end of the adventure.

well, after 4 months and a few days, I had to say my goodbyes to Jubilee childrens center. For our last night, my roommate and I spent it in the boys dorm. we gave away clothes and other random items to the boys who thought it was christmas. we did not sleep however till about 12:30 am due to the shenanigans. at 4:30, i woke up for the goat slaughter. i was tired, cold and sad that it was my last morning, but i knew that i wanted that goat dead in 2 min flat, any longer, and i would feel horrible. after i sliced her, she was gone in a little under 2 min. thank the lord. i removed the offal and then started work on the head. just fyi, skinning a skull of an animal is a somewhat difficult task. all day friday was filled with last minute things, like picking up 5 crates of soda for the kids, getting classes gospel bracelets, finishing unit chapters for bible classes and so on. it was sad to be closing the door to something my roommates and i all loved. we spent the whole day with the kids, trying to get the most out of our last hours with them. the kids thanked me for the generous portion of goat meat in their food that night, and then we went off to our last chapel. all 3 of us were wrecks, we were tired, sad, and for me, a little worried about making it in time for my flight. when called to speak just a last word to the kids, i almost did not make it through, and for the first time in my life, i was at a true loss for words. what do you say to the kids who have impacted your life right before you leave them?

our 8:30 pm leaving time was pushed back in true african fashion to 9, only because the kids and us were crying and saying goodbye. the kids gave me all they could give me before i left, and that was notes and letters. they tried to put them in our pockets so we almost would not notice till we reached in. we drove away looking back at the sad faces of the kids, they seeing the sad face masked with a fake smile. it was truly the toughest thing to do.

the airport though snapped me back into reality, when i was charged $300 for my luggage being 4 and 5 kilos over weight. i boarded my plane just fine and arrived in zurich. after walking around for a while, i finally figured out the train system and took one in to a nice area 20 min away from the airport. i walked the streets for 2 hours and fell in love with the country. the alps make a breath taking background to an already beautiful city. I am now sitting and waiting for my plane to start boarding to go home. funny enough, it's the same gate that i sat at last time waiting to board, but then i was going into nairobi.

this whole adventure was truly God planned. i walked nearly blind into a trip that God designed. I am coming back changed, it's been over 12 hours since i left the kids, but yet i already am starting to see the changes. i was blessed to have an opportunity like this and to have tools to do it.

I want to thank everyone who sent me emails or facebook wall post and messages of encouragement. though it may of seemed like nothing to write a few sentences, it meant the world to me. your prayers were felt and your so was your love. Africa showed me how much i should be thankful for when it comes to what i have, but you all showed me how much i should be thankful for who i have. this trip would not of happened logistically or mentally if it was not for my mom, who gave a lot of money that i did not ask for in order for me to provide for the kids. my sister who helped keep mom sane, and also sent me updates on whatever i needed to know about. to the Jepsen family who heaped on the encouragement and prayer for me, and also put me in contact with Bryan Burr of convoy of hope. Holly peters who A)gave me the title of this blog, and B)was my first and only legit pen pal. Shayne Heidt who made me my bible verse cards. they were my secret weapon for emergency sermons, tough days, and making sure my day started out on the right foot. all of you who prayed for me, you know who you are. the Shipmans though, my goodness, spent hours up past their bed times to video chat with me, gave me prayer and encouragement like no other and also made the homesickness melt away. Missions press for trusting me with the amazing work that Missions press does. Every missionary and pastor who met with me, every taxi driver who drove me, every person who helped me out when i needed it.

so all i can say for me now is this, now what? one adventure down, praying that more are to come.

there is a quote that says "America is my country, but Paris is my home". i thought about this everyday, the reality of feeling at home, away from your birthplace. i understand it now, how it's not the house, or the things that make home home, it's the people. i feel as if i have 2 homes now, and to change the quote, "America is my country, but Kenya is my home". 

squirrel hunting and emotional list of lasts.

hey everyone, this blog only has about maybe a week and a half left cause i am home in less then a week. so just a heads up.

it's been calm here for the most part but i have about 5 days till i leave. we are trying to make the best of it and get a lot of stuff done but its tough to do with the things planned here. bill, my roommate, is the computer teacher for the school, we just got the school hooked up to a network so 2 computers can run off the internet. i know it sounds high tech and totally crazy, but it's a yellow cord that goes to one computer to another, not as crazy. but his computer classes are writing emails to his friends and are in the computer lab from 8 am to 9 pm trying to get everyone to send out at least 3. its good stuff for them to learn, but takes a lot of work to execute. after we leave the computer lab might or might not be open anymore since the only people that know how to work with and fix computers are leaving. but who knows. this place is a graveyard for donated computers.

monday was a fun day, i found out the school had a squirrel problem and they were eating all the seeds that have been planted, crazy right? i also found out that they caught one in a trap right when i was debating finding meat for dinner (lack of meat makes me go crazy). i asked if i killed it, if i could have it, the technician said sure and it was mine. easy to kill and clean, fur comes off like nothing. threw it in a pan with some oil and it tasted amazing. it has the color and texture of chicken, but a way better taste. i loved it. also i got free meat. everyone that tried it liked it too, even the kenyans who thought i was crazy. so now i am checking the trap everyday for a male that is crafty and cocky. i baited it with oranges and still waiting.

early saturday morning i went out with the cook to search for a goat for Madaraka day which is independence day for Kenya. we walked 3 km to a nice ranch that raised them, but they were asking for 5000 and i only wanted to spend 3000. so we walked backed, discussed options such as going to a strange part of Nairobi and visiting a slaughter house. 20 min after i got back, Lucy our team mom called me down to look at one that was 3000, it was small, but i liked it. so now i am the owner of a animal again. this one will last maybe one meal but feed all the kids.

i gave my last 2 sermons here to the kids and am officially done. today is our last sunday here so it will be a strange, sad day. i still teach everyday this week, since i leave late friday. 2 new housemates are coming on wednesday i guess, but who knows if it will happen. no school for Madaraka day, so only 4 days to teach. it will be tough to leave, but i really will be happy to be home. Kidscamp will go on at the end of june, and i am very excited to be going for my 5th year in a row. i have graduation parties to go to and such also, and many things that i am very excited for. my grandpas 90th is what i am excited for the most i think, cause it makes it easy to see the whole family and also see my grandpa.

no real updates other then that. i leave friday night at 2355 and arrive in Zurich at around 0600 then leave zurich at around 1300 then back in the u.s june 4th at around 1635. so yeah.

my toilet runneth over

so much has gone on since i last posted, so thats why i avoided the introduction. lets jump into the awesomeness that has been my last week.

-school started at the school and i am teaching a whole whole lot. I picked up 2 more bible classes and now i am head p.e teacher which is fun too.

-last wednesday, we helped deliver food to a IDP camp near by. IDP stands for internally displaced person, a nicer term then what they really are, refugee. they come from areas that were hit with the violence of the past elections that ruined most of this country. the "camp" was nothing more then an empty field that the people live in and wait for the area they used to live, to get better. for some, homes were burned, families were killed, people were chased. it's tough to see, but the delivery of food makes it somewhat better. there was a camera crew and many local officials who came to see the delivery. it was a great 2 hours.

-last friday i hauled all the materials i brought through Nairobi to drop off with a pastor. the bag was around 50 lbs and awkwardly shaped. i got looked at a lot but i liked it. i called the bag "50 lbs of trust" because missions press trusted me with every once of that bag. i loved being able to haul it.

-came home after a long day of hauling the bag to the news that we were having our last all night prayer meeting here. so the whole night was filled with prayer and mini sermons and mandazies and tea. i went to sleep around 4:30 am.

-at 7:30 am, i woke up to go to Nairobi to help my roommate find a suit. suits are cheap here, like really really cheap. so we went to an area called Eastleigh that is really the suit district of kenya. it's full of refugees who came and made a living here. it's great to see, but they tough to make a deal with.

-made a new friend in a shop in Nairobi.

-sunday i got hit with a very, very nasty fever and the flu. i struggled out of bed and questioned me staying in it the rest of the day. after service, i crashed for 5 hours and then was woken up saying that i had to go to a dinner at a woman who has grown fond of us. i never turn down meals, but this was crazy. if i declined, it was like spitting in the face of the woman who invited us. so i went, ate great kikuyu food, and then struggled back.

