APU Update

Jambo!

All of us have been having a wonderful time in the village. Saying goodbye tomorrow will be bittersweet. None of us want to leave the children and the joy they create with their singing and laughter. The last week has been filled with many different activities.

Tuesday, we celebrated Brent’s 22^nd birthday. We started off the morning with mandazi (Kenyan donuts) and singing happy birthday. Then the boys went back to keying and the girls tried some hoeing in the garden. Our job was to break up the ground in preparation to plant vegetables. It was a hard job. I don’t know how the women do it in the hot Kenyan sun. The women are definitely to be looked up to. In the afternoon, we had a mini surprise party waiting for Brent at Michelle’s house (one of the missionary nurses). After a tour of the clinic, we walked next door to her house and surprised him with almond cake drizzled with chocolate and another happy birthday song. After speeches from Justin and Brent, we enjoyed the delicious cake Michelle made. At devotions that night, all the children sang him happy birthday once again. Brent said it was one of his most memorable birthdays.

Wednesday, the boys went to the children’s home to key and the girls went on an adventure to the clinic to help prepare for the HIV campaign on Friday. We decided to take a short cut. Now, we’re used to trekking through fields of maize and over hopping barbed wire in skirts, but this time was different. Our short adventure consisted of crawling on our hands and knees under a barbed wire fence in leaves infested with ants and who knows what else. We all made it under without a scratch, but with much laughing and many rear view pictures. Haha. Once at the clinic, we made cotton balls (although the cotton seemed to like Emilia’s shirt and skirt more than being made into balls) and put together baskets for the HIV testing.

Thursday, the highlight of the day was our afternoon in the clinic. The rain came down hard and we all crowed into the clinic to wait for it to stop and then butter bread for lunch at the HIV campaign. We passed the time by teaching some of the Kenyan guys to “walk it out” and “thizz”. They enjoyed hearing about our silly American dances. The funniest part happened when we decided to play musical chairs. It was a rough game, with Justin and Brent cheating the whole time. Finally, it was down to Jonathan, Justin, and Taylor. The music stopped and Taylor found one chair, but behind her Justin pushed the chair away from Jonathan. The chair flies across the room, Jonathan slides and hits the floor. He bounces immediately up, on a mission, and sits down right in the chair. The last round proved to be the most intense. When the music stopped, both Taylor and Jonathan fight for the chair. It skids across the floor with the leg of the chair bending almost completely in half. Everyone gasped in surprise, but the chair was ok and Taylor won. It was a fun afternoon.

Friday, the whole team traveled to a school outside Kipkaren for the HIV campaign. It was a day for the kids to break their normal school routine and come compete in races and also be informed about HIV and AIDs. The wazungu (us white people) learned quickly how fast the Kenyans can run. Not only did they not wear shoes, but we are also 6,000 feet above sea level. Brent and Jeremiah decided they were up for the challenge though and entered the 200M race. Jeremiah was up against some of the older boys and found himself in dead last, but he put up a valiant effort. He wasn’t too far behind. Brent took off and full speed against some of the younger boys and just managed to pull ahead to win his heat. The finals took a different turn though. Brent still proved himself worthy of running along side the Kenyans, but in the last seconds fell back to last place. We definitely learned that the Kenyans are known for their running for a reason. We all had fun timing the races and cheering the kids on. It was a long day, but the experience was worth it. We are learning so much about the culture. From home visits to keying to washing clothes, the Kenyans have touched our hearts and taught us many lessons. Next up is our safari in Nakuru! We will have many more stories to tell when we are back in America. This will probably be our last post before we are home. We love and miss all of you back home. Our flight gets into LAX at 3:20 p.m. Thursday, June 4^th. We can’t wait to see your faces!

Simpson Univ. 09: We are in Kenya!!

Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord) We made it safely to Kenya on Wednesday the 20th. We traveled for 2 days, and after a 9 hour drive from Nairobi to Illula we arrived. We were greeted by the children singing and giving us flowers. The people here welcomed us with open arms and let us know how thankful they were that we got there. We really feel at home here even though we are thousands of miles away.
The first week we got here we started on the project for which we had raised funds. We are building a numba ya kuku (chicken house) for the children. We have been working on it for a week and a half and are almost finished. It is exciting to know that we are leaving something here that will last.
Our daily routine so far starts with waking up at 7 am to get ready and pray for our day. We then go to breakfast at 8am where we eat toast, bananas, eggs, and chai. Kenyans drink tea (chai) with sugar and milk and they drink it like water. We really enjoy it as well. After breakfast we go to work on the numba ya kuku until our chai break at 11. At 11:30am we continue to work until lunch at 1pm where after we rest until we go back to work at 2:30pm. We continue to work until 4pm when the children get out of school; and come to play. We are able to be with the kids until devotion time at 6. We each lead devotions with different families (the children are separated into 4 families each with a set of house parents), and sing songs and have bible study. We serve dinner to the children (ugali and cabbage), and at 7:30 we share dinner with the directors of ELI. We always have good conversation and enjoy getting to know them. We then head back to our house where we journal, talk, read, and pray before going to bed to wake up the next day and do it all over again.
We really love being here in Kenya and haven't experienced much culture shock because we are living in a christian community with people who love and serve God. We have been really encouraged and welcomed by the people here and are learning so much from the children and staff.
As a team, we have encountered some struggles but with prayer and seeking God we have gotten past them and are growing so much closer as a team. God has strengthened each one of us individually and as a group. He has united us and has used each of our strengths to make us a strong team. We are thankful that God has called us together for a purpose and a time such as this.
We are excited to see what God has planned for us in the next few weeks and we want to be used in any way God has for us.
Thank you for all of your prayers because God has really been protecting us in every way. We are praying for you as well. Some prayer requests are that we would continue to be healthy and be sensitive to God's leading for us. Also for continued unity and strength as a team.

Shout outs:

Elisa- Mom and Dad I miss you a lot and I hope the move is going well. Chelsea your letter encouraged me so much and I love you! Family I love you all! Friends I miss you all! Gram and Gramps I really do miss you and thank you for the letter.

Megan McCarty- Family and friends, I love you and am ever so grateful for you, your prayers, support, encouragement and letters. I am praying for you and God's hands upon your lives and I look forward to being with and sharing my experience with you upon returning! - Amani!

Karissa- Mom, dad, Josh and little girl (MLE), I miss you guys! I love the letter you wrote, I've read it like four times! MLE- I have a baby for you, I'm packing it in my suit case. Love you guys! JFuzz- oh my goodness I miss you! I have so much to tell you, see you soon. Love you and miss you!

Megan Flores- Ninapenda Kenya (I love Kenya)! If it weren't for you all in American whom I love so much, I'd probably stay for the summer. Mom and dad, I love and miss you lots, I'll bring you back with me some day. You too Macee and Matt. Jeni I am beginning to understand why you love this place so much. Meme, Mom, Dad, and Katie thanks so much for your letters. Chad I can't wait to hear about your job it is in my prayers. Marcy I miss you and you're all in my prayers. To the rest I love you all! Love Meg

APU Update

Greetings from Kipkaren!

