On second thought, I’ll have water.

Bwana Asifiwe,
(Traditional Christian Swahili Greeting, Trans: ‘Praise God’)

April 3, 2010
Only a few days have passed since my last post and yet so much has happened. My solo flight to California went as planned, with little to no known complications. Once in CA, a quick trip to the local Wall-Mart for ‘forgotten necessities’ was in order; go figure. :) After a good night’s sleep, I jumped aboard a flight from California to Dubai, with Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. And while it was long, (fourth longest commercial flight in the world), it went quite well.

During the flight, you are with people form pretty much every nationality in the world. Less than half of these passengers know English, which is probably why the flight crew speaks over eight major languages. Everyone is really nice and they even serve you familiar beverages in foreign labels. My Coke never tasted better, at 8,000 feet, with Arabic writing.

About halfway through the flight, the stewardess came around with her cart, for the fiftieth consecutive time, taking drink orders. After one too many Sprites, I felt it was time to change things up. “May I please have a root beer?” The stewardess, looking slightly puzzled, replied, “We have Budweiser.” Taken aback, my response was quick, but it should have gotten my point across, “No, no, no… Do you have any soda-pop root beer? IBC, A&W?” My now confused stewardess reaches into her cart, withdrawing a metallic can, and replies in broken English, “I don’t know what you talking about… We have Budweiser.” Now, I’m not the type of guy to refuse a lady in a fedora… But, I didn’t think an international flight for a missions organization was the best place to start a bad habit. “On second thought, I’ll have water.”

I found the Dubai airport to be pretty much indescribable. Though, if you think ‘immaculate’, you’re on the right path. It was exactly like a huge mall, exception for the guys in bathrobes bearing machine guns. Dubai is pretty much insane when it comes to industry. World’s tallest building, indoor skiing… this place had it all. For those of you who know the Owl City ‘Ocean Eyes’ cover, it pictures the world’s only seven star hotel, which is found in Dubai. I even considered staying the night there, though with rooms starting at $7,000 a night, I figured I would wait for a different weekend. One thing I found interesting was the ‘call to prayer’ that was announced throughout the whole city via an elaborate speaker system. The next morning came around and it was time to leave. And oh my, the culture shock was pretty bad when I finally landed in Kenya, the following afternoon.

I suppose the Kenyan airport wasn’t too bad. It’s what happened when we drove roughly a mile away and hit the mud roads that reminded me, I wasn’t in America anymore. In fact, it was the roads themselves, or lack thereof, that was a pretty good indicator of this society’s poverty. For those of you who have been to Hidden Acres Christian Center, in Iowa… Just imagine the dirt road leading back to the Prayer Tree, after five days of nonstop rain. Now multiply the amount of mud, potholes, and ruts by three, throw in some small front wheel drive cars, a few disoriented campers, add a hint of unpredictability, and you have most of Kenya’s roadways. Kind of scary, actually. Apparently pedestrians never have the right of way and bottoming out one’s vehicle is a common occurrence.

Now on to what really matters. The people here have an unmistakable love for God. It is evident from the way they greet each other, to the way they welcome us. In fact, there was a big ‘silent’ argument, concerning as to whom has the honor of putting us up for the night. It was amusing, to say the least. Most Kenyans have a certain flare for Christ; that is particularly shown through their worship. My first evening, I was amidst a festive praise service, which I found to be quite refreshing from our typical American worship. An interesting thing being, that during the end songs, several thousand large, winged insects decided to join in. The thousands of locust\moth things added a new element, as the circled about the room, bumping into and landing all over the congregation.

The following day, I filmed my first Kenyan wedding. The unprofessionalism of the event would probably have any average American bride tearing her hair out. The wedding was scheduled to start promptly at 10am, though no one really bothered to show up until around noon; with the wedding finaly starting around 1:30pm. Cars dropping people off were getting stuck in the mud everywhere. The sound system produced more static and feedback then vocals. The hired photographer was using a small off name brand, point and shoot, camera; and blocked everyone’s view by standing five feet from the couple. The bride was wearing a plastic crown with flashing lights and the groom was... Well, I think you get the idea. It just brought a smile to my face. All in all, putting aside those trivial things, from what I saw of it, the ceremony was lovely! It reminds one that the wedding day isn’t about the flower arraignment, music selection, or ice sculptor. It’s about a man and a women uniting as one in Christ. And it was beautiful!!

