child at heart

check this out, it’s an overview of the trip from last year: http://www.faulkner.edu/o/admin/websites/rtrull/mfc/merutrip2008.htm

 check this out, it’s all my pictures from the trip:   http://s672.photobucket.com/albums/vv84/ilovekenyarain/kenya%202008/

June 25 – July 22

WEEK 1

June 25 (W) Depart AA 4443: Atlanta @ 1:20 pm – Arrive: Chicago @ 2:20 pm

Depart BA 296: Chicago @ 5:30pm – Arrive: London Heathrow @ 7:05 am

June 26 (Th) Depart BA 064: London, Heathrow @ 10:35 am – Arrive: Nairobi @ 9:00 pm

June 27 (F) Giraffe House, Nairobi to Meru, Trout Tree Restraunt

June 28 (Sa) Settle-in and prepare for Children’s Bible School (CBS)

WEEK 2

June 29 (S) Gatigati area – Church & CBS

June 30 (M) Leaders Course (LC) at Kambakia Training Center (KTC) begins & work at KTC

July 01 (T) (LC), work at KTC & Women’s Class (1 pm) – Gatigati or Timau (Daniel flies in)

July 02 (W) (LC), work at KTC & Women’s Class (1 pm); Location: Gatigati or Timau

July 03 (Th) (LC), Bonding Day & Women’s Class (1 pm) – Meru North

July 04 (F) Rest Day; Makena Industries; Supper at Catharine’s

July 05 (S) Meru North area – CBS

WEEK 3

July 06 (S) Timau area – Church & CBS

July 07 (M) Work at KTC & Women’s Class (1 pm) – Mukuuni

July 08 (T) Work at KTC & Women’s Class (1 pm) – Meru North (Travis/Lauren in)

July 09 (W) Samweri’s for lunch & visit Maitethia’s

July 10 (Th) Maasai church visit; Women’s Class/meet with leaders

July 11 (F) Rest Day; James & Makena’s for lunch/youth meeting planning/practice?

July 12 (Sa) Kambakia area – CBS or Youth Meeting

WEEK 4

July 13 (S) Meru North area – Church & CBS

July 14 (M) Samburu Game Park

July 15 (T) Samburu Game Park

July 16 (W) Work at KTC & Women’s Class (1 pm) – Kambakia

July 17 (Th) Work at KTC (or possible youth meeting)

July 18 (F) Work at KTC (or possible youth meeting)

July 19 (Sa) Meru South area – CBS

WEEK 5

July 20 (S) Worship at KTC

July 21(M) Shopping, Carnivore Restaurant

Nairobi – Depart BA 064 @ 11:20 pm – Arrive: London, Heathrow @ 5:55 am

July 22 (T) Depart London, Heathrow BA 297 @ 12:55 pm – Arrive: Chicago @ 3:15 pm

Depart AA 1807 @ 6:55 pm – Arrive: Atlanta @ 9:55 pm

Meru Mission Flight Schedules

Summer – 2008

June 25 – July 22

Flight Schedule: Main Group – Richard & Marinda Trull, Corinne Janeus, Clay Jones, Lacee Sewell, Gabriela Epps, Chelsea Janning

Departure for Kenya

June 25 (W) Depart AA 4443: Atlanta @ 1:20 pm – Arrive: Chicago @ 2:20 pm

Depart BA 296: Chicago @ 5:30pm – Arrive: London Heathrow @ 7:05 am

June 26 (Th) Depart BA 064: London, Heathrow @ 10:35 am – Arrive: Nairobi @ 9:00 pm

Departure for U.S.

July 21(M) Nairobi – Depart BA 064 @ 11:20 pm – Arrive: London, Heathrow 5:55 am

July 22 (T) Depart London, Heathrow BA 297 @ 12:55 pm – Arrive: Chicago 3:15 pm

Depart AA 1807 @ 6:55 pm – Arrive: Atlanta 9:55 pm

6/25/2008 – Day 1

I’m sitting here in the Chicago airport waiting for us to board the plane to go to London. So far I’ve enjoyed getting to know all the other people on this trip, and I love talking to Mrs. Mirinda. Its still crazy for me to think that this trip is actually here and there is no turning back! It has started! It’s just weird for me to think that its less than 1 day until I’m sitting in Kenya! :)

I’ve already called mom twice, as soon as I hit both airports I let her know we were here and were safe. She seems to be doing better, she didn’t sound like she had been crying recently – which she did when I called from Atlanta.

The holding area we are in is packed with all kinds of people. American people going on a vacation, British people going home, and a vast majority of people who look like they are on some kind of business to around the world. Right now Clay and Dr. Trull are in a conversation, Emily and I are journaling, Corinne is reading the diary of Anne Frank and Lacee and Mrs. Mirinda are talking. There is so many different things going on. Next to Emily sits an Indian woman who was reading and reciting a Hindu prayer. She is complete with the custom robe, head dot, gold jewelry, and dark complexion. She is so incredibly beautiful and was really nice to us.

I love the airports for this reason; we are such a diverse culture. I am in love with these differences and I think I’m going to love this mission work.

P.S. – David Lawrence, today I watched p.s. I love you on one of my flights… yeah, that pretty much describes us to a T.

6/26/08 – Day 2

All through last night and into this morning we flew until we arrived in London around 7a this morning (which is about 1p at home), even though it was dark on the plane I had an incredibly hard time sleeping. When we finally got into the airport we all kind of lounged around. I sent an email home, and got some food before joining Clay and Corinne in a nap on the seats. We looked like the biggest hobo’s – but hey sleep was finally calling my name so I took it!

Right now we are on the flight to Nairobi. I slept most of the 9 hour flight, but these last 3 hours are kicking my butt. I’m either exhausted or wide awake and my body is most definitely tired of sitting for so long. Corinne and I took a break and walked over to one of the windows to see what we were over – all desert, the Sudan to be exact. Even so, it was beautiful! I know you see tons of pictures but it is just not the same until you see it with your own two eyes. I believe our plans for the rest of the day are as follows:

– Land (9pmish)

– Baggage Claim

– Customs/ Immigration

– Visa purchase

– Go to our bed & breakfast for the night (11pmish)

– And my favorite – crash for the night

It’s kind of weird to think that in 2 hours I will be standing in Kenya! Oh ma gosh, it’s so… monumental? Unbelievable? Or most definitely a God thing!!

As I sit here looking at everyone around me I see our group, I hear people speaking French to one another, there are many Indian people headed to their home, and even more Africans that are about to be back home. It’s such a wonderful change compared to what I see at home – white, white, white, black, black, black etc. Just the same people over and over. No one caring for each other or willing to change their views of other cultures.

Corinne just pointed out to me on our electronic map that we are about to pass over the Nile River – if only we could see out of the window! I’m sure its an amazing view.

It’s a good thing we are not trying to impress anyone here because we look super rough. But hey that’s part of the package right? That’s enough for now – we’ve hit some turbulence.

After our meal we just had we filled out of: Republic of Kenya/Application form for a visa and our Republic of Kenya/entry declaration form. AKA this is real. We have hit that point of no return. We are about to step foot on Kenyan soil.

Okay so we are in Kenya sitting in our B&B room. When we got into the airport we first got our visa for our stay, then we went to pick up our luggage. I was pretty sure mine was lost, but finally I found my suitcase. YAY! I also exchanged some US dollars for some Kenyan shillings. Check this out – $140 = 8,610 shillings, OH MY! The drivers who picked us up were pretty much amazing. We drove for about 20 or 25 minutes, the whole time getting some narration about everything we were passing. It was a beautiful place, even at night! The stars are pretty much in your face out here, they are amazing!

I think we go into Meru for the first time tomorrow.

6/27/08 – Day 3

This morning has already started off amazing. We woke up to the most beautiful view out of our glass doors. The sun was half way up leaving a colorful hue rise over the humongous variety of trees in our backyard. There are trees that are also in the states as well as some I’ve never even imagined. Our group climbed up into a tree for a nice photo-op, and Emily and I had some nice conversation while we were up there.

I cannot even describe what I feel right now. The peace and calmness I long to feel like this at home. To the left of me is a little garden, it is tended to so beautifully. The guest hut in the backyard looks like something out of a movie. As I sit here I hear a dull murmur of their city sounds. It’s nothing like at home. Nairobi, the city that holds over 4 million people sounds like the farm. You know people live around you, but its nothing like Birmingham. Some one in one of the little houses behind us is doing a little work. You can hear the beat of a hammer and occasionally a murmur from whoever is using it. You may hear a car every once and a while but not on an every minute basis.

The sounds I hear are simple, I hear a dog barking in protest next door, about 6 different birds chirping or squawking to one another and an occasional frog croak. This is the kind of place I’ve always dreamed of. (The Mennonite Guest House)

This am we had breakfast as a group, which was made by the people here at the MGH. We are all killing time and enjoying our surroundings until Dr. Trull gets back with transportation to Meru town. Then the journey really begins, until them I’m going to read my book, enjoy my surroundings, and listen to the rooster crowing from next door.

Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

We are all pilled into a 14 passenger van waiting to take the 6 hour trek to Meru town. This is going to be amazing.

We are finally to our Blue Towers hotel, and it’s better than I thought it was going to be.

We drove for a little while and stopped at the treetop restaurant where we actually ate lunch in a tree, it was like a scene out of Hook where the kids were all playing in the tree. The view was amazing. We saw monkeys in the trees around us, the trout we ended up eating, and countless geese, goats and sheep all around us. It was a breathtaking experience. We were pretty much just chillin in the middle of the forest. After lunch we drove for a couple hours until we came to the equator. We all stood on East and West Kenya at the same time. It really was a cool feeling. While we were there we spent 40 minutes or so in the mini-market. What a cultural experience!

We bargained like no one’s business. I got some things for a fair price and I over paid on some things. It was kind of overwhelming to be honest. There was a string of 30 shops all linked together. They were nothing more than a wood box with a tin roof. Each shop had about 2 workers in it trying to get you to buy everything under the sun. It was crazy! They would grab you by some part of you arm and just pull you along to show you everything they had. “I will give you a good price” they would say, or “just a little something would make my day.” So you finally pick something and then you haggle for the price, its actually quite funny to me. After everyone was ready to go we piled back into the bus and drove for another 2 hours or so. We passed Mt. Kenya, which took forever to finally pass by the way. But we drove past muddy villages, green plains littered with the occasional tree, or livestock covered hills, and then areas covered with so many vibrant colors.

There were hundreds of shades of green and flowers of passion, reds, purples, pinks, oranges, whites and yellows – they were all amazing. It was like God threw paint on a side of a mountain and it crafted that wonderful masterpiece. I can understand why Michele Hough fell in love.

We have about 1.5 hours until supper so we are just chillin. I’m sitting in bed right now just resting and the diversity of sounds is amazing. The Muslim owner of the hotel is having one of his daily prayer times, and has the chants playing over the loudspeaker for everyone to hear. The bar next door has started the Friday night party already at only 6p. There is the steady sounds of whooping and hollering of some African techno music going on. It’s just so different here, and I love it.

6/28/08 – Day 4

I awoke this morning at 5:30a (which is 9:30p our time). I proceeded to lie in bed until now, 6:38a until I made myself get up to go to the restroom and to start writing for today. I will probably go get a shower, get ready and got to breakfast after I write for a bit.

I was awoken to the mosque prayer being played over the outside loudspeaker. It went on for about 5 minutes so it seemed, but I’m sure at 5:30a everything seems to loud and long. It was a very unique sounding prayer. The man’s voice sounds very monotonous. He would occasionally spike a little energy in the sound of the prayer – but not much. The bar next door has already started their techno music, it’ been on for about a half hour already! They for real hold to the motto “its 5 o’clock somewhere”.

Lacee, Corinne and Clay did a really good job at including Emily and I last night. After supper we all piled into our room onto Emily’s bed and made string friendship bracelets to give to the Meru children we are going to meet. We had so much fun talking and hanging out, I don’t know the last time I laughed that much. Plus the sight of Clay sitting on a bed with 4 girls playing with string was a bit laugh provoking.

I talked to mom last night; they were on the way to the women’s conference in Atlanta. She seemed really surprised that I was calling, but VERY excited that I did. We didn’t talk for too long but I could tell it made her happy to hear my voice. I talked to dad for a little bit also. He sounded like a 12 year old school boy. I could hear such an excitement and change when we talked. He has already started to miss me. It’s going to be a super long trip for him. But either way it was great to talk to him.

