I am currently working on what will probably end up being 4 blog entries but they keep changing as I learn more about this area. Till then let me tell you about the Mercer family.
The Mercers are missionaries with World Venture who are from Irving and are friends of the Valerius, Imler and Arnold families. The missions committee met with them last fall before they returned to Kenya, which is where I met them. At the time, I said I was returning to Africa and was invited to visit them, which I did Yesterday.
Until now I have always travelled with Dan. Currently Dan is trying to get high speed internet installed and is being told that someone will arrive "tomorrow before 11, 2, by the end of the day". Such is the nature of the optimistic mind that this has been going on for 2 weeks now and each day begins with that wonderful glimmer of hope. Yesterday Dan went down to the corporate offices and gave them a piece of his mind. We still don't have high speed internet but this morning we have regained hope.
So I travelled alone. The trip was basically across town, a distance Google maps says is 27 miles. I allowed myself about 70 minutes. By the time I was on the third bus nearly an hour had passed. For the last 5+ years arriving on time has been of utmost importance so I gave Mark a call. As I sat fretting about waiting on a bus it came over me that I am now on AFRICA TIME. The Mercers have been in Africa going on 20 years and know all about Africa time. So yea, I'm now recalibrated. The trip took another hour.
Mark teaches at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology which is part of Africa International University. He teaches Hebrew in the Biblical Studies Department. I wrote all that down and if it's not right it's my fault...sorry Mark.
The campus is as you would expect. A beautiful campus with buildings and housing and somewhere for the students to grab a Coke. During our conversation I asked how much research they had done about Kenya before they came. As it turns out, about as much as my parents-not much. What they said is no one prepares you for how beautiful Kenya is or how modern.
It was encouraging to hear that, like many other places I had seen in '05, the Africans are taking over leadership here at AIU. The university was the vision of a DTS grad from Nigeria who saw that many of Africa's brightest minds left the continent, never to return, when they went to university in the States or Britain. Naturally, being in Africa it has many students that would never have been able to go overseas for schooling. Students do come here from the surrounding countries too.
I asked how Mark and Susie came to be in Kenya. Mark had been teaching at a Bible school part time and working a second job to make ends meet. They heard of the need here and decided to give it a year to see how it worked out. Mark described himself as 'not a salesman and not someone who would be good at raising support.' The one year has turned into now 20 with God being faithful to put it into the hearts of people to support them. As I type this the passage in 2 chronicles 16:9 comes to mind that says "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him". That passage was written as a warning to someone who was not faithful to God, but it is encouraging to spend time with a person with a lifetime of faithfulness.
In an earlier post I mentioned how my being debt free is what has allowed me to come to Africa as I have. It should be noted that when the Mercers decided to come here they were also debt free....I made it a point to ask. Selah.
On the return trip I was able to gain 20 cents worth of experience in not taking the right bus. It all ended well.
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