Long time no blog!

I apologize for falling off the face of the blog world! I have been quite busy the past few weeks and have some exciting news to share with you all even if it has nothing to do with my Kenya trip : ) So I am officially taking a time out to share what God has been doing in my life in America this month and then I promise I will continue were I left off on the other side of the world!

August 6-10 Grace Church put on Junior Day Camp for around 50 5th and 6th graders. I grew up going to Junior Day camp and have been a leader for the camp now for four or five years. I was blessed to be able to lead the green team with my dear friend Kayla Enabnit. We had 9 fifth grade girls on our team who were such a delight. I was so lucky to be able to have Sage Theule on my team, as I have had the privilege of babysitting her since the Theule family moved to SLO. I spend a lot of time with the Theule kids and have thoroughly enjoyed watching Sage grow into a beautiful young lady. We had a crazy week of fun (emphasis on the word crazy!) between the water slides, lake, boomers, beach, pool, bowling, and a crazy downtown scavenger hunt. However the neatest part of the week came Thursday morning when we took all of the kids to the Achievement House out by Cuesta College. The Achievement House is a place for mentally handicapped adults to come work and learn new skills. Most of the kids have never met adults with disabilities and it can be slightly uncomfortable for them. Each year we take the kids to do a service project out there. We are normally assigned hard work that the adults there are not capable of completing. Kayla and I talked to the girls ahead of time and told them that the people they would meet aren't 'weird' or even that different from them, but that God had created them to be just like they are and that He loves them just as much. We told the girls that because God had blessed us with strong hands and feet we were going to go bless others. My girls really took this to heart. We heard no complaints the whole day even though they were lifting heavy boxes over and over again. The girls filled the time with singing and encouraging words and genuinely loved all of the people we met at the Achievement House. It was such a neat experience for all of us.

Each morning before we start all of the fun we have a wonderful time of worship and teaching. This year Pastor Tim, Pastor Steve, and Pastor Ken taught the kids. The theme for the week was Jesus is Lord. Each morning the kids learned that Jesus is Lord over sickness, nature, death, and that Jesus is Lord of their lives as well. Two of the girls on my team accepted Christ and a third decided to rededicate her life to Christ! After the teaching time we had wonderful small group times. The week was a huge success and such a blessing to everyone involved. I can't wait to be able to have the same girls in my Mount Hermon cabin later this year for winter camp!

After Junior Day camp all of us leaders would get together and "plan" for the next day. Some days this meant transforming the youth room into an Army base, (The camp was Army themed this year and we literally had a real Army parachute hanging from the ceiling!) Other days our "planning" looked more like sipping hot chocolate while we filled water balloons for the beach day, eating dinner at McClintocks and then having a bonfire, or foolishly going to see Bourne Ultimatum at midnight when we had to be at church a few hours later : ) All this to say, we had a wonderful, busy, EXHAUSTING week!

The Monday after Junior Day Camp we received a phone call from the Foster Agency that my parents are licensed with. They called to ask if we could take in a five month old baby boy! Nancy Villa was over and helped me frantically find and wash any boy clothes we had (we were originally told we were only able to have baby girls because the crib is in my room so we had plenty of pink clothes and not many boy clothes!) My mom and I left to go pick him up and, in true Iunker fashion, took him straight to the church for a nursery through 2's and 3's parent meeting. I told him that if he was going to live with the Iunkers he would practically live at church! We our having a wonderful time with our new little man! He is so happy and fun and is keeping us very busy! I am in heaven and absolutely love having him around!

Monday the 20th I started school at Cuesta. I am taking a few classes this year and God willing will move to San Diego next fall to attend Point Loma's nursing program. I am the only Christian in my entire English class at Cuesta and the teacher asked me to write a paper explaining why if God is good he allows children to suffer. I am so excited to be able to be a witness to the class. We are currently discussing abortion and only one other person in the class is Pro Life. I am stoked to see what God will do this semester.

So that is an overview of what I have been up to and my excuses for not blogging lately : ) Now it's back to Africa... but the baby just woke up so we'll have to wait.

Monday June 25th

Okay, so I wish I could tell you that whatever I was sick with was just some 24 hour bug, and that I woke up on Monday feeling marvelous. However, that would be lying because I was up all Sunday night, and still had a horrible fever and was still very sick on Monday. I was so glad that Monday was our day off. On Tuesday we were leaving to stay with the Massai people, which would be hard work and very uncomfortable, so Monday was time for a little R&R. We were going to go to a Giraffe house and an animal orphanage, but I couldn't even eat or drink without getting sick so I was leaning towards staying home. However, I decided that it would be a relaxing day either way and giraffes are my favorite animal so I might as well go.I remembered when Lance got really sick in Iraq and had to keep going out on missions, so I figured that if he could fight in 142 degrees being that sick, then I could go stare at animals.

