Well it's 5:03 PM and we are officially done with ministry and everything we came to do.
It's so crazy being in this place. Our two weeks in Kenya are over and in 6 short hours, we will board a plane for home.
Devastated is putting it lightly.
The beautiful thing about being this heavy hearted is that it must mean that God has given me a burden for not only missions but Kenya. I have met without a doubt the most amazing people on the planet here and I know our relationship won't end with this. But it doesn't make the sadness any sweeter. Coming back a second time was SUCH a blessing because I never even thought I would come to Africa in the first place. God is so incredibly faithful in His love for me. I literally have been planning this trip for a YEAR and now it's over. I never thought this day would come slash I never wanted it to.
My heart is so heavy right now....I know that's very clear but I just can't emphasize it enough. I am literally on the verge of tears every 5 minutes. God has done things on this trip that I never expected and I am so unbelievably grateful to the people of Kenya for showing me what it really means to follow Jesus.
I can't write much more without crying but when I get home I promise to be an open book so you will come with me next year :) thank you to everyone who helped me get here!
Hating goodbyes,
Crissy
Lions and Elephants and Zebras....OH MY!!!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Well my blogs have been a little confusing! The one I just posted was actually from yesterday...oops! So here is todays update!
On Sunday, we went to church at Mt. Kenya Baptist and then headed out to Timau Orphanage. It is an all boys orphanage and pretty spectacular to say the least! You can see Mt. Kenya almost perfectly and the surrounding area looks like something out of the sound of music! Everything is green and lush and absolutely beautiful. Being out there makes it literally impossible for me to not believe in our maker. We decided to head in for lunch with the boys after they finished church! They them sang amd danced for us! My favorite African tradition is the way they welcome visitors. Always a blessing to try to serve and then get blessed 10 fold in return. We played 4 corners inside because it was raining and it was a HOOT! The boys(and 2 girls that joined) absolutely had a blast playing it! Susan was the older girl and seemed shy was actually really smart and almost won a few times! I got out the first time on every round! Little Claire who couldn't have been older than 3...was laughing the entire time. She was hilarious. After the games we decided to walk the property and look at the river. Purity and Benson are the married couple who are the main caretakers of the boys and they do a phenomenal job. The boys were so well behaved but also just really kind hearted. You could see that these people were really humble servants of the Lord. I loved it.
After that we went back to the house and ate AMERICAN food of burgers, fries, broccoli, apple pie amd brownies! Nom. Nom. Nom. Thanks to Abby and Andrew for being so incredibly hospitable! The Daniels came over for dinner too and we got to talk with them most of the night! Jerry and Sherry Daniels have been missionaries for 38 YEARS to Africa! And boy was that such a blessing for me to get to hear from them and just fellowship!
Today was SUCH a cool day. We went out on safari THREE times!! We saw(are you ready for this list?!) elephants, zebras, heartbeasts, warthogs, baboons, chimps, rhinos, a blind rhino, gazelles, impalas, THREE LIONS, hyenas, water buffalos, giraffes, jackals and so much more that my camera will show later. But WOW! Our God is so extremely cool! The beautiful ways that he has shaped these creatures is so incredible...I could literally stare at them all day long. I'm so thankful that he not only created these animals but that we get to enjoy them! The elephants are by far my favorites! I just wish I could ride one! Haha but seriously....being back in Africa a lone is an answer to prayer but getting this perk is like the biggest cherry on top of the biggest Sunday in the world.
In awe of my Creator and His creation,
Crissy
On Sunday, we went to church at Mt. Kenya Baptist and then headed out to Timau Orphanage. It is an all boys orphanage and pretty spectacular to say the least! You can see Mt. Kenya almost perfectly and the surrounding area looks like something out of the sound of music! Everything is green and lush and absolutely beautiful. Being out there makes it literally impossible for me to not believe in our maker. We decided to head in for lunch with the boys after they finished church! They them sang amd danced for us! My favorite African tradition is the way they welcome visitors. Always a blessing to try to serve and then get blessed 10 fold in return. We played 4 corners inside because it was raining and it was a HOOT! The boys(and 2 girls that joined) absolutely had a blast playing it! Susan was the older girl and seemed shy was actually really smart and almost won a few times! I got out the first time on every round! Little Claire who couldn't have been older than 3...was laughing the entire time. She was hilarious. After the games we decided to walk the property and look at the river. Purity and Benson are the married couple who are the main caretakers of the boys and they do a phenomenal job. The boys were so well behaved but also just really kind hearted. You could see that these people were really humble servants of the Lord. I loved it.
After that we went back to the house and ate AMERICAN food of burgers, fries, broccoli, apple pie amd brownies! Nom. Nom. Nom. Thanks to Abby and Andrew for being so incredibly hospitable! The Daniels came over for dinner too and we got to talk with them most of the night! Jerry and Sherry Daniels have been missionaries for 38 YEARS to Africa! And boy was that such a blessing for me to get to hear from them and just fellowship!
