Day of Rest

I had to go read my last blog to figure out where I left off because I keep losing track of the days! Where does the time go? Apparently I blogged last Friday, so it's been almost a week, which doesn't seem like a long time, but we've been working hard.

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

Intern Expedition 2013

Wow! Is is already June 7th? Crazy! Happy Birthday, Brother James! And Happy Birthday tomorrow, Josiah! We interns have spent the last few days on an amazing expedition (check out the video on Facebook if you haven't already). We woke up at 4AM on Monday morning and climbed in the Land Rover. Brother James decided to take us on a trip to get away and get our focus on why we are here before the busy-ness of the summer gets underway. With the three girls in the back seat and the boys in the front, we set off on our adventure. I'm going to be honest with you guys, the Land Rover isn't the most comfortable road trip vehicle, but it does an excellent job in Kenyan traffic, that is, when it actually starts... There is something wrong with the starter, so along the way the four interns had to push the car to get it to start. Thankfully at 4:30 in the morning, Brother James was able to get it to start on its own and we were on our way to Nairobi. Take a look at the map below to follow our journey:

We started in Malindi and went through Mombasa and then through Voi and on to Nairobi, about a 10 hour trip. Along the way we fellowshipped and listened to Bob George's book Classic Christianity. It is a fantastic book and a great way to get our hearts where they need to be before we start our intern duties. As we got closer to Nairobi, there is an Ostrich farm where you can RIDE AN OSTRICH! So what else would you do when you are this close to a place like this?

It was awesome! If that is not on your bucket list, put it on there. We finished the journey to the Hoppers' house (they are missionaries in Nairobi), and they took us to a place called Diamond Plaza. Now we didn't know this, but they did this on purpose just to laugh at us. When you sit down at Diamond Plaza (or Little India as they call it), you are swarmed with people and menus. There are several different eateries, so each one wants your business. Brother James and the Hoppers just sat there and watched us as we struggled through this little experience. We finally figured out what to order and got our food. It was delicious. What came next was not so much. While we were in the car, Brother James told us that we were going to have to eat something called paan. He did this with a smirk. So when we were finishing our meal, he hadn't mentioned it in a while, so we thought we were off the hook. Nope. They walked us over to the little shop and ordered an "after dinner mint." None of us knew what paan actually was, so we sat there in amazement as we watched the guy prepare this leaf with stuff on it. He put some red stuff, some green stuff, some seed-looking things, some spices, some other stuff, and some more red stuff and then folded the leaf up and handed it to us.

It was awful. Ernie and Michael Hopper love this as does Brother James. The interns however...well....Logan barely got it in his mouth before he gagged and spit it out. Brittany chewed a little, then spit it out. Julie got most of it down, but couldn't take the leaf anymore and spit the rest out. Me? I ate the whole thing. Not because it was good, but because it was a matter of honor. :) I think I'm going to do like Sissy Hopper and put that as my New Year's Resolution: Don't eat paan.

We woke up early on Tuesday morning and drove about an hour and a half to the Rift Valley. If that's not on your bucket list, add it on there. It's amazing to see God's handy work. The Rift Valley is visible from space because it's so big. We drove to a place called Mount Longonot. This is an inactive volcano. You can hike up the volcano and then you can hike around the rim of the volcano. So we did just that. I'm not going to lie, I am really out of shape, and being 9000 feet in the air when I'm used to Louisiana sea-level is not conducive to physical activity such as climbing a mountain. Yes, I stopped quite often, but we made it to the top. On our way up, we met a Polish man named Chris who was hiking by himself. We met him later on, but he finished way before us. When we got up the side of the mountain, we stopped to eat lunch. We had MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) packed for our trip. I have never had an MRE (or military food as I called it) and so we were all a little worried. Well, the chemical reaction that is supposed to heat the food didn't work, so we all traded the different things in our packages (and our sun-warmed main dishes) and ate enough to get us through the rest of the hike. While resting for lunch, we met two German guys who were hiking the mountain as well. They looked at our MREs and said something in German as they snacked on their little sandwiches. I'm sure it had something to do with Americans being fat because there are like 3000 calories in one of those things. A little later a group of fifth graders came up the mountain. This is the end of the year trip for the International School of Kenya. It was so neat to sit and listen to these students. It made me miss my kiddos a little bit. They all knew what our MREs were (which I would never have known about at that age). Most of the students had some sort of accent, but all of them spoke English. I chatted with the teacher (who was also a math and science teacher) about his job at ISK. I think that there should be a class in college about the different opportunities teachers have once they get out of school. There are schools all over the world looking for teachers, so if any of you out there are looking to go off somewhere, just looking into some international schools.
After our lunch, we set out around the edge of the volcano. We reached the highest peak and kept trucking along. It was a lot more difficult than it sounds. I thought it was going to just be walking, but it was much more intense. It was incredible to see God's creation from such a high point because you realize just how small you really are. Why would the God of the Universe choose to love a tiny little thing like me? And why would I do anything except spend my life living for Him?

