We’re Home

Our plane arrived late to Heathrow, therefore we boarded late. Then we had to wait for Air Traffic Control for takeoff. Therefore we arrived late. But we’re here, safe and sound. Thanks for your prayers. Now to make it through customs.

Half Way Home

We landed safely at London Heathrow about 4 hours ago. We’ll start boarding American Airlines flight 173 in about 3 minutes. Flight is scheduled to take off in 45 minutes. We are scheduled to land around 2:20pm. Thanks for your prayers for safe travels.

Day 8: On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, Saturday, January 16, 2016

This morning, we woke up for the last time in Kenya, this trip anyway. We had breakfast and then loaded up. We left the national park in hopes of seeing lions and leopards. Leaving the park only took about 15 minutes. So we did not see any. Muchai and Joseph was taking some time at the gate, so Tracey led her devotion using scriptures James 1:27, Romans 12:2, and Nehemiah 4:17. She asked can we be distracted or is it easy to be conformed to this world? We must never forget why God put us here.

Reah added that there was a lot of spiritual warfare while we were here, from sicknesses to injuries to both vans having problems, but we kept pressing on to complete God’s purpose for us while we were here. Let’s not let the distractions in our lives distract us when we return home.

When Muchai and Joseph returned to the van, they have us an option; try to find a lion (someone reported one near by) or to visit the Kazuri beads factory. The 5 people who have been here before did not vote because they’ve already visited the factory. The vote was 4 to 3 in favor of the factory. So no lion for us. Problem is, the factory closes at noon. It’s 9:30. Let’s see if we get there in time.

When we left the national park, we immediately heard a sound like our tire was flat. Not again with this van. Turns out it was just a stone in the tire. A vehicle behind us was even trying to alert us to the stone. I suppose they didn’t want it breaking loose and hitting their car.

After freeing the culprit, the rod got stuck.  And they discovered there was smaller rock. Everything was finally free so Muchai added the air. It kind of reminded me of the Nehemiah sermon series Great and Awesome.

How fitting that Tracey’s devotion was based on Nehemiah, working with one hand and fighting with the other. Seems like we are fighting constantly.

The theme for this week was cooperation. The scripture Tracey chose was Ecclesiaties 4:9 – “two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.” This was again proven true as Muchai and Joseph worked together to free the rocks in the tire while the newhope team offered encouragement. Then we were off again.

Around 11:45am, Muchai made a call to the Kazuri factory to confirm closing times. The shop is open until 6pm, but the factory workers get off at 1pm on Saturdays. Muchai asked if it would be OK if we were 15 minutes late. He thought we could make it. But then we stopped off at the Great Rift viewpoint for an awesome picture opportunity and to use the washrooms and shop.

We were given 15 minutes. I’m pretty sure we were there longer though. At 12:55pm, someone from the factory called to inquire about our whereabouts. I guess there’s a limit to this relaxed Kenyan time. I imagine the person who called saying “where are you? 15 minutes late was 45 minutes ago.” 🙂 We got there at 1:02pm. Caroline graciously gave us a tour.

The factory was started in 1975 with the purpose of employing single mothers. Today it employs 340 women. There is a lady that has been working here since it opened in 1975. The clay comes from Mount Kenya. It can be reused over and over as long as its not fired. It’s mixed with water and then placed in a press that removes all of the excess water. Then it’s squeezed out into moldable form. The ladies make 800-900 beads per day, which are fired overnight because of the heat. When the process is complete, the beads can be dropped and they won’t break. They get orders from different countries around the world. It takes about two weeks to finish an order. Prices in America are 4-5 times the price here at the shop. Myron and Lynn decided to get there Kikuyu names in necklaces. Of course we all had to copy them. They were only 40 shillings (or 40 cents) per letter. They strung them for free. Brigitte was the first one in the store and the last one out. We were there for exactly 2 hours.

Next we went to Love Birds Curio Shop. Muchai says you can get things really cheap here. We told him he was supposed to take us to the cheap places first. We also told Brigitte she couldn’t leave the van. Then we gave in and told her she could look, but not buy. Of course she got something anyway.

Last shopping stop was to the grocery store where we purchased Kenyan tea and coffee. Now we are at Six Seven airport hotel to freshen up and have dinner before our flight.

Day 7: Happy Birthday Christi, Friday, January 15, 2016

Today is Christi’s birthday!  What a wonderful day.  We felt like it was all of our birthdays with all of the wonders we experienced today.  This morning, we had breakfast as usual.  This time though, Brigitte presented a gift to Muchai for being an awesome Kenyan team leader for us this week.  He was very pleased with the gift.  After breakfast, we had devotion led by Myron.  He spoke about transformation of the heart using Ezekiel 36:26 as the foundation scripture and Romans 12:1-2 as the supporting scripture.  Myron reminded us that we are called to transform our hearts and be living sacrifices. It is very easy for us to become prideful of our salvation because we may not curse or hang out or drink. So it’s important for us to remember that transformation of our heart should not result in being proud.  Then he shared the transformations he has experienced in his heart this week.  His transformations were made bit by bit by the worship service in Thiks, the brotherhood and sistehood of the futbol match in Thika, the welcoming ceremony in Kiria, and the farewell celebration in Kiria, just to name a few.  He gave us all a lot to think about as we continued our journey today.

After devotion, we checked out of our rooms and loaded up the vans.  While waiting for Muchai, I realized I left a bag behind the chair I was sitting in for debrief.  I ran back in and one of the workers was getting it for me.  I thanked him and returned to the van.  As we were leaving, I couldn’t find my phone.  I kept asking Muchai to stop the driver while I looked for it, but he kept saying just look just look.  He said they had to go to the end of the road to turn around anyway.  I frantically looked for my phone to no avail; emptying my bags and standing up, but could not find it.  When we finally got back to the hotel, Muchai jumped off the van to run and look for it.  As I stood up to follow him, I heard a thud.  It was my phone hitting the floor on the van.  I embarrassingly called for Muchai to return to the van.  He returned to the van and we started to pull off for the second time.  Muchai started telling the driver to stop.  I thought he was teasing me, but he actually forgot our water, which would need for the hours of riding we were about to do.  So it’s a good thing I thought I lost my phone because it prompted him to remember to get the water.  We laughed about that for a while, but it was time to get going on our birthday adventure.

First stop, Lake Nakuru.  We were on our way for a safari, but we got a sneak peak of what we were expecting to see on the way.  We saw impalas, baboons, gazelles, zebras, and an eland.  Muchai said it was just wetting our appetite.  On our way, we also passed by Lake Elimentaita, which is very salty.  Muchai explained that the salt dries on the top and sides of the lake when there is a lot of son.  People collect it and sell it.  Lake Nakuru is also salty so there are no fish in it.  It’s beautiful though and still.

