June 15, 2011
7:54 pm Kenya time
There are moments in your life when you know even as they are being lived that they will forever become a part of your collective experience and memory. Today was one of the those days! After visiting two schools earlier in the morning we made our way to a drought ridden region named Linayru. I recognized the name from my two previous trips and remembered my experiences there well. Actually both of those trips to this church were the highlights of my previous trips to Kenya. This church is extremely poor and is located in an out of the way place where a long drought has made a tough situation even worse. As we started toward the church from the last school we visited we stopped by a local food vendor and purchased large bags of rice, meal, and flour for the people there. Starvation is an everyday reality for many of the people in this church. We were scheduled to arrive at the church at 12:00 noon but were delayed and ended up getting there around 2:00 pm. Now you and I both know what would have happened had we been that late in our country. No one would have waited and the parking lot would have been empty and the church doors locked. Not so in Linayru!
Not only were they waiting for us they were waiting for us at the beginning of the long drive from the road to the church. As we approached they recognized the Bishop's truck and they began to wave, and dance, and sing. We could here them singing as we went through the gate. As we approached the church we drove by the school which housed around 200 children and youth and they began to run towards our vehicles. As we exited our vehicles they were all around us touching us and welcoming us while we listened to the singing in the background as the singers began to walk up the road toward us. It was simply breathtaking! There are no words to describe such an experience of being welcomed by so many in such a way. The children were all over us laughing, waving, and reaching out to touch us. It was wonderfully amazing.
After 30 minutes or so of taking pictures and exchanging welcomes we went into the church for a late lunch and the program. Their hospitality was so gracious. Their touch, their smiles, their words made each of us feel as though we were home at a place we had been many times before. They ushered us through the line for the meal first and waited on us hand and foot. They attended to our every need always smiling and making you feel as though they were genuinely pleased and happy that we had come to be with them. After a great meal we were then led into a most incredible welcome by the leaders of the congregation and the synod. It was most sacred and very special as they kept clapping at every introduction as though we had just won an academy award. There was a joy in the spirit that made you feel at ease and loved even though for several of our group it was their first time to visit this special place and these special people.
At the conclusion of the program they began to sing again as we made our way to the vehicles. They circled up at the back of the church and began to join hands and dance and sing from their souls. I have never experienced anything like it. As we joined in we just celebrated and joyfully lived the moment. God's spirit of love, humility, and joy was palpable. We finally made our way to the vehicles escorted by them as they continued to sing to us and to God. We climbed into our vehicles and began to drive down the driveway to the gate, the road, and beyond. They ran beside us, waved, and continued to sing us on our way. Even as I attempt to describe the experience I feel a sense of frustration because these words just don't do the experience justice. I have never been welcomed like this in my 55 years of living! I will never forget them, the singing, the joy, the children, the laughter, the dancing, the welcome, the gratefulness, the community, the love and presence of God! God was most present today in that place of drought, desperation, hunger, and uncertainty. You would have never known that many of them did not know where their next meal would come from. They just somehow didn't focus on that, at least for this day! They focused on God and God's presence just carried us all to a sense of community that was so real and so powerful. Because of them and their sense and practice of the presence of God it was a day I will always remember! Today they taught me much about living life regardless of circumstances! It is a lesson I pray to God I will not soon forget!
I will see you on the road,
Travis