I think our plans for today is to dedicate ourselves to getting the VBS materials and set up, and we may even go see the KTC and do something there.

You know it’s not really even hot here, but I am still thirsty all the time, and drinking bottled water whenever I can get my hands on it. Maybe it’s just a mind thing?! Either way, its 7a and obviously I’m not tired anymore so I might as well hop in the shower.

Emily and I finally got our room changed so we have a shower that works.

We spent about 3 hours after breakfast working on the stuff. We are almost ready for tomorrow.

We ended up going to lunch at the restaurant and met 2 of the Trull’s friends. They taught us some of the language, and taught us a lot about her life and family. Lunch was pretty awesome. We then all loaded up into our 14 passenger van and went to Nakumatt, which is like their 24 hour Walmart, and a chance to use the internet café, I think we are going to hang out in the city a little while longer before we go back to the hotel and practice for tomorrow.

We ended up going back to the hotel and practicing for about 2 hours or so until Catherine and her son Muriti were exhausted and needed to go home, and we all had supper. We went back to our rooms and finished getting ready for our first CBS day! We have made plenty of friendship bracelets and everything is colored and ready to go so now I’m going to bed!

6/29/08 – Day 5

Happy Birthday Lacee!

Plus it’s our first day at CBS and our first church experience in Kenya!

We went to Abongeri, Meru for church as well as for our first CBS with the kids. What a cultural experience that was. Before we went to church we went to pick up Catherine and Muriti – in order to get there we had to go down a HORRIBLE dirt road, about 10 kilometers. I mean ravine’s as big wide as cars and 10ft deep, potholes the size of bathtubs and random speed bumps (those fun natural ones) all over the road. I’m pretty sure we all lost count of how many times Clay and Corinne hit their heads on the top of our van. It really was not that hot outside but we had to keep the windows shut because of the massive amounts of red dirt from off the road. We all began to roast on the inside of that bus. We finally came up to the entrance of Catherine and Muriti’s compound and Mrs. Mirinda went to get them. We hadn’t been parked there 5 minutes when all these children came running up to the van and staring at us, we are rather oddballs here. We cannot go anywhere without having tons of children and older people staring us down. Anyway, the children were precious. Their smiles and laughs just melt my heart.

At the compound Catherine has several cash crops in her own front yard. You can see a mesh of sugar cane crops, banana trees and even coffee beans. Everyone on this trip thinks I have not truly lived because I have never had sugar cane – I guess I am missing out?

We finally got to our little church, and it was little. It’s a stone and concrete building about as big as out college and career SS classroom. It was 2 doors, open holes for windows, dirt floors, a tin roof and a few spare benches and plastic chairs to sit on. Somehow we had over 70 people sitting in there for our church service!

We got there about 30 minutes early so we had plenty of time to mingle with the people already there. That alone was fabulous. The people there are incredibly friendly – and NO sense of personal space. The older women started walking up to us and shaking our hands like crazy. They thanked us from coming from America, blessing them and bringing them good luck. They asked all about home, my family and if I loved God. Every little compliment I gave them was a massive thing.

When church finally started we had a lot of singing and dancing. We worshipped in 4 different languages: English, Kamaroo, Key Swahelli and Coocuru. How amazing is that?? Service started off good. We had about 40 minutes of worship time followed by the 4 elders of the church. They all mentioned blessings for us in their prayers. Most of the songs were about heaven, eternal life, salvation and the power over Satan. We had a couple of songs led by the men of the church. Next we had some testimony time – all the men shared. Their stories were enough to break the hardest man’s heart, and they all loved Jesus so much. We had a couple women from other churches give testimonies and lead songs. Their voices were the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. I was so mesmerized on their love for Christ that I didn’t even notice it was in another language.

Now here comes the weird part. The SS class, women’s class and children all took turns getting up and dancing to a cassette tape. Dr. Trull said they have never used technology before, and normally when they get up to dance they sing a song at the same time.

The pastor and his translator were a HUGE mistake in the words of many different people. Their part of the service was straight Pentecostal. The preacher had nothing prepared, he rambled on and on about nothing in particular, he danced all the time, he would scream at the top of his lungs and he only made reference to one verse of scripture but never taught or expanded on it. The people seemed to like him for his energy but the elders talked to Dr. Trull later and expressed their dislike and embarrassment. [This is what this church needs the most prayer about. The pastor is NOT certified or trained by the KTC that does both of those in a biblical setting. He wants to become a full time pastor for that church – which the elders are fighting, and Dr. Trull knows is a bad idea.]

Throughout the service there were other things. The 7 of us introduced ourselves to the church. Dr. Trull gave a brief devo since the pastor was going to give a message, and we had the Lord’s supper. In doing that we had fresh baked Chipati bread that was torn into pieces and put into a container – real wine that was diluted with water was put into small plastic cups (which were washed at the front of the church and then reused). The church was honored to have us take the communion with them, and I felt the same way.

After the service they fed us lunch there, which was rice and beans mixed, and we mingled with the women as we ate. There were no boundaries. A 27 yr old told me about her life while a woman next to her lifted up her blouse right there and began nursing her son in front of us. We ate for about an hour and then ran the adults out so we could do our VBS.

The men sat together talking to each other and Dr. Trull when we had time. The women washed the dishes as well as cared for the infants during this time. By the way where they sat outside was heaven. There were acres upon acres of mango, banana and coffee trees. So many colors of green below a magnificent blue cloudless sky.

The VBs went wonderful. The kids were so attentive and VERY responsive. They loved our 2 bible stories (Jesus feeds the 5,000 and Jesus calms the storm). They laughed at our drama and their smiles were beautiful. They answered all our bible questions right. Hands would shoot up all around the room before I even finished the question. They loved the activities we did and did a wonderful job making the crafts. For the mini-boat they all made they were all excited to put it in the water and see if it would float. When they colored their basket I was amazed. At home when kids color baskets they do it all in 1 color – Brown. These kids colored each stitch into something different. There were 4 yr olds with patterns on their baskets that our 8yr olds cant make at home. They are so advanced for their type of education that is offered. God is doing some wonderful things in the lives of these children. Praise God for that!

After we left church we got about half way home when Muriti told us about a wonderful waterfall that we were going to pass so Dr. Trull pulled the van over on the side of the road. Us students , Dr. Trull and Muriti got out and walked all the way down the side of the hill through some forest to a wonderful waterfall. It was flowing really nice and made a beautiful pooling point one some rocks at the bottom. We took plenty of pictures. We then went to the very bottom to hang out and then back up to an open cave that was almost at the very top. I mean you could put your hand to your side and touch the waterfall. Lacee slipped and fell into the mud and her whole backside was covered! All girls minus me tore their skirts – I didn’t cause im just cool like that. Muriti mentioned Lacee’s butt and how it was honored in Kenya, and very lightly said it was nice. HAHA.

After we all looked a mess, covered in sweat looking like we just ran a marathon we got back into the bus and headed to Catherine’s compound – on that bumpy road back home our bus took a beating. The window directly next to Lacee was really loose, frame and all. We went over a bump at one point and the WHOLE thing fell our onto the road! Luckily 2 men (who were completely drunk) helped us put it back in. We went about 50 feet down the road and it fell out again. Geez! Muriti was so sweet, he got out, picked it up and set it back in the van for us. On our way back up the road after dropping them off the front of our van sank into a pothole and almost got stuck. So we drive around in a windowless beat up van.

The last stop was at Nakumatt and 2 12 yr. old boys stole our sugar cane out of the broken window. Oh well, maybe I can find some more and try it while we are here.

Never an uneventful day in Kenya! Alabama is going to be so boring now!

6/30/2008 – Day 6

Yep, 5.30a mosque prayer time was a hit again today. I guess God is trying to tell me something early in the mornings.

Daniel flies in and joins the group tomorrow!

Today was our first day at KTC. Mrs. Marinda stayed at the hotel today with Catherine and got things ready for the women’s meeting tomorrow. Dr. Trull dropped us off and left to go take care of some errands, namely, the broken window in the van.

Today we did ALOT of manual labor which was pretty fun actually. We were supposed to start painting  the new building but the paint was not there yet. We went to the old chicken house and started cleaning it out so it could be painted at some point. We pulled out old roof tiles, old fashioned sewing machines, tin, old pipes and tons of old rotten termite infested wood. We did that for an hour or two, then we started to shovel out all the dirt and broken tiles.

After that we had lunch, more rice and beans!! I actually love that meal. Then we painted for a couple hours. We put the base coat down in 2 of the 3 rooms. The painting really wasn’t that bad, it was the half-dollar sized spiders that freaked me out!! :(

After we were done painting and were waiting on Dr. Trull our KTC friend John showed us the huge garden around the compound. John has 3 children, 2 are currently battling malaria, but he has such a strong faith in the Lord and is such a blessing.

We will go back tomorrow and Wednesday to work at KTC then Thursday we will have our first bonding day!

Oh I forgot something, at supper tonight we talked a lot about the KTC. The KTC is a 15 year project and it is entirely Dr. Trull’s baby. {Possibly help financially support it?} He alone raises the money that supports the overhead cost, the course cost, the principle’s salary along with the many other things that it costs. I cannot imagine how accomplished and proud he feels when he hears preachers that KTC trained preaching the truth, and how wonderful it must feel when he sees how well the KTC is still doing.

Before supper us students decided to walk around in the city and see things and stores. It was rather fun walking around, messing with the goats eating all the trash. We walked a good ways down the road and stopped in a couple stores. (we walked about 1.5 miles each way) We found a bookstore with children’s books that are in English but with African stories. I think I might end up getting a couple along with a suka or two. The one thing I did not enjoy about our walk was the fact that we were stared at, ALOT. Cars would stop, people would follow us and stare. But if the tables were turned I believe I could understand what they see/are fascinated with. We (4 white kids and 1 really light black girl) were a strange sight.

We were about 10 minutes from the hotel when the evening mosque prayer started. We passed 1 place doing it and then we heard our familiar man’s voice. The 2 of them were drastically different in tone, length, style and even the chant sounded like it had different words. It was a very interesting thing to hear. Now if only I had seen people fall down and pray – THAT would have been a sight.

7/1/2008 – Day 7

Today 7a came way to fast, and Emily and I went to sleep at 9.30p. I am sore all over. I feel the hike to and from the waterfall, all of yesterdays work and our 3 mile joy walk from yesterday up and down the hills. It’s going to be a long day.

Dr. Trull will leave at lunchtime today and head to the airport to pick up Daniel. They should be here some time tomorrow afternoon.

We just finished lunch, which was amazing! We ate at the KTC with the women of the tailoring class. They were asking us all kinds of questions. We were teaching them about tattooing :). I feel a strange sense of accomplishment in getting to know them. They are all around my age, 19-24ish but they have such huge goals and aspirations. I have enjoyed the cultural differences.

After lunch we watched a movie with Murithi, and planned a little for our youth meeting on the 10th and 11th.

John introduced his little boy Monique aka Nicky to us today. He started off by helping us clean out the room we were working on – ADORABLE! He was super sweet but terribly shy. By the end of the day he was playing with us and having lots of fun. By that I mean kicking around a plastic container with us, chasing us with water, and throwing it on us, oh and chasing me with giant grasshoppers before stepping on it about 20 times to kill it. Did I mention he is 2.5 years old? Precious!

We just got into the hotel, its about 5pm but we are going to nap or enjoy free time because we just walked 1.5 miles from the KTC. Murithi walked us home, so sweet. He is the perfect gentleman. Let me just say… If he didn’t live on another continent I would look for a deeper friendship. He’s the kind of guy you introduce to your parent and marry.

We finished cleaning out the old chicken house, hopefully next week the boys will work on putting up the new roof and us girls can go ahead and paint it so it can be used again. I shoveled barrels upon barrels of old concrete/sand, mixed roof tiles and dirt out of that room, and my back has never hurt more. But the Lord is showing me the kind of life I desire.

This trip has already shown me how much I depend on. I’ve made all the junk at home my own God. I do not depend on Christ for my food, clothing or luxuries – nothing. I rely on myself and I am so so selfish. I had who I have become at home. I expect to be given so much and I do not work for it! I hate my lackluster faith, the fact that Christ is my co-pilot and not my provider and sustainer makes me sick to think about. Who am I to complain?

