Living in Kenya is a paradox for me. Sometimes I love it and sometimes not so much. But I think that is true for all of us, whereever we live.
Friday was not the best day for me. After sleeping for only 3 hours Thursday night I was awoken by a noise and couldn't get back to sleep. I was already a little jet-lagged, but I laid in bed for an hour and a half in an unfruitful attempt to induce sleep. Luckily, there was a football game on TV at 4:30 am (time difference between Kenya and U.S.) so I laid on the couch and watched a little. Realizing sleep was not going to happen again, I got ambitous and tried to call a customer service line in America to help me with my new Kindle e-book reader (parent's Christmas present). Well that was quite a joy to spend 15 minutes on hold and then a pleasant 30 minute conversation (on international rates) hearing about all the extra charges for trying to use the 3G downloading function overseas for my subscriptions to magazines and newspapers.
By 7:30 I set off to
meet our boys football team who was competing in a tournament in Sindo, 20 km away. Unfortunately, the other vehicle had a dead battery (because the owner had used it to watch TV in his house all night) so I had to jumpstart him so that we can bring the whole team to Sindo. Even though the roads were quite muddy and slippery from the morning rain, we reached well, but the other vehicle got a flat tire just outside of Mbita. Believe it or not, they had no spare tire (frequent occurrence in Kenya). So after dropping my group I had to go back to pick up the other players and the bad tire. We arrived just in time for kick-off but I think the events of the morning played a toll on the kids and they got beat 4-1.
I had to quickly rush back to Mbita for a meeting with the leadership at CGA at noon. The meeting was pretty uneventful, and was followed by two more meetings, now with the parents of our secondary students in the sponsorship program. It turned out to be a pretty typical Kenya meeting, lasting about 4 1/2 hours. Everyone has to give their opinion and then open it up for in-depth discussion. Some were good, some were not.
After the meetings, many students and several parents were waiting to share personal problems with me. The family of one of our boys was kicked out of their house and off their land because the father had sold it before he died without telling one. Others wanted to discuss switching schools or their fee problems or other things I shouldn't write about in this blog. By the time I started walking home, it was already getting dark outside.
When reaching home, I realized my sitting room light barely gave out enough light for me to see my own hand. Having wasted hours and hours previously with the solar lights and fixtures, I decided to leave that job for another day. So I lit a candle and a lantern. That wasn't the best idea because they attracted all of the mosquitos and lake flies which seemed to fixate on my face. Soon after, the rain began pouring down and eventually through my roof and in many spots throughout the house.
Tired, hungry and at my wits end, I gave up and decided to go to bed. On my way to bed, I spotted a rather large mouse in my pantry. My reflexes are deteriorating in my old age so I was unsuccessful trying to catch it. Defeated, I strugged to set up some peanut butter (my least favorite food in the world) on a few mouse traps and place them around the house.
I finally plopped down in my bed and just started spilling my heart out to God in the dark of the night. I don't know if it was jet lag, or the 3 hours of sleep the night before, or just cross-cultural frustrations, but I felt totally downhearted. Just a couple of minutes into my prayer time, I heard the snap of a mouse trap. That sound brought so much joy to my heart. I just shouted outloud "Praise God!" My prayers of frustration turned into prayers of gratitude and joy for how good God is to me. I felt like he was telling me, "Don't worry Joe, I have you taken care of. I know exactly what you need and will meet those needs according to my glorious riches."
Thank you God! And thank you stupid mouse!
Friday was not the best day for me. After sleeping for only 3 hours Thursday night I was awoken by a noise and couldn't get back to sleep. I was already a little jet-lagged, but I laid in bed for an hour and a half in an unfruitful attempt to induce sleep. Luckily, there was a football game on TV at 4:30 am (time difference between Kenya and U.S.) so I laid on the couch and watched a little. Realizing sleep was not going to happen again, I got ambitous and tried to call a customer service line in America to help me with my new Kindle e-book reader (parent's Christmas present). Well that was quite a joy to spend 15 minutes on hold and then a pleasant 30 minute conversation (on international rates) hearing about all the extra charges for trying to use the 3G downloading function overseas for my subscriptions to magazines and newspapers.
By 7:30 I set off to
meet our boys football team who was competing in a tournament in Sindo, 20 km away. Unfortunately, the other vehicle had a dead battery (because the owner had used it to watch TV in his house all night) so I had to jumpstart him so that we can bring the whole team to Sindo. Even though the roads were quite muddy and slippery from the morning rain, we reached well, but the other vehicle got a flat tire just outside of Mbita. Believe it or not, they had no spare tire (frequent occurrence in Kenya). So after dropping my group I had to go back to pick up the other players and the bad tire. We arrived just in time for kick-off but I think the events of the morning played a toll on the kids and they got beat 4-1.I had to quickly rush back to Mbita for a meeting with the leadership at CGA at noon. The meeting was pretty uneventful, and was followed by two more meetings, now with the parents of our secondary students in the sponsorship program. It turned out to be a pretty typical Kenya meeting, lasting about 4 1/2 hours. Everyone has to give their opinion and then open it up for in-depth discussion. Some were good, some were not.
After the meetings, many students and several parents were waiting to share personal problems with me. The family of one of our boys was kicked out of their house and off their land because the father had sold it before he died without telling one. Others wanted to discuss switching schools or their fee problems or other things I shouldn't write about in this blog. By the time I started walking home, it was already getting dark outside.
When reaching home, I realized my sitting room light barely gave out enough light for me to see my own hand. Having wasted hours and hours previously with the solar lights and fixtures, I decided to leave that job for another day. So I lit a candle and a lantern. That wasn't the best idea because they attracted all of the mosquitos and lake flies which seemed to fixate on my face. Soon after, the rain began pouring down and eventually through my roof and in many spots throughout the house.
Tired, hungry and at my wits end, I gave up and decided to go to bed. On my way to bed, I spotted a rather large mouse in my pantry. My reflexes are deteriorating in my old age so I was unsuccessful trying to catch it. Defeated, I strugged to set up some peanut butter (my least favorite food in the world) on a few mouse traps and place them around the house.
I finally plopped down in my bed and just started spilling my heart out to God in the dark of the night. I don't know if it was jet lag, or the 3 hours of sleep the night before, or just cross-cultural frustrations, but I felt totally downhearted. Just a couple of minutes into my prayer time, I heard the snap of a mouse trap. That sound brought so much joy to my heart. I just shouted outloud "Praise God!" My prayers of frustration turned into prayers of gratitude and joy for how good God is to me. I felt like he was telling me, "Don't worry Joe, I have you taken care of. I know exactly what you need and will meet those needs according to my glorious riches."
Thank you God! And thank you stupid mouse!
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