Looking back to Acadia: Breaking bread and sharing stories (3/3)

After spending some quality time around Acadia, supper time rolls around and we get ready to enjoy a meal together.

After supper, everyone heads to the gym to hear stories and learn more about the work that Mully Children’s Family (MCF) does in Kenya and the contributions Arvid has made through his ultramarathon rides and steadfast committment to tell the organization’s story.

First to the podium, Engineer and Author Paul Boge shares stories of his encounters with MCF, with Arvid Loewen, and takes time to underline the commonalities between Hutterite Comunities and the kind of family and community MCF really is.

Arvid’s son, Paul, shares what it’s like to to not only be challenged but inspired by having Arvid as a father and important person in his life.

Having already ridden a few hundred kilometers that very day, Arvid delivers a powerful message about persevering in faith in the callings we have, when the challenges are both big and small.

Arvid calls the children forward, and shares an idea: that the ability of people to work together as communities and families is like a wheel–where the hubs, spokes, and rims all work together to create a strong and true wheel.

Ndondo Mulli shares a bit about being a part of the continuing story of Mully Children’s Family and how her parents, Charles and Esther Mulli, undertook a journey step by step in faith to create and bring into existence an organization that has rescued tens of thousands of children from Kenya’s streets and given them a new lease on life.

Ndondo remains on stage to help Faith translate, but it turns out Faith’s English is more than up to the task. She shares her own story, beginning with the pain of a life on the streets, moving through a process of recovering hope and ultimately being transformed by the care of MCF and finding faith in God.

After hearing hearing these stories, members of the community form a choir and respond in song, singing a number of beautiful songs.

Following the music and the conclusion of the service, everyone breaks out into groups to chat over coffee and snacks.

Children from the community are surprised to learn that Arvid’s carbon-fiber road is light enough that they can lift it on their own.

After a long day of having fun, breaking bread, and telling stories, the crew get ready to say goodbye and goodnight. It has been a wonderful day, and tomorrow will see the resuming of Arvid’s ride to Florida!