"game on"

so i suppose its accurate to say i blog when i'm not in america. many apologies to the few but faithful readers i have who were left hanging after i returned from kenya. i always seemed to be sucked into the hustle and bustle of our culture and fail to share all the many amazing things God is doing HERE. with that said, since i've been home, the past 6 months have been filled with frothing at the coffee house, working at the schools on snow days or holidays (like after school all day) or subbing for my old PE coach (LOVE it...my four square game has really picked up), and preparing for sudan. oh...and some painting. our family moved like 10 minutes away:)

7 of us, all either ASU grads or students, have been preparing for a 2 month stay in the village of wadupe in south sudan through the newly born non-profit WhytheWoods. billy, the founder, arrived on thursday to uganda, and the remaining 6 of us will fly to join him on may 12...just 2 days away. we will be flying into uganda and staying with another non-profit, Wine to Water, who is also based in boone. doc hendley, the founder, has been an amazing resource for WhytheWoods, and his team will be training us on his bases in Uganda on methods of clean water. when billy asked the village of wadupe what thier biggest needs were, one of thier responses was clean water. so, after a week in uganda, we will drive up to wadupe.

right now, people (many children) are traveling almost 3 miles in order to get water---not clean water--just water.

we are going learn all we can on bio-san filters, rainwater containment systems and water hygeine, so that we can educate and equip this village on how to access clean water. in addition, we are going to contract out the digging of 2 wells.

this, however, is means to and end. our end: to remind the people of wadupe that God loves them dearly, and that He thinks they are precious and valuable. to remind them of thier inheritance; that they are sons and daughters of a KING, and have access to power through the Holy Spirit. we are going to meet them wherever they are at, and nudge them closer to the Savior.

wadupe is about 17 miles outside of the nearest town---and wadupe doesn't have electricity--so i will do my very very best to update my blog! not sure about pictures, but i PROMISE i will post them when i get back. for those of you who would like to receive any email updates we send out, please let me know so i can add you to our contacts. we have set up a team email account so whoever goes to town can email everyone and also bring back messages from friends and family.

after years of praying, many books on sudan, and tears spilled for people i've only meet on a page, in my mind, or from someone else's story, i'm days away from one of my heart's deepest desires. God is good. SO good. When we delight in Him, He grants the desires of our hearts. (Psalm 37:4). pray for our safety, our health, our obedience, discernment, and for the precious people of uganda and sudan. what a priviledge to serve the Most High, the Creator, the Healer and Protector, the Provider and Redeemer, our Savior, our King, and our Lord. may we decrease, that He may increase.

"we put the walls up, but Jesus keeps 'em standin'
He doesn't need us, but He lets us put our hand in
So we can see
His love is bigger,
than you and me"
--Caedmon's Call, "Two Weeks in Africa"

home already...

i know i'm already home, but many eventful things took place in my last weeks in nairobi so i'll be doing a little catch up on the blog in these next days. shall i start off with shauna and her braids? i haven't uploaded all our pics of our 8 hours of being plated, so this one will serve as a preview. my scalp might be itching like poison ivy, but i'm holding out 'til my buddy sees me...because she's gonna want them asap when she gets back:)

initially when i was going to stay until Christmas, shauna and i had big thanksgiving plans for the house. we wanted to share a traditional american thanksgiving with abraham, thomas, and noah and their families--right up to the pumpkin pie. so even when i had to come back early, we continued with thanksgiving plans--right up to the pumpkin pie:) we made chicken and stuffing bake, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pineapple coleslaw, garlicky mashed potatoes, homemade bread, and sakuma wiki...followed by made from scratch pumpkin pie and very strong tea (which they pointed out to us). it was so great. even if the power went out an hour before they were to arrive and we had 4360987 things in the oven. awa. AWA.

everyone eating....i think they enjoyed it because we didn't have too many leftovers!

isaac, abraham's son, is at the end (he reeealllly like the chicken:)), next is thomas' wife, zippora, and their daughter, diana (L and T, i think diana liked this better than the cabbage skillet).

now, we didn't share this with our guest...BUT, in attempts to quickly thaw this chicken, we sat the tub on the driveway in the hot sun. good idea right? well when we went to get it, we found it like this..."sampled" if you will. the culprit: PEPPER (the cat who is already on my bad list because he bites my toes for no good reason). thomas gave him a beating to which i didn't object. we figured the pressure cooker would 'pressure' the bacteria right out...which it DID, because no one got sick and it was delicious in our chicken stuffing bake. no need for the guest to really know this.

look how big this zucchini is, really. and stop looking at my hair...yes, i prolly haven't brushed it.

shauna and i matatu'ed it out to kennedy's home for a meal with his precious mother, mama nancy, and his sister, nancy. (note: our ride was quite the trip down memory lane...featuring the classic rap hits including snoop doggy dog. we might have busted a few moves in the back of the matatu, just for old time's sake:)) anyways, they were so excited for us to come and share a meal with them and fellowship in their home. once again, their hospitality was nothing short of the love of Christ in the flesh, leaving you humbled and wishing you had words better than 'thank you.'

