Words cannot express the joy that is felt when an encouraging word or letter arrives from home across the waters. As amazingly wonderful that these are, even better is having the privilege of meeting an old friend across the waters over here. Just yesterday I had the supreme privilege to meet with Helen Markelova, a dear friend from many years back. She is here attending a conference related to her job. However, the favor of the Lord shone upon us both and gave us an opportunity to meet up near her hotel.

Being that our transportation is a bit unstable at present, I decided to take the public transportation to the Jacaranda Hotel where she was residing. I have only driven there myself before and was quite unsure which bus or matatu to select in order to get to the final destination. It just so happened that while at the bus stop I met a dear man named Salah Hamadan. He was from Sudan where he worked among the military and traveled a great deal.

He directed me to a certain bus and told me he was going to the same destination as I. Not only did he ride the whole way with me, but also paid for my travel fare on both legs of the journey. He jumped from the bus to the next matatu and insisted on paying for that as well and even gave me a blow pop he had just purchased at the store. These small acts of kindness began to add up and I was extremely blessed to have made his acquaintance. He was a delightful fellow and we had a good forty-five minutes to an hour of conversation time.

Upon arriving at my destination, I bade him farewell and journeyed to the hotel to meet Helen. I found her easily and was delighted to see that she was well and enjoying her time in Kenya. We took some time to catch up on what life had involved in the past few years as we sat at a delightful coffee shop in the nearby mall. After reflecting on the good times we moved to a small eating place not far away for a light supper. We continued talking about plans and catching up on all we had missed.

As the evening waxed onward the time to leave arrived, but not until I had been greatly blessed by her visit. Being away from home has its own challenges, all of which the Lord provides His grace. Yesterday that came in the form of a dear friend and a much needed visit. Praise the Lord for His divine orchestrating of His children’s pathways!