The final days

I am officially down to my last few days in Africa. My experience has been extremely memorable and life changing. These last couple weeks have left me feeling blessed beyond comparison; from getting to celebrate 25 years with Nairobi Lighthouse Church, to spending a week in Apt. D with 11 children, to spending time with friends. It has blessing after blessing. In church last weekend the church recognized mothers for Mother's Day. I was sitting with one of the boys, Alex when they asked all mothers to please stand. Alex could not understand why I wouldn't stand up and kept telling me that I was just like a mother to them and NEEDED to stand up. He pleaded with me, pulling on my arm, begging me to stand up just like all of the other mothers....I didn't stand, which upset Alex very much....but my heart was touched and I felt more honored than almost any mother in that room.  Another huge blessing this week included the celebration of a birthday. Here it is custom for the birthday person to serve the first pieces of cake to people of importance; mothers, fathers, aunts, ect. Evans, the birthday boy, brought me a piece of cake. I know for some of you that probably sounds like something silly to make a big deal out of, but I was so touched that I could barely accept the piece. Now, I am not sharing these things to try and brag about "how big of an impact that I must have had on these small children." This is not the case at all; these children are the most loving and accepting children you could ever meet. They love everyone this much. I am sharing these things to help express the impact that these children have had on my life, melting my heart with each smile. Because of them my eyes have been opened to a new and purer love. I know that leaving in a few days is going to be extremely hard, but I know that it is time for the next step. As I prepare to go, I know that I am leaving a changed person and will forever carry a piece of Africa and these children in my heart.

May Begins....

Once again I have fallen behind with blogging. I am falling more in love with this place by the hour. The kids are so much fun to hang around and I am getting to know some of the older ones. This week I have been helping out in one of the apartments because one of the mothers is on break. Essy and I have been spending the night and helping in the mornings. It has been fun, but the mosquitos in the living room make it hard to sleep. As I have mentioned, it is the rainy season; in fact it is pouring outside at this very moment. During hard rains, flying termites can be found all over the place, including the houses when windows and doors get left open too long. Evidently they are delicious, I will be the judge of that when I work up the courage to try one for myself. Joe showed me how to cook one over a candle. He insists that they taste wonderful....I am not so sure if I believe him yet. Other than that, we are just preparing for school to start back up on Monday. Also, on Sunday, our church is having a 25th year anniversary. It is going to be a full day of events. Most of the kids are involved with choir or dance teams and they have been going to practices for the last two weeks or so. I can't wait to see all that has been prepared for the celebration.

The "Gentlemen" as they call themselves- aka Clifton and Davis

Sammy modeling the flowers

Faith and Fatuma

Fatuma and I 

                                            

Joe cooking up some flying termites! YUM! 

 I spent the weekend with my friend Miss Jane. It was a lot of fun. However, it rained really hard on Friday again so we ended up being stuck in traffic until about 11pm almost midnight. Did I mention that we left at 4 pm? I don't think that I will ever complain about heavy traffic again. Getting home that late is very common for most people around here during the rainy season.We would literally shut off the car for 5-10 minutes at a time before we would be even able to move an inch. So that was an interesting experience! On Saturday, Jane took me into town and we ran some errands for the church. It was fun to see more of the city. She even took me to a new mall. I think my jaw literally hit the floor! It was huge and extremely nice, it even included a 4 screened movie theatre upstairs.

A typical hand cart for hauling goods

On the way to Miss Jane's house. 

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Break from School

School closed down for the month of April. We had a school closing event where the kids put on dances and a short skit to show their appreciation to all of the teachers. It really was quite the event and a lot of fun. Since school has been out all month I have been able to spend more time with the children. There isn't much for them to do and it has started raining almost everyday so that leaves even less options. However, there are soccer practices all week that alternate by age groups. Another lady and I are also teaching rugby to some of the older boys. Another guy, Mark, has also set up a small art studio and some of the boys have been paining and drawing artwork and even have them priced to sell. The Sterns are back from the States which has been awesome and I have been learning so much from them. One Sunday, Molly and I went up to the apartments and spent part of the afternoon cleaning up the hallways and staircases. It has been fun trying to come up with alternative activities for the kids

coloring Easter eggs

A house full of friends

Last week I was given the opportunity to travel to Lamu Island with a lady from church. We took buses to get there which was quite the experience. The trip took approximately 22 hours. One of our buses broke down in the middle of nowhere but luckily they were able to get it started and make it into a small town before it completely died. Being in the middle of nowhere at night is definitely not somewhere that you want to be. It just so happened that another bus had broken down ahead of us, so the company decided to send another bus to pick us up. The remainder of the trip we had smashed two buses into one bus; it was packed. Once we reached the bus stop we took a speed boat to the island. Lamu Island is right of the coast near Somalia and is completely gorgeous. The island is almost entirely Muslim and the streets are as narrow as hallways with donkeys at every turn. There are no cars on the island so donkeys are used to carry things and people. In fact, donkeys even get the right of way! We stayed with Pastor Thuku and his family so we were surrounded by buildings. However, a 45 minute walk away is a beach where tons of tourists stay. The beach is breathtaking and not very populated which makes it feel as though you are on your own personal beachr the kids.

