coming back

As I write, I am in the Amsterdam airport. I will be in California in less than 24 hours. Amazing.

There are a flurry of emotions. First of all, I realize I have barely written about Vipingo. The last few weeks were intense and each day should really have a blog for itself, but I had no time to write then, so I will sadly have to rely on summaries that don't really do justice. Oh well.. pressing on to what is ahead. :) But mixed emotions also involve the grief of goodbyes, as well as the overwhelming excitement to see everyone.

okay, okay. Vipingo.
I think I said a little about it in the last post. We spent our last three weeks of outreach in Vipingo, which is about an hour north of Mombasa. On one of my free days, I went with Paul and some other people to visit his brother in Kilifi, which was a lot of fun too. (I can't wait to put pictures to all these names I keep mentioning.)
Anyway, Vipingo was pretty intense. We encountered some difficulty with team unity, exhaustion, and a lot of difficult situations with people. We also saw some amazing work of the Lord. Here are some examples:
- One of the people we met was 13 year old Reziki. Reziki has spent her entire life without being able to walk, and only recently has been able to form some comprehendable words. Yet, she has a joyful spirit and definitely responds to people. We went to visit her on 4 different occasions, and were able to pray over her, each time with many tears as the heart of our Father breaks for her. On the third and fourth times, we met with her parents as well, and it was so powerful. To see her dad carry her, bathe her, clean her up, and put her in the wheelchair from off of the ground. To see the faith of her mom, that she has made small improvements, and that God can still heal her fully. One of the things that we noticed is that she never bent her right leg. Her mom said that she would cry anytime they did any therapy with her with that leg. The last time we were there, we moved her leg out as we prayed, and Reziki didn't cry. She even kept it out as we left. It may not sound so exciting with my limited words, but we praised God for His healing work, and left believing that He is still working on her.

- One of the strongholds in this area are problems with pregnancy. Reziki's mom, as well as at least three other women had issues with bleeding abnormally during their pregnancies. We were able to pray with them, as well as over the issue in general. One of the women we met was Silvia, who had lost two children at a young age, as well as a pregnancy that has never brought a baby, but only blood for the past 10 years or so. We mourned with her, and prayed for her. She gave her life to the Lord, and was also healed! For the past 10 years, she had been unable to walk out of the house or even cook because of the pain and blood. But she was able to walk across town to church on Sunday. It was a miracle. (And a sidenote story - we were also particularly impressed with her husband who loved her so much. He came home from work just to cook her lunch because she can't cook. In a society where women are often beat because they are not cooking what their husband prefers, my Kenyan friends were particularly shocked to see this act of love. haha.. and the guys were inspired too.. hah.. GOOD JOB.)

I wish I had time to share more, but those stories I'm sure will come out with time. :) We had ministry right up until the very last minute we were there, including seeing a boy get healed of his hearing loss, a girl able to walk after 16 years, and good work with the kids at church.

We came back to the base last week, and have been doing some debriefing. Friday was full of tears and I was only encouraged by the fact that at least there will be no more goodbyes in heaven. haha. :)
One fun story to share though is that we took my Kenyan friends to the airport and it was a shocker to most of them. It was so fun to explain and show everything from how the wheels go up in the plane, to how to go through the security check, to what happens with the luggage. Some had never seen an airplane that close before (we were behind a fence, but still). Anyway, it was a good break of laughter amidst the pain of leaving.

So much more to share, but that will all be from California!!

back to the coast

We left Eldoret last Monday on an overnight bus ride to Mombasa. Thank you to those of you praying, because it really was the Lord alone who got us there safely, and then to Vipingo okay. Some of our team was in the front of the bus, but I really thank God that I was in the middle, and that I was not on the window seat. I found out later that the bus driver was texting, eating, and driving part of the time with his knees, at very high speeds! And it didn't help that the other person, the "security guard" was chewing miraa, which is a popular local drug!! And all the time swerving along the bumpy road to Mombasa, with no guard rails. Lisa's popular phrase "I choose life!" was a common saying along the way. haha.
Anyway, we got into Mombasa around 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning, record time of 13 hours. Tiberius and Wycliffe went to go look for a couple of matatus to take us to Vipingo, about an hour away. We found out later that on the way, they were approached by the police, who searched them, and then let them pass. Then we got the matatus, loaded our luggage on one of them, and the rest of us on the other. We were about ready to go, when, our matatu stopped and we no longer saw the other one. A few of the guys got out to see what the problem was, and we found out that the police were arresting the other matatu with all of our luggage! We had no idea what was happening, but a few of the guys went with it to the police station! All we could do was wait and pray.
We found out later that the police pulled over the matatu driver for not being certified. However, he was, and they were just arresting a lot of people that day. This is a good opportunity to discuss the corruption that is happening in Kenya. Police pull over matatus a lot, and then the matatu driver just gives them a bribe, and then the police let them pass. One of our friends also informed us about the police who "search" people. He said that you have to be careful, because sometimes police will plant drugs on people as they search them, and then "find" it and then arrest the person until a bribe is paid. The corruption is very sad and is very important to pray for.

Anyway, the point is that we got to Vipingo all in one piece. We are staying in a very nice church, in the Bible college building that was finished by the American team (they are from Wisconsin, Carlos Pedro) just 10 days before we came. There are nice tile floors, electricity, beds, and showers (even though cold - but it's okay since is is so hot)!! So we are spoiled yet again. :)
And there are WONDERFUL children who fill the place every day. We love it. We started children's ministry and games, and also taught Sunday School. We also did some home visiting around the nearby village, and saw the landscape of another community. It is a really beautiful place, and though we are back to the heat of the coast, Vipingo has a nice breeze that we love. :) I think that there are a lot of times that we are pretty tired, but we are pressing on, because we have two more weeks left here and a lot of work to do before we leave. There is a school on the campus of the church, and we have already met a few of the teachers there, and some of the kids. :) I'm looking forward to our next two weeks.

And speaking of leaving, I have just 3 weeks left. WOW. I can't believe it. I can't wait to see people, eat Asian food and salad, and take a shower with no sandals on. But mostly it is to see people. And at the same time, I do not want to leave the people I have come to really enjoy here. I love my team. They are a great bunch of people. sigh. One Day, there will be no goodbyes. Praise Jesus.
It's a good thing I can leave too. We just came from the immigration office because I got a text earlier this week from our base leader who said I needed to get an alien registration pass. I don't know why this information was not communicated to me earlier - but I think it was because no one thought I needed it since I have a visa and a pupil's pass. Well apparently I needed to go and get that, or else there was a possibility for a hold up at the airport. YIKES. Anyway, we went to the office today, and they said it was too late for me to get the alien pass, and that my visa expired in June (even though I got a 6 month visa and it said on my passport that it expires next week, in August.. I guess the way things work here is that it expires in 3 months and I need to get it extended.). Anyway, praise the Lord because the guy just extended my visa, and no alien pass was given, but an assurance that the visa will be fine to show the people at the airport when I leave. :)

"We cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:20

WHEW! What a week! Let me see what I can consolidate here for you:

1. On Tuesday we went to a children's Rehabilitation center, called the Rescue House. For those of you who knew me when I went to Brazil, yes, I also worked in a place called the Rescue House, and also for children who were taken off of the streets. It was a lot smaller though, than the one we went to here in Eldoret, Kenya. This one had 176 kids, ages 5 months to 19 years. They had two compounds right next to each other (one for boys and one for girls). So we split our team that way as well (male and female). In the morning, we went into the classrooms (Many of the kids who are here are coming from the streets where they are on drugs or something - so they are not allowed to go to the local schools because they aren't allowed to leave the rehab center. They have classes onsite.) I went to the oldest girls' class, where they were doing practical work - learning sewing, cooking, etc. The head master told me that their teacher was out for the day so I just had to teach them something. haha. But mainly we just answered questions and talked with the girls because it was a short time. We had lunch with them and delighted especially in how the little ones just stared at us while they ate. They were so impressive too - fitting the adult spoons in their little mouths as they fed themselves. SO CUTE. :)

In the afternoon we had a program for the girls. We did a skit about how God loves us for who we are, and then Lisa spoke about how God sees them as beautiful. We also played some games, sang with them, and prayed for them. Two of the girls were sick and we saw how God healed them too, which was exciting.

2. IDP Camp. (Internally Displaced Persons)
So I think I have said this before, but last year, after the national elections, huge riots and violence broke out all over Kenya. Many people were killed just because they were from a certain tribe, and a lot of people were moved from their homes. Eldoret was a pretty hot spot, and so these camps were for people who needed to relocate from their homes. They told us that last year, this camp held around 18,000 people. When we went on Wednesday, there were about 2,000. The conditions were so difficult to see - tents falling apart that were for whole families, people not having enough to eat, sick children, etc. Some of the people told us that robbery, prostitution, and HIV/AIDS were rampant because people were desparate for money for food and survival. The government was providing food for the people, but stopped in December. Apparently, they wanted the people to go back home - but on the ground level, the people themselves told us that they could not yet return, as much as they wanted to. They had a lot of bitterness and despair. One of the women we met with had the pain that her daughter died the week before. It all broke our hearts - and it breaks the heart of God.