Today was SUCH a cool day. We went out on safari THREE times!! We saw(are you ready for this list?!) elephants, zebras, heartbeasts, warthogs, baboons, chimps, rhinos, a blind rhino, gazelles, impalas, THREE LIONS, hyenas, water buffalos, giraffes, jackals and so much more that my camera will show later. But WOW! Our God is so extremely cool! The beautiful ways that he has shaped these creatures is so incredible...I could literally stare at them all day long. I'm so thankful that he not only created these animals but that we get to enjoy them! The elephants are by far my favorites! I just wish I could ride one! Haha but seriously....being back in Africa a lone is an answer to prayer but getting this perk is like the biggest cherry on top of the biggest Sunday in the world.
In awe of my Creator and His creation,
Crissy
Thankful.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
I am so sorry that I haven't updated in 4 entire days! I have been sick for the last two and haven't had much energy to 1)blog and 2)do anything worth blogging about! But I will start with Thursday night(the 9th)
Thursday we arrived in Nanyuki at our missionaries house, Andrew and Abby Lettsome! They have lived in Nanyuki for 6 months and been married for almost two years. We had a few minutes at their house until we were going to head to the orphanage. We were going to head out to Naibor orphanage which is about 45 minutes outside of Nanyuki. We were going to stay the night. I had some ideas of what an orphanage in Kenya would look like since I had been to some in Mexico, Jamaica and Uganda but once we got there, I realized that I had no idea what to expect. When we arrived there all of the buildings were literally made out of mud and wood with tin roofs. We played some games with the kids, most of which spoke only swahili. It was a lot of fun but pretty heartbreaking because even though these kids are better off than they would be on their own, flies covered their feet and most parts of their heads. They also have snot running out of their nose, and very few of them(especially the babies) have any shoes. It was a lot to take in and still makes my stomach sick to think about it. After a little bit of games we decided to go get water with them for the day. We had to walk a little less than a 1/4th of the river to collect water for day and night. This was very....hard to understand I guess. Americans have water ready at any given moment, coming out of a sink or a dishwasher or water hose. These children have to travel every single day to the river and fill up huge jugs with water...water that isnt even clean. What a blessed life I lead. After water, it was getting dark so we headed back and the kids decided to sing and dance for us. They presented a lot of really fun songs and then asked us to do the same! SCARY! We had not prepared anything so it was very interesting...but we just sang hillsong and I hope that it was good enough! :) At this time it was about 8 pm and time for dinner. Because electricity is not really out in Naibor, we ate dinner in basically the dark. There was one lantern in the room for all of us to eat by...what a crazy we thing that we take for granted! I never even realized that I get to eat dinner in the LIGHT! I get to do everything at nightime IN THE LIGHT! What a simple blessing that they dont even enjoy...After dinner we were all extremely exhausted and decided to head in for the night. Me, Megan and Morgan slept in the babies room and it was precious. One twin bed was split between 4 toddlers. Once again, this is a better life than they would lead without their parents but still makes me want to scoop them up and give them something more.
I woke up the next day to the sound of sloshing water, which was the head mom in the room washing the little girls and boys! It was basically a tub of water and soap and each kid got in there and washed off their arms, legs and head. This is absolutely better than no bath at all but I'm sure doesn't clean the areas that little children need the most. When we were up and around the next day, most of the children were still wearing the same clothes that they wore the day before.
I spent most of Friday(the 10th) being sick and not being involved. But we went to a school in Naibor and it was humbling to say the least. It was definitely the worst of the schools we had seen so far, but the teachers were still hungry with tons of questions! What a blessing to know that they were still hungry for education! Friday night me and Morgan slept our entire lives away because we both didn't feel good!
In grace, thankfulness and abounding peace,
Crissy
Thursday we arrived in Nanyuki at our missionaries house, Andrew and Abby Lettsome! They have lived in Nanyuki for 6 months and been married for almost two years. We had a few minutes at their house until we were going to head to the orphanage. We were going to head out to Naibor orphanage which is about 45 minutes outside of Nanyuki. We were going to stay the night. I had some ideas of what an orphanage in Kenya would look like since I had been to some in Mexico, Jamaica and Uganda but once we got there, I realized that I had no idea what to expect. When we arrived there all of the buildings were literally made out of mud and wood with tin roofs. We played some games with the kids, most of which spoke only swahili. It was a lot of fun but pretty heartbreaking because even though these kids are better off than they would be on their own, flies covered their feet and most parts of their heads. They also have snot running out of their nose, and very few of them(especially the babies) have any shoes. It was a lot to take in and still makes my stomach sick to think about it. After a little bit of games we decided to go get water with them for the day. We had to walk a little less than a 1/4th of the river to collect water for day and night. This was very....hard to understand I guess. Americans have water ready at any given moment, coming out of a sink or a dishwasher or water hose. These children have to travel every single day to the river and fill up huge jugs with water...water that isnt even clean. What a blessed life I lead. After water, it was getting dark so we headed back and the kids decided to sing and dance for us. They presented a lot of really fun songs and then asked us to do the same! SCARY! We had not prepared anything so it was very interesting...but we just sang hillsong and I hope that it was good enough! :) At this time it was about 8 pm and time for dinner. Because electricity is not really out in Naibor, we ate dinner in basically the dark. There was one lantern in the room for all of us to eat by...what a crazy we thing that we take for granted! I never even realized that I get to eat dinner in the LIGHT! I get to do everything at nightime IN THE LIGHT! What a simple blessing that they dont even enjoy...After dinner we were all extremely exhausted and decided to head in for the night. Me, Megan and Morgan slept in the babies room and it was precious. One twin bed was split between 4 toddlers. Once again, this is a better life than they would lead without their parents but still makes me want to scoop them up and give them something more.
