Kenya Days 10-12

Day ten

We said our goodbyes to Ekubo and got on the road to County Lake Resort. 

This was our respite.  A day of relaxing and recouping before another week of ministry.  We processed a little on the road.  I was super excited to take the team to this Resort because it it simply beautiful!  We were eating lunch watching the waves crash on Lake Victoria when I remembered a team member telling me she wanted to get baptized.   Brittany and I were honored to be a part of this!  We scouted out a good spot, and got it done!  What an experience!

The shower I took at the resort was one of the most fulfilling showers I have had!  The water trickled out slowly, but it was warm and I was clean!  Brittany and I reclined on our private patio talking and giggling! After dinner, we had our team devotional and worship time.  Wow, it was powerful!  Rest and a nice hot shower can do wonders for a team!  We all piled into one of our teams rooms.  It was a tight fit, but I think the coziness made for better worship.  Once again, our worship leader rocked it! 

At bed time, Brittany and I had the great idea of checking up on our team members with a little humor.  We snook up to one of the room windows and not even 5 seconds later, we had two hysterical young girls!  It was actually very funny, and they took it very well considering!  So we thought we'd try scaring some more rooms.  What a bad idea!  At the next room, there was no window, so we went to the back porch.  I couldn't reach over the fence, so I pushed a chair into their back door, expecting a scream or some kind of reaction.  Instead, there was just silence.  So I kept doing it.  The lights went out.  Brittany and I were about to pee our pants with laughter!  We went to the front door and Brittany opened it.  It was unlocked!  I lost it!  I couldn't stop laughing!  Well out came two very very frightened team members that were on their knees praying, thinking that someone was trying to break into their room.   Uh...mission team leader fail!  Brittany and I felt awful!  Awful!  I wasn't sure those girls would ever forgive us, so we retreated to our room and locked our own doors!

Day eleven

Another day waking before sunrise.  We boarded our bus to the airport to fly to Kenya.  A few days ago Brittany had introduced a game I like to call The Stupid iPod Game. Basically, you put your headphones in and cover your ears as you sing to music and everyone laughs.  Well, I wasn't done having fun, so we played this game on the way to Kenya...on the plane!  Too funny!  Good times!

Once we landed in Kenya, our driver told us that we couldn't arrive to Fiwagoh Ministries until sundown.  They are a Seventh Day Adventist ministry and observe the Sabbath.  So we improvised and took the opportunity to shop.  Our driver took us to various small shops overlooking the Great Rift Valley.  Simply breath taking!   I can't believe this is my life!  The shop owners were very aggressive and Brittany and I had to give our team some tips on how to deal with them.  This is not my first rodeo, and I know how much these tourist type items are jacked up in price for white people.  When I shop in these stores, I rarely make eye contact, I don't touch an item unless I truly am interested, I never act interested, even if it is an item I've been searching for.  I offer 1/3 to half of what they are asking for.  If they don't come down to my asking price, I walk away.  It sounds harsh, but it works!  Almost every single time I walk away, they chase me down and say, "okay, you bring," meaning that they are accepting my offer.  This was one of the most aggressive spots I have ever been to and there items were not high quality, so I was roothless in my negotiating skills. 

It was starting to get dark, and almost time for us to arrive at Fiwagoh and we saw our first set of wild zebras!  I can't believe that I get to do this stuff! We pulled over and snapped a few pictures. 

When we pulled up to Fiwagoh, we were greeted with an overwhelmingly warm welcome.  It was dark, the sun had just set, and the Sabbath was over.  The 200 kids chased the bus until it reached its stopping point.  When the doors opened there was a sea of brown arms reaching in grabbing every team member exiting as if to claim them before anyone else could.  I was claimed by three teenage girls, my favorite age!  We were escorted into a courtyard where the tiny Pastor Benson introduced himself and welcomed us.  He was the first I saw to have a megaphone.  What a great idea!  I'm putting that on my wish list for my next team!  It came time for me to introduce the team, and he handed me the megaphone.  With 200 kids sitting quietly, I got a little stage fright.  My coleader had no desire to help a sister out, so I quickly told them we were excited to be there and love on them and then I introduced each team member.  I handed the megaphone back to Pastor Benson and his response was "that's it?"  Lol! 

Our team settled into their rooms filled with bunk beds and rested.

Day twelve

Fiwagoh ministry has morning worship at 6:00 a.m. And evening worship at 7:00 p.m..  Watching the sunrise is going to get old...lol!  None of us had been to Fiwagoh before, so we didn't really know what to expect.  I really don't have any experience with Seventh Day Adventists so I couldn't really prepare my team.  All i knew was that they practice the sabbath, are vegan and are not charismatic. Flexibility and grace have been our teams theme, so we just went with the flow.  The worship was organized and carried out by the children.  that amazed me! It started with two hymns, which the children all knew from heart...all 10 verses...lol!  And then a word from Nash, a fifteen year old boy.  They pray on their knees and then worship is done. 

Today we organized our field day activities during the morning and visited Haven of Hope in the afternoon. What an amazing woman of God Nelly is.  She started Haven of Hope because of a huge desire she had to love on orphaned babies.  She considers every child her own, and it shows.  Many of my team members were drawn to her enthusiasm.  I loved watching that!

Just a few days ago, a team member had mentioned to me that she would like to keep some of her donated formula for another ministry.  She didn't know who, but felt like it was something that she was supposed to do.  I was a witness to this team member asking Nelly if she needed formula.  Oh how God works!  Nelly teared up and raised her hands in the air and thanked God!  She had been praying for formula for the last week, and little did we know that He was going to meet that need thru us!  God is so freaking good!  We look forward o coming back to Haven of hope in two days.

It was late and I was just about asleep, when I hear Brittany screaming!  She said that there was poo on her bed!  I didn't believe her and thought that maybe she was plunking me.  S I got up to investigate and their was indeed some kind of poo looking dropping!  Her jaw was wide open in disbelief and I was on the floor in tears!  I couldn't stop laughing!  We eventually found out it was a prank!  I'm so glad to have a team that can joke and a coleader that can take a joke!