So we just went to the tents that we could - not even making a dent with all of the people there. We cried with them, prayed for them, and encouraged them with the hope of the Lord. And hard as it was, we also saw some good - God really moved and healed. The first tent we went o had a sick baby. We prayed for her and she was healed! The third tent we went to had a woman whose middle finger was probably three times as large as her other fingers because it was so swollen and discolored. She could not flex it. So we prayed for her, and as we prayed, we could feel her finger begin to extend. When we were finished, she said the pain was gone and she could fully extend her finger. We marvelled at the work of the Lord. Finally, the last tent we went to had a guy with serious chest pain. He was going to try and go to the hospital, but after we prayed, he said all of the pain was gone and that he didn't need to go anymore. It was good to see that amidst all of the brokenness and pain in this place, God was still working and fighting for these people. And though we could not see everyone, He is still there.

3. Remand House - Juvenile Center
On Thursday we visited a center for children who were imprisoned until their trials say they can be released. We don't know each child's story, but the ones we heard were difficult again to hear. We also don't know if they were all there because of crime. One girl said that she had been hit by a car and so broke her leg. Then her leg was further irritated because she had been raped 3 times. She was 12 years old. Many of the children just wanted to go home. That was so difficult to hear. Some of the kids stole, though we don't know how much of that was for survival.
Despite their pain, it was still a good facility that was really taking care of the kids well. They were learning about the love of God, which was evident in their excellent behavior, and with a few of the boys who spoke for the whole. We sang with them, played some games, and did a skit about their identity. I spoke and then we prayed for them. It was a really powerful time.

4. Home Visits
On Friday and Saturday, we visited more homes around the church we are staying at. We had more powerful times where we were able to see God heal people, and God move in people's lives. My group (with John and Philip) happened to go to a lot of people who were in college, so it was neat to be able to talk with them.

5. Amidst the broken hearts that we saw this week, amidst seeing the Lord move amongst the people, we also were treated with a few things. Hot showers continued (praise the Lord) and we also were treated to a restaurant by a missionary couple that live here in Kenya! We had Indian food (hi dear!) and salad and ice cream!! It was great.
Also, Pastor Rick from the church has a cousin in American with a Korean son. So 17 year old Bruce joined us on Thursday and Friday and it was fun to have another Asian American on the team. He reminded me so much of my brother - gosh how I miss you Bryan!! It was good to talk to some family on the phone this morning too. :)
Today we went to a cheese factory in Eldoret town (yes Julie! cheese!). I had cottage cheese for the first time in SO long and LOVED it. I think that was one thing that was really difficult to give up in my lactose intolerance days. So I enjoyed that. :)

6. We say goodbye tomorrow. We already said goodbye to some of the pastors who left for a trip to Pokot yesterday morning. They met with us on Friday night and told us some really difficult stories of how people are really dying of hunger in other parts of the country. One of the pastors was our speaker in the last week of lecture phase in Mombasa, and urged us to really pray and think about where God wants us - the needs around the world are so vast and so deep. He told us of how one team he worked with was working with street children after they had been in Trucana, where daily people were burying their children because of lack of food. He said that one girl pointed out the difference between the children - the ones on the street were at least able to eat something every day - even if it is something from the garbage can. The ones in "the bush" literally had nothing, and were going to sleep and not waking up in the morning.

What can I say after that?

Well we head to Vipingo tomorrow (Monday) evening. We will travel by bus and arrive on Tuesday morning. I am not sure when I will get to email again, though I can't believe it is almost August and I have less than a month left here. It's difficult to leave every place we have been, because more and more people keep asking us to talk with more people. But we leave them in the hands of the Lord.

Exquisite Eldoret

haha.. that is the teacher in me.. using alliteration when I can. :)

But truly, truly, Eldoret has spoiled us so much this week.
Saying goodbye in Kitale was super hard. We had really come to love Pastor John and his family. But we exchanged a lot of contact information, and already have talked with them. Even now, I am emailing from Kitale - Lilian and I left Eldoret very early this morning to take the matatu here. And though we are enjoying the lavish luxuries in Eldoret, we do very much still miss all of the children. It's so quiet!!

Anyway, we got to the church in Eldoret last Tuesday morning and were in shock with how amazing it was. We are staying at a huge church, on an amazing compound, with a huge grassy field, a beautiful river next to a rock wall (it looks like the wall in the recent movie "The Secret Life of Bees"), and even a basketball court! It is beautiful!
Even more amazing is when we got inside. Hardwood floors! Real windows! Doors! Mirrors! Electricity! Toilets!
And the best is that they have hot showers. I almost cried. haha. I haven't had a hot shower standing up since I have been home. (Do not be alarmed - we just have bathed in a bucket, that's all.) It is a bit different since the water is not heated with a water heater - the water is heated over the fire and then put into the system. So the times to take a shower are limited if you want hot water... but still.. to have hot water coming out of a shower faucet over the head - it really is a luxury! We also celebrated Judy and Martin's 31st wedding anniversary and had cake and yogurt!!! I was so excited!

When we arrived and were amidst such luxury, the only thing I could do was worship. So I sat down and immediately turned to this passage in the Bible, from the book of Ephesians. The writer, Paul, is writing about the riches we have in Jesus Christ, that He took us from the depths of sin and death to His riches. There is no comparison, but somehow, going from cow dung floors to hot showers reminded me of His riches.
"Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7

Aside from the physical luxuries, we also had a pretty quiet week. We did ministry in Baharini, which is a little suburb of Eldoret, and rode on the crazy matatu's to get there. There are a lot of speed bumps, and the roads are not in such good condition anyway. And, I think I blogged about this before, but the matatu's themselves are jam packed with people - the norm is to have over 20 people in this vehicle that was supposed to have 14. The whole bumpy and crowded ride makes the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland seem like a cakewalk. ha.
Anyway, back to the ministry in Baharini. On the first day, we met with a pastor in the area and really spent a lot of time crying out with him with all of the issues going on in that area. Eldoret was a really hot area in the post election riots last year. Actually we found out that over 3,000 people were killed at that time. On the second day being there, we experienced so much of the Lord's favor, as we met with one guy and listened as he struggled with being hurt by people in the church. We eventually got his contact information so we could help him find a church, and then the very next place we went to "happened" to be a pastor of a church in the exact same village! It was amazing! We were so excited. Other groups experienced God healing a guy with a broken rib, and another baby with malaria. It was good to see.
We also did ministry in the area of the church, which is called Sirikwa. It was also very exciting to see the Lord move. A few people also came to play soccer later on Saturday. :) I couldn't keep up with the Kenyan boys, but it was still fun. :)

Sunday was another lavish day as we did ministry in two churches, and then had an amazing lunch at the pastor's house. The pastor and his wife are originally from Chicago, and their oldest daughter went to school at Berkeley!! GO BEARS!! I was so excited because when we went in their house, he changed into his Berkeley shirt. haha. :) Pastor Rick and Carole have been in Kenya for over 30 years - it was really neat to hear their story and what God has called for them to do. They said that they are not really missionaries - they still want to be missionaries - but right now they are pastoring that church and God has good plans for them. Last year, they said they were hosting about 100 people during the riots, and it was a really crazy time. I loved their stories.
Anyway, it was such a nice home - we sat on a carpet in front of a fireplace!! And saw a washing machine for the first time being in Kenya. We walked in the bathroom with no shoes, and there was an American style kitchen. Then they gave us an amazing lunch with salad!!! raisins! raw carrots! pineapples! and the chicken was really good too.. (we have had chicken here - it is actually a high form of hospitality to kill a chicken for guests - but usually it is really tough meat. This was the first time it was tender.). And then they gave us cake and ice cream and chocolate syrup! Martin and I enjoyed doing the dishes in the sink with hot water too. :)
We were so blessed. It was so close to home, yet still far as the most important of all - the people - were not there. As much as I love my Kenyan friends, there is no place like home. Anyway, we were so thankful and so spoiled. Again I think of the riches of His grace and how it feels to go from such death to such abundance of life that Jesus wants to give.

As I sit here, I have again been blessed. I went with Lilian to see the field of dreams that God has given her and her fiancee Dalton. It is amazing. They have a piece of land that they want to develop for their children's home. Such vision! We had another amazing lunch provided by the hospitable people who sold the land to Dalton. They made us mokimo, which is mashed potatoes with beans and corn. yum!! Again I am "nemasheba" which means, "I'm full." I feel like I have been saying a lot of that lately. haha. I am full in multiple ways!! so, so blessed.

Next week we will have some different things in store. Tomorrow we are headed to a rehab center for street kids, then the next day we are going to the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps, and then the following day we are going to a juvenile prison. I will be speaking there, so you can pray for that! thanks!

hard to say goodbye.. to Kitale

It has been a good week, though tomorrow we are leaving to go to Eldoret. We are so thankful for the outpouring of hospitality, generosity, and kindness that we were blessed with this week. We visited a lot of people this week, and most of the time were welcomed with such kindness. We were able to speak blessings into their lives, encourage with the Word, and pray for them. Most places were really good.. some were very hard, and again we just had to weep with some as we listened to them. One lady had her kids taken from her, and the pain that she faced could only be encouraged with the love of Jesus.

I have to keep this blog short though, so I unfortunately can't talk about everything.

It hailed this week and Hillard called it "stony rain." haha.. It was the first time for a lot of my friends to see hail. :)

One of the places we went to was to Lilian's home. She and her fiancee have started a home for street kids, to take them off of the streets and take care of them. They have about 24 kids, and they are wonderful. They teach them about the love of God, take care of them, feed them, send them to school, and shelter them. We went and washed their laundry (which was quite an experience since one shirt into the water turned the water instantly brown - and we washed a LOT of clothes. Note to self: if you send any clothes to kids in Africa, do not send white clothes!! They are forever changed to a different color.) Anyway, as some of us did laundry, some others in our team worked on concreting the floor in the dorm of the kids. The concrete smearing is made of cow dung, and so that was an interesting and very smelly experience. :) Talk about laying down rights!!
Anyway, I love how Lilian and Dalton take care of these kids. They are people of integrity, and it is refreshing to see that since so many people mistreat children and orphans by taking the money for themselves. We have heard and even visited with countless people who are doing that crime. It is heart breaking to see and hear.

