Cows, Snakes and Keith Urban

Lauren mentioned in her post yesterday that we were preparing to lead discussions in church today, well, in typical Kenyan fashion, that didn't happen. We went to the "more Vibrant" 10am service today, where most of the youth of Nairobi Pentecostal Church attend. After that service, which featured an AWESOME visiting choir, we headed to the Youth Pastors office. When we walked into the room, Toto, the teen pastor informed us of his plan for the day "Okay, so today we're going to do a discussion format. We're going to be talking about sexual purity."

It just goes to show how we need to be flexible, Daniel and I were planning on talking to the 18+ group about being created in God's image, and Lauren, Ben and Courtney had been planning on talking to the high schoolers about being a follower of God, not a fan (from Kyle Idleman's "Not a Fan" initiative at Southeast). Anyways, I'm glad that "flexibility" has been drilled into our heads. We're a collection of semi-perfectionists who like things to go our way, and I think God is showing each of us each day that it's not about us and what we think is right. We actually laughed when Toto told us what we would be doing for the service. Courtney didn't actually get to join us at church, she was feeling a bit under the weather, but she's perked up since this morning! Keep each of us in your prayers as multiple foreign germs are trying to work their way into our germ-o-phobic American bodies.

But church went well, the youth are pretty quiet, and it takes some prying to get them to speak. I'm not sure if it was because we were newcomers or if it was the fact that we were talking about sexual purity with 13-17 year olds. It was a little awkward for all of us, but in the end I think that God facilitated good fellowship between our team and the NPC teens!

We did have a few interesting encounters on our walk home from church today (it's about a 45-50min walk from our guest house):
1. We were walking on the "sidewalk" (packed down dirt used as a footpath), and a heard of cows was in our way. The skinny brown, white and black cows had horns, and some even had rings through their noses. Their keepers held long sticks to "heard" them. The cows were very close to us, it was kind of strange.

2. There was a snake on the side of the walking path. I, being somewhat fearful of snakes (I wasn't really aware of this fear until now), gave out a shout that may or may not have attracted the attention of Kenyan bystanders. I was concerned, because it looked like Ben was about to step on the snake. But apparently, my concern was unecessary, because the snake was dead. It was laying all coiled up, with it's white belly reflecting in the sun. But, my brain only saw "snake" and it didn't take the time to analyze to see if the snake was actually a threat or not. I only embarrassed everyone a little bit, no big deal.

Tomorrow some of us are celebrating June 1st, Madaraka Day (when Kenya attained Internal self rule). We're taking a trip downtown to see the parade, we'll post tomorrow with details!

And to add to he list of prayer requests:
Keep the Mi2 Poland guys in your prayers, sounds like they had an awesome Men's retreat weekend (check out their blog, www.mi2poland09.blogspot.com), and on a personal note, my dear boyfriend, Daniel Cooper is preparing to head to San Francisco for the summer (check out his blog, www.GodismyJudge.wordpress.com)- keep him in your prayers as God prepares his heart to reach out to the challenged youth of San Fransisco!



May the Lord be with you all!
Holly

Ps Daniel helped some kids build a fort today, hence the picture above! And the ice cream tastes like frozen whipped cream, it's delicious, just different.

Remember to look left, then right, then left, then right, then left, then right again before crossing the street.

We officially can say that we can get places in Kenya by ourselves. Today was our first day without a member from the LIA staff with us, and we are all safely back at the guest house after a long day of riding matatus (Kenyan taxi vans) and walking places. It was a great day.

The day started out with a round of haircuts for the guys. For those of you that don’t know, today is a super special day b/c it is Ben’s 22nd birthday, so he got a stylish new do for his big day. Surprisingly, both of the haircuts look normal, even though the Kenyan barber who cut Daniel’s hair can probably count the number of redheaded customers he has ever had on one hand.

We then headed over to NPC (Nairobi Pentecostal Church), the church that we are attending and want to get more involved with. We met the youth pastors, and they were super enthusiastic and excited that we were there. We were able to also join a young adults bible study/discussion and meet some Kenyans our age. They were really cool, but very confused at first as to why 5 new white people were meandering into their meeting. It was interesting to be able to hear their perspectives about how they deal with some of the things that American young adults also struggle with.

We talked a lot today with the youth pastors about what our role would look like in the church. Turns out we are teaching/leading discussion in the teen service tomorrow. We are all really excited about the opportunity, but none of us are really “preachers”, so any prayers you might want to throw up for that would be greatly appreciated. We are super stoked to be able to get more involved with the youth at NPC, but we have to make sure that we don’t have the “American way is the only way” attitude. They do things a lot differently here, and so I’m excited to learn from them equally as much as we attempt to leave with them…

That’s about it from Nairobi. Keep praying for our Poland buddies, Dane and Erich. And sing happy birthday to Ben, I’m sure he’ll be able to hear you if you sing really loud into your computer. We attempted to make him a fruit pizza tonight for his birthday… it was the thought that counts I guess…

We love you guys and are glad that you are still reading our ridiculously long blog posts…

"Where is Him?" "Who's Him?" "Him, what's his name?" "Him! We want to kick Him!"

