Kenya 2013 - Day 8

The morning of day 8 I was very excited because we were heading to Chokichok, the trip I've been anticipating long before arriving in Kenya. We spent the morning worshiping with the church. When we arrived the building was overflowing with people.

All the children sat on the ground in the front of the building

I loved listening to everyone clap and sing praises. The choir did two different songs complete with some spectacular dancing. They were great!

Bill shared another great message about hope and Erus translated for him. I really enjoyed listening to Erus read Scripture in Turkana.

It is pretty safe to say I enjoyed everything about worshiping with our brothers and sisters in Chokichok. (Yes, including the heat!) After the message and a couple songs the church brought their offerings.

The church asked Bill to introduce all of us and then they decided they wanted to give us all a Turkana name. This is a great honor because it is a sign that we have been welcomed into their community and we are like family. A member of the church who is around the same age or stage of life is selected to give you your name. I was given the name Lokaale, which means flood or rushing water...I think.

Prior to our trip we asked our students and alumni to help us purchase school uniforms for the students in the Chokichok school. At the end of service we presented those uniforms, prayed over them and the students, and passed them out so students would be all ready for school the next day.

After service we took a quick tour of the school and spent some time trying to stay cool in the limited shade. Jeff and I taught the kids some simple games and they taught us a few as well. It wasn't long before we were surrounded by our new friends. All of us girls also received handmade bracelets and necklaces from our sisters in the church. The girl who gave me my jewelery was also named Sarah.

We walked to Erus's house after church and grabbed a quick snack before our road trip. Erus decided he wanted to take us to Lake Turkana so we would have a chance to relax and rest and see a really big lake! His children, Little Bill and Madi, came along with us. That trip was a great adventure. Big Bill did a great job driving through the dessert where the road often disappeared.

Big Bill and Little Bill are best buddies

Can you find the road?

Madi sat next to me in the car and tried to tell me all sorts of things but the only think I understood was when she was trying to teach me the Turkana word for goat, which I evidently was never able to say correctly. I may have been really bad at the language bit but our trip was long enough Madi became my little buddy. She started doing everything I did, including wearing one of my headbands. We were all a little surprised a just how refreshing it was to wade in the lake's warm water. We rested well and bought some Cokes before we started the journey back to Chokichok.

On our drive home we stopped to look at the stars. One thing I've always wanted to do that I was sure would never happen was to see the Southern Cross constellation and everyone quickly looked for it as soon as we got out of the car. There it was!!!!  I was so excited. I'm not even going to begin to explain to you how incredible that sight was. There wasn't a single patch of sky that wasn't covered with beautiful stars. As I stood there staring and the magnificent creation, Madi grabbed my hand and stared with me. For me it was an incredibly sacred moment, a moment of worship. My heart was overflowing and then God kept pouring into it.

But I'll save the rest of day eight's story for tomorrow!