Home, Sweet Nairobi :)

We are back home... to Nairobi, that is :)
We have had a wonderful two weeks in Tanzania. It was a great two weeks for ministry in Arusha and Dar es Saalam and it was a great two weeks for our team too. Our first week was spent in Arusha, but the excitement started on the way there. We took public transportation there, which was different than the other trips we have taken, and our traveling started about 6:30 am. It was about a 6 hour trip total... shortly after we crossed over to Tanzania our bus slid into a ditch because the roads were really narrow. No one was hurt and with about 20 men pushing and a good bus driver, we were out of the ditch and back on the road in about 20 minutes.. not bad. The hotel that we stayed at in Arusha was called 7-11 it was wonderful, but no slushies.. haha. The first day we spent in Arusha was a rest day for our team and we decided to visit the nearby Maasai villages. This turned out to be one of my favorite days. Our first stop we went to was a homestead. There was a single mother who had 7 children that lived in a small one-room hut. Her mother lived in the same homestead and was the wife of a husband who had 9 other wives, who lived nearby. The smallest child, to the single mother was named Joshua. She asked me if I wanted to hold him and there is no way that I would pass the chance of holding that sweet child, he was precious! While I was holding him, his mother asked if I could take him home with me because she had little money to take care of him and his 6 other siblings... talk about heart breaking.. I wish I could have. From there we went to another village and this one village belonged to one man. This man had 60 wives.. the village was made up of all of his different wives. As we walked through the village there were three children that followed us the whole way. Jessica, one of the children, held my hand the entire time.. she was a very sweet girl and as we were leaving she called me her friend. That might not sound significant, but it meant the world to me. It was a great day to just minister through our presence and make new friends along the way. The next day we started our ministry in the church there in Arusha. Devon and I led the children again and had a blast doing it. We taught them the meanings of the different colors of the salvation bracelets and then gave them all one, they love the bracelets because they get to take them home with them! We also taught the story of Noah and Jonah while we were there and played many different games and had fun blowing bubbles!! It was a great time in Arusha and we could definitely see God's love while we were there and it was great to share it as well.
After a week in Arusha we traveled to Dar es Saalam. When we got to Dar es Saalam, you could tell that our team was just kind of burnt out.. we have been taveling all over Kenya and now Tanzania basically doing the same thing everywhere we went. We had a couple of days that were supposed to be rest days so we decided to take a trip to Zanzibar. This was probably one of the best decisions that we could have made. It was not only one of the beautiful places that I have seen, but it was a great time to just really relax and take a break and just enjoy God's lovely creation. That trip was great for our team because we really just had time as a team, aside from planning lessons or sermons.. it allowed us to just spend time with each other. We spent one night and two days in Zanzibar beore we headed back to Dar es Saalam. When we got to Dar es Saalam we were ready to start a ministry there. Devon and I worked with the children for two of the days and then on the third day Devon spent the day at the hotel because she was preparing a sermon for Sunday. Devon and I shared with them the story of Noah and Jonah and then on the day I was by myself, I taught them the colors of the salvation bracelets and gave them each one. On Sunday, Devon and I worked with the children again and this time we taught them a lesson on the fruits of the spirit. I really love working with the children... they look up to us so much and they are always filled with love and joy... and we cant help but love them back.
The trip back to Dar es Saalam started very, very early... we left our hotel at 530 to head towards town. Our bus left at 630 and it took us 14 hours to get back to Nairobi. I finished two books, Cry, the Beloved Country and Captivating... and then I started The Swiss Family Robinson... haha. It was a long trip.. but it was fun. When we got back to Nairobi we stoped at this place that had different resturants.. chicken inn, pizza inn and creamy inn.. probably the best invention ever. We ate dinner and then went back to the compound, settled in and then went to bed. It was a great two weeks in Tanzania and I already miss the people that I got to meet and that I grew to love.

headed to Tanzania :)

