Monday, June 6th - Kadzitsoni

On Monday, we all loaded up the vans and headed into the bush. We drove for about 2 hours to Kaloleni and met Fredrick Kaingu and others at the MCRC youth center and then split up to go on our ministry tours. My group went with my good friend Charo Gunga to his village at Kadzitsoni. We spent many days here during our ministry time in Kenya and love the people here. It's extremely remote and took us a while to drive to a place close enough to park the van and walk from.

This area is much more arid than most we've been in so far. The trees are much smaller and farther between, but this is rainy season afterall and there was lots of lush green vegetation to tromp through. I don't know if the Aggies were worried or not, but that grass sure concerned me - looks like prime snake habitat to me!


Upon our arrival, we were warmly greeted by Charo's family. Charo is in the pink shirt. He showed us all around - it's Giryama custom to visit each house in the village and greet the habitant. That took a little while, but I knew most of the people and it was great to see them all again.


Charo had a surprise for the group - it was time to start preparing a special lunch! Ryan volunteered for the "preparation" duty as an honored guest. I declined as I wanted these guys to get the full experience of African hospitality - that includes killing your own lunch.


Wade was eating this up - figuratively at first, literally a couple of hours later. Most folks never get to taste meat this fresh. I must admit - this was the best goat I've ever eaten!


This is Duncan Ziro hard at work preparing the goat. This was Duncan's first visit to Kadzitsoni. It was a good trip for him as his home area is much like this - arid and remote. He felt very much at home and that was obvious as he helped the students experience traditional Giryama culture at its finest.


As you can imagine, lunch takes a while to prepare from scratch. Waiting is one of the most experienced activities for visitors in rural Africa. We sat around and visited with the folks there, toured the farm, and sat around some more. Christianna was THRILLED with the forthcoming madafu (drinking coconut)!


It's a good thing Craig was around. He single handedly consumed a majority of Charo's coconut crop. I think there was quite a bit of switcheroo going on since Craig loved the madafu and everyone else didn't.


After a while, lunch was ready. Traditionally, guests are seated in the host's home around a community table and left alone to eat while the host is absent. We were prepared a great smorgasboard of food and then the students were left to enjoy it with gusto. Starting with the purple bowl at the bottom of the picture, we ate boiled goat in coconut milk, the white stuff is wari (ugali) which is cornmeal boiled in water to a consistency similar to playdough. This is pinched off and dipped into the soup and is the main staple food for Giryama people. The purple bowl with red stuff is kachumbari - tomatoes, onions and peppers mixed with vinegar as a side dish. Delish! On the skewers was roasted goat that was seasoned and very tasty! And finally, in the blue bowl at the top of the table, the premiere dish for visitors - the tubers! Giryama custom dictates that the guests get the best parts of the animal being eaten - which means that the internal organs, being the delicacy they are, are cheerfully given to the guest. We had stomach, intestines and liver. I was very proud that every single student tried a tuber. I've been there done that and didn't indulge. Aren't I a great leader?



It was a fantastic day! We had lots of fun with the kids and the students really got a taste of life in a traditional Giryama village.


Way to go guys! You did well and I was happy to get to share the basis for my years of ministry with them. This was my "office" for 5 years and it was a joy to get to re-experience that again by sharing it with first-timers. We were all astounded by the generous hospitality of our hosts and that makes Jesus' teachings about loving your neighbor more than self much more profound. Thanks to our Giryama friends for hosting us and challenging us to know God more intimately through their generosity!

Sunday, June 1, 2008 - Worship in Malindi

Sunday was a great day. Mostly because it is my anniversary and so it's a day to celebrate one of the world's all-time best marriages ever. But that has nothing to do with me - it's all about my wonderful wife Jill!

We spent the night at Uzima - a hot, muggy night that I spent without a mosquito net. I didn't worry about it too much, but certainly doused myself with plenty of Off before going to bed. Sunday morning we enjoyed another breakfast of chai and a loaf of bread before the morning session that wrapped up the Youth Meeting. I was able to teach this morning and enjoyed spending about an hour encouraging the youth that they play a vital role in the body of Christ, using the Body metaphor and illustrating the youth as the legs of the church - the ones who move it forward and give it motion.

As such, the youth spent a lot of good time "in motion" after our worship services.


Chase gets ready to nail it.


Greg was all about showing his goalie skills.


Notice where the ball is in this shot. Sorry 'bout that Greg.



The guys had a great time trying to get a kick past Goalie Master Greg!


And Goalie Master Greg had a GREAT time fending them off! I thought about using this picture to illustrate how much Greg gets into his teaching, but...that just wouldn't be right.


Chase takes a break to look over his shoulder and ward off the picture taker.



We did lots of waiting and sitiing. I'm pretty sure we were waiting for another dose of those excellent beans and rice right here.


Wade was really good at sitting with guys, like Emmanuel Mwambire, and visiting about life. Thanks for being so open and ready to share, Wade!

