Kenya: A week of adventures

It has been a week since we have been here. We finally got the internet up and running. I am very thankful that Barclay brought his computer because the one here is very slow. We have een very busy working and playing with the kids.

Our flight over was good. Nothing went wrong, we had a delay of about an hour in Ethiopia but our driver was still waiting for us. We are living in the village, which is surrounded by walls. All four of us are living in Wageni, which means guest in Kiswahili. There are five other people here and we all share the space. One more lady will arrive tomorrow. It is very nice. We eat our breakfast here by ourselves but every other meal is will the kids and momas. They do our laundry three times a week if we want and clean those days as well. They provide us with all the food we want, including the most amazing mangoes I have ever tasted. We run out of the a lot.

Our days are pretty routine. We get up at about 6 or 6:30 and get ready and eat. We then have devotions at 7:15 but for some reason, we never get there on time (or they just start early). The devotions are with the staff members and the village director. We sing and read the Bible. The next three weeks we are having a competition of sorts where we get asked questions about the books they just finished. We of course have no idea what the answers are because we havent read Ezra or 2 Chronicles. After devotions we pray and then prepare for the day. This week and next week we are doing games. It is just in the morning and the kids are in groups and go through different stations. Thankfully the kids all have shirts with their names on them. Otherwise we would be lost. There are about 90 kids and it is hard to know all the names. It is very cool to get to know the students though. We have learned some stories that break our hearts. One little girl Miriam was found in the bottom of a latrine. A latrine is basically a whole in the ground that is used for the bathroom. Two other kids, John and Susan, came to the village because their mom was killed by their dad while they were in the room. All the stories are very sad. It makes me so happy that they have come here and found a better life.

We have been mostly in the village. It is a completely different world that outside the village. We havent had much culture shock (at least speaking for myself- Drea) but we have a visit planned for the slums, which I am excited about. This past weekend we have been to the market and the tea farm. This weekend we are going to the market again and to the Giraffe center/Elephant orphanage. It is nice to see the rest of Africa.

The food has been hard for us. It is hard to adapt. We eat beans at almost every meal. We have had some interesting meals. The other night was a mixture of eggs, rice, and some green veggies(I think spinach). It has been interesting. A lot of the time we give our food to the kids when the momas arent looking. At dinner it is silent. No one talks, it is sometimes very awkward as we as Americans talk when we eat.

The kids are just amazing! I have fallen in love with some of them. They are all very quiet. They call me Auntie Drea. Megan is also auntie. The boys are uncle. Barlcay is trying to establish his own nickname. He has gone from BK to broccoli. The kids are calling him broccoli. It is really funny to watch them. On the weekends we play soccer. The kids are all very good and I get caught up in watching the sunset as the kids play.

We havent seen much wildlife yet. There are lots of birds and lizards. The other day I was wearing my only white shirt and an ibis ( a big bird that makes a lot of annoying noises) pooped on me. All the kids died laughing.

A lot has happened for me since I (Drea) have been here. My boyfriends sister had her baby, and it didnt make it. It has been hard for me to be here and have this all happen at home. I have never prayed more in my entire life. This week has already changed my life. I have learned not only a lot about myself but a lot about God and the way he works. I can't wait to see what else He has for me to learn. I am learning to trust more and more. It has been hard. I am asking for continued prayers as they are dealing with this issue at home. God has a plan and I pray for peace and comfort as I am here.

The team is good, I have a cough but overall we are ok. We are still getting used to the schedule and so we are a little tired. We can feel your prayers and we ask for more. We hope to get on later and update you more on our experiences.

God bless,

Drea

Team Kenya

Team Kenya arrived safely but has had limited internet access. Keep them in your prayers.

Ecuador: Mosquitoes should die

Team Ecuador is here safe, and loving life.

Our brains hurt from trying to understand and speak in Spanish todo el tiempo.

We are like old ladies because we go to bed at 9 o'clock. Last night we stayed up till 11; we are so wild!

We have been sent to different families for Tuesday through Thursday each week. We help with dishes, sweeping, making the bed; we are just here to help :)

Erica had to cut up dead animals. Ha.

We live in the church, and it is always freezing. When we meet people and tell them we live in the church, they always ask us if we are freezing. Our immediate response is yes. Si, muy frio.

