May 26, 2011

We have been in Kenya for 1 whole week now! It feels like we have been here for much longer (in a good way). The past few days we have been doing training in the morning and then in the afternoon we have been going to Kibera. The trainings have been so helpful. We have mainly been talking about the culture here in Kenya. We are learning that it is very different from the United States! Sam experienced this first hand. In Kenya it is completely appropriate for 2 men to hold hands as a sign of friendship. The other day Sam was just standing there minding his own business when a Kenyan started holding hands with him. Sam was caught off guard and he says, “it was one of the most awkward situations of my entire life!” Haha:) We have also started learning a little bit of Swahili, one of the languages spoken in Kenya. Most of the Kenyans speak 3 languages. They speak Enlglish, Swahili, and their mother tongue. We are going to learn lots more Swahili next week. Yay! For the past 3 days, our team has been going to Kibera in the afternoon. Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa. It is 3 miles away from Nairobi. On Tuesday, we divided into groups of 2 and did house visits in the slum. We were able to hear stories and pray with the people whose houses we visited. We were all astounded by their faith and their perseverance. These people work hard every day and have so much hope. They may be materially poor, but spiritually they are rich. As we walk through the slum all of the kids yell “mzungo, mzungo” (white person, white person) and run up to shake our hands. They are so cute and so full of joy.

Thank you to all of you who are following our blog. Miss you and love you all! :)