For example, John has 2 children with Malaria yet he is so faithful to his Christ. Elizabeth has an infected bone in her leg that needs to be amputated and the woman can hardly walk. Yet she still walked for an hour to get to church on Sunday just to praise her amazing God. I could name so many more and each one I think about slaps me in the face. I cannot be the same person anymore, to do so I slap my Jesus on His cross. I am pitiful and unworthy, and I deserve Hell. Praise God in His love, and for the work he is doing in my cold black heart.

7/2/08 – Day 8

Today has already started our pretty awesome. After breakfast we went to downtown to a lot of the shops looking for materials to make clothing as well as for suka’s. We found quite a few shops and got very good prices. It was very different – we had lots of people yelling to look at the white men and lots of people saying “hi” and giving us hand shakes.

What broke my heart us that we saw lots of street boys who beg for food and money. Most of them had a plastic bottle of some kind up to their noses. 9 times out of 10 they are sniffing glue or kerosene in order to get high. That just breaks my heart! Murithi says lots of boys around here get addicted to at least one of these three things: kerosene, cigarette or alcohol. He says there is a big problem with alcohol here because most of it can be made at home with simple things like mango’s or banana’s. For example on sunday alone we came across 4 drunken men on accident, that doesn’t even include all the ones that went by us unnoticed. I cant help but pray for them every night and for the Lord to help break those addictions.

Today turned out to be rather interesting. We finally got to our little tin church. It had dirt floors and about 10 benches for people to sit on. Mrs. Marinda and Catherine were doing the 2nd woman’s class, and for that area we had about 10 women show up. Good!

After the woman’s conference we drove home (by the way we saw an 18ft anthill – no joke! It’s so incredible that safari ants could make something so massive!)  and were fortunate enough to see the peak of Mt. Kenya! We saw the whole mountain. The Trulls have only seen it a handful of times in all their years here. It was beautiful! We saw all 3 peaks, the glacier on the right and the mini-peak on the left. Emily and I looked like big old retards. Mrs. Marinda pulled the van over on the road and Emily and I ran across the road and took all kinds of pictures. A little boy told Emily “look that’s Mt. Kenya. Pay me 10 shillings for telling you.” It was hilarious! About 20 minutes later Emily and I had to go to the bathroom but there were no choo’s around. So we pulled over and ran behind a chunk of bushes to pee. My first time going bathroom on the side of the road in Kenya. :) Emily and I had such a unique experience today.

By the way Daniel is finally here! Clay is no longer the only male… and he is so happy for that.

7/3/08 – Day 9

Today on our way to KTC we saw a monkey jump off a tree, run across the road and jump into another tree.

Today was super productive. In the computer room we put our 1st coat of real paint – it’s very pretty.

Emily got her native skirt and blouse finished, which took all day.

I got a hug from john after we took a picture. That man is so sweet. We hung out with nicky a lot today. And John’s wife walked us home from KTC. We took a short cut through a valley versus walking the main road. I think I took some pictures, but our stair case was dirt leveled off into somewhat safe stairs. The flowers we saw were beautiful. The yellows were so vibrant, it was like the sun dripped onto the land, and the pinks were so dark.

Ok so about our work. We (being Daniel, Clay and I) started off by taking the old chicken house roof off, let me just say- this was not my favorite task for several reasons: 1) the tiles were covered in old/new, dead/live spiders, roaches and a smorgasbord of other insects. 2) I swear to you there was a ton of dirt and dust and gunk laying on those tiles, which in turn ended up on my body, down my shirt and into my eyes. Daniel, being the gentleman that he is, offered me his sunglasses even though he needed them more. I ended up not using them to his contacts wouldn’t fall out. 3) There were 6 boys and me. So I’m already scared of the insects so I’m moving kinda slow and I’m working with a bunch of guys telling me to speed up! Either way they were sensitive about my working with them and they lightened up on me and even spent some time joking with me.

It only took us about an hour to get the whole roof off – which isn’t that bad honestly. We had a nice assembly line going so that helped to speed things up a bit. After we got the roof off, John and 2 other men that I’ve never met took a crowbar, sledgehammer and shovel and got all the wood off the windows and the old chicken house feeders and cage windows. That side of the building is a stone floor, 4 walls and a wooden roof frame. It looks pretty darn good. We also spent some time getting all the debris from the roof and walls off the floor. So I helped shovel again today – man I am going to be sore tomorrow.

7/4/2008 – Day 10

Happy Independence Day!

Today was not so good. I woke up this morning with a horrible headache and just did not feel like myself at all. I went downstairs to help plan the youth meeting and only made it about an hour and a half before it was to much to handle so I went back to bed just to rest but ended up sleeping off and on for about 4 hours.

Mrs. Marinda was so sweet – she stayed here at the hotel with me so I wouldn’t be alone. She is such a good mommy. She would come and check in on me every hour or so to see if I needed anything and if I was feeling any better. Emily and clay even wrote me a little note.

While I was sick the group got alot of the youth meeting planned out, had lunch with Murithi and went to the big market day. From all the pictures I saw, and what I was told – I missed out on a lot, but as bad as I was feeling there was no way I would have been able to go.

After some nice rest, a granola bar and a sprite I decided to try to sit up and see if I was feeling any better – which I was. I propped myself up and watched some tv: 1 episode NCIS, 1 episode Gilmore Girls, 2 hours (scattered here and there) National Geographic on Meerkats in Africa, and news about Kenya riots, presidential problems and local news.

It was fun, but I also got to do alot of thinking. God is just doing alot in my heart. For example, I have been single for 2.5 years now, and on this trip I have been blessed with having several handsome, intelligent, God-fearing men in my group. And I do not desire a relationship other than friendship with any of them. I just honestly do not want to start anything right now because I know it would be purely my wants and desires and not something that was truly a God send. I’ve also realized how much I use music as a crutch and how much I really do not need it in my life unless It was God glorifying. I did not bring any music at all with me on this trip and besides what we heard the first 2 days in the public taxi I haven’t listened to any. I think I flipped on the music channel today and it just didn’t do anything for me. That constant desire to be engulfed with music just is not there – and I am so thankful for that.

I’ve also realized how blessed I am in this life from coming on this trip to the wonderful godly friends and mentors I’ve left at home. I never realized how much they really have taught me until now.

Oh and I truly believe some form of missions is for me. I have no clue if its short term or lifelong, done with a life of singleness or with a family, if its at home or someplace overseas. I have no answer to any of these variables, I just know it has to be done, and it needs to be now. I’m really scared to think about it honestly, I am staring down my life and I don’t know which path to choose. Easy life of missions in the US, or the short, bumpy, narrow way of the unknown. I am trying to trust God about it but can’t help but be uncertain.

After a time of rest and mental exhaustion the group came home from the market and I talked to Emily for a little bit when we all packed up into the van and headed to Catherine’s place for a good home cooked meal. In all honesty – that was the best food I’ve ever eaten. I don’t know how Murithi isn’t 400 pounds. His reason – “I get lots of exercise.” When we first got there it was still light outside so we got a tour of their compound.

Catherine showed us her very pregnant sheep, it looked like it was going to pop right that minute. It kept walking back and forth and wouldn’t settle and I think its because Mama was to big to be comfortable on the ground.

We then saw the cows, and they were short one because it died from ticks. It was a sad day – but we also got to see her 120 chickens! She had 8 sold that day, and about 20 had died the week before and she still had an insane amount of them. They seemed to be her baby, her pride, and thats good.

Before we took a tour of their croups we met a lady named Esther and her daughter Miriam – who was incredibly precious by the way. She said she would braid my hair for me sometime. She was raised so well. She kept asking if we needed anything and talked to me and Emily the whole time – we even got a hug at the end of the night. Mrs. Marinda says that is rate, the people of Kenya are not really touchy feely people.

Before supper Catherine, Jeoffry and Murithi showed us around their farm. They have such a variety of crops – I can understand why they can afford electricity. Some of their crops are: finger bananas (smaller, alot juicer and sweeter. they are 100 times better than what we have at home), regular bananas, mangos, avocados, pumpkins, coffee, macadamia nuts, sweet potatoes. I think that is mainly it but I think that I’ve forgotten a couple. He also had a nice little patch of sunflowers close to the house. I’ve honestly never seen flowers that big before. They were some with heads as big as showers, and some so small you could fit them into your pocket. And they were so healthy – dark, rich browns and vibrant, luscious golden. Murithi said he’s not really a fan of those so if I lived here he would give them all to me. He said he’s more of a rose guy. I’m really happy I rested all day so I would be able to go tonight. I would have been so sad if I had missed this sweet, dear fellowship time.

7/5/08 – Day 11

Today started off great – I was feeling so much better. My head was still feeling a bit dizzy but I was determined to work through it. I did not want to miss another day. After breakfast we headed off to the gas station to pick up Catherine and Murithi and then we were headed off to Antuomuo, which is up the hill past Maua. I was still doing well until about 1 hour into the ride when we started going up crazy hills, then my headache was back, the dizziness was back and I thought I was going to barf everywhere.

We had a couple people from Maua help us get to our village. First 2 women and then a man. Along the way we picked up some kids to take with us to the CBS. To get to our place we had to go over 2 bridges and through several intense rainforest (although they were not virgin ones because they had been cut).  In the forests we saw Eucalyptus trees, flowers and some vegetation that can only grow at that high of an altitude. There were ferns and grasses and even a bunch of parasite trees. What that is, is a vine that slowly grows in strips up the trunk of a tree. Eventually the whole trunk is covered in the parasite and over a couple decade the vin kills the trunk of the tree underneath until the parasite becomes its own life force. When I see these kinds of trees I think of the movie Jumangee – its very similar in my mind.

Once we went through the forests we came to an opening of a valley. For miles as far as you could see were tea plants. We had come across as major tea plantation for that area. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much of anything all together like that – and the green was the brightest, healthiest most vibrant color I’ve ever seen. There were sectioned off places that had little paths to get from one to another. Each section had to have been about an acre in size. This plantation took up so many hills and mountains, each section growing up just as healthy and rich as the section before it. I can’t even guess how many miles it even covered. We drove by the tea for about 10 minutes or so it seemed, and we would pass by woman carrying tealeaves in these huge baskets on their backs. They would fill up their baskets and then walk to the nearest tea factory to unload and start over again.

After we passed the tea fields we drove for about 20 more minutes through curvy, bumpy roads until we came to a clearing about a half a mile from another forest (which we thought we were about to go into until someone yelled at us to stop!). We honestly did not expect many children, pretty much just the local ones because of where this place was located.

When we pulled up we came to a little wooden church, or room really no bigger than our hotel bathroom. It had about 8 wooden benches in it and a broken blackboard with numbers and the alphabet written on it. There was probably only 30 children or less there and they were all singing together with an adult. We expected that to be all our children so we set up (we put the benches outside and set some rocks down for a make shift chair) and we sang a couple songs with the children. We had just started our lesson and was only about 5 minutes into it when we got word that some kids from a mountain WAY far away had paid for a taxi and would be there in about 30 minutes so we decided to wait on them.

Some more local children came up, a minister brought some children from his church, the taxi kids did show up and then some teens stopped on their way home from school. All in all we had somewhere in between 180 and 200. That really was not a problem except the fact that the teens were distracting and had no desire to hear the things we had to say. And you know what? That is incredibly fine with me – but do not take  that option away from the little ones who are so visibly hungry for the word and walked 3 miles to be here with us.

Eventually Catherine got the teens to sit down and shut up and they became less than a problem at that point. Some of the girls even helped the smaller ones during craft time.

During our drama we got alot of laughs, and the kids seemed to enjoy our “Acting” and they even believed our emotions (which by the way we were pathetic at portraying). We went through our stories, skits and activities, and with roughly 200 people I do believe alot got done. There were seeds being planted. After the CBS everyone got some food and then we packed up and came home.

Today was by far the hardest day emotionally for me. These adults and kids were honestly just struggling to survive. I’ve never been to a more desperate area. These people were plagued with so many problems and so much depression that church was not forefront in their minds. These people have been dealt a hard life. For example: There was a 6 year old girl with a really bad cleft lip that she could not afford to get fixed. There was a lady with cataracts so bad that I doubt she could even see 6 inches in front of her face. There was a little girl somewhere around 6 or 7 that was scared so bad physically. She had major scaring on her chin, neck and ear area. She look like she had been severely burned and was incredibly lucky to even be alive. There were kids with no shoes and disfigured feet from walking the mountains. These people had it rough – and for most the journey had just started.