-the title of this blog was taken from the words i mouthed while trying to fix our toilet. the floor has been looking like hurricane katrina washed through since last week. i still laugh every time i see the water.

so yeah, there is my last week. i only have 16 days left till i leave, which makes me sad that my time is up, and that i have to return to the normal life that America holds for me. i will cry when i leave, and will always miss these kids. i am in the process of trying to find a final feast for the kids to have. it's between 50 pounds of pig, or one goat. tough choice. but i want to leave them with something good.

love you all. 

what TIA has taught me

I think my favorite and most frequently used term used since coming here is TIA or time in Africa. It got really popular from the movie Blood diamond, but here it’s an every day thing. You might use the term in reference to what we call “African time”, which is when you’re supposed to start at one time, but several hours past the original time, you have yet to start. Like on Sunday, I went to a church and they had a car to pick us up, it was supposed to pick us up at 8 am, but did not get there until 9 am. We went to a crusade right after the service that was supposed to start at 3 pm, but started at 5, we were supposed to be back before 6, but we did not make it home till after 10 pm that night. TIA. But it can also be used for when something goes wrong. Today as I washed my very dirty clothes, a thunder head filled the sky and poured rain non stop, again TIA, but it was not over, as the rain poured, my clothes line broke, dropping all my clothes. TIA. So this happens quite a bit, and sometimes it sucks. Like when the internet won’t work on a computer it always worked on or when your matatu breaks down when you’re trying to make it home before dark. Kenya teaches you a lot about life but even more about your faith. You can’t put your reliance in anything but God. You can’t plan for anything either, video chat dates get interrupted by the annoyance of no power, dinners get pushed back because the kitchen is not cleared of people, and the lesson you want to teach a class gets pushed back due to classes flooding with water. But that’s life. And to be honest it makes the good moments better. Its one thing that I kinda enjoy about Kenya is the unpredictability. I like setting times and dates, but it takes the surprise out of the moment. Here its fun to have the element of surprise and being unsure of what will happen in that day.

Kenya teaches other things though that makes life harder at first but grow accustomed to as time goes on. Washing your clothes takes time and energy and is nothing like it is at home. At home, you toss in the clothes in the washing machine, put in the soap and crank the knob. Here it requires 2 buckets and a bar of soap and a lot of water and of course a clothes line. Most of the time as your clothes dries on the line, they will fall off and land in the dirt, and you must wash again. This would be annoying to most, but it teaches you patience and to work hard for the simple things. Showering used to require a bucket and cold water and a wash cloth. Bathing was a chore, and cold water sucked during cold nights and cleaning yourself was a lengthy issue. But I learned again that these simple tasks take more energy to most people around the world. I get to experience what it would be like to be someone who lives their life doing these things. It enhances the life I lived back home. I kick myself now for mocking the food served at camps, because now I wish for that food. There is always that person that comes back from a mission’s trip and says “it really makes you thankful for what you have”, though it’s a cliché, it’s true. Everything that we have is a luxury, eating steak for dinner is not needed, but it’s wanted over eating ugali and beans. Showering in a nice heated shower is a luxury, when your option is pouring water over yourself with an empty sprite bottle with somewhat unclean water. It’s one of those things that everyone must do at least once in their life. I know I have changed because of it. And I realize that I have become the person I make fun of that comes off a 2 week mission’s trip and says their life is changed forever. I used to look at those people as wannabe missionaries and philanthropist who only want the fame, but not the work. I was that person for a while, after I came back the first time, I thought of how cool and good it was that I went, but now as I sit here waiting for the power to kick off at any moment, I realize how small my contribution is to the world. when I think of other missionaries who devote their lives to one country or area, and work everyday to make it a little bit better, I can only realize that I devoted not my life to Kenya, but 4 months. I’m not saying that this trip is nothing, because doing work for FMP and teaching the kids is hard work. But it’s not me alone doing the work. I am a very small fish in a big pond when it comes to FMP, and I am one of many teachers and volunteers and missionaries who have devoted time to helping these kids. I think the transformation that is really taking place happens more to me then the world. That alone makes the trip worth it. My faith, personality, breaking point, and ability to love and understand people has changed, which I think is the greatest thing I could ever learn. So in short, I love Kenya not because of the food, or the buildings and living conditions, but for the way God can work through a land and people that have little material wealth, but can love and need love.

p.s Bin Laden being dead is not as good as it sounds when your over seas in a place that was once attacked by friends of Bin Laden.  

revenge of the sheep

Kenya has a unique way of educating you. like if you want to know what matatu goes where, sometimes you must get on the wrong one. to learn what foods your body can't handle, you must get sick, and to love Africa, you must first hate it. the 2nd point relates to the title of this post. i planned an easter feast that i was very very giddy about. everyday i would look at the sheep who was going to be slaughtered and i would tell him, 'i love you, but your going to be food soon'. evil? maybe a little, true, of course. all i could think during the execution was that there would be good food for all the kids and me. i felt proud. until i cooked up my feast. the feast contained: liver and onions, fried heart with leg meat, and of course, rocky mountain oysters. it was frozen for 3 days, and i was very excited, i spent 3 hours prepping it, and it cooked just fine. but after eating the meals, we decided the meat had gone bad, except for the testes. the next day we paid for it, and tuesday i was in bed the whole day. we all reacted differently but i hated the feeling. revenge of the sheep i say. 

easter weekend was very fun, I gave the good friday message which made me very very happy to do and made me feel right at home. saturday we went into nairobi, but then sunday was the strangest day. at home, you all celebrated easter sunday, but not here. sunday was an average day. the main event is on monday. the reason behind this is that they want easter to be special, and since every person attends church on sunday already, make it even more special and do it monday. we were all sick for it, but it was interesting. the kids had a blast, they got tea and bread and butter in the morning, stew for lunch and dinner, and chapatis with their stew. they don't eat that well ever. we were so happy to give it to them, it was such a blessing to have them thank us for it, i almost cried. for about $70, we changed their whole weekend.

wednesday i got my visa renewed, fun process, like going to the dmv but with more english speakers working behind the counter (is that racist?). i found pepsi and snicker bars here, AHHHHH. so i spent a whopping $5 and bought as much as i could. Kenya is a coke dominated zone, so when i find pepsi hidden away like a refugee, i can only thank the lord, it's manna from heaven. my 3 month mark was thursday, which means that i have a little over a month till i return. idk how i feel about that. i love kenya, and i have made it my home and it has accepted me. it will be hard to leave. our internet took a header this week and won't work with our computer, so now i am at a cafe in nairobi that has free wifi, cheap food, and nice people. i am nursing cake and black coffee right now so they don't kick me out. 

school starts next week for the kids, which means i am back to teaching for my last month. i will be glad to see the kids who left again. but movie nights will have to stop. we watched a bootlegged version of diehard the other night, not a good movie for kids, but then we watched home alone and i felt a bit better about it. i buy bootlegged movies for the kids that are made for kids. Rango will be played tonight and it will be served with popcorn. very nice nite for the kids. 

your prayers are felt here, and the kids thank you for every prayer that you send their way. 

i love you all, naku pende. 

the past 7 days

well hello again. it has been a crazy past 7 days and after you read this entry, you will know why it was not posted sooner.

last friday-went into town to meet with some pastors for FMP. i get to a nice area called Nairobi Junction. full of whites. i open the door of my taxi, and accidently scratch the door next to me. the driver of this car get out and starts yelling at me, she's danish. she decides to call diplomatic security to figure this out. i am confused at what just happened at this point. security gets there, very mad that they had to come out for this. the option was work out a deal or they would do something. we worked out a price and i paid. i now regret this and would of rather dealt with diplomatic security. easy to say she was not my fav person of the day. i also left my house keys in the taxi i was in. bughhhh.

last saturday- a month before, we got invited to the wedding of the brother of one of the teachers we work with, the same one who taught us how to make samosas. we were so excited to go to a kenyan wedding. the wedding went for a pretty long time, but it was filled with lots of screaming and amens. the food was amazing, like most kenyan food is. the dancing was fun to watch and the traditions of the wedding. very very fun day.

last sunday-I gave the palm sunday message which i loved to do. I love holy week, so i treated it with as much care as possible. after service, we thought we were playing footbol. what really happened is that we saw a few chickens being carried off and we had to see what was happening. long story short i got a crash course in executing chickens, and dealing with the cleaning of the body. very very good stuff to know.