I woke up the next day to the sound of sloshing water, which was the head mom in the room washing the little girls and boys! It was basically a tub of water and soap and each kid got in there and washed off their arms, legs and head. This is absolutely better than no bath at all but I'm sure doesn't clean the areas that little children need the most. When we were up and around the next day, most of the children were still wearing the same clothes that they wore the day before.
I spent most of Friday(the 10th) being sick and not being involved. But we went to a school in Naibor and it was humbling to say the least. It was definitely the worst of the schools we had seen so far, but the teachers were still hungry with tons of questions! What a blessing to know that they were still hungry for education! Friday night me and Morgan slept our entire lives away because we both didn't feel good!
In grace, thankfulness and abounding peace,
Crissy
Chiza, Anne, Joy, Terry, Jen and Susan.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Today was our last day at World Hope Academy.
To say that I'm sad is an understatement.
Our morning was spent with the teachers again! This time we were able to make teaching aides or posters of pictures out of the kids textbook. We had already made about 11 this morning and the teachers were freaking out. They asked us if we had even slept the night before. You don't realize that they don't have a teachers tools right around the corner to visit to pick up any poster that they need. Luckily we had Megan and Michael who were our MVPs! They could absolutely draw every single thing that the teachers needed them to. The teachers even gave Megan a standing ovation and a pat on the back for her great work! While we were drawing we got to spend some more time talking to the teachers. We found out that one of them, Sarah is 8 months pregnant but she really doesn't look bigger than 6! The women also told Josh, our leader, that men really love their wives in the states and its not like that in Africa. Then one of the other guy teachers stood up quickly and said that not all African men are like that and that he loves his wife very much!
After some tea and more poster making, we decided to start covering some more books. It was such a blessing to get to serve the teachers and school so much because they told us that these things would not happen if we were not there. It really made me appreciate all the resources that were available for me growing up!
We took a little break from being in the teachers lounge and played with the kids outside! It was a beautiful day and they were full of energy! we got some really sweet pictures from today because everyone was so warmed up to all of us that they literally FLOOD us when we come over to them. They have fights over hands and get angry if they don't get to hold on. Boy do I feel LOVED! If this is a little piece of God's love, I want to soak in every single minute! We decided to start painting nails again because the girls were asking about it. But first we got to paint the teachers nails! They absolutely LOVED that! You can tell that getting their nails painted was obviously not a normal occurrence for them. Jackie, one of the teachers asked me if I was a manicurist or pedicurist back in the states. HA! hardly I told her. I'm not good at painting nails at all. Sarah, the pregnant teacher also seemed to enjoy having nail polish and made sure to tell me what spots I missed. After the teachers, we went outside to paint the girls that we hadn't gotten to yesterday. McKenna, one of the girls in Class 1, showed me her sparkly nails after school too...so it seemed like she was a fan! Easily one of my favorite parts.
For the major part of the afternoon, we covered some more books and finished posters that we hadn't finished yet. We also took the time to take pictures with our favorite teachers and Sarah even let me get one touching her belly! The teachers thought it was hilarious how obsessed we were with Sarah and her pregnancy. We told her she could eat a big lunch because she was eating for two and the entire room started laughing! I wonder what it would be like being pregnant amd having a child in Kenya. Be praying for Sarah because she is due next month.
As the day came to a close, we finished off with dancing! My favorite! We went over fresh a few more times and then we had the students that could do it the best come up to the front and perform for us! After we went over it a few more times, the head teacher picked students from EVERY single class to come do it for everyone in the school! Talk about scary. But every single grade level did phenomenal! The first graders had some trouble but they could sing the words to me even if they didn't know the dance and that was pretty precious in itself.
I had to say bye to Chiza, Anne, Joy, Terry, Jen and Susan along with the other 394 students at World Hope...it broke my heart in a way that I could never explain but I know God will make a way for me to come back(hopefully for longer than 2 weeks).
In extreme gratitude,
Crissy
To say that I'm sad is an understatement.
