Out in Africa

Hello All,

We have taken a few days off and are staying at the Stocksdale’s cabin in Naivasha (miss you Mom)!  It is so nice to get away.  But, looks like we are stuck here for at least a little bit.  It has been raining every day for a while now and last night it rained all night long.  We were scheduled to go into Naivasha town to the market to buy some shoes for the boys.  They are down to 1 pair each and I loosely call what they have on their feet now shoes!  As we drove here on Thursday, the road was passable but just barely.  The mud is so slick and the one lane road has a pretty high crown on it making you slide down into the ditch on the side.  We got through with the 4WD Prado, but with all the recent rain the bridge to get here is now flooded.  We started walking back towards the highway this morning around 9:30 to deliver a boy that was staying with us to his family.  We reached the highway (about 5 miles away) in about 2 hours.  It was only the first two miles or so that were tough walking, then it got much better.  We made it back to the cabin safely and will probably have to stay until it is dry for at least 8 hours or so.  We are so blessed to be able to come here and decompress for a bit.  It is a beautiful spot and I can’t think of a prettier place to be stuck!  As long as the food holds out we will be good!

Sallie Chris and Trevor at the "Internet Cafe"

Chris working for his dinner

Trevor also working for his dinner

Jullie, relaxing and playing

Sallie and Me after a walk up the hill

where we walked up the hill (you can see us at the top)!

 

We really did need to get away for a bit.  The kids go back to school in 2 weeks so we are taking the opportunity while it is here.  My title on last week’s blog was “I hate it when I’m right.”  That is still the running joke and is an ongoing phenomena!

Water Supply Project:   We are still fighting to get the water supply routed to the hospital tanks.  Supply issues and politics are getting in the way.  Please pray that we will succeed.

TB Clinic:  The contractor was here again to lay out the project.  He did not get it right the first time and just as we were driving out of town he had it finished and wanted us to come approve it!  Jim would not let us stop (right answer) so we left it to our colleague to sort out. 

Bethany Kids Wing:  The contractor has still not provided the new timeline, materials are still hard to get, the site agent did not return to work and the rains are pretty severe right now.  I think that says it all.

 

New Fuel Tank:  The tank is still turned over in the enclosure and floating.  We spent about 1 ½ hours in a meeting this week sorting out the problems and trying to come up with solutions.  This is problem solving at its best!  We did not come to a clear decision but we are getting closer.  Hopefully, by next week’s blog post we can say that it is in position and we are getting it buried properly.  It is extremely close to the generator building foundation and we are a bit worried that it will have an effect on that.

Sanitation Project:  We are almost finished with the piping system that we started back in July.  As soon as that is done we are at an all stop until we get the go ahead to do the oxidation pits that will contain the sewage for the number of days required for it to degrade to something safe to push down the hill.  We had a big meeting last week to come up with some solutions for breaking down the projects into manageable chunks.  We are praying that we will get the go ahead soon to move forward on that project. 

Upendo Village:  This is the HIV/AIDS outreach in Naivasha where we are helping with a new project.  They had a flash flood come through last Tuesday just before we arrived for a meeting.  A part of the wall was taken down and the back end of the property was flooded out causing damage to the underground water storage tank and the animal pens.  All the chickens died but the goats and the dog were OK.  They are looking at starting their project in July.  We had a meeting with the architect to get things rolling with picking a contractor.  Things went well at the meeting as we are moving forward with selecting a contractor, but they were all a bit worried about the flood damage.

Part of the walll that came down

 

As you can see from these updates, we are having a bit of a hard time.  We have to take it as it is and deal with each situation as it comes.  God it teaching us patience and “stick to it ness!”  We came here knowing that God had a use for us.  We are helping where we can, but it feels like sometimes it is just not enough.  Every time I go by the Bethany Kids Ward and see some of the kids that they are helping it renews my soul and I see really why we are here.  It takes so much time but it is all worth it.  I read a short book by Jon Acuff this week called the Hater Handbook.  There was a quote that I liked and it went like this:

“Chase your dreams because that is how you’re uniquely made, not because you want approval or want to prove somebody wrong.”

I love this.  We didn’t come here to prove something to anyone (even ourselves).  We are uniquely made by our Lord and have a purpose to serve.  And this is how we are doing it.  People may approve of it or not, but it doesn’t matter.  When you are where He wants you to be, there is no better place!

I am off to the “internet café” now to get this posted.  This is a bench up on a hill nearby where I can get a signal.  Please keep us in your prayers this week as we get back to work on Monday.  We are heading out again for 2 days next week to go to the Abadares.  We hope to see elephants there and some other cool things before the kids head back to school.

Me at the internet cafe

Prayer Requests:

1.    Water supply project – that we can connect the water and get a contract signed with the company that will supply us. 

2.    TB Clinic – that it will be a blessing to the hospital and the building will go up with out too many issues.

3.    Bethany Kids Wing – We still have 15 months before we leave here for good (July of 2014).  The original timeline was for a 15 month build.  Please pray that things will come together and they will be able to finish the project within the next year.

4.    Fuel tank project – that it gets resolved quickly and the foundation of the generator building is not affected (and no one gets hurt).

5.    Upendo Village – that they will recover from the flood damage.

6.    Please pray that we will be able to drive out of here on Monday and get back to town.

7.    Please pray that we will all follow His calling in our lives and not seek the approval of man (nor listen to the disapproval) as we serve Him.

In His Hands,

Jullie T.