We learn so much about the Kenyan culture every day during our travels.  Today was no different. For the past few days Muchai has been saying that he’s going to start an English class for us Americans because we pronounce everything “incorrectly” and we have the “wrong” meanings of words.  For instance, there are hotels every few feet in Kenya.  Well they’re not places where you rent rooms, but places where you get food (like restaurants).  Places you stay are called lodges.

When we got to the town of Nakuru, we stopped at a local merchant to buy souvenirs, each lunch, and use the washrooms.  All day, Muchai had been telling us to take our time.  We were in no rush.  So we spent over an hour in the shop bargaining for merchandise.  We picked up some very nice pieces.  I was going to post pictures of them, but most of what we purchased are gifts for other people that are reading the blogs and I don’t want to spoil any surprises.  So you’ll just have to wait until we get back to see them. 🙂 After shopping we continued on to Lake Nakuru National Park (which was just down the road from the shop), paid our entrance fee and started our adventure.  Some of the animals we saw today were giraffes, cape buffaloes, gazelles, antelopes, baboons, zebras, warthogs, rhinos, impalas, hyrax, secretary bird, and some huge deer looking thing that we can’t remember the name. We went to the baboon cliff where they had a sign that point to different cities around the world and noted how far it was.  We were over 11k kms from New York.  We could see all of Lake Nakuru from up there.  Muchai told us that they just recently added a fence to the lookout spot because people would go there to commit suicide.  How sad is that?

One of the first things we saw was a cape buffalo alone on a hill top.  Muchai explained that it was probably injured and left by the rest of the herd to die.  Later we saw a cape buffalo skull.  That was the first time we left the van inside the park.  We were a little nervous because there were gazelles, antelopes, zebras, and cape buffaloes not far from us.  We jumped out, snapped our pictures and hurried back onto the van.

There was a cape buffalo with a tire around its torso.  We figured it put its body into it as a young buck and grew into it.  Since we have a nurse, physician assistant, and ob/gyn on the team, we were trying to convince them to go to it and cut it off.  Needless to say, they didn’t budge.   Poor fella.  A couple of times, I was thinking poor us.  These males were very attentive and even charged the van a couple of times.  Yikes!

We also went to a water fall and enjoyed the sounds of the flowing water.  We had just past a herd of cape buffaloes which had tried to charge our van earlier, and now we were being asked to walk to a waterfall.  Huh?  Really?  You do see all these gazelles right here and remember the cape buffaloes around the corner, and see that baboon right there, right?  Well we did it.  We got out and saw a cape buffalo skull sitting on a bench.  Shaun and I went to inspect it, while some of the others went to the washroom.  Reah joined Shaun and me.  When we looked up at the nearest tree, we realized a bunch of baboons were making their way down the tree.  It was time to move.  So we walked towards the waterfall.  Shaun was ahead of us, but looked back and told us to watch out.  The baboon was following.  Say what now?  I was praying that Joseph would bring us the van instead of us having to walk back.

Later, we were in a thick vegetation area (you know, those perfect for hiding predators), and our driver Joseph and I inhaled fumes and started to choke.  I was sitting in the front seat because the seat where I originally was sitting didn’t have a functioning window.  All week, I had been roughing it out in the back of the van.  Well not really.  I was in the back of the van all week enduring the bumps, but I slept during most of the trip.  The bumpy ride just rocked me to sleep.  I couldn’t help it.  Luckily the people of Kiria didn’t notice that.  Otherwise they might have named me the sleepy one instead of the one who cooks.  Anyway, I digress.  Back to the safari.

Joseph and I started to choke off of fumes so he immediately cut the engine.  Then everyone else started to cough as well.  He asked Reah and Kim to temporarily relocate so that he could look in a panel under their seats.  Muchai bravely waited outside of the bus. Myron said he’d make sure the leopard behind him didn’t attack.  There was no leopard of course.  Turns out, the cables on one of the batteries had burned out and acid was leaking from the battery.  That can’t be good in the middle of the safari? We were jokingly saying we were going to have to send out a brave soul for help.  Joseph was able to stop the acid leak and he said we would be fine with only one battery.  I hope so.  We have to get back out of the safari tomorrow morning.

It took us 3 hours to drive through the safari to our hotel, which is the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge.  This place is beautiful!  There’s an electric fence around the entire campus to keep the wildlife out.  Once we entered the main gate, security greeted us with a smile and warm welcome.  We made our way to reception.  There was someone there with hot towels for us to clean up with and a glass of juice.  The Panorama Hotel in Lake Naivasha did the same thing.  We drank our juice, gave up our passports and were given our room keys.  Now check out how God works.  Cristi and I have been roommates all week long from Thika until now.  When we were at the Panorama in Lake Naivasha, our room number was 52.  Christi was 52 years old (she gave me permission to say that, by the way).  We checked out the Panorama this morning and checked into Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge this evening on Christi’s 53rd birthday.  We are now in room 53.  What a coincidence.  Christi says it’s God’s way of confirming that she was supposed to be on this trip.  I would have to agree.

After checking out our rooms, we met back at reception at 7pm.  There was a stage set up for song and dance.  Some staff members performed traditional songs and dance for us as a welcome.  They even invited us to dance with them.  Brigitte, Les, Tracey, and I danced with them.  It was a lot of fun.  Then it was time for dinner.  The entire compound is beautiful including the restaurant area (or should I call it the hotel area).  It was buffet style eating.  They had two tables prepared for us, with our napkins folded like birds.

There was a young man serenading us while we ate.  He had an amazing voice and played the guitar very well.  Muchai secretly shared that it was Christi’s birthday.  Some of the performers came out with some of the staff with a flame and cake and sang a birthday song, much better than the traditional birthday song.  Christi’s face showed excitement with a hint of embarrassment.  But it was beautiful.  I wish this blog allowed me to post videos because I have quite a few videos I would like to share with everyone.  But the stills will have to do.

Following dinner, we had a debrief led by Lynn.  She piggy backed on what Myron discussed during devotion earlier.  She discussed how the transformation of her heart has occurred with a sense of community.  She wants to return home and talk with people she hasn’t seen in a while.  She then asked us all to share the transformations of our heart.  Some shared that they wanted to write their sponsor children more.  Some noted that the want to live more like the people of Kiria and not be so controlled by time.  Some noted they wanted to make more time for people.  Muchai shared that as a child, he had a home visit by a missionary and it completely changed his life.  Who knows what type of life he would be living if he had not experienced that visit. That is similar to what Hauran shared yesterday.  He believes he must always be a reflection f God because the next generation is watching.  He may be teaching the future president or governor or pastor.  The future of our youth is in our hands.  Lynn closed us out by reminding us that transforming ourselves allows us to love God completely, love ourselves correctly, and love our neighbors compassionately.