Okay today was as awesome as the rest, yet challenging in a new way. Over the past few days we've been experiencing Mission and Public hospitals, uniquely motivating and eye-opening respectively. Today we visited the private sector. Strangely, The Nairobi Hospital looked like a US hospital from the facilities. What a bummer I thought, there is nothing I can provide the people being seen there. However, it really was more about me than I thought. The faces were different. Everyone was smiling, happy to be in a hospital, happy to be served, happy to have the job they were very thankful for, and just really happy.

Lets analyze what we've just seen, because that is what I do. These are 200 beds of adequate facilities for serving 3.5 million Nairobi Kenyans, the numbers don't add up if you are wondering, many can't go here, so what determines that? Money. This hospital was made for privileged people like me, those carrying a special card in their pocket.

Hospital number two for the day was the Gertrude children's hospital. Hard to describe it, but it was nicer. Seems like this lovable population melts peoples hearts and donor's wallets, still there are restrictions, the location makes this virtually unreachable by poor people as it is in the heart of the embassies and state houses of foreigners. Once again this was serving the people like me that live in Kenya. Somewhere I missed the point, I was almost angry that the facilities were nice, something that each person deserves. Yet, I should have been more concerned with the disparity from my situation to the rest of the world.

We went to a third hospital, a Coptic (Egyptian orthodox) missions hospital, and it was nice, yet obviously a step below the others. After these three impactful experiences, I have some serious thought that needs to be put into the understanding them, and I'm sure God will speak through what we have seen, he hasn't failed yet.

Now, lets look back to the lessons on missions yesterday that I obtained from talking to Dorothy, a German missionary, serving the hard to reach Muslim Somalis in Kijabe. She and her husband have a really cool story, just believe me on this one.

Lesson 1: When God calls you to missions, and you want to know if it is right, ask the question: Do you have any reason not to go? This came from her mentor 30 years ago. What a great truth.

Lesson 2: Find a burden. Dorothy's husband was looking through a book and saw that Somalis were 100% unchurched and hard to reach, and that was enough. You can see from what you have heard about large parts of Kenya and the developing world, or urban US cities, or far eastern KY, that the need is there. What burdens you? Do something about it with sharing Christ's love in mind, that is a mission.

Lesson 3(for overseas missions): Learn the culture and work with people at home before you choose to go long term abroad. You know nothing at first. You cannot assimilate to the community until you have learned their language and ways of doing things. The awesome thing is that there are Bantu Somalis in Louisville, getting involved with them is really easy. For other groups that burden you and have refugees in the US, you can easily move to where they are. This is a great means to get your feet on the ground and start out running.

Lesson 4 (nearest and dearest to my heart): You must first have a set of believers that you call your home church to support you in your mission efforts. God speaks through these people in marvelous ways. They can hold you accountable, and they can prayerfully support you. I am so blessed that this has always been evident in my life, a supportive family that we call Mt. Olivet, but now even more as I take this journey. You guys have shown the perfect model of sharing faith by action, and not being afraid of God-sized projects when they come your way. I love you guys.

So as you can see, we are being challenged. Pray for us, pray that the directions we take are driven by God, and not our own selfish motives. I wish I could type for hours.

Lastly, we want to send a special shout out to our Polish Mi2 counterparts. Be sure to check out their www.mi2poland09.blogspot.com one as well. Erich and Dane are doing some amazing things and we want to share our encouragement of them with you all.

-Dan, the guy the Kenyan kids in our apartment complex like to kick, pinch, and play soccer basketball with.

Ps: I like comments, and bragging that I got feedback.
Pss: It is Benry's birthday tomorrow, or in like 2 hours here.

Jambo!
Today we had the pleasure of going to a missions hospital in the city of Kijabe and also visiting the Cure hospital located in the same town. At the missions hospital we were able to talk with a missionary from Germany who first came to Kenya to minister to the Somali population that has migrated to the region. It was very evident when we first stepped in the building that there is a vast difference between American healthcare and Kenyan healthcare. We were told that people come from all over to this hospital because of its affordability and capability to treat anyone. Another exciting fact we learned was that some people actually pretend to be sick just so they can visit the hospital and hear the word of God; which is amazing to think about considering the amount of people who turn a deaf ear to the truth in the U.S. After the missions hospital we walked next door to Cure. This is a childrens hospital that is located in several areas of the world including the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. They were very open and excited to show us the work they do and the equipment they have, even showing off their new "theatres" or operating rooms. Cure focuses on treating children with physical disabilities such as cleft lip, club foot, scoliosis, and other ailments. The most interesting part for myself was seeing where they actually make prosthetics and specialized shoes to help children walk more normally. All of the equipment used in each process seemed to be very outdated but it is amazing the amount of children they are able to help each year with inferior technology. The doctors and employees at both of these hospitals definitely are disadvantaged in the world of device technology or even sterility; however, their passion for helping others both physically and spiritually far surpass the people I have met in the States. It is really humbling and encouraging to talk with the people who give their lives to these causes and learn how they arrived where they are today. To cap off the day, we traveled through the Rift Valley to and from Kijabe and enjoyed the surreal scenery from the mountain tops looking over the valley. It was just another testament to how great our God truly is.
~Ben

Working Wednesdays!