monday-wednesday-started interviewing teachers for the school, kinda fun, my butt fell asleep. i also bought an axe head for the school since all they had to split wood for the fires that heat the stoves was a sledgehammer. chopped all day wednesday and now my hands are thrashed. but so rewarding.

thursday- got the word that the sheep would be better off dead thursday then friday. hogtied the sheep, did the deed, let it drained and then got to work. work was going fine until the power went out. waited 30 min, came back on. as i am butchering it as carefully as possible, i was told it's not the kenyan way. the gardners came in and wrecked havoc on the body. organs were popped, the hide was in bad shape, a very gory scene that could of been avoided. but the meat is fine which is the most important thing i guess. i have a ziploc full of offal that is mine which will make a very nice easter meal plus a leg which i can never argue with. the kids will be able to eat sheep stew four times this weekend. my housemates bought a lot of things for the stew and chapati mix. we are so happy to be able to give to these kids as much as we are. when the kids thank you, it makes all the hard work that went into making it happen worth it.

good friday-sheep starts cooking today, and i get to cook too. i love cooking, so doing this will be fun. liver and onions are on the menu tomorrow, heart for lunch today, fried meat tonight. but whats even better is the fact that i am giving the good friday message today. like i said, holy week is my favorite. it's the one time of year where i dig into traditions of the church. i made a deal with my roommate that he can do the easter message if i get good friday. last year at olu i was blessed to be able to give the easter message which is still the high water mark of my life. easter here just fyi, is celebrated on Monday, not Sunday. don't ask why, we tried to find out and got very strange answers. but whatever.

i hope all of you have an very awesome easter weekend and are able to meditate on the true meaning of easter. i miss home right now cause i would love to eat ham and go to the cornerstone easter egg hunt, but this is where God put me, so im staying.

love you all.

Food and revalations

Hey everyone, heres blog post number 14.

the last week has been busy. I headed into Nairobi twice, bought a sheep, and learned to cook new foods. i noticed that i have not really talked about the food here as much as i should. so i will list out the foods that i have eaten, cooked, and learned to love.

-Chapati. i call them African tortillas, but in reality they are much better. it's very simple to make, mix flour and water till a dough is made, add oil, make them flat, and throw them in the pan till they brown on both sides. you can eat them with anything, but stew is the best to have with it. once and a while, we will get 3 left over chapatis and we consider it a major blessing if we do. i bought 3 massive ones in Nairobi on friday before i left. they are about the size of med. pizzas. they are an awesome food to eat.

-Samosas. before i came, i did not know much about samosas, other then the fact that they were real. when i got into kenya, it was like a rumor that samosas existed. i looked all over, but never found them. until saturday. my housemate and i took a trip down to one of the teachers houses, and she spent the day teaching us how to make samosas. it took a while, but were very well worth it. a samosa is ground beef that has been cooked with spices and then put into a dough pocket, and then fried. you can eat them with your hands as you walk. they are one of the best foods i have had here.

-Githeri. this one has grown a bit on me. its maize and beans, boiled together and then served. we have it everyday for lunch, and when i mean everyday, i mean everyday. other then the few rocks that find their way into the food, it's a fine dish to eat. once and a while, we will add an onion or tomato into it, or in my case, a beef stock cube. i don't know if i will miss it when i get back.

-Ugali. i am still trying to find a way to enjoy Ugali. i have tried a lot of things, but the only way is to just eat it. what you do is take maize, ground it down into a flour, and then add water. it's a heavy block of maize.

-Stew/rice. this is something that we love to make cause A) it's easy and B) it's cheap. you can put whatever you want into a stew, we put: goat, onions, garlic, tomatos, ginger, cilantro, beef stock cubes, and potatoes into it. put it over rice and it's heaven.

-Mandazies. this is considered an awesome treat here. it's fried dough. who can't love that? they are served with tea most of the time and bought in packs of 6-12. they are a nice snack and very cheap to buy.

those are the basic foods that I get my hands on here.

now for the other part of Kenya. The part that does not eat.

I can't walk down the road here with out seeing a child, i say "Jambo" they reply "give me food". I have had this happen so many times. after a while, it starts to hit you harder. I burned through a book last week called "under the overpass". the Author takes a few months of his life to see what it is like to live the homeless life. in it he describes the way that todays Christians in several cities ask him to leave, or walk right past him. but he also describes the way that several Christians in several cities dropped everything to help him. i then started to think of my own position right now, coming all the way across the world to do Gods will, but yet i am the person who walks by the homeless in Nairobi, who all they want it something to eat.

I made it my goal friday to at least try to tackle the issue. Instead of buying a piki piki ride up to junction to get a matatu, i used the 50 schillings to buy a pack of mandazies. so far so good, i also packed along with me tracts from FMP. not a bad touch. i was excited to make it into the city and help a little. they first man i see is holding to canes holding a cup asking for money. knowing that some will use money to buy booze or drugs, food is a much better option. i hand him the mandazi and the tract, told him God bless and moved to where i was going. as i continue to walk, a man starts to talk to me, this is normal for Nairobi, and i know what he is looking for. he talks about the struggle in the country he comes from, and then pops the question that most christians will have to face, "can you buy me rice?". this is the hardest thing to do. of course you want to buy him the rice, but you know if you buy him a bag, why not everyone else? I told him my problem with it, but handed him the mandazis, the whole bag that i thought would be shared with his family that he talked so much about. he then got mad, cause i would not buy him tea to go with it. i handed him a tract and walked away trying to figure out what just happend.

I have always been told by veterans of missions work never to buy anyone on the street anything, cause it will start a chain reaction that can't be stopped. it's like if you buy a mouse a cookie, they will want a glass of milk. those who know poverty, look at Americans as open bank accounts who drop money to the poor and sick. ministry takes a turn here, you want to love them all you can, but the money in your bank account can't handle some of it. you can't feed them all. When Jesus sees the huge group of people, and he wants to feed them, but only has a few fish and a few things of bread, he multiplys them, giving enough for everyone. I wish that could happen all the time, everywhere.

it's emotionally tough to have to say no, and you feel like a bad christian when you have to walk away. but it's the situation that you have to look at, and what will happen when you give in and buy the bag of rice. give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. they will always expect something from Americans who are here for missions, cause they know are hearts are soft, and our pockets are deep(sometimes). it's a harsh reality, that many can't fathom or conform to. i hear stories of missions groups that will toss money out of cars to the poor, or will start pumping money into the churches that have little. i sound like a horrible person for saying this, but it's the only way that ministry can really operate here. if i had millions, i would spend it on Kenya, but i don't and neither do most that come here for the same purpose. we can't fix the nation with money, but we can with God.

thats all i have to say about that.

March maddness and de-hairing

Um wow, crazy last few days, and by crazy i mean fun. i will avoid long chunks of writing and go for bullet points.

-my housemates and i were not able to do a march maddness bracket this year, but we all picked 1 team that would go all the way. i picked Uconn, my roommate picked KU and my last housemate never got around to picking one. well as we checked the bracket, we saw that KU and UCONN were doing really well. last week we found out they would play each other. we made a deal that whoever goes all the way and wins has to buy the other lunch in Nairobi. the original bet was a pineapple, but we upped the anty. so i checked today, and UCONN beat KU 56-55. now they have to beat butler and it will be mine.

-as a end of term gift to my favorite class, standard 5, i allowed them to shave my head. since my beard has grown out, most of the kids have said to shave both my head and face. i refused. but my roommate let his best class shave his, so i got mine done too. the standard 5 kids have never shaved a head before mine, so i have a few cuts on my head. but no worries. they thought it was a great time. pics on FB it you want to see. i am bald now, but have a beard. i look like jeff bridges in iron man.

-schools out. end of term was friday, so now a lot of the kids went back to families or guardians for the month of april . no school for a whole month is very nice. i feel like it's my own summer break or something. but this is my spring break, which i can like. we are planning trips to Nairobi and i have missions press buisness which will boom during that time.

-today is my half way mark. in 2 months i will be on a plane coming home. weird to think. we are supposed to have 3 new housemates from colorado coming in may, which that will be fun too.

-i am pretty sure i sprained my big toe. and i have a huge scar now from helping move heavy bags of building equipment.

well that is all i can think of right now. i will find something cool to write about this week.

score one for dixie.