Being that this is our final night in Kenya, Reah led a week debrief where she asked has this trip been what you expected it to be.  Lynn said it exceeded her expectations.  Christi was blown away by the people.  Kim, Suzanne, and Myron were concerned they would compare the trip to past trips, but noted there were plenty of differences that made this a trip of itself.  Tracey didn’t expect the love and passion from everyone.  Shaun said he expected to help and teach others but they actually helped and taught him.  Les and I stated that we didn’t come with any expectations but were blown away by our interactions with the adults.  Heidi was very thankful that English was well known so we didn’t have to work with translators throughout this trip.  Se was also impressed with the organization and leadership by Reah and Muchai.  I noted that doing the blog forced me to pay attention and really soak in what was going on around us, which I usually have trouble doing.  Brigitte noted that we have this judgemental belief that the people of Kiria were lacking because they don’t have the technology or tools that we have.  But in actuality, they’re richer than us because they have a joy, contentment with, and deep appreciation for what they do have.  Reah noted that she doesn’t have expectations because each trip is different because of the team members.  But she appreciates the friendships and relationships that have been built during this trip.  Tracey agreed with that and Suzanne added if you can pee in the woods in the rain with someone, you’ve bonded.  Did I forget to add that to the blog?  Well Tracey, Suzanne, and Kim peed in the rain together in the Aberdear National Park when we stopped at the watch tower.  I guess when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.

Finally, Reah gave us some things to remember as we transition back to our lives.

• Don’t make huge life changes in the first 30 days.
• Reach out to your prayer partner if you feel like you’re having some emotional struggles.
• Don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t want to hear about your trip.

Then she gave us question for us to ponder during our trip home.

• What did you see in the people?
• Which of their needs seemed most vivid to you?
• What aspects of their lives have impressed you or inspired you the most?
• When you think of the Kenya people, what immediately comes to your mind?
• What keeps you from seeing your world properly?
• Write down anything and everything that comes to mind with respect to changes you’d like to make in your life because of this trip.
• Rank that list by importance.
• Write your top 3-5 on a prayer card and pray for those changes.
• Take a spiritual gifts test

There is so much to reflect on from the past 8 days.  Our lives will be forever changed by this trip.  Tomorrow is a travel day, so the blog post might be a tad late.  But for now, please enjoy a few more pictures from today.

Castor Oil plant. Am I the only one who has a mother that made me drink this oil to stay healthy as a child?

Well ok then.

Baboon

Pool at the Panorama in the shape of Africa

Horax

The most persistent root I’ve ever seen.

Day 6: From Strangers to Family, Thursday, January 14, 2016

This morning’s devotion was led by Les and was delivered from Romans 8:18-27.  He challenged to consider the differences between hope by the world’s standards and Hope in Christ.  When we say “I hope you have a great day” or “I hope you are doing well,” what we are really saying is “I wish.”  But as Christians, when we say hope, we are confident that it will happen.  For example, we have hope that Jesus will return.  We have hope that God will fulfill our needs.  Our hope is a “will” not a “wish.”  So which “hope” do you have today?  A “wish” or a “will”?

As I mentioned in a previous post, the bus ride is extremely rocky.  Well it turns out the bumps caused the leaf springs on the can to break on both sides.  So there was no bounce at all when we hit a bump, just a large bang.  Christy jokingly said that Muchai broke the van when he was driving the other day.  So he retorted that it was actually Les that broke the van because he was sitting in the back.  Les, you’re off the hook.  We know it was the bumpy roads.  We made a stop at a local mechanic on our way through Muchai’s home town.  The mechanic assured us that he had the necessary parts and could repair the van in 2 hours. So, we continued on to Kiria, unloaded, and Bonita and Muchai went back into town with the van for repairs.  They dropped us off around 11:30am and did not return until after 4pm with a new van and driver (Joseph).  Turns out, Muchai was not confident that the parts the mechanic had were a match for the van.  He didn’t want them to disassemble the van and not be able to fix it and have us stranded.  So he called 410 Bridge and had them send us another van from Nairobi.  Bonita drove the other van back to Nairobi to be repaired.  That meant we didn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye to Bonita.  Muchai says will give her a call before we leave.

Heidi misplaced her camera yesterday.  We think on Mt Stogner.  So Muchai had Mercy check last night.  Muchai looked again on his way back to town for the van repairs.  And Les and Myron looked a third time when we were leaving Kiria for the last time.  Unfortunately, we were unable to find it.

For the last day in Kiria, Christy, Heidi, Reah, Tracey, Lynn, Shaun, and Les spent the morning with toddlers making and learning about shapes, painting, and playing with playdo, while Ayana, Brigitte, Kim, Myron, and Suzanne painted the ceiling in two more classrooms. The children were so well behaved and did not touch the paint until they were told it was okay.  They just sat there patiently.

Some of class 8 helped us paint today.  We spent a lot of time chatting while painting and dodging paint splatters.  We only had about 90 minutes to paint, but we managed to do two coats in both classrooms in that time.  After painting, we took a break for lunch in the toddler’s classroom since the bus was away for repairs.  We had our lunch break at the same time as the children all week, but we ate away from the children because the children only eat if they bring a lunch.  Most of the children did not bring lunch with them to school. You may be wondering why we didn’t just give them our lunch?  Well it’s 12 of us and 300+ of them.  And giving to some and not all would actually do more harm than that temporary “good feeling” we have from what we thought was “doing something good.”  Does that make sense?

During lunch, Hauron gave us a riddle.  I’m going to tell you the riddle, but you have to guess the answer in the comments. Here it goes.

• Those who make it don’t use it.  Those who buy it don’t like it.  Those who use it don’t know it.  What is it?

After lunch, we went on a prayer walk.  I hope you remembered to pray this morning for our prayer walk.  We started the prayer walk at the first crossroads down the street from the school.  First, we assigned prayers to members of the community and member of newhope church, one person from each side prayed for each topic.  Many of the children followed us from within the school grounds, singing and praying along.  We started with a song.  Then Les prayed that the demons of alcoholism and drug abuse be cast out of this community.  A member of the community prayed in their native tongue of Kikuyu.  Then we start walking towards the school singing another song.  At the end of the song, we stopped and Myron prayed for the salvation of the men in the community.  Another member of the community prayed in Kikuyu.  Then we started walking again towards the school singing a third song.  At the end of that song, we stopped and Brigitte prayed for the upcoming election that the right person would be elected for their government.  Another member of the community prayed in Kikuyu.  We started walking again towards the school singing a fourth song.  We stopped just outside of the school gate where Reah prayed and thanked God for the continued relationship between 410 Bridge and Kiria.  She also prayed that the partnership would continue to grow.  This was followed by Pastor Peterson praying the final prayer.  Then he thanked us for our participation and we walked back onto the school grounds for the farewell celebration.

