Well, let's see, I was in another matatu incident today. We minorly side swiped a vehicle next to us. We were driving into the opposing lane of traffic to jump ahead in the line of cars, and then we tried to get back in the other lane. We were barely moving though, so no biggie. I think the lady driving the car was upset much more this time b/c she had a decent looking car. so we pulled over, and I'm not even sure what happened. I decided it was time to start reading "Velvet Elvis." That's the Rob Bell book, and I'm rather enjoying it...more on that later as i get farther into the book. Now I know you all are probably worrying as i tell you about all these car incidents but you should trust that God is taking care of me. It's funny b/c i'm in situations that should normally make me a little nervous, but it doesn't faze you once it's such a daily part of life. For instance, on Saturday, we traveled 2 hours to go to this girls' high school. the ride there was quite bumpy of course. the roads are terrible but on top of that they have speed bumps everywhere and close together. at one point we had 17 people in the matatu. we traveled down lots of dirt roads...very rural. one of the dorms at the school had been burned a few weeks ago during the school violence situation. honestly, when i heard this i got excited...not b/c i'm glad about the arson, but b/c wow, what an opportunity to minister to people that are really hurting. so i really felt like nothing was prepared. we had to talk for about 4 hours total about self esteem and abstinence. i've talked about self esteem some already, but this time there were 3 of us, Liz the MST, and Allen, a local. and we didn't even discuss really who was going to say what. i just prayed a lot on the way there, "Please God give us words; help us to say what should be said." and the discussion really just flowed. we shared lots of personal stories from our life and really stressed psalm 119 about being "fearfully and wonderfully made." i've never seen a group of 250 girls listening so well. we were all outside and the sun came out and you could hear us clearly. it was glorious, and so not us but God. the principal loved us and wants us to come back in september. on the way home, my mom called, and of course it was difficult to hear. but then the police came to pull us over for a routine check, and I said, "uh, i have to go now, we're being pulled over." we actually were pulled over twice, the second time apparently we did something wrong. who knows? i just no the driver paid a bit of bribe money and we left. this is so common...happens several times a week. police officers don't get paid much, so i guess this is a subsidy to their income.
jump back to friday afternoon. it's crazy the connections you can make through meeting various people. all the africans seem to know lots of people and always randomly meet them as they're walking through downtown...wierd, considering it's a big city. so i met up with my friend steve, who i randomly met in the security check line in the london airport. he is from chicago and here playing soccer for the Kenyan World Hope team and doing soccer ministry with youth in the slums. he was here last year and is staying for 3 years...yes a long time, and he just became the general manager for the team...that's a lot for only being 23. anyway, steve knows these skateboarder kids in nairobi, which is perfect b/c patrick has been looking for people to skateboard with around here. so hopefully that works out.
yesterday, sunday we went to church...again 3 hours, the norm. i'm starting to finally understand some of the swahili praise songs and can sing along. the songs last about 10 minutes so it's easy to start getting the drift after the phrase is constantly repeated. then it was camp meeting time. oh african meetings. it's bizarre b/c they've already held this camp for the last 4 years, but yet there are so many essential things that no one has thought about. this campsite has NOTHING hardly, so we have to bring everything...the tents, food, pots, pans, etc. someone intelligently asked what we were going to do about having water for 150 people. um, no one had really thought that through yet!!! the thing is that kenyans hardly drink any water...probably 1/2 of what we do. so really, we probably need most of the water for the americans :) did i mention that there are only 3 showers at the place--i see a long shower fast coming on :) same with the bathrooms...will we be going behind a bush or what? at home these things would be of huge concern, but i've learned that things fall into place here.
today we were at sara junior and blue house teaching. i brought a crank pencil sharpener to sara junior, b/c they'd been sharpening all these colored pencils with a hand sharpener. they were so grateful. i think being with the kids and singing is one of the most joyful times of my week. blue house is more challenging...i'm still processing this and how to make it better, so more on that later. this afternoon Po Po (he thinks it's hilarious that this nickname is a reference to the police in america) went with me to find supplies for art stuff at camp. we finally found some of the things...huge considering it's difficult to find art supplies here. and i finally found some brads!!! the first thing i said when i saw them on the shelf--Hallelujah, they have them in this country!
we just had another MST join us today...Richard from the U.K. This is his 3rd time here. last time he stayed for 9 months--the first person i've met who's like me.
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