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.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
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!
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, May 18, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, May 8, 2009
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 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.
Friday, May 1, 2009
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. :)
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. :)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)