what a summer...

So I am still out on 'the road' and have not made it back to Saskatoon yet...but things are great. God is good....ALL the time.
As suspected, internet access was hard to come by while we were in Kenya. I was able to basically update my facebook status and see some others' but updating the blog would've been a very tedious endeavor. Alas, I write to you from Budd Lake, New Jersey this Monday morning.

I will once again back-track just a bit and fill you in on some of my time while still in Africa. We ended up with a few schedule adjustments..and by a few I really mean daily. Sense of time and schedule in Africa is....different from what we're used to. haha We did not end up going to dig water wells although a team-member who works with water management in Saskatchewan did some very important presentations on the importance of water/hand cleanliness to many different groups.

Our days looked fairly similar for the most part: wake up, go outside and use the rustic pit latrines; wait our turn to use the bucket in pail shower method; eat amazing breakfasts which ranged from amazing pancakes, boiled eggs, and french toast to a cheeseburger one morning. All of the breakfasts were accompanied with incredible African chai. I stayed in a beautiful home with the 3 other college guys, the 5 girls stayed in a house about an hour and a half away due to the unbelievably bumpy roads (probably only about 50km from us). Then we did devotions alone and together while waiting for our ride to take us to the house that we all met at. Most of the afternoons were filled with crusades and revival meetings in the various surrounding towns and villages. Sometimes with the whole team, sometimes with the skit team, and sometimes all split up.

What have I been learning through this all?? hmm...I still really haven't had a chance to wholly process what I saw, smelt, and experienced in Africa...

Life happens...no matter where you live and what you have. These people live the lives that they are in. They have jobs, they have homes and families just like you and I. Our friends understand the importance of community and relationships. You talk to people that you know on the street. You make time to nourish your friendships. This is especially true in the church. For the most part, they take good care of one-another.

There are so many needs...everywhere you walk people are asking for 50 shillings (about 70 cents). Worth a shot right? They could use it to buy a couple cokes, some snacks I dunno. We definitely had 50 shillings to spare, but who do you give to and which do you pass by? You see people with no legs begging, blind folks, crippled children. It breaks my heart to see them, and you wonder how to effectively lend a hand. There is no social assistance or welfare or effective home care/health care. It truly made me appreciate my Canadian government and national stability.

The kids are so happy...they just want to laugh and play. Most of the children that we saw had very little problems just running right up to a group of us calling 'Mzungu, Mzungu, How are you, How are you?' Usually followed by handshakes and beautiful laughter. Both from the kids and us on the team. What an amazing exchange of cultures, backgrounds and up-bringings in less than a minute.

There are soooo many people. Being a Saskatchewan kid, I'm used to space. And empty land. There is none of that in Kenya. The land plots are very small, and even the rough terrain is densely populated. It did not matter where you were, there was always people coming up to the roadside from their homes or the water springs. Buckets and crops being carried on heads and fields being tilled by each single swing of the shovel thing. This leads into the next thing that struck me...

I am so lucky in Canada to be able to get a job and am guaranteed to get paid for it. Because there are sooo many people, and there are little-no laws around jobs rights and regulations, you often see people doing the exact same things. Fruit stands in the market-come by MY oranges, they are the tastiest, and best price in town. Come buy MY necklaces, best quality and price. Come on MY motorbike or MY Matatu-(public transport) while submerged in a sea of 20 others offering the exact same service. It is almost impossible to get ahead or stand out when you are a normal everyday Kenyan citizen.

So out of that we saw the church arise in some instances as a vehicle to rise above this struggle to excel. I should be careful how I talk about this subject because I do NOT want to take away the credibility or effectiveness of the church...There are some AMAZING things happening among the Kenyan Christians. My brothers and sisters serve with amazing faith and a deep love for the Lord. However, we did see positions of power play a very important role within the churches and their communities. We did see some very obscure preaching and messages being spewed upon possibly mis-guided newcomers. Everywhere has problems and I believe that the devil has been able to gain access into the hierarchy of some of the churches and cause people to be concerned with things that really don't matter, to bring pride and dissension among the leaders. Sounds like a fairly similar situation some churches in Canada and America....satan is truly a deceiver and lion that comes to steal, and kill and destroy.

Anyways, that's enough of that for now...
I am still in the U.S. like I previously stated. Anthony and I flew back in to NYC on Thursday at about 5pm, relaxed Friday and drove down to Washington DC that night. We stayed with his dad and little brother in his grandmothers home. Saturday was a day of seeing the white house, capitol building, Lincoln/Jefferson Memorials, Washington Monument and various other POWERFUL worldly/American icons. I never really thought I would see those things so it was a great day filled with surprise. Weird to go from the slums of Nairobi to the perfectly manicured lawns of Obama's palace in a matter of hours, although it was not nearly as hard of a culture re-integration as I had expected. We had fun despite the humid 90 degree weather (also something this prairie boy is not used to). Then on Sunday we made our way back to NJ via downtown Philadelphia and its famous cheese-steaks and what was the other thing...O ya, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. haha

We are relaxin at tony's house on this cool(er) rainy day, getting all rested up for our big adventure into the city again tomorrow. Then I fly out Wednesday.

Please pray that Air Canada will take responsibility for my broken guitar and fully reimburse me for it. Pray that me and Anthony would make time to really just discuss and pray over what the heck just happened in that last 5 weeks. Pray that my house would sell as it continues to sit on the market with no offers to purchase.

Thank-you so much for reading...sorry for not having another blog between this and the previous one!
Peace