2 months and endterms

Hey everyone, yesterday was the mark of my 2nd month here, woot woot. the half way mark is not until sunday though. nothing to crazy going on here though. Endterms started for the school though, so today i just sat in classes waiting for kids to get exams done. after this week, we will have vacation till may, sooo kinda excited. i plan on getting missions press stuff done during that time and doing American things in Nairobi. this trip is going by so fast, but I am loving it. i was able to call home yesterday morning which was a nice way to kick off my day. i watched the sun rise which was amazing while talking to my mom and sister.
so since there is not a lot to report on this week, i will make another fun list. this weeks list is called "what i wish i brought with me to Kenya"

i brought a lot of stuff to kenya, but there is even more that i wish i brought.

1. canned food. after eating the same thing everyday for lunch and dinner, you get kind of sick of it. with canned food, i would be able to mix it up a bit with maybe clam chowder, or maybe corned beef hash in a can, or something.

2. more clothes. i put myself into "missions trip mode" when i packed my bag. only so many shirts got to come with me on account of weight and room. i had a vision in my head of having to trek through the jungle carrying the bag to my house. but now that i am here, i kinda wish i had a few more shirts. and maybe another pair of shorts.

3. more 550 cord. i find tons of uses for paracord when i am at home. but here, i can find 10x that. they make good shoelaces, you can use it to hang up a net for sleeping, keep things tied down etc. it's crazy. so more is always good.

4. more zipties. i put before that zipties are the smartest thing you can bring. they still are, but i only had so many. we had a screen that keeps bugs out of our room. well one night, it fell down and we were invaded. i grabbed my zipties and quickly put the screen back on, only to find that i used all of them. rats.

5. headlamp. i destroyed my room before i left looking for my headlamp. i sadly left without it. i felt like andy when he can't find his woody or buzz doll right before he moves away in toy story. and everyday i kick my self more and more for not destroying more. the power goes out a lot, so it would totally come in handy....if i had it.

6. more batteries, i planned on being able to go without a lot of electronics while here, but in reality, my flashlights are my friend, and they need power to live. over kill is under rated.

7. beef jerky. you don't miss it till it's gone, but meat is pricy and hard to find here. jerky though is easy to keep good. i miss the taste of dried beef though. pemmican is where it's at.

8. a bigger mosquito net. the net i have now on my bed is a tight fit. if i move my arm a little bit, i am giving it up to the little buzzing death dealing monsters that wait for little mistakes to find you and attempt to eat you.

9. more books. i brought 3 books: American Buffalo by steven rinella, Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxes, and under the over pass by some guy i forget. again, to save room and weight, i took out a few books. when i got on the plane, i knew i would finish American Buffalo before i landed. 2 hours before i landed in Nairobi, i read the last page. sad day. since then i have read the book now 5 times, it's a good book, but i have to much time on my hands. Bonhoeffer is being read every other week to savor it. i am half way through. and i am saving under the over pass for the flight home. all i can say is maybe some Jim Harrison or Hemmingway would be nice.

10. more photos. the kids love seeing photos of America. i have one that they like to look at for what seems like forever. a few more would of been nice.


my uncle John gave me the basics of packing for hiking trips. i used every little bit of knowledge that i could for packing for this trip. the pack was under weight, and i have everything i need. but man, 4 months is a long time to go without some things. sacrifice right?

well that's all for now. toodles.

St. Pats and Nairobi after dark

well, um this is a bit awkward, it's been a while since i posted last. errr.
we have had limited power this week so it's been kinda fun. this week has been filled with a lot of work, getting ready for endterms, and the date keeps jumping around so we are always on our toes. i have 3 bible classes to make endterms for, and the review was not as fun. those 2 years sitting in mr youngs theology class in high school though was perfect for me. just teaching what he taught me. but i keep having dreams where he gives me test that i am not totally prepared for, but still am able to do somewhat good. saturday i went into Nairobi to meet with Beto Paz who is the head of Missions for East Africa. we met at village market which is the nicest place in east Africa. its by the embassy and very very very white. nice areas to eat, wifi, super nice shopping areas, it's awesome. we were able to talk for a while about ministry options in Kenya and the needs of the leaders. very good stuff to work off of. after we were done I was in no hurry to leave, so i walked around, went to a naku mart which operates like the black market, they will never have the same food twice. i found airplane cans of pepsi, something tells me if i went back, it would not be there again. i found corn, which does not grow here, they have jerky, which is not made here. it's crazy, but i loved it. i bought a thing of french bread and ate that for a snack and then went in for pizza. so strange to eat real food. i also was able to meet up with my dear friend Jessie Hamilton who i met last time. Jessie was here for 6 months while going to school here. she is still in high school but she almost runs kenya. we were able to chat for a while and she gave me American food, always good. later at the matatu station, while getting poured on by rain, i finally fought for my spot on the last bus home, that took an hour and a half to get to ruai. i got home at 10 pm ish and was beat, wet, and happy about my trip. so that's last weekend in a nutshell.

post more later. and keep your eyes open for pics on facebook.

yippie skippy

Hills, mangoes, and menergy

Hola dear friends, it has been a while since I last posted. We found out that we must top up the internet account every month on monday, and just now found refills to do it. I have had a very interesting week with a good amount of traveling. I will try my best to tell you everything.

Last friday, my housemates and I went with a church that we go to for bible study on friday nights called AIC. It's a satellite church of Africa Inland church, which has been around since 1895. the trip was to a Mountain area called Kwambiti, which is the burial site of the first missionary to East Africa. We did not know much about it before we left but as soon as we got there, we started learning a lot. We learned that it takes 6 hours to get there, and you can fit 22 people into a van made for 14(not comfortably though).Another fun fact is vans cant negotiate incredibly rocky roads, which then calls for the following; grab your things and start walking. So we made the hike up to the church, walking aimlessly until someone said which way to go. After a while, we finally made it. We left at about 6 and arrived there at 1:30 am. We were fed a very nice dinner of Kasava root and modacoi. We then went to sleep at 2:30 am. The area just received power last December, and it has still yet to reach the church we were staying, which is also an AIC church. Everything is lit by kerosene lamps which you don't care about when your dead tired. In a large classroom, all 22 men slept on mattress pads, me included. The girls had a very similar set up, just up a little higher then us. When we woke up at 5 am, to the sound of the pastor declaring it was time for morning glory, I almost understood the feeling of Muslims that wake up for morning prayer before the sun arises. We all headed in to the church and had our very early morning service. As soon as that was over, I debated if I could work in an extra hour of sleep while everyone else was getting ready. It did not work out so well. As soon as the sun came up though, we were able to see the area surrounding us. The church was in the middle of a valley that seemed to keep rolling forever. Everything was green and the trees were massive. Mango trees plagued the hills like weeds, and the flowers were massive. We then got to see breakfast, which was Aero root, bananas and sweet potato and of course tea. Since the nearest super market is a few hours drive, everything we ate was as fresh as fresh could be. After breakfast we broke into teams and started the door to door ministry. At home, door to door means going in a neighborhood and knocking on doors, but in the mountains, it means trekking up steep hills and making searching fields to find people. Since the area is beautiful, and the hiking part is always fun, it was a nice trip. The elevation though killed me for the first 45 min, but after getting used to the high elevation, I was able to climb like a billy goat. Each house we stopped at was a very simple dwelling, stone walls and thatch roof. Most families have gardens and keep a good supply of crops growing year round. The people though are some of the nicest people I have encountered ever, after we talked with them and prayed with them, we would leave with a bag of mangos, avacados or anything from their own garden. After 3 hours of busting up hills, we headed back for lunch. I shared an avacado with a teacher who teaches here with me named Zadak, who also worked as my translator, tour guide and sherpa for the walk. Avacados here are bigger and cheaper then what we get in America, the inside is sweeter too. As we cool down from the intense heat, we get the word that the crusade, which was the whole point of this trip, is already starting. The crusade point is actually about a mile away from where we are staying. So again, the walking commences. A crowd of maybe 50-60 people show up as soon as the sounds of the African style keyboard start blaring through the speakers. The crusade was all in Kikumba and translated into Kiswahili, so I was pretty much out of the loop. After that was done for the day, we headed back and I was asked to give the message for the evening devotion, which I assumed would be just our group, but turned out to be the whole church and everyone who was at the crusade. I spoke for about 15 min on hope with the help of a translator. It's fine to speak slowly and in blocks so the translator has time to think, but I almost laughed every time I said something, and he would give me a blank stare and say “Amen?”. We when received dinner, which I still cannot believe. Staple foods are big here, Ugali, beans, maize etc. is a lot of what you can expect where ever you go. But there are a few staple foods that I cannot get enough of, rice served with stew and chapatti. And that is what they gave us. I was about to explode, it's 10 pm, we are all tired, I am trying to sleep on a church pew, and all I can smell is chapatti. But it's not only rice and stew, there is also a good amount of Goat meat being served with it. I ate all I could till the power went out and we all went to bed, perfect ending to a long day. Sunday had the same start as Saturday, 5 am wake up, but this one included mangos, so already a better day. That is until we partook in the 6 hour service the church does. I understand it's Africa, where services go for hours and hours, I can dig it, and on most Sundays, I welcome it. But when your working off of a few hours of sleep, it never ends. At about 2 pm, when the service is about to wrap up, they start a string of events which will always sit with me.

