Tuesday, September 19, 2006

What Was Learned

So what was learned from such a trip as this? Well, it would be better said to ask what God reminded me of on this trip. Why? Because the main thing that the Lord emphasized on this trip was something that I already knew, but wasn't putting into practice.

Abide in Me.

I had abandoned the habit of seeking God. I'm a pretty good pretender actually. But in Africa I was drawn so near to God. Why? Because I sought Him. (Jer. 29:13 - "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart.") Our God doesn't hide Himself from us ya'll. David says again in Psalm 34, "I sought the Lord and He answered me.."
How cool is that?
You and me are like the man with the severe skin disease in Mark 1:40. Jesus is ready and able and willing to heal us if we will only come to Him. God knows our condition and our need. And better yet, He has unprecedented and relentless compassion on us.

Our Diet


We were on the plane for about twenty hours. I wondered each time I got one of those hot British Airways meals if it was a "good" meal. I would think to myself, "Well, I don't much care for this plate of beef tips and gravy, but I wonder if this is a chicken-fried steak compared to African food." But, the food ended up being familiar actually. We didn't have much of a variety, but maybe that's a good thing huh? Our meals consisted of a variation of the following dishes:

  • Goat stew (we didn't each much of this, though)
  • Rice
  • Spaghetti Noodles
  • Spinach
  • Carrots
  • Cabbage
  • Tomatoes
  • Miniature Bananas
  • Green Oranges
  • Chipates (equivalent of tortillas, and a favorite)

We ate some variation of this every day, for lunch and for dinner. Occasionally, we were given beef. They kept wondering why we weren't eating the goat. "You don't eat meat?" they would ask. "Uh...well, yea, we eat meat, we mostly eat beef, chicken, fish..." So we did eat beef a few times.

Breakfast was a pretty sure-fire thing. We were given eggs (either fried or hard-boiled) and bread (either sliced bread or mmdazis, a fried bread similar to a doughnut). We also had a fruit platter for breakfasts; they came with each meal. So, combine that with a few beloved spices, including salt, Tony Roma's, Tobasco and sugar, and you have my diet for the month of August.

Our main drink was "Highlands" bottled water. There were two "tea breaks" each day. (Between each of the meals.) During these, they would set out about four or five thermos bottles on a table, some with hot milk and others with hot water. We would use this to make either hot tea or coffee. There was a lunch tray in the dining room that held all of the spices, Kenyan tea bags, coffee and chocolate powder. (It didn't take us long to learn how to imitate Starbuck's: 50% hot milk, 50% water, chocolate, coffee and sugar. Wooo baby.) In addition to this, they serve sodas in a bottle as a treat. Coca-Cola was certainly there, as well as Fanta and something called Krest, which is a "bitter-lemon" flavored soda. You can forget ice-cold anything...well, except showers.

Quick Facts

Okay guys, here's an overall explanation of what happened on the trip.
First, some quick facts:
  • 12 Americans
  • 30 days
  • 3 5-night sessions of camp
  • 50 kids per week (about 50/50 boys and girls)
  • over 150 kids directly reached through camping ministry
  • camp consisted of hourly activities; each day had a night event and a 2-hour Bible study
  • the kids were anywhere from age 10-14 years
  • most of the children/people spoke English,, but we used translators as well
  • predominantly, we worked with the Maasai, who are said to be "99% Christian."

These are some of the basics that I hope will help you to understand what exactly it is that we did there in Africa.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Welcome Friends!


Hey guys. I'm glad you were able to find my page. This page is completely dedicated to my recent trip to Southern Kenya. I wanted to be able to share the trip easily, so here we are. I've included many things that will tell you about the trip, but since it's a new page I will most likely be tweaking it for a while. So, check it out and feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.