We arrived back from Kiatine yesterday evening. It was a great week and we had a lot of fun. The people in the church were so welcoming and hospitable in every way. We stayed at a hotel that was right across the street from the church which was nice because we did not have to travel a few hours every morning… we could just walk on over ☺ When we first got to the hotel we were told that we would each have our own room. The rooms were a single room with a full size bed and a mirror… we have had roommate the whole trip so far so we were all kind of sad that we had to be in separate rooms, but then he told us that we could sleep two in a room if we wanted to!! So Devon and I shared a room… the bed was a little crowded, but it was good to have a roommate haha. Each night we went to the pastor’s house for dinner and also in the morning for breakfast. His name was Pastor Augustine Musili and his wife’s name was Carol. Carol would cook for us and did such a wonderful job… we even had our first dish of mashed potatoes in Africa… my favorite!! They have the two sweetest boys named Louis, who is 4 and Chris, who is 2. It was great to get to spend three days with them and get to know their family.

Our days would usually look something like this…
7:45 wake up and get ready
8:00 Morning devotions and prayer
8:15 Leaving to go to the Musili’s for breakfast
9:00 Arrive at the church
9:15-9:45 Praise and worship
9:45-10:00 Morning sermon
10:00-12:30ish Morning service
1:00-2:00 rest time
2:00-2:30 Lunch
2:30-4:00 Afternoon session

The first day there were no children because they were in school so Devon and I just helped out with the Bible quizzing session and in any way that was needed. The morning session was filled with the reasons why it is important to train leaders and how each student needs a positive influence in their life. Lunch was taken at the church and it usually consisted of ugali, sukamawiki and potatoes. This week we were helping the church prepare for children’s bible quizzing so the afternoon session the first day was about the rules of quizzing. This session ended about 3 and we were invited to the mid-week service that started at 4. We went to the hotel and rested for a little while and then went to the church for the service. This service was a lot different than the Luo services we attended in Saiya and Homabay. We got to the church and we were told that the first hour was supposed to be filled with prayers. During the praying there was loud music and it was not silent prayers. Some people were singing, some were praying out loud and some were shouting. It was interesting to see different praying styles during the service. After prayers we worshiped in song for about 30 minutes and then Pastor Musili preached. It was kind of humorous that during the service there was Charles, one of the church members, at the keyboard, which was on the auxiliary setting and he would hit random keys that would play a loud drum, triangle or a crash cymbal … haha. It is always so much fun and also interesting to see how other churches around the world construct their services. This particular service was definitely different than the ones that I am used to back home. After the service we walked to the pastor’s house and ate dinner, had our kiddy mix awards and then called it a night. Kiddy mix awards take place in our team meetings at the end of each day. The awards are pieces of candy and they are given to us by other people on our team for different things that happened throughout the day.
The second day there were children, but we did not have a separate session for them because the session that the adults were doing involved a practice run of children’s quizzing and the afternoon session was about drugs and drug prevention. Some of the people thought it would be a good idea for the children and youth to be present. After the afternoon session we went to a nearby school that had an open field and a volleyball court. I played volleyball for a little while and then Devon and I went and sat with a group of girls to watch them play soccer. While we were sitting with the girls they started asking us our names and where we were from. Then they started playing with our hair and saying, “its so smooth.” I asked them if they wanted to play with it and they all stood up and said yes! So we let our hair down and they loved it. They kept saying that it was so smooth and that it felt so clean. This is some of my favorite times. I love to just have conversations with the children and youth and have a chance to get to know them and form relationships with them. This is why I loved being at the same place and church for those three days.
The third day there were lots of children so Devon and I went to the church’s primary school and taught the children lesson there. I taught the story of Noah and the ark and God’s covenant with him. Then Devon taught the children the “My Father’s House” song and we taught them a couple of games. It was great to be at the school and to teach the students there. The children are wonderful and you can tell that they have so much fun with the different lessons and the games that we play with them… and so do we!! The afternoon session was filled with children’s quizzing so we took them back to the church to participate in that. After quizzing we went back to the school to play soccer. We sat on the sidelines to watch them play and some of the children and even some of the students from that school came to sit with us. There was this one girl that was very interested in our country and just our way of lives. She thought that it was very interesting that we have near shaved our heads since we were born, that is part of their school uniform. It was great to talk to her and answer the different questions that she had. They ended up playing with our hair again and they wanted us to take pictures of them, they love to see them on the LCD screen once the picture had been taken because they love to see what they look like. After the soccer game was over we all met and we gave the church the soccer ball and volleyball that they had been playing with. They loved this gift, because they love to play the different sports but they have to make their own balls to play with out of plastic bags and other trash.
Sunday morning we attended the church service and were asked to lead the children in a lesson. Devon taught them the story of Jonah and then I lead them in a song with motions. It was great to see all the children that we had taught the day before and also all of the new faces. After the lesson for the children we started the adult service. We honestly sang for at least an hour, and whenever there is singing… there must be dancing. It was great to partake in the different types of worship as well and the services. Then the Pastor introduced us to the church and gave us each a Kikamba name. The name that he gave me was Mwende, which means loved. After we were introduced to the church, Jeb gave a sermon with the help of a translator. Then we sang some more and were told to go to the Pastor’s office to have lunch before we left. After lunch we said our goodbyes and gave our blessings and then began our trip back to Nairobi.
This past week was great. I really enjoyed being able to form relationships with the children because we were able to see them for more than just one day. I already miss the people of Kiatine.


