Hearken back to a time when the Mi2’s were accompanied by two teams from Southeast Christian Church. This was our first week in Kisumu. If you remember back to this, you’ll know that we spent a great deal of our time doing home visits to community members to encourage them and hear their story. On one such visit, my team visited a long widowed grandmother who was caring for four of her grandchildren, whose mother had died from AIDS. Three of her grandchildren are HIV positive and are young. When we entered her home, we saw one of her granddaughters sitting up on a bed crying from pain. She is HIV positive, looks to be about 9 years of age, and her legs are so thin that it makes her knees look like abnormally bulbous. She has spent the last month at home out of school, and the preceding month in the hospital but was sent home because they weren’t able to heal her. The grandmother hasn’t been able to run her business for two months because she has had to care for the granddaughter. We heard the family’s story, and prayed for healing and provision, and went to the next home. Four days later on Sunday morning, before Nicole preached, the congregation of 14 was asked if there were any answers to prayer that came during the week. Nicole and I are sitting in the seats of honor in the front row, so we can’t see who’s coming up the aisle, but to our surprise we see this girl and her grandmother come to the front of the church. The girl is walking under her own power and is experiencing zero pain. What an answer to prayer.
I know some of you may be wondering what else has happened in the time that passed between our prayers and that Sunday morning, and the honest truth is I don’t know. But let me ask you this: is it really that difficult to believe that there is a God capable and caring enough to do such a thing as to heal a little girl? I know I believe him to be real and even if he didn’t heal the girl and some new medication did, I believe he could and would. If you don’t agree with me, I’m sure you have your reasons for believing such, but I hope that someday you’ll see as I do that there is indeed a God that is that wonderful.
Fast forward to last night. Several weeks ago, I mentioned to the Mi2 team that I was interested in being baptized here in Africa. To my surprise, the idea was echoed by a number of team members. So on Saturday we asked the pastor of our “home church.” If he would be willing to baptize us this week before we leave for our next adventure. He agreed to if he could give us a lesson on the power of baptism beforehand. Last night five us (Myself, Molly Ray, Molly Russell, Elise Omi and Kate Sawyer) received our lesson on baptism and were killed and raised again in the pool of our guesthouse complex. The water was cold, but it worked out fine.
Today we went into Kibera again, we were split into two groups. One group went to a school to play with kids and love them. The other group, pair really (Myself and Molly Ray) did a home visit to a CHE (Community Health Evangelist). Our home visit was atypical compared to our previous experiences in the homes of the community. This one was far less structured and was more conversational than our previous ones. The woman we visited was not a widow, her husband is still living and is actually the pastor of one of the churches in the community. Her name is Mercy, and speaks amazing English. To keep this story shorter, I’ll leave our some of the smaller details. They have two children, seven and three years old, and live in a concrete home the size of my bedroom with her sister, two other children and another woman. Mercy’s business has been out of commission since she has run out of capital due to the recent spike in inflation and high oil prices (which cause the cost of goods to shoot through the roof). We sat and talked about many things, including some of the difficulties of life in the slum. One of these difficulties is the ever-changing price of water and of course the limitations that come with poverty. Nearly three hours into the conversation, Mercy goes out to get us Coca-cola, and comes back with a liter of Coke and some dinner rolls.
Now, so far in this internship, I have held hands ever so lightly with another man, had to lead a church in a worship song, preached, been put on the spot to speak publicly more times than I can count, and countless other awkward moments. However, nothing has come close to making me as uncomfortable as I felt when Mercy offered us the refreshments. Having to watch someone give up a need of their own to provide you with a luxury is something so backwards and uncomfortable in our culture and lives. We had just finished listening to Mercy explain the difficulties of how her business has gone under and how she’s trying to pay her school fees, her sisters school fees, her children’s school fees and live off of her husbands earnings (which are little). To top it all off, she gave us the water that she had just finished explaining the unpredictable price of, to us to wash our hands before we drank and ate. When you’re put in a situation like this, you don’t dare turn down their offer even if you know they might not eat later because they’ve given you the resources for these refreshments. It’s a huge honor for them to host us Mzungus, so you have to accept the offer. It’s a kind of love and generosity that I admit, I’m not sure I’d be so willing to replicate. It’s one of those forms of love, sacrificial, that tells you that you mean something important to these people. And we’ve only just met them. It’s been said that we accept the love we think we deserve, and I’ll be the first to admit I don’t think I deserve this kind of love. Watching someone else go hungry because they hosted you, I can’t even describe it. After I had finished my glass of Coke, she refilled it with what I had assumed would have been her portion. It was never going to be her portion, it was always intended for us. Mercy was willing to give from something she had no excess of; perhaps we could all learn something from her.
-Nabii (Sam)
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Rest Week update: Babies, Backpacks, and Back breaking Mount Longonot.
I am going to give a very brief overall summary of our rest week here in Nairobi.
Monday: prayer and fasting in the LIA Kenya office, so great.
Tuesday: Holly Garrett arrive back to our team safe and sound and we had our mid-term debrief. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS MIDTERM ALREADY, SERIOUSLY!
Wednesday: BABIES, the team visited the New Life Home in Nairobi and we were all so impressed with the facility. It was super modern and had the ability to see to the health needs of so many orphan children. Also we learned that the U.S. and U.K. are now allowed to adopt from Kenya which like two weeks ago was not an option. EXCITING! Also the love that these orphans receive is unbelievable, they have committed volunteers that come in everyday! We were able to spend some time playing and feed the little ones, so fun but also so heart breaking because you know these kids don't have parents. Afternoon time we just chilled and relaxed, some of us ventured on a walk around Nairobi. A dreams of ours was to be able to walk down the street in Kenya and see people we know-- dream come true we saw 2 different LIA people driving so cool.
Thursday: In the morning we went to visit a ministry that teaches and helps develop the skills of Somalian refugees. They make some really cool stuff from aprons, to bags, to backpacks that look so cool. In the afternoon we experienced some african time, before we had a meeting with a man from Life Ministries (same as campus crusades state side)
Friday: Chill morning for most of us, I went to Java to get some school work done and enjoy a cup of tea. In the afternoon we ventured with Jakes to visit baby/ orphan animals. It was so cool, except they we in cages, but still we saw african animals in actual africa. We also witnessed a little baby (3 days old) try to figure out how to walk, so tender (molly Russell's word). We saw some simba's get fed and Nicole got attacked by a monkey. We also drove through Kibera and felt very American because we were not walking, weird feeling. The girls also ventured out to Java for Shakes to celebrate Holly Garrett safe return.
Saturday: Well the previous Sunday at church we were invited to attend a fellowship event of "going on a little hike" to Mount Longonot. If a Kenyan EVER tells you to join on a little hike, remember a little hike is a straight up climb, hike, crawl, sweat more than ever in your life, fall more times than you can count, laugh so hard you can't breath even more because you already couldn't breath, use muscles you probably have never used in your life. So around 17 people made up of Kenyans and Mazungos climbed this mountain. Some facts about Mount Longonot and Kenyans that are interesting:
1: It costs foreigners (aka us) 20 U.S. dollars, it costs Kenyans approximately $2.27. haha, they really know how to capitalize on foreigners.
2: 5:30 a.m. is early now matter where you are in the world. (thats the time we woke up to go to the mountain)
3: Bring food, you'll need because Mount L will take all your energy before you even start climbing.
4.This park bears the privilege of being the host of the highest volcanic mountain in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, rising from the shores of Lake Naivasha up to 9108 ft above sea level. Mount Longonot is the most recent and one of the youngest volcanoes in the world, making Longonot National park the ‘hotKenya Vacations’ of all the parks in the Rift valley. The scenic beauties in the area are astounding both in length and breadth, making a concoction of many features of the Rift Valley basin. ( http://www.enhols.com/kenya_safari/mount-longonot/default.aspx)
9108 ft! Rift Valley! Best Day Ever, most painful but Best!
3 miles up, 6 miles around the rim, 3 miles down in four hours, less for commander, rayray and holly, and Mr. G who went around the whole thing crazy fast.
5. Commander Ponton, Rayray, and The Lovely Holly Garrett definitely have competition in there top ten strengths. Sam definitely does not.
