Updates, Prayer Request, Cultural Lessons

Hamjambo (hello to you all)!

First some updates:

The last few days we have been busy with our orientation and acclimation to Kenya and Kenyan culture. We are still fighting a bit of jet-lag (especially the boys who seem to have given up nap time). Last night we all slept well, but we will see how today goes. The guest house where we are staying is full full (word repetition in Swahili is a way to emphasize something). There are lots of people who are ending month-long or summer-long mission projects staying in the guesthouse, so with all of the commotion, we think that is affecting the boys some. On the bright side we are thankful to meet so many people with so many different experiences from all over the world. It has been great!

We are actually cold (relatively speaking). Since we arrived we've had one sunny day, otherwise we've had cloudy skies and each day has been cool (highs in the low 60s). Nice, but we did not bring enough warm clothes for our stay in Nairobi (we were expecting lows in the 60s not highs in the 60s). Interesting to be so close to the equator and to be so chilly. We will be happy to be in Machakos and have access to the warm clothes we packed.

Isaiah's rash is gone! We will try to post a photo of it later when we have good internet connections (part of a full guest house means lots of internet traffic - slowing the connection WAY down).

Jenny and Todd have been busy with orientation and taking care of our children. We are doing lots of learning and meeting all kinds of new people. Yesterday Jenny, Isaiah, and Nathanael, were able to go to the Elephant Orphanage here in Nairobi. They saw lots of baby elephants who have been orphaned (for whatever reason). They were there for feeding time which was very cool. According to Jenny, "If the boy's arms were as long as mine, they could have touched the elephants." We have some fun pictures that we hope to post. Emma and Kayla we'll share them with you! Wish you could have seen it too.

Second a prayer request:

On Saturday night our mission organization African Inland Mission (AIM) had a tragedy. Part of AIM's ministry is an avaition ministry AIM AIR- Pilots fly all over the Africa doing various ministries from emergency evacuations, to medical deliveries, to documentary filming. One of those planes crashed in Nairobi Saturday night. The reasons for the crash are still unknown. The pilot, Frank Toeves was killed. His engineer, Ryan ?, was seriously injured and is being treated in the hospital with burns and broken bones. Frank and Ryan both have young families. This is the first pilot who has ever been killed while flying for AIM AIR. AIM would covet your prayers for them as an organization, and especialy for the families of Frank and Ryan. You can also pray for the two passengers (who were riding in the back of the plane). They were photographers taking photos of the area. Neither of them was seriously injured, and there is reason to believe neither of them are followers of Christ. We are praying that they might come to Christ even as a result of this tragedy.

Finally cultural lessons:

Jenny and I are spending between 1 and 2 hours each day with Ezekiel who is teaching us kiswahili. It is stretching and challenging. We have two major advantages 1) the alphabet is the same as the English alphabet, except that Kiswahili does not use x or q. 2) All of the vowel sounds are identical to the vowel sounds in Spanish - so the words are easy to pronounce for both Jenny and me. One thing we are learning is the importance of people and hospitality. That is evidenced in the long Kiswahili greetings. As Ezekiel says, when you greet someone it takes a long time. First you say hello, and invite the person to sit down for a chat. Then you say good morning/afternoon/evening. If you don't know them you would exchange names and likely where you are from. Then you ask about their lives - how is their home? how was their journey? how are your children? how is your spouse? - how are you? Then you might begin your "formal" conversation. I couldn't help thinking about Lord of the Rings in "The Two Towers" when the Ent says something like, "We ents don't think something is worth saying unless it takes a long time to say it." This long process of greeting emphasizes once again the importance of relationships in Kenyan culture. People are much more important than the "task." Something we North Americans need to learn about.

We've also made our first (of what will be many) cultural blunders. When we were introduced in Church on Sunday I announced that Jenny was pregnant. Something that is almost never spoken about in public in Kenya. Kenyans are very private about anything and everything that has to do with sexuality. (As another example when our house help does the wash we must not ask her to wash our undergarments because those are considered too private - we must wash those ourselves). So until a woman actually has the baby, almost no one talks about the pregnancy. If they say anything they will say, "she is heavy." It will be strange not talking about the pregnancy we are so excited about, unless we are at the doctor or with other muzungu (foreigners).

We've also been learning about hospitality. Hospitality is central in Kenyan culture. When they are home, most Kenyans leave their front door open. When someone comes to visit (which often happens unannounced) they will always be invited in and offered tea and biscuts. They will then remain in the home until they are "released." The seriousness with wich Kenyans take hospitality reminds me of the central role hospitality plays in the Old Testament. It wil be a stretch for us to be so open and communal with our way of life, but it will be very good for us to practice hospitality and to consider others better than ourselves.

We do love you all and appreciate your prayers.