some words

Well, after finally getting access to internet, I have been trying to pry my eyes open long enough to post some pictures. It isn't happening today! Must I remind my readers that we are in Kenya where they use phrases like "hakuna matata" meaning no worry, no hurry. Or "in Africa we have no watch and plenty of time, you have a watch and no time" or "pole, pole africa" meaning slowly slowly. I'm not so sure I'd like to relate these phrases to my technology problem with uploading pictures... I think I'll just toss this computer in the trash and go to bed.

Ok not really, but gosh it can get frustrating! I just want to communicate with the world I grew up in called Texas. I know my mom keeps going to her computer to check to see if there is any new uploaded pictures on this blog. When teams come I am reminded of some differences in the two worlds we come from. In Kenya many things are kept on paper still and not in a computer. So when in Rome, be a Roman. We will be starting to send out updates in the mail. We are trying to compile a list of our main supporters and partners in order to get somewhat of a newsletter sent out. Not sure if it'll be monthly, quarterly, or what. But sending out our updates on paper seems more reliable than internet at the moment. We are however able to have internet on our phone in the middle of no where bush land Africa. It's great. I can check facebook all day long and post what I'm doing. But still no pictures for our blog!

So onto an actual update rather than my chitter chatter. This past week we had a team of 9 from Joplin, Missouri. They were incredible. Please come back and also bring your wonderful ability to be flexible in any circumstance. Honestly, we were a bit hesitant of what the week would end up like. No one had been to Africa and there were four young ladies on the team, two of them in high school. Yikes! No, but really, they were awesome! No complaining, except maybe the uncomfortable-ness of riding an ostrich. It was a full week but by the last day of them being here Bud and I realized we weren't worn out from them being here and we weren't counting down days or hours until they left. (not that we've done that before) I think on our part with past teams, we have learned a few tricks on hosting a team. So with that preparation and also with this team being prepared really well by people in the states, the week was great.

There were many, many things the team experienced or did while here. A few main things were door to door ministry/evangelism in the village, having a vacation bible school on Mattaw property for the Mattaw kiddos and the neighborhood kids, doing activities with just the Mattaw kids and going with our children out to Captain Davies (animal place on mt. elgon). There was a married couple leading the team. The husband is a dermatologist. He was able to see some of our children and get them the medicine needed. Also some village children were in need of medical attention concerning their skin. And by the end of the week I was converted into wearing sunscreen everyday until I die. Period. We got into Nairobi today and I didn't mind one bit spending $10 on a small bottle of sunscreen for my face. (i would have never done that before!) There is hardly any sunscreen sold here... well it makes sense why. Why are we never satisfied with the way we look?! Most Kenyans want to be light skin and most white people want to be tanned. Whatever. I'm a whitie for life now.

The first full day that the team was here we had vacation bible school in the afternoon. We had told our staff to let the village know. Things spreading by word of mouth is usually reliable. So we had about 50 kids roll in around 2-ish. Then around 3-ish a school was let out to come over, making it around 150 children. Then a bit later and another school came over, making it around 350 children! It was chaos but a great first day for the team. We were very happy to have them only for that day and the remaining days there were somewhere from 50-100 children. They split the children into groups and the groups would rotate around the property for different things. There was crafts, music, bible teachings, and games. I know the children were so blessed. Some children you could tell had never had that kind of love shown to them. The Jesus kind of love. (the only kind of true love...) It was beautiful to see a group of Americans give up their spring break and vacation time to Jesus to be used in anyway He would use them. Jesus loves a completely surrendered life! One of the mornings the team went around the village, door to door, hut to hut, sharing the gospel. Some were saved, some restored hope, and some prayed for. I will continue next time on sharing the rest of the week of the Joplin team. And hopefully have pictures to go along with it.

Bud and I just got to Nairobi today. We took Euni to Kijabe children's hospital. It's about 30 minutes outside of Nairobi. Georgina is now volunteering at Mattaw. She graduated high school last year and is originally from Lemoru. They told her she was on her own to find what she would do next. So now she is with us. She is interested in social work so maybe if it works out and funds are provided then she'll go to a two year school sometime soon. She is the one staying with Euni right now. Only one person is allowed to stay with the patient overnight and it worked out so perfect for Georgina to. I've known Georgina for about 3 years now. She was going to school up in Turkana. (the desert) She is such an amazing young lady. Sunday morning I was so thankful for her to translate for me with the children's church. I will write more on that later as well. I really really enjoyed being back out teaching our kids on Sunday morning. Elisha is doing great. He is over all the sicky stuff. We left him in Kitale with our friends from Canada that just got married, Sean and Meredith. Hollie is also in Kitale and helping do things around Mattaw while we are away. She took Mercy, Daisy, Aron and Jeftah to the doctor today. Daisy had an infection, Mercy had malaria and a parasite, Aron and Jeftah both have an ear infection. Please pray for them. Oh I was telling you about Euni. She is having surgery on her leg tomorrow! We are so excited for her! Kijabe has a children's hospital that is run by African Inland Mission (baptist missionaries). For her surgery, all medical expenses, stay in the hospital, meals for her and Georgina, its $125 total! Thank you to one of her sponsors for taking care of that! When she is 12 they will do surgery on her hand. So please pray for her tomorrow, Tuesday. She will have to spend a few days recovering and then we will pick them up and go back to Kitale. We plan to be back in Kitale on Friday. So on to some more exciting news. Our friend Todd is moving back to Kenya this week! Who knows where he is at this very moment. He lived here over a year ago and was the one living in our house, taking care of everything while we were in the states having Elisha. I'm especially glad for Bud to have one of his best friends back around. Although after late nights of them playing the wii and watching soccer I might change my mind. No not really, we are thrilled to have him back. He will be working with different ministries again. I love it how Todd comes with no agenda but to be used however he can and help out different organizations. He doesn't claim to be more with one group than the other although people attempt to claim him. Before his first time to Kenya he was working in Iraq and is now coming back from there again. That is why I say who knows where he is now. He was telling us of some crazy way he has to get out of there... something about trying to catch a black hawk and skip across the desert on a military bus. Thursday he will fly into Nairobi and we will pick him and take him back to Kitale with us. Pray for his travel as well!

Thats it for now. It's super late for me so my explanation of things might not have made sense. I will just blame my lack of sleep rather than my lack of awesome grammer skills. I like the thought of not having to go to bed early in case of Elisha waking up early. A huge thank you to Meredith and Sean for taking care of my boy this week. I will try to tackle the internet tomorrow and see if I can get some pictures up. Much love to you all...