These past couple of days in Nairobi have been wonderful as well. It is great to travel around and visit and work in the different churches, but it is also nice to have a couple of days to relax. Yesterday we went to downtown Nairobi and got our tickets to Tanzania and shopped around a bit. Today we are going to try and just relax because tomorrow we are getting on the bus at 645 am to head to Tanzania. We are taking public transportation there, which I am kind of excited about. It is supposed to be a long trip and we have to stop and get our visas for our time in Tanzania.

Thank you all for your prayers, we all really appreciate it. We will be in Tanzania for two weeks and probably wont have internet connection until we get back so be sure to look for an update when we return. Have a great 4th of July!!

and tomorrow....Kiatine

We have enjoyed our two full days in Nairobi and are finishing preparing for a 2 hour trip to Kiatine tomorrow. It is supposed to start at 1130 if we have the van from the compound, but we may have to take public transportation which would be by matatu. 

Yesterday we stayed at the house most of the day except when we went to a coffee shop called Java House that has free internet. It was nice to spend a day relaxing after traveling back from Homabay. Today Ashley, Victoria and I spent the day watching movies and relaxing, with a walk to a nearby market to get some sodas. Devon, Jeb and Japheth went to buy soccer balls and volleyballs because we leave one at every zone that we visit. They also had to go to Delta Airlines because about two days after we arrived in Nairobi, Delta cancelled all direct flights to America because of security reasons... and we had a direct flight from Nairobi to Atlanta on the way back. We got it all figured out and we are basically just re-tracking our steps that we took to get here with a stop in Amsterdam. We just had a team meeting about our trip to Kiatine tomorrow and we found out that it will be a little different than the trip that we took to Siaya and Homabay. 

We are going to the same church everyday instead of a new church everyday, like in Siaya and Homabay. Devon and I are excited because we can do a Vacation Bible School like thing with the children instead of just one lesson and actually get to know the children and form relationships with them... for more than just a couple of hours :)  We are planning on staying at a guesthouse near the church we are going to be working at so we wont have to travel very far each day either, which will be nice! We also found out tonight that there has been a break out of Cholera in Kenya.. we were told we would be fine we just need to be careful with water and make sure we use our hand sanitizer.. sooooo no worries :) That is all the information that I have right now about this trip, but I am very excited for it and know that I will bring back some good stories about it! 

Please continue to pray for the people of Kiatine that we are going to be working with, the safety of our team as we are traveling there, and our health while we are away. We are supposed to be getting back on Sunday night sometime so hopefully I can update soon after before our two week trip to Tanzania!! I hope you all are doing well and continue to do well.

