Happy New Year

As we celebrated the New Year last night my thoughts reflected back to the same time last year. Rushing to the hospital in Mbita at 11:00 pm to find one of our students vomiting blood and going into convulsions. Jumping into my vehicle at midnight to drive an hour and a half on a dangerous stretch of road to rush him to the nearest district hospital. Praying and Praying and Praying for his life before I was given the opportunity to try and save it by donating my blood for an emergency transfusion. Feeling like God was going to use me to save a young boys life only to hear the wailing across the hospital as the boy passed away. I haven't thought much about those events recently until last night. It seems like ages ago. It is amazing all that takes place in the course of a year, yet at the same time it goes so fast!

There was a much better start to this year. I walked to church with Mourine Ooro, Willis and Rozeline and their family around 9:00 and we enjoyed bringing in the New Year African Pentecostal style with our family of believers. It was similar to a normal Sunday service with prayer, preaching (loudly), testimonies and a lot of great praise and worship that included much dancing. Different than the other New Year's celebration I have had in the past!

I was a little concerned at first when the sermon was extending past two hours and the countdown was approaching. The preaching abrubtly stopped, but then they turned on the little radio and put a microphone up to it so that we could "join" a crusade" that was happening in another part of Kenya. Even though the radio preacher was speaking English I couldn't understand what he was saying and I can't remember there being any countdown or "official" New Year's moment. Some people were listening, some were praying, some were talking to themselves. I was really confused, but then about 10 minutes after the New Year the Praise and Worship team returned to the front and we really celebrated for a couple of hours!

No tradition American College football Bowl games for me on this New Year's Day, but I am sure there will be some soccer watching going on this afternoon at some point!