’s just say it’s not OSHA approved).  When we got there, they were preparing to hang the projector.  There’s still a gap in the church roof.  But they are well past the point of talking them out of trying to get this done for Sunday.  That decision was made LONG ago.  So was who should preach.  I tried again this morning to talk Fadhili – their real pastor – into preaching tomorrow.  He looked at me, smiled and said, “Pastor Darin, you’ve traveled 8,000 miles to be here – why would I not have you preach?”  I looked right back and said, “Fadhili, your church has waited 14 years for this Sunday – why would I steal their pastor from them on their big day?”  We both laughed and agreed that we would proceed as planned. 

It’s late afternoon now.  We’ll be leaving soon to go to the airport.  Our friends are somewhere between here and Paris.  Their excitement, eagerness and anticipation was obvious in their Facebook posts.  Honestly, it will be great to see some Texans.  I’m a little lonely for people without an accent. J

It’s later now and we’re ALL here in Kenya!  The group arrived around 9.  It took us till 11:30 to get them all through customs and immigration.  We got back to the school – the children were so excited – they were waiting for us.  They welcomed us with song.  It was a strange moment – my church family meeting my Kenyan family.  It was a wonderful and rich time.  And now, to bed.