One of the most difficult things adjustments for us has been the feeling of always being new, always having to ask questions, not knowing even the simplest things…and one of the ways that this has played out has been in the area of finding a Church. We have been very spoiled at home with such an amazing church family, good solid teaching, worshiping together in music that we really enjoy, and knowing everyone, and knowing how everything works! Going to different Churches here and trying to find one that we want to stick with has been very interesting and enjoyable, and good to see how people worship here, but it’s difficult at the same time. When you’re always the visitor and have to stand up and introduce yourself, when you never see a familiar face…it’s tiring! Trevor and I really want to find a church that we feel God is really working in, and where we feel we can contribute and fit in somewhat. This past Sunday was the first Sunday where we weren’t the newcomers, and when they asked the visitors to stand and say something, we could stay seated!! It was wonderful!! We decided to attend the AIC Ngong again for a couple of reasons…first of all it’s so close and it only takes a few minutes to walk there (and we don’t have a vehicle yet), second thing, it’s small and cozy, and third and most important, we really enjoyed it the last time we attended, and felt very welcomed, and felt that this may be one where we could attend on a regular basis. It was nice that we went again, because it was quite different from the last time we attended! If you’ll remember reading about it a couple of weeks ago, they had the choir lead the singing, accompanied by kids playing violins. This time, the power wasn’t out, so they had a power point for the lyrics for the songs, they had a worship team consisting of a guy playing the keyboard (phenomenal musician!!), a guy playing drums (again, really, really talented!), another man playing base guitar, two ladies singing, and the worship leader also singing and dancing all over the stage! He was very excited and energetic!! It was very enjoyable, and really neat to be a part of their worship service. They sang songs in English, and also sang some Swahili songs, so that was really neat as well!! There are only a handful of wazungu missionaries there, and yet we still didn’t feel out of place. The teaching was good too, solid and Bible based. They also do a thing where they pray for the kids before they go off to Children’s Church, so all the kids go up to the front and someone prays for them and their “service”. All in all…we like it there a lot, and although we have heard about a couple of other churches that have been recommended to us, and may try them out, our goal is not to try every church, and see them all, but our goal is to find a “home” church quickly so that we can get to know people, and become a part of a church family. So we would really appreciate prayer in this, as it will really help to get involved and get to know our Kenyan brothers and sisters in Christ. Something else that made last Sunday feel a little more like home was that on our way home from church, we were just walking out of the parking lot and onto the street, and a missionary lady working with AIM stopped us and asked if we wanted to come over for some chai! It was fun…a spur of the moment invitation to go visit after church…so we went to Ted and Liisa Rurup’s house for chai and soup, and visited with them for part of the afternoon!
Monday was an extremely exhausting day!! It was a holiday (yes, another one! The month of October has a lot of holidays…this one was Kenyatta Day. Every president seems to have their own day here!), and so Trevor and I, along with six other people went on an adventure to climb Mount Longonot! We got up early, and the plan was to meet everyone at 7:30 am, and leave the city shortly after. Well…as this is Africa, nothing ever happens that way!! One of the girls who came with us, Joanne, was going to just leave her car at the ABC place, which is a shopping plaza, and we would pick her up from there. We met her there, she parked her car, and got in with us in Judith’s car. As we were about to leave, the guard flagged us down, and asked why her car was staying there. She told him that she was just leaving it there for a few hours, and would be back to get it. He very adamantly replied that that was NOT allowed, and she was not to leave it there as something could happen to it. This dialogue went on for a while, until she realized that he just wanted a bribe. Well, she was not about to give him one, and so asked for the management's number and for his name so she could report him. He quickly turned his name tag around, and refused. She asked for it again, and…he refused again…this went on for awhile, until we all realized that nothing was going to change, and he was not going to give in until he got some money, which we would not give. Finally, we just left, and she parked her car somewhere else…it was quite the ordeal! But more than that, gave us a first hand look at the corruption and the way a lot of things work around here. We were also worried as we were driving out of town that we would get stopped at the various police checkpoints set up…marked by rows of barriers lined with sharp spikes to deter anyone from just driving through the check stops! The police randomly decide which vehicle to stop, and can really make your life miserable if the smallest thing is wrong, and will then jump into your vehicle with you and demand that you go to the police station (remember, the policemen do not have cars here!), or if it is a holiday, like yesterday was, then tell you have to go to court, and wait in jail until the court date! There’s no such thing as a ticket, it’s the police station, jail, court, or all of the above! Pretty intimidating! So we prayed about this before we left, and finally got on our way!! And…praise the Lord that we passed by quite a few check stops and didn’t get pulled over at all, not on the way there or on the way back!! We were very thankful!!