First 3 weeks in Kenya (Nairobi, Siaya and Homabay)

I can’t believe that my first three weeks of Kenya is already over! Our first week we spent taking Swahili and culture classes which our awesome teacher and new friend Josephine taught. We are staying at the Church of the Nazarene compound in Nairobi at one of the missionaries houses. My team now consists of eight members and has three new members, Japheth, Janet and Willie. Japheth is our site coordinator and is also the Africa East Field Youth Coordinator. He is the one that planned out our whole summer and prepared everything for us. Janet is the co-children’s coordinator of the Africa East Field and is also Japheth’s sister. We now know Janet as, “mama Janet.” She is so sweet and takes such good care of us.  Willie is a college student that is a member of the church that Janet attends and he is involved with the missionary work with Japheth. I love the new members of our team. They are all very nice and have planned our every thing extremely well. I love working with them because we can have fun and joke around, but know when to be serious and get the things that we are there for done.

            We also got to experience an African Safari our first week in Kenya. We left at 5am because the bigger animals usually come out during the morning hours and it was about a 2 hour drive. The safari was so much fun! We got to see all kinds of animals including baboons, water buffalos, flamingos, zebras, gazelles, lions, giraffes, impalas, pelicans, turtles, rhinos, a snake, and wart hogs (warthogs, according to Kenyans) We went to a place called Baboon Lookout. This place was beautiful, it looked over the whole park that the safari was in and it had a little place to eat your lunch. The name should have been our first clue… as soon as we were finished eating lunch we were taking pictures of the park and someone noticed a baboon climbing the cliff… we all turn to take a picture of it when all of a sudden the baboon speed climbs the cliff and jumps into the little gazebo that we were still standing in. It took my apple juice and then ran under a tree not to far away. After a little bit we noticed that now there are two baboons and we were trying to gather all of our food and belongings when they decided to join us for our picnic again. This time grabbing Jeb’s leg, trying this get his sandwich hand hitting Devon’s leg on the way out of our lunch area. We put our food back in the van and went back out to take some more pictures, when another van pulls up and gets out their cooler and food… before we could warn them that they should probably eat lunch in their van the baboons run over to them and nearly wipes out their little boy… these baboons would not leave us alone because they new that we had food so we decided to leave. We had to have Japheth and Mike, our driver, stand guard to make sure that none of the baboons tried to get into our van while we were getting in… and they had to run some of the off because they were staking out our van. That was probably the most eventful lunch I have ever had… it was scary when it happened, but now it just makes a good story and a good memory J

            We also made a trip to Kibera, the biggest slum in all of Africa. Kibera is where Janet and Japheth grew up. I am so glad that we took the time to visit Kibera. We went to the school that Janet works at… it is a private Nazarene primary school. I later found out that Grace, Janet and Japheth’s mother, started the school. We went into every classroom at the school and introduced ourselves and the children greeted us with a song and then introduced themselves to us. We had learned some Swahili songs from Japheth and Joshu earlier in the week so we sang on of the songs that we learned and most of them knew it and joined in with us. It was such a great experience and my heart just grew for every child at that school. We have made other side stops to different schools along the way and I think it is really neat how God uses those times to speak to us. I know that while we are doing our conferences during the day that the people in attendance are very thankful and get a lot from it but it just shows that God works in unexpected ways. We have scheduled out different trips around Kenya and Tanzania and know that God is doing great things during those times, but it is neat to see God at work everyday… even when we didn’t plan anything or we least expect it. God is good and is definitely doing things in East Africa.

We just got back from our first trip, which lasted two weeks. We went to Siaya zone and then Homabay zone. While we were in Siaya we stayed with Japheth’s and Janet’s parents, Grace and Peter. Peter is the D.S. of the East Africa district. It was great to be able to stay at their house and get to know them better. We also got a taste of what it is like to live in the village.. complete with bucket showers every other day, hand washing your clothes and calling a hole in the ground the bathroom. I was really impressed with my team and myself as we adjusted because it did not take very long to get the hang of it. Siaya and Homabay are hotspots for Malaria, so we had to make sure we sprayed our room every night and sleep with mosquito nets, I like to call it our princess bed J We were all very careful to make sure we took our malaria prevention medicines as well as using bug spray and sunscreen, we were on the equator! The days were hot and it cooled off at night with a light shower and an occasional thunderstorm, which we all loved!! The stars in Siaya were BEAUTIFUL and they were so bright because we were no where near the city!

