14 August 2012

Huffman Turkana Family Reunion 2012

I title this trip as our family reunion because well, that's what it was.  Only God can bring different tribes together to form a family.  It's his heart: family.  And we consider the people in the photo below our extended family.  


From left to right: Daniel, Caleb, Lomanai (ian's sister), Ian, Bud, Kileleng' (Ian's step-father)
Ian's little half sister, Me, Ian's turkana mom, the first wife to the step-father with her granddaughter, and the little half brother to Ian in yellow.  (and might I remind you I am pregnant in case you ask why my belly is bulging)


Turkana...

Dry.  Hot.  Dusty.  Full of thousands of children.  Has many camels, donkeys, cows, goats and sheep.  Very harsh attitudes.  Tribal wars with the Pokot tribe over livestock.  Beautiful attire... when they are wearing clothes.  Dancing.  Busaa (homemade alcohol).  Hunger.  Poverty. 

A region I have a love for.  Maybe not the smells.  But the people, oh the people.  I see right through that tough skin to the potential gold within them.  Just one touch from Jesus is all it takes.    

My words are so few right now.  Still processing all we saw in such a short time.  But I'm giving this a go in sharing a bit of our trip and how this ties into our whole story of what we're created to do.  I'll break it down into different parts.  

I went five years ago, but this time was oh so different.  And let me just say how INCREDIBLY creative our God is in his ways.  WOW.  He works in mysterious ways.  I mean seriously.  The way he drew our hearts there before starting Mattaw and us wanting to start a home there before Kitale but God saying "WAIT!" (thankful we waited, that could have been horrendous not knowing what we do now)  Then being led to rescue two boys off the street and bring them into our family as our own.  We raised them for over five years and now they're strong in the Lord and wanting to bring Jesus back to where they came from.  I mean, I couldn't of come up with a better story and still stand back and say thank you God for how you bring things to full circle and bring full restoration.  And this is only the beginning.

Restoration. 

It's the word resounding in my head.  

Seeing Ian fully embrace his family and where he comes from.  Then seeing Daniel hesitantly bring us to where he came from (which just so "happened" to be near where Ian comes from, them not knowing each other before we brought them into our house).  Ian having good memories.  Daniel, not so much, but is willing to let God bring restoration.  It'll take a move of God, but I see He can and will do it.

It was a really really good trip though.  I fell more in love with this tribe.  We're thankful for those that prayed over this trip.  It was so evident that the Lord went before us and protected us the whole way.  The first night we heard gun shots, the second night people in the village where we stayed at had gathered around ten men to go get back their cows that Pokot had stolen that day.  The vehicle held strong.  The people welcomed us.  And we even had our own personal police dude with an AK47 to escort us wherever we went.  He's the brother-in-law to Ian's (our son) sister Lomanai.  God is our protector and provider for everything He calls us to.    

The first place we went to was where Ian's sister lives.  We brought tents and slept on her compound.  Across the dirt road is his step father's first wife.  Ian's mom is the second wife and lives out in the reserve with the step father and her four small children.  So you've got villages right outside of what they call centers (towns).  Then there's the even more tribal people who go out into the reserve.  They are nomadic and will travel in the desert where the rains have been so that their livestock has food to eat.  But they are going hungry.  

The memory that stands out the most that'll impact my life forever is when we drove out to the reserve.  That'll be a lengthy story I'll share soon.  A place where the children eat an average of twice a week.  It was literally in the middle of no where.  Sure makes you open your eyes and make you thankful for what you have.  Food, toilets and warm showers.  It was one of the most desperate places I've ever been.  The ends of the earth.  Or at least it felt like it.  

Ok, before I get more scattered in story telling, I'll close this post.  Many stories to share.  God is good all the time.  He is faithful.  We give Jesus all the glory and honor for where he has led us and all He will do.  Standing amazed.  If we just lay down our lives for Him, He will use it in ways you never could have imagined.  Just keep surrendering and remain faithful, hopeful and joyful in all things.  Thankful I endured some hard stuff in the past years to get to this place in our life.  I love doing what we were created to do!  Ok, about to ramble again....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for being faithful to your call. Your post brought great joy.

Holly Kirk said...

Can't wait to read more. So thankful for you all--a small family who has already and will continue to make such a HUGE difference. Our God is BIG!

NeNe said...

Amazing. Your journey just keeps getting better. God is so revealing his character thru all this.. Love showing up everywhere.

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