Timing Belt…Yeah I Guess We Need That or Christmas in July
July 7, 2014
We were on the road again this morning at exactly 8:00 which turned into exactly 9:30 due to a broken timing belt in Enosh’s vehicle. We had plenty of time to scour the supermarket’s shelves for all of the toothpaste they had which included a free toothbrush in the box. We ended up with 165 toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste as well as a 120 page notebook to go along with each one. We had them all neatly stacked by tens in our cart only to see our handiwork demolished at the checkout when everything was scanned 4, 7, 11, or 3 at a time. They just did it “anyhowly.” With everything boxed up and ready to go, we still had about an hour to wait for the repair of the timing belt. We took the smooth and then very not smooth road through Ogembo, Kenyenya, and finally to our destination of St. David’s KINSHIP School in Etago. The students greeted us with a chorus of “Welcome, welcome, our visitors, we are happy to see you!.” Assembling in the main hall we were introduced to the teachers, administrators, and pupils. They regaled us with a local song entitled “Entoito” (I think…the Kisii language is tough.) Since we were late in coming to the school, we quickly heard the school test results from the previous year and the “wish list” for the coming year. Among such wishes were a swing set, a see saw, new doors, etc. The list goes on. The distribution of gifts was also done quickly before sending the students home for lunch. With only the teachers present I opened with a devotion and proceeded to give them an exam on the catechism. It was received with much trepidation, but I assured them that we would have the joy of investigating the Word for all the answers. Lunch at Joshua’s place was a steaming pile of rice with beans and pineapple on the side while also correcting exams. When we reconvened, the students were lingering in the area where our teacher seminars were taking place and insisted that they be taught something from the visitors. I gladly obliged (who could say ‘no’ to those faces) and we reviewed the story of Jairus’ daughter raised from death as from sleep by the powerful and compassionate Lord Jesus, in His own good time. We launched back into the teacher seminar ready to tackle all those unanswered questions. As usual I took more time than was allowed and encouraged the teachers to press on for the sake of these dear children. Tomorrow Sherm will be given the chance to share his presentation on “Moralizing” or rather, how to avoid moralizing in Bible teaching as well as finishing our review of the Catechism exam. Lord willing, we don’t have any vehicle troubles, we’ll be back in the morning with more seminar time than we were afforded today. Reaching the hotel at around 5 I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Samuel, the tailor and local pastor. We had a fine time catching up as we always do. Hand-picked Bible passage of the day is Deuteronomy (or Kumbukumbu in Swahili) 31:8 “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do no fear or be dismayed.”