3 Years
3 Years. That’s how long we’ve been living in Germany now. It’s a very surreal kind of thing to think about. While we feel like we’re still newbies living here, living in the US seems so distant and kind of long ago. Even Alex, who has the memory of an elephant, is forgetting things about life in the US. We are truly beginning to call and think about Germany as our home.
While in Kenya, I was wearing a “North Carolina” t-shirt, that a short-term mission team had brought me, and a family walked by and yelled, “North Carolina! We’re from North Carolina too!” Weirdly, I answered in German out of habit and they gave some really strange looks as they continued on past me. The German man who I was talking with at the time (which is why I probably responded in German) just laughed and asked me, “When was the last time you were there?” (referring to North Carolina). It’s been a year and a half – the only time we’ve been stateside in the last 3 years.
Things have really changed in so many ways. We know that the town we used to live in is very different with new shopping centers, restaurants and stuff since we left. Our home church has doubled or more in size since we left. Alex’s friends are 3 years older (which is a huge difference at their ages). Our friend’s kids are 3 years older. People have changed jobs, graduated from schools, gotten married, moved away, etc. Friends have new friends who we don’t know. People have changed. We have changed. Alex is 3 years older (now 9 years old). He’s reading and has an awesome sense of humor. Krista and I have grown in our relationship, in our spiritual lives, and in our perspectives of how to look at this world we live in.
Even my computer skills have expanded greatly with the different challenges before us. Even technology is in a very different place than 3 years ago. One shocker for me is to see my mom sending me emails and to hear that she has a Kindle (electronic book reader) now. As technology expands and changes, people are trying to keep up. Churches and ministries are trying to keep up with the people and that’s where we come in. We keep up with the technology so that we can help churches and ministries keep up with the people they are trying to serve and reach. It’s all about using technology to connect people to people for the sake of making God known.
Pictures of our Trip in Kenya
Ok, let me tell you about the guy in the picture to the right. This picture was not taken with a zoom lens. He literally was that close. As we drove up to him he didn’t pay any attention to us and we were admiring how long his horn is. Then I realized that that horn was long enough to go through the door of the car we were in and at that point, he turned his head (that’s when I got the picture) and moved his back feet. That’s when my father-in-law (thinking the same thing about the horn as I was) said “Time to go!”
Kenya was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that I’m so glad I got to do and take Alex with me. The people there are great and the scenery is spectacular. The pictures I’ve uploaded are my favorites from my personal collection. When I get a few moments to go through my brother-in-law’s and father-in-law’s pictures, I may upload some of those as well.
Check out the photos of Kenya in my two photo sets in the Photo Album!
Update on Sudan in Last Post
I’m still working on putting up our pictures (coming real soon) but I just wanted to share with you an update about the incident that happened in Sudan right before we left Kenya. This is an excerpt from an email from my father-in-law:
“What is keeping us occupied now is three families – two from Ethiopia and one from Nigeria who serve with SIM in Sudan. They were evacuated to Nairobi on Friday. Their station in Sudan (Atar), was attacked at 4:00 am on Dec. 30th. Shilluk Sudanese from a nearby tribe came secretly in the night and lit the house of the Nigerian on fire – shooters standing outside to shoot the family as they tried to escape. Their grass dwelling had a plastic cover under the grass to keep the bugs and rain out. When that caught fire, it rained drops of hot melting plastic on them as they rushed to flee. The husband was badly burned. Drops of melted plastic also go the mother and one of the children. The bad guys went on to the homes of the two Ethiopian teachers and their families. Again they piled dry grass outside the house and lit fire. Then they shot bullets into the house. Amazingly none if the bullets found their mark and everyone escaped. The Nigerian ran for the Nile river and dived into the water to put out the burning plastic on his back – he is quite seriously burned but it does not seem life threatening. Anyway, all three families lost everything down to their clothes, cell phones, cameras, pots and pans – suits, everything they owned. They came out in blankets, someone lent one of them a pair of flip-flops for shoes – one came out without even a shirt.
So we are trying to care for them at the moment. The Sudan team is doing everything they can to provide immediate and long term care. There will be some serious trama care here. We had the Nigerian (XXXXXX XXXXXX) for dinner last night and had to help him to his room. On the way down he told me he cannot sleep – and has terrible dreams when he does.
These people need our prayers.
And by the way for those connected with SIM – you can made a contribution to their restoration by sending any gift to our SIM office and mark it Sudan Relief and Contingency Project # KE 82490.”
Please keep these people in your prayers as it will take a long time for their recovery and the ministry that they have so worked so hard on for the past 4 1/2 years is now burned down. Pray for those that did this that they will understand a peace in life that only comes from knowing Christ personally.
If you are interested in financially helping these families and the ministry there, you can find the information about how to donate at SIM’s Website – http://sim.org/index.php/content/donate.