An Update Long Past Due

i knew these blog posts would be few and far between. but i write with many blessings and stories. God is truely at work through the Salvation Army in kenya and it has been amazing to see it in action.


Today marks 4 weeks since arriving in Nairobi. i cant believe its been that long! we have become such locals it feels like home and makes the time go by fast. and it helps that we are very busy in our work now. although at the moment is mostly preparation for what we will soon be doing around east kenya, weve had a few opportunities to venture outside the city into rural kenya. the difference is amazing! while the city is very familiar to us, the villages just outside are quite foreign. very little trees, dry ground, and huts. We walked down a dried out river in the village of kithituni, and watched women far up the river digging for traces of water. its hard to grasp how they manage with so little.... while im waiting for my stimulus money from obama!


Last thursday i visited thika again (the same town where the disability schools are found). This time i went to meet a group of ladies know as "women of faith". these woman (local sex workers) are the first members of a ministry recently started in kenya to keep women off the street and teach them practical skills to support themselves in a different way. It started with just 25 women and has grown to over 60 and is continuing to grow across the country with groups starting in many cities. These women are making beads, knitting and have even started a farm to raise crops for funding. i was told their faces have changed since first starting. instead of hanging heads, i saw huge smiles and women excitedly singing praises to God. oh and did i mention the dancing.... there is always dancing!



on saturday we visited the elephant orphange. This is a big tourist spot. although super crowded, we were allowed to get up close and personal with baby elephants who were rescued in the wild, abandoned by their mothers. One even had part of its ear removed by villagers :( At 3 years of age, the elephants are released into the wild again but with policemen on guard for nearby poachers. we also got to see a baby rhino who was born prematurely, and a few wild baboons who had hopes of stealing some food.

and sunday we were in for another surprising salvation army service. we attended the Nairobi central corps with over 3000 members. talk about a church being alive and well. before the service, we attended the open air meeting in town. we paraded with the soldiers and band to a bus stop (or what would constitute in kenya as one) where we stood and sang and listened to a preacher speak to the hundreds of people that passed by. Then we marched back, waving flags, singing, and stopping traffic! at that point, you can only be proud to be a part of such a wonderful organization.

africa is great but nothing takes the place of friends and family at home. we miss you all very much and pray for you daily. Especially our corps family who suffered a recent loss. May God comfort you and surround you with his love and peace.

For more pictures go to the following address:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=216478&id=576435507&l=75c82

getting to know kenya

wow not even a week has gone by and i feel that i have so much to share. this is when i usually stop journaling (blogging) but i will not give up yet.... and having a desk job definitely helps :)

on thursday we got to leave the desk and venture out to Thika. here is where the salvation army has a few schools that we were priviledged to see. our first stop was "joytown" a school for handicapped children both high school and elementary. you arent even there two minutes before you understand why the name is so fitting. not only do the children here have so much joy, their huge smiles bring great joy to everyone around them. we stopped by the nursery class where they stopped writing the number 1 and 2 to sing us a few songs in swahili. we then visited the special unit to find them watching "mr bean." they had glowing faces however it was a place that was in much need of help. our prayers are with the house mothers who take care of them all day and night. we also peaked our heads into a couple classrooms. although teachers in kenya are on strike, students still sat reading (or pretending to read as most kids do) their texts books. while we were there we were blessed with two songs from the choir where they are taught that "disabilities aren not inabilities"

we then headed down the street to the salvation army school for the blind also an elementary and high school (or secondary as it is called here). we were given a tour of the entire grounds by the chaplins. The library was most impressive where we saw some braille books and were even given a lesson and how braille typewriters work. in one classroom the student read to matt. it is amazing how they do that!

our last visit was to the "variety village" this is a vocational school where the children who dont get high enough scores to go on to university can go and learn a trait like dress making or wood work. and we got a sneak peek at the bed they were making for matt and i. they did great work!

the weekend was very relaxing and besides the washer freaking out and me burning a whole in my shirt it was quite uneventful.... until sunday. while church the previous sunday was similar to a normal service at home (besides some obvious differences of course) this service was truely african. at 1030 we arrived to worship and saw that the number of people there had dramatically decreased from the sunday before....... then we heard the drums!

and for the next hour person after person, soldier after soldier, corps after corps, marched in waving their flags and singing in bright white uniforms. long live the open air meetings of the Salvation Army!! not only did we see every chair fill up, people young and old alike crowded together standing (some even climbing trees) to hear for the next 4 hours the testimony of god. the best part was the twenty minute dance celebration during a chorus where everyone gather in the middle laughing and singing. amazing!

right after church, not that it could top what we had just experienced, we went to feed giraffes. however 16 foot african wildlife came very close :) we had the chance to visit a nature preserve where 12 giraffes live. here you climb a platform with a handful of food and the giraffe comes to eat it right out of your hand. if your really brave you stick the food between your teeth and it will give you a huge kiss! we werent that brave... yet. maybe next time!

all that in one weekned..... i wonder what next weekend will bring!

speaking the same language

we have arrived safely in Kenya! and actually have been here an entire week. however the internet is not as available as it migth be at home so i apologize for the delayed update.