These people had no hope and no faith to cling on to. They were barely making it through each day and were lucky if they were in some kind of church for some shred of hope. I’m fairly certain some of these kids will see more pain this year alone that I will see in my whole entire life. The thought of that alone is enough to make me weep. These kids were clinging on to our every word, our smile, a touch or even a simple hug. Some of them just wanted us to look their way.

I honestly remember half way through the day thinking I don’t even know if I can finish this. This area was a new level of poverty to me. Their clothing was tattered, and you could tell their education was low but the Lord put them on my heart and I weep for them tonight and I pray for them constantly.

These kids did not want us to leave and I had a hard time saying goodbye and waving myself. And they were sooooo happy when they held up their boat crafts as we left.

On the way home we stopped on one of the roadways hangers and looked over a savannah. We could see little cities, hills, plains areas and even several massive craters from where active volcanos used to be – it was gorgeous. I need to head to bed, I’m emotionally drained.

p.s. – Tonight Emily and I had a really great bonding time. We talked about similar experiences we have had in the past as well as what God is doing in our life now. It was a really good time and I think God is going to do a lot with that.

7/6/08 – Day 12

Today was the most rewarding day we have had so far – or at least it was to me. We went this morning to pick up Catherine from the gas station and Lenick from KTC and then we were on our way to church. We left the hotel at about 9.15 but didn’t even get to the church until about 12.30. It was incredibly hard to get there. We headed to Mt. Kenya national park and picked up some people along the way. We drove along the main road for a while until we got completely lost. They have started to put up electric fences along the property to keep all the animals from getting into the crops and eating it all up.

After we picked up a boy who knew how to get us to our church we drive for about 45 more minutes, not because we had a long way to go but because the roads were tore up so we had to creep in order to keep our van from bottoming out. At one point we came across a ditch that had been made (they are on the way to putting water irrigation pipes in) and was to big for the van to go across. We feared the tired would get stuck to we got out and filled the ditch with dirt enough that we could drive across. When we finally got through the forest into open fields it was beautiful. There were hills covered with crops of different colors of green and little tin and mud homes littered on the countryside. We even passed through a clearing with tons of trufula trees! (from a Dr. Suess book – he must have spent some time in Africa because they were identical.

Once we finally got to our church it felt like we were home. It was a little church probably not even the size of my room at church. It had wooden sides and a tin roof. Most of the people there were children, we were told that the adults already had church and went home so they could send their kids back for church and CBS.

When we first got there we visited for a little bit and listened to the people sing and then they asked us to come in and join them. When we came in they did a little presentation for us. First a couple girls came up and recited a couple memory verses. Then all the kids SS class came up and danced and then sang a song for us. I only remember a little bit: I’m a soldier in the army, I’m a soldier in the army, I’m a soldier in the army, I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord. If I die let me die in the army, If I die let me die in the army, If I die let me die in the army, I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord.

It was precious! After that the older youth came up and sang and danced. We had seen 2 of them at KTC once before so it was good to see them involved in church. Next we had time for visitors to introduce themselves, which always makes me super nervous. This time was not so bad since it was mostly children. We had a time of singing which I love – its somewhat hard to explain but it feels ok when we sing together. Even though we don’t know what they are saying I know they are praising the one true God like we are. I know they are proclaiming the truth – and I feel like I belong.

Motegii (Dr. Trull) preached a little message next, probably around 40 minutes or so in Kimeru. It reminded me of the Pentecost and how even though I don’t know word for word what he was saying I could follow along in the scriptures and know he was proclaiming the truth. I know they were being fed some heavy truths and they seemed so hungry to receive it. This place was so different from yesterday! Because they were not struggling to survive they could focus on actually coming to church and being involved in the studies they offer there. They had light in their eyes, they just seemed to have a presence of hope about them. A hope that even the hardest of trials could not pull away from them. I am sad to say that there are even places at home that are not this way. We have a huge task ahead of us.

After the message we had offering and a time of prayer before taking communion. During singing as we were waiting to go get the elements a really drunk women came in and stood by me. She really scared me. She was flailing her arms all around and hitting people and yelling at the top of her lungs. Some of the men of the church grabbed her and physically threw her out of the church. They do not tolerate things like that in church like we do a home. Mama became a hassle to us all day but we just learned to ignore her.

After church they fed us lunch and we mingled until it was time for CBS.

The children here were precious. I had a little girl, Edina, who became my child for the day. During the first part of church she kept pointing and telling her friend to look at my tattoo and during prayer she came over and grabbed my hand until she was eventually sitting in my lap and hugging me. :) It made me teary eyed to let her go. At one point I let her take pictures with my camera so I have some nice pictures of fingers and peoples feet and legs.

These kids were so content with just playing with us or themselves. They really didn’t even need us to do the CBS, but they loved it just the same. There was one little boy who played outside and kept making dirt angels while 3 little girls just sat outside and looked at the sky. Drunk mama started picking up sticks and acting like she was going to attack so I kept an eye on the little ones outside. When she would get close to them I would run over, pick them up and then bring them over to where we were all standing. I know she would probably never intentionally started hurting a child, but she was so drunk she could have injured one without even realizing it.

Once we got the CBS started it went amazingly well. We did our first drama (Jesus feeds the 5000) and the kids all laughed at us, and when we came to the craft the kids had a blast! They all colored so well and most for their stickers in the right place. They all kept holding their papers up so I would take a picture of their good work. They were pretty much all like that when we made the little boats also and they all giggled when they got to try the boats out in our little basin of water. After the CBS was over we got all the kids together and had them hold up the “Love Me” sign to take a picture for the World Missions Workshop. I had a really hard time telling them by today.

By the way I used a traditional choo today. This one was nice, and very clean. The hole was huge (about the size of a cereal bowl) the boards you stand on were sturdy and not rotten, all the walls were closed (no missing wood panels) It was large so you could get a good wide stance, and they had a door that actually closed so you could have some privacy. To top it all off, they had newspaper so you could wipe if you had nothing. Seriously, this was 5 star compared to some of the others we have been in.

When it came time to go the other students walked home with the youth to the main road. I stayed with the Trulls and helped drop people off. We had the Trulls, Catherine and myself, 4 adults from church and about 15 kids. We were all scrunched up and I even had some sitting on my lap that I was holding so they wouldn’t slide everywhere or get thrown into the seat. Getting back home was easy, we had a couple of people with us that knew the shortest way to go.

What slowed us down the most was how late it was. People were walking their herd’s home. We got stopped about 3 different times. I’ve never had to share the road with sheep, goats and cows before. It was hilarious. Dr. Trull being the impatient man kept honking the horn trying to get them to move which did not help at all. The herd’s owner finally got them to jump up onto the land on the side of the road and we then dropped everyone off and headed home.

We are so lucky, on the way home again we got to see the peak of Mt. Kenya. This time everyone got a good look at it. The Trulls said none of their groups have ever seen it this many times on one trip. It was rather exciting. I don’t remember if I’ve already mentioned this but Mt. Kenya is the 2nd largest mountain in Africa at 17,086 ft second only to Kilimanjaro. I would love to see that but I don’t think we will. Just another reason I have to come back to Africa.

7/7/08 – Day 13

Today is our free day. Daniel and I opted to stay here at home and chill while others went to an agricultural something and then to Glady’s house to pick up our clean clothes. They should be back any minute now.

Some time after lunch today we are supposed to go to the market with Murithi. That is exciting for me since I missed it last time!

I woke up with a killer headache, I think its from dehydration so I’ve been chugging water all day.

I sit here now with everyone in the room as we are waiting for lunch. We are planning for our youth meeting, and we haven’t really done much for it. I think we all just seem really overwhelmed about planning the whole thing by ourselves.

After lunch Emily, Murithi, Clay and I went down to the market. That was so much fun. We rented a mutatu (a taxi) to get down there. It was a decent price of 100 shillings for all of us. While we were standing outside trying to get a taxi 2 street boys came up to us asking for money. They were both holding their little kerosene bottles either in their hands or their mouths. They couldn’t have been more than 8 years old and they were already so incredibly high. Their eyes were so red and glazed over and one boy even had a hard time standing up straight. When we got into the taxi Emily had to grab my arm because I almost started crying. The corner that all the boys stay at is right next to our hotel. It’s getting to the point that I hate walking outside because the boys are there and the sight of them breaks my heart.

When we got to the market I was quickly amazed at how large it was! For as far as your eyes could see there were people camped out with their goods hoping to make a sale. Of course we were the center of attention, at 1 point a drunken lady threw a couple of carrots at me because I would not come buy anything from her. Yeah, throw something at me – that’s what I was waiting for, I really want to buy something from you now. We didn’t stay for too long, I would say we were there about 2 hours or so.

Clay bought some tire sandals – those are actually quite big here, and 2 suka’s for his sister. He looked like a big tard buying suka’s. :) Emily got another hand woven basket and some suka’s for gifts. The baskets are beautiful and done VERY well. I would love to get one sometime. I ended up getting a couple suka’s and an African dress! I am so excited about the dress. I’m planning on wearing it to church the Sunday after we get back home.

We got another taxi to take us back home. I felt like I needed to smoke a blunt to fit in on this ride. We had the windows down, Reggae music blarrin’ super loud, a rosary was hanging from the rearview mirror, the seats were kid you not, red, suede velvet with swirls in the fabric and tacky, plastic wood vinyl (the kind that you line the inside of cheap dresser drawers with) for the roof. Tell me that doesn’t take you back to the 60s and 70s and I will call you a straight up liar.

A song came on that was real chill and about love. Murithi said it was a good radio dedication song. Emily asked him if he had ever dedicated it to someone and he said “Yes, when I was in love”, “I used to be in love”. How sad! Apparently he had a really serious girlfriend last year that broke up with him in December. Marinda, Catherine and several others were happy about them breaking up because they had gotten bad vibes from her. Her reasoning for breaking up?!: she was being pressured by her family to marry someone who was wealthier than Murithi’s family. That is a low blow back in the states and is definitely one here. :( I think she is missing out on a great man.

Well I just got off the phone with mom and dad. I haven’t had to good of conversations with them because apparently the international phone lines wants to be tards. I got my picture from buster with a sign around his neck saying “Bella come home.” I don’t really miss home but it is still good to hear everyone’s voice.

It’s already after 10 and I have to be up at 7a. We are bonding tomorrow! Emily and I are going with Makena so it should be a really fun day – but I need my sleep to keep up with her.

We figured out what my headache was from today. Every morning at breakfast we drink hot tea, this morning since I slept in I did not drink tea. Aka caffeine headaches/withdrawals. Ha its really funny that I’m getting addicted to hot tea. At least it’s a healthy habit.

7/8/08 – Day 14

Today went very well. Emily and I went to Makena’s for bonding day and it was SO much fun. When we first got there we spent some time visiting and getting to know them. Them being Makena, my mom, James, her husband, and their third born Gakii, my sister.

After that Makena pulled us into the kitchen so we could help get things ready for lunch. First, we started off by pulling peas out of their shells, then we pealed potato’s (by knife not potato peeler) and cut them in half. We also made chai, mmmm. While lunch was being made we went with Gakii to one of the shamba’s. While we were there we took a tour. They grow maze (corn), coffee, banana’s, mango’s, paupau’s, peas, carrots, potatoes and sugargum. They have quite a lot of plant life also. While we were in the shamba we cute a huge bag full of old maze, grass and other plants for the animals to feed on. Emily even used the machete to cut some of the plants down. I kindly said no thank to Gakii since my luck with knifes is very short. After we took a tour of the shamba and filled the bag we went back to the house.

We fed the chickens old maze and scraps and the goats and cow got the bag full of stuff we cut for them. I’ve always thought goats were cute but after looking at them today I do realize that they do have some freaky looking eyes. One of her goats was a Billy goat with all the hair hanging down from his chin. Now he was cute!

After we fed them Daniel and I sat in the front yard pulling old hard maze off the husk to put in bags while the others went to fetch water for the animals to drink from the near creek.

During lunch we all kind of visited and enjoyed time together. After lunch we toured the shamba and met the men who sit in the quarry and break stones to get money for their family.