6. I was told to use every adjective I could think of to describe the beauty of the masters hand's we saw on Mount Longonot. Here goes, it was beautiful, breathtaking (literally we couldn't breath at some points), wonderful, awe-inspiring, incomparable, gorgeous, fantastic, phenomenal. Some other words could be used to describe the experience are painful, Colorado ain't got nothin on Mount Longonot, very dirty, most difficult physical challenge many of us have ever been apart of, I will never wear chacos hiking ever again, bare feet hiking is the best, rain on the top of the mountain is also epic. Reaching the top of the summit is the best feeling ever and finally walking down the mountain is probably the most painful walk i have ever experienced.
7. Kenyans know how to barbecue, for real. Many interns tried lamb intestine, liver, kidney and the normal stuff too. It was delicious, I wasn't so keen on the liver or kidney though, I liked the intestine taste like chicken.
8. I will never forget seeing Pastor yell back to his wife who was like a mile away saying, "I am so proud of you", and "keep going baby, you got this". And then to see his wife make it all the way around the mountain was the coolest thing ever.
9. It now almost Tuesday and I am still sore.
10. Words cannot seriously describe or detail the experience, what I have said does not do it justice. I just don't know how you can look down on the rift valley and not be struck by the thought that "man, God is so good, look at the detail he puts into everything, this was not world was not just an accident", that is just my opinion though, I hope one day you can climb a mountain too and tell me all about your experience.
Sunday: Went to innkeeper fellowship, the church we enjoy attending in Nairobi. And then it stormed all day. Me and Austin had quite an adventure walking home in the downpour. People and rain in Kenya is just so funny to witness.
With love and a lot of respect for babies, backpacks and back breaking mountains I wish all who read this blessings.
Mungu Akubariki
K. Sawyer
Monday: prayer and fasting in the LIA Kenya office, so great.
Tuesday: Holly Garrett arrive back to our team safe and sound and we had our mid-term debrief. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS MIDTERM ALREADY, SERIOUSLY!
Wednesday: BABIES, the team visited the New Life Home in Nairobi and we were all so impressed with the facility. It was super modern and had the ability to see to the health needs of so many orphan children. Also we learned that the U.S. and U.K. are now allowed to adopt from Kenya which like two weeks ago was not an option. EXCITING! Also the love that these orphans receive is unbelievable, they have committed volunteers that come in everyday! We were able to spend some time playing and feed the little ones, so fun but also so heart breaking because you know these kids don't have parents. Afternoon time we just chilled and relaxed, some of us ventured on a walk around Nairobi. A dreams of ours was to be able to walk down the street in Kenya and see people we know-- dream come true we saw 2 different LIA people driving so cool.
Thursday: In the morning we went to visit a ministry that teaches and helps develop the skills of Somalian refugees. They make some really cool stuff from aprons, to bags, to backpacks that look so cool. In the afternoon we experienced some african time, before we had a meeting with a man from Life Ministries (same as campus crusades state side)
Friday: Chill morning for most of us, I went to Java to get some school work done and enjoy a cup of tea. In the afternoon we ventured with Jakes to visit baby/ orphan animals. It was so cool, except they we in cages, but still we saw african animals in actual africa. We also witnessed a little baby (3 days old) try to figure out how to walk, so tender (molly Russell's word). We saw some simba's get fed and Nicole got attacked by a monkey. We also drove through Kibera and felt very American because we were not walking, weird feeling. The girls also ventured out to Java for Shakes to celebrate Holly Garrett safe return.
Saturday: Well the previous Sunday at church we were invited to attend a fellowship event of "going on a little hike" to Mount Longonot. If a Kenyan EVER tells you to join on a little hike, remember a little hike is a straight up climb, hike, crawl, sweat more than ever in your life, fall more times than you can count, laugh so hard you can't breath even more because you already couldn't breath, use muscles you probably have never used in your life. So around 17 people made up of Kenyans and Mazungos climbed this mountain. Some facts about Mount Longonot and Kenyans that are interesting:
1: It costs foreigners (aka us) 20 U.S. dollars, it costs Kenyans approximately $2.27. haha, they really know how to capitalize on foreigners.
2: 5:30 a.m. is early now matter where you are in the world. (thats the time we woke up to go to the mountain)
3: Bring food, you'll need because Mount L will take all your energy before you even start climbing.
4.This park bears the privilege of being the host of the highest volcanic mountain in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, rising from the shores of Lake Naivasha up to 9108 ft above sea level. Mount Longonot is the most recent and one of the youngest volcanoes in the world, making Longonot National park the ‘hotKenya Vacations’ of all the parks in the Rift valley. The scenic beauties in the area are astounding both in length and breadth, making a concoction of many features of the Rift Valley basin. ( http://www.enhols.com/kenya_safari/mount-longonot/default.aspx)
9108 ft! Rift Valley! Best Day Ever, most painful but Best!
3 miles up, 6 miles around the rim, 3 miles down in four hours, less for commander, rayray and holly, and Mr. G who went around the whole thing crazy fast.
5. Commander Ponton, Rayray, and The Lovely Holly Garrett definitely have competition in there top ten strengths. Sam definitely does not.
6. I was told to use every adjective I could think of to describe the beauty of the masters hand's we saw on Mount Longonot. Here goes, it was beautiful, breathtaking (literally we couldn't breath at some points), wonderful, awe-inspiring, incomparable, gorgeous, fantastic, phenomenal. Some other words could be used to describe the experience are painful, Colorado ain't got nothin on Mount Longonot, very dirty, most difficult physical challenge many of us have ever been apart of, I will never wear chacos hiking ever again, bare feet hiking is the best, rain on the top of the mountain is also epic. Reaching the top of the summit is the best feeling ever and finally walking down the mountain is probably the most painful walk i have ever experienced.
7. Kenyans know how to barbecue, for real. Many interns tried lamb intestine, liver, kidney and the normal stuff too. It was delicious, I wasn't so keen on the liver or kidney though, I liked the intestine taste like chicken.
8. I will never forget seeing Pastor yell back to his wife who was like a mile away saying, "I am so proud of you", and "keep going baby, you got this". And then to see his wife make it all the way around the mountain was the coolest thing ever.
9. It now almost Tuesday and I am still sore.
10. Words cannot seriously describe or detail the experience, what I have said does not do it justice. I just don't know how you can look down on the rift valley and not be struck by the thought that "man, God is so good, look at the detail he puts into everything, this was not world was not just an accident", that is just my opinion though, I hope one day you can climb a mountain too and tell me all about your experience.
Sunday: Went to innkeeper fellowship, the church we enjoy attending in Nairobi. And then it stormed all day. Me and Austin had quite an adventure walking home in the downpour. People and rain in Kenya is just so funny to witness.
With love and a lot of respect for babies, backpacks and back breaking mountains I wish all who read this blessings.
Mungu Akubariki
K. Sawyer
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Kisumu Community/Eugene
Hiiiii everyone! My apologies for the late blog post from me. I didn't get the memo that everyone else posted their update blogs last night, so I'm sorry that this is 24 hours late.
I'm excited to blog though, and tell you all about what is happening here in Kenya and what I am personally experiencing. When we were in Kisumu we all experienced many things and were all encouraged by the community we were surrounded by.
We spent a few days in the Nyalenda Slum visiting the homes of widows, visiting some of the small businesses people run to make a living (which include selling clothes, selling jewelry, making and selling maize or chapatis, etc...), and we also spent a day walking around the houses and evangelizing to random people. Molly Russell and I spent the day together with one of the TOT's in the community (her name was Eugene and she soon became one of our best friends), and by the Holy Spirit's power, we helped lead three people come to Christ and were saved by accepting Jesus into their hearts. We walked away from that day completely amazed by how God is at work in our lives, in the Kisumu community, and around the world. We were so grateful and humbled by these experiences and could only give the glory to God because it is by Him and through Him that all things are possible.
If you're not already aware of this, we absolutely loved being in Kisumu. The LIA staff treated us so well and welcomed us with arms wide open. We so enjoyed getting to know the different pastors of the churches that are connected with LIA, and we especially loved getting to know the members of the churches who are the TOT's. We really got to know the individuals because they told us about their families, where they grew up, and they even welcomed us into their houses. We were so blessed by the people there and miss them all so much.
When I was there, Eugene became my new "mom." She was such an influential and a literal "super mom"- she gave birth to nine children (two sets of twins, two single births, and a set of triplets!!!) After talking with her for five minutes, she started to call me her daughter and we really just bonded right then. Russell and I got to know her very well each day, we got to meet one of her sons, and were welcomed into her home, and needless to say, we really miss her a lot (and talk about her multiple times a day....).
