Mountain Visitors

Visitors!  When I traveled around on furlough, I was usually excited when I got close to the place I was going.  I was excited to renew friendships and to share what the Lord was doing here in Turkana.  I was also excited to be shown a little bit of the place I was visiting.  It is always nice to have a "tour" of the place you are visiting so you know a little of its history.  I wanted to sample the foods that were popular there just so I could say I had some of famous Snicklefritz's famous concoction.  A couple examples of this are that I got a hot beef sandwich in Naperville and some Texas Barbecue in San Antonio.  I had barbecue in Tennessee too and I loved both of them even though they did taste different.

I wonder if my hosting friends were as excited as I was to explore their town?  In June there was a group of visitors that came to Lodwar.  They didn't come to visit me.  They came to visit a sister ministry at the Mission of Hope school in Lodwar.  At the same time, I knew they were coming because one of the ministers at their church told me.  He wasn't able to visit, but other folks from the church came.  I was excited that they were coming!

The group meeting time after dinner

They spent most of their time at the school which is as it should be.  However, they did spend a little time visiting me one evening.  I fixed spaghetti.  I knew they were staying at a Kenyan guest house, so I thought I'd fix something they were not likely to get there.  I made the sauce from scratch just like my Mom taught me.  I might be bragging, but it was pretty good.  It was so nice just to connect with folks from 'Home.'  They were from Mountain Christian Church in Maryland, so the home part is a bit stretched, but they were from America and that counts.  It was nice to get to know them a little and to see their excitement in helping the Turkana children and their families.

My teammate, Eric Pitts, and I also got to take them on a little tour of the work that CMF is doing out in the "bush" of Turkana.  One afternoon we drove them out to a village and let them see life in the desert for themselves.  On the way, they saw many goats and camels.  They also saw the homes where the Turkana people live.  Once there, they got to see a little two roomed clinic and meet our clinic worker.  They saw a little of the school that we are helping to sponsor in that village.  We also took them down to the garden areas and told them about how we are working with communities to drill wells and teach about irrigated farming.  It was fun to show them and we had a good hour or so to chat in the truck as we went to the site.

At the garden - drinking good clean water from the well

After showing them these sights, we took them to see lake Turkana.  It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the largest alkaline lake.  None of that really mattered much.  We went so we could get wet and see some pretty scenery.  We only got to be there for about forty minutes, but it was fun.

We had some who waded with me

some who got in completely

and a few brave souls who went way out :)  Eric was with them.

some enjoyed the banda and a soda before we left too

When I was helping take them to the Lodwar airport, I found out that they had been served spaghetti noodles about five or six times the week they were there.  They did say that they only got sauce at my house, so I guess I still managed to give them something they didn't get.  Next time visitors come and stay at the local guest house, I will know to serve something different!

At the airport, I dropped them off and waited for the plane to arrive.  You see, I was a little sad that they were leaving, but I was happy too.  My teammates, the Mordens, were coming on the plane that they were leaving on.  So, I was waiting to greet them and bring them home!