This past week we had our mid-month break of three days because it was such a long month. We could do whatever we want: safari, vacation, ministry, or explore. I was talking to Grant about it and we mentioned how cheap bikes are ($52) we could buy one, do a crazy road trip and then give it to someone really in need afterward. The more we talked the more amazing it sounded.
Grant suggested just trusting God without anything but faith, seeing if He would show up. We looked at Matthew 10 as our guide for a faith trip like this and we began to prepare. Joe and Matt joined our group. We each bought a bike and they were pretty cheap so we brought a few spare inner tubes and a pump just to keep them going. Then one beautiful morning we launched out for Nukuru, a city with beautiful lake and amazing wild animals. Sometimes they get up to 2,000,000 flamingoes on the lake.
We started out and within like a 100 feet Grant’s bike got messed up by a screw that was poking the tire. So we came back fixed it and headed out half an hour later. I have about 3 or 4 pages of miracles that happened on our trip so I will try to just post the highlights.
Pretty soon out of town our pedals got messed up on two bikes and so we could only have power with our right food because the screws were becoming bare. A bunch of guys working in the field called out to us and so we stopped and they ran over. They were so friendly and they didn’t ask for any money like we sometimes expect. They no only fixed our pedals but they also gave us 50 shillings to buy new screws for our bikes. I was overwhelmed.
So we got to the next town and fixed our pedals got new screws in exchange for an inner tube and then we had 50 shillings for the four of us to have lunch with (in American dollars that is like 70 cents). We go to a small cafe and they are so friendly, they were so generous as well. They give us each a plate of ugali (crushed cooked maize) and a plate of cooked vegetables and they gave matt two glasses of milk because he was fasting. Then they wished us warmheartedly on our way.
We travel a lot longer and realize we have only made it like 52 kilometers in the whole day. All the huge hills were slowing us down a lot. So we stop in Burnt Forest and look for a truck driver to take us to Nakuru. We can’t find one, which is interesting because in the morning we prayed for clues about our day and one was “missing truck driver”. But right there in front of the empty trucks people all pile around and hear our story. Another clue was “George” standing right in front of us were two men named George. So we prayed for them. Then met a very kindly man named James. He bought us a loaf of bread and a carton of milk each. Someone recommended St.Patricks Catholic church to spend the night without us asking for a place to stay.
We go to the church and they are so friendly. Father Geoffrey takes us in and he has four clean amazing beds for us as well as a hot shower available. He feeds us a huge supper and then in the morning a great breakfast with lots of fresh fruit. He is very interesting, spent nine years to train for priesthood and was so kind and friendly. Also that morning two guys named Daniel and David talked with Joe and gave us some roast nuts for a snack. We also had “Swollen knee” as a clue that morning and met a guy at the bike shop with a hugely swollen knee that we prayed for.
The next day we bike down some of the fastest and most amazing hills of our life. Then we hold out our hand to get picked up by a truck. These amazing Ugandan drivers pick us up, put our bikes in the back and take us all the way to Nkuru. On the way there they bought us roast corn, and were so friendly. We listened to backstreet boys most of the way and had a great time making a music video in the truck. It was also a mercedez-benz semi truck so we definitely rode in style.
We get to Nkuru at 2:00 and finish the leftover bread. We needed a map and just found ourselves right infront of a tourist place. We walk in and the ladies name is “Jane” which was one of our clues! So we get really excited and pray for them and their business. They were really thankful. They give us a map and we head to the national park.
We didn’t have any money and the park cost $60 for us to get in. But God let us see a ton of animals from the gate: antelope, gazelle, zebra, warthog, flamingo, Ibyx and baboons or monkeys. It was so nice. We get to pray for a lot of people and go to Joyce’s house. It is our contacts sister-in-law, we never asked for a place to stay to Patrick so we counted it as God’s provision. She made us an amazing meal and we got to watch WWE with her son Boaz and just have a great time.
She fed us breakfast then tea at her child support office with her colleagues. Then we went out just praying for people. There was an older man with a cane that didn’t speak english but through a translator we prayed for his leg. Then as he was shaking it out to test it his eyes got big and he said “It’s better”. That was one of my favourite moments seeing God directly intervene in a beautiful way for this man. We got to swim in a hotel pool for free, and then randomly stopped at a nice house and said it was lovely and the servant invited us in. The owner was a fabulous indian lady who said “You can look at my flowers, while I get you some cold drinks”. She brought out drinks and great Indian snacks. And told us crazy stories about people like Jane Fonda’s assistant who stayed at her house and wrote a cookbook with her. So nice and generous.
We took a Matatu back home and arrived tired and weary, but amazed at God’s goodness and provision.