So…anyway, we drove to Mount Longonot National Park, which is about a 1 ½ hours drive, saw the majestic Great Rift Valley along the way, saw an overturned semi truck that held up traffic, so we just down into the ditch to get around the accident…!! Aahhh..good times!! We had to pay to get into the park…and now that we are Kenyan residents, we only had to pay 500 ksh each (which is a little over $7), and non-residents had to pay 1500 ksh each (which is a little more than $20)!! It was an exciting day!! We drove to the base of the mountain, got our backpacks ready, and started
the trek. It was crazy…we hadn’t even climbed for 10 minutes, and we were all wheezing and out of breath!! We felt a little ridiculous, until we were reminded that we were at a much higher altitude, and that was a big part of the reason for not being able to catch our breath. (it made us feel a little better!!) It was a long, hard climb, made even more difficult by the thick ash we were walking on as we got closer to the top. Mount Longonot is an old dormant volcano that erupted many years ago, and the evidence of that can be seen by the ash on the ground, the lava rocks, and seeing the amazing greenery fuelled by the lava flow. It was pretty neat! As we climbed higher, and got more tired, I kept hearing the advice we were given about climbing the mountain playing in my head “it’s really difficult, and you’ll just want to give up, but trust me, keep going because it’s worth it! The view is incredible!” So…we kept climbing, and kept climbing, and kept climbing…it took close to two hours 
to get to the top, and as I climbed those last few steps that felt like a hundred, and collapsed on the ground, I looked down the other side…and it really was incredible!! There’s a ridge all around the edge of the mountain, and in the center is a HUGE crater made by the eruption many years ago!! It was amazing! They say that there’s wildlife that lives in the crater…we didn’t see any, but it was very far down, and covered in thick greenery, so it probably would have been impossible to see any animals anyway.
We ate our picnic lunches that we had packed, rested, and took in the beauty of God’s creation…we could see Lake Naivasha, beautiful trees, other mountains, the valley…it is almost impossible to describe the beauty!! After we had finished our lunches, then it was suggested that we hike around the ridge of the whole mountain…and everything in me protested!! My body screamed “NO”!!! But we went anyway. Most of it wasn’t as hard as climbing up the mountain had been…there were many more areas of flat ground, or even walking downhill. We had trekked a little more that a quarter of the way around, and saw the dark rain clouds coming our way, and realized that we couldn’t see the valley anymore for the rain. If the mountain would get wet, all the ash and fine dirt we were walking on would
turn to slippery mud, and we had to get all the way back down the mountain before that happened!! So half of us started back, and the other half wanted to keep going. We made it back to the place where we had eaten our lunch with only a few drops of rain, and started on our way down. It was much easier doing that than going up had been!! We were making pretty good time, and then saw some Kenyan kids who were RUNNING down…and thought “what crazy kids! They are going to kill themselves!” But…the clouds were getting darker, and walking down a mountain is extremely hard on your feet and legs because you constantly have to brace yourself and slow yourself down…so we decided we may as well go with the mountain and run! And run we did!! It was fun…a little scary when the momentum would get the better of us and make it really difficult to slow down…but fun anyway!! We were so thankful to get to the bottom and see the vehicles, and the not-so-sturdy picnic tables, and just crashed there until the rest of the group made it down. On our way home it started pouring rain…so yet again God answered our prayers!! It was a wonderful day, and so neat to see more of Kenya, and to experience and appreciate another part of the world that God has created.
As many or all of you know…I have been feeling a little anxious and impatient to get involved in kid’s ministry, and have had to continually pray for God to give me patience and wisdom, and give all control over to Him, as His timing is always best. So it excites me to tell you that on Thursday I am going to be going to Matumba Slum with Diana Schmidt (her husband is in charge of short term ministry for the Eastern Region division of AIM)!! We are going to be meeting with Pastor Shadrack who is running an informal school for the slum kids of all ages. This slum is really close to Wilson Airport where Trevor works everyday, so that would make getting there really simple. I am really excited about this possibility, and also really scared! First of all, teaching is not my strength, and I know that the conditions and stories I will come in contact with will be difficult and hard to handle. But, we have prayed about my placement here, and I know that many of you have prayed for this as well, and so I want to trust the Lord with this, and know that He will often take us to those places where He can stretch us, use us, and so that everyone can see that it is ONLY Christ doing the work, and that we are just His vessels. I am confident that He is in control, and that He has brought me here for a purpose.