Although the trip was extensive, there were no delays. all our baggage arrived, we passed customs, and were even met by our dear friend rachel (whom we had met in the states and drove 8 hours to greet us). That itself was an answered prayer.

The people here have been very warm and welcoming. We were dinner guest every night for the first week in order to meet some new people. And despite the fact that we were made to eat way too much, the food was very good and familiar. there goes my philosophy of eating as much food as i could before i left because i wasnt going to eat well here. (even though i do, and probably always will, miss taco bell) Our first meal was at an italian restaurant where we had pizza. A pleasant surprise :)

Our apt. (or flat) is amazing as well. we have a kitchen with a "cooker" and a mini fridge, a nice living room, a bedroom with twin beds (hopefully getting a double soon), and a bathroom (with a washmachine next to the toilet). so all the basics you would have at home with just a little alterations. we have running water on most days, but we have a trash can filled with water for extra supply. We also have electricity.... almost all day. but it usually doesnt go out long enough to spoil our food because the compound where we stay just bought a generator. We plan on getting internet soon and have been waiting for the installation since friday. but kenyan time is different from american time so friday really means whenever they get to it. it is now wednesday and still no one has shown up :)




The first week has been pretty relaxed, mostly getting settled in apt, buying what we need, and playing with the children that live in the home on the compound. We brought a frisbee with us which they enjoyed! Although it made me miss my students back home and our church youth.
We have been doing rosetta stone swahili every night since we have arrived and suprising know a lot..... a lot of words that is. not nearly enough to form sentences yet, besides the usually greetings (habari yako, habari zanu, asante).

The best part for me so far was my experience at church on sunday. it is very easy to feel isolated when going into a totally new country and culture. Especially when you know upfront you are going to be there for a while. Most things are completely foreign, and the things that seem familiar are still a far stretch from what you have at home. And the biggest problem is the language barrier. and while it is fun for me to pick out a word or two that i recognize, i am far from understanding what is being said. yet as i sat and listened to a sermon (translated into english) i instantly felt like i understood and spoke the same language for that breif amount of time. for some ignorant reason i had imagined that their concept and understanding of christianity would be different. but i couldnt have been more wrong. he knew and understood the same God i do. and his message was one i needed to hear. it is true that the bible's message has no language barrier!

More pictures soon to come.... kenyan time :)

so we are half way to our destination and i feel like i could throw up. im not sure if it was the eggs they fed us on the plane or the fact that i just left everything i know and love on the other side of the world! its funny cuz when matt and i started this adventure to kenya , it felt like we had planned the timing just right. yet now my best friend is getting married, my brother is having his first baby and certain things are unsettled! a part of me selfishly wishes i was still at home. but since when has serving god been about me?!? as difficult as it is to leave, i cant express how excited i am to be following the lords call. i cant wait to see what awaits us in kenya and see how my faith is stretched in leaving my anxieties back home to God.

while packing up your belongings you often come across things you have kept yet have forgotten all about.  this happened to me as i was going through an old box of service corps trinkets and notes.  and what a good reminder it was as we head out to do God's work

1 corintians 13  missionary version

i may be able to speak fluently the language of my chosen field and even understand its culture, but if i have no love, the impact of my speech is no more for Christ than that of a businessman who comes to exploit the people.

i may have the gift of contextualizing God's word when i deliver it to my hearers.  i may have all the knowledge about their customs.  i may have the faith needed to combat witchcraft, but if i have no love, i am nothing

i may give everything i have to the poor, to the hungry on the fields.  i may even give my life for them, but if i have no love this does no good.

love is thinking in thought patterns, caring enough to understand worldview, listening to questions, respecting them, feeling their burdens, identifying with them in need, belonging to them.

Love is eternal.  Culture passes away.  dynamic equivalents will change because culture changes.  patterns of worship and church administration will need revision.  languages will be altered over time.  institutions will be replaced.

since i am finite, i am able to do this only in a limited way, but i pray the spirit will use my life to show Christ to those with whom i work.

meanwhile these remain....

identification,

contextualization,

and love.

but the greatest of these is love

-jean mccracken

okay, so ive never blogged before and actually am very bad at journaling all together! but i am going to give it my best try while matt and i venture out to the unknown... unknown to us at least.

after a nice christmas vacation we came back to arizona and began the drawn out job of ending our lives in america and moving across the world. weve had to cancel bank accounts and open new ones, sell matts first car, give away our kitty, and box up all our junk. in fact, we just finished loading all our furniture into the big van (im typing this entry from the floor in my empty apt).

its crazy to think that in a matter of days we will be in kenya. its been such a desire of mine for so long to minister overseas and when i stop to rest for just a second the thought is somewhat overwhelming. What a blessing it is, that God has allowed matt and i to serve him. and the way things have fallen into place is just amazing. i guess thats the way God likes to do things.... amazingly!

im excited to start this new journey, and especially excited to share it with you! thank you for your prayers and support.