While we were killing time Makena taught us how to make chipatti’s, it was actually really simple. You take some hot water; add a little salt and then flour to make dough. You keep adding flour slowly and mixing it together until the dough no longer sticks to your hand. Makena had a little griddle over her fire and let it warm up. You then take a chunk of dough, shape into a ball and then roll it our with a rolling pin until it is in the desired thickness. Then you just put it on the griddle with a little oil until its browned and then its done!

Clay, Emily and myself all made a couple to prove we could, it was really fun. We even at some later with chai.

We went outside to play with the animals and I was immediately drawn to the cow. She was beautiful. I started off just petting her face and she started smelling me, which turned to licking my arms all the way past my elbows. Emily said she was trying to get the salt off my skin. I walked to her side to scratch it so she would stop licking me and it was fin, she backed off for a minute. When I walked back around the cow tried to eat my suka. Seriously, a big chunk of it was in her mouth!! It was really funny actually. I loved playing with the cow.

We started walking home around 4.30 or so. James walked about 10 minutes and then had to run errands, Makena walked half way and then Gakii finished walking us back home. The walk wasn’t really bad, maybe a couple of miles? The weather was amazing! It was clear outside with a nice beautiful sky and a decent breeze most of the way home. We passed a lot of incredibly friendly people and even stopped a couple times for Gakii to talk to people. Once we got into town Gakii stopped at her job place (a photo studio) for us to meet all of her friends and she even had a photo taken of the 4 of us and her. It was kind of hard walking that way home because we passed by the street boys again. I’ve learned not to make eye contact and then its not that bad. Once we got home we had some free time until supper. After supper we sang 3 songs and Dr. Trull gave a little devo for us. After devo we all hung out until time to go to bed. Clay hung out in our room and had some interesting convo’s with us (relationships, views on dating, school etc.) After he left Emily and I had a nice little conversation and we headed to bed around 11. I cannot even believe that our trip is already half way over!

7/9/08 – Day 15

Today most of the day is designated to planning for the youth meeting. As of right now Clay and Emily are working on the part about relationships with others, and using the story of Joseph to help illustrate their point and help in emphasizing Christian maturity and the pursuit of it in the believers life. Gakii, Dr. Trull and I have finished our lesson on the relationship with God and the focus on reconciliation. Corinne, Daniel and Lacee are in the dining room working on their lesson. I think they are having a really hard time coming up with the right material for it. Murithi should be coming within the next hour or so to help us finalize a lot of what we have done. I am super stressed about this planning; I just want God to speak through us for these teens.

Our biggest struggle in this planning is the cultural differences. For example, we were just talking to Gakii about dating and that word caused a big problem. Here it is called courtship, because the term dating means you are having sex with that person. How could we have known that?

Dr. Trull was talking today about trying to get us as tour of one of the local mosque’s. I think he is going to try to talk to Rizwan and see if that is even possible. I think that would be such an awesome experience. We are currently in a rolling blackout at the hotel. I think this is the third one for the day already. Kenya has a problem with getting enough electricity for all the area and have blackouts often. No biggies, it’s the middle of the day and there is more than enough light to function. I think we are going to practice our Joseph drama pretty soon. I hope the teens will like it. Mrs. Marinda thinks they will.

We have most of the youth meeting planned out now. The lessons are more or less done; they just need some fine-tuning. The boys are downstairs getting the breakout sessions done and Gakii just left after a couple hours helping us plan the girl’s breakout session. I don’t think I’ve had to think this much since school god out. I think Emily and I are about to take a nap until supper. Overall, it’s been a really productive day, I am very proud of our team. Now tomorrow we have to practice the dramas and pray everything goes well!

After supper we came back to Clay and Daniel’s room since our overhead light decided not to work. It took about 30 minutes or so to finally get it to turn on. While over there we finished writing out the scripture references from the drama on poster boards and going through the drama to help figure out who was going to play what roles. We also cut out the scripture to put on the 3×5 cards to give to the youth as an encouragement. If the kids are not interested in our drama they will for real be covered in a crazy amount of scripture. I am honestly kind of scared of how all this is going to go, but I read this scripture earlier today and it really has helped me out a lot: “for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:12 and even this one: “for it is not you who speaks, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:20. That makes me feel a bit better.

After working on VBS we all kind of hung out in Clay and Daniel’s room for a while just acting stupid and getting to know one another a little bit more. I really like these kids – I will have to hang out with them when we get home. And as for Emily, we will have to talk to each other on Facebook. I’m going to have Emily withdrawals when I go to bed at night and it’s so very quiet.

7/10/08 – Day 16

Today has started out well. After breakfast we all went into the lounge and practiced our drama. Ha – it looks so bad, but I guess the Lord will work through it right? Right now we are making final adjustments before we practice through it one more time. I’m hoping we will have a decent amount of kids there.

We spent the next 5 hours working on the youth stuff and Emily and I even managed to get a 2.5hour nap in after lunch. To finish up we finished decorating our youth verse cards and got all of our props together.

We left here and got to KTC around 5p or so. When we got there, there was only about 5 youth or so. We started playing soccer with them (after we greeted everyone of course), which was good. Murithi managed to kick a rock and the ball ricocheted and hit him in the face, and not 10 minutes later he kicked the ball to high and knocked a couple roof tiles off. He said he would fix it when yesterday came – smart alleck. After we played for a bit we decided to run through the drama so we could get all our entrances and exits all figured out. All the while the youth were starting to pour in and get settled. At that point I was starting to get frustrated because I wanted to be out of the room and spending time with the youth.

We decided to cut practice short so we could mingle with the youth some – plus it was getting dark and they were all stuck outside. We ended up starting late – at about 7:10p or so. Supper got started really late because they wanted to make sure they had enough for everyone.

We started off by all piling into the main building for singing. Our friend Lenick led in 3 or 4 songs. I was sitting next to Jackline so when we started to sing she got me to clap and sing and dance. It was so much fun. Then we did introductions. Our group started off first, we all introduced ourselves and then sang a group song. After that each church came up (1 by 1) and introduced the church and then did something. Some sang, some danced, some did both. It ended up being a real good time. I think our final number was 66 youth. That’s more than we thought we would have.

After introductions we sang 1 more song and then blessed the food and had supper. Somehow we got done with supper in only 30 minutes! That is unheard of here. Even when we ear here in the hotel it takes at least an hour. After supper Daniel gave his lesion about relationships with friends and family. That actually went over very well. The youth seemed to enjoy the things he was saying.

We had a prayer after the message, which was kind of weird. It started off as just singing a song of praise which was fine, then everyone started saying their own personal prayer all at one until it was one big jumbled speech party. Eventually 1 man (who was called to have the last prayer) got really loud and said a prayer as if to say that’s enough of all that. Lacee and I just kind of looked over at each other. It was really awkward and really Pentecostal. Mrs. Marinda said she was not too fond of that and it doesn’t really happen much (thankfully).

After all the prayer we had a chai break, which I didn’t take because I knew I would be wide-awake all night. Instead I just mingled with everyone until it was time to leave. Gakii was sad that I was not staying at KTC overnight.

Once we left we took Festus home, which in turn got us lost in the backwoods of Africa for about 30 minutes or so. To keep ourselves occupied and not freaked out in the dark we told jokes, including Lacee’s famous one:

1 day a teacher told her students they had to go home and write a sentence for homework that included the words green, pink and yellow. The next day the teacher asked the kids if they did their homework and they all said yes. The teacher asked Suzie what her sentence was; she said, “My mother has a green tablecloth with pink and yellow polka dots.” The teacher said good job, John what’s your sentence? He said, “The sky is blue, the grass is green and there are pink flowers, that’s my sentence.” Then the teacher asks and Asian kid, she says “Hey Asian kid what’s your sentence?” {Notice the Asian kid has no name} [Lacee normally says here’s the punch line] “Green Green the phone rings. I pink up the phone and say yellow.”

Lacee will somehow laugh at that joke for about 10 minutes and it never gets old for her! Murithi busted out laughing at the joke too. For some reason an African laughing at an Asian joke just cracks me up! Either way we finally got home only to realize that Emily had left the key at KTC. Emily and Dr. Trull took Catherine and Murithi home, then headed back to KTC to pick up the key. I stayed here to journal and even talked to mom while I was waiting. It’s not 12:38a so it’s technically Friday morning and I have to be up in less than 7 hours. I’m headed to bed.

7/11/08 – Day 17

“Dont let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”  – 1 Timothy 4:12

Today started off well even though we got off to a late start. We didnt even get to KTC until about 9, and everyone was already singing when we got there. When we got to KTC we got ready to start our Joseph drama, which went off very well! The parts we didnt practice turned out better than we all thought it would. The youth paid very close attention to the story, and even laughed about it alot. Daniel did a great job narrating and Clay’s lessons turned out wonderful.

After our little spiel we had about a 10 minute break to use the restroom and do last minute practice for their drama’s. We had 2 groups do their drama’s that went VERY good, but alot longer than we thought they would be. I think we are going to try to do more later if the groups are ready.

Right now everyone is watching the first tough choices video. Most of the people look interested, so I think we will have a good discussion time later. Personally I don’t think this movie would go over well at all at home but it may be different with the youth here.

Today has been rough because I am so tired. I did not sleep well at all last night. I kept waking up every 45 minutes, I am not sure if it was stress from planning the youth meeting, nerves for how today would be, or stress because I finally talked to mom and planned surgery for the week I get back home. Maybe it was just a mixture of all of those. Either way I am pretty sure I will sleep very well tonight.

Our day is really not going as we planned. After the movie we had a short lunch and we are now watching a second video about the people f rom the first movie. I believe after this we are going to have some discussion about the tough choices she has made in the 2 videos. Hopefully we can still fit everything into the day.

Our girls discussion did not go very well at all. It was like talking to a brick wall. No one asked questions and they didnt engage us in the conversation at all. The boy’s went very well according to Clay. They asked alot of questions and had a little participation. I think our biggest problem was that our girls were very young.

After our chai breaks we are going to finish the drama’s and then Clay will do his last lesson and we will be done for the day. Maybe we will have enough  time to take a nap before supper. I think Travis and Lauren are supposed to meet us tonight, although I could be wrong. They will be with us through the end of the trip.

Yesterday when Makena was leaving KTC she came over, shook my hand, gave me a hug, kissed both my cheeks and said “I love you my daughter”. I thought I was going to bust out crying right then. (Which I sucessfully did as I was typing this) Our bonding day meant alot more to her than I thought it did. It made me feel really good, and I know it is going to be hard to tell her goodbye for good when this trip is over. Those are the kinds of relationships I was praying God would bless me with from this trip.

Yep, I was wrong. Travis and Lauren meet us tomorrow night. Clay’s lesson turned out extremely well. He seemed to have a really good time giving it and everyone paid alot of attention to everything he was saying. After his lesson we sang a song and prayed and was done. We got everyone to stand on the steps and hold the “Love me” sign for a picture for the World Missions Workship. The picture turned out great! :)

Everyone mingles for a while. You could tell that no one wanted to say goodbye, and we most deffinatly did not want to leave. We hung out for a while and I talked with my good friend Jackeline. I promised her I would be back next year (I know that’s a big order!) unless I died first and went to heaven. She told me she would pray that would not happen. I told her don’t pray that – I would be in a much better place.

When we finally left, our group went to Nakumatt to use the internet. I was able to check my email and get on facebook and talk to mom. She was so excited to talk to me for even just a little bit. I had like 4 emails from dad, it was really funny to read all of them. He really misses me, but I will be home in only 11 days. When we got back to the hotel it was having random blackouts again, so we hung out and ate supper half by light and half by candle light. As I am writing the overhead is flickering on and off. Its so fun to me, its like camping – but in a building. I feel so safe!

Our final number count of teens here today was 73!!! Holy mess! God is so so so good! The Lord is doing some really great things here. I’ve never met a group of people so hungry for the word. They are trying their hardest to study the bible in English, which they view as the language of education. I already cant wait to be back here next summer. This feels right. I really feel the burden of missions on my soul. I still dont know where He wants me but I know His hand is in my life and I will not have an ordinary one. I cannot wait to start missions in my life!

I really in all honesty do not miss home at all. There is nothing really (except maybe home cooking) that is calling my name. I feel like the Lord is putting His hands of comfort and peace over me during this trip. I feel like I could just write for days but I know I would be rambling and saying the same things over and over.

Tomorrow we are doing a CBS at KTC, I am super excited about it and I pray we have a decent number of kid’s show up.

