On Saturday we did our Insanity workout and went to the church again to do some more work. There were more church members there this week, even if most of them were children. The missionaries from Mombasa came with us and we all worked together to mow the compound, paint the Sunday School building, fix the roof of the Sunday School building, fix the back fence, secure the main building, cement the walkway, and of course, play with the kids. As I watched Brother James fix the roof of the Sunday School building, I had a culture shock moment. See, the roof is made of makuti. Makuti is dried leaves woven together, and so things live in these dried leaves. When Brother James was trying to put in some mabati (tin) to keep it from leaking, and the roof started raining ants! Huge ants! They just kept falling from the roof! He couldn't even fix it because ants were everywhere! He just brushed the ants off and continued working. It's amazing what you can do when God calls you to it.
After working at the church, we came back to the house and did some work around here. I swept out the guest houses, Julie measured the floors for new flooring, and Logan and Brittany cleaned out a little shed for the generator. It was Josiah's birthday, so Saturday night we had a Mindcraft party. Kenya made a cake and cupcakes and we did presents. Josiah's friend Richard made him a broom since he loves Harry Potter. It was amazing! Richard is such a sweet kid and we have the same birthday! So guess what we did on Sunday? We had a party for Richard since he was going to be in school on Monday (our birthday).
Sunday morning we did our Insanity workout and went to church. I got to teach Sunday School to the children. I taught them the story of Gideon. Most of them had never heard it, so they listened really well. Brittany and Julie took the "youth group" under the tree to have Sunday School. Brittany taught about believer's identity in Christ. Then Julie played the guitar and led the choir in singing 2 songs. Logan got to preach. It was definitely intern Sunday!
After church we went to Shukrani to eat lunch and then Kenya took us interns into town and we bought Richard a birthday present. Logan drove the van and Julie and Brittany drove the scooter! They did so good driving that little thing! I was so proud. We came back and had Richard's birthday party and ate even more cake. We then had our English Bible study here at the house and Trent, the missionary visiting from Mombasa, led it. His children led the worship and a great time was had by all.
On Monday morning (my BIRTHDAY!) we woke up and did our Insanity workout. It was Pure Cardio. All I have to say is I better drop 4 pants sizes by the end of the summer.... We all met together and read some more of our Cross Cultural Connections book and discussed all of the things that needed to be finished before the group arrives on Friday. We planned to get a few things done each day before our day off. One of the things that needed to be done were the running lights on the trailer. We are going to be using it when the groups come to cart things back and forth and it needed brake lights, the license plate, and other lights and reflectors. We didn't think this task would take too long........except we worked on it ALL DAY LONG! I learned what a pop rivet is though! I also learned that when you touch yourself with a drill bit after drilling into a metal trailer you will get burned (I didn't do it on purpose). We still don't know if the trailer lights work, but we rewired it twice, and we'll see when the Land Rover gets wired. Oh the intern life. The missionaries who were visiting left after lunch and now the kids are a little sad because their friends went home, but we will see them again at the Fouth of July!
After working all day, we had a delicious meal of spaghetti and garlic bread and it was time for MY birthday party! Four days of birthday in a row! James, Josiah, Richard, and now it was my turn! We had cheesecake, and Kenya modified the number candles that she had to make a "26." It was one of the greatest birthdays ever. All of the kids gave me handmade cards and Josiah suggested that they buy me some tire shoes, so they got me those too! The other interns bought me a picture frame and got one of the pictures from our Mt. Longonot trip printed to put in it. It is currently sitting on my night stand. I love it. When I got back to my room, the girls had put streamers on my bed. So much fun! With the three of us in one room, it's like being in college again. It's great to have sweet roommates that make you feel special.
On Tuesday, we woke up and did our Insanity workout. Brittany and Logan went out with James to put the basketball poles in at the school where we will be holding our basketball camps next week. Julie, Kenya, and I cleaned out the garages and went shopping for the groceries for when they group is here. While we were out, Julie and I got to drive the van around town. This is the first time I've actually driven in another country. It was quite interesting. Julie and I both ALMOST hit things, but the important thing to remember is that we didn't ACTUALLY hit anything. It really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. When we got back to the house, Logan and Brittany had been putting beds together for our guests. We fixed a couple of other things around the house.
Sensing that we were slightly exhausted, we had an earlier dinner and got an extra hour to sleep in on Wednesday. We worked on getting a few things done before the groups arrive. Julie and I fixed the light pole and rewired one of the security lights (and learned later that we did the wrong one). Logan and Brittany dug a trench for the cords to the generator. Kenya made all of the beds for the guests and we all finished a few other things that needed to be done. Julie got on the roof and pulled grass out of the shingles. Logan and James rewired a few things. Brittany and Kenya went to go get the Land Rover out of the shop. It was a full day of work before we all climbed in the tv room to watch Inception and Dumb and Dumber. :)
Today (Thursday) was our day of rest. We intentionally schedule these in so that the things we are doing do not become overwhelming. We all slept in, but because of the schedule we've been keeping, sleeping in consisted of being wide awake at 8 AM. We had a late breakfast and then all of us girls headed into town to treat ourselves to $12 pedicures and massages. Well, I didn't get a massage, but Julie and Brittany did. After hanging out at the salon, we came back to the house for lunch. After lunch, Kenya took the other interns shopping and I took 3 of the kids to the beach with the puppies. When I got back, there was a note left for me. There is a Bible study on Thursday nights at the church. We lost track of what day it was, so they forgot about Bible study before I left to go to the beach. They were all at the church! I felt terrible that I forgot to remember about the Thursday Bible study, but they came back and got us afterwards so that we could go to Shukrani for dinner. We had a pleasant day just relaxing a little bit before the craziness of the 516 Missions team gets underway. We will head out tomorrow morning to pick them up from Mombasa. Please pray with me for our mission team and the work we will all be doing over the next 2 weeks. Pray that the Gospel is spread and that many come to know the Lord and get plugged in to the local church. Pray for our strength and we will be going from sun up to sun down everyday.
I will blog when I can, but no promises until after the group leaves. Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers!
In Christ,
Ashley
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