Mercy started the farewell celebration by thanking us for coming to walk along aside them for the past 4 days.  Then there were greetings by the head of the school (who we had not met previously because he was away on business), Hauron (from Rejoice), Peter (from the water project), and a few others.  There was a prayer by Pastor Peterson.  Then Reah was invited to speak on behalf of newhope church.  We all offered our thanks and appreciation for all that we had experienced throughout the week.  A main theme that everyone seemed to share was that we all felt a sense of community.  We felt welcomed from beginning til end.  It was starting to rain, so the ceremony was shortened.  But not before the people of Kiria offered each of us a gift and a Kikuyu name.  Twelve people of Kiria presented each of us with a Kenyan shawl with our new Kikuyu names attached.  They are beautiful.  And the names are so fitting.  It’s amazing that they were able to see the essence of who we are from just 3 days together.  Our names are as follows.

• Ayana – Murugi – the good cook (my family’s going to get a good kick out of that.)
• Brigitte – Makena – always smiling
• Christy – Nyakio – the industrious one
• Heidi – Mwa Haki – the good painter
• Kimberly – Njeri – the one who likes to travel or visit
• Les – Muturi – the builder
• Lynn – Mumbi – the good mother
• Myron – Muriithi – the good shepherd
• Reah – Wanjiru – belonging to the blacks
• Suzanne – Njoki – the one who will return
• I don’t have the spelling of Tracey and Shaun’s Kikuyu names, so I’ll share theirs in tomorrow’s post.

Following the ceremony, the children from classes 1 through 3 were sent home and classes 4 through 8 were sent back to class.  They did not want to leave.  They swarmed us with beautiful smiles and warm greetings for a safe journey home.  Since the van had yet to arrive, Mercy suggested we carry our belongings down to the banana fiber factory where we could shop and wait for the van.  It was a nice little walk, another opportunity to see how it is to live in this community.  It’s a good thing we bought those gumbo boots.  The roads were very muddy following the downpour we had during lunch and farewell celebration.  Les and Ayana carried the cooler of lunch boxes while Shaun carried the tote bag of crafts.  Everyone else carried their bags and shoes if they were wearing boots.  The walk was probably less than a mile, but it seemed long to us.  Once we got there, we were able to look through the artwork that a couple made.  Everything was made out of banana leafs.  The art work ranged from pictures to mobiles to book covers to coasters.

After buying a few pieces, we went outside where Hauron educated us on the geography of the mountains surrounding Kiria.  He also pointed out the watch tower that we visited yesterday.

It’s the little tiny white speck in the middle of the picture in the mountain range.  WOW!  He told us that the donkeys in their area were called the Jerusalem donkey because of the cross on its back.  He also told us about the Table that’s on Aberdare mountain range that looks like a huge table and chairs that only God could have made.  Aberdare Mountain is also where Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain was vacationing when she learned that her father the king had died making her the Queen.  There is so much history in Kenya.

Following the history lesson, we walked down to Mercy’s church where we could use the latrine since the van still had not returned.  They have just recently laid the foundation for their permanent church.  This is a picture of their current church.

As we were walking back to the road from the latrines, the new van was arriving. We loaded up and said our goodbyes and headed back down the mountain.  We dropped off Peterson, Hauron, Francis, and Mercy along the way.  Mercy gave us all a bear hug before leaving the van.  All week, we have been amazed at what the locals had been transporting on motorcycle.  We finally got a picture of one.

This man was transporting a full sofa on his motorcycle.  I bet they thought we were crazy by how excited we were to see little things.  We returned to the hotel for dinner and debrief where Christy challenged us to reflect on this week and how we have been changed by the experience.  We ended with a one sentence prayer from each person around the room where we thanked God for something specific that he has done for us or shown to us this week.  It was a great way to end the day.

Next up tomorrow, breakfast, devotion, check out, and travel to next destination.  Please enjoy these few pictures from today.

The Jerusalem donkey named because of the cross on its back

 

Day 5: Love thy Neighbor: A Day in the Life, Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Today we started our day with breakfast and devotion as always.  Today’s devotion was led by Kim C.  She used Galatians 5:13-14 – Love your neighbors as yourself.  How fitting was that when we were schedule to live as Kirians for the day.

On our way to Kiria, we ran across a harem of zebras.  Bonita, our driver, stopped for us to take pictures.  Muchai asked if we wanted to get closer.  Um, yeaaahhhh!  So we exited the van and walked up to them maybe 30 feet away from us.  They looked at us occasionally, but kept grazing.  There was one zebra that was a little ways from the rest of the harem.  Muchai explained that it was probably a male that was exiled from the group.  He could rejoin the group once the alpha male dies.

After our unexpected visit with the zebras, we went to a general store (looked similar to an Ace Hardware) in the market to buy gumbo boots.  I’m not quite sure if that’s how you spell it.  These are basically like rain boots.  We wore those because we were expecting to work the farmland today.  They cost 1000 shillings per pair (or $10).  Brigitte and I also bought a pair of knee socks to wear with them for 100 shillings (or $1) each because we were told the boots might aggravate our skin with the constant rubbing.  Now that we were all geared up, we continued to Kiria.

Once in Kiria, we split into three groups.  Group 1 (Heidi, Reah, Kim, and Myron) spent the day with Mary’s family on her farm.  Group 2 (Christy, Lynn, Tracey, and Les) spent the day with Tapeta’s family on her farm.  Yes, Tracey is feeling much better and made it out to the family visits.  Praise God!  We appreciate your prayers for her health.  Group 3 (Ayana, Shaun, Suzanne, and Brigitte) spent the day with Naphtali’s family on his farm.

Group 1 – Mary lives at home with her daughter Rose and grandson.  Mary had a son also, but he passed away.  Myron noted during debrief that he offered his sympathy for the passing of the son, but Julius responded that he ran his race and they must continue to run their race.  What a perspective. All three groups made mukimo.  But I’ll explain more about mukimo in my group post since I was there to witness it and take plenty of pictures.  The process was very similar for all groups.

Group 2 – Tapeta is 85 years old and lives by herself.  She has one son and two granddaughters.  She greeted the group with a huge smile, firm hand shake, and strong bear hug.  She was so excited to see the group.  This group made mukimo as well, but made them with potatoes, corn, and squash leaves.  In addition to making mukimo, Les was able to chop wood.

Group 3 – Naphtali is 85 years old.  He has two wives.  We only met one.  She is 80 years old.  They got married in 1959.  That’s 56 years of marriage.  WOW!  They have 8 children and 22 grandchildren.  Naphtali hasn’t been feeling well, so he had to travel to Nairobi for a check up.  He’s returning to Nairobi in the morning for a follow up. The travel is 2.5 hours in each direction.  Please pray for his health and his safe journey back and forth.  Our task for the day was to make mukimo.  First we had to build a fire in the oven.  In the post yesterday, I mentioned that the gap in the teeth meant the woman could blow and therefore could feed their man.  Well we got to experience that first hand today.  We all got to blow into this pipe that was aimed at the flames to get the flames to grow.  I understand the purpose of the gap now.  With the gap, more air can be blown into this pipe.  Otherwise, your teeth are in the way of the air flow.