kennedy and nancy

mama nancy cooking dengu (beans) on the giko (coal stove).

me rolling a chapati, or attempting rather. (and i'm pretty sure i was wearing this same shirt when you guys saw me cooking ugali...must be my cookin' shirt).

our feast! dengu, chipati's, sakuma wiki, stew, and my favorite...white rice:)

beautification part 2

*fyi: i've been having some internet complications, so that's why i've been mia and not so many updates. polysana. but here's what we've been up to......

last week we finished up the Bible College...well as much as we're gonna do before the fearless leaders return. so, we painted the floor. why carpet or tile when you can just paint? (chris, check out the furniture in the pics too...i think they look really great!)

pastor is polishing the desk. hard working i tell you, hard working.

meshack is doing a little mopping of the freshly painted floor. looks pretty smart huh? (smart=nice/great).

thomas asked to go in sat. morning and work on the yard. he started clearing out the yard on the right side...and he was really excited to show me so i could take pics to send you:) bless him.now after we finished with the floor, which takes quite a while to dry, meshack remembered he left his keys hanging on the hook in the back room. great. SO, he, noah and thomas made this long contraption the size of a light pole with some hook on the end, and hoisted it through the window. of course they were successful. i was pretty impressed.
shauna has been coming over on the weekends, and since the kids are testing this week at huruma, she's been staying the week with me. last sunday we made lunch for a family we met at church from canada--they are here for a couple months working at another ministry. their son and daughter and 3 kids are missionaries in darfur (so of course lindy and i were attached to their hip as soon as we heard the 'd' word). they came to nairobi to visit for a few weeks, so we made plans to have them for lunch when they reached. it went great! (the power came on just in time to cook the chicken pie, *sigh*). the youngest child is just months old, so i gladly helped out with the baby:) lindy, i missed you the whole stinken time!!!!
this week we've been doing some cooking, preparing shauna for her 'take over' after i leave next week. we've done bread, spaghetti, hummus, beans, smoothies, smores (guys, its the necessities--plus shauna got her hands on a box of for real graham crackers. OH, and noah came in and had 2 smores, hilarious.), campfire pockets, banana packets of goodness, shauna whipped up some of her famous african stew...and we will be having an early thanksgiving this sat. for thomas, noah, abraham and their families (minus the turkey--we'll be having another foul: chicken. a turkey was like 3500 ksh (almost 50 bucks).) we've been picking up our supplies in kibera...after getting our pumpkin and sweet potatoes today, we should be set.
its definitely the rainy season; it rains every day now and reeeaaalllly hard. we lose power most nights and its been really cold. however, its helping the garden! the sukuma wiki is coming in and i saw some cucumbers were spotted yesterday. apparently since thomas moved himself (aka, the scarecrow) to a new location, the birds have kept their distance). AND, the biggest zucchini ever--shauna took a picture:) and we've been doing a little driving practice...ME, of all people, is teaching shauna how to drive the suzuki. she's doing preeettty great! perhaps add that to your prayer lists.
we're holdin' down the fort guys!!!! but we miss you so much and everyone here is ALWAYS asking about you. you certainly have stolen the hearts of many kenyans; they love you two so much.

continue to pray the Lord would use me in these last days--that i would accomplish ALL He had/has planned for me in kenya and with onlyservants ministry. my prayer is that when i step off that plane after arriving home, i step off with more faith, more wisdom and more compassion for 'the least of these.' the more the Lord allows me to see, the more His calling on my life intensifies. "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." James 2:26. may we be challenged to live out our faith, bringing the kingdom to earth, as Jesus did.

beautification project

this week we've been doing some beautification at the Bible College in Kibera. which means, i've been doing some serious driving in Kibera. so all that praying you guys are doing on behalf of me behind the wheel...it's really working:) i really try to steer clear of people, matatu's, and large blue busses:)

thomas planted these trees along the newly constructed wall. its lookin' pretty sharp huh. i was reeeeaaallly sure all ten of these were not going to fit in the car, but the suzuki performed, yet again.

the little patio area is finished!

and we have grass, well we WILL have grass. see all that grass was also in the suzuki that day we got the trees. plus me a thomas. and i wonder why people stare when we drive through kibera.

pastor was really workin' up a sweat. i think he likes this whole painting thing.

oh thomas. talk about a hard worker. he's come in an hour early 3 times this week to help with the painting. and i thought i got covered in paint...this guy looked like someone had spray painted him cream, literally, at the end of each day.

noah, who works all night long, plus had Bible class during the day, volunteered to come in one day and help before class. its a good thing he did, because he was the only one who could reach the high parts of the ceiling! bless his heart. (yes, we painted the ceiling).