Saturday, May 31st - Youth Retreat in Malindi

As you can see, we've skipped an entire week of ministry since the last update. I'll fill those gaps in later when I have some pictures. For this installment, the pictures aren't all that great but it's what I got. I was having issues with working the camera and was really wishing for my photographer sister Robyn's assistance.

On Saturday, May 31st we woke up very early in the morning and traveled about 1hr north to the town of Malindi. Friday night the brakes on our rental van failed, so we got the privilege of taking a public matatu all the way. Thankfully, our friend Duncan Ziro arranged one that we filled up ourselves and that would take us directly to the Uzima Christian Training Center instead of dropping us off at the public bus stage and then having to find another means - probably a tuk-tuk, or lots of them - to get us to UCTC.

These are tuk-tuks in downtown Malindi. They are cute little 3 passenger vehicles that have suddenly appeared in Kenya since we moved away back in 2003. I "borrowed" this picture from the Internet, but thought it was a good view of the streets there.

Once we arrived at Uzima, we were greeted by the director of the training center Jeremiah Muramba. They had kindly prepared chai and bread for our breakfast and he oriented the students about the facility and the program for the day. This was a one-day youth seminar that had about 100 youth in attendance! This was a fantastic number considering school is still in session this time of year.

Youth from local churches came to Uzima for a weekend of encouragement, teaching and games. Fun was had by all!

This is Jeremiah leading the group in a few songs as the Aggies for Christ group prepared to teach.

Lindsey Waites got a chance to share her testimony and a 30 minute lesson with the group of students, as did the other AFC students. She and Crista both felt this was a great opportunity for them as ladies to prepare a lesson and give a testimony that they don't often get in the US.

Crista's going to kill me for posting this video...

Our American group quickly learned that Kenyan students have a much greater attention span than kids at home.

The sessions seemed to drone on for hours and hours and hours, didn't they Wade??

It wasn't boring for the Kenyan students at all. The AFC group prepared some awesome lessons and there was much time for games outside and other activities. It does get rather difficult, however, to participate in day-long events that are conducted in a language you don't understand!

"Hey, Mike! Dude, you got something really shiny hanging out your nose! You might oughta check that!"

While I didn't get any pics of it, we ate some great meals at Uzima. Beans and coconut rice for lunch was a big favorite among the AFC group. They were amazed at the portion size, however. Each of us got a HUGE helping of the steaming meal and only SOME of us were able to finish it!

I like this shot of Jeremiah. It appears he is focused on the best thing possible - the cross of Jesus.

Saturday, May 24th - Arrival in Kenya

I finally made it home from my trip to Kenya! It was a long journey home, but well worth it in the end. I had a great trip and was so thrilled to share it with 13 NMSU students and their campus minister, Greg Bowles. They were an incredible group of students and truly exemplified the spirit of Christian mission while in Kenya. I was proud to be with them (well, except for the matching T-shirts they all wore while traveling! :) I'm glad you guys were so excited!) and was blessed to show them the country and people that hold a special place in my heart.

On our trip we had two designated photographers and one videographer, so I didn't really take too many pictures. Until I get copies of those, I do want to share what I have as its fresh on my mind.

So - let's get started! I must make a disclaimer here - I like to take humorous shots occasionally, so if my lens found you in a compromising position, please don't be offended. I did it on purpose. Ha!

We arrived on Saturday, May 24th in Nairobi. After going to our guesthouse and cleaning up a bit, we took an afternoon game drive in Nairobi National Park. It's a game reserve right on the edge of a city of 3 million people - not sure you'd want to be in the suburbs here! And yes, there are lions in the park, though we didn't see them.


Looking out over the savanna - now where are those lions??


Our fearless leader Greg - contemplating how on earth he got himself into this mess.


Wow. I don't think you can get that close to a giraffe even in a zoo!


Rhino's are a rare sighting on any safari - and we saw 2!


What are they looking at, you ask? See the video clip below...




These Marabou Storks looked cool as silhouettes roosting on top of an Acacia Tree.


A really cool scene - wild Eland and Cape Buffalo with Nairobi City Center in the background.

Now that the required safari is out of the way, on to the real reason we came - the people!

3 minute phone calls!

Hi everyone, it's Jill again just letting you know that I've had a few short emails from Gabe and a couple of phone calls over the past week. I haven't gotten just a whole lot of information, since the phone calls have ranged between 3-5 minutes each, but it's great to hear from him and he says that it has been a really, really good trip. I know they have pushed themselves very hard and have had a busy schedule.

Only two days left, in a very rural area called Kaloleni, helping a church there to build a kitchen so they can host area-wide teaching events. The students will also be involved in a "bonding" experience with their assigned families, staying the night with them and being immersed in the culture.

When Gabe gets home, I know he will share his trip with you all via this blog, but for now, just wanted to update you that things are going well.

Today is our 12th Wedding Anniversary and I sure have missed Gabe! Can't wait to have him home...