Passa-Porta

Today we had to go to El Doret to get our passports renewed. It’s not as easy in the U.S. where you can just go to your local post office and fill out a form.
El Doret is an hour and a half to two hours east of here, and about 3 times the size of Kitale. It felt like such a huge city compared to where we live, like a mini Nairobi. They had street lights and tall buildings, and the streets were so crowded.

Our friend Stonic who works for a travel company and drives us everywhere when he’s in town had come up from Nairobi for work and offered to stay and take us.
It was good to see Stonic and we felt really safe traveling with him. We got there about lunchtime and had to get passport photos taken to give to the Immigration office.

Stonic...In my glasses...He swears he's a Masai warrior


I wish I had a scanner because these are some really sweet pics…The photographer must tell everyone to look stern because in all the Kenyan passport pictures we’ve seen, hardly anyone smiles…So in keeping with tradition we decided not to smile.

Another tradition we’ve noticed seems to be enlarging the passport photo, framing it, and putting it up in your house…This will shortly be in the works.
After the photos were taken we had to wait for them to be processed, so we went to The Eldo (short for El Doret) Grille for lunch. A friend of ours here in Kitale had told us they have great pizza so of coarse we had to find out. There’s really no restaurant for pizza here so if we want it we have to make it ourselves and the outcome might not always be good…

After lunch we went to the Immigration Dept. and applied for an extension to our visas. While we waited they asked each of us what our profession was…Its always a bit tricky explaining what I do for World Vision so I just said I was a DJ…The immigration people thought this was awesome and asked at which dance club…
Sadly, I had to correct them and tell them that it wasn’t a club but a radio station.

They seemed to be equally as excited about it and asked what kind of music I played and how they could find it…So I gave them the link to find it online and told them we played rock music. They got confused and thought I said rap music. It would be interesting to hear their impressions if they actually look up the link, but I highly doubt it’s music they will enjoy.
The trip was successful and our visas were renewed. Mine actually expires the day Im supposed to leave Feb. 20, 2009

Random Post...Waking the Dead

I'm not sure why I'm posting this, but my best friend from home found this somewhere and sent me this in an email. I really liked the points it made...Just about the dynamics of community and relationship, but also the importance of being able to stand on your own...It comes from a book called "Waking the Dead"

"Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle.

A true community is something you will have to fight for. You'll have to fight to get one, and you'll have to fight to keep it afloat.

Suddenly all those "one another's" in Scripture make sense. Love one another. Bear one another's burdens. Forgive one another. Acts of kindness become deeply meaningful because we know we are at war. Knowing full well that we are all facing battles of our own, we give one another the benefit of the doubt. That's why you must know each other's stories, know how to "read" one another. A word of encouragement can heal a wound; a choice to forgive can destroy a stronghold. You never knew your simple acts were so weighty.

We check in regularly with one another, not out of paranoia ("Do you still like me?"), but in order to watch over each other's hearts. "How are you doing?" But be careful about what you are looking for from community.
If you bring your every need to it, it will collapse. Community is no substitute for God… I realized it was because I was looking to them (community) to validate me, appreciate me, fill this aching void in my heart. Only once in ten days did I take time to be away with God, alone. I was too busy trying to get my needs met through them (community). Which is why community cannot live without
solitude."