Brent and Justin here, and we would just like to take a few moments to say hello to friends and family and share a little bit about our time here at the training center. This past week has been filled with so many joyful events, we would just like to highlight a few of them. As we have been spending time with the children, the children have all found favorites, and thus we generally are playing with the same posse of children. For me, Brent, there are three children in particular who have touched my heart. Faith, Collins, and Dennis are their names, and I like them each for different reasons. I like Collins because he will never leave me alone, and always has to be holding my hand or rubbing the hair on my arm or doing something that involves affection towards me. Faith has an amazing story, and she is very shy, but always comes up to me and wants me to hold her or give her attention. Dennis is a crackup, he is an amazing dancer and loves to sing. Each of these children is HIV positive. My general days consist of waking up at dawn and running, and yesterday I ran with a Kenyan who took me on an 8 km run. I was beginning to walk around barefoot, but nurse Julie told me not to because she does not want me to get worms. All of the children are fascinated by my scabs (yes mother I crashed my scooter again and I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to freak out. More details later). We go on home visits which are awesome because we meet people with amazing stories and we even meet people along the way who have never seen a white person (Wazungu) before. This place is amazing and the Kenyan people offer a hand of love that cannot be matched. I love you all and could not wish for any better way to spend my birthday.


For me, Justin (or Kipblimo as the Kenyans would call me), the kids that have touched me since I have been here are Toi, Sandra, Melva and Patrick. Each of them are unique in their own way and I love spending time with them. Toi is not afraid to say hello or run up to me and great me. She is amazed by my big hands and always finds a vein, bug bite or freckle to show other kids. Sandra is a lot like Faith, she is super shy but won’t be afraid to say hello to me or hug me. Melva is a couple years older then Toi and Sandra. She is usually alone except when she sees me. I love that her shyness doesn’t get in the way of our relationship. Lastly is Patrick, he is one the older boys of the childrens home and has an amazing story behind his life. Whenever I am around, he will give me a firm handshake then walk with me and hold my hand. Our days, as Brent mentioned, consist of the same tasks in the morning and the afternoon is always different. The guys on the trip spend our mornings keying (plastering cement) and the women wash the kid’s clothes at the children’s home. Everyone here we meet is very welcoming into their home and each and every one of them is so generous. God is doing incredible work here in our hearts and in their community. I love you all and will see you in a week in a half. I send blessings your way and we have been praying for you. Love you Mom, Dad and Shane! Miss you Beandip, Love you!

APU P.S.

We wanted to share our Kenyan names with you:

Brent: Kiplagat
Justin: Kiplimo
Jonathan: Kimutai
Grace: Cherotich
Taylor: Chelimo
Emilia: Mama Cherotich
Emily: Chepkoech

Also, we are planning to post photos sometime soon in the coming days. So keep your eyes open!

APU Update from Kipkaren

Jambo Rafiki!! (Hello Friends)Early Monday morning, we had a 7:45am flight to El Doret. We agreed the night before to meet in the lobby of Mayfield at 6:30am, but we didn’t actually leave the hostel until after 6:45. This was obviously a concern because traffic in Nairobi, on a Monday morning can be VERY unpredictable, and we were already about fifteen minutes away from the airport with no traffic. In addition to all of this, we had 17 pieces of luggage to check, and we weren’t exactly flying on a 747 jet (we’ll leave it at that). We finally get past security with all of our luggage (here, security is done first, with ALL of your luggage). Emilia (Mama Grace/Mama Cherotich) was checking us in with all of our passports, in a line that was long and unmoving, and the time was approaching 7:30. We were devising a strategy to execute for just in case some of our luggage needed to be shipped. After all of this, we got our luggage into the hands of Jetlink (the airline), and Emilia sent the rest of team to the plane while she paid for the excess luggage.

Since the plane is a much smaller plane, there was no terminal to enter from, and we entered directly from the tarmac. Every single attendant in neon vests was rushing us telling us to hurry in order to catch the plane, which was a good 200 yards away from the door. Mind you, Emilia still had not joined us in our rush. When we got up to the plane (Grace was trailing behind, trying to wait for her mom), we were all greeted by a smiling, polite, Kenyan flight attendant. He showed everyone to their seats, and was extremely welcoming. When Grace entered, he gave his smiling welcome, and hurriedly, she said, “Oh, there’s still one more person! My mom is still coming.” Thinking that he would respond with an understanding reply, he instead said with a smile, “We’ll see if she makes it.” You could imagine the team’s concern, since we could see that she still hadn’t emerged from the door.