We also visited a home one night last week that had electricity. I realized it was the first time in a month that I had been in a room with a light on the ceiling. Amazing! It was only one night, but I am humbled with what I have learned to live without - and how this is the reality of so many people.

Okay - tis all for now. I hope to email from Eldoret!!

June update

Finally I am able to send some of what I have been experiencing in beautiful Kenya. We have been on outreach for a little over a month now, and every day brings something new. It's impossible to tell everything, but here are some highlights. :) And yes, I will have plenty of pictures to share when I come home.

Golini (June 4-21)
Golini was so beautiful. Mango trees, coconut trees, and tons of farmland everywhere. Every place had a shamba (or farm/ garden), growing some vegetables like scuma (like spinach), or a few had maize (corn). It was mango season when we went, so we ate fresh mangoes every day. It was wonderful and oh how we miss those mangoes! Golini is a really small village about an hour walk from the small town of Kwale, which was about an hour drive from the city of Mombasa (for those of you interested in the geography). There is red dirt everywhere, which turned into red mud when it rained, and some of our things are still stained "Golini red." ha.

We fell in love with the people of Golini. We stayed with Pastor Steven and his family on their compound. They have three buildings on their property (mud huts). The boys of our team took one, and the girls took the smaller one. We crammed 6 girls on 4 sleeping mats in a tiny room probably the size of the den in my apartment. We are family now! :) haha. But seriously, there was no way we could complain, because the pastor's family was more than generous with the sacrifices they gave us. They also let us use the largest room in their home to store our food for three weeks. Because of what space they gave us, the whole family (they have 6 beautiful children, plus they often have other children in the area stay the night, and one of the cousins lives there permanently I think), took a smaller room in their house, and I still don't how how they did this, but they also fit all 8 of their goats and all of their chickens in the same house! So yea, no complaints on space. I was amazed at the generosity of this family.
The other people were not far from us, just a short walk down the road, and we just loved on all the children who were constantly surrounding us. They loved the camera, so I have tons of pictures of the children in Golini. :) They really have nothing. I was amazed that they could run around in rags of clothing - one kid's shirt literally was split in half. Yet, still so full of joy and love. The firstborn son (the third child) is 10 years old and every day looks after the goats. He and his cousin were out there for hours at a time. It made me think of young David as a shepherd boy, and I just delighted at the thought of what these two little guys were learning and playing in those fields every day as they watched the goats. It was a lot of responsibility.

We learned a lot about gratefulness. That even though our mud hut had rats crawling on us (the second night Lilian's eyebrow was bit, and the last night Lisa was scratched. They also ate my skirt), gigantic spiders, rain leakages (that was fixed though), and cramped spaces, we were thankful for a place to lay our head at night. We always had something to eat, even though some of the nearby children only had the falling mangoes to eat each day. We were safe from the elephants (we found tracks just about a 5 minute walk from the house), and each time it rained we were able to find some shelter. Despite lack of water, lack of electricity, and whatever else, we still had so much to be grateful for.

Our ministry was good. We actually found the water tanks that we prayed about before coming, already there when we got there. It was fine though - we spent most of our days playing with and loving on the children. We spent a lot of time in prayer for the heavy spiritual oppression in the area, and visited a couple of schools as well. One school in particular really hit hard for me, as I had a picture of one of the walls as I prayed for Golini a few weeks before. It was a school that was completely falling apart, yet still enrolled students. We walked A LOT and did this one hike up and down this mountain to visit the home of one of the members of the church. We found out that his grandson was one of the kids who we saw every day, little Baraka (Baraka means "blessing"). We could not believe this little guy, who was probably about 5, walked this long journey every day to school. It was incredible.

It was super hard to leave, but the last night, with the sun setting on the mango trees, the girls dancing, with little Joshua falling asleep on my lap, and little Beti holding my hand, singing praises to the Lord, captured the whole time. We had a lot of successes in the time we were there. And then the next day, as we were at church and the pastor's wife entered mid-service, home from being a week in the hospital with the baby, Mary, who had been very sick with malaria and dehydration, all the emotions poured out. My heart holds a special spot for the people of Golini.

Mount Elgon (June 23-28)
We rode the bus for about 18 hours from Mombasa to Kitale, and saw some cool things on the way. We saw zebras, warthogs, flamingoes, sheep, donkeys, chickens, dogs, and more on the way. Fun times. We also got to see the beautiful Rift Valley and a volcano. It was very cool.

We arrived and stayed at the home of the Pastor John and his family. The next day we drove an hour outside of Kitale to Mount Elgon. If you read international news, you may remember the violent riots about a year and a half ago in Kenya. Because of disagreements between tribes after the national elections in Kenya, extreme violence broke out, particularly in Mount Elgon. So it is a place that is still recovering from the issues there, and we worked with a few churches in the area to reach out to the people there.

Mount Elgon is gorgeous as well, but in a different way than Golini. Acres and acres of maize crops on an amazing landscape. The people also work a LOT harder than in Golini (we found Golini to have a lot of laziness). Anyway, we were blessed by amazing hospitality of people in the church, as well as from the family who housed us in their huge old colonial house from back in the day when Kenya was being colonized by the British. We slept in a bed! Amazing! haha.

We learned a lot of new customs here. For example, the people know you don't want any more chai (tea) if you put the handle facing the inside of the table when you are finished with your meal. Also, some of the people still used the tribal custom to take out some of the front teeth on the bottom row, so it was interesting to meet many adults who were missing their front bottom teeth. The handshake was different in Mount Elgon than anywhere else in Kenya, and we also experienced some cold weather. Some people's handshake is a clapping of the hands! I love it. :) Oh, and I should also explain some about the transportation. We used this matatu all week, that was an experience in itself. The door of the van was tied onto the side of the vehicle, so it was unable to be closed. It was funny most of the time, until it rained. :) We also crammed 21 people into this 14 passenger van the first time we rode it, which was also very interesting. I shouldn't complain about that, because now, in Kitale, we often will fit 24 people in the same space. Anyway, most of the time it was fine, and we were thankful for a ride.
We again enjoyed the people and all of their hospitality and generosity.

Kitale (last week and this coming week)
We spent the first two days last week ministering to the many widows in the area. It was a very emotional time and there was one day in particular that we just sat with and listened to and wept with these women who had lost everything in the post -election riots. They actually used to live in Mount Elgon, but lost their land and came to Kitale. We also found out that the population in Kitale went from about 300,000 to over a million people in the last year due to the riots. Incredible.
The next few days we working with some of the local churches and ministering to people in the area. It was a good work. Next week we are headed to work with a school nearby to the pastor's house, who again is hosting us so generously.

Whew! I know.. it's been a long post, and not nearly enough details. But that will have to do for now. Lisa and I celebrated the 4th of July with some American songs, and thought of the barbeques at home. :) We are learning a lot about flexibility here - sometimes we don't eat or eat really late, and just adapting to a lot of various customs. But every moment brings with it a lot of opportunity to be grateful for the Lord and to trust in Him.


A couple more things I forgot:
- The milk is so fresh and good here! We have lots of it in our chai every day. So for those of you wondering about my healing, it is real! Praise the Lord for fresh cow's milk every day and real ice cream as I splurged today :)
- Yes, my swahili is improving :)
- Next week we are headed to a very big school. We were in a big school in Mount Elgon as well - with about 70 kids in one class, to one teacher. Yikes!

It has been quite a fun morning. We usually go to do the service for the teenagers on Sunday mornings with Fridah and Grace, or one of the two, and one of them teaches. We then add on and also interact with the kids. It is a lot of fun. However, this morning, I found out that neither of them were going to go, and then found out right before I left that it was just going to be Duncan and I to teach the kids. So we left the base with no program and no idea what we would be doing.
On the way, we decided that we just needed to pray and God would tell us exactly what to say and do. So we were just listening and silently praying as we walked. Right when we turned the corner onto the road, I felt like I was supposed to teach on John 15, about staying connected to the Vine, and obeying God's commands, but I decided to wait to see if Duncan heard the same thing.
We keep walking, and Duncan says "Kristy, I am really not hearing anything."
My response was, "Keep listening, God will speak." More silent walking. I prayed that God would say the same thing to Duncan if He really wanted me to speak on that, and to tell me something different if that were not the case. Again Duncan tells me that he is not hearing anything from the Lord, and again I told him to just wait. More walking. I had so much peace that God would say the same thing, that I was miraculously not worried at all.
Finally, about 5 minutes before we got to the ferry, Duncan looks at me and says, "Okay, I have something. I feel like God wants us to talk about obedience, and obeying God's commands."
Great! Exact confirmation!
So we spoke on that and the words flowed. I felt like it was even easier than last week when I spoke and had prepared more. Praise the Lord - it was all Him.
Anyway, we also had to say good bye to the kids, and speak blessings to them as they go on in life, and as we won't see them for at least the next three months.

Lecture phase of my time here ended with a BANG this week. It was quite a week filled with so much of God speaking into so many of our lives, for the upcoming three months and beyond. I am asking for more clarity and courage from God to enable me to follow what He is telling me to do. Things were only confirmed more this morning when the pastor at church spoke on some of the exact same things as our speaker did all week.
Our fiery speaker this week came to us from Eldoret, where we will be going to work as our third place. He actually works also part-time with the Toposa people in Southern Sudan. He shared some of this ministry there, and it really broke some of the people on the team. One of the guys on my team shared that he had not cried for 10 years, but after seeing these people, who do not even have clothes, he said he could not control the tears coming from his eyes and heart. That is beautiful.