Now that the fire was on, it was time to make the mukimo.  First, we peeled potatoes.  We were taught the difference between good and bad potatoes.  Green potatoes would be reused for replanting.  Other potatoes that were bad were put in the pile for the cows.  They also kept the potato peels for the cows.  Nothing is wasted.

After peeling, we washed the potatoes and then put them on the fire to start boiling.  We removed the stems from pumpkin leaves and washed them.  We drained them and took them inside for seasoning, cutting, and molding.  We cut them by slicing it like cabbage from our hands.  We molded the leaves by doing this hand motion that resembled grating cheese except we only used our hands.  Once the pumpkin leaves were ready, they looked a lot like steamed spinach.  We added the pumpkin leaves to the pot of potatoes on the fire.

Then we drained and added half a pot of red beans and corn to the pot.  These were already cooked and very hot.  One of the ladies in Kiria named Susan was able to handle all of the pots without cloth.  Everyone else could feel the heat, but not Susan.

While the mixture was cooking, we drank our tea that we made earlier while they entertained us with song.  We also asked each other questions to get to know each other better.  And we blew into the fire to stoke the flames every once in a while.  Turns out Shaun is pretty good at that.  Once the mixture was ready, the water was drained from the pot and all four of us took turns mashing the potatoes with wooden spoons. That requires some serious upper body strength.

Once the mashing was complete, it was time to enjoy.

Although we just ate mukimo, it was time to break for our scheduled lunch.  Our hotel packs lunches for us daily that we take with us to Kiria and eat on the bus.  Well we were stuffed, so we couldn’t eat much.  We went to Mt. Stogner (name after Larry Stogner who went on the trip in July 2014).  It’s a pretty steep little hill, which they named Mt. Stogner after they conquered climbing it in 2014.  So we went to Mt. Stogner for lunch.  We took some pictures and it started to rain, so all of us went back to the bus to eat lunch, except Les, Heidi, Tracey, and Shaun who opted to eat in the rain on top of Mt. Stogner, that is, until it really started to pour.

After lunch, we were supposed to return to the same families to assist with chopping wood, milking cows, and digging up potatoes.  Since it was raining and the families had plans to go to a neighbors house because of a death in the family, Muchai suggested we travel further up the mountain to get a great view of the country side.  We agreed and were on our way.  We were hoping to see some wild animals while there because we were in Aberdare National Park.  It is surrounded by an electric fence to keep the animals in.  On our way up, Muchai said if any of us started having trouble breathing they would turn back.  According to a Kenya Forest website I found, the elevation in Aberdare National Park ranges from 12,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level.  Les’ altitude app says we were at around 9200 feet above sea level.  Seeing as there is no cell service or WiFi on top of the mountain, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t accurate.  We finally reached the top where there was a lookout tower.  Most of us climbed the tower.  There was a storm moving in so the tower was starting to sway.  And it didn’t have the best ladder to use to climb it.

The overlook tower

 

The view from the top of the tower.  You can see the rain moving in from the distance.

 

Shaun traveling back down this steep ladder from the tower.  We were all a little anxious to get back down.

We didn’t see any wild animals in the park.  Well there was this deer that darted across the road in front of the van.  Muchai called it a dik-dik.  Upon online research, I found that the dik-dik is the smallest antelope in the world standing at 12-16″.  We were hoping to see a massive elephant or leopard.  But there’s always tomorrow and Friday.  On our way back to the hotel, we did run across a few colobus monkeys hanging out in the trees.

With that, our day was complete.  We ate dinner and debriefed.  During debrief, we discussed the differences between the American and Kenyan cultures.  We have learned so much this week about community.  Everyone raises each others children.  They watch out for each other.  They support each other.  The help each other.  They make the most of everything they have.  They do not waste anything at all.  They always have huge smiles on their faces.  And they are so eager to love you before they even have the chance to know you.  How many of us can say we meet ALL of those criteria?  I know I can’t.  From beginning to end, this day was all about Galatians 5:13-14 – Love thy neighbor as yourself.  The people of Kiria have shown us just how to do that from the moment we arrived on Monday.

Enjoy a few more pictures from today.

Susan’s son Peter posing for the camera

Look at that beautiful smile.

Naphtali

Day 4: Kiria Work and Play – Tuesday, January 12 2016

 

See Cindy, Christy really is working. *smile*

Today we started off with breakfast and devotion led by Heidi.  She referenced Matthew 18: 1-5.  “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child to him and placed the child among them.  And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.'”  Heidi asked, what does it mean to become like a child.  What are the characteristics of a child?  They do not judge.  They are happy.  They are loving.  They do not hold grudges.  They are innocent.  They are joyful.  They are not bashful.  And they tell the truth. Children are not afraid to tell people anything, including that God loves them.  Why are we so bashful to do so?  As adults, we’ve become so sensitive to”offending” others that we’ve lost the innocence of our youth.  We’ve become judgmental. We’ve become disgruntled.  We’ve become unloving.  We hold grudges.  We’ve lost our innocents and joy.  And we’re too bashful to share the goodness of God with others.  So Heidi reminded us to become like children, to act like a child, to become childish.  While normally adults view being childish or acting like a child is bad, when it comes to God’s kingdom, it is the best thing to do.  What a great devotion for a day in which we will be spending the entire day with children.

This morning in Kiria, Les, Heidi, Shaun, and Christy painted the ceiling in two of the classrooms.  It was very much a communal activity as members of the community were there just to help out whether they had students in the school or not.  Everyone wanted to grab a brush, including the women who stood on tables in skirts just to add a stroke of paint to the ceiling.  The rest of the crew split up into teams to teach lessons to classes 1, 2, and 3.  Tracey O. did an amazing job planning for all of the activities for the children.  So all of today’s lessons and activities is because of Tracey’s hard work and preparation.  Way to go Tracey!  Tracey taught colors and numbers.  Brigitte and Suzanne taught weather and animals. Ayana and Kim taught English greetings and feelings.  We used games and songs to teach each lesson.  In the afternoon, we broke into three groups for the Rejoice project.  We taught the students the virtue of cooperation by doing crafts and playing games.  The students quickly learned in order to successfully complete tasks, they had to work together.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Reah, Myron, and Lynn did not join us today because they spent their day with their sponsor children. Lynn and Myron’s child recognized Lynn before the coordinator recognized her. Reah’s child didn’t initially recognize her, but did pretty quickly afterwards. The children tried to communicate with each other but they’re from 2 different tribes, so they speak 2 different languages. But play is the same regardless of the language barrier. Myron got to play futbol with his child. They’re visit was very brief (from 10am until 3pm), but they made the most of the time they had.

Speaking of sponsor children, if anyone knows Diana Tursi, please ask her to check this blog.  Her sponsor child approached me to ask if I could send a picture of her to Diana.  So Diana, if you’re reading this, Elizabeth Wanini says hello with this beautiful smile.

