December 2007 - Posts

• Kendall Update #121

  Glenn and Kathy Kendall Update #121 of Saturday, December 22, 2007, Ngaparou, Senegal The whole sky was orange-red, remarkably uniform like a stage backdrop, sunrise at 7:30 AM in the Harmattan of West Africa.  So much, such fine dust suspended in the air that the sun defused evenly through the dust, dust that is visible from space, dust that travels the trade winds and air currents and at times reaches the Eastern United States across the Atlantic. The sun rose higher, the angle changed.  The sun got brighter and brighter and soon the Atlantic Ocean even looked blue, even vividly blue framed by the whitewashed buildings and against the tan sand, clean sand as the ocean pounded the shore and rose up and withdrew only to crash again.   The wind was now blowing from the northwest, cool air, across the ocean, all the way from the Artic, somewhat warmed by miles and miles of distance traveled to push the ocean to pound the sand, the sand that was clean, remarkably clean.   Friday was Tabaski, the day Abraham sacrificed his son as Christians and Muslims believe.  God provided a ram to save Abraham’s son.  What a picture!  Thousands of rams sacrificed all across the person world. But we were down wind of Ngaparou.  Dozens and dozens of people in Ngaparou threw the entrails, lungs, intestines, blood of their sacrifices into the ocean.  All the busy seagulls, the voracious crabs, the searching dogs couldn’t begin to clean up the mess between town and the WorldVenture camp on the Atlantic.  Friday late we finally gave up playing on the beach, digging holes in the sand, sand castles, small pools for the one year olds.  One can only throw so many intestines to the other side before one gives up. But now Saturday morning, what all the animals and birds couldn’t do, time, tides and the constant pounding has done.  The beach is again clean, bright, fresh, just like the sacrifice, not the ram, but the perfect sacrifice whose coming we celebrate on Tuesday.  Clean, bright, perfect, and so se we celebrate Christmas and the Savior’s coming. We Praise God for a wonderful week of vacation with our two children, Esther and Nathan, their spouses, Dan and Becky and all six grandchildren.  Watching, playing, talking, walking the beach, eating, sleeping, sharing, praying and of course the group photo (attached). We Praise God for another great and safe trip. And now we head to the States for several weeks, get caught up on our personal mail, the WorldVenture office, get Glenn’s eye looked at again, see Kathy’s folks, participate in office meetings, connect with Africa interested people, train new missionaries, attend WorldVenture Renewal Conference, preach at a mission conference, repack and leave just after Valentine’s Day. Posted Dec 22 2007, 08:25 AM by chriswynn with no comments Filed under: Senegal

• Kendall Update #120

  Glenn and Kathy Kendall Update #120 of Saturday, December 8, 2007, Bamako, Mali Silly Saturday Weeks ago, before we started our trip, Mark Weckesser suggested the topic for our weekly updates; to look for something silly.    These past weeks of travel we have attempted to do that, some Saturdays being more silly than others depending which dictionary definition we followed. This Saturday defied any definition of silly...but maybe in the following you will find some silliness and if not, then the following is simply a Saturday in Bamako. "The soul never thinks without picture." ---Aristotle Along the banks of the Niger River there are many pictures.  Walk with us from the guesthouse where we are staying as we try to picture our world for you in your world. Out the gate and along the dusty ground we turn the corner past the ladies seated on upturned buckets selling their bananas, oranges, papaya mounded in colorful display, their little ones playing in the dirt at their feet as cars whiz by throwing dust and dirt into the air to mingle with the fumes of their exhaust.  All day these ladies and their children sit there earning money to buy their own food. The man next to them has a wooden 'shed' with a wooden table on which he dumps sides of beef and goat taken from a burlap sack.   If all goes well, he will finish his sales early in the day before the meat gets too ripe. As we walk, our feet send clouds of dust swirling into the air, settling between our toes, on our feet, everywhere.  Further down the street men sit with knives carving huge blocks of wood into drums later to be covered with skins to create the sounds and rhythm that bring smiles and dance. We walk along always careful to watch where we step as holes, ditches, and unexpected openings in the ground are an ever present opportunity to catch the unwary. In the shade of the walls surrounding the Central Bank of West Africa, (a number of West African countries share the same currency) men sleep on top of the bundles of goods which they are hoping to sell, a lady has spread her prayer mat and is kneeling and bowing in prayer toward Mecca, a child lies on the dirt sleeping under a tree. In the sun on the other side of the dirt road, tiny sardine-like fish are laid out to dry on plastic mats creating their own distinct addition to the smells in the air. Within 10 minutes from starting our walk we have reached the banks of the Niger River as it sluggishly flows through the city...a river on which fishermen balance precariously in their dugouts as they use nets to fish, a river along which are gardens of vegetables,  a river from which life is eked by peoples for hundreds of miles.  Can you picture in a small way these people who are just like you living life, wanting to be loved, feeding and clothing their family, working day and night to provide the bare necessities?  It doesn't exactly look like your neighborhood, but into each of our lives Jesus speaks love....a love that sees us not just as we are but as we can be.  His eyes of love see beyond dust and dirt...his eyes see into our souls...and his picture is people created in the image of God whom he loved so much that he came to give them eternal life. Posted Dec 12 2007, 10:03 AM by chriswynn with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Bamako

