Weekly Update 3-4-08

Okay we will try this again. I did send an update Monday evening just before we hosted the weekly FHE but after hitting send the internet disconnected and I wasn't able to confirm it hadn't been sent untill last evening and then the internet booted us again so I couldn't do it then either. The big news here is the signing last Thursday of the peace accord. Now parliment just needs to change the constitution to accomodate the agreement. Odinga, the opposition candidate, is now the first Prime Minister and has some executive responsibilities and cannot be fired by the President. What this means is that things are once again calm in Nairobi and there were only 12 people killed in the name of ethnic violence in the Rift Valley area over the weekend. There are also shootouts between the police and cattle rustlers or gangsters in that area on a regular basis but the government claims they are going to get that under control. I don't think I have ever mentioned the number of people that are regularly lynched here by their fellow citizens. I noted in the paper yesterday that there were 5 different individuals that bit the big one vigilante style because they were caught stealing. Generally they are kicked, hacked, or stoned to death. Being a student of the old west I asked one of the locals why they called it lynching if they were never strung up to a nearby tree. His reply was that here lynching is being set on fire which I guess happens after the kicking, hacking, and stoning. Kind of strengthens my resolve to try real hard to keep the 10 Commandments while here and I probably shouldn't come boiling out of the vehicle with fire in my eyes after a run in with the idiot drivers here.

Our work up country in the Kilunga Hills continues to progress with some gratification. Several of the keyboard students are doing rather well. Several of the English students amaze us with their reading skills but we are not sure they understand everything they read but it is a great start. Our investigator pool just keeps expanding with us never leaving the building. I taught the baptism class (their terminology) at Kilili and there were 5 Mamas that had joined the group of 11 young people. We conducted it during Sunday School and there were no available classrooms so we conducted it in the courtyard area and I taped the visual aids to the big black fiberglass water tank that holds the rainwater in the middle of the area. With a group that size it is a little tough to work on personal commitments or confirm their complete understanding of the concepts but we are just going to keep pushing on and hope that the fast burners inspire the others.

When we submitted the month end reports this Monday I noted that we traveled 5,200 kms while consuming 39,700 shillings of diesel. I think a conversion would indicate we traveled across the US in February. Our blessed truck continues to get us there and back each trip but I am amazed it holds together so well as these roads are really terrible. I did have a bus that tried to occupy our space on the road coming through Mlolongo a week ago Sunday and ended up stripping the side mirror on Sister Bishop's side of the vehicle. We got that replaced last Wednesday and had the side windows tinted at the same time. Since the highs have climbed from 80 clear up to 87 it gets a little warm motoring down the road and the tinting has helped. We have not stopped running the air conditioning in the vehicle since we got here. Often the weather is nice enough we could just roll the windows down but you wouldn't believe how much dust that invites in and my ever vigilant security officer (Sister Bishop) will not tolerate that breach of security. Well we are do at the Pharmacy at St. Mary's here shortly so must run. I will try and get a few more photos out before bedtime if the internet will allow. Thanks for the news we get in return, it is all so much appreciated and the ziplock baggies with spices and Easter Candy we picked at the Embassy Monday are a special treat. We love and miss everyone of you. Thanks for the prayers because the "Big Guy" really does bless us accordingly.