Hello from Kenya!
I apologize; I’ve wanted to talk or write to many of you, but
electricity and internet access have been limited since we’ve left Hong
Kong. Yet life here has been
amazing and challenging!
Right now we’re in a remote village on Lake Victoria not too
far from to the Uganda-Kenyan border.
There are about 2000 people scattered in these semi-arid hills of
Mbita. Donkeys, cows, goats,
people, motorcycles, and the occasional truck or car share the narrow, heavily
rutted dirt roads. Many people
live in mud huts and mainly have enough money for some fish and cornmeal to eat every
day. I’ve been told over 80% of
these 2000 people have HIV/AIDS.
And yet it’s so beautiful here!
We see the sun setting over the seemingly never-ending Lake Victoria
every night, often revealing the hundreds if not thousands of oil lanterns of
fisherman dotted across the lake like stars before the moon comes out. And when the bright moon does arrive, I love spending time wrestling with
God alone as He is beginning to show me how much love He really does have for
me. Even last night as we drove
back from an orphanage, I was able to see and smell the familiar glow of a
wildfire spreading up a hillside, although here, no one is around to attempt to
control the flames. And as we
retire to our house made of field stone each night and settle in bed beneath
our mosquito nets, the soft orange glow of our oil lantern dimly illuminates
and shadows this restful place I call home.
This place really feels like home to me, a blessed relief
from the cities of China and the Philippines. For a little while I’m able to rest here as God continues to
heal me from deep wounds of the past, show me that perhaps He really does care
about the desires He has placed deep in my heart, and at the same time is
stretching me as we share Jesus with these amazing people of Mbita.