We continue to learn so much each day, are praying for strength, wisdom, and for our loved ones at home. Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, and support. We love and miss you all!
With so much love,
Elise (on behalf of the Mi2 team).
PS if anyone knows how to contact or get ahold of our friend Eugene, please let us know.
I'm excited to blog though, and tell you all about what is happening here in Kenya and what I am personally experiencing. When we were in Kisumu we all experienced many things and were all encouraged by the community we were surrounded by.
We spent a few days in the Nyalenda Slum visiting the homes of widows, visiting some of the small businesses people run to make a living (which include selling clothes, selling jewelry, making and selling maize or chapatis, etc...), and we also spent a day walking around the houses and evangelizing to random people. Molly Russell and I spent the day together with one of the TOT's in the community (her name was Eugene and she soon became one of our best friends), and by the Holy Spirit's power, we helped lead three people come to Christ and were saved by accepting Jesus into their hearts. We walked away from that day completely amazed by how God is at work in our lives, in the Kisumu community, and around the world. We were so grateful and humbled by these experiences and could only give the glory to God because it is by Him and through Him that all things are possible.
If you're not already aware of this, we absolutely loved being in Kisumu. The LIA staff treated us so well and welcomed us with arms wide open. We so enjoyed getting to know the different pastors of the churches that are connected with LIA, and we especially loved getting to know the members of the churches who are the TOT's. We really got to know the individuals because they told us about their families, where they grew up, and they even welcomed us into their houses. We were so blessed by the people there and miss them all so much.
When I was there, Eugene became my new "mom." She was such an influential and a literal "super mom"- she gave birth to nine children (two sets of twins, two single births, and a set of triplets!!!) After talking with her for five minutes, she started to call me her daughter and we really just bonded right then. Russell and I got to know her very well each day, we got to meet one of her sons, and were welcomed into her home, and needless to say, we really miss her a lot (and talk about her multiple times a day....).
We continue to learn so much each day, are praying for strength, wisdom, and for our loved ones at home. Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, and support. We love and miss you all!
With so much love,
Elise (on behalf of the Mi2 team).
PS if anyone knows how to contact or get ahold of our friend Eugene, please let us know.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Being a Tourist
Clearly our work in the Kisumu area was excruciating, grueling and draining so we were begging for breaks at the end. Ok... not really. We LOVED our work so so much, and were blessed by LIA with the opportunity to be tourists for 2 days. It was fun!
Towards the end of our last week in Kisumu we were sad to think about leaving but were very excited when we were met by our LIA-Kisumu staff in a matatu, ready to head to the equator!! I think everyone was expecting some kind of large sign or line or indication at the equator, something official. I’m sure we were all mulling over how the government sign and drawn line would look as we counted the number of pregnant goats we saw along the drive and guessed how many kids they were going to have. Elise was so excited she even got out her camera to take a picture of the yellow indication statue informing us that the equator was near, only to find that the yellow globe was the actual equator “site”. Pretty hilarious. If it weren’t for the Lions Club International the world would not know that the equator runs through a large patch of grass next to a highway, behind some people’s backyards 45 minutes outside downtown Kisumu, Kenya. The understated equator was laughable, but we had a great time, regardless. First we wanted to make sure that we established where the equator was exactly, and found that the Lions Club had (thankfully) placed the support of the yellow globe in all correct directions of N, S, E &W. They just forgot to mark those directions. So we started taking photos of us straddling the hemispheres, climbing the equator, jumping off the equator, leaping across the equator, carrying one another across the equator, kissing the equator, licking the equator, burping, crying, smiling, sweating, highfiving, testing gravity, etc. ON THE EQUATOR! Epic. Much more fun than it probably should have been.
The very next day we were blessed AGAIN with the opportunity to go view hippos with our LIA Kisumu staff! It sounds anti-climactic because hippos are fairly underrated in the 21st century. But in reality they are Africa’s number 2 killer, after the mosquito (and it’s bff Malaria). Much respect, hippos of Africa. We got into a boat with our blindingly orange life-jackets at 7am and were taken around the Kenyan coast of Lake Victoria (world’s second largest fresh water lake) to view the wildlife and disgruntled fishermen of the morning. The birds that we saw were fascinating but when we passed by a hippo having his traditional breakfast of lake deliciousness the birds became an afterthought. We saw the bull hippo first and found out that there can only be one male in a territory at a time and the fathers will kill any sons they have if the mother does not isolate or hide them. Being LIA we put our house-visit skills into action, but I don’t think our evangelizing and family reconciliation attempts were too successful. We didn’t get to perform a follow up visit so I guess we’ll just have to keep praying for daddy hippo. A few kilometers down the lake from the bull male were his two wives and 3 kids, also enjoying breakfast. I think the ladies may have gotten into a bit of an argument because there was a lot of splashing and we got to snap the stereotypical “hippo-with-its-mouth-open” shot. Pretty epic. As we continued on our tour of the lake we got to learn about the many birds of Kenya/ E. Africa and just drink in God’s awesome creation. The scenery/ lighting/ weather was phenomenal.
Needless to say our Kisumu experience was awesome, as can be seen in everyone else’s account (below and above this post). We loved the staff, our friends from the community, the short term teams and everything! These touristy activities were just the cherry on top. That made it tough to leave, but we know that Kisumu will forever have a piece of our hearts and a place in our prayers. Thanks for reading! Be blessed
-”Commander” Pontón
Personal note: God really showed himself working in Kisumu and that was really awesome to see. I have never been in a place of so much need and seen so much hope and felt peace spread. Granted, I still feel there is a lot that can be and needs to be done but I felt very little frustration because I knew our Father was taking care of everything in His own time for His purposes. I also just loved getting to know everyone in Kisumu, I was very happy to have time to build friendships, and quality time with Jesus was great. Miss you Kisumu!
Towards the end of our last week in Kisumu we were sad to think about leaving but were very excited when we were met by our LIA-Kisumu staff in a matatu, ready to head to the equator!! I think everyone was expecting some kind of large sign or line or indication at the equator, something official. I’m sure we were all mulling over how the government sign and drawn line would look as we counted the number of pregnant goats we saw along the drive and guessed how many kids they were going to have. Elise was so excited she even got out her camera to take a picture of the yellow indication statue informing us that the equator was near, only to find that the yellow globe was the actual equator “site”. Pretty hilarious. If it weren’t for the Lions Club International the world would not know that the equator runs through a large patch of grass next to a highway, behind some people’s backyards 45 minutes outside downtown Kisumu, Kenya. The understated equator was laughable, but we had a great time, regardless. First we wanted to make sure that we established where the equator was exactly, and found that the Lions Club had (thankfully) placed the support of the yellow globe in all correct directions of N, S, E &W. They just forgot to mark those directions. So we started taking photos of us straddling the hemispheres, climbing the equator, jumping off the equator, leaping across the equator, carrying one another across the equator, kissing the equator, licking the equator, burping, crying, smiling, sweating, highfiving, testing gravity, etc. ON THE EQUATOR! Epic. Much more fun than it probably should have been.
The very next day we were blessed AGAIN with the opportunity to go view hippos with our LIA Kisumu staff! It sounds anti-climactic because hippos are fairly underrated in the 21st century. But in reality they are Africa’s number 2 killer, after the mosquito (and it’s bff Malaria). Much respect, hippos of Africa. We got into a boat with our blindingly orange life-jackets at 7am and were taken around the Kenyan coast of Lake Victoria (world’s second largest fresh water lake) to view the wildlife and disgruntled fishermen of the morning. The birds that we saw were fascinating but when we passed by a hippo having his traditional breakfast of lake deliciousness the birds became an afterthought. We saw the bull hippo first and found out that there can only be one male in a territory at a time and the fathers will kill any sons they have if the mother does not isolate or hide them. Being LIA we put our house-visit skills into action, but I don’t think our evangelizing and family reconciliation attempts were too successful. We didn’t get to perform a follow up visit so I guess we’ll just have to keep praying for daddy hippo. A few kilometers down the lake from the bull male were his two wives and 3 kids, also enjoying breakfast. I think the ladies may have gotten into a bit of an argument because there was a lot of splashing and we got to snap the stereotypical “hippo-with-its-mouth-open” shot. Pretty epic. As we continued on our tour of the lake we got to learn about the many birds of Kenya/ E. Africa and just drink in God’s awesome creation. The scenery/ lighting/ weather was phenomenal.
