Teaching

Today in Kibera I got to help in teacher Abigail’s Kindergarten classroom. As soon as I came in she introduced me to the children, handed me a piece of chalk and told me to do the math lesson. So I did it (good think it was just kindergarten math) and the kids were so great! And very smart too. I was impressed with their cooperation and diligence. Children here are very well behaved. I also helped with the reading lesson. It was hilarious because they pronounce English words with a British accent and I obviously do with an American one. So reading words like can, fan, ran, etc was so funny. I think I confused them. But Abigail instructed me to speak as I normally do. After the kids went to lunch I got to chat with Abigail for a little while and she told me about the kids in her class. It was the first time I have really felt sad while in Kibera (the poverty is overwhelming but the people are so happy and kind). There are 16 children in this particular class and many of them are HIV positive. A lot of them don’t have their parents and a couple of them even have learning disabilities. I tried to help a little girl write today and she just couldn’t do it. She has a growth on the back of her head causing this problem, but I don’t know what it is. Abigail is amazing working with them in spite of all of this though. The kids are on medication and the church feeds them a BIG lunch (for some of them this is their only meal of the day) so they are really quite healthy. It is remarkable to me how loving and sweet the kids are even though they have nothing. They have Jesus and a school and church that cares for them and it is incredible to see. I feel so blessed to be able to work with this church this summer.

Kawangware

Today we went to a slum we have not been to before called Kawangware. We were working with Pastor Chaconday from Covenant Presbyterian Church. I believe it is a church plant of Kibera Reformed Presbyterian Church. We divided up into three teams and went around visiting people in their homes, inviting people to church, sharing the Gospel, and praying for them. The team I was with consisted of myself, and one of the other interns Adam, and Kikoyo, Rose and Frederick-our interpreters. I have never really done anything like we did today, just walking around and knocking on peoples doors, but it was awesome. I wish our churches at home did this in the neighbourhoods around our churches. It can be uncomfortable, but what really matters is that people hear the good news of the Gospel. I was able to go into 6 homes and talk to a few people on the street. We would read some verses and share our testimony and then ask them what they needed prayer for and we would pray. One man named Johnson said he wanted to know Jesus and overcome alcoholism. He also said he wanted to start coming to the church. Another man we met said he wanted to be closer to God and would visit the church. Peggy’s team met a woman who had Malaria and so did her baby-please pray for them if you think of it. Some people we talked to were Christians and we would just encourage them and a few people were not Christians, so we would invite them to church and they would still let us pray for them. It was awesome! We are going to Kawangware every Wednesday so I hope we will be able to revisit people, especially the ones who said they wanted to “think about Jesus” a little more before making a decision. Also everyone was so welcoming, they all wanted to serve us tea or soda.
I am feeling so much better today! Praise God. One of the other interns, Liz, was sick today though so please pray for her.
Tomorrow we will be back in Kibera working with the teachers in the school. Friday we are off and I think we are going to go to the Baby Elephant Farm which I am so excited about! Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement. You are all wonderful!

