Happy New Year, dear Friends,

  It is about 10:30 AM here on January 2.  We have a crisp, clear morning sky and are getting ready for a hot afternoon.  The African sun can get hot and January is one of our hottest months, like August in the States.  I don't want to be in it for too long!  The nights have been very clear here as well, no clouds and a moon that is getting more and more full.   The stars are quite something as well since we have almost no "light pollution."  It is so different from being in a large urban area.

  News items:  no monkey B & E's these last few days.  People are observant with keeping windows and doors closed.  Our supply of bananas has been adequate and we want to keep it that way!

   On New Year's eve we reduced our working staff by three people.  This reflects the reduction in Jesuits here in the last two months.  One died in late October and one is being transferred.  So too, we are losing money on our three cows.  They eat more hay than what we get from their milk.  More to the point: we pay a salary to a young man to do all this farming work, where before it was a Jesuit scholastic who lived here for awhile,started this little farm, and did all that work.  We did not have to pay him.  But lately we have had to do that.   So the cows will be sold soon and the stalls  torn down. This development produced a moment of panic for me since I depend on the cows to keep my roses healthy . . .  if you know what I mean.  But there is another place about a quarter of a mile from here where some Loretto nuns run a small retreat center and they have numerous cows.  I will figure it out how to get some of that "organic magic" from there to here so that my roses and other flowers will continue to flourish.  Oh, the basics of life!!  As I have said to many of those who come for retreats and spiritual guidance:  everyone of us has a certain "compost heap" in our life; if we are humble enough to admit that and acknowledge it, we and God together can make great things happen if we take from that 'compost heap' and let its truth keep us grounded in God's mercy and kindness and at the same time see it quicken the rest of our life as we journey to God.  Nothing less than the TRUTH!!

  Another Jesuit and I have been able to swim during this Christmas week break at an outdoor pool some 4 miles from here, at another residence where some Jesuits are residing.  We go late in the afternoon when the sun is not so bright!  How wonderful to be able to do this in January!!  I have a good tan.

  I have been driving some recently and am getting more and more accustomed to driving on "the wrong side" of the road, that is, on the left, which is what the Brits established here when Kenya was their colony (up to 1963).  For the most part the roads are terrible by American standards, patch work, bumpy, and in most places narrow, with the shoulders in some places rather low.  You dare not go off the side of the road in those places; you could roll the car if you are not careful.  So, when driving I keep both hands on the steering wheel and watch closely the road and the space I have for clearing as I go by traffic coming in the other direction.  The top speed I have felt safe enough to travel at is about 45 miles an hour.  Usually 30-35 is the going speed.  On the east side of Nairobi there is an expressway that the Chinese have built and on it one can move as fast as on any American expressway.  The ramps on that expressway, I have been told, are too short and people cannot get up to speed (55 mph and more)when they get out on the expressway.  So there have been some accidents and strong criticism of the Chinese engineers who built those ramps that way!!  You wonder whether there was anyone overseeing that project before they built it!!

  There is a plant on our property I wish I could show all of you.  It is  in bloom right now with blossoms of long petals of white and light pink colors.  These blossoms come at the ends of  long and thin stems that grow out maybe 35-50 feet from a set of branches rooted in the crotch of a tree.  The tree is completely other, an independent plant.  But this other plant with all the blossoms has found a home in the crotch of the tree, like a big  bowl, which is made up of about four or five main branches or small trunks of the tree.  We received a huge rainfall here the two days before Christmas and I am wondering whether this gave the plant a big boost and led to its spectacular growth.  So now that the rains have stopped since Christmas day, I am giving this flowering plant water from our nearby outdoor faucet.  So, yes, I have adopted another plant along with my roses.  I am just so taken by some of the flower growth in this part of the world.  I see God smiling and saying, "I have more for you to see and enjoy."

  On the day after Christmas one of the Jesuits in our community and I traveled about 20 minutes from here to the famous Nairobi National Park, which is on the southern border of the city of Nairobi.  Can you imagine a park of about 40 miles in length on the western edge of metro Detroit and filled with giraffes, cheetahs, impalas, rhinos and hippos, crocodiles, lions,leopards, baboons, zebras, and ostriches too??  That is one of the features of this part of the world.  It is something else!  The great thrill for me was to see two cheetahs stalk an oryx (large cow shaped animal with two unicorn like horns on its head).  there was a fence between the cheetahs and the oryx (and giraffes, impalas, ostrich and giraffe too)  But for awhile the cheetahs were lying down and the oryx was grazing peacefully.  Then suddenly one of the cheetahs stands up and goes into a stalking walk, staring at the oryx.   The cheetah has its humped neck showing imminent attack!  Suddenly, the oryx panics, lets out a loud cry, and starts to run, oblivious of the fence between it and the cheetah.  But this scared all the other nearby animals too and they started to stampede to safety.  So funny!!

  I need to leave now, but one last thing:  it hit me in prayer this morning (my 45 minutes with just God which starts each morning) that God alone is worth giving one's all, that we are all made for that connection with God and that when we learn how to be still and really be receptive to such a Gift, we experience how unique and priceless is this Gift and the reality of being someone unique to and amazingly loved by this Gift.  This Gift is the only 'thing' worth giving your all, giving everything for.  It is what moves the world and makes you jump out of bed in the morning while looking forward to the gift of another day and all the things you can do for this special One in your life.

  Bernie Owens