Yes, We’re in Africa!

Yes, I know, it has been almost 3 weeks since we left, and I am just now writing. We are here. Hopefully you have been reading up on Josh’s website and have an idea about what’s going on. But in case you haven’t here is my version of the story

We travelled for over 85 hrs before we made it to our first destination, Mbale, Uganda. We stayed with Ian and Danetta Shelburne and their 7 kids! while in Mbale. Ian and the team in Mbale run a Bible school there called MTI (Messiah Theological Institute) and we were asked to teach a course for them. So the day after we arrived, May 22, we split into two groups; Justin Hanes and Justin Gibson went to one village, and Josh and I went to Kodeidei, a small village about an hour and a half’s drive from Mbale. You can see some of the pictures on “Flickr” (the pictures to the right of the screen). While in Kodeidei we stayed with a family and taught the church there. We had about 35 students ranging in age from early 20’s to some old folks. We taught an exegetical study of the Letter of James. The first day I taught the introduction to the letter which lasted 4hrs with a translator! 4 hours of standing in a wood and mud building teaching the introduction! It was fun but exhausting! The next day we basically walked through the letter breaking it down into different sections which Josh and I taught in rotation. We taught for 7hrs that day with an hour break for lunch in between. You may have also seen the pictures of the children with the soccer balls we brought. Every time there was a break we played a chaotic game of soccer/volleyball. The people were so nice and so hospitable – they seriously have an unbelievable style of hospitality, one that we could learn from in the States. The people we stayed with only had two beds (a family of 5) and the insisted that Josh and I take them both while they slept on dirt floors, and they served us only the best food they had. The people were awesome, the class was exhausting but good and the children were so beautiful!

For the rest of our time in Mbale we did random things like travel to a village for a lesson about pastors, take a trip out to Sipi falls (which are also in the pictures) with some good friends (Audra and Becca), and let our bodies adjust to the 8hr time difference. The people in Mbale are great and we had some very refreshing fellowship with them.

We left Mbale on May 31st and took a matatu (van taxi) to the border of Kenya (it cost about $4 a person for an hour ride). And after receiving our passports we took another van to a town called Bungoma where Jared Odhiambo, the director of Ringroad Orphans Day School in Kisumu, Kenya, picked us up. He drove us for almost 3 hours on some amazing roads to Kisumu (if you know anything about Kenya you know how badly I’m lying . We have been in Kisumu for 3 days now and it is so awesome! The school is a lot of fun, they have 350 something students in primary school, many of whom are orphans from losing their parents to AIDS. The first day we came to school they told us we were going to teach “anything you want from the Bible”; we had about 3 minutes to prepare. And of course I was placed with the youngest kids in the school who don’t speak English very well, so we needed a translator. I taught them about Abraham’s journey of learning to see that God is faithful to his promises – I think they got it. They looked kind of bored even though I was trying to make it interesting, I think they just had trouble understanding me. But they got very excited at the end when we reviewed and each person that answered correctly got a piece of candy. This confirmed that they had superior memorization skills and could pay attention even with their eyes rolling in the back of their heads

Kisumu ni tamu.

We are planning to teach in the school most days we are here, we also have a 3day VBS planned for the kids, and a seminar planned for the church leaders in the area which will of course be over James.

We are enjoying our time so far, Africa is so beautiful, even with the many difficulties the people of East Africa face, the Lord is working here and revealing himself to every tribe, tongue, and nation. Keep us in your prayers as we journey with the people of East Africa and try to reflect God and see God in the many ways he reveals himself to us.

Mungu aku bariki (God bless you),

Chad