Friday, October 29, 2010

We are here, we are here, we are here!

It took Jerry, and 4 brave volunteers three bumpty, dusty hot days by road to arrive here with vehicle, dog, birds, a water tank and other household items.
















Breanna, the kids and cat, made it in about 2 1/2 hours by air!


Where is here, you ask? Lokichoggio, in the desert of northern Kenya, about 30kms from the Sudan border.






 We've come to support the AIM AIR "Loki" base, which operates two small aircraft, a Cessna 206 and a Cessna Caravan, usually into southern Sudan in support of mission work there. Before our arrival, one overworked pilot and his amazing family, Jon & Ginny H, were the only AIM AIR family here.




We're happy to share a bit of the load, but Jon & Ginny are amazing generous servant leaders and take excellent care of the missionaries in Sudan: buying their supplies, delivering their mail, hosting and feeding them incredible meals when they come through Loki.

We've lived here two months now and have adapted well. We are finally getting used to the constant heat, sweat and dust. We're enjoying the slower pace of life here "in the bush" among the Turkana tribe, a nomadic herding people group that are still largely unreached.







Loki is peculiar town, it was once a tiny village with only a mission airstrip and church, but its proximity to Sudan made it a staging area for aid work and hence the town grew. Now that its relatively calm in Sudan, the town is slow again and the establishments catering to foreigners are largely deserted.

Jerry stays busy flying virtually all the 206 flights into southern Sudan, but being so close to Sudan means we, the family, get to see him more than we did in Nairobi!

 Living in Loki means more opportunities for the family
 to join Jerry on flights with room!
This airstrip is on a mountaintop in Nagishot, Sudan


Breanna fills her days home schooling the three kids, and trying to come up with meals with the limited grocery options in Loki, but need not complain since there are way more choices than the places Jerry flies missionaries to in Sudan!!!

There is still work to do on the house we live in, though it's comfortably livable now. :) Once most of the house work is done, we look forward to becoming more involved in our community and are praying about opportunities.

Jerry would love to reach out to the local Turkana men, who are a rare sight in church, he's toying with the idea of meeting them on their turf, under the shade of trees through out town,  where they generally play a game called Ajua, all day long,  while their children look after their herds of sheep, goats and camels, and their wives haul wood and water for cooking.





Breanna's recognizes her primary ministry is the education and spiritual development of our three children, but would love to minister to local Turkana children through their schools or church outreach!

To see more photos of our life in Loki, check out Breanna's facebook album