I'm still in Kenya and pretty happy about that. Last time I sent out a newsletter we were wondering if we were going to be expelled from Kenya or what not. Those were definitely some memorable times, but some that I might not want to experience again. The day after I wrote about our situation, we went to another office to pick up our passports and were given three days to leave Kenya. We would not be allowed to come back to this country unless we returned to the USA first. Being fairly desperate we contacted a member of parliament from our area and he was able to help us. He talked to the principal immigration officer, a friend of his, and we were given three more months to stay. This extension will allow our work permits to come in, thus presenting us with the opportunity to stay up to another year.
The Sunday after this ordeal we went to church at the Crowis, a missionary couple in Nairobi. They have taken about a dozen of boys off the streets of the city, provided them with a nice place to live and with schooling to offer them a future. We were able to conduct the small service and share with them God's goodness in answering our prayers about letting us stay in Kenya.
We finally made it back to Chepkong'ony on the evening of the 26th and were greeted by some students who snuck out of their study time. Neighboring kids were also at our house to receive us and had all the latest news to share with us: a cow broke one of our pots, another one ate our banana tree, the chameleons gave birth in our bushes and such other crucial reports. It seemed like the whole area had heard about our situation and thought that we had been in jail. The elders of all the local churches had been praying for us.
Ben's parents and younger brother came to visit for a little over a week and we enjoyed having them. Ben showed them around several nice places and the five of us went with them to the Maasai Mara game park. We were there to see the migration of thousands of wildebeasts and also saw elephants, hippos, crocodiles and lions. Plenty of other animals too, but those were the most exciting to me. We stayed at a tented camp while at the park and could hear the roar of lions at nighttime.
The missionaries here have been such an incredible blessing to us. Larry and Hollye Conway in Nairobi and their two sons have truly become like family to us. They let us crash at their place whenever we need to, feed us and enjoy laughing just as much as we do. Another family that has blessed us is the Bell family in Kisumu. Last Monday we traveled to their place and had a VBS ("Vocational Bible Study" according to them) with about 140 children from the Ring Road Orphan School. Since it was our first VBS ever, we decided to go with the complex theme of David & Goliath. We read them stories, had some fun relay races, shot Goliath with a slingshot and had them make sheep from paper bags. They looked more like bearded men, but I'm pretty sure they got the idea.
We buy from the cheese factory quite a lot and have become friends with the family that owns it. While Ben's family was here they let us use their Pajero, so that his parents would not have to walk much. This week we went with them to Lake Baringo and had a great time. The three of them stayed at the club while the five of us went camping next door. Hippos come out right by the tents at night, but I slept through it all.
We've been walking a lot and taking a lot of public transportation with our car sitting like dead in Nairobi, but it hasn't been too bad. Last week I forgot my hat in one of the matatus, but it was returned to me a couple of days ago by the conductor.
I have a favor to ask. I sold my car before coming to Kenya in January, so I would be interested in buying another one if any of you have one for sale or know of one to be sold. I will need one pretty soon after I get back, and since I can't really do too much searching from here pretty much anything you might have would be interesting to me. Thanks a lot for getting back to me on that.
I guess that this is about it for now. Thanks to all those who had been praying about our immigration ordeal and for your prayers in general.
In Him,
Nathan