Friday night was a nice, light, end of the week though. We had a multicultural celebration, and each tribe or nation shared something of their culture. Oh how we LAUGHED. :) Lisa and I made salsa and guacamole, mostly because we were craving it, but we just said we were from North America, and Janelle (from Canada) joined our group. Most of the tribes did a song or a dance, and I busted out the ribbon stick. :) hahaha. It was great. I videoed most of the acts, and will have to post those when I come home. One of the highlights was the Luhya people, who came in with all these leaves all over themselves, or Judy and Martin who did an English barn dance. Fun times. It was a good ending to the first three months, as the PCYM people are also going to be leaving for their outreach soon as well.

This may be my last post for a while. We do not know if we will have internet for the next three months. If that is the case, God bless you abundantly, and I will have lots of sharing at the end of August for you.

And one thing to make clear, while we are going to be doing a water project in Golini, and possibly working in a school in Kitale and with the IDP camps in Eldoret, and with the school and church in Vipingo, our PRIMARY focus is to share with people about Jesus.
And while I care about these people because the Lord loves them, I care about you all even more, and would love for you to know Jesus the way that I do. I hope you know that Jesus loves you, that it's more than a kid's song, and that He is the only way to have an eternal life in Heaven with Him. If you are interested in knowing more, He is already interested in you. Talk to someone. I will be more than happy to talk to you when I come home, God willing. Above all things, I am just saying this because I care for you. I value you and love you, and so does God.

It has been an interesting week. It began with what I wrote on Monday, with the death of Tiberius' father, and then finding out more health issues. I wrote about the four who already got malaria at the base, and then as soon as I got back to the base after writing, I found out that Lilian, from our team, got it as well. She is doing a lot better now though, so that is good to see. Daniella had another health issue yesterday, causing a big rash to break out all over her little body. Her mom, Winnie, also got really sick this week. You can pray especially for this family on base. Baby Davin really wants to crawl, and perhaps even walk, but it's not exactly the cleanest conditions for him to do that.

We went to a school in the nearby village on Friday and got to teach in the different classrooms. It was a tiny mud building, but still had a lot of kids. They first assembled in this open area in the center of the building, but the kids were really crammed together standing, and they spilled into some of the nearby classrooms. They started with the head teacher announcing our coming, and then he asked if this one kid would speak, so the boy says "Good morning," and the entire student body yells out "Good morning Head Boy." (yes, I laughed out loud.) Then the same thing happened, but it was a "Good morning, Head Girl," and then "Good morning Junior Head Boy." SO funny. I asked Catherine if that was normal, and she said yes, of course. I guess most schools also have a Head Bell Ringer and some other interesting titles. :)
Anyway, after introductions and a little presentation from us, we split off into partners and headed into the various classes (there were all 8 grades, one class per grade.) I went with John to Standard 4 (it's kind of like fourth grade, but the ages of kids in school kind of vary because it really depends on when the kids start school, and depending on their situation, some don't start until pretty late.) Anyway, crammed into a TINY classroom, were about 25 -30 kids (all sitting on these benches with tables, like 3 to a bench.) It was small, and I definitely will not be complaining about not having enough space for a while. The classrooms in the whole building were separated by these half walls, so with some other classes singing and such, there were times it was difficult to hear or be heard. But, at least we had a classroom, because Judy and Wycliffe had their "class" in what would be equivalent to a hallway, with the kids smacked against this wall, and all writing was also on the wall (no whiteboards). The history of this particular school is that the person who began it found a lot of the kids on the streets, as orphans. Long story short, it was a fun time despite conditions, and every single group came back with fun stories to share and a great teaching time. :)

We have also been heavily preparing for outreach. I can't believe that we have only one more week of lectures before we go!! I am not sure if I will have internet or electricity for three months, so the blogging may get sparse. I will post pictures and a summary when I come home if that happens (well, pictures either way).
Here's some more info for those of you interested:

Stop 1: Golini.
We leave on June 4 and will be there for 3 weeks. Golini is a little village located about 45 minutes by matatu from Likoni. It is pretty small, and most people either do not work, or work in a nearby town or with small shops. There are a lot of issues that we will be working with and through. We will be living in a mud house, and hopefully it does not fall. (Last year, the team stayed in a house there that had a wall fall down while they were there.) Some other housing issues - they are currently building the walls around the pit latrines we will use, so hopefully the walls will be done, otherwise, we will be going to the bathroom with friends. There are also elephants nearby (yes, room 15, here's my chance to see elephants for you), but they can be destructive, so hopefully they won't come too close to our house. Another issue is the cooking because we will need to cook outside, and I guess many of the children and, well, everyone, come and watch us cook and eat. Fridah says it's very hard because we really can't give them food every time we eat, or else more people will come and we just don't have enough. I guess one year they had a party, and over 100 kids came and they ran out of food. I am not sure how I personally will be able to eat knowing that I can't give them very much.. so we'll have to figure that out. Anyway, we will be working with a small church there, and will be working on a water project.

Stop 2: Kitale.
Kitale is located in Western Kenya (you can google a map of Kenya if you are really interested. Kitale should be on most maps). We will be working with one of our speakers, John, and one of the schools there. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't know too much more. It is supposedly a lot colder there too. We will hopefully get to visit Lilian's home, and the kids she takes care of.

Stop 3: Eldoret.
Eldoret is a smaller village than Kitale, located not too far away. In our prayers for Eldoret, God keeps leading us to pray for the people in the IDP camps (sorry, I don't remember what that means, except that it is a refugee camp). Last year, Kenya went through a lot of political strife because of the election of the president. Tribal pride runs deep here, and there is still a lot of tension. Eldoret holds one of these camps, where some people have gone as refugees from their homes because they were run out of there due to tribal tension. We will be going to bring peace and the love of God to the people of the camps.

Stop 4: Vipingo.
Vipingo is about an hour drive away from home base in Mombasa, so it makes sense that we are going here last. More info to come. :)

That's all for now. Take care!

monday?

It's weird for me to post on a Monday, but I have a different work duty today and so I had a longer block of time.
Anyway, this post will still be short, but I forgot something from my last one.
So last week two more people at the base got malaria. One was 2 year old Daniella, and the other was Sheun, from the other class on base. They both are not so bad and are recovering well with the medicines. Two other people I can think of had it recently at the base as well: Christine and Moses, who works in the shamba with Martin. Anyway, all of them were able to still walk around for the most part during their recovery, so I was beginning to think that malaria was not that big of a deal. But then last night, after coming back to the base, I found out that Tiberius' father died yesterday - because of malaria. I don't know any other details, but I was shocked and we spent a lot of time this morning just standing with Tiberius in prayer. He will be traveling for the funeral later this week.
So, it has so far been a more somber beginning of the week, but God is still good and we still praise Him at all times.

animal park!

Hello people!
I will start off this post talking about yesterday. It was a fun week, but I have so much to say about yesterday that I have to get that out first!
Yesterday, the staff had planned a fieldtrip - some kind of fun mystery trip. They have been planning this for a while, and it was fun to try and guess what it was. On the way, I started getting really excited and hitting the seat in the matatu and my friends were cracking up at me, but I didn't care because I couldn't wait!! haha. Anyway, we got there and it was an animal park!

I wished that I had talked to my fourth graders after going there, but if you are a fourth grader reading this, I am still I got to talk to you on Monday! That was definitely a highlight of my week!! :) I miss you guys!

Anyway, many of Kenya's wildlife is on natural preserves, and some are in parks like the one we went to. The animals are cared for there, and are not as wild as on the preserves. They are fed some, and the park also tries to give them as natural as an environment as possible. With that said, it is similar to a zoo at home because the animals are fed and SOME of the animals are fenced in, but different because the animals all interact with each other and some are free to roam about the park wherever they want.
For example, we were walking along and then these monkeys noticed that we had a bag of bananas, and so they all started coming and following us! There must have been about 20 following us, and who knows how many more were watching. ha. Anyway, so we walked into this field and were trying to decide where to sit, when out of nowhere, this family of giraffes walks by!! It was incredible!! They were so close! It reminded me of that scene in Jurassic Park when the people are first in the park and the brachiosaurus walks by and they are blown away. I felt like that girl because I was so awestruck that these beautiful giraffes got so close to us. Even thinking about it right now feels so surreal, but I took some pictures. They are so beautiful and I love their long eyelashes and huge eyes. I love that the pattern of their skin is unique and such a gift from God. It was really exciting, to say the least. :) Later on in the day, we also got to feed them, which was a lot of fun too. :)
Anyway, we also saw crocodiles (they have 30 in the park, and they are all in this swamp area. They are fenced off, of course, because they are considered the most dangerous in Africa, but we were still pretty close.. good pictures. :) ) , buffalo, impala, and antelope. Like I said before, we also were close to the monkeys, and they also dug through the garbage can when we were finished with lunch, to eat our banana and mango skins. :) We also got to touch and take pictures with a 128 year old tortoise that was bigger than me when I crouched down. And finally, we also got to get close to some hippoes, but they were on the other side of a brick wall because they are pretty dangerous to humans. The guide told us that the hippoes are so heavy and strong that they could easily break the wall if they wanted to (they can't jump over it even though it was only up to my waist or lower), but they could break it, so the park also has a trench before the wall. hah. Anyway, it was interesting to see them all together. The monkeys and some birds came along to feed alongside the hippoes, and the buffalo were not too far away - not even in a different fenced off area. It was good to see such community! Finally, we also saw a bunch of birds, snakes, fish, and beautiful trees. I kept thinking of our life science unit at school over and over. Whew! More to add on to the lessons for next year! :)
Anyway, it was a good time together with our team. Some of the Kenyans had not even seen some of those animals so close, so it was fun to see them excited as well. :) Fun times of laughter.