Round 1: the visiting church dance. The point of this is to show the appreciation the visiting church has for the hosting church. 2 lines go down the isle and everyone just dances to the front and then crosses. Usually no big deal, but it is when the only 3 white people the kids have ever seen and the first ones in a long time the adults have seen and trying their hardest to dance like the dance leader. It's then just better then a circus, the people laugh and cheer as we put as much effort into is as we can. We of course are also trying not to laugh, but not as easy.

Round 2: Church auction. I heard stories of church auctions before, people donate crops and things to the church and the church auctions them off to raise money. Simple enough. This one though runs a bit different then what we do in America, instead of having just the winner pay, every bidder, including the losers, have to pay. So if your going in on it, make sure you throw down big. The church though asked if anyone would want to buy something for the whites, which they did. We walked away with a bag of mangos, 1 egg and a bag of green leaves. Hospitality here is like no other.

Round 3: Shake the white mans hand. This was by far the most interesting thing I have done here. They invited the 3 of us to the front to basically greet the whole church, but it's cause white people there are just as rare as white bison being found anywhere. So might as well take advantage of it. We shook the hands of everyone willing to shake our hands, everyone was of course excited. More fun for us.

We then made our way to the crusade, but not without eating some githeri mixed with goat stock. Awesome stuff. The crusade had maybe 100 people that came from a lot of places. At the end of the crusade, everyone walked away with FMP materials like gospel bracelets and tracts. We did not leave there until 11 pm, and made it home at about 5 am Monday morning. Totally worth it though.

Hurray for adventures.

Hello hello, time for tales of fun facts from Africa. The first one is that when your internet minutes must be renewed every month. We did not learn this till Monday and did not get our internet back till Friday. So yeah, it's fine now.  We have had a pretty fun week other then that. I taught the kids about Ash Wednesday and Lent, but I don't think they will give anything up for Lent. We made our own stew on thursday night. It contained pumpkin, onions, garlic, beef stock, kasava root, potatoes. Two of the girls from grade 6 helped us make it cause they said we were doing it wrong. They did 90% of the work that would of taken us a lot longer to do. After it was done, we poured it over rice and had a pretty nice meal. Friday we had a Kesha, which is an all night prayer meeting. It goes from 10 pm to 5 am, and includes everything from singers, dancers, prayer (duh), and preachers and of course tea and mandazies . I brought in a thing of strong coffee to keep me going, so that helped a lot. By 5 am though, I was beat. Saturday was a very laid back day. I went to the butcher down the road and bought beef and onions and we made a pretty nice dinner. We added some boiled potatoes to it and it made it very nice. Even though I asked for 10, the lady gave me a very large bag with at least 50 instead. I gave the rest to the kitchen to use for dinner tonight. No real updates other then that, I am now the bible teacher for class 8. I am really moving up in the world. I bought shampoo that is Nivea brand but all in Arabic other then the words, "Menergy" and "Rebellious" i like it. smells like death though. Also bought African peanut butter, which is kinda expensive. not as good.

So till something interesting happens.

orphans on a tight rope and a 1 month anniversary

i think the title of this entry is the best so far.

Yesterday was a very fun day, i gave the sermon, was able to right a very very long message to an awesome someone, and then the fun started. the power went out ("hakuna Stema") so bill busted out his slackrope, which is a "hacky sack" version of a tight rope. he put it between two trees and in no time, had 30 kids wanting to go on. at first it tough for them, but after a few times, they could clear the 13' of rope in a few sec. they still held on to our shoulders but they had it down. i tried it and did not do to bad, bill said it's tougher for tall people, but seeing as how everyone calls him kamow, which means tall warrior in swahili, i figured it take a good bit of practice.

before i left, my friend Holly Peters, the same one who named my blog, said she wanted to do a pen pal type thing but with email. we finally got to pick back up with it earlier this week which was a nice change of pace to the average day. to stop and read about stuff my friends are doing back home makes me feel more at home. i love updates about home just as much as you guys love updates about here. 

to fill in space i will tell you about how to buy soda here.
you have 2 options when buying soda, glass or plastic. plastic is easy but cost more, seeing how recycling is tougher to do here. glass though is a bit tougher. i noticed the last time i was here, that bottles get reused for soda here, after being cleaned of course. new lables are applied and they are refilled. since they don't have to make glass bottles new as much, it requires a down payment on a glass bottle. so you buy your orange fanta or coke or krest or something, you pay 125 schill for it, once you drink it, and want another, to to a shop and return the bottle, then you exchange for another soda and only pay 25 schill. the bottles get picked up and go through the process again. there are always 2 sizes, 300L and 500L, the bigger the bottle you bring back, the more money off. it's a neat system. though i have not since i got off the plane.

random fact updates

-i am reading a book that i got from the school book depository called "3 cups of tea". i suggest you go out and buy it and read it. it's amazingly good.
-i have not been able to buy salsa making materials yet.
-i will be gone this weekend on an outreach in the mountains with a church that my housemates introduced me too.
-i learned how to make mud bowls today
-today is my 1 month anniversary of being in Kenya woot woot. now 3 more to go.

okay that's all

bye

ich bin ein American

'Well hello again all, my blog post are becoming more frequent because of days off and having the internet. Things have been interesting around here this week, I have had classes canceled due to mid term exams, which means a lot of free time. Next week should be normal. We only have till the end of march though to teach, and then mid terms again, and then a long break. I will use my break chilling out in Nairobi and doing whatever I can for FMP. My highlight of the week is still the dinner we cooked on Tuesday. I will attempt to make salsa tomorrow if possible, they have everything I need to make it but who knows if it will come out the same. My roommate and I have been spending an hour each night hanging out in the boys dorm before they go to bed. It's a lot of fun because the boys are crazy and wild even though they should be in bed soon. Some boys wake up just to hang out. They have been trying to teach me Swahili, but it's not as easy as it sounds. I now tell them “mimi ni simba” which means “I am Lion” in Swahili. I taught them a few words of German and Spanish but it was a no go. It reminds me of kids camp. We show the kids our facebook photos of us and our friends, and it blows their minds. They like the white people. I went on google maps and showed them where we were but from space. We also showed our homes to them on google maps, maybe not the best choice. They like CNN, and like learning about things other then where they live. I might push to teach an intercultural studies class maybe in May, but who knows. A lot of them think London is a country, they only think that because of where Soccer teams go. It is funny to hear them yell at the planes that fly over the school, if it's Emirates, they will yell “Fly Emirates!!!!!!” because thats the slogan that goes on kenya soccer jerseys. We finished the bootleg version of the Expendables yesterday, I laughed when you could see people standing up in front of the screen, just to prove that it was shot in a movie theater in Russia. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode. I was able to surf the internet like an American yesterday too. I read a few articles on roasting pigs and one on skinning goats. I am preparing to by something big for the kids before I leave, and meat is an awesome thing to by them since they never really get it. A Goat is around $25, so maybe for Easter I could toss in a live goat for dinner. The rule is the person who gives it has to slaughter it. I thought it could be a really nice example for an Easter message. Before I leave though in June, I was thinking a pig might be nice to do, we have the supplies to roast it the Hawaiian way, plenty of pineapple, red onions, garlic etc. I think it can be done. I will have to talk to the cook about it, but knowing him, he would be up for it, he might even throw in his expertise into it and make it the best pig anyone could ever eat. The cooks name is George, and he's one of my favorite people here. He is calm and collected always, but will make me laugh some how when ever I set foot in the kitchen. We just made him a facebook this week. He grew up watching the NBA during the Jordan years, he likes American cartoons and can cook some of the best meals. We like to use really bad swahili around him to make him laugh.

