Just want to clarify that the postings are behind real time. Today I am currently on day 16. So here is day six – the day we finished (Man)istry and departed the Masai, returning to Nairobi – as recorded in my journal…
Just a couple hours before our buses get here. I still need to pack, but if I’m counting right this will be the twentieth location change in five months so I know it won’t take long to throw everything together. Didn’t bother bringing out the Bible this morning. Instead, I just wanted to sit and relax in His presence and fully absorb all the natural beauty of this place once more. Speaking of “this place,” I just remembered I still have no idea where I am. I may have heard it a couple times, but I have no hope of spelling it. I need to remember to get that from someone. I also hope my knife turns up somewhere as I pack. I thought the last place I had it was lying on my sleeping bag in the room and then it was gone. But there’s also a chance I might have had it with me walking around somewhere and it fell out of my jacket pocket or something. Either way, super bummed if I can’t find it. /
Didn’t find the knife, but Ian did inform me that we were staying in the village of Enesampulai. I wonder if it will show up on any map. The road down the mountain was so much bumpier that I remembered from ten days ago and the dust was once again ridiculous. At times, it completely covered the windows, blocking all view of the outside, much in the same way as water in a car wash. Lose-lose situation. Either keep all the windows rolled up to prevent as much dust as possible from entering and bake in the hot stifled, bus. OR allow the comforting breeze to flow in, ushering in a thick cloudy haze of dust.
Anyway, we survived and made it back safely to Nairobi. I was a little relieved when I found out all the girls were either in town or had not arrived yet. My stomach began filling with butterflies as we neared the city. The first test came when Kelly said hey and asked how I was doing and I just gave her the standard “thumbs-up” sign to her bewilderment. Moments later, all the other girls came pouring in. Since I was cut off on one side of the room from all the other guys, I was left smiling and nodding, feeling completely like a fool and desperately hoping one of my brothers would quickly notice my predicament and speak for me. If observing the whole sequence of events from a birds-eye view, I imagine I would have found it quite hilarious. And it was funny. But feelings of being crazy or silly captured most of my thoughts. Not too bad, but I still have to go through it again with my Crux girls. (They had not arrived yet). Just ready for this day to be over and move past the novelty that my fast is in the girls’ eyes right now.
I was thinking this morning as a Masai man approached during my personal time to say hello how I not only feel handicap but also kind of rude. After all, southern boys don’t just ignore people when spoken to. (Not that I completely ignored anyone, but you get the point). Another observation. AS a man came to give me the pizza I ordered for lunch back at the hostel, I naturally just smiled my “thank you.” Then seconds later he was laughing about something with another worker. Is this what some handicapped people go through all the time, being more disabled by their own imagination of how others view them than by the actualy restriction itself? I’m so sure the joke was completely unrelated, but nevertheless a little doubt instantly crept in. Also, right or wrong, the whole speaking fast is definitely more difficult already back in “civilization,” in a huge city and around so many others. I didn’t even think about it at the time, but of course it was a little easier up in the mountains in a tiny village with residents whom I will likely never see again before Heaven.
A city like this is also a place which emphasizes personal independence much more than Enesampulai, where every meal was taken care of and I never really needed to make personal requests. Here I have to order food, ask how much things cost and all the other daily activities which normally require verbal communication.
I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day of travel, but also sensory overload reuniting with all the girls and explaining myself and my actions so many times. So I’m calling it a night. As always, so much more to write. Never enough energy to do so.