 Our usual schedule of the day would look something like this.. wake up at around 7am shower, get ready, devotional and eat breakfast at 8am. Leave by around 9.. or whenever they felt like it… time is not a big thing in Kenya, which is kind of nice at times but it has its pros and cons. When we got to the church it is tradition for the visitors to go to the pastor’s house to have tea and breakfast… when I found this out I adjusted the amount of food I ate at the first breakfast… it is considered rude if you don’t eat at one. After the second breakfast and chai we would go back to the church and do introductions and then start the service. Our team decided to break up into three different groups during the day to make it a little easier. Jeb and Japheth led the youth leader seminar, Ashley and Janet led the children’s leader seminar and Devon, Tori and I led the children via Willie, our translator. We taught the children the story of Noah and the Ark, Joshua and the battle of Jericho and we made salvation bracelets. The morning session would be dedicated to the youth leaders and then we would break for lunch and the afternoon session was dedicated to the children’s leaders. Lunch was always at the pastor’s house and it usually always consisted of either fish, chicken or beef stew with Ugali and rice and hot tea. Ugali is something that is served with almost every meal here in Africa. I am not really sure how to describe it… it is soft, somewhat spongy, gritty, tasteless cornmeal, and usually white or brown. We were scheduled to end the service at 4pm, but it usually lasted until 5… that is good for Kenyans J Then we would go back to the homestead and would spray our rooms and set up our princess beds and then journal until it was time for dinner… which was usually at 8:30 or 9pm and then we would call it a night. That basically sums up our life in Siaya, we stayed there for a week and then left for Homabay.

While in Homabay Zone, we stayed at a hotel called Las Jona in a village called Rongo. It was great to have the experience of the actual village life, but we were all so glad to see a real toilet again!! Our first full day in Rongo was a rest day for us, so we got to see the village a little bit. We walked around and saw Rongo and scoped out a good place to get sodas and Devon and I found a good place to get our hair braided. Then we went to one of the schools near by. This school was for the hearing impaired, it was called Kuja primary school for the deaf. We went to every classroom and introduced ourselves and told them where we were from and they did the same. We found out that each one of the students there was given a sign name when they enrolled and that is a unique sign name that no one else in the school has so after we introduced ourselves they gave us our own personal sign names. After getting a tour of the school we went back to the hotel and Devon and I went to get our hair braided at a place connected to the hotel. Getting your hair braided hurts… a lot. It cost us 200 shillings, that is about $2.50. After that, we got dinner and then we prepared for the next day.

Our daily schedule was about the same as it was in Siaya. Jeb was still doing the youth leaders with Japheth. Victoria decided to help Ashley and Janet with the children leaders and Devon and I still led the children with help from Janet. Willie was not able to travel with us to the churches because he got sick with malaria. The first day, we had to leave him at a nearby hospital because he was getting sick along the way. The third day that we were in Homabay zone Willie, Victoria and I stayed at the hotel because Willie had malaria, Victoria was getting over a cold and I had gotten sick that morning because I brushed my teeth with the water from the sink… or at least I think that is what it was from. I was feeling a lot better after resting but I got sick all throughout the night again and couldn’t sleep because my stomach hurt too much, so I stayed behind again along with Willie the next day as well. I was told not to eat anything, just in case it was because of something that I ate, and to drink lots and lots of water, just in case it was dehydration. I felt horrible until about 3pm when I was finally able to fall asleep and then I kept getting better throughout the day, which I am so thankful for because I started to think I might have malaria and that is not something that I would want, especially after seeing my friend Willie trying to get over it. I hated to leave my team to go and do the work by themselves, but it was a good thing that they made me stay because I probably would have been even worse if I went with them. We went to church this morning at Rongo Central Church of the Nazarene and then we ate at youth leaders house and then we left from there to head back to Nairobi. I am praying that the time that we have in Nairobi to rest will work in Willie’s favor. He has been taking his medicine and will be finished with it on Tuesday, which is tomorrow, but he is still getting sick and feels horrible and we had to take him back to the hospital today. He is usually the one that cannot stop smiling and is always singing and joking around, so it is hard to see him not feeling well. Please keep him in your prayers while he is getting over this sickness.