Our morning was spent with the teachers again! This time we were able to make teaching aides or posters of pictures out of the kids textbook. We had already made about 11 this morning and the teachers were freaking out. They asked us if we had even slept the night before. You don't realize that they don't have a teachers tools right around the corner to visit to pick up any poster that they need. Luckily we had Megan and Michael who were our MVPs! They could absolutely draw every single thing that the teachers needed them to. The teachers even gave Megan a standing ovation and a pat on the back for her great work! While we were drawing we got to spend some more time talking to the teachers. We found out that one of them, Sarah is 8 months pregnant but she really doesn't look bigger than 6! The women also told Josh, our leader, that men really love their wives in the states and its not like that in Africa. Then one of the other guy teachers stood up quickly and said that not all African men are like that and that he loves his wife very much!
After some tea and more poster making, we decided to start covering some more books. It was such a blessing to get to serve the teachers and school so much because they told us that these things would not happen if we were not there. It really made me appreciate all the resources that were available for me growing up!
We took a little break from being in the teachers lounge and played with the kids outside! It was a beautiful day and they were full of energy! we got some really sweet pictures from today because everyone was so warmed up to all of us that they literally FLOOD us when we come over to them. They have fights over hands and get angry if they don't get to hold on. Boy do I feel LOVED! If this is a little piece of God's love, I want to soak in every single minute! We decided to start painting nails again because the girls were asking about it. But first we got to paint the teachers nails! They absolutely LOVED that! You can tell that getting their nails painted was obviously not a normal occurrence for them. Jackie, one of the teachers asked me if I was a manicurist or pedicurist back in the states. HA! hardly I told her. I'm not good at painting nails at all. Sarah, the pregnant teacher also seemed to enjoy having nail polish and made sure to tell me what spots I missed. After the teachers, we went outside to paint the girls that we hadn't gotten to yesterday. McKenna, one of the girls in Class 1, showed me her sparkly nails after school too...so it seemed like she was a fan! Easily one of my favorite parts.
For the major part of the afternoon, we covered some more books and finished posters that we hadn't finished yet. We also took the time to take pictures with our favorite teachers and Sarah even let me get one touching her belly! The teachers thought it was hilarious how obsessed we were with Sarah and her pregnancy. We told her she could eat a big lunch because she was eating for two and the entire room started laughing! I wonder what it would be like being pregnant amd having a child in Kenya. Be praying for Sarah because she is due next month.
As the day came to a close, we finished off with dancing! My favorite! We went over fresh a few more times and then we had the students that could do it the best come up to the front and perform for us! After we went over it a few more times, the head teacher picked students from EVERY single class to come do it for everyone in the school! Talk about scary. But every single grade level did phenomenal! The first graders had some trouble but they could sing the words to me even if they didn't know the dance and that was pretty precious in itself.
I had to say bye to Chiza, Anne, Joy, Terry, Jen and Susan along with the other 394 students at World Hope...it broke my heart in a way that I could never explain but I know God will make a way for me to come back(hopefully for longer than 2 weeks).
In extreme gratitude,
Crissy
The trouble with love is....
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Today was grand. I know I feel that about everyday I'm here but each day, I learn something new.
We spent all morning with the teachers at the World Hope Academy, which seemed to be a little scary at first and it ended up being one of the best experiences for all of us I think. They wanted us to help out with teaching aides and how to use them in their classrooms. The teachers were very open to our suggestions and seemed to be genuinely interested in what we were saying! We were able to give them some tips on how Americans do things in the classroom that went a long with what they were already teaching. This was definitely a stretching moment for all of us I think because even though it was fun to get to share our ideas, it was intimidating and at times a little overwhelming. This was good for us though to be put out of comfort zone, it pushed us to really think and try to help. They definitely asked us some tough questions and I'm personally very thankful for that!
During the kids lunch break, me and Morgan decided to open up a mini nail salon on the courtyard. Girls were lining up in the 10s and 20s. It was such a sweet moment. We got to make them feel a little like the princesses that they really are. The princesses that God sees them as.
After lunch, the teachers decided that we would go teach in their classrooms. Once again, God was stretching us in such a beautiful way! Katherine, one of the teachers pulled me aside and told me to come teach her students arithmetic! I was immediately scared because of course I didn't want to mess things up! Instead it went incredibly well! She had me use flashcards to teach them addition. So we got them into two lines and and had a competition between each team. To say the kids loved it is an understatement. They were so passionate about getting the right answer that it made them excited about learning. I got a little taste of what being an educator in Kenya is all about and while the kids have so much energy....I think I could handle it! Maybe. I had brought a bag of candy and decided to give two pieces to the winning team and one piece to the losing team so nobody would feel left out. What I wasn't expecting was the teachers reactions to the candy. They all wanted some too! They were incredibly blessed by the fact that they got candy! The teachers had some of the kindest hearts I had ever experienced. So grateful for such a small gift of candy. Something that we Americans eat whenever we feel like it and to these teachers it was almost a delicacy. It's weird how handing out candy can teach you so much.
