update #4

"You have multiplied, O Lord my God,your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell ofthem, yet they are more than can be told." Psalm 40:5

Each night my team and I get together for a debriefing about the day and prayer. Normally for debrief we go around and share our highs and lows for the day. These past few days since I last wrote has definitely been full of highs.

Last weekend we celebrated both Pastor Makuku's and Steven and Jessie's birthdays which was a lot of fun. It's always interesting experimenting with cooking here. We managed to get a cake made for the pastor with "chocolate covering" melted on top. I think it's a British thing maybe. For Steven and Jessie we went for ice cream w/candles in it and a trip to Java House which has the best food and mango shakes. I'm really hoping that mango shakes will be in heaven somehow. Man they are so tasty.

We also had a bunch of our Kenyan friends over for the 4th of July. We made peach cobbler, macaroni and cheese and other such American foods. Only the Makuku's who have lived in the states before had ever had peaches. The Kenyans had no clue what they were. They didn't really like the description of it being a fruit with hair. But in the end they all went back for seconds and thirds. We also had some African dancing and singing in Swahili and of course a ton of soccer playing in our gigantic backyard. We had a ton of fun. This culture is a lot of fun especially once you get to know the Kenyas. They are so friendly and enjoy relationships and just hanging out with you. So we all sat around when it was over and decided that it was one of the best 4th's ever for us, even though we didn't even blow anything up. To all my Atlanta friends who ran the Peachtree I hope you guys had a great time and I totally thought about you!! Lesley and I have been running in the mornings which is a whole adventure in it of itself. But it's been good to do it, especially in this altitude.

Last night we had a chance to hang out with a World Harvest missionary family named Bob and Lois Carr who have been ministering in East Africa for many years. It was such a treat. We had tacos with homemade guacamole and iced tea so we all had like eight helpings. We even got a watch a movie and really enjoyed fellowshipping with them. It was the greatest and we hope to get to see them again before we go.

We did have one sobering event of this week. There is a little boy named Brian whom Steven on my team used to walk in with whenever we went into Kibera. Brian would always meet us by the sewage stream and hold Steven's hand. He was in the baby class at the church's school. We found out this week that he died suddenly. It was really hard on all of us. Death unfortunately is not unlikely for some of these kids that we play with and minister to each day. We prayed a lot about it and continue to do so. The church is also reaching out to his family.

Our health as a team has also gotten a bit better. We still have a few with sinus infections and for a couple folks on my team they tend to always go in and out of feeling nausous so thank you for your prayers about this.

It's hard to believe that we only have about three weeks to go. The time is starting to go by quickly. Please pray that we would all make the most of our time here and that we would not forgot what we are learning when we get back. That God would change our lives and teach us how to use it in our American contexts as well.

I'll end this update with a few "things I do in Kenya but not in America" items.

Talk to you all soon,
Jessica

"Things I do in Kenya but not in America":
-turn on an outlet before using it
-put on bug spray before bed
-look right, left, right, before crossing the road
-never go anywhere after dark
-drink a mango shake at least once a week
-talk a lot about CFA
-grill hamburgers with a gicoa, charcoal bought in Kibera, and an oven rack
-never know what the temperature is or what the weather is going to be like (it's not displayed here ever that I've seen plus it would be in C)
-try to get the nuns to make us goat before we go
-wear long skirts and tennis shoes (sorry Allie!!) every day
-share from the word of God to a stranger several days a week
-walk, walk, walk and more walking
-get really excited when I can buy a coke
-get really excited when it's not sucumaweke day for lunch in Kibera
-get really excited when a drink is cold
-purell my hands like eight times a day
-clap most of a church service long
-talk about nuns playing badmitton
-ride public transportation
-start every day with one English song and one Swahili song and prayer
-miss my family and friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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