Needless to say our Kisumu experience was awesome, as can be seen in everyone else’s account (below and above this post). We loved the staff, our friends from the community, the short term teams and everything! These touristy activities were just the cherry on top. That made it tough to leave, but we know that Kisumu will forever have a piece of our hearts and a place in our prayers. Thanks for reading! Be blessed
-”Commander” Pontón
Personal note: God really showed himself working in Kisumu and that was really awesome to see. I have never been in a place of so much need and seen so much hope and felt peace spread. Granted, I still feel there is a lot that can be and needs to be done but I felt very little frustration because I knew our Father was taking care of everything in His own time for His purposes. I also just loved getting to know everyone in Kisumu, I was very happy to have time to build friendships, and quality time with Jesus was great. Miss you Kisumu!
Hosting---Kenya Intern Style
Kisumu, Kenya for 2 whole weeks….YAY!!!!
We ended up leaving Nairobi a day early to get to Kisumu to help the LIA Kisumu staff prepare for the two big Short-Term Teams that were coming from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. The first of these, a leadership team from the church, was only here in Kisumu for 2 days…one of their many stops in Kenya in their short trip. The second team was from the College/20’s Somethings Ministry (the Post), who were here for the entire week. One of our responsibilities as Interns is to help host any short-term team that comes to Kenya with LIA. I was really looking forward to this because it is something I have yet to experience, being on the side receiving a team, instead of being the team that is received.
During out time together, we did a lot of fellowshipping, encouraging and praying. The first half of our week consisted of many home visits, splitting up into groups mixed with a few “Post-ers”, an Mi2, some TOTs (trainers of trainers), and a pastor. We were able to visit homes in the community of the slum, talk with the widows, share our own testimonies, give a Word (aka encourage them and/or read an encouraging passage of the Bible), and pray with them. Most of these widows were disowned by their families after their husband died…after their extended family came and took from her whatever belongings they wanted. Many of these widows are taking care of their own children, grandchildren, and children of other families. I believe they encouraged us more than we could encourage them! After our home visits in the afternoon, we would come back to the church to find the Leadership Team playing with 50-100 kids, all who gathered to play with the mzungu! (aka..white people). We all joined in to a massive game of duck duck goose…along with several picture taking opportunities.
On the Thursday of that week we mixed it up a little bit. In the morning we all went to the Kisumu Children’s Remand Home (refer to Sam’s blog for more details) and were able to sing and build relationships with those children. That afternoon we all visited a high school in the Dunga slum (refer to Molly Ray’s blog for more details) and shared testimonies of how faithful God is through the difficult times in our lives (a high school girl came up to us afterwards and said how encouraged she felt because she was under the impression that “white people” never struggled).
To end the week with the Post team…we had a wonderful game day with the LIA staff and our friends in the Kenya church. After a very serious volleyball tournament (congratulations to team Revival Salvation!) we had our first annual Kentucky vs Kenya Egg Toss! (congratulations Molly Ray and Kevin!) No need for clean up after that, thanks to the cows that roam the church grounds…oh the perks of being in Kenya!
It was such a joy getting to know these teams! (Especially for me, since I will be coming home to Louisville in August to over 20 new friends and church family!)
What God is doing in my life: I appreciate God’s sense of humor more and more every day, especially when He decides to push me out of my comfort zone and make me preach at church on Sunday in Kisumu. Oh how He loves to prove His faithfulness, it was definitely a Spirit led service. Coming back to Kisumu for the second time (the first time being 2 years ago) was an incredible experience. I was able to visit with people I already knew and become friends with some that I now consider family and will never forgot…and can’t wait to see again one day!
Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)
--Katie Lane
We ended up leaving Nairobi a day early to get to Kisumu to help the LIA Kisumu staff prepare for the two big Short-Term Teams that were coming from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. The first of these, a leadership team from the church, was only here in Kisumu for 2 days…one of their many stops in Kenya in their short trip. The second team was from the College/20’s Somethings Ministry (the Post), who were here for the entire week. One of our responsibilities as Interns is to help host any short-term team that comes to Kenya with LIA. I was really looking forward to this because it is something I have yet to experience, being on the side receiving a team, instead of being the team that is received.
During out time together, we did a lot of fellowshipping, encouraging and praying. The first half of our week consisted of many home visits, splitting up into groups mixed with a few “Post-ers”, an Mi2, some TOTs (trainers of trainers), and a pastor. We were able to visit homes in the community of the slum, talk with the widows, share our own testimonies, give a Word (aka encourage them and/or read an encouraging passage of the Bible), and pray with them. Most of these widows were disowned by their families after their husband died…after their extended family came and took from her whatever belongings they wanted. Many of these widows are taking care of their own children, grandchildren, and children of other families. I believe they encouraged us more than we could encourage them! After our home visits in the afternoon, we would come back to the church to find the Leadership Team playing with 50-100 kids, all who gathered to play with the mzungu! (aka..white people). We all joined in to a massive game of duck duck goose…along with several picture taking opportunities.
On the Thursday of that week we mixed it up a little bit. In the morning we all went to the Kisumu Children’s Remand Home (refer to Sam’s blog for more details) and were able to sing and build relationships with those children. That afternoon we all visited a high school in the Dunga slum (refer to Molly Ray’s blog for more details) and shared testimonies of how faithful God is through the difficult times in our lives (a high school girl came up to us afterwards and said how encouraged she felt because she was under the impression that “white people” never struggled).
To end the week with the Post team…we had a wonderful game day with the LIA staff and our friends in the Kenya church. After a very serious volleyball tournament (congratulations to team Revival Salvation!) we had our first annual Kentucky vs Kenya Egg Toss! (congratulations Molly Ray and Kevin!) No need for clean up after that, thanks to the cows that roam the church grounds…oh the perks of being in Kenya!
It was such a joy getting to know these teams! (Especially for me, since I will be coming home to Louisville in August to over 20 new friends and church family!)
What God is doing in my life: I appreciate God’s sense of humor more and more every day, especially when He decides to push me out of my comfort zone and make me preach at church on Sunday in Kisumu. Oh how He loves to prove His faithfulness, it was definitely a Spirit led service. Coming back to Kisumu for the second time (the first time being 2 years ago) was an incredible experience. I was able to visit with people I already knew and become friends with some that I now consider family and will never forgot…and can’t wait to see again one day!
Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)
--Katie Lane
Kisumu - the Guest House
Hellur from Nairobi. We are playing catch-up on the bloggin action, so I will share about our accommodations on our two week trip to kisumu. We stayed in the lovely abode called St. Anna’s Guest House. To our surprise we each had our own rooms and everyone—except me (molly russell) –had a first floor room, which did not seem to be an issue initially. I thought “wow cool, upstairs by myself, and there is a cool balcony” little did I know my neighbors would be quite some characters. I will say it was very convenient to have the toilet, showerhead, and sink within a foot of each other. For the first week, my upstairs neighbors were men acapella singers. Once again initially that sounded great. I would have talented singers serenade me to sleep every night. Not at all what occurred. The nights they actually sang (instead of the typical shouting) involved perfecting one line of a song, usually a rather boring line at that, so it sounded like a skipping CD. They left on a Friday morning, so that night I had the upstairs to myself. I settled into my mosquito-protected bed to read before going to sleep early. Just as I had begun to soak in the silence, I hear a van door slide open and a women’s voice emerge with a loud “We’re here!”—the high schoolers had arrived. My new neighbors were giggly, fanny-packed, chaperone-accompanied high school kids. They really were not crazy or anything, I just found the morning wake up calls and teenage armies to be humorous. Overall St. Anna’s was amazing to us. We had good food and made friends with the guards, cleaning men (yes it was men that cleaned our rooms daily), and desk people, they were all very hospitable. We even had a personal market out front everyday where we definitely contributed to their income for those two weeks. Let’s just say we had a lot of free time waiting in the mornings to become very close to them. I have come to love the “Africa time” that everyone runs on—I can’t speak for everyone on this one though. I would say we had significant chunks of bonding time waiting on food and rides throughout the two weeks there.
So yes, I did manage to write a lot on just our guesthouse, but for two weeks it was our home, as was kisumu. I loved every person I met in kisumu and had a “best day ever” moment everyday. God taught me soooo much, but some of those stories can be heard in other peep’s blogs. My time’s up, so blessings everyone!