now the paint was supposed to arrive monday morning, but of course it arrived at 12:30 after many calls and driver insisting he was "just there." AWA. awa. by the time we got it to the college (which included me trying to carry it on my head, DID not work just fyi), Meshak had to leave and prepare for class. but after his class, i found him with a paint brush in his good clothes and huge grin on his face. he was just dying to see what this painting thing was all about. (i don't think they do a lot of painting here, i mean, unless you are a hired worker/painter). they were really surprised to see that i knew how to paint--especially since i was a girl. jackson, who was also helping,said, "you look as though you have done this before." i just chucked, thinking back to every youth auction, mission trip, our house, a few apartments...."yeah" i replied, "done a little painting."

one finished room (minus the floorboard, that's on tomorrow's agenda).

another room.

this was blooming outside the Bible College. isn't it perfect?

this had nothing to do with the beautification project, but just listen to what happened. i still have permanent retainers in my mouth, well i did, and the one on my bottom decided to break off leaving a piece of itself glued to my tooth. SO painful and so stinken sharp. my tongue was really gettin' tore up and this was buggin the heck out me. SO, lindy sterilized the tools in the garage, and we used the pliers to get this piece of metal out. i felt really weird using tools from the garage in my mouth, but its whatever. AWA, awa.

field trip

last week we flew to the northern part of kenya, to maralal, home of the samburu. lindy has some reeealllly great pics on her blog, so maybe head over there after you finish here:) chris was painting the name on the training center, and us girls thought we should come along to assist and supervise. we DID help out in the kitchen area and made some crafts. plus, we add the entertainment:) enjoy the pictures! remember, many are taken from the plane.

kibera

how cool is God's creation, really.














the girls beside the plane.








see that car behind us? well its our ride, yes. but it also was steering the cows away from the runway during our landing. TIA, tia.




this is the precious family we stayed with! pray for them and their ministries in maralal. their story is absolutely incredible.













now this pic on the right...can you see the little cirlces? those are branches enclosing either a house or community. they were everywhere. in fact, the structure where the 'church' met in maralal was just this...branches forming a circle, in the middle of the bush. after all, what is the CHURCH?

i don't know what this is, but how cool is it?!

pbc, this one's for you. this one, however, is not jumpable:)

we spotted two little sets of hands over the fence around the house while we were there, peaking over the top to see these crazy lookin' white people. they came to see us off before we left. they were herding goats and cows in the field around the house.

can you believe this? zeebras. in the yard. zeebras. i was preeetttty excited. my first zeebra sighting. i was so excited i forgot i hadn't brushed my hair that day, obviously. lindy looks pretty excited herself:)
don't forget to check out lindy's update from maralal!!! love love love

another day at school

Wednesday morning Chris, Lindy and I visited a school in Kawangware (one of the 2 major slums in Nairobi) and presented the morning devotions to the students---from kindergarten to form 8, or 8^th grade. Lindy and I were determined to find the best skit ever, and at nearly midnight the night before we decided on “the sin box” after previewing at least 20 on youtube. How Chris didn’t hear us practicing this skit in the kitchen is miraculous. We decided on 1 Timothy 4:12, one of our favorites, and wanted to encourage the students to be an example, as Christians, in their SPEECH, CONDUCT, LOVE, FAITH and PURITY.

It was rainy on Wednesday, so driving (or 4wheeling) through the slums of Kawangware was quite the adventure on the way to the school. When we arrived, we followed the headmaster (principal) into his office, which consisted of a desk, phone, notebook and a 3 chairs. After developing a plan, the students were assembled outside in this small open area—really between classrooms and houses—and they began with prayer and a few Kiswahili worship songs. Then we did our hilarious sin box skit followed by 1 Timothy—and prayed the words penetrated their hearts.

After the devotion, we were invited to visit each classroom and greet the students. Once inside the classroom, which was no larger than a small bedroom, the students actually greeted us with songs and memory verses. Starting in kindergarten, they begin learning Scripture verses and were eager to share these with us.

I included a lot of pictures, because they portray better this experience than any words I can type. We were all just deeply humbled. I noticed one child’s pair of shoes when we were all standing outside…I’m not really sure how they were even staying together because there were huge holes exposing all his toes. One single light bulb in the center of the ceiling served as the source of light. The students were packed on benches sitting shoulder to shoulder, working on cardboard cutouts and small notebooks. Teachers taught from old black chalkboards and homemade posters on the walls. Yet despite these seemingly primitive school conditions, the students at this particular school earned some of the top scores in all subjects. Yet kids in America will do anything and everything to skip school, don’t think twice about doodling in their textbooks or ripping out pages, and could care less about the white boards, different colored markers, and the 4589798 visual aids teachers use to teach kids today.

Chris and Lindy say that kids come up to them all the time asking for money—and guess what they want money for? School Fees. SCHOOL FEES. See in countries like this, education is their key to breaking out of cycle of poverty. Its their chance to prove to the world that they DO have value, they DO have worth, and they ARE capable of contributing to society. Education empowers them to challenge the systems of the world, giving them feet to stand on against oppression.
Just one more thing we’ve been blessed with, but take for granted, and even mock.

Lord, forgive me, once again, for taking for granted what you’ve so freely given, and remaining silent and stagnant in the face of oppression.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
For the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
Defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Proverbs 31:8-9