We only stayed at the Giraffe house for 2o minutes or so. First we got to feed the giraffes, and by feed I mean kiss. Giraffes eat acacia trees which have huge four inch thorns on them, so their saliva is antibacterial to heal the cuts in their mouths. This being said, we held the giraffe food with our mouths and let them lick away. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Then we listened to a guy talk about the three different kinds of giraffes and where they live and what makes them unique. I wish I could tell you what he actually said, but I could hardly listen and was concentrating too hard on not falling asleep. I did enjoy petting and feeding the giraffes though. God is so creative isn't he? Giraffes are just so....strange.

We were going to spend the rest of the day at an animal orphanage, but we were all pretty exhausted and our matatu drivers knew of an elephant orphanage nearby. We decided to go there instead of the animal orphanage. By the time we got to the elephant orphanage there was only about 10 minutes left before they put the elephants away. We saw quite a few baby elephants there and were able to pet them and watch them play soccer! This was the first time we had seen other white people in Kenya (besides some of the missionaries we had been working with) and we almost felt out of place!

After a couple minutes the elephants left and we decided to go back to Ramsey and Vickey's (a missionary couple's) house and hang out. It turns out that Vicky, the missionary who lives there, was sick with whatever I had and had spent all Monday morning in the hospital! She had just got home before we came over. We started watching the Jonah Veggie Tales movie, but I fell asleep within two minutes, I didn't wake up until the credits were rolling! Up until that point I had not slept for that long of a period of time since we had arrived in Kenya! The rest of my team ate dinner there and we were able to meet one of the missionary's husband, Vincent. Vincent is Kenyan and he married a girl from San Luis Obispo named Andrea. Andrea is from Calvary SLO and has been living in Kenya for a few years. They are the couple whose wedding picture was in the Tribune on New Year's Day this year after they got married in Avila. Vincent is hands down the funniest guy I have ever met. You know those people who don't look like they will be funny, so you don't ever know when they are joking? That's Vincent. I believed whatever he said because he was so serious about it. He enjoyed taking advantage of my gullibility (is that a word?) and was ruthless to me for the rest of the trip, but he was so fun. I loved Andrea and Vincent and would love to go back and stay with them for awhile. We were able to work with Andrea's ministry later on in the trip (which I will eventually get around to blogging about).

We had to leave the Vule's house somewhat early because we weren't really supposed to be out after dark (for safety reasons). Monday night was a particularly bad night for me, but it was a blessing that I had my own little room to be sick in and didn't have to wake people up all night. I was bummed because I wanted to sleep well before we went to the Massai the next day. However, like always, God used my non-sleeping time to teach me what I needed to learn. I was looking up some of the verses that have helped me through all my surgeries and trials the last three years, and was reading in 2 Corinthians (2 Cor. is a must-read when you are suffering. Chapter 12:9&10 especially) but I came across these verses: "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had recieved the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8&9) Now of course a fever and throwing up every half hour does not lead to despairing life itself, and I am not saying that that is how I felt, however, it can get rather draining after two days. So as I sat on my bed with a trash can and my Bible, I realized that this was so exciting! Here I was in a third world country, serving the Lord, and there was no way I could possibly rely on my own strength the next few days. At home I have to rely on God to get through the pain caused by my leg each day, but now I would have to rely on God for, well.... everything. The next few days I would not only be in pain, but I would have to eat anything the Massai ladies made for me, no matter how sick I was. I would be without any form of comfort whatsoever; no bed to go lay down in, no shade to rest in, no anything. I would be two and a half hours away from any medical care if I needed it, and I would have to be serving and showing God's love to a group of people that I could not even communicate with (the massai people speak their own tribal language, not Swahili which we had been learning the whole time). The fever had taken every last ounce of energy I had left and I could hardly lift my head I was so sick, so there was absolutely no way I could possibly get through the week on my own strength. And to be quite honest, that is the very best place to be. With that I closed my eyes just in time to hear Deborah walking down the hall to come wake me up for the day.

Sunday June 24th

Abigail, Robbie and Elizabeth's daughter

the boys "making room" for more of Elizabeth's cooking. ^^

Sunday morning we woke up early and went to a Maasai market. These markets are all over Nairobi and are similar to swap meets. You can buy just about anything there. It was so exciting to barter with the vendors! I got some amazing deals on all sorts of Massai weapons for the brothers including spears, knifes, shields, and rungus. Rungus are big ivory clubs that the Massai boys have to kill a lion with to become a man. Can you imagine sending your little son out with nothing but a club and telling them to go find a lion! I also bought some fun African clothes and jewelry for some girls I babysit and some neat African print baby carriers for our foster-baby-to-be. I also bought plenty of earrings and bracelets that the ladies made.

The vendors wanted anything that came from America and would trade things for gum, pens, or anything else we had. The biggest hit was peanut butter. They were so fascinated by it and you could buy anything you wanted for a jar of Skippy! One man wanted 8,000 Schillings for this huge Massai knife but when I told him I wouldn't pay that much he said he would give it to me if I gave him my leather Gap bracelet that I had bought for just a few dollars! Needless to say some man in Kenya is wearing a Gap bracelet and I brought home an enormous knife for my brother!

