I was supposed to be leaving Kitale to go to Uganda on Monday, but Pastor David in Uganda called to say that they were having some problems with the car, so could we come on Tuesday instead, so Monday became a day off. This was a blessing, as our King of Glory Ministries board meeting was being held back in Australia, and through the wonder of a WhatsApp video call I was able to join in. It was soooo good to be able to see the girls and be part of what is happening back home. (I love WhatsApp. People had been telling me about it for years and saying I should get it, but I had resisted not thinking that it would be any use. I was wrong. This amazing little app allows me to keep in contact, no matter where I am.)
One of the items from the board meeting was the acceptance of four new affiliated pastors into our Apostolic Network, two from Kenya, one from Tanzania and our first one from Ivory Coast. The acceptance of new affiliates involves quite a bit of paperwork – their details have to be entered into both our database and our prayer list of affiliated pastors; they (and their referees, if they have agreed to it) have to be entered into our mailing list; they have to be listed on our “Meet Our Pastors” page on our web site; if they are on WhatsApp they have to be added to our KOGMI Pastors chat group; a Certificate of Affiliation has to be created for them; and they have to be notified by email (remembering to attach the Certificate.) Doing all that for our four new pastors took me around four hours.
On Tuesday it was time to leave Kitale, and Adams’ home, for now. I will be back in three months time, for the last two weeks of April before returning home.
The compound where Adams lives would be roughly equivalent to two large suburban blocks at home. Like most homes in Kenya, it is surrounded by high fences and a high, locked gate. Security is a major issue here. Within the compound are Adams’ house, a small hut where his father lives (by choice), pens for cows and several other sheds. The house is home to Adams, Mary and their three children, as well as several other helpers and assorted guests, and one small and very cute cat. The yard houses three cows (there were nine, but Adams recently had to give six of them as a much-belated dowry for Mary), several sheep, one goat (that was supposed to be Christmas dinner, but was rescued by the kids), numerous chickens and a few dogs.
The last few days have been very busy for Adams and Mary, as all the kids are moving to new schools – Judah into high school, Abbie into junior secondary, and Marcie to a new high school. Both Judah and Abbie will be going to boarding schools, which for reasons I don’t quite understand is a normal thing here. Everything is dependent upon exam results – those who do well are offered places in the best schools, whilst those who don’t do so well have to hunt for a school that will accept them. Fortunately both Judah and Abbie did very well, so had their choice of schools.
With all that finally sorted, we left Kitale at 11am to drive to the Ugandan border. A fairly easy drive, until we were within around 20kms of the border. Then we encountered the line up of trucks waiting to be processed, taking up the whole of the outward lane and forcing other traffic in both directions to use the single lane heading back into Kenya. There were a few hairy moments as we dodged trucks and busses coming back from Uganda, whose drivers were not happy about sharing their lane.
As we approached the border I was a little apprehensive, as the crossing last time was an extremely unpleasant experience, but this time there was none of that drama. We arrived at the border around 2, and were through by 2.30. Then we found a cafe to have lunch and wait for David to meet us. We waited. And waited. Mary and Abbie went of window shopping. I played a lot of Mahjong on my phone. Finally Pastor David arrived around 6, having been further delayed by the car problems. It was then a further two hour drive to Iganga, where I will be ministering for the next three days. The people from the church insisted that we go there first, as they had prepared a welcome meal for us, but because of our being delayed many of them had gone home before we arrived. I had to disappoint them by telling them that I don’t eat at night, only breakfast and lunch, but David and his wife were hungry as they had not had lunch, so they made short work of the meal.