Two days of Orientation at CRWRC, Feb 17 & 18

Thursday 19 Feb 09

Dar and I spent two days this week in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Our heads are swimming from all the instructions, directions and meetings we had. But we left with the good feeling that there is a whole staff of people rooting for us and praying for us and we know that they are available and willing to help any time that we have questions. Now we are packed and eager to get there, although we don't look forward to the long flights. As Caleb, our grand son in Nairobi, put it so well "Come and visit us. It is only three airplane rides away" ----- Grand Rapids to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Nairobi. It sounds easier that way but it's still a long trip.

Today we packed and weighed over and over to get the maximum amount in each piece of luggage. Tonight we went to Fricano's Pizza one last time because it will be a few months before we get to go there again. Dawn, our daughter in Nairobi, misses Friocano's pizza so much that she once asked us to take a pizza over with us. I wonder how that would have gone through customs.

The cold windy weather today makes us more eager to get to the warmer climate in Kenya, although we'd both take zero degree temperatures with wind and snow over the daily 100 degree temperatures of Turkana. We actually do look foward to seeing Turkana again. I have a very vivid picture in my mind from the last time we were there. We went over a bridge which was over a dry river bed. Only a few feet from the bridge was a group of Turkana herdsmen scooping up pails of water from a hole that had been dug in the river bed. The pails full of water were being handed up to herdsmen who were pouring the water into troughs for a herd of camels to drink from. About 100 yards away was a herd of cows with herdsmen waiting for their turn and behind them was a herd of goats. It instantly reminded me of the bibical scenes described where herds were being watered the same way thousands of years ago. It was if time has stood still in that part of the world. This time I hope to get pictures of that scene. It was just south of Lodwar where we will be going.

Prayer Request

Darlene and I request your prayer support for our upcoming CRWRC assignment to Kenya, Africa. We will be traveling to the CRC office in Burlington, Ontario in Canada this coming week to receive three days of orientation. We expect to fly to Kenya on February 20. The assignment continues until June 20. The primary responsibility of this assignment is to distribute food to the Turkana people in Northern Kenya who have been suffering from draught and famine. Our daughter Dawn lived in the Turkana area in 1998 and 1999. We traveled with Dawn to the two cities that we will be working in.