Crossing the Equator

One of the things that always startles me when I return home from abroad is the amount of daylight here in Canada. Often I’m home in the summer and every night I stand and marvel that the sun is still up at nine pm. When I arrived home on Thursday, it was the opposite, I looked into the darkness and marveled that it was not yet six! At the equator, the daylight never changes: there’s always 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Kenya, where I just spent three weeks, is right on the equator. In fact, during my trip I’ve crossed the equator on land for the first time.

I crossed the equator while driving from the capital city of Nairobi to the western city of Kitale. On the way, the scenery was breathtaking! And we were happy to be in a private vehicle too as that allowed us to stop and photograph the view as well as the zebra herds and baboons.

The people were just as incredible as the scenery: friendly, hospitable, and incredibly welcoming! I spent much of my time working with the kids. Since there were multiple lessons going on, the kids and their teachers often ended up in the fields. It made it just a bit more challenging to teach while avoiding the cows and their droppings.

It wasn’t just the churches that welcomed us, but also the people in the communities. On two afternoons we held open-air meetings in the market square. One old man told me, “Greet your families, greet your friends, and greet your communities from us here in Kenya. We are glad you came. Come again!” 

It was an unexpected pleasure to meet up with cousins in Nairobi as we were leaving. Rhonda Hilman and her family live in Kenya as does Heidi Knowles (Matson). Here we have six Matson cousins (four of them also being Hilman cousins) and there were two more if you count Rhonda’s kids! 

I’m now home in rainy BC...and despite the rain and the short days I'm happy that I get to be home for Christmas!

Come to Kenya!

Well, it didn’t take me long to get behind on this blog again! I spent most of the month of October in South Africa. When I left, I decided to stop by and visit in the UK for one week. My cousin Stewart and his wife Mimi live there with their little daughter Sophie. I stopped by to visit them and got in on Sophie’s first birthday party and then I borrowed Stew’s car and drove to Scotland to visit some very good friends from Bangkok: Jane and Mike Fucella and daughters Rachel and Aylie. After a week in the UK, I returned to New Hampshire and I spent most of November there, except for a quick trip to North Carolina for their Fall Services.  Now, however, I am in Kenya! 

I left for Kenya last Monday with John Ruotsala and Julie Matson. We met Dennis Hilman here and were then joined by Terri-Ann Hilman. We were all disappointed when Maija Lampinen had to drop out of the trip at the last minute because she got bronchitis. She is doing better now and we thank God for that! 

We spent one day in Nairobi which included ministering at several churches there in the slums. The services were supposed to be at one and three, but because of traffic it was closer to four and six! The traffic really is terrible in Nairobi! 

On Thursday we jumped in a matatu (minibus) and headed for Kitale where we have been for the last few days. We have been attending a large youth conference here under the direction of Pastor Timothy. It started Thursday night and has just ended this evening. 

The conference has been amazing. We’ve all been humbled by the depth of understanding these people have and the hunger they have for the Word. During the conference we had some time together and other times we split and different team members worked with groups such as the pastors, the women, the youth, and the children. The largest group was, of course, the youth as this was a youth conference but there were still lots of people  in the other groups of well.

Here are a few more pictures from the Youth Conference: