Tuesday, June 30, 2009

June News - Mary Rides a Motorbike



Hello again everybody. We are so happy to report that our Sunday Service this week was one to remember. For quite some time we've been invited to attend church at the site of one of the Nursery Schools we started and support. It is in a village called Chedawa. When invited, I always asked "can we drive there" and the answer always came back "no", so we had not attempted it. Mary and I are strong, but in our seventies are not confident about hiking any real distance through the bush country of Africa. Finally last week we were told the villagers had made a good road to Chedawa, and had actually built a little church. So finally, even though we were skeptical, on June 28th, we agreed to go.
So off we went in the trusty Land Cruiser. The road the built was pretty good and passable until just about a half a kilometer from the village. It was obvious I could go no further without risking severe damage to the Cruiser so we got out and began walking. We only went a short way and it became obvious that Mary would need to rest. She has breathing problems somtimes and this exertion in the heat and dust of the 'bush' was getting to her. One of the pastors had a motorbike so he agreed to give Mary a ride the rest of the way if she would just hop on the back. So..... here is a picture of my darling wife, a 74 year old grandmother riding through he African bush on the back of a motorbike- you just don't see that everyday!The name of the village, CHEDAWA, has interesting origins. "Che" is Pokot for a tree whose bark is harvested for medicine. "Dawa" is Swahili for medicine. At one time, this village was known for making whisky and beer, but once the villagers found the found the Lord the whisky makers had to leave. Now, several years later a Lutheran church and our little church are there.

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