The list of kids I would like to adopt is getting longer everyday. It's hard not to love them. It makes me happy that I won't leave for a while, and I told them the other day in service, that yes I miss America but this is where God wants me, and this is where I want to be. They think my watch is the most interesting thing in the world. But even I think that. I made my first goal in soccer last week in a quick pick up game with a few of the kids. Proud moment, but Lucy says they let me score. I am getting better at it......kinda. the soap opera we watch ended last night, so we have to find something else to do at 8 pm. My dreams lately have been varied and always strange. Last night I had a dream that I was talking to a bunch of my friends about butcher shops but kept getting interupted when trying to talk. The other night I was at a gun show and some protest group proved that you could steal guns easy from gun shows, and I started yelling “those are loaded” but no one responded. I hope the dreams get less weird, I would love that. But till then, yay for American dreams.

Bill and I were tasked with leading the service on wednesday, which was the first one to be done on a wednesday. We had some idea of what we were doing, but it all worked out. i turned to him and said "2 mzungu's lead a service". I felt like it was a youth group wednesday night at cornerstone, but i did not get to do any lame jokes. I love being able to speak here, since i always have at least a few backup sermons ready. i talked about Jonah on wednesday with the kids, my favorite sermon i have ever done. i did it in front of orange lutheran last year, and was more then happy to do it again.

Love you all.

more updates soon.

in search of goat meat part 2

3 weeks ago I consumed my first kilo of grilled goat meat. last week my roommate and i did it again, and i was just as happy. but this week i wanted something a bit different. my roommate bill and i went up to junction to get a few things. while waiting at the post office while bill was sending somethings, i could not help but watch one of the many butchers of the 1/8th of a mile strip of shops clean a very large hunk of meat. she went over it with a small knife like a someone shaving. so delicate and caring, she striped the meat of everything that was not good to eat. my stomach wanted meat. after stopping off at a few stands, we bought onions, garlic and herbs, just to have to mix into dinners and what not. we hit on the subject of getting a few kilos of meat for dinner, but bill said "why not get it raw and cook it at home?". so after stopping at the butcher shop and being tempted by the already cooked meat on the grill, i walked inside to buy the freshest meat i could. i put up 2 fingers and as clear as i could, said "2 kilos of goat". the man inside became so excited, he grabbed a fresh leg, and started chopping and weighing it. "1. 3 kilos" he kept saying, i guess 2 was not possible. after some talks with bill, he dropped the price from 700 schill to 580. Tip 1: always bring the smarter American with you when buying anything. we took the meet home, but not without striking fear into a few passing goats by showing them their own departed brothers. when we got home, i went to our resident expert chef, Lucy. i sometimes call Lucy our team mom, because she takes care of us much like a team mom would do for her sons basketball team. Lucy lives on the premises with her 2 daughters and the 3rd one going to a nice school close by. Lucy has agreed to show us how to prepare the meat and make it the best possible. she would know, the food she produces is out of this world good.

she starts by boiling the meat in a pot for 10-15 min to get the meat to fall off the bone. already i start to get really hungry. after it's done, she transfers the meat to a tray and starts slicing as much of the meat away from the bone. not long after hitting the tray, there is a nice pile of meat. she then takes the onions and garlic and herbs we bought and throws them into an empty pot. i should mention the water that the goat was boiled in is being saved almost as a stock for future meals. we heat the pot and toss in the meat. Lucy says to let the meat sit on top so the fat melts off and cooks the onions and garlic below it. we begin to stir it, not wanting anything to burn. it's like stiring almost solid conctrete, the bones work against us stirring, but when Lucy stirs, it's like stirring butter. she tosses in salt and beef seasoning and we are told it's done. the kitchen smells like the kitchen in Heaven smells like, fresh herbs and meat. we portion it out among us (giving Lucy the most) and finally we sit down to eat. the first bite hits me like a nothing else, this is the best meat i have ever eaten. i devour my meal while savoring the intense flavor of the meal. I am somewhat depressed when i took my last bite. but the satisfaction that the entire meal brought with it is unforgettable. on the way to the boys dorms to say good night, the 2 dogs who live here, can't help but follow the smell of the goat that has sunk into my clothes. the boys ask why i smell like meat, i don't respond.

I love kenya.  

the devils mangos

salaama my dear blog readers.

it's sunday evening here and i have locked all the kids out of the computer lab just to write this. it turns out that one of the mangos I got from the city, has been possessed by the devil and has made my stomach upset for a good 4 days now. but it soon will pass. i am starting week 4 here which seems crazy to me, because it only feels like i got here last week. it is unknown if i will be teaching after the semester ends in april, so it could be only a month more of class time work. my daily devotions have turned into one man bible studys that last for an hour or two. there seems to be a lot planned for the up coming months at Jubilee, a big Gospel group from South Africa is supposed to be coming, just for the kids, and so are a lot of news cameras. so updates should come soon about that. my next months here are packed with big things, i am hoping for at least 4 skyping events with youth groups, meeting up with friends from America, getting coffee with pastors and a handful of outreaches. i am excited to be able to look back in 4 months and see what went on during this trip. but the end of month one is only a week away, so i better get to work now. Home is starting to feel closer and closer with the amount of emails and facebook things people are sending me. when i first got here, my roommate talked about having dreams at night of him going back home but only for a day. at first i thought he was crazy, but then i started having them. the other night, i had one where i was visiting home trying to get everything ready before i left to come back that night. which is weird, because i had dreams of Africa ever since I got back the first time. it was strange for the kids to see pictures of winter camp, since the only snow they can see is the snow on Mt. Kenya. a boy in the library asked me today what hotdogs were, but he knew who Carmen Electra was. i have found that the negetive things of America have been imported to kenya, but yet Americas good things, have yet to be sent over. some boys did not even know that sports illustrated was sports oriented, they thought it was a swim suit magazine. so many of the kids want to come to America, but we tell them that we left America because we think Kenya is much cooler. i pray for this generation of Kenya.

updates and pic's to come. so far not that many updates, and not that many pic's.

ok bye.  

whats up week 3

Well hello again. It's officially week 3 here now. Time will go by quicker now that I have a way to talk to the outside world. It was strange going on CNN today to look at what is going on outside of the school. The kids are going through midterms right now so almost all my classes are doing that right now. I was able to video chat with Phil and Sarah this morning, but not using Skype, by using Ichatchurch.com (shameless plug). Though they could not hear me, I heard and saw them clear as day. So things are looking up. The banana pile that was brought Tuesday is slowly becoming smaller and smaller by the hour. I went to sleep at 8 last night because I did not feel well, and did not wake up till 8 this morning. Luckily I did not have any classes to teach. I got awesome news today that my friend Jessie Hamilton is coming to Nairobi in March, so I have an awesome hang out day to look forward to. My roommate is saying that he thinks March will go by quick, but we will see. 2 new goats came into the school yesterday, I think one needs to be eaten cause it's a pain in the butt, but no one agrees with me.....other then the cook. I waiting for my pineapple and my mango to ripen so I may devour them accordingly. It's a good patience tester. I know winter camp is this weekend and I am sad that I cannot be there, but I am excited for what is going to happen up there. My missions beard is coming in nicely, though the high school boys keep saying I should shave, but they can't grow facial hair very easily, I think they are jealous.

So I decided that since this update is not much of an update, I will spruce it up a bit with another travel tip list. This one is regarding top things to bring on a missions trip to Africa.

Africa missions trip packing list.

-study bible-if you are asked to speak, it's always nice to throw in fun biblical tidbits that no one knows.

-mini bible-if your walking a long way just to get to a bible study, don't take the 3 pound study bible, take the mini one and save your arms.

-snacks- you can only eat so much ugali before you reach the breaking point. Load up on nature valley bars, freeze dried food, fruit, and anything that will keep. It will save your life.

-Garlic powder- put this on your dinner and all you taste is garlic, it's a life saver.

-zip ties- zip ties are a cousin of duct tape, it fastens anything to anything as tight as it can go. They are quick, light, and cheap, what's not to like? Best used when putting a tarp back up against a window to keep a swarm of bugs out of your room.