That night we were going to camp at a place called Hell's Gate, but it was getting late and we decided instead to drive back to Nairobi. We were super gross, but we wanted to go to this one shopping center that was kind of nice, so we parked in the back of the parking lot and "took a shower." We really just changed into cleaner clothes, wiped the dirt off with baby wipes and water in a wash tub.

We went to the food court and guess what I had for dinner? An ostrich burger. Yep. I mean where else am I going to be able to order than on a menu? Julie had the ostrich fajita and everyone else got Chinese food. We had a wonderful conversation at dinner and really learned a lot about mission work. We went back to the Hoppers' house and stayed with them another night. On Wednesday morning we ate at a place called Java House which was super awesome and then set out for Voi. We decided to break up the trip coming back because we needed to stop to do some things in Mombasa on Thursday, so we wanted to be close enough to get there at a decent time. We got to Voi and ate at a little gas station there. Brother James ordered peppered steak and they had to bring us another bowl of gravy because it was so good that everyone wanted to eat it with their food. We set up camp near the Tsavo Game Park and sat around the little camp table reading and discussing the book Cross Cultural Connections. If you are planning on going to a different country for any reason (or if you plan on traveling at all) you should read this book. After reading a few chapters, we settled in for the night. It blew my mind that we were sleeping less than a mile away from zebras, elephants, and possibly even lions. Don't worry, we were in a gated area with a guard.

The next morning we woke up and went back to the gas station for breakfast for some more peppered steak and eggs. We headed toward Mombasa to go to a meeting at the school in Miritini that the second mission team will be working at. We stopped at the pastor's house for a moment to pick him up. You should have seen all of us stuffed in the car. There were all of us and then the pastor, another church member, and a third church member who was also in charge of the orphanage where a lot of the students from the church live. I wish I would have had my camera because the area where the school is is absolutely breath-taking. The school deputy was very receptive and excited about the basketball camp we will be doing there. We walked around the school to see where we would set everything up. The July team is going to have an awesome time out in this village with the basketball camp and the showing of the Jesus film. July team, get ready...it's gong to be amazing.

After leaving the school and dropping off our extra travelers, we went to do some other business in town and then ate lunch. After lunch we got to go to a place called Haller Park. As you drive into Haller Park, there are giraffes just walking around. No cage. It was crazy! We got to feed the giraffes and walk around the park to see monkeys everywhere! You know how you can walk around most college campuses and see squirrels everywhere? It was like that, but with monkeys. We saw crocodiles, hippos, cape buffalo, eland, tortoises, and very dangerous snakes. It was a pretty neat little place. We continued on to Malindi and crashed pretty hard.

Today was our day of rest. We got to sleep in! We still woke up before 9:00. After a delicious breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy, we got the house ready for guests. A missionary couple and their kids are staying with us for a few days. After getting their rooms ready, we did the first day of Insanity. Yes, we are all starting the Insanity work out and plan to do the whole two month program while we are here. We jumped in the pool after our workout and played with the kids. We've had a wonderful evening fellowshipping, celebrating Brother James' birthday, and eating tacos! (Every Friday is taco night). Tomorrow we are doing Insanity in the morning and then going up to the church to do some work. It's a little sad to think that we only have 7 weeks left in Africa, but there is so much that we are going to cram into those 7 weeks that it's going to fly by. Can't wait for the first 516Missions team to get here next week! Do work! Affect Eternity!

In Christ,
Ashley

Ni vizuri kuona tena!

Jambo! Habari gani?

So, we made it to Kenya. Malindi, Kenya to be exact. We had a very eventful time at the airport on Wednesday. We decided to leave at 8 from the hotel because our flight was at 11. We figured that would give us plenty of time. Well, we walked into the lobby as the shuttle was driving off, which means we had to wait another 30 minutes for the next shuttle. This means we got to the airport around 8:45, but we walked to our counter to see this:

I was a little nervous. My compadres would say that I was a lot nervous if you asked them. I did NOT want to miss the flight across the ocean. So we waited in line, forming new friends as we went along. 