Lastly we spent some time with the students going over the dance from yesterday and then talking to the teachers. They all interviewed us about our dating lives and our ages. They found out I was single and immediately started trying to get me married off to some of the guy teachers! Watch out momma! Haha
But it's our 3rd full day in Kenya and I'm still in love. The trouble with love is that it doesn't care how fast you fall. I fell in love with Kenya quickly and powerfully. I'm so in love with Kenya and it breaks my heart that I'll only be here for a week and half longer. Seems like forever but I know it will go by shortly. I have so much joy in knowing that I'll be back! Its not even a question anymore. I'm so thankful for such a faithful Father! He spoils me with His blessings even when I don't deserve it.
Drowning in His grace,
Crissy
We spent all morning with the teachers at the World Hope Academy, which seemed to be a little scary at first and it ended up being one of the best experiences for all of us I think. They wanted us to help out with teaching aides and how to use them in their classrooms. The teachers were very open to our suggestions and seemed to be genuinely interested in what we were saying! We were able to give them some tips on how Americans do things in the classroom that went a long with what they were already teaching. This was definitely a stretching moment for all of us I think because even though it was fun to get to share our ideas, it was intimidating and at times a little overwhelming. This was good for us though to be put out of comfort zone, it pushed us to really think and try to help. They definitely asked us some tough questions and I'm personally very thankful for that!
During the kids lunch break, me and Morgan decided to open up a mini nail salon on the courtyard. Girls were lining up in the 10s and 20s. It was such a sweet moment. We got to make them feel a little like the princesses that they really are. The princesses that God sees them as.
After lunch, the teachers decided that we would go teach in their classrooms. Once again, God was stretching us in such a beautiful way! Katherine, one of the teachers pulled me aside and told me to come teach her students arithmetic! I was immediately scared because of course I didn't want to mess things up! Instead it went incredibly well! She had me use flashcards to teach them addition. So we got them into two lines and and had a competition between each team. To say the kids loved it is an understatement. They were so passionate about getting the right answer that it made them excited about learning. I got a little taste of what being an educator in Kenya is all about and while the kids have so much energy....I think I could handle it! Maybe. I had brought a bag of candy and decided to give two pieces to the winning team and one piece to the losing team so nobody would feel left out. What I wasn't expecting was the teachers reactions to the candy. They all wanted some too! They were incredibly blessed by the fact that they got candy! The teachers had some of the kindest hearts I had ever experienced. So grateful for such a small gift of candy. Something that we Americans eat whenever we feel like it and to these teachers it was almost a delicacy. It's weird how handing out candy can teach you so much.
Lastly we spent some time with the students going over the dance from yesterday and then talking to the teachers. They all interviewed us about our dating lives and our ages. They found out I was single and immediately started trying to get me married off to some of the guy teachers! Watch out momma! Haha
But it's our 3rd full day in Kenya and I'm still in love. The trouble with love is that it doesn't care how fast you fall. I fell in love with Kenya quickly and powerfully. I'm so in love with Kenya and it breaks my heart that I'll only be here for a week and half longer. Seems like forever but I know it will go by shortly. I have so much joy in knowing that I'll be back! Its not even a question anymore. I'm so thankful for such a faithful Father! He spoils me with His blessings even when I don't deserve it.
Drowning in His grace,
Crissy
Full of rich joy.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Today was as close to perfect as I think I'll ever get in my lifetime.
We woke up bright and early to head out to the World Hope Academy for our day filled with kids! When we arrived there, they were having an assembly and all of our hearts immediately melted. 400 precious kiddos waving at you is hard to not fall in love with. The headmaster was going over the schedule for the day while we took a million pictures of their beautiful faces. They were then released to their classrooms and we got the opportunity to visit all of the classes and introduce ourselves! Me and Morgan decided to go together and we started in class 1, which is about the equivalent to kindergarten and first grade. They range in age from around 4 to 6. Let me tell you they were energetic! They loved touching our cameras, hands and anything else that they could grab! It didn't matter though because I promise one look into those perfect little eyes and you'll be healed of anything you've got. We then decided to head up to class 2, they wre incredibly shy but throughout the day they warmed up to us! White people are always overwhelming I'm sure! Haha. Next we went to the CRAZIEST class by far! Class 3. They were absolutely ecstatic to have us visiting! We asked if any of them liked to dance and their teacher, Miss Katherine, had them ALL get up and do at least 4 or 5 songs/dances for us. It was an absolute blast because they were so uninhibited and wanted to do everything. The last class we visited was class 7, this is equivalent to 7th grade with kids that are 12 and 13 years old. They were trying to be shy at first but after some time we got to talk with a lot of them. I got to spend some sweet time with 3 girls especially, Rachel, Nelly and Catherine. Rachel wants to be a model when she grows up which made perfect sense because she's absolutely gorgeous! Nelly wants to be a traveling doctor, she was really excited to save lives, she's extremely smart too...so that should work out well! And Catherine wants to be a pilot! They all have big dreams, please keep them in your prayers!
After class time, me and Morgan got dominated in a game of soccer even though I did manage to score one goal! I have to be honest...I think they let me do it though. Then we got a chance to serve the school by covering books. This is one of my favorite thing about mission trips, because everyone can play with kids and not complain but when you're with people who sit in a hot room stapling plastic to books for 2 hours and don't say a word, it's pretty beautiful to witness that type of humility.
