We said farewell to 4 of our team members this morning. They are off to continue business in Africa, the middle east and Europe. Only Larry Dittmar headed back to the U.S. He had a VERY successful week with the BLISS band. We took a team photo just before the van left to take them to the Nairobi Airport. I've attached my favorite version. Not sure what it means when ONLY the three youngest members of the team look very serious.
The reminder of the team headed off to Mwanika church and were delighted to discover that Bishop Imathiu was preaching. It was about Christians (good people in general) not being afraid to stand up to defend the truth when others twist it, to stand up for what is right when others want to use their power or position, and to stand up to defend those who cannot. He could have been preaching to an audience in the U.S. He was urging the congregation to attend a meeting in the afternoon to pressure the County government to begin the construction of the fence to keep the elephants out of the primary school grounds and local community.
Just before starting our packing, the decision was made to re-paint the rock at the edge of the front steps at BLISS. For years it has proudly sported a large maize "M". This past October, the team from Utah, painted it red with a large gray U for the University of Utah. Paul Carson who teaches in the Med School took on the task and off he went. He put the first coat of blue on … added another … waited … and with the help of one of the BLISS staff tried to put on the block M. This is a test: What do you get when you put blue and yellow together? GREEN! There is now a blue rock with a VERY bright green M on it. He took a photo … there is still the paper stencil but you can see the fluorescent green. He left the yellow paint with directions for the teacher to try again tomorrow. Some of you Spartan fans may find the humor in this. We did too.
We are up early tomorrow to head off to see some of the wildlife Kenya is trying so hard to protect … even in this community where the elephants regularly come in and crush the crops. As we end our 2016 mission in Meru, we look forward to reporting back all that we have done. In fact, we spent a portion of today identifying potential activities for 2017. As you read this, we hope you will consider joining the next team. The life you change may be your own.
The Kenya Mission Team
No comments:
Post a Comment