The most memorable part of our time at the market was getting proposed to! I had been warned ahead of time that this could happen, and that the men aren't joking. They want to marry an American girl so they can come to America. Apparently the blond hair doesn't help either. The man was very forceful and would not take no for an answer. From then on when men started to ask questions I told them I was already married.

After we were done at the market we drove to a church that one of the missionaries, named Robbie, started. I was so excited for the church service, but a few minutes into worship time I got so dizzy I almost passed out. I asked Allysa if she had any food, but by the time she found some I couldn't even see anymore. It felt like I was looking into binoculars from too far away and everything was black except for a little circle. I snuck out of the room with Allysa and as soon as I got out of the doors I collapsed onto the floor. A lady came by and told us that there were couches downstairs that I could lay on. By the time I got to the couches I was shaking and shivering (I was later told that my temperature was over 103 degrees). Apparently I slept for quite a bit of time, but was still shaking in my sleep. I woke up to a lady telling me that I had malaria! Allysa tried to explain to her that we had not been out of Nairobi (Nairobi's elevation is too high for malaria) but the lady was not listening. She said that soon I would start hallucinating and that I needed to go to the hospital. Thankfully church had just ended and my team and the missionaries came down and explained that it wasn't malaria, I didn't even have a mosquito bite.

We left the church and drove to a place called Prestige to eat lunch with all of the missionaries as well as a nurse who lives with a missionary family there. The nurse made me drink a huge bottle of nasty electrolytes. I had to drink an entire liter in 45 minutes, however seeing that I was very sick I would throw it all up and have to start over. It was horrible. Elizabeth, Robbie's wife, decided to take me to her house while the rest of my team went to the Imani boys house (a house for the older boys who are transitioning out of the orphanage). However, to get to her house we had to take a taxi. Driving in Kenya is probably the single most dangerous thing I have ever done. There aren't any rules and people drive wherever they want as fast as they want. So here I am sitting in the front seat of a taxi going over 90 miles an hour on the bumpiest roads in the world, nasty electrolytes in hand, with a driver who doesn't speak English and doesn't understand what "pull over I am going to throw up" means. He finally got the idea when I started to open the door while we were still going. Thankfully we pulled over just in time.

I spent the rest of the day sleeping at Elizabeth's house. Because I could not keep water or electrolytes down, I was very dehydrated and the nurse said I needed to go to the hospital to get IVs put in. I laughed when she said that, on account of even the IV specialists at Standford can't get IVs in me. Thankfully they decided to wait a day to see if I got any better.

Later that evening the rest of the team joined me at Robbie and Elizabeth's to have dinner and fellowship with them. Then we went on their patio and had worship time next to the fire. It was so cold outside (Annie Johnson was using my burning head to keep her warm!) but it was nice to lay out under the stars and worship after such a frustrating day. The day had been a very humbling experience seeing that I hate being the "sick one" or the "weak one" and being the one who needs to be helped.

I was still not doing to well when we got home and was so thankful for my noisy toddler "pee proof" bed!! I was supposed to be drinking the electrolytes all the time but I figured it was getting somewhat pointless seeing that it didn't stay in me for any length of time so I went to bed instead.

More photos from Imani B

the older kids leading worshipthe toddler's eating lunch

the world's largest teeter totter!

the playground at Imani

the Mombassa

Mary

lunchtime

hackysack

Francis

the dancers

Saturday June 23

Saturday was our last day at Imani. Our whole team went to Imani B, the older kids house. We spent the morning just playing with all of the kids on the playground and taught some of the older ones how to play hackysack. Then we gathered all the kids and had worship time. Some of the older kids at Imani led us in Swahili worship. Then a few of the kids did a dance performance for us. I was amazed. I was a dancer on company for a long time and I have seen some of the best dancers in America, but none of the dancers I have seen were as naturally talented as these kids. They did several dances for us while a 7 year old boy played the drums. He was amazing as well. I honestly have never met a more talented group of kids.

After the dancing my team led a VBS program for all the kids. We taught them the story of the prodigal son and did a skit that reenacted the parable. We told them all about their Father in Heaven who loves and cares for them and will forgive them no matter what. We told them that there is nothing that they can do that will make God love them any more or any less. The kids listened really well. The concept of God as Father is very important to these kids as they are being raised without an earthly Dad.