Molly Russell
So yes, I did manage to write a lot on just our guesthouse, but for two weeks it was our home, as was kisumu. I loved every person I met in kisumu and had a “best day ever” moment everyday. God taught me soooo much, but some of those stories can be heard in other peep’s blogs. My time’s up, so blessings everyone!
Molly Russell
Kisumuuuuu
Wow! We had an AMAZING time in Kisumu! We had the privilege of doing so many cool things. One of the highlights of our time in Kisumu was visiting a high school in the slums. The high school was considered one of the best in Kisumu. We were able to visit the high school twice – once with the Post Team and once with just the Mi2s and the Kisumu staff. Over the two times we visited we were all able to share a brief version of our testimonies and some things we have struggled with currently or in the past. It was so cool to see and hear their reactions. We spoke to a few students as we were leaving, and they told us that they were under the impression that white people never struggled. Obviously we struggle all the time. I was surprised by how well we could all relate to each other. Although we grew up very differently we all came together to sing songs, pray, and share stories.
Along with all the cool things we got to do in Kisumu, it was also a time of growing closer to God. Lately I have been praying for situations were I had to depend on God. He answered my prayers:) In Kisumu, I was thrown in countless situations where I was scared out of my mind and had to completely depend on God to help me out. Through these situations I feel like my faith has expanded and I am learning to trust God more. God continues to teach me and He is revealing more of Himself to me everyday. I stand in awe of how great our God is! Praise the Lord!!! ☺
-Molly Ray
Along with all the cool things we got to do in Kisumu, it was also a time of growing closer to God. Lately I have been praying for situations were I had to depend on God. He answered my prayers:) In Kisumu, I was thrown in countless situations where I was scared out of my mind and had to completely depend on God to help me out. Through these situations I feel like my faith has expanded and I am learning to trust God more. God continues to teach me and He is revealing more of Himself to me everyday. I stand in awe of how great our God is! Praise the Lord!!! ☺
-Molly Ray
We're Back!
We’re back in Nairobi after two weeks in Kisumu and the most miserable bus ride of my life. We’re all going to be posting our trip in parts, so we don’t have a whole bunch of overlap in our individual posts.
Trying to write a short blog about our time in Kisumu is like asking water to be something other than wet. In my last post, I wrote that we visited an orphanage, turns out that it wasn’t an orphanage. It was actually a Juvenile detention facility; apparently it’s easy for me to mistake a detention center for an orphanage. Anyways, We visited the Remand home again last week. The Mi2 team went in and visited about 100 teenagers in a classroom. We started by sitting amongst them on the benchs, and there was a lot of hand waving and shoving to make room for us mzungus. We sang some songs that they led us in, and they showed off a number of memory verses. Then we sang some more songs. This time during the songs, I began to record some video footage on my camera. This was made difficult because the crowd of boys around me tightened like a noose around my entire body as they were all straining to get a glimpse of the live footage on the LCD screen. In the middle of the second to last song, the LIA coordinator for the trip walked up to me and whispered in my ear “Sam, would you please give a word of hope to them when we are done singing.” (This is quite typical of my experience in Kenya, never in my life have I been put on the spot so many times to provide a devotion, sermon, or testimony). I gave a short word on how we need to make the best of the situation we’re in and that there’s always hope in Christ. After my short message, we were divided into groups. I was put in a group with 14 of the older boys. In my group were a number of runaways who had been caught on the street and were put in the Remand center, a couple of rapists and the rest were thieves. I shared the gospel with them and one of them accepted Christ as his savior! The girls were split up into groups as well, Molly Russell was with a group of girls in the home. The reasons girls end up in the remand center are very different from the reasons why boys are there. Boys generally do something to be there, the girls are usually there because they’re the victim of a terrible situation and have no where else to go. Some of their stories were heart breaking and I really have no desire to share them, they were just awful.
The rest of the team should be posting shortly. Stay tuned
-Nabii (Sam)
PS for those wondering about my health, I am back to full strength now. The day we came home from kisumu I started throwing up at 530am and was miserable achy the whole way home. Dr. Florence made a house call and treated me for malaria and typhoid though it now seems unlikely I had either. After a few days of mild symptoms I'm back to normal. Thanks for all of your prayers! Praise God!
Trying to write a short blog about our time in Kisumu is like asking water to be something other than wet. In my last post, I wrote that we visited an orphanage, turns out that it wasn’t an orphanage. It was actually a Juvenile detention facility; apparently it’s easy for me to mistake a detention center for an orphanage. Anyways, We visited the Remand home again last week. The Mi2 team went in and visited about 100 teenagers in a classroom. We started by sitting amongst them on the benchs, and there was a lot of hand waving and shoving to make room for us mzungus. We sang some songs that they led us in, and they showed off a number of memory verses. Then we sang some more songs. This time during the songs, I began to record some video footage on my camera. This was made difficult because the crowd of boys around me tightened like a noose around my entire body as they were all straining to get a glimpse of the live footage on the LCD screen. In the middle of the second to last song, the LIA coordinator for the trip walked up to me and whispered in my ear “Sam, would you please give a word of hope to them when we are done singing.” (This is quite typical of my experience in Kenya, never in my life have I been put on the spot so many times to provide a devotion, sermon, or testimony). I gave a short word on how we need to make the best of the situation we’re in and that there’s always hope in Christ. After my short message, we were divided into groups. I was put in a group with 14 of the older boys. In my group were a number of runaways who had been caught on the street and were put in the Remand center, a couple of rapists and the rest were thieves. I shared the gospel with them and one of them accepted Christ as his savior! The girls were split up into groups as well, Molly Russell was with a group of girls in the home. The reasons girls end up in the remand center are very different from the reasons why boys are there. Boys generally do something to be there, the girls are usually there because they’re the victim of a terrible situation and have no where else to go. Some of their stories were heart breaking and I really have no desire to share them, they were just awful.
The rest of the team should be posting shortly. Stay tuned
-Nabii (Sam)
PS for those wondering about my health, I am back to full strength now. The day we came home from kisumu I started throwing up at 530am and was miserable achy the whole way home. Dr. Florence made a house call and treated me for malaria and typhoid though it now seems unlikely I had either. After a few days of mild symptoms I'm back to normal. Thanks for all of your prayers! Praise God!
I left a piece of my heart in Kisumu...
As Sam has previously mentioned the team of Mi2's are back in Nairobi and although being home is nice, I left a little piece of my heart in Kisumu and with the team there. I apologize ahead of time if I repeat anything the other Mi2's may mention.
Well for starters because I have tendency to be "allergic to the motion" as a Kenyan once put it, or in American terms Car sick. So I took some Zofran and was given th honor of riding in the front of the LIA van with our brilliant driver Jakes. This is where my love for swahili really began, Jakes would point at things and ask me to try and pronounce them, laugh when I said it wrong and then correct me, so I learned a lot. Now my team has a joke, "O wheres sawyer, found her, she asking a Kenyan "how do you say...blank in swahili?" But that's the learner in me, I guess. Many Kenyans and my team laugh at me but I still love the language.
I also was able to enjoy my 21st birthday in Kenya on our first day in Kisumu. On my birthday we went to church, I stood up an sang in front of everyone, along with my fellow Mi2's, which I would not have done in the United States probably ever. Kenya has a way of pushing you out of your comfort zone and it has been an amazing experience. For my birthday dinner I had Ice Cream and Fruit Salad. One of my favorite birthday's to date.
Monday started with a whirlwind of the SECC teams arriving and being in community with them was epic to say the least. I don't remember all that was said but what I do remember and possibly never forget was the wisdom of a young woman of 14 (I think) named Ivy who spoke and prayed with such integrity and grace. Not going to lie, I'm a little jealous because I wish I was like that at 14. Tuesday arrived and through a series of events I had the incredible opportunity to travel with Pastor Dave Stone and Pastor Kurt Sauder to visit widows with HIV and as a nursing student this was so cool to experience. And the widows were so kind and gracious to us.
O my goodness, so one day I think it was thursday our friend Ephantus from LIA Kisumu looks at me and says "So Sawyer, you are going to preach a sermon on Sunday!" I said, "say what". But here's the thing in Kenya you gotta go with the flow, be flexible, embrace the challenges. But man o man, I was not overly excited about preaching. Let me explain, I am not naturally gifted at speaking in general. When I say that I mean, I really usually don't enjoy it, I break into a sweat, feel the heat rise in my face, start to stutter etc. it's a mess. So I kinda said like "hey, ephantus you were joking about that whole preaching thing right?". Yea he wasn't, but it was comforting to find out the next day almost all the Mi2's were going to preach at different churches on Sunday. So we were all in it together and praying for each other. So I preached on how God has a plan for our lives and it went fairly well I would say, like I would do it again, actually I kind of enjoyed it, so weird. But I was so grateful to be challenged in a new way.