I am going to have such a hard time leaving. I already know I am going to cry like crazy!

7/12/08 – Day 18

Today was a crazy long day. Since our CBS was at KTC we got to sleep in until 9ish! After breakfast while we waited to leave we made bracelets so we would have enough for today, it’s really interesting to watch Daniel and Clay make all those bracelets.

When we finally got to KTC there were only a handful of kids so we hung around with them and set everything up. While we were waiting on more kids we decided to play the “Father Abraham” song. They loved it! I even got quite alot of video from our singing/dancing session. Eventually more children showed up, I believe our count was somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-55. It was a good day.

Once we finally got started everything ended up great. The kids payed attention to our stories and were able to answer all our questions about the stories. They even did a wonderful job with making their crafts. The kids at this place are so incredibly smart. They are obviously getting very good education. During our CBS there was a little girl in a dress who couldnt have been anymore than 2, that decided not once, but twice to squat in the middle of the floor and pee. And this was not like a drop or two, it was an all out waterfall of urine. It really is a good thing that the floors of the buildings here are either dirt or concrete. After the CBS John’s oldest daughter, Purity, decided she wanted to braid my hair.

That was an all out bad idea. She did ok for being not a professional and being so young but it really was not something to be proud of. I looked like coolio when he decided he wanted braids. They were all different sizes and they stuck out from everywhere on my head. I felt bad that she spent so much time working on them so I left them in for a little while. I looked like a big old retard. By the way, nicky hocked a big old loogie on my today at CBS. He didnt like the fact that I stopped him from hitting the other kids. He is working on my last nerve.

When we left KTC we headed on over to the Budget supermarket. Yes, at this point I still had my wonderful braids in so all kinds of people were staring at me and laughing. It was ok because I am secure enough in myself to walk around like a retard. When we got there I stocked up on my suka count so I not have all the suka’s I need for gifts. It wasnt really to expensive. I got 8 for only 1800 shillings, so less than $30. While I was there I picked up a juice box and some crackers. Little did I know how much that was going to come in handy.

When I walked out to the car there was a street boy who was hovering around the van. He had his bottle hidden in his coat arm but he was still huffing on it. Everyone else quickly got into the van and ignored the boy, which is what I did at first. Then I started to feel really bad and I could feel the Lord pricking my heart telling me to help the boy as much as I could. Everyone in the van gave me a really wierd and confused look when I opened the door and started talking to the boy. I pulled out the juice box and  crackers and showed them to him and asked for his bottle. He kind of looked appalled that I would ask for it and he reached out for the snacks. I shook my head and sternly said “No, bottle now.” He finally handed it to me and I gave him the snacks. I’m pretty sure he had probably gotten another bottle by now but in that moment I did something, I made a difference and God worked through me. I prayed for him then and I pray for him now. That gave me a little hope that just a little love and effort could do so much for those children. It just breaks my heart that they have resorted to that lifestyle as a way to get away from their pain in life.

Once we left that store we went to the little shops with material thats next to a tailor. We had been there once before. I picked out some really pretty material. Daniel, Clay and myself are all getting shirts made by a tailor. They should be ready on Friday. I am so excited about it. I’m excited that its going to be made to fit me exactly, with the material I picked out! After we left the tailors shop we had some time to kill so we drove into the closest forest. We passed the Trull’s first house here in Meru.It was adorable from what I could see. We ended up driving into the forest and seeing some really neat things. Trees with leaves as big as our heads, tons of parasite trees, we saw coffee and tea being grown side by side which dosen’t happen normally for elevation reasons.

As we were driving we came to a clearing with a beautiful view of 2 waterfalls. Emily and I climbed into a tree that puts you out over the edge of a cliff so we could see better. The view was breathtaking. The hills all around it were littered with crops like banana’s and forest. There was even a visible little path on the side of a hill. It was something that looked like would be on a nature painting. The waterfall itself was gorgeous. It was beautiful blue water falling out of lushious green trees onto the bottom of the huge hill. The water fell into a rock laden ravine. It was beautiful with blue, white and blacks all mixed together. I swear I was looking into a spot meant only for God to see. I believe it was a place God created for His own happiness, and it was amazing to even get a glimpse of that creation. If I was not with a group I could have sat in that tree for hours watching God’s creation giving Him glory. I dont think Ive ever seen anything more glorious, I was almsot crying when we had to leave.

Once we got back to the hotel Dr. Trull and Emily headed out to pick up Lauren and Travis. The rest of us stayed at the hotel and had supper, killed time and called home as we waited for everyone to make it home safely. I talked to dad and joey for a while, it was good to hear from everyone. After a little while I got to talk to mom and even Brooke! It was so good to hear Brooke’s  voice. I feel so privaleged to talk to everyone at home.

Everyone showed up at home just a little after 11p. I think Travis and Lauren are going to be very fun to be around, and I think Lauren is going to be able to teach me alot. The two of them have such a heart for the Lord. After being married for only 3 weeks they came over here to Africa for mission work. Their plan is to go home a couple days after we do and stay for 2 years so Travis can get his Master’s and then they will move back here to Africa. I want a husband like that who has such a heart for missions like I do.

7/13/08 – Day 19

Our trip is coming so close on the end. It saddens me to know in 1 week we will be preparing to come home. Unless the Lord calls me home first I will be back next summer to this wonderful place. I was talking to Dr. Trull today and we are going to go to a bookstore some time this week so I can get at least a Swahili bible and possibly even a Kimeru one as well. I plan on using it to study so I can learn the native language of the people here so next summer I can talk to them. The Lord has really put a burden on my heart. I am also going to look at other opportunities next summer to visit other parts of Africa. I havent told the parents that yet, but I know I have to do it.

Today we went to church really close by. I think our drive was only about 20 or 30 minutes away. When we got there only about 10 kids and 5 adults were there. We mingled for about 10 minutes before church. The church was very cute. It was made out of wood and tin, a tin roof and dirt floord. Coming to these churches makes me know how much we put into the churches at home versus the body of Christ. Things are just so different here. The view here was wonderful. The church was set on a side slope of a hill. If you looked out from the hill you could see for miles. There were fruit trees on the hill that led all the way down to the flat plains that were sectioned off by homemade barbedwire fences. In the little sections you could see sheep and cows grazing. If you looked farther still you could see a tree line that acted like a barrier and led into more trees. Far off in the distance you could see Meru town.

Once church started we sang 4 songs or so to get into the spirit of worship. After the singing quite a few people showed up, including alot of kids. The pastor then led a really short sermon because he wanted to make sure we had enough time to teach the kids. Today he mentioned the following verses: Numbers 6:22-27, Isaiah 48:17-18, Malachi 3:6. The Malachi verses were read before tithe was given. We sang a song as people walked up front and dropped their money into the bucket. After that we prayed for the tithe, and read this verse to get ready for the Lord’s supper: Matthew 26:26-29. All the people who were not children and had accepted the Lord took the elements and we prayed.

After church service was over we set things up for CBS. We ended up having about 46 kids present today. :) CBS went over very well, the kids seemed to love our drama’s more than any church we have been to yet. They really payed attention to the stories, and I think the kids got almost every question right on the first try. I felt bad because we had about 30 bracelets made and Mrs. Marinda said we would have about 20 kids so I really wanted to give each child a bracelet but we did not have enough.

The children here seem to be fed really well spiritually. They knew the bible stories really well. Well, they listened very intently, they did not seem to doze off or anything. I think this group was very hungry and were blessed to be at a church that could meet those needs. Over all I must say the churches here are very doctrinally sound, and they are raising up a God fearing generation. The world needs lots of those kids.

John’s 2 daughters came with us today and I think they got alot more out of today’s CBS.

After the lesson we all sat around and visited around a nice hot cup of chai and peeled sweet potatoes. I really enjoyed the man who was the pastor. He really loved the Trull’s as well as had a big burden for the Lord. He started crying when he was praying for us and our safety as we were leaving. I even got a bit chocked up. It’s getting harder for me to leave these people every day.

After we left the church we drove around and dropped everyone off at their homes, and we headed over to the internet cafe so people could do what they needed to do. We decided to have a field trip and eat at the resteraunt next to the cafe. While we waited I went over to Nakumarr and picked up 2 books: Blood river by Tim Butcher, Wangari Maathai unbowed. So far they both seem VERY interesting. I started reading Blood River and it has really sparked my interest.

After super we all piled into the van to head back to the hotel. When I got in I noticed a roach on the seat so I was kinda paranoid, then one started crawling up my leg and I was done! I freaked and screamed and jumped up and down. Needless to say people were staring at me and I thought Lacee was going to poop herself she was laughing so hard. Grr- Corinne with her voodoo magic made them attack me because I laughed at her yesterday when they were crawling on her. I need to go and pack. We are headed off to the gamepark at 6a tomorrow until Tuesday afternoon. I am so excited! It is going to be a rather amazing thing, althought I am not too excited about getting up at 5.30a in the morning…. poo.

I heard this song on Emily’s i-pod tonight and I kind of feel this way and I kind of don’t.

Home – Michael Buble
Another summer day / has come and gone away / In paris and rome / but I want to go home / Maybe surrounded by / a million people I / still feel all alone / just want to go home / I miss you, you know
Ive been keeping all the letters / that I wrote to you / each a line or two / I’m fine baby, how are you / well I should send them but I know / Its just not enough / my words were cold and flat / and you deserve more than that
another air plane, another sunny place / Im lucky I know / but I want to go home / Ive got to go home
let me go home / Im just to far / from where you are / I want to come home
and I feel just like Im living / someone elses life / its like I just stepped outside / when everything was going right / and I know just why you could not come / along with me / this was not your dream / but you always believed in me
another winter day / has come and gone away / in either paris or rome / and I want to go home / let me go home
and Im surrounded by / a million people I still feel alone / let me go home / oh I miss you, you know / let me go home / Ive had my run / baby im done / I got to go home / let me go home / it will be alright / I’ll be home tonight / Im coming back home

Like I said earlier I dont know how to explain it. I love this place and everything about it, the people, the culture, the scenery, the dedicated faith – but its just not home, not yet. I think it would be find if I knew I was staying here. I dont want to leave this place, but I also dont want to stay. Its so dang complicated! I dont like feeling this way at all. I guess the Lord will work everything out right? Maybe I just dont have enough faith? Or am I believing the lies of the greatest deciever?

Lord, please comfort me uneasy and troubled mind. Please guide my heart and help me to walk ONLY in your ways. I want to bring glory to your name but I continue to fail. I am so sorry.

7/14/08 – Day 20

Today was the best day in my life up until this point, minus the fact that we got up at 5.30a. We all loaded into the van at 6a all anxiously awaiting to finally be at the game park. I should have known after the sunrise how the rest of the day would be. In a matter of only about 10 minutes the sky went from pitch black to sky blue as the sun rose up over the hills and trees onto the plains. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen any of those wonderful colors before.

The sun began to peak over a little hill and sunlight hit the trees and I was looking at a picture perfect moment. In an instance the clouds looked like cotton candy balls floating in calm water. They became tinted with baby pinks, five oranges and deep dark plums. God was blessing us by painting beautiful strokes across the sky. Even after the sun was up and the sky calmed down, my surroundings were still marvelous. The sky stayed 7 shades of blue, and the hills and the plains alternated from greens to the harsh browns of a drought and back to luscious, green covered hills.

We hadn’t driven for to long, maybe about an hour when we hit Isiolo for breakfast. We went to a little store where Mandazi’s were being cooked and stayed in the bus as Dr. Trull waited for them. The kids walking by us on their way to school were just as diverse as our group. There were Samalies, Muslims, Massai and many different other people around. After we left Isiolo we drove forever (at least it seemed so) until we went on to our turnoff onto the rough gravel road.

Once on the gravel road the scenery changed drastically. Everything became instantly dry. You know the movies of the Savannah that has dry cracked roads, dead dry branches on trees and bushes and tons of dust, and tumbleweeds passing by – yeah, that is exactly what it seemed like. Not to mention the fact that the road was so crazy. I swear I was sitting on a moving massage chair. I’m not sure how long we were on that road, maybe 40 minutes? But it seemed like an eternity. On the road we saw so many Massai men who were herding their goats and sheep back home. We even passed one man who had a couple camels! It was beautiful.

 Once we pulled into the game park we pulled up to the entrance gate and Dr. Trull got out and signed our releases to enter the game park saying that they were not reliable for any damages.