When we returned from Kiria for dinner, Muchai elaborated on the discussion we had about multiple wives yesterday and he shared more information. Most men who have one wife have made a conscious decision to just have one.  Many have made that decision because they are Christian. But it is also expensive to have multiple wives. Unlike American culture where traditionally the bride’s family pays for the wedding, in some tribal cultures in Kenya, the man has to pay a dowry to the bride’s family.  Both families negotiate the bride’s worth.  And if the woman is beautiful by the tribe’s standards, they are worth even more.  So beauty in some tribal cultures is based on if the woman has a gap in her teeth, if she has dimples, and if she has big eyes.  The gap is important because it is believed that she can quickly start a fire by blowing because of the gap.  If she can quickly start a fire, the husband believes he will be well fed.  The family could request a larger dowry because of these factors.  So we were jokingly telling Myron that he could retire early if he left Reah in Kenya because he could get 2 extra cows because of Reah’s dimples.  A cow is worth 60,000-80,000 shillings (or $600-$800). And the family could request up to 100 cows for a daughter.  That’s $60,000-$80,000.  It’s insulting to pay an entire dowry up front (if you happen to have that type of wealth), so the man pays it in installments.  And if a man dies before he pays off his dowry to his in-laws, his children have to continue to pay the dowry. We also learned that some tribal cultures require the man to prove his heroism before being wed.  For instance, the Maasi men have to hunt and kill a lion before he is deemed worthy.  Because of wildlife preservation, they now hunt in groups.  But it is still very dangerous as you can imagine.

We also talked about education as it relates to marriage.  In an earlier post, I noted that primary school ends at class 8.  At the end of the school year, the students have to take their exams and hope to be accepted into a high school.  This is challenging at times because there are not enough schools to accommodate the need, so not everyone is accepted.  Another reason a child may not continue on to high school is because it’s rather expensive.  One parent was telling us she pays 40000 shillings ($400) per semester.  There are three semesters per form (or year) and 4 forms to complete to successfully complete high school.  That’s $4800.  The parents must pay per semester.  So if the parent doesn’t have the livestock or funds for that semester, the child may have to drop out of school.  If a daughter cannot go to high school for either of those reasons, she will likely be wed right after primary school (or class 8).

So not only did we get to teach a lot today, we also learned a tremendous amount of information about tribal cultures.  Tomorrow will undoubtedly be the same as we will be doing home visits and living as the Kiria people for the day.

Team updates:

We have had some challenges with our teams.  I’m going to share them below, but I wanted to say up front that everyone is okay.

On Sunday, Heidi stumped her big toe pretty badly, so it’s been bothering her.  But just to reassure you that she is fine, she was standing on a table today painting too.  Her toe is a little black and blue, but her husband Les and our team mate Brigitte, who happens to be our team medic has been keeping an eye on her.

Also on Sunday, Tracy Crosby broke her little toe.  I’m not sure of the details as we’re in two different parts of Kenya.  But from her Facebook posts, she seems to be doing okay.  She just hasn’t been able to do much because of it.

Tracey O came back from the village today not feeling so well.  Once again her husband Shaun and our resident medic Brigitte have been keeping a watchful eye on her.  She may have to sit out tomorrow and rest.  But we are praying for her quick recovery.

Some of us have been having trouble with the elevation.  We’re winded very easily.  So I did some research.  We’re staying in Naivasha, which is 6,282 feet above sea level. We know that Kiria is even higher because we have to climb further up a mountain to get there.  I couldn’t find any information on line about it probably because it’s a small village.  But to put this in perspective, Raleigh Durham is less than 500 feet above sea level. Only a very small portion of North Carolina’s mountain range climbs higher than 5000 feet above sea level.  Therefore, we are higher than most of our mountain region right now.  No wonder we’re out of breath all the time and we all felt like we were going to die when we played a simple game of futbol in Thika, which is 5889 feet above sea level (still higher than NC’s mountain range). 🙂  We feel better knowing we have an excuse.

Now let me reiterate that we are all doing well.  The purpose of this blog is to keep you abreast of everything that we’re experiencing.  I was hesitant putting this information in the blogs because I didn’t want you all to worry.  So again, we’re good.  We have a few bumps and bruises, but everyone is in great spirits and we want you all to know we love you and covet your prayers for all of our health so that we may continue on with what God has called us to do here in Kenya.  So as you read this, don’t forget to pray for the prayer requests from yesterday.  And please add prayers for our team members.

Below are some pictures from today you to enjoy.

The kids showing us what it looks like to be sleepy.

See Cindy, Christy really is working. *smile*

Les looks like a pro.

I’m not sure if Les got more paint on the ceiling or on himself.

Drawing what it looks like to be sleepy

A little game of parachute

A few crafts from today

Day 3: The Road to Kiria – Monday, January 11, 2016

We started the day with breakfast where Les decided he wanted raw eggs.  Well not really.  He thought they were boiled eggs and found out the hard way when he returned to the table and cracked the egg on his plate.  I bet he won’t do that tomorrow.

After breakfast, Reah led devotion from Matthew 5:13-16.  We are the salt and light of the Earth.  She challenged us to remember that while we’re going through the rest of the week.  Even the smallest flicker lights a room.  This week, we will try to remember that we are here to listen and do what they ask us to do.  Most of what they want us to do is build relationships with them.  Yes, there is work to do.  But that might simply be to listen.  While we’re use to “doing” everything, it will be a challenge for some of us to simply “be” in the moment.  A simple smile, hug, or conversation can be such a bright light to someone else.

We had plenty of time to reflect on Reah’s devotion during the 90 minute trip to Kiria.  But first we had to make a run to the bank to exchange currency.  Kenya’s currency is the shilling.  1 US dollar is equivalent to 98.7 shillings, but the teller at the bank exchanged our currency at 99 instead.  You would think that the only thing you need to do to exchange currency is to give them the dollars and receive the shillings.  Nope.  You have to fill out a form with a lot of personal information.  I’m not quite sure why they needed it.  They wanted passport number, name, address, telephone number, email address, occupation, and reason for the exchange.  Plus two signatures.  Luckily our guide is very protective and told us how to fill out the form without giving too much personal information.  Now that we had some funds that we may never spend, it was time to continue our journey to Kiria.

The road to Kiria was a rather bumpy ride.  My phone keeps track of my steps daily.  On the way there, my phone alerted me that I had reached my steps goal for the day; 7800 steps in an hour.  By the end of the day, it had recorded 21,195 steps.  No, we did not walk that much. The ride was just that bumpy.  The route was beautiful though.  Along the way, we saw plenty of mules, sheep, goats, bulls, cows, and zebras.  Yes, zebras living free amongst the people.  The country side is so green, rich, and beautiful.  The weather is a tad abnormal right now.  Kenya is being affected by El Nino just as we are in the States.  January is Kenya’s summer month.  It’s usually their dry season.  But it’s been raining on and off for the last two days.  We had a downpour earlier today.  Most of the roads are not paved, so we may have to buy boots to work in for the rest of the week.  So I guess the shillings might come in handy after all.