Julie and new friends Isaiah and Nathaniel

We finally got up to the counter and the guy was sooooooo slow. The lady next to him checked in 3 separate groups while he checked in the four of us. We checked in our luggage (and they didn't even charge me for my overweight bag) and went to security. Again....the line was sooooooo long. I looked so nervous that the girl in front of me let the 4 of us go in front of her. I'm telling you, we had our liquids and computers in our hands way before we were at the front of the line. When we finally got finished we made it to the tram that took us to our terminal. It was like 10:50 at this point. We ran up the escalator (I'm EXTREMELY out of shape) and made it to the gate in time to SIT ON THE PLANE FOR ANOTHER 50 MINUTES! Yep, we got on the plane just before 11 (the time our plane was supposed to take off), but did you know that those long flights have a built in extra time for boarding???? Yeah, so I was all nervous for nothing, which is what God was showing me the whole time. 

The plane ride was ok. It was not the best by far, but it wasn't bad. Julie's tv didn't work, so we switched seats in the middle of the flight, just so she could get some screen time. When we landed in Ethiopia, Julie realized that her guitar was with the "checked" carry-on baggage and we were getting out the back of the plane onto the runway and going to a different terminal altogether from the arrivals, so there was no where to pick up the checked guitar. After a series of people, she was promised that a phone call would be made so the guitar would get to the correct flight. (It did, for all of you who are nervous for her) While at the airport in Ethiopia, we met a man working for E3 ministry (check it out, it seems really neat) and just chatted until it was time for our final flight into Mombasa. I can tell you that none of us remember this flight because we were so exhausted that we slept through all 4 hours of the flight, stop in Kilimanjaro, and flight into Mombasa. 

When we got off the plane we filled out our paperwork and we were the last ones to go through customs because we wanted to make sure all of our stuff was filled out correctly. After getting our luggage, we proceeded through the customs section where they tax you. We had a couple of bags with things for the Taylors, so he made us open one, saw the printer we were bringing, and made us pay tax on the printer. When we got all of that taken care of, we went outside and there was no sign of James. We didn't have a phone number or anything, so we just waited. It's in those moments that you realize "What did people do before cell phones?" He got there shortly and we were off to Malindi with a stop at the mall in Mombasa. The ride was pretty quiet:

And driving at night is pretty dangerous. I don't know how Brother James does it and survives. There were people walking, big trucks, little cars, tuk tuks, bikes, motorcycles, and animals all on the road and the sides of the road. It would definitely take some practice to get used to using that much brain power while driving. 

When I got to the house, I got to see all of the Taylors and Ricklynn and Safari. It was so good to see everyone! Ricklynn pointed out that I was bigger than I was last year (which is a compliment in Kenya, but not so much for my self-esteem) so we will all be doing Insanity the rest of the summer. :) 

On Friday morning we met with James about the summer and then went to language class with Getrude. It was so good to see her! I missed seeing her all of the time. She is so much fun! She is a wonderful teacher and gave us a few words to use while we are here. After chai time (that's tea time and it is necessary) we went back and had another meeting about what our internship was going to be like. We all realized just how short our summer is going to be. Friday night was movie night, so we watched The Croods and ate ice cream. 

Saturday is a church work day. Every Saturday some of the church members go up to the church to work on the property or just clean and get ready for Sunday. I don't have any pictures, but we cleaned and painted the whole outside of the church building and the men completely tore down the choo (toilet) and rebuilt it. It all looks so nice! I will post pictures later. When we got back to the house, it was rest time, so everyone went swimming, and then Logan, Brittany, and Julie drove down to the beach for a few minutes. 

The new puppies were so cold after swimming in the pool!

 Saturday night we sat at the dinner table for a long time just talking. It's so nice to have Christ-centered conversations. We get so caught up in our everyday lives that we forget that Christ should be our everyday lives. We need to have more Christ-centered conversations at the dinner table.

Sunday=church day. We went to the church here in Malindi. Julie got to teach Sunday school for the kids and we had a great service. I got to see a lot of people that I know and even got to see Mama Cedrick's new baby, Serah. Pray for Serah because she is getting a cornea transplant next week to help correct her blindness. She is one month old.

Julie teaching Sunday School

Logan holding baby Serah!

After church we had business meeting, choir practice, and then lunch. We got back to the house and got our supplies ready for our camping trip. We are going on an intern retreat Monday-Thursday and I will tell you all about it when we get back. Pray that we have a safe and enjoyable time preparing our minds for the summer. We have our tents and sleeping bags ready and we are leaving at 4:30 AM! 