There are so many little stories that I wish I could tell you all about, but I only have a limited time on the internet and I would love to tell you all about them in person sometime! This is just an update on what has been going on in East Africa and with my team. We leave for Kitine in 2 days and will be gone for a week so I probably wont have an update until we get back from there. I hope that you all are doing well and are having a great summer. Thank you for your interest in my trip and for all of your prayers!  

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

We are officially finished with training camp for Youth in Mission 2009. It was definitely intense, but it was definitely fun! They had our schedules packed full with different services, informational seminars and team meetings.. I was super tired the whole week.. and could barely sleep because I had a lot to think about with the trip coming up and all.. but it was definitely worth it. The day before I left to come to training camp was a really hard day for me.. I didn't really know what to expect at camp and I was just nervous about the whole thing.. but as soon as the first day was over, some of my nerves were already calmed and I could tell that I was going to feel a lot better about things. And I was correct. On the first night we had to write our name and one of our favorite verses or quotes on a Popsicle stick and then we were given someone elses, these were going to be the person that we would pray for, for the summer. I knew that the popsicle stick that I got was meant to come to me because the quote on the back was this, 'if you are worrying, you are not trusting God.' I definitely need to read that because I was becoming completely overwhelmed with all the different aspects of the trip itself.
My team and I leave in about 2 hours to go to the airport for our flight to go to Kenya. I still can't believe it. I feel like my team and I are really prepared for what is to come, but at the same time I feel like we are not prepared at all.. I think it will all come together once we are there and kind of know what to expect. We got our flight information today which was really exciting because that is something that my team has been wanting for a while and we finally got it :) I found out that we needed our shot records today for when we are entering the United States again.. and when I go to get my visa for Tanzania.. and guess who doesnt have their handy dandy yellow book. oh yes, yours truely :) Again, I started stressing out.. and I was really upset with myself for not thinking to bring it.. but again, that quote popped into my head and I knew that stressing about it was not going to do any good and it would all work out, one way or the other.. there was another girl that forgot hers so we figured out a way to get them and hopefully it will all be worked out. We are spending all of today traveling and we get to Kenya at 730 pm.. which I am so thankful for because we have a chance to relax before we get there.. keep us in your prayers as well as the other teams as we are traveling!! Thanks for your support and interest in my life and this awesome opportunity!!

Swahili :)

Thanks to one of my teammates, Jeb I now have "How to learn Swahili" CDs!! 

I haven't had the chance to listen to them too much, BUT I love to listen to them.. they are SO much fun!! listening to them just gets me so much more excited about going this summer! It is about a month away.. CRAZY!! So far the CDs have taught me how to say "excuse me," "do you understand english," " I understand english," "do you understand?" and " I understand." I would put how to same them on here.. but i only know how to SAY them.. not spell them. haha :)

Tomorrow is my Chick-Fil-A fundraiser and I am hoping for a good turnout! Please continue to pray for me as I am learning Swahili and as I am preparing for this trip in other ways!!

so far, so good :)

First off -- God is AWESOME.

Second off -- You all are great!

I got my first contribution letter that lets me know how I am doing on fundraising last week. With only five donations I am over a fourth of the way there, which is amazing and I never would have thought I would already be this far!! This is the reason that I was unsure about doing YIM because I did not think I could raise the money in time, but I still felt like God was pointing me in that direction. So... I applied, got accepted, started fundraising, and am making great progress!!

I just want to thank you all for your prayers as I am preparing for this trip and for the donations and gifts that were provided! You all are WONDERFUL and this trip would not be possible with out your help and support!! You all have been a great part of my life and I thank you for the people that you are :)