Today was an introduction to Kiria.  When we first arrived in the village, children were running up behind the van yelling hello and waving.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen such big smiles before.  They were genuinely ecstatic that we were there.  Brigitte noted that a little girl ran after our van for what seemed like a mile before she was finally out of sight.  The kids seemed intrigued that we were there.  Once we arrived in Kiria, Mercy welcomed us.  If you’ve been attending newhope for a while, you will recall that Mercy is the sweet lady from the video that was shown a few months ago.  She was describing how much of an impact our partnership is having on the village of Kiria.  Well today she was just as warm and inviting.  Everyone was.  First, class 8 sang a few songs for us and danced.  Then the parents sang a song for us and danced.  Then we got a surprise none of us expected.  They came and grabbed us out of our seats and had us dance with them.  Apparently Les and Christy were cutting a rug because they got the biggest laughs at one point from the children watching. It was so much fun.  All of us had huge smiles on our faces the entire time and just laughed and danced with these women.  It was such a joyous welcoming celebration.  Following the dance, the teachers and community leaders introduced themselves to us.  Then we had a meeting where we were served tea, porridge, and chapati (an unleavened bread that is a favorite in Kenya).  During the meeting, we were introduced again to the leaders, but this time with more details.  We learned about their occupations within the community and their family lives.  All of the married men kept specifying that they had one wife.  Of course we wanted to know the significance of that.  Men are allowed to marry as many women as they want.  But these men have only chosen one.  We’re not quite sure why yet (is it because they’re Christians or is this just their choice).  Maybe I’ll ask tomorrow and give an update in tomorrow’s post.  Later, we found out that one of our group leaders was raised in a household with 2 wives and 21 children.  He shared how difficult that was because they never had enough of anything to go around.  If you wanted to sleep in the bed for the night, you had to be the first person in bed.  There was always competition because there just wasn’t enough of anything to go around.

We met one man named Hauran.  He is the head of the Rejoice Project of the Kinagop Region.  He shared that he wears a turban because he’s a Christian and it’s an outward sign that he’s born again and he’s expected to behave as such.  His turban is recognized even in other neighboring African countries.  He has three sons.  The second and third sons are both named Simon because of tradition.  The first born son must be named after the father’s father.  The second son must be named after the mother’s father.  And the third son must be named after the father’s eldest brother.  So his second son is Simon Senior named after his mother’s father and his third son is Simon Junior named after his eldest brother.  It seems we learn something fascinating about the Kenyan culture every moment of every day.

The purpose of today’s meeting was to go over the agenda for the rest of the day and week.  On Tuesday morning, Les, Shaun, Heidi, and Christy will be painting classrooms while Tracey, Ayana, Kim, Suzanne, and Brigitte teach classes 1 through 3.  On Tuesday afternoon, we will be partnering with Rejoice to teach the students January’s virtue lesson, which is cooperation.  Reah, Myron, and Lynn will not be with us tomorrow as they’re spending the day with their sponsor children. On Wednesday, we will split into 3 groups and do home visits where we will be assisting the families with cooking, cleaning, farming, and chopping wood. On Thursday morning, half the group will paint classrooms while the other half assist teachers in the nursery. On Thursday afternoon, we’re going to do a prayer walk around the community followed by a farewell celebration.  They’ve already given us their prayer requests, so I ask that you join us and pray from now until Thursday night for the below prayer requests.  The prayer will occur approximately 1pm local time, which is 5am newhope North Carolina time.  If you could add this prayer request to your morning prayers on Thursday, we could have an avalanche or prayers flooding heaven at the same time that we’re praying here in Kenya.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?!?!  The prayer requests are as follows.

• Drug and alcohol abuse is very prevalent in Kenya.  Please pray that this community will be loosed from this chain of addiction.
• Women are open to learning about Christ and becoming followers of Christ.  But men are very reluctant.  The Kiria leaders would like us to pray that God will prick the hearts of the men in their community and that they will give their lives to Christ.
• There is an amazing partnership between 410 Bridge, newhope Church, and the Kiria community.  The Kiria leaders ask us to pray that the partnership continues to grow stronger.
• It’s election season here as it is in the States.  The Kiria leaders ask that we pray for this time and that the right leaders will be elected to help improve their government.

While the majority of our team met with the community leaders, Kim and Suzanne spent the morning with their sponsor children.  They played games, colored, and played with stickers.  The two younger children do not know English yet, so the oldest child translated for them.  You should have seen the joy on Kim and Suzanne’s faces when they spotted their children.  They’ll get to spend time with two of them tomorrow as we’ll be assisting with the teaching of their classes (1 and 3).

Following our meeting, we learned of more of nature’s beauty while visiting the water tanks.  One of the villagers named Mary showed us a very soft leaf.  And it has a nice size to it to.  Can you guess what it’s used for?  Let’s just say, the Swahili name for it is Maigoya.  They didn’t know the English name for it, so we named it Nature’s Charmin.  So if you’re ever in Kenya, gotta go (if you know what I mean), and don’t have tissue with you, ask for the nearest Maigoya leaf.  But make sure you use three, four is even better according to our Kenyan group leader Muchai.  🙂

We visited the water tank that newhope North Carolina helped build in July 2014.  During the 2014 visit, the team helped lay the foundation for the tank.  Five of those team members (Myron, Lynn, Reah, Kim, and Suzanne) are here with us on this trip and were able to see the completion of their hard work from 18 months ago.  With these tanks, the village now has clean drinking water that is gravity fed to the tanks from an intake valve on the top of the mountain.  Pipes are fed from the tanks into each and every house in the village.  Praise God!  newhope Church, you are a major part of making this happen.  Even if you didn’t lay one stone in the foundation, Kiria is a newhope sponsored village.  Therefore, your financial support of newhope contributed to the building of these tanks.  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Here are some pictures of today’s journey for you to enjoy.

Sheep enjoying this cool rainy day.

Preschool classroom where we met today.

Suzanne and Kim posing in front of the water tank they helped build

The students of Kiria’s primary school

The ladies of Class 8 entertaining us in the welome celebration

Maigoya – 3 is good, but 4 is even better

Suzanne posing with her two sponsor children and Kim’s sponsor child.

Day 2: Praise and Worship on a whole notha level – Sunday, January 10, 2016

Devotion:

We started our day with breakfast and devotion led by Tracy Crosby.  She encouraged us to leave our worries in God’s hands.  We are spending a week in unfamiliar places and may have reservations about where we’re going, or what we may be asked to do, or what we may be exposed to, but God has already paved the way for us.  He has gone before us, He stands behind us, and He walks along side of us.  So there is no need to worry.  In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul reminds us not to worry about anything, but instead to pray about everything.  So we pass that message on to you today as you read this post.  Regardless of what you may have going on in your life today, regardless of how daunting your assignment in life may seem, don’t worry.  Pray about it.  God is here and will be faithful to His promise if you cast your cares upon Him.

