Day 3: Isaiah 30:21

"Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road." You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, 'Good riddance!'"

-Isaiah 30:21

Saturday; July 2, 2011

12:53 P.M.

Today has been awesome already.
We woke up and got some breakfast to fuel up for the long journey ahead of us. Their biscuits and jelly and fruit were the best! After breakfast we went to the meeting room and met a couple who have been doing mission work for over 30 years in Kenya. They were so welcoming to us. I loved hearing them talk. The woman was sweet. She reminded me a lot of my mom. The husband told us how excited they were to have us here, and he knows it will be an amazing experience for us.

Then we met our field representative, Shem, and he was amazing! He spoke about how excited he was and how good the Lord is, which is always good to hear, but when it's said in a Kenyan accent, it's just that much better :) He let us know just a couple of cultural things like don't look older men in the eyes. It's a sign of respect. Which seems crazy because it's exactly the opposite in the States! To NOT look someone in the eye is rude in America! But here, it's respectful! He also talked about the importance of water and staying hydrated during the day, that it's ok to say no to the people if they ask for your things, and making sure to use the bathroom. He told us our bathroom during the day is in the wild, so bring toilet paper! :)
A woman from our group that has actually lived in Africa told me and Amber she'd have to teach us the technique ;)

Shem! :)

We left the hotel and are now in the van on our way to Ahero, where our hotel is for the next few days.

Shem said the drive could take anywhere from 6-9 hours. Which would seem like a complete bummer after a full traveling day yesterday, but it's really not! At least so far! There's too much to see to feel bored. The people here are so intriguing. It's like I know each one of them has some sort of story. You can see it in their eyes.

We stopped at a little shopping place and I got a bracelet made out of elephant tail and a small wooden giraffe head. It's definitely going in my dorm :)

The scenery is BEAUTIFUL!

Mountains and valleys, crops and Lion King trees, donkeys and women with the day's pickings strapped to their back. It's so much to take in.

The driving here is crazyyy. I mean CRAZY.

There are people cutting out in front of other cars, walking in traffic wanting to sell newspapers, and they stand in the street to do it. Not to mention the driver's side is on the opposite side of the car! AND they drive on the opposite side of the road! It's crazy! 

The culture, in short, is incredible. I know it's getting old hearing me use words like "awesome", "amazing", and "incredible", but like I said earlier, it is SO hard to put it all into words, it's like I don't know how else to describe it! Those are the only words I know! Seeing shepherds and farmers just on the side of the road doing their own thing is so cool. I feel like I'm living back in time because people here think it's so normal! Like, I just saw a shepherd? It's so neat!

The weather here couldn't be better.

It is hot, but not like it is in Alabama. We're riding in a van right now and with the windows down, the breeze is absolutely perfect. The air does seem kind of smoky and polluted in some spots, but the smell isn't as bad as what I was thinking it would be.

But, I'm about to enjoy some of the scenery and hopefully maybe even catch some sleep. It'll be hard not to when I've got this perfect breeze and the best pillow ever! (A.K.A. Alex!) Haha :)

9:55 P.M.

Today was so super long! The ride ended up being 7.5 hours, but hey, it's a lot better than 9 like we thought! We saw baboons, zebras, cows, horses, sheep, goats, and a camel! The baboons were so stinkin' cute! I can see where evolutionists would guess we came from them. They were so human-like in their movements and one was even sitting with its knees up with its arm just resting on its knee! It was hysterical! Then there was a baboon that looked like it had something wrong with its neck, like a growth almost, but there wasn't! It was BABY that was latched into it and its little head was upside down staring at us! it was so precious and managed to grab a few pictures :)

The zebras were beautiful! They were basically like horses. And the CAMEL, oh my goodness it was huge! I almost missed it too! Alex woke me up just in time to see it as we drove by! It was so tall! Its legs were as tall as our van!

The kids are absolutely precious. They would watch us drive by and just wave and wave and wave with a huge grin on their precious faces. We had to stop in the van for a couple seconds for some reason (I think to go over a speed bump) and a group of them ran up to the van and laughed and waved. Their spirit is amazing.

Unfortunately Rob got carsick twice :\ But on the bright side he made it out the window both times :)

So we got to our hotel and there were mosquitos everywhere! So scary. But me and Amber sprayed down our room, so I think we got all but one or two :)

Our "shower"! We were very surprised!

Tomorrow we take a 25-30 minute drive to our first location and we'll build a house! At about 2:00 we'll have our dedication service and everyone from the village is invited. Hopefully people will be saved and we will leave with new brothers and sisters! Our building crew is me, Amber, a guy named Allan Oloo, Linda (I forgot her last name), and another girl that I don't know yet! Tomorrow we'll meet officially and get to know each other, so I'll have their names and such in tomorrow's entry!

A house built before 2 o'clock?

Gotta get some sleep because it's gonna take some serious Jesus power! :)

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Day 4.