The rest of the week was good - lots of preparation for the outreaches that we will be doing in the next three months. I can't believe it - we only have two more weeks of lecture and then we go! So we have been learning and praying a lot about what we will be doing, and learning a lot about the people we will be with. This week's lectures were also really important for beyond DTS, dealing with how to take care of what we have been entrusted with in life. It was really good.

Hope you are well!

Whew! What a week! Let me take this opportunity to thank those of you who have made comments or sent encouraging emails. I don't really know how to respond to comments on here, but I read and appreciate them.

It has been a good week. We were just reflecting as a team yesterday, about the last ten weeks. It has been quite a journey and though there is much ahead, we have come a long way already. My response was that each week, I think, whoa, if I came just for this week, it would have been worth it. Then the next week comes, and I am humbled once again, and again I am blessed by what God has for me. This week was amazingly transformational, and I am humbled once again. There is so much to say, but I don't even know where to begin.

Our speaker this week was an awesome man of God from Kitale, which "coincidentally" is where we are going on our second week of outreach. Actually, before this week, we heard from God, but did not have any other contacts in Kitale (except Lilian, who is from there). But as we prayed, some of the same things that came up were things that, when we talked with our speaker John, were actually real needs in Kitale. I'm excited to see what is ahead, and looking forward to seeing our speaker and his family in the future.

I was also in the kitchen this week for cooking as my work duty. It was a lot of fun despite how much work it was. Tanya, I talked to two people about chapati. One said they were from Kenya, and another said they were from India. ha. But I do know one Kenyan who has been to India, and she said the chapati was a little different. Interesting. :) Anyhow, it was a lot of fun to make them, as well as everything else. :)

We had an interesting morning today. Around 5 am, we heard some screams, and then found out later what was happening. I guess some neighbors were robbed early this morning. Then, three of the guys on our team found out that their clothes were also stolen, right off of the laundry line! It was very sad and a bit scary. But as I processed and prayed about this, and wondered what God wanted me to do, I just felt His peace as He gave me a word about His provision, from Zephaniah 2:7. It was very helpful. I also found out that the base leader contacted the night watchman company, and I think they are supposed to help pay for some of the costs to make restitution. At first I was afraid to do laundry again, but I have peace now and am no longer afraid.

it's may already??

This week was a bit tougher than last, but I still choose joy and to praise God. The rain stopped but the mosquitoes were in full force anyway. :) My friends keep asking if I use the repellant, but despite layering it on twice a day and taking vitamin B and wearing longer clothes, my legs still look like a war zone. I am no longer counting and am really trying to focus and praise God despite this.

We began the week with some issues between people that needed to be worked out. On any team, there are bound to be issues that arise, and these were mostly cultural. We really had to take a stand together as a team and fight together in prayer and humility for our unity. Though it was difficult, we ended the week a whole lot stronger than we began it. I'm glad too, because when we head to our ministry in a month, we will face challenges that our unity will be so important for. I have grown to love these people, and it is so true that each challenge is just making us stronger together. What treasures they are to me!

Interestingly, we learned a lot in our lectures this week about pride. It was difficult to look so deeply into this, to see how destructive it is, and to humbly go before God and ask forgiveness. It was good to have some heart cleansing time, no matter how hard it was.

We also found out about our outreach months. For those of you interested, we are going to four other cities in Kenya for the last three months of our time here. It is so crazy to plan it out, knowing that I will be leaving right after and my life will change so much within days. Anyway, we leave on June 4 to a place about an hour south of here, called Golini. We will be working on a water project there for three weeks. I am really excited mostly because we have been praying hard and hearing what God wants us to do there. After we leave Golini, we will head to the west of Kenya, to a city called Kitale. Lilian is from there, and we will hopefully get to go and see the orphanage that she helps at. We will be there for 2-3 weeks, then head to Eldoret, not too far from there. I'm not sure what we're going to be doing in both Kitale and Eldoret - it is something we are still praying about. Finally, we will come back this way, and go to Vipingo, which is about an hour north of Mombasa. We will come back to the base in Mombasa on August 18, and then I will be heading home a few days later. Crazy! There is a high possibility that I will not have any access to internet during that time, so I will have Cindy blog for me periodically if that happens. We have been pretty excited as we prepare and learn as a team for these places. :)

Finally, I just have to end talking about baby Davin. What a cutie. His parents are leaders of the other class on base, so he and his older 2 year old sister Daniella are lovely additions to have at our base. They are so fun. Davin has recently learned to wave, and has been laughing a lot this week too. What fun! He has this huge smile (with two teeth growing in on the bottom) and I have such fun watching him and Daniella. They are fresh in my mind because I just was with them before I came here to the Internet. :)

love feast

It has been a busy week, but soooo good. We spent a considerable amount of time this week preparing for what is called a Love Feast, held once a month on the last Friday. In the past year, most of the love feasts have been just a special meal, but for this month, one of the leaders really felt like we needed to make it more special. Therefore, we began preparing for this special time a lot earlier, and then reaped the benefits on the actual night. One of the things that we needed to make sure happened was for everyone to prepare their hearts well. There were some issues between the two schools with a few people, and God did some work through reconciliation. It was good to see some walls (not big ones) come down in people's hearts and for peace to reign.

The night itself was so beautiful. Yes, people, I cried. haha. I don't think anyone will be surprised. But at one point I just sat back and thought about how surreal I felt like it was. I will describe the night, but similar to any big occasion back home, there was a lot of preparation that went into the night on all levels, so keep that in mind. :)
Let's see.. where to begin. Maybe with the decorating, since we started with that around 1:30. Dinner was supposed to start at 5. We pitched in and got some really nice fabric for a tablecloth earlier in the week. We put out candles and flowers and had numerous comments about how it looked like a wedding. haha. I will have to get pictures from Janelle to show you. We decided to have it outside and prayed that the rain would wait until after dinner to come (we never stop praying for rain here, we just wanted it to hold off til later). So we set the tables with nicer plates (borrowed from some of the staff who live off base) and namecards that we wrote encouragements on. Did I mention that you can see the beach from the backyard? That is where we put the tables, and it was a magnificent view. And then we have these amazing flowers that seemed to come out of nowhere that we got to use too. The boys also helped get some sand and shells from their trip to the beach. It was so beautiful.
Meanwhile, people were cooking and preparing some awesome food. Fresh juice, SALAD!! (I haven't had fresh salad since I was home), CHICKEN! (chicken is super expensive here, so we have only had it one other time), fish, and ugali (ugali is this cornmeal thing. Lisa and Janelle said it was kind of like a super thick cream of wheat. I guess I can agree with them - but that it is really thick.). Oh, and we also had french fries, which took forever to make. ha.
Anyway, people sat down, and I thought it was even more beautiful with the people sitting there than it was just decorated. :) We had people dress up, and I wore my hair down. haha. Even though I felt like a lion, some other people thought it was great. I suppose it was similar to another special time in late June of last year. :)
As soon as the last person got food and sat down, it began to rain. haha. So everyone picked up everything and rushed inside to our plan B place. It was beautiful to see everyone helping each other. And, when we were all crowded inside the classroom and eating together again, that is when I sat back and marveled at how surreal the situation was, how beautiful it was, how perfectly God had planned the night. It could not have been any better, and I just felt like that fellowship was worship itself. Karen, the base leader, gave a short message about the theme verse (Proverbs 27:17) and then the PCYM speakers led us in some fun worship songs. We praised God for the rain and for His love. We also had previously put people in pairs and sat them together. We had each person write an encouragement on their partner's namecard and then we shared and prayed with our partners. I was with Karen, and her words for me were so encouraging. She is such a woman of God. We also had communion together.
Finally, as if the night could not have been even better, God decided to give a personal treat. We had ice cream and fresh fruit for dessert, and I decided to eat it all, including the ice cream. I have not eaten ice cream in 6 years due to lactose intolerance problems, but the leaders have been praying specifically for me about this, and I have been able to have the milk tea we have every morning. So, I decided to eat in faith that I was healed. And, miraculously, I ate the ice cream and had no issues. Yesterday I also had some of Lisa's milkshake and also did not have any problems. YAY!!!

So, Friday night made the entire week worth all the preparations. The only thing that could have made it even better for me is if you were all there with me. :) I read this quote yesterday that helps though:
"You can kiss your family and friends good bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart and your mind, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you." Frederick Buechner

I got a wonderful package from my beautiful parents yesterday, and included were some chopsticks. I must say, it was HILARIOUS trying to explain and show how to use them last night at dinner. We had ugali and scuma (which is kind of like spinach) and we laughed so hard. I am looking forward to trying them out with them tonight too. John also could not believe me this morning when he overheard me saying good night to my parents. It was hysterical for him that it is night time for people when it is our morning here.

Today was also a blessed time. We did some ministry with a nearby church on both Wednesday and Thursday (Thursday's was kind of fun because we went even though it was raining in the beginning. I wore a jacket for the first time that I've been here). Anyway, today was exciting because not only was the church time great (and they also served us a full lunch including our favorite chapati!), but two of the guys we met on Wednesday came and made a commitment to Jesus. It was so exciting to see them!

