Camel Time

Very sunny and warm this morning. It was still very beautiful when we got to Kiria. It was road work again today. So, we piled rocks in the muddiest, washed out parts and smashed them into smaller pieces. My friend Elizabeth had a load of questions for me: I did my best to answer them! We were able to finish a huge section of road and moved on to another section about a mile away (all up hill). Two of my favorite little girls held my hand and skipped with me the whole way. The girls also laughed a lot at how heavy I was breathing up that hill. The group made a descent dent in the next section before the rain came. But once the rain started there was nothing to do. Playing ball games with the children was canceled because the field was flooded. The entire team was bumbed. We had to take off before the roads washed out. A very short day in Kiria. Drove back to town, stopped at a market for people to buy tea/coffee to take home, and headed to the hotel. Due to the fact that the day was canceled we had the opportunity to ride a camel. Mohammad is a 20 year old, very nice camel. Sister and I rode double on him. That was very scary but very fun!!!! Our leader Khari was not joking when he said we were going to give everything we had and then some while on this trip. By the end of every day its a struggle to stay up to play dice games. So, as you can imagine there were very few of us who stayed up to "cross into the New Year" as the Kenyans call it. Six of us made it! We danced in the new year with the party upstairs. Ten minutes of dancing with those energetic Kenyans and we were down for the count. Happy New Year!!!

Strawberries and Bholes

At the end of each day in Kenya I lay in bed, read my 410 bridge devotion, and do a little self reflection over the day. I do my own "strawberries and butt holes" for the day (shout out to YL and Miss Macey!). I will share today's butt hole. Elizabeth is a girl in Kiria I have really connected with. Today she wanted to talk about health care in America. She wanted to know what are the moat common diseases. Easy answer right? How could I tell this girl that Diabetes is one of the biggest problems in my county?!? I couldn't. Her next question, "Do they have HIV/AIDS in America? Because its a big problem here." How could I tell this girl yes we do but with enough money you can buy medications that allow you to live a descently full life... in America. I wish that I could spend the whole day talking to Elizabeth and tell her all that she wants to know and all that she needs to know. Goodnight from Kenya

Praising the Lord Kenyan Style

Praise the Lord! Today that was all that we did. Kiria has eight churches. We broke into 3 smaller groups to attend a church service. It was a very moving experience. Our service was began with an hour of singing. All of the people were full of energy and enthusiasm. They sang and danced the entire time! Our group was able to introduce ourselves and our fearless leader, Khari, gave a great message. After we finished our intro/talk we headed back to our seats. The church members totally called us out for not singing a song for them. We gathered our wits and sang them two songs on the fly. Katie was amazing and was sloop on this song with a chorus of "sha-nananananana sha-nananananana, sha-nananananana sha-nananananana." They loved this so much! I think they had us sing the song 10 more times today. After shanana-ing they sent us to the kitchen to make chapiti (delicious tortilla like food) and Chai tea (black tea, milk, and sugar) while the pastor talked about local issues and announcements. It was a blast, minus he smoke in the eyes. The girls that were cooking were ages 13 to 16 and they loved how awkward we were making the food, but loved our shanana song. Wow they live that song. We went back into church for about an hour long sermon which was translated for us. It was wiper interesting that even though these people seem to have such different needs/issues the sermon totally applied to me. Kenya is coming up on a national election in March. The pastor spoke of the candidate and their true intentions. Candidates truly rooted in Christ are the ones that should be elected; these officials will help to develop the country. The pastor also spoke of apathy. That it is extremely important for the congregation to vote. After the sermon we ate chpiti and drank tea with the elders. Khari performed a couple magic tricks, which they were enthralled with. He then taught the tricks to the elders. It was hilarious to see the awe in their eyes. Crusade. Time!!!! All of the churches in Kiria came together for a mass worship. What a moving experience. Every team member had three children minimum hanging off of them. We sang, danced, and listened to the word. Our team sang a couple American songs with a quick message. I was amazed how engaged all of the children were all day. Not one complaint. I was touched by how welcome the community continues to make me (and the team) feel. I am moved how Jesus has touched my heart here in Africa. Today was a very emotional day for me.

Busting Rocks In Kiria

The day started off with a wonderful devotion by Christina. She talked about how you are already perfect the way that you are. She based it off a passage from 1 Corinthians 12:12 (take a look its too long to type on my Kindle keyboard). I know that personally I often compare myself to others. If only I could play the guitar, if only I was as smart as so-and-so, if only I could sing like that... my list goes on Anson. But, this passage reminds us that we cant all be the same and we cant all be good at the same thing. Just like in hey body, the kidney is not as glorious or referenced as frequently as the heart or the eyes. However, if those kidneys functioned like the eyes or the heart we would be in bad shape!! ***pharmacy shout out!!! We did not have to drive all he way out to the village since our task for the day was road work. When we got there the community was already out and working. Before jumping in to help I had to use thee bathroom. Sine there were cattle herders and the community around they wouldn't just let me go in the bush. Mercy, one of our amazing community leaders, took me to someones house to use the "bathroom." My first experience with a Kenyan toilet. What a smell. I held my breath but I could still taste it. I was SO thankful for the hotel toilet this evening!!!! Back to the roads. With the roads being mostly mud, the process was to place bog rocks in the muddy ruts and take sledge hammers to the big rocks to make them about the size of an outstretched hand. It was super cool to see the whole community come out to help and support this project. After our intense road work we got to experience home visits. Our team was divided into 4 small groups. Our group visited a man who is 86 years old! He was very happy to have us in his home and told us some great stories. This man fought for Africa's. Freedom against the British, has 8 children, a mess of grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, and was struck by lightening! Wow. This man was amazing. Silus, a young man from Kiria, said that people come to this man for wisdom and advice. My group will have the opportunity to spend more time with him later in the week. Today was a good day!!!