View from the beach

The Church

Inside of the Church

Miss Jennifer and Miss Jane

The Pastor's wife, Miss Jennifer, tried to teach me how to cook, wash clothes by hand properly, clean, ect. It was really fun. Above their home, they have a Christian radio station which has really helped reach out to the Muslim community. The Thuku family is wonderful and their 11 year old son Moses is quite the energetic child. Moses came back to Nairobi with us... talk about tiring. The poor child trying to keep still for almost 24 hours straight was about impossible. Luckily the first bus was at night because Moses didn't have a seat to himself. He spent the entire journey to Mombasa curled up on my lap sleeping like a baby. The second part of the trip however was very difficult for him to stay seated. We had a wonderful time and I will hopefully be able to spend another week in Lamu before I come back to the States

An exhausted Moses on the bus

Experiences of a Lifetime!

These last couple of weeks have been full of exciting new adventures. To start, two weeks ago I went home with my supervisor for the weekend. Life outside of the compound is completely different. I had such an amazing time and learned a ton. Mrs. Catherine and her husband John poured gallons of wisdom into me over the weekend. It was also great getting to spend more time with her children. On Sat., Catherine took me to her shags (the place where she grew up). Her parents are such kind people and they live on a farm. Her father showed me around his coffee field and explained the process of growing and making coffee. The coffee plants seemed to stretch on forever. He also has rows of banana trees and yellow passion fruit. He also has a few cows that provide the milk and allow him to sell the excess in town. Everything on his farm is self-sufficient. Even the cooking gas is produced in a manure well. Catherine taught me how to cook a few Kenyan meals and the weekend flew by very quickly.

            This last weekend we went to Mombasa. Being at the coast was a blast. We stayed at a house that was literally feet away from the beach. We did some touring of the city and I got to take my first Matatu ride! The scenery on the beach was gorgeous and my friend, Nigel, went with me so that I could take a swim in the Indian Ocean. Just a side note, the Indian Ocean is very warm! Our plan was to walk about a kilometer down the beach and explore a small reef and then swim back as the tide came in. However, we didn’t time the tide right and it was already coming in before we made it to the reef. So unfortunately we didn’t get to see it, but we did get a nice long swim in!  It was breathtaking being out in the Ocean away from everything. About 3-4 kilometers away from us was a huge reef that stretches out and protects the shore from the huge waves. From where we were, I could hear and see the waves crashing up against the reef. It was probably the highlight of my trip to the coast. 

          The rest of this week we have been busy in the classroom because the term ends on Wednesday. Sorry that this update is very broad, but some things are impossible to put into words without writing a book! 

Brief Update About the Week

I have had quite the interesting week. This week we went into town and met with my friend, Tray’s, cousins. They made us a late supper and we had a great time hanging out. Then on Tuesday evening we ate supper at Faith House, the apartments here at KKV. Baba Zedee and Mama Mary don’t speak much English so it was really fun and interesting. The children showed us how to play a hand game and we practiced counting to 10 in about 7 different languages. I was also introduced to the Kenyan version of our ABC’s. They have a different song to go with them and they were more than willing to teach it to us. I am going to try to post a video of it soon for those of you who teach that sort of thing. On Wednesday, I got the opportunity to visit a home called “Wings”. It is basically a home for teenage mothers from the slums. They house some of them and feed them. They also watch the babies while the mothers go back to school. The story of this place and how it has gotten started in the last 10 months is truly remarkable! I wish that I could share it, however, that could take pages and still would not do this place justice. So, for now, you will just have to believe me when I say it is remarkable. Aside from our adventures this week, the children are continuing to amaze me in new ways and the thought of leaving is beginning to break my heart. The last few days, I have gotten many questions in regards to when I will be leaving and more importantly, when will I be coming back. It is being brought to my attention the negative impact that I may unintentionally be having. You see, most of these children have a hard enough time letting themselves trust anyone. But then to stay long enough for them to get used to you and begin to trust you just to leave? I already feel as though I am betraying them. Some people may say, “well at least they are used to visitors coming for a few months and then leaving by now.” Unfortunately, that is the problem. They are USED to everyone they care about leaving them and never returning… 