All in all, I was in awe a lot this week. :) I was really overcome with the love of God multiple times this week. The rain brought more mosquitos and bites, and Christine got malaria in the beginning of the week (she was better by the love feast), but these did not stop us from praising God and dwelling in His love for us. I hope you know how much God loves you. It's not just for us and not just for this time in Kenya. Oh, how He loves you, dear one.

sunday extra

So I am trying to upload pictures, and am still unsuccessful. Sad. :(

But it is fun to be here on a Sunday anyway, and I will just give some other fun things going on. I forgot to tell the sushi story. So one night we had fish, which was a really exciting time because we do not normally have that. We also had green beans one day, which was also really exciting. Anyway, I tried explaining to Duncan and Lilian about sushi and sashimi, and they were absolutely appalled. I wish I could have recorded their faces. hahahahha. They are engrained on my mind, and you can imagine. :)

The roads are also an adventure in themselves. Yesterday the power went out at the internet cafe, so I walked the road to it more than the one round trip. There are no sidewalks in Likoni, so anything from cars, people, bicycles, the water guys with their carts of water and pieces of metal clanking on the sides to warn people that water is passing by (think of same concept as an ice cream truck), cows, goats, sheep, motorbikes, and these three -wheeled vehicles called tuk-tuk's can be going along the road at the same time. When you get closer to the main town, it is a lot more congested, and you can add onto the road the fly-ridden market places with people sitting in front of what they are selling. Because it is such an adventure every time, I don't know if I have gotten used to it. :) But it is fun. haha.

Some fun stories of our worship times. We have sung such fun songs. Most of the Kenyan songs have hand motions or some kind of dancing. We sang this one song at the end of last week where each country or tribe in the room is celebrated. The basis of the song is that God is praised in all of these places. And when they call out your country or tribe, those people had to go in front and show some kind of dance. It was great. Each tribe has their own style of dancing, and it was a lot of fun. For example, the Masai tribe, where John and Catherine are from, the tribal dance involves this really high jumping. It is incredible how high John can jump. And it was hysterical when our whole team tried to imitate. hahahahha. John was almost on the floor cracking up. haha.
We also sang this other song this week that is about how Jesus is alive in all parts of us. It is kind of like a "heads, shoulders, knees, and toes" song. It was a lot of fun too. It is a lot of fun to dance with the people here. We spend most of the time laughing.

And I will end with another story of my friend John. ha. His home village is near a lot of animals, and he tells these crazy stories of his encounters with lions, snakes, and elephants. Apparently, most Kenyans are terrified of elephants, saying that they and buffaloes are more dangerous than any other animal, even lions. When I told them that I once rode an elephant (at marine world, ha) they were appalled. Their immediate reaction was "that was not an elephant." haha. But I guess John was once in a field and saw an elephant completely trample a person, as well as proceed to throw the person through some trees. I can only imagine why they consider these animals to be so scary. But we were sharing last week about some times in our lives when we were thankful to God, and John told this story about how he was in a field and he somehow found himself only a few feet away from an elephant. But by the grace of God, it did not see him, and his life was spared. The way that John tells it is so much better, but you'll have to wait for me to come home for me to try and imitate his animated storytelling. :) In the meantime, I will try and get a video of his jumping. :)

Life here is by no means easy. But God is good. :)
Have a great and grateful day!

God sent the rain down in Africa!

Yes, that song is for Kevin and Arthur:) Imagining them singing right now brings a smile to my face and already delighted heart. haha.

But yes, we had rain this week! Thanks for praying, and keep praying! It was great! Before, it would rain or maybe just drizzle for like 5 minutes or a short time. But on Friday, it really rained! Like, the ground was soaked (inside and out, since the roof is leaking in the main building, ha). We were so excited, mostly because we had been praying for a lot of rain. With the drought and famine going on, this country really needs it. Also, Martin just planted a whole bunch of new vegetables and was spending a lot of time and money for watering the new plants. The rain was really helpful. Today it is back to the heat, but it was nice to really have that rain this week.

Our fun week began on Sunday with an awesome Easter Sunday. We went to Vipingo, about an hour bus ride north, to the church there. It was wonderful. The church and school were built recently (actually by a church from Wisconsin - everyone wanted to know how close that was to Ohio or California, since those are where Lisa and I are from, and those are the points of reference to America for our friends. I told them that Wisconsin is closer to Ohio than it is to California, and that the distance from CA to Wisconsin is actually longer than the width of Kenya. That was hard for them to believe. ha). Anyway, the school has about 170 children, and they are also in the process of building a bible college. We will be working with this church and school and village in June/July, and they are hoping the building for the college will be ready by then because that is most likely where we will be staying. It was really nice to be there, and to see this wonderful and beautiful place. A lot of the children come to this church as well, so it was fun to see all of their presentations. Great times!

When we came back on Sunday, we also had fun watching a soccer match between our Kenyan guys and the British soccer team that is here. This was their second and last week here, and it was great to see how they really bonded with some of the people here. We had a worship night together that the British led, and it was a lot of fun, and very heartfelt. I think their work with the soccer camp (let's keep in mind that they called it "football camp") for two weeks was really awesome too. I heard that they had 300 kids come out the first day, even though they could only really take 80. They took another 80 the second week, and are looking for ways to continue to reach out through Erick, at our base. They are hoping to come again as well. It was really exciting to hear their stories, as well as to meet some of the kids when we went to the soccer match. The kids were fascinated that I was Japanese, and taught me some Swahili in exchange for some Japanese words. funny. :)

We also went to another orphanage this week. This one is really close to our base, and we actually run past it every morning (we noticed the sign "Happy Rock Center" but never knew what it was). This one has 26 children, ranging from newborn to age 13, but what was really exciting was that some of the older kids come to the program on Saturdays, and they recognized me! We played limbo with the kids last Saturday, and so when we walked in on Tuesday to the orphanage, they immediately got a stick and began chanting "limbo, limbo, limbo!" It was so great. We told our base leaders how much we enjoyed it (one kid fell asleep in Martin's arms), and we're hoping to go back again.

We also went on more house visits this week. Our group (Paul and Lilian and I) keep meeting people whose names start with E (Esther, Edwin, Erica, Evelyn, Ede). It was quite funny when we realized it. Good times. :)

We concluded the week with Duncan's birthday on Friday. It was hilarious because the British guys found out, and decided to pull them out into the pouring rain at one point, and dogpile him. They were all completely soaked. It was hysterical. (Of course, after Duncan was completely drenched, he decided to pull Lisa and I into the rain as well. ha) But most touching of all was that after they all were dry, the British team presented Duncan with a real gift - a pair of soccer shoes. They said they had noticed that when they played on Sunday, that he was barefoot (most of the Kenyans were). The shoes fit perfectly, but it was great because Duncan had been sayign that he needed some new shoes in general. He only has some sandals (he calls them "my opens") and some church shoes that are too small for him. He doesn't have money to buy new shoes, and so this really was a perfect gift - probably more than the guys realized. We celebrated Duncan with a party on Friday night as well, and after we prayed for him, he told us that he had never celebrated his birthday before. This was his 20th birthday, and I am so glad. You would never know it - Duncan is probably one of the most joyful people I know. It was a really blessed night.

The week was great - I am physically fine (no rashes, few bites), and my heart is incredibly blessed. I am learning so much, mostly how to be content in all circumstances. This week was a huge blessing of learning, and I am constantly in awe of our awesome God.

Bwana Safiwe!

happy Easter!

Jambo! (Hello!) Bwana Safiwe (Praise the Lord!)
Habari yako? (How are you?)
Mzuri Sana (Very well.)
Asante (Thank you.)

These are some common expressions that I either say or hear multiple times a day, from anyone and everyone. (and for those of you wondering, I also find myself saying "hatari," which means "danger." haha)

I hope you are doing well. It has been quite an eventful week. Here are some highlights:

- On Sunday we went to the children's home (orphanage) where some of the teens (from our ministry on Sundays) live. It was so fun. We had an awesome time playing with all of the kids. They range from a few months old to 19 years old. There are 56 children, and on that particular day, we also had some other kids from the church come, as well as some neighborhood children who came by to see what was happening. The director's wife was telling us that many of the surrounding neighborhood children are quite poor themselves. One nearby family is made up of a man with 6 wives and 26 children. WHOA. Anyway, the day was called Family Day, where they invite the extended families of the children who live in the home. The director's wife explained that though the children no longer have parents, they see it as very important for them to stay in touch with extended relatives like aunts, uncles, and cousins. Not too many of the relatives came, but it was quite touching to see the reunions that did happen, and the pride of the children who had someone come just for them.
Anyway, the day was quite fun. We had a time of worship, full of exuberant dancing and singing - SO FUN, and then our group did a short skit and our leader gave a message. It was good. Then we spent time eating and playing with the kids. We played a lot of games with them, and watched them play a lot of games as well. Oh these children - they are so beautiful!! We stayed a long while, but every second there was well worth it. One of these days I hope to get some pictures up for you to see. :)

- The week back at the base was so full that no one could believe it when Friday came. We had a wonderful speaker who came with his whole family. They have a ministry in a village near Kisumu (another city in Kenya), where they have ministry for widows and orphans. The area where they live has a high prevalency for AIDS and HIV, which is why there are so many widows and orphans there. The ministry is cool though- they really are helping the village see transformation, with various projects going on and more envisioned. They are helping the widows get back on their feet - building houses, and providing other things, but also helping them build responsibility by taking care of sheep. It is really amazing to hear the stories of what was going on there. Fridah said that the team went there once, and at the end of their time, one of the widows wanted to bless the team, so she came out with 5 mangoes. It was all that she had and she gave it all in thanksgiving. How humbling is that.
The speaker was awesome and we had a wonderful time each day learning.
Anyway, it was pretty funny when the family came to the base. The wife is Filipino and Chinese, and multiple people asked me if she was my sister. haha. But she was great to talk to (as well as the three kids and our speaker of course). She told me that because of the stereotype that Asians are good at martial arts, some people are scared of Asians. HAHA. She told me this story about how she was at the market once in another city, and someone came to steal her friend's bag. She said that she just shouted "NO!" and held out her hand in some kind of karate chop, and the person ran away scared. HAHA. I laughed so hard. Yes, many people have asked me if I can show them some Kung fu or something, but I just laugh. In the mornings we have done some kickboxing after our run, and that is enough of a highlight for some of the Kenyans to see. haha.

