Spiders, Bats, and Chickens

Well, over the past couple of weeks we've had a few strange things happen. The first of them took place when I (Matt) was leaving Kisumu to drive back to Limuru. I had just dropped Peg and Kenya Grace off at the airport, packed up the car and left to go pick up Steven and his family for our 5-6 hour drive across the country. Steven's family live on a farm (shamba) about 65 Kilometers (40 miles) outside of Kisumu Town. This was my third visit out there in our 5 day stay, so thankfully I was well familiarized with the unmarked dirt roads and how to get to their place (through a maze of sugar cane fields). After greeting the family again, and having some small talk, we got in the car and started our journey back to Limuru. But as we were nearing the main cross road leaving their house instead of turning left to start the journey home we turned right to make a brief stop for Steven's wife to say farewell to her mother. While we were there Steven said it would be okay for us (he and I) to stay in the car as he knew that if we had got out of the car it would take even longer for us to start the journey back. Well, about 5 minutes later or so, his wife (Maureen) came back to the car carrying her son in one arm (who had been with her the whole time) and a live chicken in the other. Immediately I wondered, "Are we going to drive all the way back to Nairobi with a live chicken in the car?" And sure enough we were and did. Steven could see the look of slight shock on my face and made a comment about how it was traditional in their culture for the mom to send a chicken home with her daughter when she had visited. He also noted that I probably wasn't too used to having live animals in the car. To which I said I wasn't, but I was sure it would be okay. Thankfully the legs were tied together, and she stuck its back end in a plastic bag (which comforted me). Most of the trip home the chicken was quiet, only a few times it would struggle and cluck or squawk, probably wondering where it was going... or why the road so bumpy. So, I can now officially say that I have driven with a live chicken in my car.... and most likely, it will not be the last time.

The next day or so after we had returned from Kisumu, we encountered to strange things which added to our 'wild-life' experiences here in Kenya. One was that Peg discovered a GIANT Spider up in the corner above our front patio. Often we'll eat out there when it's a nice day and we don't feel like being inside. When she first looked up at it she thought it was some sort of nest, but after I got a closer look I quickly found that it was a very large spider (slightly smaller than a tarantula but close in comparison). Just after the escapade of killing that spider we found a bat that was crawling in front of our door. Since bats are nocturnal, we never really see them, in fact, Joyce, our Kenyan friend who watches KG in the mornings saw it and said she'd never seen one before. We found out the following day from a missionary friend that bats are our friends as they eat thousands of mosquitoes every night, and in fact they are starting to bring bats into areas that are laden with malaria to eat the mosquitoes as one way of trying to cut down the malaria epidemic. We relocated our bat friend to the bushes... we weren't sure if it was sick and dying or if it was a baby and had fallen from a nest and perhaps that was why it was out crawling in front of our door that morning.

Well anyway, those are some fun stories as of recent that spice up our life here as we interact with nature. God is so good, and we are so blessed!
- Matt for the P3

Passover

Hello Everyone!

We are currently in Kisumu and praising God for all He is doing and showing us! We will blog later about our time here (it's really amazing)but we wanted to share with you about our Passover last Friday before we forget too many details. We have been non stop since last Thursday and will continue until we return home really. Thank you for those who are praying for us on our trip. We are feeling those prayers and certainly needing them. We are feeling ware fare but praising God for His greatness, victory and might! Please continue to pray for our girl who is once again having tummy issues and that we would continue to have wisdom as we search for a home or at least home area and meet with people regarding ministry here. For our family who is checking this blog please know we will send our pic e-mails out soon. :)

Passover was a very special evening for everyone in our house and the community of believers that attended. It was a joint effort on all of our parts and we were so blessed with all that the Lord did. It started out with just a few families (ours included) but quickly began to grow in number. We decided we were going to need our classroom to fit everyone and the school was so helpful in allowing us the freedom to expand our house (moving a bookcase so our dinning room connected with our classroom. We had around 20 adults and 10 children. There were several wazungu (white people) and many Kenyans and the Korean family as well. :) Noelle and the guys set up the room so beautiful and Matt began with everyone outside doing the Psalms of accent. Matt began the service and went through all the elements and then broke for dinner and Jacob continued with the story and of course incredible connection to the Gospel. Both men did an incredible job. Matt seemed in his element and we both commented later how special it was for us because it reminded us of Shoreline. I cried as Matt sang the first blessing. :) I got to help in the kitchen to make sure dinner would be on at the right time and helped behind the scene and then took the kids upstairs for crafts and fun after dinner. (KG's toys were more of a hit than Veggie Tales on the computer. :) People commented as they left how much they learned and how much they enjoyed it and one Kenyan woman said she even renewed her vow to the Lord and rededicated herself. We were so encouraged and watched God answer so many prayers including how to fit everyone in, having enough food, and having a boy who is usually out of control calm and cooperative! We felt like it was 11 at night when most of the guests left (3 stayed the night including Stephen and his family. We had also had our ministry lunch with Stephen and Ed Compean that afternoon, so we were pretty wiped. After dishes and some clean up and a little fellowship and then a preparation for our early morning the next day (leaving for Kisumu)we climbed into bed (OK fell into bed) praising God for how mighty He is and filled with a joy that we had celebrated Passover and our Savior nonetheless in Kenya our new home!

Schedule

We had a change in our exam schedule and just had our oral exam today. Praise the Lord we passed and the teachers seemed pleased! We are relieved to have our first oral exam completed! We now have our written test on Thursday but the focus in the house is our Passover dinner that we are hosting on Friday as well as some overnight guests and our trip for Kisumu. For those wanting to pray for our trip, here are some details:

Peg and KG leave at 5 am for the airport while Matt and our friend Steven and his family get on the road to drive.

Peg and KG's flight leaves at 7:15 am and they arrive in Kisumu around 8:00a.m.

Matt should arrive by afternoon.

We will be in Kisumu for 6 days and will return in the same manner.

Please pray for protection while traveling, favor in house hunting and for a sensitivity to the Lord as He leads us.

Thank you for praying for us! We look forward to posting our adventures in Kisumu.