So please pray for this placement, that God would show me if this is where I should get involved, and that the meeting on Thursday would go well. Please pray for Trevor as well, as this week is going to be a little stressful for him because James is gone all week, and we are hoping to go to Korr (another up-country village) this weekend so he can fix a missionary’s vehicle, so Trevor has to try and make all the arrangements himself, and get all the parts in time, and figure out all the logistics of travel and all that.
Oh, and another interesting bit of news…we have a house helper! This concept seemed really strange to us at first, and we just thought that we don’t need anybody to do the housework, so why would we get a house helper?? But the more we talked to people, the more we realized that getting Kenyans to come and work for you, whether it be in the house, or outside doing yard work, or whatever it may be is a real blessing to them, and gives them a good job that they would not otherwise have. It’s expected here…even the Kenyans have house helpers, and it’s often just to help out someone who is even less fortunate than them. So we decided to get someone to come one day a week, and she started yesterday! Her name is Salomi, and she makes amazing tortillas!! It was a good day of getting to know one another, and she has already told me a bit about her life and struggles, and I’m excited to continue to build this relationship with her! She’s a very sweet woman! We also have a man named Elli come and do the yard work and cleaning outside, and he works for us one day a week as well.
Anyway, I think that's it for today...till next time..
~A
Monday was an extremely exhausting day!! It was a holiday (yes, another one! The month of October has a lot of holidays…this one was Kenyatta Day. Every president seems to have their own day here!), and so Trevor and I, along with six other people went on an adventure to climb Mount Longonot! We got up early, and the plan was to meet everyone at 7:30 am, and leave the city shortly after. Well…as this is Africa, nothing ever happens that way!! One of the girls who came with us, Joanne, was going to just leave her car at the ABC place, which is a shopping plaza, and we would pick her up from there. We met her there, she parked her car, and got in with us in Judith’s car. As we were about to leave, the guard flagged us down, and asked why her car was staying there. She told him that she was just leaving it there for a few hours, and would be back to get it. He very adamantly replied that that was NOT allowed, and she was not to leave it there as something could happen to it. This dialogue went on for a while, until she realized that he just wanted a bribe. Well, she was not about to give him one, and so asked for the management's number and for his name so she could report him. He quickly turned his name tag around, and refused. She asked for it again, and…he refused again…this went on for awhile, until we all realized that nothing was going to change, and he was not going to give in until he got some money, which we would not give. Finally, we just left, and she parked her car somewhere else…it was quite the ordeal! But more than that, gave us a first hand look at the corruption and the way a lot of things work around here. We were also worried as we were driving out of town that we would get stopped at the various police checkpoints set up…marked by rows of barriers lined with sharp spikes to deter anyone from just driving through the check stops! The police randomly decide which vehicle to stop, and can really make your life miserable if the smallest thing is wrong, and will then jump into your vehicle with you and demand that you go to the police station (remember, the policemen do not have cars here!), or if it is a holiday, like yesterday was, then tell you have to go to court, and wait in jail until the court date! There’s no such thing as a ticket, it’s the police station, jail, court, or all of the above! Pretty intimidating! So we prayed about this before we left, and finally got on our way!! And…praise the Lord that we passed by quite a few check stops and didn’t get pulled over at all, not on the way there or on the way back!! We were very thankful!!
