day two

Happy New Year!

This morning we packed up and moved from the SP apartments in Kileleshwa to another guesthouse (a hotel, essentially) down the road – there weren’t any safety concerns, but they were expecting more SP staff back from the field, and our rooms were needed for them. So we’ve checked in to our new accommodations, but I think we’re all feeling anything but settled. Things have been relatively quiet in Nairobi today, although we’re still hearing that the ODM is planning a peaceful rally for Thursday, which could very well end not peacefully, and there are emerging concerns about supplies (food, gas, etc.) in some of the more rural regions, like where Tenwek is located.

One of the other couples (John and Ashley) and I just got done talking to one of the long-term missionaries at the hospital to try to get a feel for how long it’s worth waiting, and whether, if we came, we’d be more trouble than help. Everything seems quite uncertain at the moment, except for the agreement that traveling in-country won’t be an option until the end of the week, at the earliest. Some of the volunteers seem to be leaning toward leaving Kenya as soon as arrangements can be made, but others of us are still uncertain. Our present safety is not a concern, and it’s very hard to tell what the next few days will bring for the country as a whole. We’re also fighting competing motivations – we really WANT to be here, but in a lot of ways, it’s a selfish desire. John pointed out that even Paul didn’t get to go everywhere he wanted to when he wanted to – the Holy Spirit prevented him on more than one occasion from entering a place where he wanted to minister. So it’s important for us to remember that just because we’ve gotten this far doesn’t mean everything is going to work out according to our plans.

It’s a tough situation.