A few months ago I was on the Fellowship Bible Church website checking out the missionaries we have sent out to the field. I found a little blirp on an older couple named Ken and Irene. They were serving in Kenya with Wycliffe Bible Translators. I thought that it would be really cool to meet up with them for coffee or something while I was in Kenya. When we got to our ministry site in Nakuru I sent them an email letting them know where I was and to see where they were serving. I got an email back to find out that they were in Nairobi and that they wouldn’t be able to travel to Nakuru. I sent them back an email encouraging them and letting them know how much of an encouragement it was for me just to know that someone from my church family was so close and kind of left it at that. About 2 months later I find out that all the team leaders were going to have a retreat in Nairobi the 4 days before we flew out to Ireland. I sent an email to Irene to let her know I would be in Nairobi and we figured out a plan for me to go over to their home for dinner.
I was staying at a great place called Milimani Backpackers and Ken said he would come and pick me up there around 5 o’clock. They said they had rode past it two days earlier just to make sure they knew where to pick me up from. How sweet. Around 4 I was sitting out on the bench in front of the lodge when a cute elderly gentleman asked me if I was Rachael. He greeted me and we hopped in his old beat up white work truck. I felt very at home. He rode me around the out skits of the city through some back roads to their cute little apartment on the campus of Wycliffe’s headquarters in Nairobi. He shared with me that he and his wife have been in Nairobi for around a year and a half. He is an architect and has been overseeing a project to build a deaf bible translation building. It will be one of the first of its kind. They will do translation in story form in videos. It sounded super cool.
When I got to their apartment I was greeted at the front door by an adorable white haired women drying her hands with a dish towel. She had been busy in the kitchen fixing a real home cooked American meal for us. I jumped in immediately and began helping with dinner preparations. She made chicken and potatoes with brown gravy and green beans. It was amazing. We sat at the dinner table in a house that looked like a normal home with real furniture. I felt so at home. It was like I was visiting some long lost great aunt and uncle.
They shared stories about their children. How they have lived and served in so many different countries. He shared with me that they aren’t even from Nashville but he moved down there to build the Nashville rescue mission. Irene had been a teacher for years in many different countries while Ken would work on a project for some mission or Christian organization. It really blew mind how they weren’t really doing the normal missionary thing but they had been serving the Lord on the mission field for almost 40 years and were still going strong. They encouraged me to pursue the Lord and to seek out the things that He has gifted me in and do those things for the glory of God and to see people come to Christ.
I only got to share about 2 hours of life with this wonderful couple but those 2 hours where amazing. I felt like I was finally with family and was so encouraged to pursue Christ with my whole life. Not just the things I deem spiritual, or just in my twenties. They prayed for me and sent me home with some home made oatmeal cookies. It was a great evening with a great couple. The Lord is so good to me.