Worship Celebration:

We started off with a prayer service at 9am where we prayed for each other, our campuses, and upcoming worship service.  During debrief, Shaun shared that he prayed that every seat would be filled during service.  Well God definitely answered his prayers.The church was PACKED.  Standing room only.  During that prayer service, newhope Kenya prayed for newhope North Carolina.  Suzanne mentioned in debrief how great it was to hear and witness that newhope Kenya prays for us just like we pray for them.  We may be on two different continents, but we will always be One Church.

The worship celebration was like none other.  The praise team led us in an amazing spirit-filled worship.  The Ark orphans sang a song for us.  And the church’s music group cliché performed.  We also witnessed something very few people ever do.  Our pastors Azik and Gloria were ordained today!  This is such a huge accomplishment as 77% of pastors never reach this milestone.  And how fortunate were we to be half way across the world to witness it for ourselves and help them celebrate what no one else has done in all of Kenya.  Yes, Pastors Azik and Gloria are the first two pastors to be ordained in ALL of Kenya. And it was extra special because they were ordained together as husband and wife committing once again to each other to support each other in the mission with which they were both called to do.  There were four representatives from Global Partners here to oversee the ordination.  The director, Dennis Jackson, delivered the word preceding the ordination.  He was joined by leaders from South Africa, Swaziland, and Sierra Leone.  The four of them along with Pastor Amy Lynn all had a role in the ordination.

newhope Kenya versus newhope North Carolina:

Following the service, newhope Kenya challenged newhope North Carolina in a friendly futbol match.  They said they were easy on us, but I don’t believe them.  But newhope North Carolina did pretty well considering Jesse was the only one on the team who actually knew how to play.  Jesse and Ayana from newhope North Carolina both scored a goal, while newhope Kenya only scored one.  However newhope Kenya won the match.  Now you may question how is that possible.  Well let’s just say that Ayana was told that she could play with newhope Kenya next time.  🙂 Oops.  The match was only supposed to last 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour.

Following the match, we had lunch and fellowshipped together.  We were introduced to a Kenyan tradition amongst the young people called the birthday bath where they dump water on people celebrating birthdays.  Poor guy was drenched.  Luckily the temperatures are in the mid to upper 70s.  Tracy Crosby entertained the children with a few hand games, singing Father Abraham, and playing Red Light/Green Light and Simon Says.  Tracy is amazing with children and they love her at first sight.

Around 2:30pm, it was time for newhope North Carolina to split into two teams.  Amy Lynn, Tracy Crosby, Bradford, and Jesse stayed in Thika.  They will be there for another couple of days doing training and filming life change videos.  Then they will visit the site of the water well that newhope is having built near the Kenya/Uganda border.  The remainder of our team boarded a bus and headed towards Kiria to check into our next accommodations 2.5 hours away from Thika.  Over dinner, we learned that Brigitte does not like critters at all when a praying mantis stopped by to say hello.

Well, while it’s 4:25pm on Sunday in North Carolina, it’s already 12:25am on Monday in Kenya, so it’s time to call it a night.  In the morning we head to Kiria for the first time.

Frank and the praise team

Full House. Pastor Amy Lynn recognizes the Newhope Kenya leaders who have been with us from the beginning

Some of the Global Partner leaders

Tracy is amazing with children

The Ordination led by Global Partner Director Dennis Jackson

Day 1: Karibu to Kenya – Saturday, January 9, 2016

Our flight left London around 7pm on Friday evening and landed around 6:30am Saturday morning.  And we have been going nonstop since we landed.  We made it successfully through customs and picked up our bags from baggage claim without incident.  Thank God.

Our transportation coordinator Moses and his wife gave us such a warm and loving welcome and greeting before we completely vacated the building.  And once we turned the corner, we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us; some of newhope Kenya pastors.  Frank (our worship arts pastors), Peter (our Hopetown pastor), and three members (Winnie, Nancy, and Lucy) were there with big smiles.  We were introduced to our driver Tony, loaded up, and headed to our first accommodations, Cravers Grill.

Please let me remind you, we haven’t rested since we left newhope Central Campus on Thursday at 4pm.  We checked in around 9:30am local time, which is 1:30am EST.  We’re still pumped and ready to work.  We started with breakfast where we were greeted with another surprise; Pastors Azik and Gloria stopped by for a visit and welcome.  Then it was time to freshen up a bit before hitting the road for our first assignment.

First up: The Ark

We visited the children at the Ark Orphanage where we were treated to lunch prepared by some of he administrators and children.  After reacquainting ourselves with the children and some new introductions, we paired up with some of the children who gave us a tour of their home and their school down the street.  We got to know each other a little more as well as learn about how their school system works.  For instance, their school year is from January through November.  According to Ruth (one of the orphans), the younger students up to class 6 attend school from 7:30am until 4:30pm.  The older students however (class 7 and 8) attend class from 6:30am until 6:30pm.  We also learned that students must pass an exam at the end of class 8 in order to qualify for high school.  Unfortunately, there are not enough high schools to accommodate all of the student, so not everyone is accepted into a high school.  Two of the Ark orphans just passed their class 8 exams in November.  Now they’re waiting to hear back from possible high schools.  Please keep them in your prayers.  The Ark School also lost 6 teachers this year.  They have been able to fill 5 of those positions, but are still without the 6th.  Additionally, they are down a classroom, so class 7 and 8 are currently sharing.  Please keep the Ark students, administrators, and overall organization in your prayers.

Next up: newhope Kenya

We started our work by moving equipment into the worship center to set up for Sunday service.  Then we swept and mopped the floor using buckets and rags.  Shaun had to show Tracy how it’s done.  Brian tried his best to show Heidi, Ayana, and Tracy how to mop the floor wit a bucket of water and rags.  Sounds simple, right?  Well we weren’t getting it AT ALL.  I think we entertained them more than we helped.  Once the floor was dry, we put the chairs in place and assisted the praise team in setting up their instruments and equipment for their sound check and run through.  While the praise team finished up their setup, Peter led our group on an outreach mission throughout the neighborhood where we invited anyone and everyone to our church service tomorrow at 10am at the local YMCA.  Once we returned to campus, we were blessed by the praise team during their rehearsal and then headed back to our hotel.  It’s now 7pm and we’re about to have dinner and debrief.  I’m pretty sure we’ll all pass out following tonight’s debrief.  We’ll all enjoy our first full night of sleep since Wednesday night.  Just in time for a great service tomorrow at newhope Kenya and travel to our next destination: Kiria, Kenya.