-books- the longer the better, when the power goes out, you will love every page.

-bug repellent- mosquitoes can poke through nets, deny them this by taking a shower in bug repellent.

-Gold bond powder- helps you keep dry, that's all I am saying.

-Swiss army knife- has everything you need and ever will need.......except internet.

-really good flashlight- for finding your way through power outages and for finding hedgehogs in the grass.

-cheap watches- if you take a trip into the market, and don't want to deal with money, trade the watch and get your weight in souvenirs. You can scribble “omega” or “Rolex” on it just to mess with them.

-legal pads-come in handy when writing letters, directions, list or anything else you need. And you look important carrying it around.

-boots- a big black pair makes people think your some Jack Bauer knock-off, which always works in your favor cause no one will want to rob you.

-pack of cheap white t-shirts- neutral, comfortable, easy, and you can toss them out when your done or make it a wash cloth.

-empty plastic bottles- work a t-shirt inside of it, fill it wish water and laundry detergent, and in 30 min you have a clean shirt. Also a must for quick showers, punch some holes in the top and let it rip.

-stuff sacks- usually used for camping, but for traveling, a months worth of clothes goes into one bag and makes it the size of a weekend bag.

-lots and lots of pens-no need to explain.

-a very large first aid kit- when the closest hospital is an hour away with no traffic, become your own doctor. Also needed, military first aid manuals, they are dumbed down for everyone.

-550 cord- it's used in parachutes and used by hikers, climbers, and those preparing for the apocalypse. It's strong, cheap, and can get it in 25' to 50' bundles. Used for strapping mosquito nets down, new shoelaces, or just to play with.

-Bungee cord- quick cloths line, quicker belt. Always nice to have.

-lighter- just cause it's always good to have.

-good, light backpack-hauls everything you want it to.

-clothes pins- needed for laundry, also a cheap clamp.

-cases-if it's important, put it in a case, airlines don't care about your iPod as much as you do.

-fellow Americans- Americans are nice to have cause they speak your language, and that means you have someone to talk to.

That's it for now, I will put more on the next time I have nothing interesting to put.

So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersahn, goodbye.

help out my housemates

So as you may know, i have 2 wonderful housemates named Bill and Liz. they have been here for 4 months and will be here another 4 months. double the ammount of time i will be here. one thing they want to do before they go home to vermont is make it to Europe for an overdue vacation. they are working 100% off of donations and i would love it if some of you could donate to help them reach their goal. they have helped me so much getting comfortable here.

here is their blog with the info to donate,

http://billandlizafrica.wordpress.com/

the last 2 weeks worth of blog updates

so i typed these over the last 2 weeks, but with no internet, could not post them, but now i do have internet, so yeah, enjoy.

Hello all, I know it's been over a week since I have posted. Internet is not as easy to come by here as it would seem. So anyway I will try to catch you up as much as I can. The orphanage is called Jubilee Children s center and it's in Ruai. We are about 45 min away from downtown Nairobi. The area is not the best of areas. Dirt roads go for miles in all directions, but there is the Ruai Junction about a mile away that has a quikmart and an ATM. The first day I was here, I helped paint the kitchen and then assisted in the burning of a field to clear brush and allow the dirt to be exposed for the rainy season. I have 2 house mates, Bill and Liz, both from Vermont who have been here since October and won't leave till around the time I leave. They have helped me with so much so far and are the only Americans for a while. On Monday I was made the bible teacher for Forms 1-3, which is their high school. It's wonderful being able to teach the bible class and I have a pretty nice schedule. The kids are adorable and I can't get enough of them. After school, I usually help out in the computer lab with Bill or open the Library for Liz if she can't do it. It's been a calm first week, but homesickness kicked in early. I already miss my family and friends and the simple things America offers. But then again, as much as I miss home, I know this is where God wants me, so that's where I'll be. I have made a few trips into town and experienced the area more and more. The local food is very good, I am hooked on a fried dough called Mdazes, and an new all time fav, Chipatti, which to put it simply, African tortillas. Yesterday I made my first trip into downtown Nairobi since I have been here. We walked around a lot and I was able to buy a internet stick, but later today we found out it does not work, so we will soon go back into the city and figure it out. 

It's Tuesday now and still no real internet yet. I have written my first test ever for one of my classes today and will review with them tonight. I am pretty excited, seeing as how they have not done any real bible class since the last teacher was here. I know that people are worried about my lack of communication since I have been here, and there are a few emails I need to respond to (Holly Peters cough cough). It's been 12 days since I landed here, but it seems like a month, though the days go by quick. I ate my first mango in country today, it had to ripen for 2 days which was the 2 longest days ever. It was the best mango I have ever eaten, you would of never known I bought it off the side of a busy street in Nairobi. Since I only have 1 class to teach tomorrow, I am going to get some grilled goat meat and fries at a butcher shop in Junction. On Saturday while in the city, I met a German girl who is working at an orphanage down the way from us, it was a chance meeting. I have slowed my reading down to a few pages a day just so I don't jump to far ahead and have nothing to read by the time I leave. I did get to do my first load of laundry yesterday, this would not be as big of a deal if there was a washing machine here. All it takes is 2 buckets of water, a bar of soap, a clothes line and some time. It's peaceful to do until you get a stubborn stain and then it's the most frustrating time. There really is no smog here, even though there is no such thing as a smog check here and all the cars spit out fumes like no other. One of the sheep here had a baby on Saturday and it's up and running around now. Nothing ceases to amaze me here. 

Since I have been here, there is one thing that seems to irk me. I have adapted to everything else, the shower from a empty sprite bottle, washing clothes with a bar of soap, and even the power outages. There is something else that I can't seem to kick, and that is the urge for meat. As a kid, meat was off limits due to the fact that my family were disciples to vegetarianism. I never really felt the strong urge for meat until I was 15 and severed my ties with vegetarianism. It was at that time that I tried meat. And I have yet to go back. Since then, I have tried my best to make up for lost time and eat every animal that I can. Cow, pig, chicken, etc. I have consumed my fair share so far. But here, meat is expensive for the average person to buy, so meat is rarely ever on the menu, and by rarely, I mean never. The other night though, I overheard my housemates talking about a time they traveled up to Junction and bought a kilo of Goat meat for 500 schillings. Junction is a half hour walk from where we are, and a 40 minute walk to the bank, so everything is within walking distance. Seeing as how 500 schillings is only about $6 back home, I had no reason not to go down there. So for a few days, I waited to ship off and find this meat. We went to Nairobi Saturday, so could not go then, Sunday I preached. Can't go then, Monday and Tuesday I had classes and review with my class. So Wednesday was my day. I taught one class in the morning and then had the day to myself. After class. I strapped on my boots, threw on my backpack with a full canteen in it, and took off. The walk felt like it went on forever, I walked down to the bank, got some money, stopped off at the quikmart, picked up some things, then finally made my way to the butchers shop. What I found is it's not just one shop, but several shops all next door to each other, which means that any white man that gets within 50 yards is bound to bombarded with offers of the best meat in Kenya. To make it easy I picked the first shop on the corner. His grill was laid out for every passing person to see what meat he was grilling, I decided he looked best. I looked for the butcher and couldn't seem to find him, finally without missing a step, he jumps up from a seat and runs to the grill ready to show me what he has. As I look at the grill, full legs of Goat are slowly roasting on an open grill, looking as good as any other meat I had seen on a grill. I asked what kind of meat it was. All he said was “meat”. Meat it is then. He ask if  I would like it off the bone, then without my response, starts chopping away. His wife comes out and says “Mzungu likes meat?”, I nodded and laughed. Several other butchers though will still attempting to get me to buy their meat, holding it in the air offering free samples, but for the sake of my butcher, I had to deny their offers. He wraps the meat up in a nice bag, I pay him and now it's a race against time to get home and eat this meat that has plagued my brain for the last week. When walking home though, I could only focus on all the goats that are tied to post on the side of the road just staring at me, knowing that I have a fallen companion of theirs wrapped nicely in a bag ready to eat. I finally sit down at the table ready to fill my stomach with the meat. As I open the bag like it's a Christmas present. I no sooner start eating, the first bite is all it took for me to be hooked. It had the perfect blend of salt and marinade which only complimented the Goat's already unique flavor. As I eat, it only reminds me of the lamb I eat at home. I finish the small bits of cubed meat, and start in on the bones. As I stare at the wonder of Gods own creation, I can't help but see the intricacy of the bone and tendons. The bone has a golden brownish hue to it, as I soon realize though, I am picking meat from the ankle of the Goat, which would be no problem in America, but let still holds a patch of fur the butcher missed. It did not stop me from eating, but it did make me think, “this is incredibly fresh”, the goat was probably killed that morning, only a few hours before I spotted it's leg sitting on a grill ready to be served. After I clean the bone of every bit of good meat, I head outside and toss the bones to the dogs, Fidel Castro and his girlfriend( we call him Castro because he was castrated only an hour before I arrived). The devour the bones in minutes, and enjoy the meat just as much as I did. I am now proud of the fact that I broke down the barrier of nervous American and made the leap into trying to attempt to see what the life of an average Kenyan is like. Of course, I will never be able to know what the life is like, I am only a spectator, but I got the taste of Kenya contained in that meat, the hard work, the sacrifice and the dedication it takes to make a living. It was the fairest of trades, he put food in my stomach so he could put food on the table.