I'm so excited to get to spend this summer with such incredible people all around. God is doing awesome things and will continue to show is might and power. Continue to pray for us interns as we learn what God has in store for us! 

Kwaheri!

In Christ,

Ashley

Papa Steve and Internship 2013!!

Hello everyone! After a year's absence, the blog is BACK! I had a draft of the blog from the last 2 weeks of my last internship, but life got away from me. So, I apologize for not keeping you updated for the time that the group was there. It was crazy busy!

So the school year has come and gone and another group of 5th graders is now prepared for middle school. I took my precious DI team to Global Finals last week, and we had a blast. Now it's off to my next adventure. Kenya Internship 2013!! I just want to say thank you for everyone who donated money or prayed for me and my trip. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

I didn't sleep last night because I guess I just like being incredibly busy. My mom, dad, and I left at 4:30 AM. As we are chugging down I-220 I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my passport in the safe. *GASP* So....we ended up leaving Bossier a little later than planned in order to get to Little Rock. We all planned to meet at the airport at 8:30 to meet each other and get checked in for our 11:00 flight. As I entered the airport and saw my fellow interns, I felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. As many of you know, I travelled alone last year, which was fine, but having a group of people to share this experience with just makes it all the more enjoyable. I've only known these people for a day, but this is going to be an awesome summer with an awesome group of people, even if they were born in the 90s. :)

So we got through security and onto our first flight in Little Rock with ease. It was a great flight and we arrived in Charlotte, NC on time. Since we were STARVING, we decided to eat at this little cantina place close to our gate. As we are standing in line to eat, this older couple was standing behind us, and I simply asked where they were from. We interns began a small conversation which turned into a huge blessing. The couple was from northeast Tennessee and had been in Houston seeing their oldest grandchild graduate from high school. As we continued to talk, he told us that he was stationed in the Congo during the liberation in the 60s. This was a neat coincidence in that Julie was just reading a book about that exact subject on the plane. The couple then switched lines to a different restaurant and we went on our way....or so we thought. As we were sitting there eating our delicious Mexican food, the man, I call him Papa Steve, came and pulled up a chair at our table and continued with the conversation we were enjoying earlier in the line. We told him all about what we were going to be doing this summer and he told us a little about himself. After about a 10 minute conversation we said our "take cares" and he went on his way....or so we thought. A few minutes later Papa Steve came by and placed a hundred dollar bill on our table. WHAT?! Did that just happen? He told us to treat ourselves to $25 each and wished us a safe summer. We all shared our thankfulness as we parted ways. Logan, Brittany, Julie, and I sat there in amazement at how wonderful our God is. We decided to put the money in the missions account to buy more Bibles for our camps we will be doing this summer. It's incredible to think about what a simple conversation can lead to. Take those small opportunities to show kindness to others and let God do His thing. This simple act of kindness gave us the umph we needed to get through the next 4 hour flight delay there in Charlotte. Apparently our plane needed some sort of maintenance, and the announcer kept informing us of our later departure times. We got to know each other a little bit and I even fell asleep sitting straight up.

We finally got on our plane around 7:45 and made it to Washington. A couple of our bags did not come out with the rest of the bags, but we got it all taken care of and thankfully got all of our luggage. We are staying in DC tonight and will return to the airport tomorrow morning to get our our long jump across the pond tomorrow at 11:00 AM.

Please continue to pray for Logan, Brittany, Julie, and me as we continue to travel and hit the ground running when we reach Kenya. We are so excited about what God has in store for us this summer.

In Christ,
Ashley

Insanity

I cannot believe that this summer is almost over. In less than 3 weeks, I will be back in the United States getting ready to begin a new school year. This is just crazy.

Putting in the posts at Gede

The mission team will arrive in little less than a week and will hit the ground running. We have spent the last two weeks doing some preparations for their arrival. On Tuesday we washed sheets, swept, and mopped the Taylors' house so that it wouldn't be as bad when they got home from their 10-month furlough. We also put their trampoline back up. You should have seen Brother Scott and me standing in the front yard looking at all of those pieces trying to figure out where everything went. Wednesday, we went out to the Gede Primary School and Special School to put in the posts for the basketball goals. While we were there, we got to play a little with some of the kids. I just love these children! This made me really think about going to get my Masters in Special Education (I said think). It was fun to be able to love on these kids for a little bit. We then went and bought some wood to take to the church in Malindi to finish their building so that it will be completely finished before the graduation that they are having there in 2 weeks.

