*this blog was written a few days ago before we had internet connection*
Day In The Life: Kenya
5:15 a.m. God wakes me up to pray for Clint & the team.
6 a.m. Ignore the piercing “MOMMY” screams from the 3-year old.
6:02 a.m. Start praying the 3-year old doesn’t decide to yell under our bedroom door like she did yesterday.
6:55 a.m. Hear someone throwing up in the bathroom; discover it’s Clint.
7 a.m. Discover the entire team didn’t sleep: some people watched the super bowl via sling box: Jeannie pulled an all nighter, Curt got an hour of sleep, Clint’s been up doing the tea pot dance, God woke Shannon up at 3:50 a.m. to pray for a teammate and the team, God woke Lacey up at 4:45 a.m. to pray for me and the team, and God had woke me up at 5:15.
Think to myself: no sleep, this is going to be an interesting day of ministry.
7:15 a.m. Breakfast: hardboiled egg, bread, tea.
7:45 a.m. Pray for Clint. I have to leave the room because I’m laughing too hard at the rediculousness of the sceen: Clint passed out sick in a chair, Pastor with hand on Clint’s head praying “In the name of Jesus…” in a strong Africian accent, me wondering what Clint would think if he woke up to this.
8 a.m. Ready to leave.
9:30 a.m. We actually leave. Pastor tells us our day will be an orphanage visit.
9:31 a.m. Squish into the car. We’re getting pretty good at this.
9:34 a.m. Pray like crazy against car sickness. Africian roads are like an amusement park ride you don’t want to be on.
10 a.m. Arrive at church. Surprise! We’re going to visit a nursery classroom first.
10:01 a.m. Walk into a classroom of 17 4 – year- olds
10:02 a.m. Surprise! Apparently we’ve brought a song & dance with us.
10:04 a.m. Begin to ask myself if I’m going to make it. A classroom of 4 year olds is the last place I want to be right now.
10:07 a.m. Think back to camp counselor days… ‘fake it ’til you make it’
10:10 a.m. A picture better describes this time of day:
10:15 a.m. FREEDOM! I mean….done with classroom visit.
10:16 a.m. Wait for Pastor to be ready to leave.
10:50 a.m. Leave the Church. There’s now 2 more people joining us, for a grand total of 10 people in a 6 person car.
10:52 a.m. Pastor realizes he forgot something at the Church, so he pulls over to the side of the road while someone runs (like physically runs) the few blocks to him. Wonder if the possibility of driving back to the Church instead of waiting on the side of the road ever crossed their minds.
11 a.m. Pull into a gas station. Get 1 liter of gas, car cleaned, air in tires, the whole works. I’ve mentioned there’s 10 people in this car, right? and that its summer in Kenya.
11:17 a.m. Just not in a good mood. Stuck in the middle of the back seat of the car, between Shannon & Lacey who decide to sing ‘Jesus loves the little children’
11:20 a.m. Shannon & Lacey turn ‘Jesus loves the little children’ into a rap song. Shannon attempts beat boxing. Pastor asks what that sound is coming from the back; Jeannie tells him ‘beat boxing, no she’s not choking despite the sound’
11:30 a.m. Arrive at orphanage.
11:33 a.m. Realize why God woke Lacey up to pray for me. I’m not having a great day and seeing 25 screaming children makes me think I’m being tortured. Wonder if I can find a way out…..
11:35 a.m. Pastor tells us he’ll be back at 1 p.m. to pick us up. Think to myself: that’s optimistic.
11:40 a.m. Take children outside to sing and play games. Of course I get the drooling, running nose child.
11:42 a.m. Think about my sponsors and all that people have done to help me and all that people have donated to my trip. Think of sacrifice others have made so I could do what I’m doing. Mood begining to change.
12 p.m. Trip to the zoo. Also know as, feed 25 toddlers lunch.
12:20 p.m. Kids back outside. Mood considerably improving… most likely because team has been praying I turn back from Medusa to Theresa.
12:45 p.m. Singing every children’s church song I’ve always thanked Jesus I got to miss from not growing up in the Church.
1:10 p.m. Curt gets phone call from Pastor. He’ll be there at 3 to pick us up. Think to myself ‘ why doesn’t this surpise me. We’ll be lucky if we leave by 4’
1:30 p.m. Having fun playing with the children. PTL (Praise The Lord)
3 p.m. No sign of Pastor.
3:15 p.m. Pastor arrives to pick us up. Can’t leave until we do a good bye ceremony. Trying to ignore the fact that all of us are starving.
3:22 p.m. Pastor tells us we’re going to the Church for lunch.
3:30 p.m. Stop at gas station. Think I’m going to start a game, ‘how many times can we go to a gas station in one day for the same thing.’
3:40 p.m. Arrive at Church. Lunch is this green mashed potato thing with a stew.
3:48 p.m. African Wedding Dance Lesson. There’s a wedding next weekend we’re attending and we were curious about what kind of dancing will occur. Apparently non married guys & girls holding hands is viewed as demonic (not really, it’s just really not allowed). Dancing should be interesting.
4 p.m. PTL for Coke Cola.
4:10 p.m. Drive Home. So many goats and cows on the road. Hear Super Bowl score and game highlights on the Kenyan radio station in the car.
4:30 p.m. Finally arrive back at home. Clint is all better; fill him in on day’s events.
4:40 p.m. Watch ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ on television.
6 p.m. Go for a run.
7 p.m. Excited for a warm shower.
7:00:30 p.m. Surprise! no water.
7:30 p.m. Everyone’s hanging out in living room. I say ‘we should play telephone pictionary later.’ Shannon says ‘we have no reason to play that; we’re not bored.’
8 p.m. Dinner: this bean dish (pretty good… I’m a fan of the dinner’s here), mango, banana.
9 p.m. Still no water.
9:05 p.m. Wonder just how many channels on television can have the same thing: African pastors preaching – REALLY loud.
9:10 p.m. Wonder if Pastor puts on those channels to get us to leave the living room.
9:30 p.m. Movie choice of the night: Hot Rod
9:35 p.m. Fitting people in small spaces is an art we now excel at. 4 of us on 1 twin bed, watching the movie on a computer screen.
10 p.m. Enjoying the movie way more than anyone should. Wondering how many stunts we could replicate if we get really bored.
11 p.m. Still no water. Pray it will be on in the morning.
11:15 p.m. Good night world.