Um, what else am I assigned to write about... O yes, as Mi2's we have a goal of doing what is called a Seed Project in the communities we work in. A seed project is small scale, short term project that involves the community and hopefully has the ability to open doors for the churches in the community. So we (Mi2 and LIA) in collaboration with pastors and TOTs put on a Widows luncheon. We served a meal and LIA provided an excellent Kenyan speaker, who talked about nutrition and gave a demonstration. It was really cool. Some 70 plus Widows came and hopefully walked away knowing more and being connected with other widows in the community, Bwana Asifiwe (praise the Lord). (P.S. how many times can you say community in a paragraph, my english vocabulary needs some work)
Well I think I have written quite enough. But in truth words cannot describe the feelings I walked away with from Kisumu. That LIA team is full of joy, love and the spirit and so funny (even though they don't think so). Those 5 churches partnered with LIA are devoted to their community and serving them. Even just the people in passing were amazing.
Thank you for reading!
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you)
Kate Sawyer
Well for starters because I have tendency to be "allergic to the motion" as a Kenyan once put it, or in American terms Car sick. So I took some Zofran and was given th honor of riding in the front of the LIA van with our brilliant driver Jakes. This is where my love for swahili really began, Jakes would point at things and ask me to try and pronounce them, laugh when I said it wrong and then correct me, so I learned a lot. Now my team has a joke, "O wheres sawyer, found her, she asking a Kenyan "how do you say...blank in swahili?" But that's the learner in me, I guess. Many Kenyans and my team laugh at me but I still love the language.
I also was able to enjoy my 21st birthday in Kenya on our first day in Kisumu. On my birthday we went to church, I stood up an sang in front of everyone, along with my fellow Mi2's, which I would not have done in the United States probably ever. Kenya has a way of pushing you out of your comfort zone and it has been an amazing experience. For my birthday dinner I had Ice Cream and Fruit Salad. One of my favorite birthday's to date.
Monday started with a whirlwind of the SECC teams arriving and being in community with them was epic to say the least. I don't remember all that was said but what I do remember and possibly never forget was the wisdom of a young woman of 14 (I think) named Ivy who spoke and prayed with such integrity and grace. Not going to lie, I'm a little jealous because I wish I was like that at 14. Tuesday arrived and through a series of events I had the incredible opportunity to travel with Pastor Dave Stone and Pastor Kurt Sauder to visit widows with HIV and as a nursing student this was so cool to experience. And the widows were so kind and gracious to us.
O my goodness, so one day I think it was thursday our friend Ephantus from LIA Kisumu looks at me and says "So Sawyer, you are going to preach a sermon on Sunday!" I said, "say what". But here's the thing in Kenya you gotta go with the flow, be flexible, embrace the challenges. But man o man, I was not overly excited about preaching. Let me explain, I am not naturally gifted at speaking in general. When I say that I mean, I really usually don't enjoy it, I break into a sweat, feel the heat rise in my face, start to stutter etc. it's a mess. So I kinda said like "hey, ephantus you were joking about that whole preaching thing right?". Yea he wasn't, but it was comforting to find out the next day almost all the Mi2's were going to preach at different churches on Sunday. So we were all in it together and praying for each other. So I preached on how God has a plan for our lives and it went fairly well I would say, like I would do it again, actually I kind of enjoyed it, so weird. But I was so grateful to be challenged in a new way.
Um, what else am I assigned to write about... O yes, as Mi2's we have a goal of doing what is called a Seed Project in the communities we work in. A seed project is small scale, short term project that involves the community and hopefully has the ability to open doors for the churches in the community. So we (Mi2 and LIA) in collaboration with pastors and TOTs put on a Widows luncheon. We served a meal and LIA provided an excellent Kenyan speaker, who talked about nutrition and gave a demonstration. It was really cool. Some 70 plus Widows came and hopefully walked away knowing more and being connected with other widows in the community, Bwana Asifiwe (praise the Lord). (P.S. how many times can you say community in a paragraph, my english vocabulary needs some work)
Well I think I have written quite enough. But in truth words cannot describe the feelings I walked away with from Kisumu. That LIA team is full of joy, love and the spirit and so funny (even though they don't think so). Those 5 churches partnered with LIA are devoted to their community and serving them. Even just the people in passing were amazing.
Thank you for reading!
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you)
Kate Sawyer
Friday, June 10, 2011
Dancing with two right feet
Hi Friends and Family,
Hello from Kisumu! This has been quite an eventful week, and we haven’t blogged yet, oh my! We don’t have internet access at our guest house, so I’m writing this from another guest house! We drove to Kisumu last Saturday. It was an entertaining and exciting 8.5 hour drive. Our friend Jakob drove us the whole way, what a champ. We saw some twigas (Giraffes) and punda milias (Zebras) and baboons on our drive out. The scenery was nothing short of spectacular. We stopped at a couple places to just to gawk at the view, and take some pictures too. The foliage is a richer green and the dirt is almost red, it’s incredible.
After we arrived, we got to meet our LIA staff, Ephantus, Oke, Mary, and Moses. They’re awesome. The following morning we split into two groups and were informed shortly before we left that we would be preaching at these churches. So Austin “Ralph Lauren” Ray (LIA international office intern) and myself preached at our respective locations. Molly “Rayray” Ray shared her testimony, and my group led the church in a summer camp song, fortunately for me, Elise, Sawyer and Rayray are all former counselors. The Kenyan church service is fun, it actually reminds me of my home church (Ft. Mckinley) in a few ways. The pastors all dance, except they have better moves than the Dave Hood Boogie, and the congregations gets nice and loud and into the worship :). Kenyan’s are quiet in person, and loud in church, Americans are loud in person and quiet in church.
We had some down time after church to settle in and rest for the hurricane of activity to come in the week. On Monday, two different teams from Southeast Christian Church arrived in Kisumu. One was a team of families from some of the leadership roles at southeast, and the other is a team of young men and women from their college ministry called the post. It’s been great having other mzungus here, especially other men. Not many men can say they’ve lived with 6 awesome women, and I am fortunate to be one of them. However, I’m still very much a man, and it’s good for my mental health to have another dude around once in a while.
On Monday, we all received an orientation to the work that LIA has been doing here in Kisumu, and afterwards we split into groups and went out to visit the community on home visits. During home visits, we go in groups of 5-9 to visit homes of community members and get to know them. We hear some heart-wrenching stories of suffering and some of the most uplifting stories of faith and joy ever told. They’re difficult to describe beyond that.
We’ve done more home visits, and yesterday had the opportunity to go out into the community to evangelize. A number of people came to Christ and my group had a change to meet Michelle Obama. Contrary to popular belief, she doesn’t reside in Washington DC, but lives in the Nyallenda slum of Kisumu, and she’s only three years old. On a more serious note, Obama’s father is from Kisumu, and there are plenty of pictures of him on the homes of the people we visited.
We also had a chance to go and speak to an orphanage and to a High school. I was pooped on by a bird (on the left side of my forehead) at the orphanage while Chad from the Post team was teaching about Jesus.
A number of Mi2’s and post team members shared our 2 minutes testimonies with the high school students and several accepted Christ, bwana asafiwe (Praise the Lord).
Today, the rest of the team is with the street children playing games while I write this (I had time sensitive medical school details to attend to). The post team will be leaving and we will miss them.
Both the post team and Mi2 teams have had interesting sounds coming from the guest houses. The post team wakes up to a “donkey dog” (whatever that is?) giving birth (so they claim) every morning. I think their reenactments of the sound are far more entertaining and traumatizing than the real thing. The Mi2 guest house is about as big and as loud as a small parade. It has been home to an Acapella group from a University in upstate New York (name intentionally left out). They’re here filming a documentary, and define the term obnoxious American, but are quite kind, just loud and rowdy at all hours of the night. They’ve provided a fair bit of chuckles to our team though. We like to talk about lions when we’re around them (long story, and this one is already long enough).