When we were done with the skit and Bible lesson we split the kids into four groups to go to different stations. Each station focused on a different color that represented the gospel message. Blue represented sin, red stood for the blood of Christ, green was for new life in Christ, and yellow was for eternal life in Heaven. I taught at whichever station had one of the toddler/preschooler groups at it. The blue station focused on Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." I had the little kids raise their hand if they had ever pushed a friend, they all raised their hands (including me) then I asked if they had ever not listened to Mama Faith or an Auntie or Uncle. Again we all raised our hands. After a few more examples I told them that all of these things were called sin and that doing these things made God sad. Then I had them show me their sad faces. It was soooo cute! Then we talked about how in the prodigal son skit the son sinned when he used all his money for "bad games" and other bad things. After the lesson they covered their hands in blue paint and put their hand prints on a huge white sheet that had Romans 3:23 painted in Swahili on it. At the next station I taught about Romans 10:9 and told them that we didn't need to be sad anymore because Jesus had died for our sins and God has forgiven us just like the dad did in the story. Then they put red hand prints on another sheet. For the green station they learned that they now had new life in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and at the yellow station they learned Revelation 21:4 "and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

After we finished the stations we showed the kids the finished sheets (they hung them up in the orphanage as a reminder of what they learned) and reviewed what all the colors meant. Then we had the kids recite the verses in Swahili.

Later in the day we took the young kids to go play games and took everyone six and up and talked to them about what it meant to have faith and trust in God. We then stacked a chair on top of a table and had the kids climb up one at a time, close their eyes and fall backwards off the chair into Ramsey, Josh, and Jordan's arms. By the time they were done they all had a really good idea of what it means to take a leap of faith. They understood that even though it may be scary to trust God at all times, he is always there for them and won't let go of them. It was definitely a memorable object lesson!

Friday June 22nd

I was beyond ecstatic to find out that I would be able to go back to the baby house on Friday. When I arrived it was cold and overcast outside so the babies were not allowed to go outside. This meant I had my five little ones from the day before and got to help with about 20 more infants under 7 months! We carried the babies two at a time from their beds, bouncers, and swings to a room that had mattresses covering the majority of the floor. I spent the day with three other Aunties sitting on the floor holding babies. Yosef wanted to be held most of the day and didn't nap much unless I was holding him, so he spent the majority of the day in one of my arms. Unless we were feeding we always had two babies in our hands. I don't think I am ever happier than I am when I am holding two infants!

The babies at Imani are so content and happy! Not a single baby screamed for any length of time. They would just fuss a little when they were hungry or if they wanted to be held. They all lay really close together on the mattress so they sooth eachother. It is so precious! If one baby would cry the babies next to him would let him suck on their fingers or hold their hand. They were all younger than 7 months, but they instinctively knew to comfort eachother. I noticed as the kids get older they only get better at comforting eachother. The kids at Imani B (the older kids house) honestly loved and cared for eachother. Everything at Imani belongs to all of the children. They even rotate the clothes around so that none of the kids have a "mine" attitude. The kids don't expect anything and lack the sense of entitelment that so many American children have. I hope I can raise my kids to know that everything they have is the Lord's and that the only things that truly matter are God and people. So all of you mothers who are reading this, how do you practically instill these characteristics into your children?

Anyway, Thursday and Friday were definitely my favorite days (suprise!) and I would love to go back and work at the baby house for a longer period of time. I am trying to see what that would look like seeing that I am planning on spending the next five years at school to be a Neonatal nurse. I trust that God will provide the time and the finances if he wants me at Imani and I will continue to seek his will and his perfect plan for my future. Isn't it encouraging and releiving to know that God is in control and not my silly little self!

The pictures are of the outside of Imani A (the baby house) and two of the Imani B kids who were helping at the baby house. The kids are looking out at Kayole, the area Imani is located in.

Thursday June 21

Thursday we were finally going to Imani Children's Home. The lady who started the home, Mama Faith, was in Europe so we did not get to meet her. When she was 12 years old she saw a prostitute who was pregnant walking the streets everyday. Mama Faith knew that the prostitute would abandon the baby when she gave birth, so she convinced the lady to give her her baby when it was born! She hid the baby with her maid for the first few months until she finally told her own mom! Now she runs an orphanage with over 400 kids! While it is technically an orphanage, the kids always call it a children's home. They all have a Heavenly Father and consider Mama Faith their Mom. Thus they are not orphans. The kids also do not feel sorry for themselves. Imani is the best place that any of these kids could be.

The first day I was fortunate enough to be able to work at Imani A which is the infant house. Imani A is home to 40 infants. The ladies who take care of them are saints!! All 40 infants were lying on little beds outside under a shade tent. When it is warm enough all of the babies get to lay in the sun for a period of time and then nap in the shade. The "Aunties" lotion and massage them several times a day. I was assigned to the five youngest babies all just a few weeks old (they are not completely sure how old some of them are). I WAS IN HEAVEN!! My five were named Yosef, Rose, Esther, Abell, and Effron. Abell had been brought to the orphanage the week before by the police after someone found him somewhere. Esther is without a doubt the most beautiful baby I have ever seen and has the biggest smile and cutest dimples! Effron was the biggest and by that I mean probably 6 or 7 pounds. Rose and Yosef were about 4 pounds. From the moment I saw Yosef I wanted to adopt him! Granted, I wanted to take all 40 of the babies and all 400 kids home, but for some reason I had a special bond with little Yosef. I have never in my entire life felt such a deep love for any child just by looking at them. Don't get me wrong, I was in love with all of the babies there so I am not really sure how to explain it.