What I do find to be trying from this trip is the slight language barrier. Back home, I took three years of Spanish in preparation for what? Everyone here speaks Swahili! Haha. Though, most do speak some English, which helps. And the occasional French I toss in spices up conversations. From the gentlemen around my age, who can speak decent English, I have made good friends. I enjoy telling them all about America as they enjoy learning and sharing the ways of their own culture. One such young man, by the name of Moses, enjoys watching Joel Olsten, believes Opera to be genuinely nice, and thinks highly of Bill Gates. You may also find it interesting to know, that Moses has also watched several American movies and indirectly made the assertion that our movies portray real life. In summary, he was wondering if one could easily hack into online bank accounts to steal money, if everyone worked for the government as assassins, and if Jason Bourne really could tell him the license plate numbers of all six cars parked outside. Though, in all seriousness, I found all our conversations to be quite enjoyable and very uplifting in the faith.

The assortment of smells found in Kenya is something worth beholding. From raw sewage mixed with the smells of fresh cooking food, to harsh diesel pollution mixed with the fresh fragrance of beautiful flowers. Though, oh is Kenya beautiful! As the rainy season is now upon us, green vegetation is everywhere and flowers are also vastly overwhelming. And while the rain doesn’t exactly add to the roads’ overall maintenance, it does bring a freshness and cleanliness to a usually dusty land.

It is now Easter morning and I still haven’t found a reliable internet connection for updating my blog. Though, I will continue to fill this word document in the faith that God will soon provide a way to post everything. Even though, by the time you read this, God will have already provided… Please be sure to thank Him for my ability to post it and for the future availability of wireless internet. We serve a God who works outside of time, so your prayers are not sent up in vain. :)

Christ has risen. Who could ever have known that these three words would have such an impact? That they would make or break the very foundation of our faith? To paraphrase the apostle Paul in his first recorded letter to the church of Corinth, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, our faith is in vain… our faith is worthless, and we are still in our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14,17 NAS) But praise the Lord that Christ has risen! We have been forgiven.

Church today was a completely new experience. For those of you who don’t know, a typical Kenyan Church service may last up to five or six hours. There wasn’t really an order of events, things just happened as the Lord led the worship leaders. Which, I thought was pretty much awesome incredible. Once again, the Kenyans love for praising God shined through. The only thing that could have made it better is if I actually understood any Swahili.

What was most unique about this specific church was the way they took up offering. Those willing to donate would make their way to the front of the church, where the amount they were giving was promptly stated by the minister; for the benefit of the remaining congregation. All the while, the pastor ‘highly encouraged’ everyone to give and would pick out specific people to donate, that had yet to do so. He even mentioned that us Americans shouldn’t feel shy, if we wanted to give. The offering probably lasted for a good fifteen to twenty minutes. Though, all in all, I found the change up to be both refreshing and a great reminder that coordinated worship isn’t always necessary. We even lost power twice during the whole event, which I believe only added to the overall ambience. I have to stop and smile when I think of the Kenyans.
Good afternoon. It is now Monday the 6th and internet is still unavailable. When I do find a way to post it, I hope you will still enjoy reading all of this. (Love ya mom!) ;)

Ah, the past two mornings went quite well, as they were the first two scheduled days of teaching, for John Stewart at Manna Bible Institute in Ongata Rongai, Kenya. For those of you who don’t know, John has quite the history when it comes to public speaking and teaching. He’s written a few books, Hosted and Co-hosted multiple nationally-syndicated radio shows (including “The Bible Answer Man” and “John Stewart Live”), has been on “Good Morning America”, ABC, NBC, CNN, and American Journal. Has had articles published in Time Magazine, Des Moines Register, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Christianity Today Magazine. Is a lawyer, a renowned teacher, has been making professional presentations since 1986, and was officially “Pro-Life Broadcaster of the Year” in 1989. To say the least, it has been quite the honor to work with both him and his wife, in Kenya!

Today is a special day! Why, you may ask? Because this is the day that the Lord has made! Thus, I shall rejoice and be glad in it! It is currently three o’clock in the afternoon in Nairobi, Kenya. The sun is shining, the clouds are soaring marvelously above our heads, and as can be expected, the power is out. It is a wonderful day! Morning is now just coming upon my homeland. I can imagine my family is still asleep, dreaming of… things. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are both reading different books, reclined in strategically placed chairs. John is reading, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist” by Norm Giesler; a book I loaned him. While, Laurie is enjoying, “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan. Whereas, I am draining my laptop battery, in a semi-productive fashion.

And now we have power and internet. Please hold as I send this out quickly before we lose it again. :)

Thanks for your prayers! May God bless you and keep you, and may He cause His face to shine upon you!

Yours in Christ,
Andy Krueger