The other night, I made the mistake of leaving my windows open while I was at dinner. So my room was flooded with mosquitoes when I returned and decided the best immediate course of action was to kill as many as possible. Being a thorough and practical individual, I grabbed my shoe (not the muddy one) and began to kill as many as I could. All the mosquitoes were hanging out on my ceiling around the light bulb, and after I had inflicted a small dent in the cloud, I realized something. There was a more effective method to killing them, and it comes in a metal can. I fogged my room with killer spray and the problem was solved. Somewhere between the smashing and spraying, I noticed something: there was dirt on the bottom of my shoe, and because I had done such a good job of smacking the ceiling, it looked like there had been a redneck with two right feet square dancing on my ceiling.
Speaking of mosquitoes, we have gotten bit many times here but we remember our malaria medication. No one does a better job of bug bite prevention than Elise, who uses enough spray that you might think she’s been sponsored on this trip by OFF. She’s a champ, always the first to smile and always making everyone laugh. The world could use more people like her.
Elise and Molly Russell learned how to make Chapatti (best creation ever) on one of their home visits with one of the local pastors. They eat enough of it that they claim they’re afraid they’re going to turn into chapattis. Russell is great, always laughing and having fun, she really brings our team together as one, can’t imagine this team without her.
Sawyer is a huge inspiration to our team. She’s always the first one to engage new people and knows more Swahili than the rest of us put together. She’s a trooper, she’s battled her stomach a number of times but always keeps going and doesn’t quit until she’s literally falling over, a true missionary.
Rayray is one of the sharper individuals I’ve ever met, and always brings great thoughts to our morning devotions. Probably the best listener on the team, we could all learn a lot from her.
Commander Ponton is sweet. She’s really had an awesome week. We’ve really seen her come into the moment. It’s been awesome to see her really focus on the people at hand. She’s so good at thinking ahead, but it’s been a blessing to watch her focus all her attention on the individual she’s talking with.
Katie Lane is always on top of the situation and willing to put a positive spin on anything. No minor detail escapes her attention, which is a real blessing for our team. She brings an experienced perspective to our group from her previous trip to Kenya.
Overall, our group is blessed to have members who are strong where others are weak. We’ve been blessed with great team unity and chemistry, and our prayer is for that to continue.
We had a cultural night with the Kenyans last night. We got to sing and dance with them, what a blast. At the end of the night we were asked to share some American culture with them. So we sang a song from sister act 2 and “lean on me” which they all joined in on. Pretty cool.
There are endless more stories to tell, and I think it’s best I let them be told by others at this point.
Grace and Love from Kisumu,
Sam and Mi2 Kenya Team
Beard Update, it’s a huge hit amongst the children. Over twice as long as the hair on my head, we will be attempting to braid it once we get back to Nairobi.
Hello from Kisumu! This has been quite an eventful week, and we haven’t blogged yet, oh my! We don’t have internet access at our guest house, so I’m writing this from another guest house! We drove to Kisumu last Saturday. It was an entertaining and exciting 8.5 hour drive. Our friend Jakob drove us the whole way, what a champ. We saw some twigas (Giraffes) and punda milias (Zebras) and baboons on our drive out. The scenery was nothing short of spectacular. We stopped at a couple places to just to gawk at the view, and take some pictures too. The foliage is a richer green and the dirt is almost red, it’s incredible.
After we arrived, we got to meet our LIA staff, Ephantus, Oke, Mary, and Moses. They’re awesome. The following morning we split into two groups and were informed shortly before we left that we would be preaching at these churches. So Austin “Ralph Lauren” Ray (LIA international office intern) and myself preached at our respective locations. Molly “Rayray” Ray shared her testimony, and my group led the church in a summer camp song, fortunately for me, Elise, Sawyer and Rayray are all former counselors. The Kenyan church service is fun, it actually reminds me of my home church (Ft. Mckinley) in a few ways. The pastors all dance, except they have better moves than the Dave Hood Boogie, and the congregations gets nice and loud and into the worship :). Kenyan’s are quiet in person, and loud in church, Americans are loud in person and quiet in church.
We had some down time after church to settle in and rest for the hurricane of activity to come in the week. On Monday, two different teams from Southeast Christian Church arrived in Kisumu. One was a team of families from some of the leadership roles at southeast, and the other is a team of young men and women from their college ministry called the post. It’s been great having other mzungus here, especially other men. Not many men can say they’ve lived with 6 awesome women, and I am fortunate to be one of them. However, I’m still very much a man, and it’s good for my mental health to have another dude around once in a while.
On Monday, we all received an orientation to the work that LIA has been doing here in Kisumu, and afterwards we split into groups and went out to visit the community on home visits. During home visits, we go in groups of 5-9 to visit homes of community members and get to know them. We hear some heart-wrenching stories of suffering and some of the most uplifting stories of faith and joy ever told. They’re difficult to describe beyond that.
We’ve done more home visits, and yesterday had the opportunity to go out into the community to evangelize. A number of people came to Christ and my group had a change to meet Michelle Obama. Contrary to popular belief, she doesn’t reside in Washington DC, but lives in the Nyallenda slum of Kisumu, and she’s only three years old. On a more serious note, Obama’s father is from Kisumu, and there are plenty of pictures of him on the homes of the people we visited.
We also had a chance to go and speak to an orphanage and to a High school. I was pooped on by a bird (on the left side of my forehead) at the orphanage while Chad from the Post team was teaching about Jesus.
A number of Mi2’s and post team members shared our 2 minutes testimonies with the high school students and several accepted Christ, bwana asafiwe (Praise the Lord).
Today, the rest of the team is with the street children playing games while I write this (I had time sensitive medical school details to attend to). The post team will be leaving and we will miss them.
Both the post team and Mi2 teams have had interesting sounds coming from the guest houses. The post team wakes up to a “donkey dog” (whatever that is?) giving birth (so they claim) every morning. I think their reenactments of the sound are far more entertaining and traumatizing than the real thing. The Mi2 guest house is about as big and as loud as a small parade. It has been home to an Acapella group from a University in upstate New York (name intentionally left out). They’re here filming a documentary, and define the term obnoxious American, but are quite kind, just loud and rowdy at all hours of the night. They’ve provided a fair bit of chuckles to our team though. We like to talk about lions when we’re around them (long story, and this one is already long enough).
The other night, I made the mistake of leaving my windows open while I was at dinner. So my room was flooded with mosquitoes when I returned and decided the best immediate course of action was to kill as many as possible. Being a thorough and practical individual, I grabbed my shoe (not the muddy one) and began to kill as many as I could. All the mosquitoes were hanging out on my ceiling around the light bulb, and after I had inflicted a small dent in the cloud, I realized something. There was a more effective method to killing them, and it comes in a metal can. I fogged my room with killer spray and the problem was solved. Somewhere between the smashing and spraying, I noticed something: there was dirt on the bottom of my shoe, and because I had done such a good job of smacking the ceiling, it looked like there had been a redneck with two right feet square dancing on my ceiling.
Speaking of mosquitoes, we have gotten bit many times here but we remember our malaria medication. No one does a better job of bug bite prevention than Elise, who uses enough spray that you might think she’s been sponsored on this trip by OFF. She’s a champ, always the first to smile and always making everyone laugh. The world could use more people like her.
Elise and Molly Russell learned how to make Chapatti (best creation ever) on one of their home visits with one of the local pastors. They eat enough of it that they claim they’re afraid they’re going to turn into chapattis. Russell is great, always laughing and having fun, she really brings our team together as one, can’t imagine this team without her.
Sawyer is a huge inspiration to our team. She’s always the first one to engage new people and knows more Swahili than the rest of us put together. She’s a trooper, she’s battled her stomach a number of times but always keeps going and doesn’t quit until she’s literally falling over, a true missionary.
Rayray is one of the sharper individuals I’ve ever met, and always brings great thoughts to our morning devotions. Probably the best listener on the team, we could all learn a lot from her.
Commander Ponton is sweet. She’s really had an awesome week. We’ve really seen her come into the moment. It’s been awesome to see her really focus on the people at hand. She’s so good at thinking ahead, but it’s been a blessing to watch her focus all her attention on the individual she’s talking with.
Katie Lane is always on top of the situation and willing to put a positive spin on anything. No minor detail escapes her attention, which is a real blessing for our team. She brings an experienced perspective to our group from her previous trip to Kenya.
Overall, our group is blessed to have members who are strong where others are weak. We’ve been blessed with great team unity and chemistry, and our prayer is for that to continue.
