Hey Everyone,
So, I figured that since I have left Africa, I would post some pictures of my adventures there. Since I am limited on space also check out the other pictures I posted under Browse photos on the left hand side. I hope you enjoy.
So this is my awesome team for the beginning of the race. From left to right, top to bottom is Billy, Tommy, Jaime, Crystal, Rebecca, Lilli, and Elaina. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Our team name was Embers of Hope.
This is a picture of the church we worked with in Kenya. As you can see, it is not exactly complete but that is because they do not own the land. So they are making do with what they have. They are now in the process of purchasing land and then they want to build a church in the coming year.
Each Sunday, two people would teach childrens sunday school, one person would teach the adult sunday school, and one person would give a sermon. This is a picture of Elaina playing a game with the younger children during sunday school after talking about the fruit of the spirit.
When walking through the town of Isibania, there were random garbage piles everywhere. This is one thing that I will not miss seeing at all.
While on the subject of trash, when we were in Kenya we led a youth service project. Our goal was to clean up the trash around the church and as you can see from the picture we picked up A LOT of trash (19 Bags in Total). Most of the youth are not actually in the picture but they were awesome about picking up trash considering it goes against their social norm.
So, one of the ministries we did included visiting church members. In the African custom the host always prepares either a meal or provides some kind of soda. Then as the guest you are required under social norm to eat everything that is before you. Yeah, that means I had very little control over portion sizes while in Africa. This meal was special. I know it does not look like much but it was given to us by the poorest of the poor. It broke my heart eating this food knowing that they were giving up their meals for the next two to four days because they wanted to bless us. It was a very humbling experience for me that I will never forget.
We visited Brittney's Home of Grace a few times which is an orphanage started by an American. They also host medical teams on the site through Kenya Relief.
During one of our visits to Brittney's Home, they gave us close to 100 Pillowcase Dresses. I organized them by sizes and during our last week at church we handed them out to children in need. Just an interesting tidbit about this picture…the lady sitting in the chair on the right is very special to me. I met her while doing door to door and she was the first person I led to Christ on the race. I had the opportunity to really build a relationship with her during my time in Kenya and was able to buy her a Bible which meant the world to her and her family.
My favorite part of every month is when we cook an American meal for our host family and a few friends. So, what does that include. Well, our attempt of Mac N Cheese (which is difficult when they don’t eat cheese), mashed potatoes, corn, fries, rolls, and thanks to Tommy, the BEST fried chicken.
We decided for our American meal that we would only use the freshest ingredients available to us. Which meant going to the market, buying two chickens, killing them, cleaning them, and then cooking them into the best fried chicken EVER.
On a less serious note, I went on my first motorcycle ride while in Kenya. Yup…I was asking my 17 yr old neighbor John how much it would cost to take one home…next thing I know, he is asking a friend to borrow his bike to take me home. Probably the scariest ride I ever took while in Africa. I’m still not quite sure if he even had a license but I made it home all in one piece.
Ok, I don’t understand all the random cows everywhere. I lost count how many times we would have to swerve around them while driving the car because they were standing in the middle of the road. Weird but true.
I freaked out when I learned this but in case you don’t know Pineapples grow on bushes. I don’t know where I thought pineapples came from but it never occurred to me that they grow on bushes. Oh and another fun fact about pineapples is that when they are small, they are red. Go figure.
I LOVE service projects. While in Uganda, we painted a church members house. She really blessed my team so we wanted to bless her and this was the best way we could. So, in this picture I am sanding the walls.
Nothing better than a fresh coat of paint. She was so excited when she saw it finished. It had been close to 10 years since they had last painted.
Sunset in Kigali, Rwanda. Just some scenery.
Sunset in Jinja, Uganda (The Nile) We camped next to the Nile for a couple of days.
MONKEY!!! They are everywhere which is awesome but this monkey was in Jinja, Uganda.
All I can say is TIA! This is Africa….Poor Sheep 🙁
Haha…we were loading up when this picture was taken. Four in the trunk, four and a baby in the back seat, and three (or four if the police were not watching) in the front. Good times…
I hope you enjoyed my picture blog about Africa. Don't forget to take a look at the other pictures I posted in the Browse Photos section. I am a little bit sad to have left Africa but I am really looking forward to what God has planned for me in Asia.
-Rebecca