We spent the last part of the day with the entire student body except for class 1 who was napping! Precious. From 2-3 PM we had rotating game stations in which mine was duck, duck, goose! My groups absolutely loved chasing each other! The very last thing we did was DANCE!!! I taught them a dance that I learned from f2b(my dance team at A&M). The dance is to fresh by tedashii, I had to change some of the moves to make it easier for them. Even though teaching 400 kids a dance at once was pretty daunting, it went very well! Even the headmaster admitted his surprise at how well the kids behaved. I saw a couple of them doing the dance on their way to class and it was PRECIOUS!
After school we headed over to Rich and Joy's house! And boy was that house full of rich joy! Rich is a British school teacher and Joy is Kenyan. They have two beautiful daughters named Kasy(pronounced like Cassie), 2 and Abby, 4. They were the coolest little girls in the world, they had a mix of a Kenyan and British accent which was AWESOME and Abby seemed to really enjoy hanging out with us! I loved her. Joy made us a wonderful dinner with an apple cake for dessert...literally best thing of my entire life! We then did another one of my favorite things about mission trips...sat around the table and talked for hours. I absolutely LOVE learning everything about people's lives amd people from Kenya are so genuine and open that they will answer anything you ask. Me and Joy got to have our own conversation later about why I felt called to missions and then about human video/dance ministry. She has some interns at the church that she works with who are scared to go on missions and she thinks that human videos would be really great for their ministry. I had such a sweet time talking with Joy and we definitely both left the conversation wishing it could go on longer. We already decided that I would be back next year and teach a human video to her interns! She was so encouraging it was incredible.
All in all today was a phenomenal day. Being here and having these moments just re-emphasizes to me that this is what God has made me to do. I dont find more joy than I do when I'm here. Gosh, God is good.
In His perfect love,
Crissy
We woke up bright and early to head out to the World Hope Academy for our day filled with kids! When we arrived there, they were having an assembly and all of our hearts immediately melted. 400 precious kiddos waving at you is hard to not fall in love with. The headmaster was going over the schedule for the day while we took a million pictures of their beautiful faces. They were then released to their classrooms and we got the opportunity to visit all of the classes and introduce ourselves! Me and Morgan decided to go together and we started in class 1, which is about the equivalent to kindergarten and first grade. They range in age from around 4 to 6. Let me tell you they were energetic! They loved touching our cameras, hands and anything else that they could grab! It didn't matter though because I promise one look into those perfect little eyes and you'll be healed of anything you've got. We then decided to head up to class 2, they wre incredibly shy but throughout the day they warmed up to us! White people are always overwhelming I'm sure! Haha. Next we went to the CRAZIEST class by far! Class 3. They were absolutely ecstatic to have us visiting! We asked if any of them liked to dance and their teacher, Miss Katherine, had them ALL get up and do at least 4 or 5 songs/dances for us. It was an absolute blast because they were so uninhibited and wanted to do everything. The last class we visited was class 7, this is equivalent to 7th grade with kids that are 12 and 13 years old. They were trying to be shy at first but after some time we got to talk with a lot of them. I got to spend some sweet time with 3 girls especially, Rachel, Nelly and Catherine. Rachel wants to be a model when she grows up which made perfect sense because she's absolutely gorgeous! Nelly wants to be a traveling doctor, she was really excited to save lives, she's extremely smart too...so that should work out well! And Catherine wants to be a pilot! They all have big dreams, please keep them in your prayers!
After class time, me and Morgan got dominated in a game of soccer even though I did manage to score one goal! I have to be honest...I think they let me do it though. Then we got a chance to serve the school by covering books. This is one of my favorite thing about mission trips, because everyone can play with kids and not complain but when you're with people who sit in a hot room stapling plastic to books for 2 hours and don't say a word, it's pretty beautiful to witness that type of humility.
We spent the last part of the day with the entire student body except for class 1 who was napping! Precious. From 2-3 PM we had rotating game stations in which mine was duck, duck, goose! My groups absolutely loved chasing each other! The very last thing we did was DANCE!!! I taught them a dance that I learned from f2b(my dance team at A&M). The dance is to fresh by tedashii, I had to change some of the moves to make it easier for them. Even though teaching 400 kids a dance at once was pretty daunting, it went very well! Even the headmaster admitted his surprise at how well the kids behaved. I saw a couple of them doing the dance on their way to class and it was PRECIOUS!
After school we headed over to Rich and Joy's house! And boy was that house full of rich joy! Rich is a British school teacher and Joy is Kenyan. They have two beautiful daughters named Kasy(pronounced like Cassie), 2 and Abby, 4. They were the coolest little girls in the world, they had a mix of a Kenyan and British accent which was AWESOME and Abby seemed to really enjoy hanging out with us! I loved her. Joy made us a wonderful dinner with an apple cake for dessert...literally best thing of my entire life! We then did another one of my favorite things about mission trips...sat around the table and talked for hours. I absolutely LOVE learning everything about people's lives amd people from Kenya are so genuine and open that they will answer anything you ask. Me and Joy got to have our own conversation later about why I felt called to missions and then about human video/dance ministry. She has some interns at the church that she works with who are scared to go on missions and she thinks that human videos would be really great for their ministry. I had such a sweet time talking with Joy and we definitely both left the conversation wishing it could go on longer. We already decided that I would be back next year and teach a human video to her interns! She was so encouraging it was incredible.