The Taylors arrived at the airport in one piece 

On Thursday we went and picked up the Taylors from the airport. They have been living in Kenya for over 10 years (on and off) and went back to the States for 10 months on furlough. They arrived safe and sound in Malindi. The Taylors have 5 kids, so it's safe to say that it hasn't been as quiet around here since their arrival (I love it!). They've spent the last week getting settled. As soon as the kids got here, they discovered all of their "old" stuff and were having a field day! Africa is really the only home they've ever known and they really love being back. On Friday night we all went out to Shukrani, which I call the "Buffalo Wild Wings of Africa" because the second floor has a big

Eating at Shukrani-notice the screen in the back

screen for watching "football" games (that's soccer for all you uneducated folks). Culture lesson #18762- Stray cats running around in a restaurant is no big deal. Shukrani was great! I love me some samosas and chips (that's french fries for all you 'Mericans).

4th of July cookout

On Saturday we had our "4th" of July cook out. Since the Taylors weren't going to be back until the 5th, we decided to just do the cook out on Saturday. I was very proud of myself because I made a homemade cheesecake (which was incredibly delicious)! I also made macaroni and cheese and helped with the baked beans. The men took care of the grilling hamburgers and hotdogs, and we had some fresh fruit cut into stars! We even made red and blue koolaid ice to put in the kids' Sprite. It was pretty cool.

4th of July drinks-red and blue ice!

My delicious homemade cheesecake

Patriotic fruit! 

Enjoying our cookout

Church in Malindi- Kenya and Karat

On Sunday we went to church in Malindi again, and I'm starting to remember names and faces. This was the first time I didn't have to say my name because they all remembered me! Yay! Everyone was super happy to see the Taylors again. For lunch, we came back to the house and had left overs from the cookout. We brought home a 6th child from church (Richard) who is good friends with the oldest Taylor child, Josiah. The kids had fun swimming and playing all afternoon. We had Bible study Sunday night and talked about prayer. It was a good reminder that God wants us to pray continually and to pray for the things in our hearts until we get an answer. He hears us. That is so amazing to know. The God of the universe hears me. Little, insignificant me. That's pretty powerful stuff. He cares to hear the desires of our hearts! How amazing is that?!

The kids enjoying the pool on Sunday afternoon

My nasty bruise on my hand

We kicked it into high gear on Monday. Guess what I got to do?! DIG! I'm not going to lie, I'm getting pretty good at this digging business. I should have a side job and just dig ditches for people. We wanted to put in a few new security lights, so that meant running electricity lines underground. With the help of the two youngest Taylor children, I dug a shallow trench in the front yard. Brother Scott and Brother James worked on the lights that had gone out around the house. Somewhere along the way I got a nasty bruise on my hand. It's still pretty gross and I still don't know how I got it. On Tuesday morning, I woke up bright and early because I thought it would be a good idea to workout with Kenya. See, she has this workout plan DVD called Insanity. I don't know if you've heard of this yet, but it's pretty insane. So, at 7 am Kenya and I were doing some serious cardio. After that I went back out to work on the electricity. We fed the lines through some pipes and wired everything together. After checking to make sure it all worked, I filled back in the holes and tried to make the yard look nice again. The compound is well-lit now. You're welcome, 516 Missions team.


Thankfully the workout for Wednesday morning was an easy one because my body was hurting. It was the cardio recovery workout, and it was mostly stretching (God was looking out for me). After that, I worked a little in the guest houses, painted the front stoop on one of the guest houses, painted the ladders for the loft beds, and, with the help of the Taylors' middle child, Lydia, I moved all of the extra dirt and rock from the back patio to the potholes in the road outside of the gate. In the process of figuring out where to put the dirt, Safari told me to put it behind the houses, but when I went to go put it there, he told me to put it in the road. He took out the first load and showed me where a good spot would be, then Lydia and I took another 3 loads out to the road. Brother James also gave me a book to read called The Indigenous Church, and we're going to go through it over the next week, discussing the work that they are doing here on the coast of Kenya.