I spent the whole morning holding and cooing to the babies : ) and rocking them to sleep. Seeing that they are so tiny I could easily hold two at the same time. Then I fed them with another Auntie from the Philippines named Ann who is staying at Imani A for a year. We were outside with all of the infants so all 40 babies were being fed. It was crazy. After they ate the older infants had their diapers taken off (their diapers are big towels tied around them) and they all fell asleep. It was sad because all of the infants have really swollen stomachs and tiny arms and legs. Most of the babies had diarrhea constantly so when their diapers are off the Aunties are constantly changing the blankets underneath them. Several of the babies were very sick with AIDS (this is why I was not allowed to change diapers). A few were so sick and frail that the skin on their legs and bottom was wrinkled and hanging. They were the definition of 'skin and bones'. It was devastating to watch the babies nap and think about the reasons why they were in the orphanage. My five decided that they weren't going to nap and they just wanted to be held. I didn't mind : )

A few hours later some of the Aunties made us food and Chai and I was forced to leave the babies. I was so bummed, but I ended up having an amazing talk with our interpreter, Sammy, over lunch and tea. Sammy is a student at the Bible college in Nairobi and is one of the most interesting people I have met. We talked about the differences between America and Kenya and about Kenyan politics. Then we discussed abortion (one of my passions) and the lack of sanctity for human life in America. It was very interesting to hear his opinions and I will probably post later about some of the amazing conversations we had throughout the trip.

After we finished eating we met up with the rest of our team over at Imani B. Once the babies can walk and talk they stay at Imani B. We spent the rest of the day playing with the kids at Imani. The young ones were really tired so we all had sleeping preschoolers in our arms. We met some amazing children including Castro,who came to Imani with a broken spine and is now walking with a cane,and Emma, a joyful little preschooler living with AIDS. I adore the kids at Imani and can't wait to see them again!!

The pictures above were taken at Imani A by another person who went the last few years. They did not let me take pictures with the babies this year (so no pictures of my precious Yosef) but we were able to take pictures at Imani B the last day we were there. I will post those soon. The picture of the baby Gracie above will give you an idea of how little my five were.

Final Thoughts on Getherei

Seeing that Getherei was my first time really experiencing Kenya I was exposed to so many different things. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Almost everyone in Kenya says they are Christian. Those who truly believe Jesus is their Lord and Savior referred to themselves as 'born again' instead of Christian. I also noticed how many churches there are in Getherei and was very encouraged until the Compeans said that most of the churches are corrupt. They preach that God wants everyone to be wealthy and live a good life, and that if they would give the church money God would grant them that wealth.

2. If someone in Getherei was a true Christian, they were wonderfully on fire for God. There seemed to be no such thing as a luke-warm Christian there. Despite their suffering they glorified God in everything they do. Their lives are the epitome of taking up the cross and following Christ. The cross means suffering and death. Sometimes I think we don't understand that. The Christians I met there understand this truth, and thus they have life; life to the fullest.

3. These Christians know the meaning of 2 Corinthians 12:9&10. One particular lady's husband was recently kidnapped after some thugs found out he had a decent job. They forced him to give up his pin number to his Visa, and then made the wife pay a ransom to get him back. The family still owes them money. The police won't do anything, and they don't know when the thugs will come back. I don't know many people in situations half as sad as this, and yet this lady passionately proclaims God's supremacy. She praises God for their situation, and knows that God's grace is sufficient.

4. God is good. I saw first hand the most pain and suffering I have seen while in Getherei. The most devastating part of the entire trip came on the second day in Getherei, when a lady I had never met tried to give me her baby. She new nothing about me but I am from America, thus she believes I can give her baby a better life then she can. I can not fathom what it must be like to be in a situation where giving your baby to a stranger seems like your best option. However, through all of this pain and suffering their is a hope and a peace that God is still good. God's hand is in Getherei. He is being glorified in Getherei and His will will be accomplished.

I'm still processing all of this. Do you have any thoughts on any of this?

Wednesday June 20

Wednesday was our second and last day in Getherei. Once again we started the day off by worshipping with fellow believers at the church, then we hit the streets of Getherei once more. This time we went to schools and informed the deans of the schools about an AIDS seminar that CIF was hosting the following week. Visiting the schools was insane! I honestly felt like I was a famous movie star, at any given moment there were hundreds of kids swarming us and standing in line just to touch our hands. It was so funny.

While we were walking to the schools we would stop and talk with people and invite them to the Bible study that night. Because we were on the main roads of Getherei, we had a couple run-ins with some very drunk men. White skin and blond hair definitely stand out.