Catching Up

I have been neglecting to update you all! The internet her is very slow and freezes a lot, so I hope this works!
Today had to be one of my favorite days so far since I have been here. We went to a slum called Muthigae. Getting there was the hard part. We took a Matatu over the bumpiest roads I have ever been on. We went around curves up over big hills and we were much too close to the edge for my comfort. I prayed the whole way there. Once we were there it was wonderful. It was an absolutely beautiful place. It is up above a quarry. It is a farming community and the flowers and vegetation are just gorgeous. We had a VBS type day with about 75 kids. We sang and then acted out a skit. We did the parable of the seeds sewn and the ones in the good soil took root and grew. Then we passed out paper and crayons for the kids and they had a blast. We played a ton of games with them…red rover, red light green light, duck duck goose and some others. I held one little boy for a long time and he laid his head against me and tucked his arms against me and I just rubbed his back. I didn’t ever want to put him down he was just so precious. The kids are so funny. They all want to hold our hands and at some points there may be 3 kids holding each hand. We were playing on a grassy/dirt hill. I have never been so dirty in my life I don’t think. Between sitting in the dirt, having kids hang all over me and sitting by the open window on the way home I am a mess. Good thing I don’t mind getting messy!
This past Saturday was a wonderful day too. We went to the girls’ shelter that Martha (Our pastor Imbumi’s wife) started. There are 2 house mothers age 22 and 23 and they take care of 21 kids. We went and played with the kids for a few hours. They were also a complete joy. They played with my hair for about an hour taking turns braiding it and unbraiding it (I didn’t mind one bit!) We also sand together and a bunch of the kids played soccer with the other interns. I learned how to say all the different animals in Swahili. We even saw a monkey in the field we were playing in behind the shelter.
Tomorrow we will be back at Kibera for the AIDS support group that meets on Tuesdays and we will be helping out the teachers too. The teachers love our help because it is rare that they ever get a break and Kibera can be a tiring place to be. Please pray that we would be bold in sharing our faith and also please pray for our health. The two girls got really sick one night last week and I got sick one day in Kibera. The day I was sick I went and sat outside the church on the ground where it was nice and cool. A little girl named Sylvia came and sat next to me and we talked a little and just enjoyed sitting together. I love moments like those. I think we have all recovered from upset stomachs. However I am still fighting this cold that is now a cough. It sure doesn’t help my already poor singing voice that I am expected to use so much.
I am truly loving being here. I feel so loved by all of the Kenyan people and being with them is a blessing. Hanging out with the kids is my favourite thing to do. They are great kids. Very well behaved. They just crave attention and I enjoy giving them as much as they want. It is as good for me as it is for them. We are all stating to settle in here. I miss friends and family, but I know I will learn so much from being here and I can’t wait to see what else God will continue to do. I already feel so blessed by the experiences I have been able to have.

Matatus

Today we went to Kibera for the AIDS support group and to learn more about what we will be doing in the church. The people that came to the Support group were awesome. They really love God and depend on Him for everything. I have a lot to learn from them. We met all of the staff. Including all of the teachers. They have 3 grades before K and then grades K-4. I talked to the teachers and I am hoping to be able to help in the classrooms. The kids were so welcoming to us. They taught me a hand game where you sing and count and they all wanted to play it with me. They got in a line and all took turn playing it with me. Imbumi drove me to Kibera this morning, but to come home I went with the rest of the team on a Matatu, which is a 14 passenger van that is like a taxi. Now really this van should fit about 9 or at most 10 people in it, but we had at one point 21 people in it. I was thankful that Imbumi took my backpack home in his car because I would have been nervous to have it with me. I was also thankful that God provided me a seat by the window, because boy was it crowded. The matatus drive very fast and go around as many cars as possible in order to get as many passengers as they can. It was unlike anything I have done, but it was a great way to experience the culture. Then we walked about 3 miles home from the Matatu stop. I am really enjoying getting to know the Kenyans. They are extremely welcoming and very friendly. Pastor Imbumi puts us on the spot a lot. He will introduce several people to us and then ask us to repeat all of their names. So I have to really stay on my toes and pay attention. Thanks for the encouragement. Love hearing from you all. Please pray that the team would be able to remember the names of all of the people we meet, and be able to learn some Swahili quickly. Also I have a cold, so please pray that I would get well fast. Miss you all.

Kenya Take A Hike?

Today was another adventure to go into town for groceries. We walked about 5 miles to the grocery store and I got some cold milk and peanut butter and 2 candy bars. The milk they give us here is fresh from the cow (it is boiled so it is safe to drink), but I wanted some cold milk for my cereal milk that wasn’t so rich! I got 3% milk (they don’t have 2%). The food here is very good. It is made from scratch for us. There are cows and chickens and sheep and goats on the compound where we live. Last night they served lamb, or goat. I don’t know…I chose not to eat it :). We have breakfast, lunch and dinner here at the compound. Except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, then we will eat at the church. I haven’t been sick so far. Praise the Lord. Today Pastor Imbumi is bringing several people from the church to talk to us about their ministries and let us know what all we will be helping with this summer. I’ll keep you all posted. Love hearing from you all.

