A Road Trip, Church, and Chickens

The past few days feel like such a blur! 

It all started in the Dallas airport when our first plane was ready to board and a storm blew in, delaying our plane about 30 minutes.  This would have been a rather insignificant delay if our lay-over in London had not been only 45 minutes.  Thankfully, the crew kept the door open for us as we dashed through security and through Terminal 5 to our gate.  We arrived in Nairobi Thursday night (Nairobi time) and were warmly greeted by the Buckner staff and a drunk man who wanted us to pay him $20 bills for helping us carry our luggage!  Thankfully we got the airport without anything stolen and only a few delayed pieces of baggage.

The next morning, Susan, Ashley, Taylor, and I left for Busia in a van with our Non-Government Organization staff member (NGO for short) from Nairobi, Beverly, and our van driver Richard.  We drove past the Rift Valley, saw baboons crossing the roads (they have "cow crossing" signs here too!), and passed multitudes of little children in uniform walking home from school.  Late in the afternoon we stopped in a large town, Kisimu, to exchange money and buy groceries for the first time!

I have been on a lot of long road trips, but Friday's journey topped them all.  First, while the roads nearer to the capital Nairobi are fine, the roads farther from the city are BUMPY.  Also, Kenyan drivers sit on the right of the car and drive on the left side of the road…and are not afraid to drive into oncoming traffic or use their horn!

We finally arrived in Busia after our 12 hour road trip.  Our hotel is fine, but not quite like home! :P I found bugs in my towel, my bed, my tea, and filling the bedside drawer.  I have a feeling I am going to have a different view of bugs when I return home!  But I must say it is pretty fun to sleep under a mosquito net!  

This morning we attended Mudoma Baptist Church.  The walls of the church are made of dirt and cow dung and are topped with a tin roof.  Yet I must say it was one of the most beautiful church services I ever been to!  We were "the visitors" and were greeted very warmly…officially greeted in the service by at least 8 different people and afterwards by all of the children and other adults.  We introduced ourselves and told our favorite Bible verses and sang for them.  And really, there is no better way to worship than with African children singing their hearts out. There was one little boy, probably about 2 and a half, that I will never forget.  He would waddle in his little flip flops to the front of the church to sing with the "Praise and Worship band".  Then he would fold his hands in a praying position and step back and forth from foot to foot to the beat of the music and sing every word to every song.  I have never seen a child worship with such a look of earnestness on his face!

Finally, this afternoon we went to the shore of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa.  We visited two different fishing ports, and the port managers were so excited to have visitors that they brought us into their offices to sign the guest books.

Tomorrow we begin our first day of work at the Buckner school for young children and the Buckner medical clinic, which is about 30 minutes away from our hotel!  My team and I would greatly appreciate your prayer, especially concerning:

• Adjustment - We are all having a hard time adjusting to both the time change and the culture.  We have all experienced sickness in some way upon arriving.  Please pray that God will Give us strength physically, mentally, and spiritually.
• Impact - Please pray that even in our weakness, God will fill us up with His love and let us overflow with encouragement for the children here!  Also, that God will sustain us as we work in the school and in the clinic.
• ~ P.S.: I wrote this update yesterday but our wifi stopped working last night and I was not able to post it…the same prayer requests still apply :) But as of today I have worked in the Buckner pre-school.  After saying hi to the children, I went into one of the classrooms as was introduced as "Teacher Christina"…as I was wondering how I suddenly gained such a title, I was told to begin teaching the language arts and science lesson…so as I taught preschoolers about the plants and animals God created, I had to marvel at His sense of humor. Just after I asked the children to practice saying the word "animal", a chicken wandered into the classroom (this happened periodically throughout the day)…talk about a convenient visual aid!