Later in the afternoon, my team led a children's ministry conference at the church. We were basically teaching the leaders of the church how to disciple their youngest members, and helping them get a Children's Ministry started. I was fortunate enough to be able to teach the toddler seminar and talk about my experiences teaching the toddler class at grace. It was neat to share things that have and haven't worked and encourage these leaders that they aren't just babysitting, but rather teaching the Word of God to future leaders of the church and Christ's ambassadors to Getherei. I was able to give them several toddler Bibles that I have enjoyed using in my class as well. Other members of our team led an elementary school seminar and worship seminars.

After the conference we were able to attend the Wednesday evening Bible study at CIF. I was excited for the Bible study, but I ended up taking the kids outside so that the adults could listen to the teaching. There were probably around 40 kids so I went outside and played "Zebra, Zebra, Simba" (Kenyan duck, duck, goose), and the dancing game with them, while simultaneously rocking a toddler to sleep. It was so fun!

I was devastated when we had to leave all those kids. Getherei ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved that there were so many aspects of ministry that we were able to take part in, from street evangelism, to working with kids, befriending strangers, teaching, and worshipping.

After we left, we went to an Ethiopian dinner called Habasha. I was not entirely fond of the meal, but the coffee was by far the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. They bring the coffee out in this little pitcher that is on top of burning hot rocks, and it was beyond delicious. As far as the meal goes, I really don't know what we were eating. They bring out this tray with really sour, doughy bread. On top of the bread is little piles of colorful mush. You use more of the sour bread to pick up the mush. I ate the potatoes. All of them.

Above our more pictures from Getherei. The lady in the picture is Frida, the women I talked about in the last post.

Tuesday June 19th

the church in Getherei>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tuesday the real work began. We headed to Getherei, which is a very poor neighborhood/town, to work alongside Calvary International Fellowship church. CIF is led by Ed and Kelly Compean, a couple from the States. As soon as we got off the Matatu we were surrounded by kids screaming "Mzungu! Mzungu" which means white person. They all ran up and tried to shake our hands, then they ask "How are you?! How are you?!" and when you answer them they don't know anymore English so they say it again. Kelly told us later that white people hardly ever come to Getherei. Needless to say, anywhere we went in Getherei we were surrounded by children.

We started the morning off with worship in English and Swahili at the church. It was neat to listen to God being worshipped in Swahili. Then we broke into groups and made house visits all throughout Getherei. One of the first ladies my group met invited us into our home and asked us to pray for her and her little girls. Then we went to another lady's house named Frida who had not come to church in awhile. We found her inside and when Kelly asked how she was doing she said she was very depressed because her husband would not let her see her eight year old son, Michael, because he had a different father. Michael was living with his Grandma. Frida said that her husband was not good to her or their three year old son Moses. We prayed for Frida and then invited her to come walk around with us and talk with her neighbors. She started translating for my group and we were able to meet tons of people in Getherei, pray for them, share the gospel with them, and invite them to the Bible study at CIF. By the end of the day Frida was so joyful and excited. The biggest thing I noticed during our time in Getherei was everyone's willingness to let us pray for them. Even though they had never met us, they would share the struggles and hardships and ask for prayer. They were all so genuine. I feel like in America everyone puts up a facade and pretends that everything is just dandy. When you ask people here how they are they are always "good" or "fine". In Kenya they would let you know if they were sad or angry or depressed. I think in America we are too prideful to ever admit that anything is wrong or that we are struggling. Later that day Frida invited my group to her house for lunch. I must say Kenyans win in the hospitality arena! She went out and bought us food and Coke, even though I knew she did not have much money. Then she invited us into her little house while she prepared the meal. In Kenya it is very rude to leave anything on your plate, and I have never been given so much food in my entire life. I'm not really sure what I was eating, but I finished it all! Praise Jesus!

After lunch my group went back early to do some things in the chuch. I stayed outside to play with all the kids. I had brought a toddler Bible with me and I think the kids made me read the entire Old Testament and some of the New Testament! I could hardly talk by the time Jesus fed the 5,000! Then they laughed at me when I tried to learn a Swahili song. We ended up playing with all the children for hours. They taught us the funniest dancing game that all the kids in Kenya know. Anywhere we went kids would play this game with us and they are the best dancers! Even the 3 and 4 year olds outdanced all the Americans.

Tuesday was a long, tiring day but I was so excited we were coming back Wednesday!

Monday June18th

Our first full day in Kenya was a wonderful and relaxing day. It was nice to recuperate from the plane flight, and soak in Kenya for a day. We went to Amani Ya Juu (means peace from above, or a higher peace) which is the most amazing women's ministry I have ever seen. It is a Christian sewing and marketing training program for women who come from difficult backgrounds. Some ladies are from Kenya and others are refugees from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. All of the ladies are able to come and learn to make their own fabric, sew and do book-keeping and marketing, so as to provide for their children and family. The women have daily Bible study, worship, and prayer time, and fellowship with other women in similar circumstances. Every few months their children come to Amani for Bible teaching and crafts. Because so many of the kids are refugees, it is common for them to want to return to their former country and seek revenge once they are older. At Amani they are equipped to return to their countries as Christ's ambassadors, armed only with the good news of the gospel.

