We live on the “big” island of a four island chain. Each island has its reputation, distinct dialect and cultural nuances. Living in the capital city, we meet people from the various islands transplanted here for education, marriage or jobs. The little island is known as the sleepy island, where the pace of life is slow and the people unassuming and not very ambitious. The other islands tend to look down on their little sister island. They think of it as backward and laugh that there are more donkeys than people and that the mosquitoes are huge. From an outsider perspective, the little island is an unaffected oasis known for its beautiful coral reefs, nesting sea turtles and the world’s largest bats.
Th
is past week we went for vacation with Megan’s family taking a small prop-plane to the little island. The little island has less than 40,000 inhabitants. It is a wild place where the trees, vines, and jungle are constantly encroaching upon windy, bumpy roads that see as many donkeys as they do vehicles. The whole island feels a good deal like a national park. It’s beauty is unmatched and for the most part untouched, the people living in small pockets down by the water. As the van wound its way around uninhabited coves, and around steep jungle hills we felt like the characters in Jurassic Park, waiting for dinosaurs or other rare creatures to step out from this lost world.It was an exciting 4 days. It was our first time away since coming here, our first visitors, and our first chance to explore another island. From a tourist perspective the little island was all it promised to be. We enjoyed the swimming, snorkeling, eating and even managed to see the nightly arrival of the sea turtles laying their eggs. Plus there was down time to relax, read, play games and for Grace to have fun with her Gram, Gra
ndad and Uncle Matt. We’re back home now and said good-bye to our family after a visit that went by too quickly.PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan and Grace made it safely to and from Kenya. Grace got her shots and our family made it safely (Megan’s parents and brother). We had a great time with family (even though our luggage didn’t all make it from Kenya until they were about to leave). We were able to communicate all that we needed even though they speak a different dialect on the small island. We were able to introduce our family to all our neighbors and show them our life here!
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our family has a long journey before reaching th
e States again on Sunday. Pray that they make it home smoothly with all their luggage. Two of our team members had birthdays this week (Abby turned 28 and Joshua turned 2!). Our new teammates arrive this Thursday. Pray for their transition to the island and our preparations to welcome and help them. We start teaching English this week, we’re taking over a weekly English club and getting involved in classes at a local education center. Pray that we would balance our roles of language learners (of the local language) and language teachers (of English) well.