So…anyway, we drove to Mount Longonot National Park, which is about a 1 ½ hours drive, saw the majestic Great Rift Valley along the way, saw an overturned semi truck that held up traffic, so we just down into the ditch to get around the accident…!! Aahhh..good times!! We had to pay to get into the park…and now that we are Kenyan residents, we only had to pay 500 ksh each (which is a little over $7), and non-residents had to pay 1500 ksh each (which is a little more than $20)!! It was an exciting day!! We drove to the base of the mountain, got our backpacks ready, and started
the trek. It was crazy…we hadn’t even climbed for 10 minutes, and we were all wheezing and out of breath!! We felt a little ridiculous, until we were reminded that we were at a much higher altitude, and that was a big part of the reason for not being able to catch our breath. (it made us feel a little better!!) It was a long, hard climb, made even more difficult by the thick ash we were walking on as we got closer to the top. Mount Longonot is an old dormant volcano that erupted many years ago, and the evidence of that can be seen by the ash on the ground, the lava rocks, and seeing the amazing greenery fuelled by the lava flow. It was pretty neat! As we climbed higher, and got more tired, I kept hearing the advice we were given about climbing the mountain playing in my head “it’s really difficult, and you’ll just want to give up, but trust me, keep going because it’s worth it! The view is incredible!” So…we kept climbing, and kept climbing, and kept climbing…it took close to two hours 
to get to the top, and as I climbed those last few steps that felt like a hundred, and collapsed on the ground, I looked down the other side…and it really was incredible!! There’s a ridge all around the edge of the mountain, and in the center is a HUGE crater made by the eruption many years ago!! It was amazing! They say that there’s wildlife that lives in the crater…we didn’t see any, but it was very far down, and covered in thick greenery, so it probably would have been impossible to see any animals anyway.We ate our picnic lunches that we had packed, rested, and took in the beauty of God’s creation…we could see Lake Naivasha, beautiful trees, other mountains, the valley…it is almost impossible to describe the beauty!! After we had finished our lunches, then it was suggested that we hike around the ridge of the whole mountain…and everything in me protested!! My body screamed “NO”!!! But we went anyway. Most of it wasn’t as hard as climbing up the mountain had been…there were many more areas of flat ground, or even walking downhill. We had trekked a little more that a quarter of the way around, and saw the dark rain clouds coming our way, and realized that we couldn’t see the valley anymore for the rain. If the mountain would get wet, all the ash and fine dirt we were walking on would
turn to slippery mud, and we had to get all the way back down the mountain before that happened!! So half of us started back, and the other half wanted to keep going. We made it back to the place where we had eaten our lunch with only a few drops of rain, and started on our way down. It was much easier doing that than going up had been!! We were making pretty good time, and then saw some Kenyan kids who were RUNNING down…and thought “what crazy kids! They are going to kill themselves!” But…the clouds were getting darker, and walking down a mountain is extremely hard on your feet and legs because you constantly have to brace yourself and slow yourself down…so we decided we may as well go with the mountain and run! And run we did!! It was fun…a little scary when the momentum would get the better of us and make it really difficult to slow down…but fun anyway!! We were so thankful to get to the bottom and see the vehicles, and the not-so-sturdy picnic tables, and just crashed there until the rest of the group made it down. On our way home it started pouring rain…so yet again God answered our prayers!! It was a wonderful day, and so neat to see more of Kenya, and to experience and appreciate another part of the world that God has created.As many or all of you know…I have been feeling a little anxious and impatient to get involved in kid’s ministry, and have had to continually pray for God to give me patience and wisdom, and give all control over to Him, as His timing is always best. So it excites me to tell you that on Thursday I am going to be going to Matumba Slum with Diana Schmidt (her husband is in charge of short term ministry for the Eastern Region division of AIM)!! We are going to be meeting with Pastor Shadrack who is running an informal school for the slum kids of all ages. This slum is really close to Wilson Airport where Trevor works everyday, so that would make getting there really simple. I am really excited about this possibility, and also really scared! First of all, teaching is not my strength, and I know that the conditions and stories I will come in contact with will be difficult and hard to handle. But, we have prayed about my placement here, and I know that many of you have prayed for this as well, and so I want to trust the Lord with this, and know that He will often take us to those places where He can stretch us, use us, and so that everyone can see that it is ONLY Christ doing the work, and that we are just His vessels. I am confident that He is in control, and that He has brought me here for a purpose.
So please pray for this placement, that God would show me if this is where I should get involved, and that the meeting on Thursday would go well. Please pray for Trevor as well, as this week is going to be a little stressful for him because James is gone all week, and we are hoping to go to Korr (another up-country village) this weekend so he can fix a missionary’s vehicle, so Trevor has to try and make all the arrangements himself, and get all the parts in time, and figure out all the logistics of travel and all that.
Oh, and another interesting bit of news…we have a house helper! This concept seemed really strange to us at first, and we just thought that we don’t need anybody to do the housework, so why would we get a house helper?? But the more we talked to people, the more we realized that getting Kenyans to come and work for you, whether it be in the house, or outside doing yard work, or whatever it may be is a real blessing to them, and gives them a good job that they would not otherwise have. It’s expected here…even the Kenyans have house helpers, and it’s often just to help out someone who is even less fortunate than them. So we decided to get someone to come one day a week, and she started yesterday! Her name is Salomi, and she makes amazing tortillas!! It was a good day of getting to know one another, and she has already told me a bit about her life and struggles, and I’m excited to continue to build this relationship with her! She’s a very sweet woman! We also have a man named Elli come and do the yard work and cleaning outside, and he works for us one day a week as well.
Anyway, I think that's it for today...till next time..
~A
2 comments:
Yup, looks about the same size as Watt Mountain. I'll start my training tomorrow :)
great! then when you get here you can show us how it's done! :)
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