We were able to take a tour of the center and meet all the women. They stopped sewing and hugged us and then sang a song for us in Swahili. (One thing I noticed on this trip: If you are African you have an amazing voice. It's like a requirement or something. Every person I met had a great voice and I am not exaggerating). One of the ladies showed us the Unity quilt that the women had sewn. Each patch represents how reconciliation is celebrated by all of the different tribes and people. Reconciliation and forgiveness is taken very serious in Africa. In Ethiopia if two families get into a dispute, the elders of the tribe come and mediate for the families, then the two families must drink milk from the same cup, and then they are considered brothers and sisters. The elders tell the families that they can no longer have any conflicts, and then they all pray together. The families slaughter a sheep and have a coffee ceremony. During the ceremony they burn olive leaves which represents peace. Then the families dance and sing together celebrating the peace they have. Different patches on the quilt show different ways of making peace according to each tribe, and in the center of the quilt is a huge cross. The cross represents the ultimate peace making ceremony: Calvary.

After we finished our tour we were able to shop in the store at Amani. All of the money goes directly to the women who made the items. These ladies are some of the most talented seamstresses I have seen. After shopping we ate lunch in the garden at Amani and met all of the missionaries we would be working with. Lunch was soooo delicious, which is saying a lot coming from one of the pickiest eaters on the planet!!

The picture above is of Maggie and I. She is one of the ladies at Amani, and is by far the happiest women I have ever met in my entire life. She has something horribly wrong with her hip and has the most severe limp I have ever seen, and yet she could not be any happier if she tried. It was so encouraging and challenging to me to see someone in severe pain like myself, and still be filled with that much joy. I wish I could be half as happy as her amidst my pain!

The website for Amani Ya Juu is http://www.amaniafrica.org it shares about Amani, explains the Unity quilt, and will have an online store soon! It is such an encouragement to see what God is doing in so many women's lives through sewing! I love how creative God is in accomplishing his will and glory.

Sunday June 17th

Joseph our Matatu driver.

We landed at the Nairobi airport around 10:30 or 11:00 at night. After stepping off the plane my first thoughts were: 'I can't believe I'm in Africa' and 'Praise the Lord everyone wears deodorant in America'. I know that seems incredibly shallow, but it really was one of the hardest parts for me. As soon as we grabbed our bags people were trying to carry them for us because they assumed we had money. It is somewhat strange when a random Kenyan man walks up to you and tries to grab your bag.

Vicky and Ramsey, two of the missionaries we would be working with, met us at the airport, along with our Matatu (big purple bus) drivers, Jared and Joseph. We were staying in a house that belongs to an American missionary couple who are in the States for the summer. The house used to be the Israli Foreign Minister's (or someone important like that) house so there was plenty of security.

Because we got there late at night the only differences I really noticed were driving on the left side of the road, and the fact that there aren't really traffic lights or any rules. Also the guard at our house was carrying an AK-47, that's something you wouldn't see at the Country Club : )

It was late by the time we got to our house so we pretty much just went to bed. I was so excited to sleep, and even more excited that I got a bed to sleep on. However, the bed I slept on was a toddler bed that was really little and was covered in plastic in case the little kid wets the bed. It was so funny and sooooo loud everytime I rolled over. It was rather hilarious. Who needs sleep anyway?

June 16th- June 17th(ish)

We arrived in London at 4 in the afternoon. London is beautiful!!! I loved everything about it! We ended up having a 20 hour layover so we left the airport for a few hours. We layed out on the grass across the water from Big Ben which was pretty neat, then we ate dinner at an amazing park/garden. It's weird it was nine o'clock at night and the sun was still up. Everything closed at nine so we went back to the airport, however, they wouldn't let us check in until 7 the next morning so we spent the next 15 hours in chairs next to the check in counter instead of the comfy lounge in the terminal. Our plane didn't take off until 11 the next morning so we played hackysack inside the airport all night. It was quite the sight, especially because none of us are all that talented at it! Finally we were able to get checked in and they pulled me aside to be patted down and searched and X-rayed. Actually I was pulled aside on all the rest of our plane flights from then on. Apparantly there is something suspicious about a 17 year old blonde girl from America going on a missions trip to Africa : )

The plane flight to Kenya was long but fun; more British accents and coffee : ) Ten or so hours later, after being awake for almost 72 hours, we were finally in AFRICA!!!!

Friday June 15th

Friday morning we all met to pack ministry bags together. These bags were filled with baby clothes, toys, Bibles, books, pencils and crayons, and food for the missionaries who were already over there. After weighing all of our suitcases we said our goodbyes and were off to LAX. The lead pastor at Shoreline drove one car with our luggage, his nine year old daughter, and another guy from Shoreline who would drive our car back. This allowed for the rest of the team to all fit in a second car. Seeing that most of us did not know each other prior to this trip, the four and a half hour car trip was exactly what we needed for that special bonding experience : ) Several sickeningly corny car games later, and a neat time of sharing testimonies, we were all old friends. It was so interesting to see the different range of people God had handpicked for this trip. We are all sooo different and yet we all love and serve the same God, and all have the same God-given passion for the continent of Africa. The testimonies on our team were amazing! From depression and suicide attempts to divorce and dads in prison, and yet we all had a common denominator, namely a Creator who had written all of this out before time. Hmmm...

