Out Of Africa

Riche is on her way back to the boys. Miss her already. I guess you could say she is Out of Africa. The pici is her outside the Karen Blixen house whose book became the famous film with Robert Redford & Meryl Streep.

Kazuri Bead Factory

Kazuri is Swahili for “small and beautiful.” We stumbled upon the Kazuri Bead Factory by accident. Solo mums are hired to make awesome jewelry from Mt Kenya clay. Employment here changes the quality of their lives & that of their children. See article: Kenya’s Kazuri Bead Factory Allows Women from Kibera Slum to Build New Lives

We saw the process first hand and of course now have some beautiful jewelry.

Lent Journey 2

In the lent journal from cession|community, Tuesday’s entry about Matthew asked: Are there people you play Pharisee with? Undesirables who you avoid, marginalize or judge?

On Sunday we went to church here in Nairobi with a mission partner. After the service I stood by the newcomers table, looking at some material about the church. A man, who I assumed was a greeter, came up to me and started chatting. Before long he was sharing about a ministry and asking me to get SIM to partner (not only money of course:-). I quickly extricated myself.

Likewise, back at the guest house I struck up a conversation with a Kenyan pastor over breakfast. Before long he was asking me if we believed in helping widows, how big my church was back in NZ, and I could see him angling to ask for money. My reaction was to leave before he asked. In both cases I offered conversation and they appeared to be trying to take advantage of me. It made me angry that believers would do this

and I wanted to avoid them.

This has me thinking. What is the difference between generosity and stupidity, wisdom and miserliness? How can you tell when a need is genuine or when someone is out to rip you off? In Ecuador we faced this issue almost daily, and my response was all over the spectrum. In NZ it is not so in-your-face, but does that mean we shouldn’t grapple with it? After all we are rich in comparison to most of the world.

Lord help me to live in this tension, not judging those who present needs, but wisely listening to your voice and giving generously but not foolishly from a heart open to love. Likewise may I not be disappointed when others take the friendship offered & try to take advantage, but continue to seek conversation with others.

Work by the Pool

Work can take many forms.



Here by the pool answering emails from back in NZ. Taking a few days rest at a fantastic place called Kivi Milimani Hotel, recommended by the company that drives SIMers around Nairobi and will take us up to the conference in Brakenhurst: Elida Tours & Safari

Kirk was here

Kirk travels with us wherever we go. Here he is enjoying the company of a guard at the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya Kindaruma Guest House in Nairobi. Full Board at a reasonable price. Email: ghouse@fpfk.or.ke

So close yet so far away

Hi there.

We are in Nairobi, enjoying looking around and meeting our colleagues here.

We arrived on Friday morning hoping to visit a mission partner in Southern Sudan, but the UN has grounded flights in and out of his city. I fell pretty cut up about that, and I'm sure he is too, as his stetson hat is now closer than NZ, but still far far away:-(

We have been redeeming the time hearing about various ministries. When I have some more time I hope to post on them, either here or at no.8 wire

Lent

Never done lent before. Now attending cession | community, fantastic church that I feel is my Turangawaewae (Maori for a place to stand). See www.cession.org.nz

Decided to work on my inappropriate language during Lent. Everytime. I say a bad word I look up a passage of scripture on words. So far 3 days and 6 lookups:-( Pray that God will work on my heart 'cause our words flow from there.

What are you doing 4 Lent?