Visitors of Two Kinds

Yesterday was another teaching day at the African Bible College and I was delighted to find some fellow Americans there upon arrival. The accent I was greeted with sounded awfully familiar and as it turned out, the two fine fellows in attendance were from Rich Fork Baptist Church in Thomasville, NC. It was certainly a blessing to cross paths with a couple of Americans doing work in Kenya, but an even greater joy to find they are practically neighbors to us in NC. They were representing their church and the ones they traveled with, New Directions.

It was a great privilege to talk with them both and discover that some friends and acquaintances were mutual in our knowing. Nevertheless, they had been amidst quite the busy schedule and were just on their way out of Kenya. The pastors at the school were doubly blessed by their work as they held a few seminars and training sessions for them. Whatever the case, it was a tremendous encouragement to talk with them.

The teaching went well as did our team time last night, but when I arrived back in my room, I discovered a stowaway beneath a set of shelves. We have already discussed what a poor habitation this house is for said mouse as there is no food within. However, he must have found something suitable here as it has been his residence for three weeks or so. He, being rather wise, knew to avoid the trap and had done a good job at just that. We knew he was still around because of his tale tell droppings and the fact that we saw him sitting on our desks and other furniture.

He had made himself at home which was not so bad as long as he did not bother us. However, I spied him in my room and saw him climbing atop my bed. Being that I don’t care to share the bed with any such beast, I retrieved Brandon, also known as Bonesaw, and we crammed a towel under the door swearing an oath that only two life forms would leave the room. The encounter would decide just who those two were.

In a frenzy, we threw furniture and all manner of articles upon the floor out of the way as we raced around the room after him. The floor is quite slick which worked to our advantage as he was unable to gain traction. In one wrong turn he ran right underneath Bonesaw’s club and there met his demise. Bonesaw smote his ruin upon the cold concrete floor with a definitive and precise strike. In one fell swoop the club had made brain pudding out of the rodent’s head. It was a high day here in the Baraka house (which means ‘blessing’ in Swahili).

As anyone in the old wars may have done, we made a public spectacle of the lifeless mouse corpse. I think it was a small victory in and of itself, yet a larger message was conveyed: no mouse shall live within unless he is prepared to face a perilous journey during his untimely stay. Rest easily tonight knowing we are all still masters of this castle and no stowaways have any place here.