I Have Arrived!

I am finally here in Kenya! We arrived last night after LONG flights. I have never had to sit for so long in my life I don’t think (about 18 hours flying).
My African adventure began the moment we arrived on the continent. We had to change planes in Lagos, Nigeria…which was quite an experience. We originally were going to have 80 minutes to change planes, which included going through immigration, picking up our luggage, going to check in and getting to our gate…all in a foreign country. Well when the plane took off 50 minutes late we were obviously concerned. We arrived in Lagos with about 25 minutes to make our next flight. Sounds impossible right? Well we went to immigration and the directed us to leave all of our passports with them and go get our bags. My response was “I don’t think so,” so while the rest of the team went to get our 7 bags I stayed with the passports and watched as more and more passports were being stacked on top of ours. I kept telling the immigration officer we only had about 15 minutes until our flight left. SO finally the team came back (without our bags because they couldn’t find them) and we got through immigration and needed to go check in at the Kenya Air counter. We found a man who worked for Kenya Air and asked him where to go. He said “follow me,” so we followed him outside where we were being watched very closely them back into the airport, up a very sketchy flight of stairs, through some more doors and to the Kenya Air counter. While we were checking in the printer that would print our boarding passes broke. We kept asking “will we make the flight” and they kept saying “oh yeah.” Finally the passes were printed. At this point is was much later than the departure time, but you pretty much just go with the flow. So at the counter they say, “where are your bags, you have to go get your bags and bring them straight back here and we will check them.” So we all RUN back through the doorways, down the sketchy stairs and we run into security who obviously won’t let us back through to get our bags. We said “we are in transit” and they let us all straight through security. We find our 7 bags and lug them back UP the stairs, outside, etc, etc. Then the Kenya Air counter is closed. The signs are down, the people are gone and there we are like an hour after the flight time with our bags. So were are told to go to the Kenya Air office. We go down a long hall and find some guy who tells us to just take our bags to the gate. Well keep in mind that we have bags with just about everything you can’t take through security…liquids, sharp things, etc. They are obviously confused when we get to security, but miraculously some guy comes up and explains our situation and they let us through! We RUN to our gate and find out the plane is still there because it arrived late. Praise God! What a faithful Lord we have. I had a lot of doubt through the whole thing, but the Lord showed me that He was in control the whole time.
We made it to Nairobi, Kenya. Even all of our bags made it. Peggy, Pastor Imbumi, and several other men from the church met us and took us to Subiaco where we are living. It is nice here. Very clean with running water and electricity (Mom, Dad, Michael and Becca- It is similar to Miners Bay- not quite as plush though, seriously.) But it is clean anyways. We went to the church this morning and I will write about that another time because this is a long post. But I will say I LOVE the people here. They are incredible and they sure do know how to pray and worship God. The kids are precious and EVERYONE shakes your hand as you walk through the slum (I have plenty of Purell :)).
Miss you all and will write more soon!

Encouragement

In just two short weeks I will finally be in Kenya. I can hardly believe it is time to go and at the same time I feel like I have been waiting to go forever! I am completely amazed and overwhelmed with how encouraging people have been to me. Everyone has been more wonderful than I could have fathomed; so many encouraging words have been spoken to me. I can’t wait to share the adventures I get to experience this summer with all of the wonderful people who are loving and supporting me. Thank you so much to everyone. Thanks for your prayers, for writing on my blog, and calling me and just letting me know you care. There are many amazing stories of things people have done to support me. God has already been so good to me as I prepare to go. I just can’t wait to see what He will do once I am on the field. I think I am ready…well as ready as I can be. I have all of my vaccines and all of my long skirts (which are the required dress while I am in the slums). I am in Oklahoma right now visiting my brother Michael and sister-in-law Ashley, and I was able to visit my aunt and cousins earlier this week. I have also spent time in Virginia with my parents and sister. It has been a wonderful time of rest before I head off for my busy summer! Hopefully I will soon be able to actually post on here from Kenya!

Michael and I in downtown Oklahoma City