It’s Monday evening and we’re getting packed up. As usual, we seem to have accumulated a huge pile of stuff to take, but after a while chaos turns to order and the stuff all disappears into 4 cases, and the right things into our hand luggage. Need to tidy up the flat and try to get some sleep tonight, but the thought that we’ll have to be up again before 4.00am could mean that we will struggle to settle down to sleep at all!
This is actually the 6th time we’ve done this journey, Glasgow-Amsterdam-Nairobi, but it’s always gone smoothly and we quite enjoy it. We arrive at Nairobi at 2015 which is 1815 BST. Praying that we’ll go through Immigration quickly and that our multi-entry visas will still be accepted. We expect Sam to meet us and drive us to his guest house which is on the airport side of the city. On Wednesday we need to visit the Immigration office in central Nairobi to get our (missionary) work permits and the necessary stamp in our passports. Reuben, one of the leaders of Elim Kenya, will meet us there again – he has been so helpful to Terry and us through the process of applying for work permits.
On Thursday morning it’s back to the airport for the short flight to Kisumu. Mary will have organised a taxi for us so after visits to the travel agent, Immigration (hopefully to get our Alien Cards) and the supermarket, it’s a 2-hour drive along by the shore of Lake Victoria and then up the hill to Kosele.
A long journey but we look forward to seeing our friends in Kosele once again and taking up from where we left off just 3 months ago. It’s a slightly strange experience moving from this “world” in the prosperous and seemingly advanced West to our other “world” – in a poor rural community in the middle of Africa. Despite all the struggles and the problems affecting people’s lives in Kosele they have a joy that is infectious, that doesn’t rely on material possessions but on relationships, and in particular on faith and dependence on God. We are happy indeed to be going back to join them for another while.