So we stopped at In and Out (hallelujah! there is nothing quite like greasy fries and hamburgers before two weeks of rice, ostrich and other unknown food items.) and I had a wonderful talk with Pastor Tony and his daughter about adoption. His daughter Chantey is nine, then he has a three year old adopted from China, and is now wanting to adopt from Ethiopia. I have always pictured my future family filled with children both biological and adopted from Africa. It was so neat to hear Pastor Tony say that each one of his children were chosen by God to be in his family, but that they just got there different ways. All of this to say, I had a wonderful time of fellowship and American food before arriving at LAX. I am so excited to see what God has in store for my future family, no matter how big, small, or colorful He sees fit.

So after arriving at LAX we said goodbye to Tony, Chantey and the other driver, and met up with our last two teammates Jordan and Emily. When we got to the check in counter they told us we could only have one carry on. Bummer because we all had two. So we sat there frantically figuring out how to fit some of our carry on luggage into our checked baggage, and realizing that our bags would weigh more than 54 lbs. In walks a TSA guy who laughs and tells us our bags can weigh up to 70 pounds. Not so funny when you spent the whole morning taking things out of suitcases to make them 54 lbs. Big bummer, but at least they didn't say they could only weigh 30 lbs right? Everything went smoothly from there on out. One of our guys got pulled aside to get his carry on bag searched, so he whipped out his evangicube (think folding rubics cube with pictures explaining the gospel message) and started witnessing to the TSA lady while his bag was being searched! So funny! Praise God for divine appointments right?

We had a blast waiting for the plane. We listened to and loved on random strangers, and had neat spiritual conversations with our team members. It is so interesting that you can meet someone for the first time that morning, and have such a deep meaningful conversation, simply because Christ is at the center of all that you are talking about.

So then it was on to the eleven hour red-eye flight to London. I was the only person on our section of the plane awake, but I had a wonderful time in the Word and tried to keep a straight face when the flight attendants would ask if I wanted "tea or coffee" in their British accents. There is something about English accents that make you want to respond in an accent. Anyway, the Chinese gentleman across the aisle woke up at some point during the flight, and shared his entire life story with me, showed me maps and pictures of everywhere he was visiting in Germany, and shared his dreams of retiring in Solvang. It was so fun to listen and care for all of these random people. Most of them were shocked when they found out we were spending our time helping orphans instead of vacationing. It made it easy to share my faith without it being forced or awkward. If Christians are supposed to be known by their love, we need to get better at listening. It is amazing how much people want to be listened to.

So overall it was a wonderful car ride and flight. Next stop LONDON!!!

Home Safe...so many stories

Where to begin? First off sorry to all of you who were waiting for updates while I was gone. We did not have internet access like we thought we were going to so this blog thing didn't work out exactly like I thought it would. So I think I will blog about my trip day by day so you all can get an idea of what the Lord has done and continues to do in the magnificent country of Kenya.

So bear with me as I process the last two weeks and attempt to put it all into words. Pictures are on the way. I love you guys thanks for the prayers! Here goes...

Farewell!

In less than twelve hours I will be on my way to LAX to depart for Africa! This trip is definitely a dream come true seeing that I have wanted to go on a missions trip to Africa since I was in first grade. I will be working in the Imani Children's Home in Nairobi, Kenya for the majority of the time, where we will be working in the infant house (sooo excited!!) and leading a VBS program for the preschoolers! My team will also be leading a children's ministry conference at Calvary Chapel Nairobi, working with kids in the Kibera slum, and living with the Massai tribe for a couple days. I will have Internet access for part of the time so I will hopefully post some pictures and updates on here for you all!

I wanted to thank everyone for your prayers and financial support! I not only raised enough money for my plane ticket and living expenses, but had enough leftover to fill an entire suitcase with brand new baby clothes for the infants at Imani!! The women in charge of the orphanage, Mama Faith, said that the babies often get donated old clothes that are already worn out, and that new clothes would be a huge blessing. I'm figuring this whole blog thing out so hopefully the picture of some of the clothes we bought worked. I can't thank you enough for the support!

Also, thank you to everyone who donated gifts for the kids at Imani, and thank you Kelson for giving up all of you birthday presents so that the kids could have new toys! Thanks Nancy, Rachel, and Matt for all of the advice, and thank you Theule family for dropping by to say goodbye! You made my day! This will probably be the longest I've gone without seeing you!

Thank you for all of your prayers.

Mungu akubariki! (God bless you in Swahili. I'm practicing!)

-linds