So hello again, it's been another week without an update. We went back into Nairobi last Saturday but they said that all they could do was to call tech support and have it done buy Monday, but now it's Wednesday and still no internet. My housemates headed in again to take care of their own personal things, and said they would stop by and try again. I have been up graded to the 5th grade science teacher, which is a very nice position because the class is the best class here. I gave my 2nd test yesterday in bible for my 2nd bible class, the class average was 82% and the test was pretty tough. Easy to say that I am proud of them. It's been raining the last few days, but only at night. Sunday night the clouds came in and it started to downpour at about midnight. It was up in the 90's though that morning, when I was giving my sermon in church. Last night the rain sounded like heavy wind, but it never stopped. When I woke up this morning, my roommate ran in saying that the 5th grade class room flooded, we both ran down and took pictures. It was about 2 inches of water in the classroom. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever, and within 10 minutes had it cleaned out. The kids are a lot tougher then American kids, tell a bunch of 5th graders in America to clean all the water out of their classroom and they just look at you, tell these kids, and they have it done before class starts. The soil here is killing me though, it soaks up the water like a sponge and then sticks to the bottom of your shoes like nothing else, my shoes are caked with mud and are having to dry out just to get it off. I have adapted well to the shower in a bottle and to hand washing clothes, I am pretty much an expert. Dr. Joe, the owner of the school came back last Thursday from California. The whole area was cleaned before he got here, and school was canceled in the morning. Once and a while, my housemates and I get to eat the extra food from his dinners. Yesterday, someone dropped off 600 bananas here, 200 went to the kids, 40 to my housemates and I, and the rest were taken away for something else. The fruit here is one of my favorite things, the pineapple is the best I have every had, the mango’s are huge, and the bananas are sold in huge bundles. For valentines day, Bill and I bought chocolate bars for a few of the teachers, and seeing as how the chocolate here is so good, they were very happy. Instead of chocolate for us, a bunch of the kids picked the bogon via and gave us both a large amount of flowers. Bill and I also went into junction yesterday after school and bought more Goat meat, which we devoured like Vikings. On Saturday, after dealing with the internet problems, we met up with some friends from bible study and took a very long walk to a park that is home to a lot of monkeys, they grabbed food from us and ran around. I have a lot of pictures.  Everything has been fine here, and I have worked into my groove here. It's hard to believe it's only week 3 here, and that I have 15 more to go. I got to see my first bootleg DVD today, one of the kids got their hands on the expendables, it was in English, but the subtitles were in Swahili.   I promise that the blog will be updated more often as soon as the internet is fixed. As for all my facebook people, don't feel unloved if I don't respond right away, I do see your comments and messages but I don't have tons of time on the modem cause it's used for the school. Happy late 11th anniversary to Phil and Sarah, I wish I could have been there for it, or better yet, you be here for it. You will all know if my internet is good to go if you see this blog post.

Love you all.

p.s sorry Mom for eating all the Frenches onions in the pantry and not telling you.

things learned in the past 12 hours

Update, I have arrived in Switzerland. YAYY. so far it is beautiful here and everyone is nice and and the floor is clean and yeah. i had 2 seats next to me open on the plane so i got to stretch out to sleep. Nothing much else to report. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts, it's a boost of motivation for me.

well i have decided that i would like to share my knowledge and travel tips with you all. i have picked most of these up in the last 12 hours of flying and fighting the airport.

-Always plan for whole nations to be going through security the same time you are, so you don't have to run to your gate.

-if you are forced to run, make sure there are at least 2 American women racing you to the gate. you look less crazy and less of a threat to national security.

-eat all the food they give you for free on the plane. i mean everything, even the mini blocks of cheese, butter squares, cream cheese, jelly etc. it will save your life.

-make up games in your head while on long flights to fight off the crazy thoughts that come to mind. like how many times the guy behind you will kick your seat, or how much free swag can you get from the flight attendants.

-coffee, coke, tea and sugar are your friend at certain times of the flight. and always keep in mind the time that it is where you are landing, not where you left.

-while in the bathroom, ask your self questions like "if it says no smoking in the bathroom, why is there an ashtray?". also, check shelves in there for awesome goodies.

- if they offer movies, watch them, even if they suck, watch it.

-make up nicknames for everyone you see, like "swiss miss" or "dinnerlady doris' or even, "the language barrier would cause huge problems for our relationship".

-pillows and blankets can be used multiple ways, like extra backrest padding, extra armrest padding, and a silencer for snoring fellow passengers.

- always ease drop on the people next to you talking, then spread rumors about them to the rest of the plane, soon, everyone is on your side.

-always check the pocket in front of you, sometimes there is hidden treasure inside.

-bring a book with lots of pages.

-when you get on your plane, throw on your trusty bass pro shops hat just to tell everyone on the plane where your from.

-german always comes in handy.


well that's all i have for now. soon i'll have Africa tips and facts to share, but till then, ah-bye-bye.

27 hours.

Well, in 27 hours I will be on a plane, bound for Switzerland. After I arrive, I will spend 20 hours there, sleep, eat and then get back on a plane bound for my final destination and home for a few months, Kenya. This trip has been 6 months in the making, and I am only a little over a day away from executing the plan. But lets rewind and talk about where this all started.

In August 2009, I made my first trip to Kenya. I was the 3rd of 3 members going on this trip, the other 2, which i call my African parents, are Phil and Sarah Shipman, who are everything but African. Our goal was to talk to youth leaders and pastors and build a friendship to make way for a ministry called the "Promise Pac" that is a part of an organization called Foursquare Missions Press.. the basic function is to connect youth groups from other countries to youth groups in the United States through Skype and prayer. we spent about 2 weeks there, and then came home. Those 2 weeks gave me the missions bug. In those 2 weeks I got to meet missionaries, work with a medical team, work with a VBS, and fall in love with Africa. I still think about it everyday.

Fast forward a year, August 2010.   I am spending my summer days volunteering at Missions Press and working with Phil on none other but the "Promise Pac". Now Phil and Sarah are parents to the most adorable 6 month old I have ever seen. One day while at the press, I have a chance meeting that only God himself could of set up, they are 2 pastors from Kenya who run an orphanage, and need someone to help out. With the missions bug still eating away at me, I jumped at the opportunity. And that was where this whole thing started. After months and months of praying, everything fell into place. Funding came in quicker then i could of imagined. Prayer came even quicker.

So what seemed to be distant 6 months ago, is now almost close enough to touch. I said a lot of goodbyes Sunday at church, came close to letting the flood gates open while being prayed for in Kidstown, and had a perfect Sunday afternoon spent with my best friend. So in a few hours, I will pack my bags for the last time, eat my last fish tacos, and prepare to not see home till June. I'm a little nervous, but also excited. I am visiting the land where Roosevelt and Hemingway visited in order to escape the normal life.

I have a large list of tasks that need to be done while there. I am honored to be working with Foursquare missions press, who has trusted me with expanding the "Promise Pac" to Kenya, and distributing Gospel oriented tracts, teaching good and bibles. I also will be getting to live and work with an orphanage in any capacity they need me too. this trip the ultimate blessing to me, God has trusted me with all of this, and has trusted me to go by myself. and all i can do is say, praise God.