It's Not All Adventure And Romance

December 12

Having arrived back at our hotel in Nairobi has given us time to reflect. We've overcome some pretty challenging times so far.

Jim put his back out a few days after we arrived at Garissa. After waiting to see how he would recover, we finally had to opt out of the planned trip to the refugee camp at Dadab to see the newly formed Bible school our church is supporting. From our previous experience, we knew the road to Dadab is barely a road and we just couldn't risk Jim's back any further.

A day or two later, Jim woke up almost completely covered in a rash or insect bites that tormented him with a terrible itch for about 4 days. He did so well not to scratch.

And, as if this wasn't enough, we both came down with a pretty serious bout of travelers' diarrhea. I was confined to bed for two days and poor Jim was trying to look after me between his own issues.

We tried to get a prescription from the local clinic we had brought supplies to, but couldn't get it filled at the pharmacy because everything was closed. The Muslims were celebrating a religious holiday, I think called Idd or Idd-Ul-Adhha, known in English as the Festival of Sacrifice to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his only son as an act of obedience to God.

While we're so very grateful to have completed our mission and reconnect with our friends and project work, we are also very grateful to have gotten back to Nairobi in relatively good health.

Mission work is not always easy, but despite the challenges we move forward, trying not to complain and stay thankful.

We will rest and have decided to go ahead with our planned personal holiday side trip. We look forward to a 3-day safari trip to Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve. Details when we get home!

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