Funniest moment
Paul – Getting caught in the rain while driving in the back of an open air pick up. We got totally soaked! The pastor wanted to stop but we told him to keep going! Stupid mzungos!
Katrina – On our days off, the team would ride half an hour in a matatu to get to the nearest town with internet. We didn’t know of anything fun to do in the area so I searched “Things to do in Bungoma”. The first website that popped up in Google was called “Things to do in Bungoma” – I eagerly clicked on the link only to find these words on the page: “there aren’t any things to do currently listed for your area”. This sent me into a never-ending fit of laughter as I hurriedly ran around the computer lab to share the findings with my teammates.
Paul – God showed up in Kenya. Every day that we went door-to-door there was at least one person that gave their life to Christ. It was amazing!
Katrina – Arriving in Africa, I was really nervous about the idea of door-to-door evangelism. It’s a method of ministry that took me completely outside of my comfort zone. I thought that I would have no idea what to say or how to pursue meaningful conversations with the people we would meet. However, God lead me to the perfect place in His word to encourage and sustain me: the letters of Paul – the Apostle. As I read Romans through Hebrews each morning, I felt that those words were as relevant to me now as they were to Paul then.
Best thing I ate
Paul – hmm… we tried a lot of different foods, but I don’t think I had a favourite. We had ugali, chapatti, kale, and fried chicken most days.
Katrina – Chapatti! Once again…my favourite local food is a type of bread. Chapatti is the African version of a tortilla (just a little thicker and a whole lot tastier). The local ladies cooked all of our meals and delivered them to our door. My favourite combination was rice, avocado, kidney beans and seasoning salt.
Craziest thing we did
Paul – The guys on our team got the pleasure of killing the chickens for the night. They used a VERY dull knife to saw the heads off chickens… Not my thing!
Katrina – Camped at the edge of a lake that was known for hippopotamuses. As we were eating dinner, the server pointed out that the hippos were grazing in the grass. We went out and stood only a few feet away!
Paul – Ezekiel. He helped out at the church and came on most of our outings. He is a strong man of God and he loved to be active and he was a ton of fun!
Katrina – Neil. He was 1 and a half years old. This pudgy little African baby (our Bishop’s son) would wonder around the property and whenever he saw us come out of the house he would waddle over to greet us with an outstretched hand and a big smile on his face. We frequently brought back live chickens (that were given to us as gifts during door to door) and he loved to hold them!
Something I learned
Paul – Africa is how I pictured it. Just more poor. The poverty is so immense. It’s everywhere! It’s not like you can go to a city and find a nice part; there is poverty everywhere.
Katrina – Africans are kind of aggressive – in the way they talk and the way they interact. But they are also extremely friendly and welcome you into their home as though you were family.
Most challenging moment
Paul – Adjusting to African time. It’s like central America but 10 times worse! There is absolutely no concept of time here. It kind of got under my skin a few times.
Katrina – When I realized that Paul had malaria. I’ve never felt anyone with such a high fever in my life. He was really sick for a few days and one of my biggest fears was visiting an African hospital. But…he’s all better now, and not only have we conquered African disease, we’ve conquered our fears.
Katrina – Instructing African students in a school made of mud and teaching each other about our respective cultures. They thought it was the funniest thing to watch me attempt to eat raw sugar cane.
Paul – Finishing the month. It was a tough month for all of us. We were drained spiritually every day from doing door-to-door ministry. It was nice to move onto a new month and a new ministry.
Katrina– The day I went door to door with Paul and Dan and each of us led someone to Christ.
Paul – Hiking a rock type thing out in the country side. It overlooked a few cities and villages. It was beautiful! We just stood and watched as the clouds went by and soaked in the sun.
Katrina– Camping at Fisherman’s Camp at Lake Naivasha outside of Hells Gate National Park. It was such a peaceful and relaxing environment where we got to see hippos, monkeys, peacocks and so many birds, have a campfire, eat good food and meet cool people. I absolutely loved camping under the African stars and experiencing the beauty of Kenya up close and personal.