However, she did make it, and the half-hour flight was smooth and comfortable, and we got cookies and juice for refreshments. Even the landing was done very well. When we got in the airport, every single piece of luggage came through on the conveyor belt within 5 minutes, and 2 of the staff of ELI were eagerly waiting for us as we came through the baggage claim area. One of our biggest prayers through all of this was for things to go smoothly. Whether or not everything was perfect, we prayed for everything to work out well. Through all of this, God has proved his faithfulness.

We have now been in Kipkaren for 4 days. The people are wonderful in every activity that we’ve been doing—from the construction projects for the guys, to helping the women hand wash clothes for the girls. Nightly, we attend and participate in devotions at the children’s home just up the road. There are not enough words to describe the experience of watching and hearing the children as they worship and praise the Lord with their singing and dancing. Their extreme joy and the apparent purity of their hearts as they praise the God they love is such an inspiration. We are only here for about 10 more days, so we are continually trying to make the most of every moment.

Team APU: Safe and Full

All flights were smooth. There was practically no trouble at any airport. Bwana asifiwe (Praise the Lord)! It seemed we were eating every two hours or so. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, de-board. Do it again. It's beautiful here! And this is just the city, I can't wait till we get to the village. The sky is clear and blue, the land is flat and green all around.
First night in a bed tonight after a couple days and most of the team is taking advantage of it. We arrived in the big city at 6 AM. After a short ride to the guest house, we had breakfast and some time to relax. We checked out the local market and we were able to get some deals (some better than others). We were fortunate enough to have dinner at a local restaurant much like a Brazilian BBQ - meat after meat coming around on skewers. It was delicious! We had crocodile and chicken liver and ostrich along with the norms of lamb, chicken, and steak. I'm not sure one back in the States could compare (sorry Porto Alegre).
Another flight tomorrow morning. Pray the flights continue to be blessed.
Pray for:
Grace and patience with each other to start now so when we are tired it is already a habit.
Continued blessing and protection from the Lord.
Open eyes, ears, and hearts for us and those we encounter.
Boldness and wisdom
You all are being prayed for also. Bwana akubariki (Lord bless you)! Please leave comments below!

Simpson Univ. 09: Training Week

Well this past Monday marked the beginning of our week of training. The purpose of the week is to build us up as a team and to learn to work together through times of struggle and frustration. We started out the week with a 6 mile hike up to Castle Crags. This hike was difficult and challenging but we all made it through and were able to work together to make it through the hike. The next day we helped the park services and we carved out a trail with various tools. This job was very physical and also challenging, but it was amazing to see how our team continued to work although we were exhausted from the previous day and the sleepless night. By the time we were able to drive back to Simpson campus we were exhausted, sore, and dirty but we were able to have some down time that night.
The next day we started the morning with worship and devotion and then went on a team prayer walk. This prayer walk was amazing because as we walked we prayed for our trip, ourselves, the people we will work with and encounter, and our friends and family we will leave behind. We brought our praises and requests to God and we really prayed over our entire trip...it was a very good walk. The rest of the day was filled with team building exercises which involved solving problems through various tasks.
Today has been a day where we are able to relax more as we are all still sore and tired. Although we woke up at 5 am we are able to rest now. We spent the morning in prayer and devotion and then did another team building exercise. Our team is really working well together and we are learning to recognize each others strengths and work those together to make a powerful team.
We are very excited for what God is doing right now in us and through us as He prepares our team and our hearts for the mission ahead of us. We have 4 days left until we depart from the San Francisco airport and we can't wait. We would ask for prayer for safe travels and for our team as a whole. We want to show the people of Kenya what love looks like through the love that we have as a team and we also really want to build each other up in their own strength to better serve the people in Kenya. We hope to update everyone at least once a week once we get there...so remember to keep us in your prayers!!

Also...it's our leader Megan's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her!!!