Hello All. Sorry It's been so long since I last updated. Since the last time I blogged I went to Mombasa. Mombasa was absolutely beautiful. I think everyone should try to visit at some point in their life. It felt like home, I mean literally felt like home. It was hot and muggy and I was sweating the whole time. It was great! While I would love to give you the play by play of Mobassa, it would take too long and internet is fairly expensive. But some of our highlights were going to the Gedi Ruins, Fort Jesus, Snorkling in the Indian Ocean, going to Bombolulu (a differently-abled communtiy), and enjoying the fellowship with my fellow YAVs.
The bus ride back to Kenya was quite an experience. Drivers in Kenya use lines on roads as more of a suggestion than an actual law. So our drive was constantly driving in the other lane of the 2-lane highway and passing every car on the road. When the road was block he just made his own road on the side if it. I can say we all did not sleep well that night(it was an over ngiht bus ride). I felt bad for my friend Ben as he was siting next to me on the ride so he had to be the one to calm me down after a near miss of the truck heading towards us. All in all we made it safely and had a great time but I think we will all think twice about using the same busline again!
We I have been talking Kiswahili lessons the past few weeks and I can kind of say things in Kiswahili. I can atleast count well in Kiswahili. Moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, na Kumi. That is one thru 10 in Kiswahili. Unfortunately they speak Kikuyu in Gatundu so it's not going to be that helpful but hopefully I will learn Kikuyu and all will be well.
We all moved into our placements on Monday (except Steven but thats a long story). I am very excited/nervous to move to Gatundu. I am ready to stop living out of a suitcase and move into my place but I have no idea what is to come there. SO wish me luck and until next time, Kwahari!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Karibu (Welcome) to KENYA!!!
Well after 24 hours of straight travel and a few stressful situations in the beginning I have now made it safely to Kenya. The travel was filled with lots of laughs and a little crying but all and all a great experience. While Immigration took us about an hour to go through, customs we just walk through. Crazy huh?
Nairobi was nothing like I had imagined not that I really had imagined it too much. I can't really describe it at the moment but it is nothing like anything I have seen before. Most of the housing here have guards at their gates and everything seems to be pretty fortified. I am sure it is needed for safety. It has a very distinct smell of diesel and burning trash. That being said Nairobi is amazing thus far.
We (the girls) are staying currently, and the rest of the month, with our site leader Phyllis and her family. I have never felt so welcomed into someone else home in my life who wasn't my family. We have laughed so hard together in the past 2 days we have been here and I love my new Kenya Brothers and sisters.
This afternoon we start our orientation to Kenya by beginning our home stays. I will be staying with an older couple in Nairobi and am pretty excited to learn a few things from them. They speak the language of the village I will be living in and I am so excited to begin to learn the language. I will give y'all a full report when I can about my home stay.
Things to look forward to hearing about in the next month. A trip to Mombasa (the coast), a trip to the Rift Valley, Ellen taking Swahili lessons, and much more.
I miss you all very much and can't wait to see you all in a year!
Nairobi was nothing like I had imagined not that I really had imagined it too much. I can't really describe it at the moment but it is nothing like anything I have seen before. Most of the housing here have guards at their gates and everything seems to be pretty fortified. I am sure it is needed for safety. It has a very distinct smell of diesel and burning trash. That being said Nairobi is amazing thus far.
We (the girls) are staying currently, and the rest of the month, with our site leader Phyllis and her family. I have never felt so welcomed into someone else home in my life who wasn't my family. We have laughed so hard together in the past 2 days we have been here and I love my new Kenya Brothers and sisters.
This afternoon we start our orientation to Kenya by beginning our home stays. I will be staying with an older couple in Nairobi and am pretty excited to learn a few things from them. They speak the language of the village I will be living in and I am so excited to begin to learn the language. I will give y'all a full report when I can about my home stay.
Things to look forward to hearing about in the next month. A trip to Mombasa (the coast), a trip to the Rift Valley, Ellen taking Swahili lessons, and much more.
I miss you all very much and can't wait to see you all in a year!
Monday, August 2, 2010
3 Weeks and counting . . .
Welcome to my Blog! For the next year I will be writing my about my thoughts and life as I embark on my journey to Kenya. I will try my best to make it grammatically correct but I make no promises. To start off my blog I will just write a bit about what it feels like to be exactly 3 weeks away from my leave date.
To say that I am stressed would be a big understatement. When I began this journey almost a year ago, all I thought about was what a great opportunity it was to show the world how amazing God's love for us is. Currently all I can think about is how much I have to do and the fear of moving to a new place. Don't get me wrong I am very, very excited to go but the reality of it all is definitely here and leaving NOLA is definitely something I am not ready to do.
So I looked up the word fear in the dictionary and this is what I found:
1. Feeling of anxiety: an unpleasant feeling of anxiety or apprehension caused by the presence or anticipation of danger
2. Frightening thought: an idea, thought, or other entity that causes feelings of fear
Yep those both describe it about right!
Two Sundays ago I attended church at Metairie Ridge Presbyterian. When I sat in the pew, I looked into the bulletin and saw the sermon title was "Don't Worry". Given my current state of being all I could do was laugh a little and just continued to read the rest of the bulletin. While I was a bit skeptical of the title of the sermon, it actually quite inspired/reminded me of my greater purpose. The verse, which I will share with you was Matthew 6:25 - 35. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
After hearing these words read out loud to me, all I could think was, " Wow! God you sure know when I need you the most!". How amazing is verse 34"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." How often I forget to just put it in God's hands.
Today I am not going to worry about tomorrows troubles. I need to remember that there is another definition for fear 3. reverence: respect or awe for somebody or something. This is the fear I will have from here on out. The fear of the Lord.
To say that I am stressed would be a big understatement. When I began this journey almost a year ago, all I thought about was what a great opportunity it was to show the world how amazing God's love for us is. Currently all I can think about is how much I have to do and the fear of moving to a new place. Don't get me wrong I am very, very excited to go but the reality of it all is definitely here and leaving NOLA is definitely something I am not ready to do.
So I looked up the word fear in the dictionary and this is what I found:
1. Feeling of anxiety: an unpleasant feeling of anxiety or apprehension caused by the presence or anticipation of danger
2. Frightening thought: an idea, thought, or other entity that causes feelings of fear
Yep those both describe it about right!
Two Sundays ago I attended church at Metairie Ridge Presbyterian. When I sat in the pew, I looked into the bulletin and saw the sermon title was "Don't Worry". Given my current state of being all I could do was laugh a little and just continued to read the rest of the bulletin. While I was a bit skeptical of the title of the sermon, it actually quite inspired/reminded me of my greater purpose. The verse, which I will share with you was Matthew 6:25 - 35. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
After hearing these words read out loud to me, all I could think was, " Wow! God you sure know when I need you the most!". How amazing is verse 34"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." How often I forget to just put it in God's hands.
Today I am not going to worry about tomorrows troubles. I need to remember that there is another definition for fear 3. reverence: respect or awe for somebody or something. This is the fear I will have from here on out. The fear of the Lord.
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