Maasai Land Again

A few weeks ago when my pastors were here from Tustin, California we drove out to a church in Maasai land. Pastor Dave was going to baptize some Maasai that had become Christians. We drove two hours to the church and picked up the people to be baptized…and a few others…and drove another hour to the baptismal site. Maasai land is out in the middle of nowhere but we were further out there. As we were driving we suddenly came to a stop because a herd of camels were blocking our path. That was really an amazing sight. The path we were on was so narrow that the trees became thick and the people sitting in the back of the truck had to crouch down to avoid being hit by the branches.

When we finally arrived at the spot where Pastor Dave was going to baptize we could tell that a group of large animals had just been there. One of the Maasai pastors told us it was elephants…our baptismal spot was their watering hole. I didn’t see any elephants but I saw plenty of evidence that they had just been there. Walking down to the water I held Pastor Kioko’s hand…I was wearing sandals and a skirt and it was slippery. The baptism was wonderful to watch. Pastor Dave did the baptizing and there were four other pastors in the water with him praying for the people after he finished.

After Pastor Dave finished baptizing the people we took some pictures of everyone there. I got a really fun picture of Pastor Kioko and Pastor Zablon goofing around with their pants rolled up to their knees…Pastor Kioko wanted to delete the picture but I wouldn’t let him. Would he be upset if I posted it on my blog? :)

After the baptismal we drove an hour back to the church and had service. Pastor Dave spoke and we prayed for everyone…it was great. After the service the church members went outside and the church leaders served us a meal. Chicken, chipati and rice…yum. After eating we went outside. I saw a group of kids. They were watching me. Every time I tried to approach them they would run away. These kids had never had contact with white people…they were a little afraid. So I just looked at them and motioned to them. Finally after about fifteen minutes one girl came over to me. She was so shy but so happy. I put my arm around her and she giggled in her shy way…Rita took our picture. It was sweet. As we were getting ready to leave all the kids got the nerve to touch my hand. They were laughing and jumping up and down…they were brave enough to touch the hand of a white person…amazing.