03.14.10

On Sunday (March 14), I woke up at 6:45am and we left the hotel around 7:30. some people went to the buffet breakfast, but I just had a zone bar. We headed to Made in the Streets for Bible class and church. Made in the Streets is an organization that takes in street children and teaches them a trade (sewing, cooking, etc.) so they can have a way to support themselves when they leave M.I.T.S. It's a really cool, really practical idea. We got to M.I.T.S. around 8:30 so we had half an hour to hang out in the Mbuvis' house and drink chai. Francis and Mauryn (pronounced "Maureen") Mbuvi are a couple who travel with us to all the orphanages. I believe they work for WBS (World Bible School) which is a completely different story, but WBS helps with the orphanages (I think). The Mbuvis have two little boys - Johnathan ("J") is 3 and Jeremy ("Remy") is 1. They were really shy at first, but they definitely came around to us.

<< J and Charlton, the preacher at Golf Course Road Church of Christ in Midland, TX

We walked down the street to the church campus, and attended Francis' Bible class at 9:00. They served some DELICIOUS coffee! It was black with only sugar, but their sugar is unrefined which makes it 100x better than our sugar. After Bible class, we went to the main service, which lasted about an hour and a half. It was mostly singing - Church of Christ inspired ;) Only 2-3 songs were in English and the rest were in Kiswahili (the other official language of Kenya). They had a songbook with the Kiswahili words, and it was fun trying to pronounce all the words and sing along. I loved hearing the Kenyan people sing. It was mostly teenagers, with a few adults too. What an awesome thing it was to experience - being halfway around the world and praising our Lord with the native people. We serve the SAME GOD! This has never been more evident to me than then. It was truly an incredible thing to be a part of :)

After church is when the problems started.. We need two vans to hold all 18 of us (12 of us from the States, 4 Mbuvis, one other driver, and another native Kenyan, Risper), but only had one so they sent off for another. I'm not sure if it was lost, or if we just couldn't find it, but finally they tracked it down. They sent another rental van to take us to the WBS one. While we were waiting for the van to come, I climbed up on top of the M.I.T.S. bus and journaled some. We all shared snacks and visited until the van came. We were pretty crowded, but it was only for about 20-30 minutes. They took us to a marketplace for lunch. I had a slice of pizza and a soda - it cost 300 Kenyan Shillings (ksh) which is equal to less than $4! We walked in a few shops, but I didn't buy anything.

<< all the girls on the trip:
Becca Yocham
me
my mom (Eileen)
Susie Neale (Tim's wife)
Leah McQueen
Garen Glasscock
Stephanie Guthrie

We were supposed to meet at 3:45 to head to Nakuru (the town we were staying in Sunday night) but the van they brought for us had a flat tire. They sent for another, and it took close to half an hour for it to get there. And when it did, it only had room for 6 passengers (we had 8) so Jason and Becca Yocham moved to the other van, leaving me, Mom, Dad, Steph, Joel, and Garen in that van.

It was roomy, there just weren't that many seatbelts. I slept for an hour or two, on and off. Then THAT van started having trouble..It would stall or go out completely when we went up hills about two or three times. Once the driver got out, popped the hood, and banged on the battery with a hammer to get it to start up again. It was pretty weird.. It finally died all together about 30km from Nakuru. We got all our stuff and piled into the other van for the rest of the way. In case you were wondering how many people can fit into a landcruiser van, the answer is 12 mzungus (white people) and 5 Kenyans.

We got to the Kunste Hotel, checked in, got our rooms (this time it's just me and Steph), and met for dinner in the hotel restaurant. I had peppered steak with frieds; it was pretty good! It took a long time to cook so I went back to my room after I ordered and took a shower. It was FREEZING! Then I went back to dinner and the food still wasn't there so we waited a bit more, ate, paid (700ksh = < $10), and went back to our rooms. I got to bed a little before 11:00pm.