• Kendall Update #119

  Glenn and Kathy Kendall Update #119 of Saturday, December 1, 2007, Bouake, Ivory Coast Silly Saturday There really wasn’t much feel of silliness by any definition in this Saturday, unless you consider that we were staying in a dorm on the campus of a former boarding school for children grades one through twelve…and now that campus has several hundred French soldiers, bunkers, military vehicles of all types, armaments, and all else that pertains to an army.  And when you juxtapose the picture of happy children running, playing, sitting in class studying with that of an army doing its work, that is indeed a rather silly reality.  And that is the location for this Saturday. “There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.             There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.                         You feel it, don’t you?”                                     -Rumi   All day Saturday we had the privilege of sitting with the folks who make up the WorldVenture team in Ivory Coast as they gathered for their yearly meeting.  Each of them has kindled a candle and filled a void.  They are people of passion and commitment; first to God and secondly to people.  They have invested their lives in medical work, pharmaceutical work, nursing, surgery, community health, HIV-AIDS, translation, education, evangelism leadership training and church planting.  Life is fragile in this world.  Premature twins weighing in at 1K 685 and 950 grams present a challenge…a not uncommon challenge to meet the needs of many tiny babies birthed. Life is fragile with convulsions caused by malaria in young children. Life is fragile…but these folks have kindled a flame in their hearts which daily causes them to reach out to the sick and hurting and helpless…the ones passed over and forgotten and ignored. Others on the team have had a candle kindled in their hearts for the schooling needs of high school girls: girls who might not receive an education or a trade or learn to read their own language because they are not considered worthy to expend money on their education or because they refuse to have sex with their professors.  Now someone is working to develop a school which will be a safe environment in which they can study, learn academic material as well as practical skills.  May their souls be filled. Still others on the team have a burning flame in their hearts to translate the Bible.  Can you even imagine what it is like to hear God speak your very own language: not just the language of other countrymen, but your very own language?  Their souls are being filled. And still others have a flame in their hearts to speak God’s truth to people who live in fear of the ancestral spirits.  These souls also are being filled with the love of Jesus. Is the candle in your heart being kindled? Is the void in your soul being filled? Do you feel it? Thursday, Becky had a positive three week check-up on her tonsillectomy.  During the same appointment the doctor agreed to look at Philip, our grandson.  The result was that yesterday he had his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears.  He is recovering well and they still hope to return to Africa on December 12. In August and September Glenn worked with others in the office to identify projects around the world that could greatly benefit from some additional giving.  The first of those projects are outlined in the current WorldVenture Magazine.  Others will be highlighted in 2008.  If you have not received that Magazine and would like to please email me and I will send you a copy. PRAISE for great MMT (Medical Ministry Team) and Ivory Coast Field Meetings.  God met with us in the worship, Bible teaching, and discussions.  God worked in our hearts.  We PRAISE God that He is active and living and at work in our lives. Week of December 2: Tuesday through Saturday individual meetings in Mali. Week of December 9: Sunday through Tuesday WAFL (West Africa Field Leaders) Meeting in Bamako, Mali Wednesday through Friday catch up on email/office work, Dakar, Senegal. Week of December 16: Vacation in Senegal Posted Dec 05 2007, 12:19 PM by chriswynn with no comments