Oh, speaking of funny things for Kenyans to see, I have been meaning to write out some once in a while. For one thing, contacts are something so foreign for Kenyans to see. Most don't even wear glasses, so I suppose they would not need contacts either. I don't wear them that often, but the first time that I did, my friends freaked out. haha. I can still see Lilian's face as she was appalled when I took them out of my eyes. She had this look of horror and yet interest. She then wanted to watch me put them in the next time (only to turn away at the sight of my finger getting close to my eye. ha) Duncan asked to keep the contact (I wear daily contacts, so I just throw them away after anyway). So funny.

Okay, back to highlights of the week:
- So I am continuing to learn that the answer to complaining is just finding things to be thankful for. I had to go to the hospital clinic this week, but I found plenty to be thankful. Here is the story: On Wednesday night, my hands broke out into a crazy rash, that started to spread onto my arms. By the time I got into bed, it had spread all over my entire body, including the bottom of my feet. It was incredibly itchy and uncomfortable, and as it was later and later (I still have yet to sleep through the night), I just laid there and prayed through it. I found that I was really thankful that we even have skin! hahaha.
Anyway, in the morning, I got up after a couple of hours of sleep, and then as soon as I got out of the bed (I now sleep on the top bunk), the bed broke! I just laughed, because I just thought about all these attacks on my sleep, and how this was really the last thing that could happen. I was also so thankful because Lilian, who sleeps in the bed under mine, was already up and out making breakfast, and I was also not in the bed when it broke. Jeremy (one of the leaders) also fixed it relatively quickly, and it was fine by night time.
Back to the rash, by the morning, it had mostly gone from my back, so I decided I wasn't going to let the rest of it make me miss class or the exciting things God had for the day, so I went. During class, the rash only got worse, and by lunchtime, it was all over my face and head, not to mention every other inch of my body. I was really trying to be thankful and talked to Judy about working hard to not complain no matter how uncomfortable or itchy I was. It really took the grace of God working in me - not by my strength at all.
After lunch, the leaders decided it was time for me to go to the hospital clinic, so I went with Janelle. The doctor was SO KIND, and I was so thankful for his wisdom, a clean clinic, and no wait! Though my time in the office was short, when we were finished, the waiting room was full. Basically, we narrowed it down to a pretty high chance that this was a major allergic reaction to the water cleaner chemical that had recently been changed in the drinking water at the base. We have a filter for the drinking water, but apparently that broke, so the staff added a water cleaning treatment to the filtered water to drink. However, something in that treatment was not so good. Anyway, the doctor gave me an antihistamine (I think) injection in my hand, and some medicines to take throughout the week. He also said not to drink the treated water for a week. So, I am drinking the untreated water (even though they said the filter broke, I haven't noticed too much of a difference from before), and taking 2 different meds. You can pray that I don't get sick, as the meds supposedly lower the immune system, and I don't know how clean the water is. I bought some bottled water when I went to the store today, but it's not enough for the whole week. Anyway, I am sure I will be fine with the Lord. I have been drinking the untreated water since Thursday evening, and I have not had any problems. Praise the Lord!
I'm thankful because the rash did go away on Thursday after going to the clinic. It came back on Friday twice during the day, and is on my arms a bit right now, but each time it is less and less, and I think it is just getting out of my system. I was so thankful to have a chance to go and see the medical clinic, that it was not too expensive, and to have a chance to pray for the hospitals and doctors in Kenya. It is such a good ministry. I sometimes wish I could do medical work to be able to help people in this way, but as I heard the cries of three little ones getting shots that day, I remembered why I am not in this profession. :)

- On Sunday night, our electricity was cut, and ever since then, we have been having some kind of power outage every day. I'm not sure what happened, but again we are trying to be thankful and find the good in it. We have found fellowship around lanterns and flashlights, and I have enjoyed using my good ole' headlamp! :) Oh, and also on Sunday night, something really made me laugh so hard - it brought out the unstoppable Takei laugh and was quite funny. Good times. :) One of the English pastors said that he had never seen a Japanese woman laugh before. HAHA.

- This week has also been full of people, even though the pastors left. There is a team of English soccer players here for two weeks, running a soccer camp. It has been fun with them here, and even more amusing was their first night here, when we had ugali and scuma (a spinach-like vegetable) to eat. The look on one of the boys' faces was priceless. :)

- Finally, on Wednesday, we went to visit some neighboring houses and just meet the people nearby. It was great. Our little group (Paul, Lilian, and I) met some people building a support for a well, and two other families. The second one had a little girl named Purity. :) It was an awesome time, and the stories from the other groups were also extremely encouraging. In Lisa's group, God spoke the same thing out to the people through Lisa, Philip, and Hillard, but in three different languages without any of them knowing until Philip translated. How exciting!

Tomorrow is Easter! We will be going to a church where we will be spending our outreach in July. I'm excited to just be in that place, and being able to see it physically! We will be doing a presentation, and it will be great.

I hope you have a blessed Easter. Jesus is risen!
Kristy

It has been a quick week and I can hardly believe it is the weekend already.

I still can't believe that it has been just over a month since I have been in Kenya. I have adjusted to a lot of things, but not everything. I have been learning to not assume anything, because I am often wrong when I do that. I have learned how much my perceived "needs" are actually more like "wants," such as having a functioning shower or a cold cup of water. I am grateful just to have water for drinking and cleaning. We found out last night that the first month of our outreach (June) will be in a place that there is not a lot of water. There is high potential for us to be walking about 40 minutes one way to get any water at all. We will find out more when we get there, but it was a good reminder to be thankful here, in all things. I have NO complaints.

And for those of you who have been asking, my bites are SO much better. Thank you for your prayers and concern. What a huge difference from last week. I am so blessed. My ankles are also back to normal, and God also sent rain again at the exact time we were praying for it. It is good, because there is a big drought here in Kenya - which means a lot of hungry people in this country. We have spent a lot of time this week praying especially for rain. The rain only came for about an hour, so we continue to ask.

Let's see.. what can I say about this week? Well, it was a lot of fun with the pastors on base. They were wonderful to talk to and laugh with. One of the women (she was someone's sister, but I don't know if she was also a pastor) wanted to take my picture, and I found out later it was because she wanted me to be her daughter-in-law (yikes!). haha. But all in all, it was a delightful week.
I should comment here on the responses of people when they see me for the first time. It happened a lot this week. First of all, the walk to and from town on the ferry always brings a lot. I have had people speaking to me in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, in addition to the normal English "Hello, how are you?" I also here the calls "China" or various sounds. At least one person yells out "mzungu" (non-Kenyan) every time. I usually smile and pass by. But I also get a kick out of introducing myself. Usually, when I tell people I am from America, I either get a weird look or even a "but you don't look American." My favorite this week was "And what is your descent?" Sometimes their response to me comes with a story. One of the English pastors this week decided to tell me his experience with Asian food, particularly kimchee. It was hysterical.

One afternoon just the girls ventured off to a nearby church where they were having service outside. It was in Likoni, not too far from the base, but I'm not sure if some of the people there had ever seen a "mzungu." But it was fine and we ended up just worshiping and dancing with them. :) A little tiny girl came and held my pinky finger. It was a precious moment.

And I am also reminded of some tender moments on the ferry. One day we went and this beautiful little girl with a green headdress was standing in front of her kneeling mom. The mom was wiping the little girl's face, and then she looked up at me with these beautiful eyes. When the ferry stopped, the mom stood up. She held the girl in her left hand, a huge bag in her right hand, and (no joke) a HUGE bag of potatoes on her head. I am not kidding, this bag was bigger than the 20 pound one we bought for Mutunga. I was astounded.

We continue to laugh and sing at the base. Songs are just coming out of nowhere, and at all times. It is quite fun. Judy says I remind her of her daughter, who also sings all the time. haha.
Here is one of my favorites:
Jambo, Jambo sana
Habari ghani, Mzuri sana
Wagheni, wakari bishwa
Kenya etu, Hakuna Matata. :)
(It is basically a welcome to Kenya song, saying hi, how are you, welcome to Kenya, there are no worries.)

I just came back from time well spent with a ministry called King's Kids. They meet every Saturday morning at our base, and there are two classes. The class I taught had children from 9-13 years old. What a blast! I walked with two of them here (because they live close to the Internet) and we had a delightful walk, talking about planets and football (soccer). Oh how I love their laughter and their thinking. I told them of my fourth graders. :)

okay, that's all for now. Thank you!

awe

WHEW! What a week. I can't believe it has been a month of me being here too. I am in awe.