Kiria Day 1

Day one in the community! A two hour bus ride on some of the worst roads I have EVER driven on. It was raining like nobodies business. I mean water gushing down the sides of the roads and in spots through the roads. The further from town and the closer to the community we got, the worse the roads. We only pulled one vehicle out of the ditch full of mud and we only got stuck once. The whole drive kids would wave to us. It is mind blowing how much joy I felt from just waving. I will always remember those beautiful smiles. When we pulled into Kiria there was a group waiting for us. As everyone was unloading off the bus, the community members began singing to us. They sang and sang. It was heart warming; their songs of welcome and praise gave me goosebumps. When then met people, sang, danced, and got to know each other. We also took a crazy hike up the mountain and into the forest (past the electric fences that keep out the elephants and other wild things) up to see the source of the communities water in the Aberdare mountains. Before the 410 partnered with Kiria the people would make this 2k hike ten to twenty times a day.

It is difficult to see people living with so little but empowering and inspiring to see how happy they are with what they have. One man said to me today, "God is big. He is so big that he brought all of you to meet me. God is big." Wow. God is a big guy and I'm glad to be fighting in his corner. With all of the rain/mud from today and a forecast of more rain we made a pit stop to buy everyone rubber boots. What an experience. First of all there are 16 of us marching into this "hardware store", plus none of us know what size boots we wear with their sizes, plus we are all covered in mud. Hays I'm sure we were a sight to see. Tomorrow we start working on the roads and doing some home visits. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!! Please keep them coming! Tasha

KENYA!

On Christmas day we drove to Spokane and hoped on a plane to Seattle. From Seattle we took a LONG 14 hr flight to Dubai. On that plane ride Jess and I were able to eat three meals, watch 5 movies each, and still have time for a couple naps. We planned to go out after cleaning up a bit sine Dubai is known for its awesomenes. However, once we were all showered.... it was bed time. The next day we hopped on for a short (5hr) plane ride to Nirobi. Once we got through customs there wasnsomeone from th 410 bridge waiting for us. He took us to meet up with thereat of our team.they were all loaded onto a Tony bus when we got there. So, we jumpped on and off we went!!! We drove 2 hour.so getting our hotel. The driving was crazy. People and cars driving everywhere. It is so beautiful here yet so sad. Shacks line thestreets and people are trying to sell anything and everything. We are lucky to have what we do back home. Also on the way we saw a couple monkeys, girrafes, and zebras. In my roomihad an encounter with a spider about the size of my psalm. You can imagine how that went... we are staying at a very nice hotel in Lake Naivasha that over looks the lake and the valley. The view is breathtaking Today is our first in the community. I am excited to see what God has in store for me and for the rest of the team!!!

Services

Yesterday and today I have been catching up on watching the sermons from *ONE (sisters church in the Valley). I first watched the sermon on thanks. Wow! Powerful stuff. Thanking people shows them that you value them. Pastor Will told this story that really brought this statement into perspective for me. The simple song that he wrote to veterans thanking them for their service broke down one man who had never been thanked. Often, I feel that the people mean the most to us are the people we fail or forget to thank. This can really put a strain on your most important relationships. Through November I participated in "Thankful 'till Thanksgiving." This was the opportunity to reflect on thing that I was thankful for. It was very revealing! However, I rarely shared this daily list with the people who made the list. I am committed for this next month to telling those people that I am thankful for them and why. I hope that you might do the same

How to survive the holiday season from "Back to Busy." Life is about progress, not perfection. My life always feels super busy, so, I was very excited to listen to this:

1.  Be intentional. Don't be a victim of the season
2. Making intention time for everything and especially for God. Divided time is not relationship building.
3. Spend less money. We put too much money into Christmas and there is no reason to go into debt over things that people will often forget by the spring time! Be intentional with money
4. Focus on others. Often times we focus on ourselves, our situations, our busyness.
5. Give generously. Giving is what God taught us to do, however, we cannot out give God... so don't even try. Corinthians II talks about how much to give. Give how much you feel you should give in your heart. Not by pressure, judgement, or whatever. God loves when we give from a joyful heart!

 This holiday season originally was very difficult for me because sis and I literally have no money because of the mission trip. We have tried to make all as much of our gifts as possible. this study/service helped to make this gift of giving so much better and enjoyable!

http://www.onespokane.com/watch