We need keys for the church, but unfortunately a few days ago we went into town, locked the gate to our church, and forgot the keys. People were not supposed to meet us at the church for a while, and it had started to pour. Kellie decided to break into our house; the only problem is there is barbed wire and spikes all around our gate. Did that deter her? Nope. She found a place where there was just chain link fence, and began to climb. It wasn't until she swung her leg over the chain link that she realized the chain link in Ecuador is NOT like the chain link in the US. It was sharp, and her pants got caught. So Kellie was stuck, up on the fence, which her pantalones ripped and stuck to the chain link, not able to move. Jamie was helping while Kellie screamed and laughed. Quite humorous. By this point she was soaked. Awesome.

She made it over, and she broke into the house, and she got the keys. She is a hero. Her pants are destroyed.

We´ve had a few aventuras (adventures) with the bugs here as well. Mandi´s family actually convinced her to try a fried grub of some kind. She won´t eat meat, but she´ll try insects. Go figure. We also found a giant centipede in our bathroom. Jamie was the only one brave enough to catch it and take it outside.

One night a very nice church member brought us a pitcher of some kind of fermented milk beverage. After we figured out that he was offering us a gift and not begging we took the pitcher and thanked him. Allyssa was the only one brave enough to try it. Everyone else was scared off by the curds floating in it. It tasted kind of like cheese. (Allyssa is still perfectly healthy by the way.)

Yesterday we went to Otavalo, which has a huge market. So fun.

We love empanadas here.

We tried to go to a waterfall, but it started pouring rain... and 11 of us were in one sedan, with two children in the trunk.

That is just how we do.

The mosquitoes? Too painful to remember the horror of their

More to come :)

Team India: The Adventure Begins

After 20 hours of flying and layovers in Vancouver and Hong Kong we arrived in Bangalore at 3 a.m. on June 16th. After a day of rest we went to Asha Kiran Special Needs School. This summer we will be assisting the principal and the teachers at the school. School begins at 8 a.m. each day and ends at 1:30 p.m. At 7:30 a.m. we take the school bus to Asha Kiran, the drive to school is one of our favorite things. The half hour drive takes us through the busy streets and slums of Bangalore. Several times we saw cows in the middle of the street, yesterday there a man walking a camel next to our house. The school teaches kids with a range of special needs; including Down’s syndrome, autism, physical disabilities, and hearing impairment. On Thursday Katie assisted the preschool age kids as they learned to count, name shapes, and know their abcs. The kids at the school are mesmerized by Katie’s golden locks, the teachers had to explain to the them that all of the yellow stuff was her hair; they had never seen blonde hair before. We get a lot of stares from the kids and locals as we are the only foreigners. Class is taught in English. English has become a necessity in the Bangalore, many of the overseas call centers are in the city. The language is used nationally, Rita, the Principal and our host, says that English has “united the country.” All Universities teach in English. Sarah assisted a prevocational class on Thursday. The twelve students learn different life skills and how to sit quietly for periods of time during their first class, breathing exercises. On Friday we helped in the prevocational class, we went on a field trip to the store to teach the students how to write a grocery lists and purchase items. On Saturday we went on a walk to CHM Street where there are a few shops. All of the streets are uneven and are broken and slabs of concrete are missing. Dirt piles and garbage line the streets and people are everywhere and cars constantly honk. From what we can tell there are no real traffic rules, or lanes. There are no stop signs, or working street lights where we live. Walking around the city is an adventure because we constantly have to be aware of ourselves, the cars and motorcycles, the garbage, and the broken uneven streets. A misstep can land you in a four foot ditch between concrete slabs; we thought the streets north of 45th were bad. This weekend we are planning our first shopping excursion to buy traditional Indian clothes and a Sari for the wedding we are attending on July 2nd. We are hoping the clothing will help us to not stick out as much. Sometimes locals ask us where we are from and why we have come. In our daily walk around the park next to our house a few elderly gentlemen talked to us about our trip to Bangalore and their kids in the States.

Bethlehem's Got Photos

From Deputation

Me and Trey in Beit Sehoor (House of Waking) just south of Bethlehem where we're staying. We're on top of one of the more significant buildings in the area, because it's owned by a related member of our household (as is just about everyone on the block! Things are like that around here...huge families that cluster together.

From Deputation

Looking north toward Bethlehem

From Deputation

Me and the other Beit Sehoor-ers outside The Shepherds Field (Like, where the shepherds saw the angels! Or at least the traditionally believed location. Probably close enough )

From Deputation

The "Peace Wall." An ever-present reminder of the crazy prejudice going on here... from inside looking toward Israel, you'll see all the graffiti. Some it it is pretty powerful stuff...more to come. Not to sound like the political agenda is sinking in, it's just that the local politics are ever present and the grim reality of the situation inescapable.