 Once we went through we went on our first game ride. The weather was wonderful, the skies were crystal with a little cloud coverage and it was just the perfect temperature. We immediately started seeing animals.

 We started off by seeing some deer like animals; they mostly stayed in groups – probably as a defense mechanism. That was just the start, we saw a massive group of baboons all walking in a line across the desert. There must have been at least 20 of them; a couple of them even had little babies sitting on their back.

 The biggest group of animals we saw was elephants. They are so incredibly massive, I did not realize it. We saw several babies as well. They were huddled between several of the adult elephants, and it just tagged along with its mommy. When we drove up on them the group was eating together in the plains. We even saw 2 of them fighting each other. They were both males and would pull their ears forward and buck at each other with their tusks. It only lasted a couple minutes and then they ran to catch up with the group.

 As we were driving through the bush we passed so many different animals just hanging out under trees and bushes. For examples, we came across 5 dik-diks (deer the size of rabbits) laying down under the shade of trees and grazing on the small areas of grass that were a healthy green. Dik-diks are mostly in danger of being eaten by lions or cheetah and their main defense is their ability to crawl into miniscule areas and not being found out. We also came across a huge herd of antelope grazing in the fields. They have massive horns that look like they could tear a person apart. A couple of them were fighting with one another – do you already notice a common theme?

 We happened to sneak up on a giraffe that was eating across the river. He was beautiful and must have been at least 20 feet tall and he was only a teenager! I cannot imagine how massive a full grown one can get up to! We also noticed his coloring. On his neck the patches of color were very dark brown and faded to a more tan color the closer it got to his behind. I guess my views of giraffe’s were what I saw on TV and pictures, but I expected their spots to be more tan and orange. Either way he was beautiful.

 As we drove away from the giraffe we were presently surprised to see a momma lion walking carelessly on the open road. She looked very tired and was probably on the prowl for food for her cubs. Her breasts were swollen and you could tell she was still nursing her young. Later on in the day we happened to drive up on a bush that had momma and 2 cubs in it. She looked super tired and the cubs were playing with one another. The smell coming from that bush was rich! She had obviously gotten some lunch for her little ones and herself and its body and the sun were not complimenting one another. The momma was a beautiful coffee color, with a black stripe on the top of each ear. One of the cubs was a spitting image of her and the other one did not have black.

 On our way back to the lodge for lunch we saw a couple zebra. They just munched on their grass and nonchalantly watched us drive by. You could tell they were used to seeing cars in their fields.

 We dropped our stuff off into the room and freshened up a bit before lunch. The restaurant was amazing. It had a thatched roof, and simple pillars holding the roof up. There were no walls and no windows, just nature all around you. The breeze was heavenly. I don’t think we had been sitting down 5 minutes when a monkey jumped up onto the table, stole Corrine’s roll and ran off. The monkey police (men with sling shots and rocks) came running up and kept them away from us the rest of lunch. They did also for supper which was all by candlelight by the way. No electricity and it was wonderful. As we were leaving lunch to go to our room we came across a foot or so long lizard. His head was orange and sparkling, his body was silver and the tip of his tail was bright blue. It was beautiful!

 After lunch I opted for free time so I went back to our room which was amazing! We had a double bed that felt like it was from heaven (as did the pillows), a shower and tub that I could have stayed in for hours. I lay down to read until the afternoon safari and I ended up falling asleep, as did Emily. It’s those beds! In our cabin the monkies belonged in the space just as much as we did. They stole bananas from Emily, followed us around and sat in the chairs on our porch. They just chilled out on the ground and in the trees.

 We ended up checking out the river for just a little bit. We saw water buffalo on the banks of the far side of the river grazing on some green vegetation. The second I saw it I thought of veggie tales: everybody’s got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow, everybody’s got a waterbufaloooo. He sure was a lot bigger than I thought he was going to be. To bad buddy was a loner, I guess they like alone time.

We drove around for the next 20 minutes or so just waiting to see something. We came up on a caravan of game park buses and could not figure out what everyone was looking at. When we finally got our turn to move up to the front (aka Dr. Trull pushed our way forward) we realized we were looking at 4 cheetahs. Marinda said most of the time the groups don’t get to see that many at once. To top it all off, they (3 of them) were eating what the 4^th cheetah had left of a gazelle that they had obviously gotten earlier that day. It looked like they had killed it only about 30 minutes earlier. If only we had been there to see it. I know it would have been a brutal thing to see, but that is nature, and the circle of the life has to happen for everything to survive. After the cheetah we drove over to the lake just to see if we could notice anything. We came across a group of storks; they looked like grumpy old men standing together. They had to have been about 4 feet tall. [I can see how they drop babies off to their parents.]

After the game run we ran back to the hotel, took showers and got ready for supper. Before we ate we got to watch the hotel workers feed the 2 massive crocodiles some bones for supper. One croc was over 9 feet long and the other was very small at only 5 feet or so! I’ve never seen them up close. A couple of us stuck our hands through the fence to touch the big one’s tail. It’s skin feels like cold rubber, and you can feel that it’s very tough. The worker finally got onto us so we had to stop. Why do they have to take away all the fun?!

 After super we met by the dark river for a time of debriefment. It was not to long because we have been doing it along the way. Sitting under a wonderful canopy of stars, and listening to the sounds of nature, the river and the wind rustling through the trees made me cry for a second. I realized we would be home in a week. I don’t know how I am going to be able to leave. I’ve never been in such a wonderful place.

 We watched the sun set as we were driving around the game park. Heaven on earth. How can people look at all of creation and not see all the awesomeness  of God? The bible does not kid when it says the heavens and earth will scream of His glories. I think I was told the gospel story through nature today. Praise God that He continues to break my heart and reveal little nuggets of wonder to me each day. Hallelujah!  

 7/15/08 – Day 21

In exactly one week I will be standing in the Atlanta airport picking up my baggage and heading home. It breaks my heart to know that there is still soo much work that needs to be done. I continue to pray for the people here, and for the Lord to continue to send people who have such an incredible desire and goal to make the gospel known to all peoples. I know the Lord is doing such amazing things in the hearts and lives of the people here. I have already been able to see that amazingly clear. There is such a need. [Lord if you lead me I will go, here am I Lord please send me.]

Today was another early day. We got up at 6a, had some chai and then headed out for another game drive. We saw the sun rise over the hills again; it was bright orange and pinks again. We didn’t see to many exotic things, but we saw many large groups of deer all eating and hanging around. We came across lots of oryx and elephants eating. Both animals look to be with their families, they both had their young following them. We saw these out by the waters edge. The elephants were cooling off while the oryx were drinking.

 We drove around where we saw the cheetah’s yesterday and we came across the skit and few remaining bones of the gazelle. They really all live by the motto “waste not”, even the animals. We drove around some more hoping to see really any kinds of animals. We happened to come back across the lion mother and this time she had her 2 cubs with her. She had obviously caught something for supper yesterday because the smell together was even worse. I actually gagged in my mouth a little. Mama was just lying around and relaxing while the 2 cubs were nawing at each other and wrestling.

 Right before we went back in for breakfast we came across a beautiful giraffe. He was alone and reaching up into the top of the tree so he could eat. I have never seen an animal more majestic. His colors were so rich and he just glided across the grass when he walked.

 We drove back in for breakfast. They served us very well. There were so many kinds of fruits, juices, and eggs. These people really know how to treat us well. I’m pretty sure I’ve found where I want to go for my honeymoon. J After breakfast we checked out of our room but still just hung around until we were ready to leave. We sat in the chai area and looked off the balcony out to the water. The breeze was just perfect and we had a clear view to the animals. At one point about 200 feet down the river we saw an oryx run across the water to the other side of the river. It was a hilarious sight.

 We finally decided to load up and go on some more game drives until we had to leave. We drove for a bit and then parked next to the river for a picnic lunch. This was completely forbidden by the way for 2 reasons: 1) it was very dangerous for the game park, 2) was that an animal could come up to us and attack us while we were out of the van. That did not stop us either way. It was an amazing thing! 100 feet from where we were sitting an elephant walked by and then walked into the river and across the other side. I’ve never been that close to anything before.

 After lunch we drove around for another hour until it was time to go. This afternoon we saw the following: dik-diks, water bucks, so many different varieties of beautiful birds, we saw 2 warthogs! We saw pumba! And he even had a little bird sitting on his back. They were a lot smaller than I thought they were but Travis said they were still really young. They were not to friendly, very skiddish around cars. We saw zebra, oryx, tons of camels and giraffe that were sitting under trees. We drove by a tree that had a giraffe sitting on the ground looking really chill in the shade.

 Emily and clay have decided to start dating. They have so much going against them: he is 19, she’s 23. He’s working on his bachelors (sophomore); she’s working on her masters (freshman). He lives in montgomery, al and she lives in searcy, Arkansas. But hey that is their business; I just want them to be careful. Chances are one will want to be more serious than the other. Whatever.

 We drove back home and I talked to mom. When I talk to her it makes me realize how much I want to come home. She seems to be having a hard time; dad is on nights and Joey is being that guy. She sounded very stretched thin and upset when we talked. I wish I could be home just to make her feel better. I told her about my plan to get a bible in the native languages so I could start studying and I told her I planned to come back next year and be able to speak a good bit in their tongue. She said she supported me in that. You don’t know how much it means to me to know that my parents are proud of me and support me in what I feel is my life calling. I don’t think I could pursue mission work if they were against the idea of it all. I don’t want to grow up and make this decision though! It’s hard and I’m scared. The Lord will hold my hand and guide me though.

  7/16/08 – Day 22

Today started out real good. After breakfast we went to into the Trulls room and planned out everything for the CBS we are going to do for the Massai. It looks like because the kids are going to be in school we are going to do the CBS for the women from the churches in the area and they will in turn go home and teach it to the kids.

After we had breakfast we loaded into the van (which was fumigated while we were at the game park so it is now roach free! J ) and headed out to Makena industries. MI is a little company in Kenya that makes rugs and such all hand made. They cut the wool off the sheep, brush it out, and weave it on old fashioned spin wheels into yarn. They then manually wash it, dye it the colors they want (both organically from plants in the area, and by using some synthetic dyes that cannot be found in nature) and make the product all by hand. They even dye things not made there. For instance, they dye cell phone holders, pot holders, oven mitts, pillow cases, sheets, table cloths, aprons and more. I got dad a handmade, hand woven shirt with some decoration on it and an apron. I also got a crotched hand bad. The biggest perk to me is that all the money I paid them today is going straight to the women who work in the factory. The money doesn’t go to a huge corporation. Next year I would love to buy one of the hand woven rugs. That type of work is wonderful. You really are helping out the little man.

After we left Makena’s we went to a little bookstore. I picked up 2 bibles, one in Kimeru, and on in Kiswahili. I have currently started studying in them.

English: Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Kimeru: Agalatia 3:28 “Kiri we butiumbika gucoka kuthuuranagia uria antu bakari, beethirwa ni Ayahudi kana Ayunani, kana bariabari nkombo kana baticio, beethirwa ni arume kana aka; ni untu bwi buri umwe ndene ya Kristo Jesu.”

Kiswahili: Wagalatia 3:28 “Hakuna myanudi wala mgiriki. Hakuna mtumwa wala huru. Hakuna mwanamumwe wala mwanamke. Maana ninyi nyote mmekuwa wamoja katika Kristo Yesu.”

How wonderful is that? Reading the word of Christ in 3 different languages. I have a seriously crazy task ahead of me to learn Kiswahili but I know I can do it. It is all for the glory of the Lord to spread his good news!

We ended up going to Joshua’s for lunch today. I wrote him an encouragement note since he has had a hard time lately and I wrote our Hebrews 12:1-2 in Kimeru for him. He came up to me before we left and said it was really nice and he was so thankful to have someone else praying for him. During lunch we caught up with Travis and Lauren, Marinda and Moteggi. He talked a lot about Samweri, his father who passed away about 2 months ago. He had some things Samweri had passed along to each of them, and then we kids went up the hill to his grave in the compound do Joshua could talk to the adults alone. He, along with the Trulls were having a real hard time talking about him without getting really emotional. And I can totally understand that.

After we left Joshua’s everyone went to walk around and see where the older missionaries used to live, the Trulls old home and then go check out the river. Dr. Trull and I opted to stay here at the hotel. I would have loved to go but my back is killing me, so I’ve taken the time to catch up on my journaling, listen to some Avett Brother’s and read my new bibles. It has been some really good alone time. I need that every once and a while.

