Loitokitok

Loitokitok sits at just over a mile high right on the slopes of Kilamanjaro and the border of Kenya and Tanzania.  There are probably 30-50 cinder block shops, a vegetable and clothes market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, a hospital and three or four schools.  I would guess the population to be about 3,000 or so people, widely spread out among the town area. 

To see a drive around our town on market day click here!

Loitokitok is one of the 2 bigger towns in about a 2 hour radius and has a newly paved (about 5yr old) road from the main highway to the town.  Most of the roads off of this road are  just dirt.  It is pretty easy getting around town, just a 20 minute drive down to Kimana where there are a few restaurants and another market place, as well as where many of our Maasai friends live. 

A lot of times we will walk from our home to the town center which is only about a mile or so away and do most of our grocery shopping for the week.  We enjoy taking walks with Mozzie around the neighborhood and try to visit with neighbors as we do so a couple of times a week.  It has been fun to hear the children call to us as they are learning our names, lately I have heard a lot of Cheese! and Chess! Although they have Mozzies name down pat.  Right now we have been in a cloudy and cold season, but hopefully things will start to warm up soon.  To see a bit of our town and a market set up watch the video included here.

Making our Beds

           Over our months here in Oloitokitok Audrey and I have had the great pleasure of visiting many local Maasai villages of friends and acquaintances.  While doing so, we have been able to ask cultural questions, practice our language, and even observe some exciting and interesting cultural practices and rituals.  We have seen everything from cows giving birth, local warrior villages, and recently got to observe the creation of a traditional Maasai bed.

            I always knew that the Maasai were creative and thrifty in using every single part of an animal they had slaughtered as they distrubute different cuts of meat and organs for different members of the family and community.  They boil the head and other left over bones with meat for soup.  They use the tails for fly swatters and such.  I knew that they use the skins for things, but I had never really observed what for.  In our recent talks we learned that often the Maasai use the smaller skins (enchoni, such as goat) for shoes, and the larger ones (olchoni, from the cow) for making their mats for beds. 

            My mother always used to tell me to me to make my bed, little did I know the cultural context this would take as we entered the village to observe and help out.  Now, I am being awfully plural in this because Fred Foy and my role in this was very minimal, but of course very important. We sat as the rest of the men did on the outside of the circle and “supervised”.  Audrey & Cecily had the opportunity to roll out the skin, cut small holes around the perimeter of the skin, then make wooden stakes and drive them through the outer holes to stretch the skin out flat along the stony dirt ground, so that it could dry for a couple of days in the sun. 

To watch a video of Audrey and her hard work on the bed click here!

            They then, along side and with the help of their Maasai tutors worked on scraping of the ruminants of meat, muscle and tissue off of the skin so that it could properly dry and cure.  After the skin sat in the hot sun a couple of days it would then be ready to use as a new bed mat.  

Heart of Worship

One of the hardest, yet most joyous things Audrey and I have the opportunity to do every week is to visit varying local churches in the bush.  It is exciting to get to see firsthand what God is doing among His people in different denominations and cultures.  However, at the same time it can be hard to feel a part of a worship service at times that is so different culturally (as well as in a different language) where many times you are left wondering exactly what has been said. 

Yet, at the same time I have learned definitively, that you do not need to know what is being said, or even understand completely what is going on, to join alongside fellow believers to worship the One who has created and redeemed us all.  It has been a delight to stand alongside our fellow Maasai brothers and sisters in Christ and see the depth and beauty of their hearts as they worship God. 

It is also hard culturally because we are expected (as missionaries and pastors) to often sit at the front of the church, give a greeting, a brief word (or a longer sermon), and are wanted to sometimes take over the rest of the service.  That can be a struggle because they want to honor you and your position as "missionaries" but at the same time, you are trying to empower these very pastors to see value in themselves, and what God is showing them, to share among their congregation and culture.  I worry sometimes that this may be a result of laziness on their part, or even perhaps feeling unequipped or inadequate, but we are slowly and steadily trying to encourage these pastors and affirm them in their identity in Christ and as leaders in the community. 

To see our Maasai church introduction click here!

Please pray for us as we rejoice with our brothers and sisters as we worship in our new home and cross-cultural context.  Pray also for us, as we struggle to feel a part of the church as a whole here and for our praying for our dear brothers and sisters in leadership roles in the church here as they grow in Christ and their roles as leaders of the church.