Rewind #3

For my last day in Africa, Jenny and Sarah and I went in to town for a last trip to Nakumat, the Wal-Mart type grocery store in Nairobi, lunch at a little cafe and then had dinner with my dearest Kenyan friend Bernice and her family. The day was relaxing, wonderful, and so sweet.

So there it is: My year in Africa. I really cannot put into words how much this year meant to me, and how much it meant to me to have so much support from family, friends and strangers. I am incredibly grateful for all of the prayers that went up for me, for all of the encouragement and help I've had throughout the year, and for every little (and big) thing God taught me in this time.

As for a recent update, I've moved to Dallas and am still (unfortunately) looking for a job. I still miss Kenya and, most of all, my friends over there every day, but I am confident that this is where God has me this year and He's already been teaching me so much in being here.

Please keep praying for Kenya and the different ministries happening there and all over Africa and, for that matter, all over the world. Please keep praying for RVA, especially as the staff and students start a new year in the next couple of weeks.

Praise God, for He is GOOD.

Rewind #2

Goodbyes: What beautiful reminders that this place is not our home.

Thanks to the fact that God blessed me with such wonderful, caring friends at RVA, they helped me to have some wonderful little goodbye adventures to say "kwaheri" to some of my favorite Kenyans.

During my year at RVA, I became good friends with a couple of our Masai guards, Sammy and Givan, who had invited me all year to go down to their village in the valley. We were finally able to get down there a couple days before leaving and was one of my favorite days in Kenya. The drive down was bumpy and unbelievable dusty, but we had some groovy tunes to giggle at (sweet oldies that are priceless to listen to while driving down African dirt roads..).

We were blessed to attend the Masai church service which was full of singing, dancing, complete joy, and the beautiful reminder that someday we'll be worshiping in Heaven with all of the unique, beautiful tribes of the Earth.
Givan and Sammy doing a little preaching...After the service we headed to Sammy's home to have lunch and chai with him and Givan. It was traditional staple Kenyan food, which I love, so it was a wonderful last African meal for me :)
The whole day was extraordinary and such a sweet time with my wonderful Masai friends. I look forward to visiting their village again someday, but until then I rejoice in their love for the Lord and will continue to give thanks for the experiences I had and friendships I made. Praise God :)

Rewind, #1

So between the packing, goodbyes, last minute playing, trips, etc. I left little time for myself to blog (or I didn't want to admit that I would have to post "leaving" posts... either way..), and since we've been "borrowing" internet from neighbors with just one bar, making the connection slower than Kijabe internet (which is some seriously slow internet..), I've decided to take this chance to post while I'm using a coffee shop's super fast internet. I realized I never posted about midterm this last term, meaning I'm posting about a month and a half late, but that's okay, right? It seems like that's the way I've done most of my blog posts, so why stop now eh?

For 3rd term midterm Jenny, Sarah and I decided to go visit Jenny's college friends who lived in Nakuru, a town about 2 hours from Kijabe. It's home to a small wildlife park and Lake Nakuru, but we decided to opt out of the small safari and just relax. We hopped onto a matatu after much drama at the top of the hill and were on our way.

Jenny's friends work with a missions organization that has a Baby Center - a center for abandoned and orphaned babies up to 4 years old - so we obviously wanted to visit and play with the sweet little ones. Let me tell you, they were PRECIOUS. Actually, let me show you...
This little boy was my partner for church on Sunday... he was a squirmy one, but so so sweet!
The Baby Center is quite the place - great facilities, great workers, and a great ministry. They only keep kids until they're 4, but they've never had to send a kid away because they've all been adopted by the time they've needed to leave, so it's a wonderful testimony to God's faithfulness and goodness.

We also took a little trip to a big crater thing (this is the problem with blogging after my memory has faded... I don't remember what it actually was... ) and looked out across the beautiful Kenyan country... I love that place...

So all in all, it was an incredibly relaxing, malaria-free weekend with sweet sweet friends.

So there, on to the next rewind... :)