Bwana sifu – praise a Lord, mimi ni tayari kuwa nyumbani – I am ready to be home, upendo funika-ote kosa – love covers all wrong, ake-ote hali njema – it’s all good, ake-ote kwa wewe Mungu – it’s all for you God, twaa-angu uhai – take my life, faida mimi kwa-ako nia – use me for your will, wakati wowote wewe haja kwa ongea ita juu mimi – any time you need to talk, call on me.

 7/17/2008 – Day 23

Today was a super long day. Right after breakfast I took 2 dramamine because the roads to Massai land are crazy and I would have gotten sick and thrown up. But it was a big mistake because I was so sleepy the whole drive there.

We all loaded up into the car, we got to Maua and waited for about 20 minutes for Joseph to show up. He was a Massai man who was going to show us the way. Once he got into town and met up with us he asked Moteggi if he could get a haircut. He said he doesn’t walk into town often (he had to walk 15km) so we said sure. We chilled out while we waited on him. After he was done we all loaded up and got on our way. We drove on the road for about 40 minutes or so then the real fun started. We got off onto this dirt road that was horrible! Take a straight gravel road, put in hills, pot holes the size of pots in it and multiply that by 50 – got that in mind? You are just starting to get the picture. After a ride that should have been 25 minutes that stretched to about an hour, we finally got to the hill where our church was sitting.

For real sermon on the mount. It didn’t matter which way you looked, there were trees of all shapes and sized and colors. Hills, mountains in the distance, flat plains. It was seriously a painting straight from God’s own house. I’ve never been in awe like that before. Once we got there we knew instantly that this CBS was going to be different.

When we first got there we had a time of worship. We sang 3 or 4 songs, and then all the visitors stood up and introduced themselves. Everyone said how lucky they were to have us there. WRONG!! I am not worthy of their love and attention. God has blessed me far more than I have blessed them.

The people here are so different. Every one has traditional stretched out ear lobes; the women wear hand made beaded necklaces and bracelets. It is their trade, even the little children barely 3 had them on. The women start making them when they are children themselves. Most of the people were not in the traditional dress, they “dressed up for us”. Poo. The women here are so open about everything.

The CBS did not go to well. I believe this was the first year anyone had done a CBS at this area. Everyone was interested, but you could tell that they did not really know what to do. It was mostly older women there and some kids, so I think the women will go home and teach it to the children at their churches. I believe there are only 4 churches or so in all of Massai land. The next closest one is 20km away and the next one after that is 50-70km I believe. The one we were at was the biggest with 60 members. Last year they baptized 14, and they have done 3 already this year. They really are doing the best with what they have.

These women each had 1 child with them. And at any given time you could look up and see at least 2 women who had a breast out feeding their child. I personally didn’t have a problem with it, but the 2 guys said they were a little shocked the first time it happened. Also hygiene is not the same here. During lunch, which was beans, corn and goat meat with chai made with the goats milk, I looked over and a toddler just pooped on the dirt floors of the church. The mom just covered it in dirt and kept in her conversation. Whoa! The children here, normally 2 and under, don’t wear any form of underclothes so they can just go.

The women here seemed to have a strong love for the Lord. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I could tell in their demeanor changes from visiting time to worship time. They need prayer still for church development in that area.

After the CBS we started our descent back to Meru town. Oh I almost forgot! I own half a goat. The church that sponsors the Trulls sent some money and the rest of us pitched some in, but here a church will buy goats, in this case 6, feed them and heard them around for a year and then sell them. The money is then used for a new roof, or for church bills, or to even build a stone building. It’s a very interesting concept, compared to how we help out needing churches at home.

On the way home we saw lots of people in native dress. The men wear suka’s instead of pants so they look like they are wearing kilts. They have their ears stretched out and like 5 other piercings in their ears, the women wear suka’s as shirts and skirts, they have handmade bracelets and necklaces on, and they also have beaded necklaces all stacked up. We saw one lady with like 30 on all at once. She was about 70 and was so beautiful. You could see her life written on her body. You could see she probably had a couple kids and some grandchildren. You could see a life of work in the fields, herding animals, taking care of her husband, cooking, childrearing and her will to follow the Lord. Her eyes showed a life well lived, and a not wasted one. You could feel her happiness, contentment and desire to keep going. I hope and pray that when I am that old I will show that to a young person who sees me. I want my life to be a testimony of my love for God and a desire to live only for Him.

I had most defiantly heard the call to missions from God on this trip and I very much accept it.

 7/18/2008 – Day 24

Today was pretty much a free day, but still eventful none the less. We got to sleep in a bit. We had breakfast at 8.30a so 8a was a great time to sleep in. After breakfast we went downtown to pick up our shirts! They turned out so great. Plus there is enough fabric that I will be able to tailor it fit again after surgery. The boys also loved the way their turned out – the fit, the color of the embroidery and the embroidery itself. I am very pleased with it.

After we left the tailors ship we walked a street over and went to the photo store so a couple people could print some pictures off. Mainly just the ones of the people here so we could give a copy to them.

Dr. Trull left us at this point. He had to go finalize tomorrow’s supper plans with Rizwan, and have another meeting with Festus to figure out some things about KTC. He gave us a couple points of advice and then told us what time to be home from the market and then headed out. Emily, Clay, Corinne, Daniel, Lacee and I all headed down to the market. Today was really our last day to do anything here so we were trying to live it up. We all had a decent idea of the things we wanted to pick up so we weren’t just wandering around blindly. It was really good. I got all my things I needed for presents and even got a couple things for myself. My whole purchases were: 2 tie dyed sukas – 400/-, 8 baskets and 1 spoon – 910/- [/- is the sign for shillings, their currency] and a recycled tin chest for 500/-. Earlier today Daniel and I stopped into a bookstore and I got 2 songbooks – which will be really good when I know the language. Once everyone got the things they wanted we hitched a taxi. All 6 of us piled into a tiny Honda car and got a ride up to Nakumatt. It wasn’t to bad, 120/- for all of us.

Once we got up to Nakumatt we were going to try and confirm our flights but it wouldn’t let us so we checked out some things on facebook and then headed over to the actual Nakumatt store and picked up some tea and coffee for the parents. After we left Nakumatt we were on our w ay to the hotel when Mrs. Marinda drove up. (She had taken Travis and Lauren to Maua) They were headed over to Budget supercenter to pick up gifts for our visits to people’s homes, so Lacee, Corinne and I all hopped in to the van and went with them.

When we pulled up and got ready to park we noticed a lot of commotion at a store up ahead. There was a group of about 20 streetboys, and regular boys. They were all holding up branches with dark green leaves all over them. The group was causing a lot of ruckus and people seemed to be really confused about what all was going on. When the boys started walking around we noticed 2 of them were naked except for a shirt tied around their waist. The other boys seemed to be parading them around, and it made me extremely mad. The 2 naked boys had their parts hanging our in the open for all to see. I did notice that they were both uncircumcised. I thought they were exploiting one of the boys because 75% of his face, left arm and left side of his torso were extremely scared. He looked like he had gone through a serious burn and was lucky to be alive. I thought they may have been ridiculing him for that. We later asked James and Makena at supper about it.

Here, boys don’t get circumcised until they are 12 or 13. When that happens they go from being a boy to a man. If a boy here is over 13 and has not been circumcised, if he is found out then he will be taken by other boys and paraded around as still being a “boy” and will then be circumcised. Apparently these boys were in high school and still had not been clipped and some kids had found that out and had a field day with it.

The boys were telling people if they paid them that they would go away. They came up to where we were parked and opened 2 of our doors asked for money. It made Mrs. Marinda uncomfortable since 3 of us were going to stay in the car so she moved us to a place that was a little more comfortable. Let me tell you, clay, Lacee, Daniel and I all had a field day joking on Corinne about that tonight. She was so freaked out as seeing an uncircumcised penis. It really grossed her out yet she couldn’t look away. We laughed for an hour about all of that tonight, but that’s how I had to deal with it. I was really freaked out myself. Mrs. Marinda said she had never seen that happen that way before, and was kind of shocked about it herself.

After all that drama we went back to the hotel for a 15 minute break and we all dropped out stuff off. We then all piled back into the van and headed to James and Makena’s for lunch. I didn’t realize how emotional this visit would be. When we first got there we gave her the presents we had bought, and I gave her the purple suka I had for her. She was really excited about all of them. I gave Gakii a huge hug, as well as Makena when I first got there. We all visited for a little bit and then sat down for an amazing meal.

After lunch and some good conversation they took all of us down to the shamba for a tour of the quarry. Makena and I kind of hung out together behind everyone and talked for a little bit. She said she was proud to call me her daughter, and I let her know she was a wonderful African mother. I told her I would most defiantly be back next summer but I would write her in the meantime. We all walked around for a while and headed back up to the house and played with the touch me not plants.

Makena then gave us African names. Mine is Mwendwa which means one who is very loved. I find that so cool since my license plate is Iamlovd, and there is no way she could have ever known that. After we talked for a bit longer we got email and postal addy’s so we can keep in touch. We all had a big prayer together and things got real tough. I gave momma and sister a great big hug and fought off tears as I walked into the car. Gakii said she was so happy to have me as her American sister and I couldn’t be happier to call her mine. She is truly precious. It is going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be to tell these people goodbye. I told mah that I had a good mom over here and she seemed real pleased to hear that. I don’t want to leave them, but its only for a short while. I will have to write them the second I get home.

 7/19/2009 – Day 25

[Sadly I did not write much for this day since we were traveling a lot and getting ready to leave. I was so tired that I took every second left to pack and sleep so I didn’t write much, now I regret it because I don’t remember enough to fill in the details.]

It’s our last day in Meru town. The day I am writing this is Monday, I got really behind.

I remember for this day doing our last CBS way far out. It was amazing and we had about 65 kids there. On our way to the site everyone was tired and very groggy. Mrs. Marinda warned us not to let this be lacksadasical because it’s our last CBS and most everyone is ready to go home. We got off the main road and started our adventurous ride to the actual site.

I do remember our van getting stuck in a huge rut and the boys had to get out to push the van, which didn’t help much. We eventually had to push the van onto the side of the road and park it and walk the rest of the way to the little village. When we finally got there we saw that the church was only the frame of the church and they were still trying to get the money to close the sides.

Sadly this is all I have written. I do know that we had about 50 kids there and the CBS went great. The children were really excited and they participated a lot in the stories. It was our last one and it was hard to do it and leave those children behind.

That night we ate supper at Rizwan’s house and met his family. He still lives at home with his mother since his father has passed away, with his mother, wife and kids, and his brother with his wife and kids. These people, though they were Muslim’s showed us the most hospitality I have seen in a long while. They cooked us an amazing supper and his mother gave all of us girls beautiful earrings as gifts for coming to her home. We sat there for hours just listening to her tell us stories about where they used to live and how life is for them in Meru town. It was amazing.

 7/20/2009 – Day 26

Today we all loaded our stuff and ourselves into the van and drove for about 4 hours until we finally got into Nairobi. When we got there we met up with the Trull’s family friend – Mwenda and he stayed with us for the rest of the day.

Today we went shopping at a couple different places which was kind of crazy and we ate supper at the Java house.

We stayed the night at the Menonite guest house again and our own church service and Lords supper in the girls room. We sang a few songs, Dr. Trull gave a small devotion and we then took the Lord’s Supper. It was nice and quiet but it still was intense.

Tomorrow we leave to go home.

 Vocabulary list 

• Lala salama – goodnight
• Ibwega – thank you
• Shamba – garden
• Murungu – God
• Motegii – Dr. Trull
• Eh – yes
• Muga – hello (single)
• Mugenni – hello (plural)
• Tiga bwega – goodbye (if you leave)
• Eta bwega – goodbye (if they leave)
• Musungu – white person
• Sawa – okay
• Duka – store
• Muga mino – reply to hello
• Poli sana – I am very sorry
• Aki – only
• Nusu – half
• Nikonera – I’m satisfied (food wise)
• Mimiagi – what is this?
• Asante sana – thank you very much
• Jojo – grand relationship (grandparent, grandchild)
• Baba – father
• Nema – right, true
• Ari – no
• Jesu christo – Jesus Christ
• Bona sefur – praise the Lord