You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover

New Life Home is a baby orphanage located in Nairobi, Kenya.  This home has saved over 1,300 babies since it opened and the number keeps increasing! Right now there is approximately 40 babies at the home. Thanks to New Life Home, majority of these children will be adopted into a loving family. Why am I telling you this? Because when I was told that we were going to get to go visit this home I was beyond excited! I was literally jumping up and down! Finally, an opportunity to do some hands on work! However, I was in for a huge surprise. I think that I was the only one who was not informed that we were going for a celebration, not for a day trip to help. When we arrived, my heart literally sank. Once again I was hit in the face with a situation where I couldn’t possibly imagine what I could do to help. The facilities, of course, were beautiful and I was really sad that we were there to “party” instead of help. Thankfully, God opened my eyes and changed my heart in one big swoop. Long story short, I got the opportunity to help feed the young kids (around 2) lunch. It was eye opening! The entire experience was mass chaos; crying and screaming children, all needing help to eat and not nearly enough help to go around.  Immediately after lunch all of the children were taken to the restroom; most of them at the potty training age. Talk about craziness! By the end of it I had half chewed food all over my face and a new respect for what goes on behind of the scenes. This experience was so good for me. I have realized that it doesn’t matter how “put together” things or people may look on the outside, on the inside can be an entirely different story. The children here at KKV seem to have it all together on the outside; loving parents, caring siblings, clean water, nice school, ect. However, this week, because my eyes are now being opened to things I was blind to before, I am seeing how much is actually needed on the inside. Like so many people, these children are in need of love, hope, forgiveness, and healing. They need so much more than can be provided by this world. Fancy things and money will never satisfy us. We will always feel an emptiness that needs filled until we learn to find our fulfillment in Jesus. The same goes for me. I cannot find fulfillment in loving these children with/by my own strength. I will only find fulfillment in my King and His love flowing through me will not only be more than enough for me, but for all I come into contact with. When we surrender ourselves to the Will of our Father, His light is able to shine into the darkness, pointing all in the direction of our Savior! There is no greater hope and no greater love than Jesus!

A Restless Heart

I know, I know, the title sort of sounds like a soap opera. In a way, I suppose my restlessness reminds me of one. You could have tuned in last week and yesterday would have been almost the exact same story with very little progress. Most of you are probably wondering what in the world I could possibly be talking about, but today I am going to be real with you and share a little bit about what God has been dealing with me about. Since I arrived here I have been struggling… a lot might be an understatement.  The place where I am staying is extremely nice by almost any standards. In fact, I can say that this house itself is much nicer than my apartment with better tasting water included! Since it’s not safe for me to go out into parts of the city or to even leave the gates without at least one escort, I am pretty much stuck here. And this is where my restless heart comes into play. A very big part of my heart wants so desperately to help people, to literally save a life. I haven’t felt at all useful in this place because these kids have already been saved and rescued from the depths of despair. Praise the Lord for that! However, there are millions of people still living in despair many with NO hope at all because they haven’t even heard the message about our Wonderful Savior! This fact breaks my heart so much that I haven’t even been able to focus on the opportunities that God has put right in front of me. Most of us have heard “where much has been given, much will be required.” My heart has been so impatient and wants to be given so much so that He can require much of me. I want to make HUGE impacts for His Kingdom. However, He has to be able to trust me with bigger responsibilities before He grants it. Right now He has given me an opportunity, perhaps to see what I will do with it. Just like the servants; will I invest it or will I bury it? Up till now, I have been burying it, not intentionally, but burying it all the same. I cannot possibly expect to draw closer to Him and to fulfill the purpose that He has for me if I cannot properly take care of what He has given me now. I have gotten caught up in the countless possibilities of how God COULD work through me in helpless situations (if HE so chooses). BUT that is not where He has placed me at this moment, and for a very good reason. My heart is in strife. I have assumed this is because I feel as though am not accomplishing anything. That is partially true, but only because I am failing to see what He has placed right in front of me. I am failing to love on the individuals within my reach.  The reason behind this restlessness has become very apparent to me over the last couple of days; I am not seeking Him. My world has become absorbed with being fulfilled through and by my actions, instead of being absorbed with Him and allowing Him to overflow through me. This has led to feeling miserable in almost anything that I do and it doesn’t matter how good the intentions of my actions are, it isn’t Him flowing through me. Hosea 2:6-7 says, “Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them.” And that describes perfectly what season God has brought me to today. He is blocking all of my paths. I keep searching but to no avail; everywhere that I turn there is a wall. But thankfully there is always a way out with Jesus. Hosea 2:14 goes on to say, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.”  He desires to captivate us by His love and His Goodness. He longs to be our all in all.  I need to allow Him to fill me each and every day. HE must ALWAYS come first! It is in Him and ONLY Him that my heart shall find rest!

Andrew and Eunice

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose

Libby, Me, May, and Lydia at church