This week, in two words, was extremely challenging and freeing at the same time. I do not have enough space to explain it all on this blog, so you will have to just ask me about it. But basically, if I was only here for this week, it would have all been worth it. I can't believe that God has more for me here. I am so blessed. His mercy is so amazing.

Sorry I can't post more pictures, but I had to use the slower computers today. It is a long story, but I will try again next time. We have more pictures to share anyway. :)

This week we got to go to the orphanage! It was SO much fun and reminded me so much of beautiful times at Clark Kerr Infant Center back in college. This orphanage is just for babies and toddlers under the age of 3 (actually we celebrated two birthdays of children who turned 3). There are 16 babies total, and they were an absolute blast to be with. I love baby time!!!!
The orphanage is in town, and there is another one for older kids that we did not get to go to, but perhaps will have a chance later.

The bites got a lot worse this week - worse than any other week. I have also continued to not sleep well. What I have learned though, is that God is so good and His faithfulness has been shown in amazing strength despite missing sleep and miraculous relief. My time with the people of my team has been so precious and cherished. What beautiful people. What amazing hearts.

Next week will be interesting, as we will have over 60 people at the base. There is a pastor's conference, and we are housing some of them. The buildings are being finished as I type this - so amazing. (And for your information, some of the donations that some of you gave went to these buildings. They are so very grateful. Thank you.)

Hope you are all well!

a couple more things

I got a gift of being able to come to the Internet twice in a row, and so I thought I would write down a couple more things I left off.

Last week, a couple of the people on our team came to dinner with news that they saw a person being stoned at the beach by our base. After repeatedly asking if what I thought I heard was true, they repeated, "Yes, Kristy, he was stoned to death. Like Stephen."

"WHAT," I thought.

I got the full story last night. Supposedly, some girls were walking on the beach and were robbed. Three guys robbed them. Well, some people nearby saw them and started to chase the robbers. Two of them got away, but the third one was stoned to death. Lisa and I were shocked.

But, as I told the story to Lillian from the other school, she applauded the efforts of the people. Here was our conversation last night:
L: "Great! They were helping solve crime."
me: "WHAT? Is that normal?"
L: "No, but bringing them to the police won't help either. Usually people are just put in a tire, then petrol (gasoline) is poured on them, and they are lit on fire."

WHOA. Boy was I in for a shock. (yes, eeks yikes face, Carlos Pedro). You can all pray for the people and the police system, that it becomes more trustworthy for the people. But no worries for me, I am pretty safe, and am not committing any crimes. haha.



In other news, we had an awesome time with the kids at church today. It was wonderful and we were able to share with them a song, a game, and a lesson on the love of God. It was really good. We also had a good time personally interacting with the kids and getting to know them. There were less of them today (maybe 20), but it gave us some more time.
I think I shared about him before, but there is one kid who I got to talk with last time. I got to pray for him, and his request is quite different from most kids I know at home. He wanted to pray for his parents and family that they would have food. What a sweet eighth grader. I prayed for him there, and he has been on my heart for the week. You can imagine how excited I was when I got to church today and he was the first one there. He was excited that I remembered his name, and then walked with us to the bus (matatu) after service. It was then that I got more of his story. He is actually no longer in eighth grade. He had to stop going to school because his family did not have enough money. I found out that his family lives far away, but that he is here living with the pastor and taking care of the pastor's two small boys (they are super cute too). He won't get to go home to see his parents until August, but he asked for prayer for them again, that they would have enough food. I was amazed at the resilience of this kid - his faith, his gentle and peaceful being, and his trust. I look forward to continuing to see him and the other kids. About half of them come from a children's home nearby, I found out as well. But we had an awesome time of fun and worship and I'm so glad we serve a God who loves them so deeply.

Week 3 - Begin classes

Hello there!
I hope this finds you well! It is the end of my third week here, and I have definitely learned a lot, including to not assume anything - my expectations are changed all the time.

For example, I thought I would be working with kids right away. We have work with a group of middle schoolers and high schoolers on Sunday mornings, and there is a group of younger kids who come to the base on Satuday mornings, but aside from that, we don't get to see a lot of kids. I thought we would be able to go to the orphanage more often, but we haven't gone yet. I am not sure when that will happen, but we will see. (The one we went to last week was a one time deal.) The bulk of our outreach work will be the second half of my time here - the last three months. We do not yet know where exactly we will go, but we are praying for direction. But, there is a young family on base, and we all take turns holding Baby Devin and playing with 2-year old Daniela. They are quite fun. There are also some neighborhood kids who come by each day, and we hang out with them sometimes.

The Sunday morning ministry is fun. We just taught a song last week, but I had a chance to pray with one of the eighth graders. His concerns in life are so different, and it was humbling to just talk to him. I am looking forward to going tomorrow.

So what exactly am I doing then? The first three months is training and a LOT of learning (although, I'm sure that we will have our own share of learning on the second three months as well). My average day these days looks like this:

6:00 Go for a short run
6:30 Breakfast and clean up (clean up takes a lot more time than it does at home. Breakfast is tea and jam and bread, unless someone makes mandazi the day before. But with over 30 people at the base now, it is a lot to make.)
7:30 Prayer
8:30 Worship and prayer all together
9:30 Class. This week we learned about the character and nature of God. It was really good and a lot to learn.
12:30 Lunch. (Lunch and dinner are HOT meals. We are already sweating with the heat already, but after meals, everyone is really warm. haha. Everyone has these handkerchiefs that we carry around everywhere because it's so warm. We then have a lot to clean up.)

2:00 Work. The work is different each day. On Tuesday, I was in the shamba (garden) and was working with the planting of some crops (we were told "your job is to put the manure in when we dig the holes." My first thought was, "okay, well, we learned this morning about not complaining, so I will see the good in this." They gave us the bucket and no shovel, but luckily Martin asked us if we wanted some gloves. Praise the Lord. haha. Then we found out that the manure was just from chickens, and the whole work was fine.) The rest of the week, I was doing clean up in various areas of the base. Other people did things like sorting beans and rice (when you buy these here, they have to be sorted before cooked, because the bags have all kinds of dirt, bugs and rocks accumulated with the food).

6:00 Dinner and clean up.

7:30 Evening activity. This changes every day. On two of the days, we work and train for presentations that we will either do at churches on Sundays or in the outreach in the second three months. Wednesday nights are for prayer, and the other nights are for meeting with smaller groups of people to formally check in how things are going and build team work.

9:00 Get ready for bed. By this time, we're exhausted, so it's good to start getting ready to sleep. Even getting ready for bed is different because it involves taking a shower (an ordeal in itself), and tucking in the mosquito net, among other things. For some reason, it has been taking me a long time to actually fall asleep (perhaps because I have been really careful to sleep straight so that I don't touch the net (the mosquitos bite through the net if you are too close)), and I have been waking up around 4:30 each day as well. It is really the strength of the Lord getting me through the day each day.

It is important to note here too that Swahili time is 6 hours ahead than the regular time. It is because they start counting when the sun rises at 6:00 each day. So you have to add six hours to each hour. The good thing is that at the base, we use the standard time. But if we go anywhere else, we have to calculate. Good math problem, fourth graders!! You can also calculate that a dollar is about the same as 70 Kenyan shillings.

It has been a fun, yet humbling week. I have learned so much. There is so much that I still don't know. I am still learning a lot of Swahili:)
Some highlights:
- I had a huge painful bite on my left thigh and knee at the beginning of the week. The one on my thigh was really big, covering a space a little larger than my hand. With both so swollen, I was a little concerned. But then, you can imagine the scare when I found a centipede in my bed later in the morning. Yikes. It is important to note here that the first week, we had two centipedes in our room. Both times, we had someone else come in and kill them for us. Fridah killed the second one, and her words were "yes they bite and it is painful, but it will not kill you." So with that in mind, I thought I had been bitten by the centipede. But with my earlier comment about not complaining, I was tring to see the good in it and was assured that I would be okay. At the end of the day, Fridah said that centipede bites hurt so much that I probably would not be able to stand. So, then we figured that this was either not a centipede, or it was a miraculous healing from the Lord. Either way, I was thankful.
- Later in the week, I had a few bites that started on my toe and foot, and then my whole left foot swelled up so that I could not even put on my flip flop without a lot of effort and pain. But that too, has healed for the most part. Other physical thanksgivings: my right ankle was in a lot of pain last week and has healed, and the swelling of my ankles has also gone down for the most part. I still have a lot of bites, but it's okay.
- I have really been enjoyying time with the team. They are so much fun and it is neat to see how each person is coming together and growing. There are fun stories every day, even if it is just laughing at how someone says a normal word, like "what" or "oh." I realized how much I have grown to enjoy these friends, when I came back last week from the Internet and was so glad to see them at dinner.
- I am personally learning a whole lot and, like I said before, am being quite humbled in every way. It is good and I am thankful.

I think that is good for now. Here are some pictures so far:

This was the pillow on the airplane. How cute! I thought it was fun so I took a picture. :)Kristy in Kenya








This is a picture of the base. I am standing in the place where my dorm is, and looking at the main building. In the front is our dining room and kitchen are. The back building is our classroom and the family stays upstairs. The building to the right that is cut off is where the other clas
s and library is.

The lizards and geckoes are huge here and are everywhere. Our pet Geico in Room 15 is tiny compared.







(Sorry the formatting is weird, but this is taking forever as it is) This is a treasured picture. These are the girls (minus Judy) from our team: Left to right: me, Catherine, Lisa, Lillian.


I am trying unsucessfully to load more pictures. I will try again next week. Sorry!

Until then, have a great week!