Time

          So I've been in Kenya for a week now. I have enjoyed every minute and every second of being here. I am seeing things that hurt, and I would definitely say that I am living in a hard place. There are children who are starving, old people who are sick, and just people who are hurting. In the midst of all of this I believe that I'm thriving. A child comes up to me on the street saying he is hungry and I give him some food. For years I have heard stories about people doing that and I believe that I might have become a little used to hearing things like that and it didn't seem special, but now I get to see the look on that kids face when he has a plate full of food in front of him then he get to take some more back home to his brothers and sisters. That is more fulfilling than anything that I have done in my life.
         In the middle of all of this I am still finding myself struggling with something. Time. I have always seen time as something that I had plenty of and never had to fight with. I you've ever been to Eastern Africa then you might know the expression, "Americans have watches, Africans have time". Basically it means that almost nothing works on a schedule here. I'll give an example. I was preparing to leave for a few days to go travel with Larry Wu and a few other people to see a few different programs in western Kenya. I was at the high school, Suzy Peacock, where I am doing a lot of work, when I came across a girl who was having a hard time walking. The caretaker for the girls and I took her aside and asked her what was wrong. She showed us her foot and found that she had a horrible infection. Her foot was incredibly swollen and feverish, as was she. It made my stomach turn. She was being very brave about it, but I could tell that she was in a lot of pain and wasn't feeling well. She had been to the doctor who had given her some medicine which was pretty much some homemade Advil. I knew that I could get some antibiotic for her in town fairly quickly. I started calling Francis and the other man who had a vehicle and was trying to get them to come pick me up to get the medice. I kept getting the response, "I'm headed that way". By the time someone actually got there, it was about 7:30 and all of the drug stores were closed. The next day I had to leave for Bungoma, and didn't get to see that girl for a while, but I sure did have here on my mind and in my prayers the entire time I was gone. When I returned one of the first things I did was to go and check on her. She was doing so much better. The swelling had gone down a lot, her fever was gone and she wasn't in as much pain.
          "African time" can be very frustrating, but I think that it's a chance for me to grow also. It is telling me that everything doesn't always have to happen on schedule. The lesson that I am learning is that God's schedule is a million times more important than mine or anybody else's and no matter what I do or am able to do His will is always going to prevail. Oh, and a little prayer never hurts.