We had a cultural night with the Kenyans last night. We got to sing and dance with them, what a blast. At the end of the night we were asked to share some American culture with them. So we sang a song from sister act 2 and “lean on me” which they all joined in on. Pretty cool.
There are endless more stories to tell, and I think it’s best I let them be told by others at this point.
Grace and Love from Kisumu,
Sam and Mi2 Kenya Team
Beard Update, it’s a huge hit amongst the children. Over twice as long as the hair on my head, we will be attempting to braid it once we get back to Nairobi.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Going Dark?
Hey loved ones. Its 730am here, and we're finishing up our packing for the next two weeks. We're heading out to Kisumu in a couple hours and we don't know what the internet situation is there, so if you don't hear from us for a couple weeks, don't freak out, we're fine :)
Yesterday we spent the entire day in Swahili lessons. Our instructor says we picked it up quickly, which is good. We also got a chance to meet a leadership team from Southeast Christian Church, they're a pretty cool bunch. We'll get a chance to spend more time with them in Kisumu.
Prayer requests:
Safe Travel
God would work through us and teach us.
That we would be humble servants.
Love you all, we're praying for you everyday. Miss you, let us know if theres anything specific we can pray for.
Sorry for the short post, in a bit of a hurry.
More Mi2 trivia to come in my next post.
Sam and the Mi2 Kenya team
Yesterday we spent the entire day in Swahili lessons. Our instructor says we picked it up quickly, which is good. We also got a chance to meet a leadership team from Southeast Christian Church, they're a pretty cool bunch. We'll get a chance to spend more time with them in Kisumu.
Prayer requests:
Safe Travel
God would work through us and teach us.
That we would be humble servants.
Love you all, we're praying for you everyday. Miss you, let us know if theres anything specific we can pray for.
Sorry for the short post, in a bit of a hurry.
More Mi2 trivia to come in my next post.
Sam and the Mi2 Kenya team
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Hello Friends and Family!
Here’s another update from our home sweet home in Africa. We have had a pretty laid back week and have enjoyed our lessons and the sunny afternoons in Nairobi. On Tuesday we had our first scheduled day to be in the city, but we ended up just going to the Nairobi National Museum! The museum itself was awesome and we got to learn a lot about Kenya history, the mammals of Africa, and about the different art featured in the museum. The real adventure of that trip took place driving to and from the museum! All along we have heard about how bad traffic in Nairobi is, but we had yet to experience it first hand until that afternoon. The unpaved roads, the steep hills, the five lanes of cars on a two lane road, and the matatus who think they rule the road made for quite the adventure! Luckily we have great and reliable driver who took good care of us and made us feel safe (for the most part) and got us to our destinations in one piece. The next day was a national holiday for Kenya because they got to celebrate their independence! Most people had the day off and none of the kids were in school, so we had a morning lesson/training but had the afternoon free to do what we wanted. Since it’s a daily occurrence for us needing to run to the nearby grocery store, that’s what some of us decided to- to get the groceries for the rest of the week. But the last part of the afternoon most of us just took it easy around the apartment. Nicole and Russell decided to take a big adventure and tour Nairobi and had quite the experience to share with the rest of the group later that night; Katie did some housework for us and cleaned up the place (which we were all so grateful for because our place was getting a little too dusty), Sam hung out in the apartment, and Sawyer, Molly Ray, and I sat outside by the pool and enjoyed the African sun!
Today we spent some time in prayer and had lessons about how to immerse ourselves into a different community/culture and we took those lessons with us to another slum called Mathare. Its not quite as big as the Kibera slum, but we were still shocked by their way of life and their “normal.” We got to visit a pastor and his church and from there we went to visit a school! It was a great experience for all of us. It was a little overwhelming because we were each assigned a room to go to and were expected to interact with the kids (age ranges: 2 years-10-years-old and anywhere from 15-30 kids in a classroom). It was so fun being able to see the smiling faces and sing with them. We were told that by us just being a presence in that room and spending that little of time with those children is such an honor for them and gives them so much joy, but in return, seeing their smiles, hearing their voices and laughter brings so much joy to each of us and really impacts us all.
We have been blessed by all that we have been able to see, do, hear and learn. We are all in good health and enjoying everything Kenya and LIA have to offer us.
Tomorrow we have a full day of Swahili lessons ( Hopefully our vocabulary list will grow from just knowing how to say “thank you,” “you’re welcome,” and the vague list of words we know from the movie “The Lion King” -to us being able to carry on a conversation in Swahili!).
The weather has been great, we’ve enjoyed Chef Nicole’s cooking, and we’re excited to meet up with the teams from South East next week and to see what God has in store for us while we’re in Kisumu. We appreciate all of your love, prayers, and support. We love you all!
PS: after being in the heart of Nairobi and taking busses/matatus to and from Mathare today, we inhaled so many fumes from the vehicles driving by that we were afraid there was a layer of black guck covering our lungs. But actually, the boogers in our noses saved us and stopped a lot of it from entering. So that’s great, but the down side of that is when we came home we blew our noses and all of the mucus we blew out was charcoal black. Eww. Who knew you’d ever be so thankful of your nose/boogers??!
Love yours truly,
Elise (on behalf of the Mi2 Team )
Here’s another update from our home sweet home in Africa. We have had a pretty laid back week and have enjoyed our lessons and the sunny afternoons in Nairobi. On Tuesday we had our first scheduled day to be in the city, but we ended up just going to the Nairobi National Museum! The museum itself was awesome and we got to learn a lot about Kenya history, the mammals of Africa, and about the different art featured in the museum. The real adventure of that trip took place driving to and from the museum! All along we have heard about how bad traffic in Nairobi is, but we had yet to experience it first hand until that afternoon. The unpaved roads, the steep hills, the five lanes of cars on a two lane road, and the matatus who think they rule the road made for quite the adventure! Luckily we have great and reliable driver who took good care of us and made us feel safe (for the most part) and got us to our destinations in one piece. The next day was a national holiday for Kenya because they got to celebrate their independence! Most people had the day off and none of the kids were in school, so we had a morning lesson/training but had the afternoon free to do what we wanted. Since it’s a daily occurrence for us needing to run to the nearby grocery store, that’s what some of us decided to- to get the groceries for the rest of the week. But the last part of the afternoon most of us just took it easy around the apartment. Nicole and Russell decided to take a big adventure and tour Nairobi and had quite the experience to share with the rest of the group later that night; Katie did some housework for us and cleaned up the place (which we were all so grateful for because our place was getting a little too dusty), Sam hung out in the apartment, and Sawyer, Molly Ray, and I sat outside by the pool and enjoyed the African sun!
Today we spent some time in prayer and had lessons about how to immerse ourselves into a different community/culture and we took those lessons with us to another slum called Mathare. Its not quite as big as the Kibera slum, but we were still shocked by their way of life and their “normal.” We got to visit a pastor and his church and from there we went to visit a school! It was a great experience for all of us. It was a little overwhelming because we were each assigned a room to go to and were expected to interact with the kids (age ranges: 2 years-10-years-old and anywhere from 15-30 kids in a classroom). It was so fun being able to see the smiling faces and sing with them. We were told that by us just being a presence in that room and spending that little of time with those children is such an honor for them and gives them so much joy, but in return, seeing their smiles, hearing their voices and laughter brings so much joy to each of us and really impacts us all.
We have been blessed by all that we have been able to see, do, hear and learn. We are all in good health and enjoying everything Kenya and LIA have to offer us.
Tomorrow we have a full day of Swahili lessons ( Hopefully our vocabulary list will grow from just knowing how to say “thank you,” “you’re welcome,” and the vague list of words we know from the movie “The Lion King” -to us being able to carry on a conversation in Swahili!).
The weather has been great, we’ve enjoyed Chef Nicole’s cooking, and we’re excited to meet up with the teams from South East next week and to see what God has in store for us while we’re in Kisumu. We appreciate all of your love, prayers, and support. We love you all!
PS: after being in the heart of Nairobi and taking busses/matatus to and from Mathare today, we inhaled so many fumes from the vehicles driving by that we were afraid there was a layer of black guck covering our lungs. But actually, the boogers in our noses saved us and stopped a lot of it from entering. So that’s great, but the down side of that is when we came home we blew our noses and all of the mucus we blew out was charcoal black. Eww. Who knew you’d ever be so thankful of your nose/boogers??!
Love yours truly,
Elise (on behalf of the Mi2 Team )
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