On Thursday we went back out to the schools in Gede to introduce Brother James to the headmasters and to deliver a few gifts to the kids at the Special School. Missy and I both beat ourselves up because we didn't bring a camera to capture the precious moments when the kids opened the box full of toys. As I watched these children get so excited, I couldn't keep the tears in. It breaks my heart that there are children all over the world that will never have a brand new toy or new clothes. I'm glad that we can change that for at least a few children. If you are interested at all in getting involved with helping the children on the coast of Kenya, visit Eastkenyamissions.com or The Jeremiah Project page on Facebook. Brother Scott also got a chance to talk to Brother Alfonse about the graduation and ordination services we'll be having soon. After we left the school, we went by Brother Daniel's house to talk with him, too, about the graduation and ordination. While we were there, Missy and I got to help Daniel's wife de-stem some greens. Little did we know, we were actually helping to prepare our own meal, because they invited us to stay for lunch. I really love this part of ministry. Living life with people. I love learning about the culture and getting to truly be a part of it. We ate ugali and our greens (don't remember what she called them, but they looked like spinach) and drank some tea before heading back to the house for ladies' Bible study. As usual, we had a great time learning a little more about the book of Esther. It's tough being a woman who can balance passion with patience. :) Lord, I will wait on you.

We woke up early on Friday morning and drove down to Mombasa. I don't know how much you have heard on the news about Kenya, but there has been some violence in the bigger cities. A rebel group in Somalia is still at war with Kenya. There are warnings all throughout the country about traveling and such. There have been a few attacks in Mombasa, but we were not worried as we drove down to buy some needed items for the mission team's arrival. Our God is our shepherd and kept us safe in our travels to and from Mombasa. I'm sure the people in Nakumatt thought we were crazy as we asked for boxed cases of juices and crisps (or chips as we like to call them in America). We even bought a new lawn mower (thanks to donations of kind church members in the States) to replace the stolen one. Once we got home, they worked on securing the room where the lawn mower is kept.

On Saturday morning I finished painting the ladders in the guest house and then we all went to a sports day at a local day care. The man who owns the hardware store where we buy all of our stuff invited all of us to come out. We didn't know what to expect, but the kids thought it was going to be a fun day of games. When we got there, we realized it was their first annual Field Day. The wife of the hardware store owner runs the Kiddie Stars Day Care. They invited people from the community to come out and see their facilities and watch the kids in their field day games. It was really a lot of fun. They even had a guest speaker come and make a speech at the end of all of the the events. She was a representative for an international education committee and her speech was fantastic. Most of the parents and the owners of the day care are Muslim, so please pray with me that this is an open door for Brother James and Brother Scott to witness to these wonderful people. They were so appreciative that we had come to their event. After we left the school and ate lunch, we all went down to the beach for a little while. A man came running down to us and asked me if those were my kids playing in the water. He wanted to warn me that there were sharks all in the water and that we shouldn't be out there. The Taylors have lived here for quite some time and have never heard anything about sharks. In fact, there is a reef not too far out and acts like a barrier that sharks don't really cross. I chuckled a little and thanked him for the information. We enjoyed our time jumping over waves, building sand castles, and enjoying each other's company until it started raining. We all packed up all our stuff and jumped back in the land rover to head home.

This morning we went out to church in Magangani. We had a wonderful time out in the village. I always wish I knew more Swahili when I have to introduce myself at every service. Thankfully, the pastor usually translates what I say for the congregation. There were a lot of people there this morning and Brother Scott and Missy taught Sunday School, Scott teaching the adults and Missy teaching the kids. The youngest Taylor child, Samuel, made Sunday School interesting as he decided to stick his offering money in his mouth and accidentally swallow it. I don't think he'll ever do that again. I got to meet Alfonse's wife and daughter and I even got to hold Juma and Mercy's new baby girl. Juma is a pastor in Bokole, but his wife and daughter were in Magangani this morning. I can't believe that when we go back to Magangani next week, the group from America will be with us.

We had a good Bible study tonight with the Bourlands, Taylors, and our friend Christine. Today is my mom and sister-in-law's birthdays and Wednesday is my brother's. I called and talked to them after Bible study for a little bit. That is one of the toughest things about being overseas. You miss family gatherings like today. I'm quite different than most people though. Usually the more time people spend away from home, the more they get homesick. I'm the opposite. The longer I am away, the more relationships I develop with other people, making it equally as hard to stay and leave. I do miss my family and I am happy that I get to see them in 3 weeks, but at the same time, I am learning so much and feeling like I'm a part of something great being here in Kenya.

Continue to pray for all of us as we spend this last week preparing for the 516Missions team to get here on Saturday. They will be here for 9 days and then I will be boarding the plane with them to go back to the States. Pray that God shows me what He wants me to do and that I will listen to His call.

In Christ,
Ashley