Narok, Masai Reserve,
Kenya Colony.
Dec. 26, 1933.
Dear Friends:
This has certainly been a happy and blessed
Christmas season and the Lord has been very good to bring me
thus far safely and to permit me to spend this time with my
parents. We had a very nice trip from Southampton to Mombasa
the seaport of Kenya. There were other missionary friends on
board and we had a pleasant time together. The boat was two
days late in leaving Southampton on account of the fog on the
English channel, but we made some time on the way so that we
were only about one day late in getting in to Mombasa. Our
first stop after leaving England was in Lisbon Portugal and as
it was pretty rough across the Bay of Biscay, it was nice to
be able to set foot on”terra firma” again for a while.
However, although most of the other friends were down in their
cabins across the Bay, I did not feel sick at all and the
ship’s company didn’t make any thing off of me as far as food
was concerned for I always felt better on a full stomach so
ate more than usual and if anything made up for some of those
who weren’t there.
In Lisbon we were permitted to go ashore
and we walked around visiting various places of interest, one
of the most interesting being the enormous market place where
there were people of every nation under the sun and all
yelling at the top of their voices and throwing tomatoes and
fish etc. at one another as the argument became more heated.
However, we managed to get back to the boat without any mishap
and we had a nice smooth trip across the mouth of the
Mediterranean to a little port on the north coast of Africa by
the name of Ceuta. Here we again went ashore but it was
raining most of the time so was not so pleasant. We managed to
make our way to the top of a hill on which was an old fort and
from there we got a nice view of the land and could see far
out to sea.
After leaving there we cut across the
Mediterranean heading for Malaga Spain. We ran into several
schools of porpoises and were hoping to see a whale as they
often do in the Mediterranean but no whale showed up. It
wasn’t long before we sighted the Rock of Gibraltar and the
captain went up very close to the rock so that we had a
beautiful view of it. It was in the evening and the sun was
just setting coloring the clouds up beautifully and reflecting
in the sea so that I wished I was a good artist and could have
painted it. It made me think, as so many others have, of
Christ the solid rock and my prayer was that my feet might be
planted more firmly upon that Rock as I headed out toward a
land where Satan had absolute control. The Lord was very near
to me the whole trip and I could not help but feel His loving
arms around me.
When we landed in Malaga there were many
things of interest to see. We first hiked up to an old fort at
the top of a hill, which had been built by the Romans and we
were permitted to go through it and climb around over it. On
the way back we stopped at the arena where they have their
bull fights and we were shown through there. They had one of
their bulls there and I’m sure that if I was put in a pen with
him I would begin to look around for a tree to climb or
something. He was one ferocious animal if there ever was one
and he even tried to climb the wall to get at us. We returned
to the boat for lunch and then in the afternoon went out again
and climbed a hill to a monastery which was supposed to be of
historic interest. Most of these cities are nothing but hills
so that you can’t go anywhere without climbing a hill.
[pg. 2] After leaving Malaga, our next stop
was at Palma on the island of Majorca. Several of the
passengers left the boat for good here as they were spending
the winter. It was a beautiful little place and we walked
around some visiting a beautiful cathedral and a museum. The
boat didn’t stay very long so it wasn’t long before we were
under way again, our next stop to be Genoa in Northern Italy.
We pulled into Genoa early in the morning
and a cold icy wind was blowing. The clouds lifted a little
and we could see the hills covered with snow. A cold drizzle
started just before we were going to go ashore but we went
anyway. We wanted to see the Genoa cemetery as it is very
noted and certainly is one of the most beautiful things that I
have ever seen. We had a hard time finding it as everyone even
the cops, spoke only Italian, but finally with the help of a
little map we got there and it was certainly worth it.
Leaving Genoa, we followed down the coast
of Italy and passed the Island of Stromboli in the morning. It
is simply the peak of a volcano sticking up out of the ocean.
It was covered with clouds so that we didn’t get a good view
but we saw smoke roling out through the clouds. A few hours
later we went through the Straits of Messina between Sicily
and Italy and that was very beautiful. We had no sooner than
just gotten through the straits when we hit some enormous
swells and for the next two following days we were in the
worst storm that that ship had ever been through so the
captain said. One minute the prow of the boat would be way up
in the air above the waves and the next down she would go and
scoop up tons of water. The propeller would come clear out of
the water and pound terribly. At night they boarded up the
windows and let down a big iron guard over the door. One big
wave struck the side of the boat during the night and split
the wooden part of the railing and bent the iron. Another big
wave hit one of the life boats up in front and tore it loose
and smashed it to splinters against the rail. My! the power
behind those enormous waves, it certainly seemed as though
Satan was ruling the sea those nights and yet what peace it
brought to remember that we belonged to the one who could
still the tempest and nothing could come to us except it were
His will.
Needless to say, we were very glad when we
got to Port Said and although it was late at night, a few of
us went ashore. We walked around the town some and I purchased
a sun helmet and about midnight we got back to the boat. The
next day and night were spent going through the Suez canal and
there were things of interest to see all along the way. We
didn’t wait very long at Suez but put right on out into the
Red Sea. We certainly had a lovely voyage from there on to
Mombasa with a smooth sea and the weather not too hot. At Port
Sudan it was sweltering hot and we didn’t do much tramping
around. We stopped at Aden also in the evening and we took a
motor trip up to some old wells up in the hills which Solomon
was supposed to have built. Needless to say, we couldn’t get
to Mombasa too soon for me and we pulled in Saturday night.
After going ashore for a little we returned to the boat to
spend the night and the next morning went through customs. The
train for Nairobi was to leave that evening so we tramped
around that day and ate lots of fresh fruit which was very
nice to get after the monotony of the food on board. As the
train rolled on up country, you may imagine the song of praise
that there was in my heart to the dear Lord for having brought
me back again to the familiar sights and sounds of my native
land.
We got into Nairobi the next morning and my
Mother and Father were there. I must leave a lot to your
imaginations as it would take too long to tell. Words cannot
express my thanks to my heavenly Father for all of His
goodness, and my prayer is that I may be able to serve Him
always.
C.H. Stauffacher [signature in Florence’s
handwriting]
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