All in all today was a phenomenal day. Being here and having these moments just re-emphasizes to me that this is what God has made me to do. I dont find more joy than I do when I'm here. Gosh, God is good.
In His perfect love,
Crissy
You're the God of this city.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Well our first official day of Kenya is over! It's about 9:00 PM as I begin writing tonight's blog and it's embarrassing how exhausted I am this early! But hey...that's jetlag!
Anywho! We had a pretty wonderful day today. We headed up to Kwalengare(sp?) for church at the Hope Center and right when we pulled up we were greeted by a group of young boys with big smiles on their faces for us. As we walked into church, the walls were already shaking! This church LOVED to dance! Once we got into the second song, the voices got louder and the dancing even wilder! Definitely right up me and megans alley! :) the worship was absolutely wonderful. We got to sing some Kenyan songs and while we didn't understand the words, we could sense God's presence just as much as everyone else in the church. It was pretty beautiful. Our pastor was literally the funniest human ever, while also being extremely charismatic. He was challenging and convicting without being condemning, it was pretty phenomenal to witness that type of passion. The church was so hungry for His word and their love for our Jesus was very apparent.
After church we had a little photo session with some mischevious boys outside the church and then headed to the slum that was behind the church. It's pretty crazy to go back into a slum expecting and knowing what it will be like. At the same time, I don't ever want to become numb to the devastation that lives in these slums. We had two awesome tour guides, Kish amd Giant(aka Isaac) who gave us the 411 on every part of the slum. What is hard to grasp is that this is a place we were visiting for a week...but to them, well this is their life. Being thankful doesn't even do what were feeling justice. But something that the pastor said, is that through all this pain and poverty, there is a God of this city. Bigger things have yet to come for Nairobi and all of Kenya. While speaking of this place will never give you a real picture, I hope it draws you to action. It sure does make me want to make a difference. It's easy to feel small or get overwhelmed by a slum with upwards of a million people...I just have to cling to the fact that God is bigger. And that He's got every precious person living in these slums on His heart. But that will also make me draw even close to their beautiful faces and hearts.
That's all for tonight, we have an early morning!
In His overflowing grace,
Crissy
Anywho! We had a pretty wonderful day today. We headed up to Kwalengare(sp?) for church at the Hope Center and right when we pulled up we were greeted by a group of young boys with big smiles on their faces for us. As we walked into church, the walls were already shaking! This church LOVED to dance! Once we got into the second song, the voices got louder and the dancing even wilder! Definitely right up me and megans alley! :) the worship was absolutely wonderful. We got to sing some Kenyan songs and while we didn't understand the words, we could sense God's presence just as much as everyone else in the church. It was pretty beautiful. Our pastor was literally the funniest human ever, while also being extremely charismatic. He was challenging and convicting without being condemning, it was pretty phenomenal to witness that type of passion. The church was so hungry for His word and their love for our Jesus was very apparent.
After church we had a little photo session with some mischevious boys outside the church and then headed to the slum that was behind the church. It's pretty crazy to go back into a slum expecting and knowing what it will be like. At the same time, I don't ever want to become numb to the devastation that lives in these slums. We had two awesome tour guides, Kish amd Giant(aka Isaac) who gave us the 411 on every part of the slum. What is hard to grasp is that this is a place we were visiting for a week...but to them, well this is their life. Being thankful doesn't even do what were feeling justice. But something that the pastor said, is that through all this pain and poverty, there is a God of this city. Bigger things have yet to come for Nairobi and all of Kenya. While speaking of this place will never give you a real picture, I hope it draws you to action. It sure does make me want to make a difference. It's easy to feel small or get overwhelmed by a slum with upwards of a million people...I just have to cling to the fact that God is bigger. And that He's got every precious person living in these slums on His heart. But that will also make me draw even close to their beautiful faces and hearts.
That's all for tonight, we have an early morning!
In His overflowing grace,
Crissy
WE MADE IT!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
So after one 10 hour flight, a 3 hour layover in Amsterdam, another 8 hour flight and being in airport traffic for an hour...we finally made it to our wonderful guesthouse!!
We all probably slept a little too long on the plane so tomorrow is going to come quickly but were all so excited that its gonna be hard to sleep!