I've got more pics from the other day too I'll be getting up here. We got Trey's bag from Jerusalem (Thank the Lord!) and spent some time exploring with one of our friends along with more of Bethlehem. Today we're doing some traveling also, I'll keep ya'll posted. ;)


Mas Salaam!




(Post originated from http://boundlesschrist.blogspot.com)

Bethlehem: Day 1.5 -- A Journey Ends, an Adventure Begins!

Someone once said, to live would be an awfully big adventure.

I can certainly say that we have lived life in a big way these past few days.

Getting here amounted to what was probably the most stressful 24 hours of either me or Trey's life. Getting everything gathered and packed the night before leaving (with time for zero sleep) only compounded the problems later in the day: in Dallas, about an hour before our plane was scheduled to leave, Trey discovered that his bag had been misdirected to be dropped of in Texas. He had to run down, grab his bag, take it back through security... etc... terrible. In all, about an hour long process, all the while, I had no idea what was going on (no cell phones. O_o ). Got back in time to find out that he got booted from the flight, and had to make it on another, leaving us with no time to coordinate what we were doing once we were in London.

All I knew was I'd get there two hours before he did, and that he was now flying American Airlines, not Brittish. Along the way, I ended up sitting next to two Mormon gals who were heading out for their year-and-a-half long missions trip and were very interesting to talk with. Spent quite a long time talking about God and what we believe "Oh, I just love learning about what other people's beliefs are!" I think were "Sister Alexander"'s words. Mm... they were pretty cool though, left me with a couple things to think about. One of them was talking about how after she had prayed, God had given her a verse and how it was exactly what she needed to hear and how great having relationship with God is and etc. How this book has really changed her life... made me wonder what was really going on. When we departed ways at the airport, they gave me their only extra copy of the Book of Mormon (I tried to refuse... *sigh*... I have no idea what to do with it! At least it's not going to someone else, I suppose).



In London, I and Trey were met with another nightmare. Essentially, we spent the entire 14 hour layover not having a clue where the other person was and trying to wait in various places hoping against hope of finding the other. Trey did venture into the city, whereas I chickened out at the last second. Thought it'd be lame to visit all by myself, and from the sounds of what Trey said, it was pretty lame. Crazy stressful.

I figured that if all else fails, we were to meet at a terminal for our flight out at 1030pm. I woke up from a nap at 9:40, headed over there, and I'm telling you, there are few other faces that could make me feel so suddenly good as Trey's as we ran into eachother in the bathroom....

The flight to Tel Aviv was wonderfully uneventful. I will say that the food on these flights was absolutely incredible. I mean, I haven't had anything besides peanuts or pretzels to eat on a plane in goodness knows how long. Curried Chicken, rolls, salad, dessert, drinks, milk... so good! =D

Tel Aviv: turns out Trey's luggage didn't make it from London. -_- HOWEVER, we made it in the country without a hitch, which was such a blessing! We made it! Met at the exit by a man (not to be confused with this who took us to Bethlehem from the airport...where we met our host family (who are going to be pretty sweet, especially the food!!!! and the couple of kids that are totally awesome! I was playing with one of the kids and his mom told him that I don't actually speak Arabic... the kid disagreed, a fact I found quite amusing).

Trey is still trying to track down his Luggage and may have to visit the airport to get it all figured out... something that's just killing him. I don't blame him =/ . Be praying for his situation! That he get's his stuff! Otherwise, we're alive and well, thinking of home much... it's just starting to set in how far and away both in space and time we really are from Seattle...

[IMAGES TO COME SOON]

Sierra Leone is on the ground

Emma, Jessica, and Victor have arrived safely in Freetown. They, along with other COTN interns are on their way to Banta where they will be living for the next 8 weeks. Please pray for continued safety as they travel.

Haiti Team has arrived

A message from Bruce Robinson:
Jordan and Adam are here and we are very impressed with them. The whole team’s bags are supposed to come in the morning. They are going to start working on an irrigation canal survey and design in the morning.

More later.

In Christ,
Bruce

India & Ecuador: More safe arrivals

Team India and Team Ecuador have both arrived safely.

DR team arrived!

The Dominican Republic Team has arrived safely in Barahona. Updates to come once they get settled in.