It's pretty phenomenal how quick the brain remembers, the sights, sounds and smells are all so familiar to me. It's so weird amd crazy to be back here again! My heart just seems to be at rest when I'm here. Our guesthouse is literally right across the street from Kibera and seeing it again...even in the nighttime was absolutely mind-blowing. It almost brought me to tears just because I have such fond memories of that place. I know the people sleeping in that slum tonight are probably scared for their lives and are praying for a miracle. But I also know that they have some of the greatest joy in the entire world because they even have someone like our Father in Heaven to pray to...it's so encouraging to be so close to people that I've been so far away from for an entire year!
Anyways, we have church in the morning then some bargaining at the Maasai market :) we are so pumped to have our first full day in Kenya!
Keep us all in your prayers, Me, Morgan, Megan, Michael, Kendon and Josh!
In His great love,
Crissy
We all probably slept a little too long on the plane so tomorrow is going to come quickly but were all so excited that its gonna be hard to sleep!
It's pretty phenomenal how quick the brain remembers, the sights, sounds and smells are all so familiar to me. It's so weird amd crazy to be back here again! My heart just seems to be at rest when I'm here. Our guesthouse is literally right across the street from Kibera and seeing it again...even in the nighttime was absolutely mind-blowing. It almost brought me to tears just because I have such fond memories of that place. I know the people sleeping in that slum tonight are probably scared for their lives and are praying for a miracle. But I also know that they have some of the greatest joy in the entire world because they even have someone like our Father in Heaven to pray to...it's so encouraging to be so close to people that I've been so far away from for an entire year!
Anyways, we have church in the morning then some bargaining at the Maasai market :) we are so pumped to have our first full day in Kenya!
Keep us all in your prayers, Me, Morgan, Megan, Michael, Kendon and Josh!
In His great love,
Crissy
Though I'm not worthy.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
In about 30 minutes we will be 1 day and 15 hours from departure! I absolutely GIDDY about going back to Africa! This blog was originally started for the first time that I traveled to Kenya and Uganda...never in a million years did I think that I would have the opportunity to go back! But of course our Faithful Savior always has bigger and better plans than we even have for ourselves.
Anywho, I got to have a really sweet time with Jesus this evening where I just sat on my back porch and hung out, read His Word and just soaked Him in. And Ive been so caught up in being in awe of how big God is(which He is ever so big) that I forgot how small I was! I forgot to be thankful. I mean I've absolutely been incredibly overjoyed the way that God has provided literally EVERY SINGLE PENNY for this trip but I forgot that I am not worthy. I'm not worthy of His beautiful, encompassing love -- much less His blessing to get to send His gospel to the world. YET, He is choosing me, equipping me and blessing me beyond my wildest dreams. I don't even know how to explain a moment like that. A moment when you really understand how unworthy we really are, yet how deserving God treat us. The way He blesses my life, you would think I am so faithful always and am constantly intentionally pursuing every single thing that it means to be a follower of Christ. I mean I definitely do my best, but my best falls so incredibly short of what it would mean to receive very small blessing from our Father. But for some unimaginable reason, He chooses to treat me in a way that 1) I will never be able to earn(thank God i don't need to) and 2) in a way I'll never understand(good think I don't need to do that either). I just really had such a moment of awe tonight....I'm so incredibly overjoyed that my Daddy loves me but I'm even more thankful that He loves me greater than any person on the planet when I dont deserve an ounce of it.
In the end...I know God thinks I'm worth it. And that's so encouraging to me when I really dwell on it. I am so so so so PSYCHED for this trip and I know that our magnificent Savior is going to literally rock the world of everyone going...I. Can't. Wait.
I just wanted to share my heart with y'all tonight!
In His infinite mercy,
Crissy
Anywho, I got to have a really sweet time with Jesus this evening where I just sat on my back porch and hung out, read His Word and just soaked Him in. And Ive been so caught up in being in awe of how big God is(which He is ever so big) that I forgot how small I was! I forgot to be thankful. I mean I've absolutely been incredibly overjoyed the way that God has provided literally EVERY SINGLE PENNY for this trip but I forgot that I am not worthy. I'm not worthy of His beautiful, encompassing love -- much less His blessing to get to send His gospel to the world. YET, He is choosing me, equipping me and blessing me beyond my wildest dreams. I don't even know how to explain a moment like that. A moment when you really understand how unworthy we really are, yet how deserving God treat us. The way He blesses my life, you would think I am so faithful always and am constantly intentionally pursuing every single thing that it means to be a follower of Christ. I mean I definitely do my best, but my best falls so incredibly short of what it would mean to receive very small blessing from our Father. But for some unimaginable reason, He chooses to treat me in a way that 1) I will never be able to earn(thank God i don't need to) and 2) in a way I'll never understand(good think I don't need to do that either). I just really had such a moment of awe tonight....I'm so incredibly overjoyed that my Daddy loves me but I'm even more thankful that He loves me greater than any person on the planet when I dont deserve an ounce of it.
In the end...I know God thinks I'm worth it. And that's so encouraging to me when I really dwell on it. I am so so so so PSYCHED for this trip and I know that our magnificent Savior is going to literally rock the world of everyone going...I. Can't. Wait.
I just wanted to share my heart with y'all tonight!
In His infinite mercy,
Crissy
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