We had our first day of work!
The LIA staff asked us to look over their quarterly newsletter that they send to sponsors. We sat down and watched a few movies about CHE (Community Health Evangelism). CHE (www.CHEintl.org) is the model which LIA uses to minister to churches in the various locations we'll be visiting during the summer. CHE is a wholistic organization focusing on evangelism and discipleship with disease prevention and community based development. After the CHE videos and "tea time" (hot milk, instant coffee and drinking chocolate), we started to plan out the new layout for the LIA-Kenya newsletter! Maybe we'll give you guys a sneak peek sometime later in the summer ;)
We also traveled to downtown Nairobi to visit with Dr. William Obwaka (the LIA Kenya director's husband). Dr. Obwaka is an obstetrician/gynecologist. He showed us around his office suite, which housed a reception desk, as well consult, an exam room, and an operating room. We were all a little shocked when we walked into the "operating" room. The room was not much larger than the stainless steel bed that was placed in the middle of the room. Along the edges of the room were colorful bottles filled with various chemicals and sterilizing fluids. Dr. Obwaka told us that many of his outpatient operations are performed under local anesthetic or sedation, but not usually under anesthesia (yikes!). Perhaps the most exciting sight was the anesthesia contraption that looked like it could have been in the movie Frankenstein!
Dr. Obwaka was so kind to show us around his office, and he even took time to answer some of our questions before he saw his next patient! Talk about hospitality!
We then scarfed down some Kenyan cuisine for lunch (fish cooked in a tomato sauce, green mashed potatoes (potatoes, spinach, beans), some veggies (kale) and chapati (a kenyan bread)).
We walked to the bus stop while the skies looked ominous overhead. We heard some claps of thunder and saw a few flashes of lightning as we waited for bus number 40. Apparently, buses only travel to the popular areas, and where we were going was not a popular area. You would not believe the amount of black exhaust and swirling dust there is in the city. It's quite difficult to breathe when you're standing at a bus platform, your lungs begin to burn after a while. Jacob, an LIA employee picked us up and brought us to Kenyata Hospital a public hospital. We waited to see a doctor who would take us on a tour, but he was in a meeting until after Kenyan closing time (4pm).
We made a stop at the market to stock up on food for the week, and walked down a couple of muddy streets back to our apartment. We're getting ready to make dinner now!

Update: this is our dinner! AND here is an article on LIA's website written by our friend Holly Garret! http://blog.liaint.org/?cat=35

Twinde! (Let's go!)
Holly

PS Tomorrow we're traveling west towards the Rift Valley to stop in Kijabe to visit another hospital. Courtney also has a contact at a Cure International hospital that is nearby! AND, we also get to be tourists! We can't wait to take pictures of the spectacular landscapes that God created!

Blog-aholic

New word I made up today. You should use it and become one.

Today, the team met with Dr. Emily in efforts to learn the Kenyan government and health care systems, since this is so vital to our mission this summer. We covered many topics from tribal rituals that promote disease to common mistakes that are made by uneducated people anywhere when it comes to taking medicines and performing preventative health tasks. LiA focuses on the latter.

We also had the chance to meet with Paasta (sound it out) Jeff that is going to help us get involved with the Youth and Ex-cons (don't freak out like I did...Ex-candidates for college) that are in the NPC Wooldley ministry. Pray for us as we are going to be asked to preach and lead worship very quickly once we get involved. Lots of churches here have the visitor of the day be the preacher, what a concept we need to get started back home!

Kwaheri,

The Kenya Team

This is where it all begins...

Hey – this is Courtney here – I am so excited to share with you all about our day today! So Mondays are very special days for Life in Abundance International. Every Monday each LIA staff member and volunteer in every country fast and pray for the organization, each other, partner churches, their country, and more. It was such a blessing to take part in this with our LIA Kenya friends. We got to see what the organization truly is about and from where they draw their strength and guidance. Our lovely friend Pamella shared with us that when Jesus called His disciples, he first called them to spend time with Him and He then sent them out to care for people and spread His word.

And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach... Mark 3:14

Thus, the ministry of LIA begins the week first with drawing close to Jesus and then scattering across East Africa to care for people and spread His word. We were blessed to spend most of the day in prayer and in song for the people and ministries of LIA, Kenya, the US, and all of Africa.

During a break towards the end of our prayer time I had a very cool experience. I walked down the street with our LIA friend Beth to meet some of her friends at another organization, Theovision International. Her friends were refugees from Somalia and they were working with this organization in order to create an audio bible in the mother tongue of those in Somalia. This is crucial for believers and nonbelievers there who can neither read nor understand English or Kiswahili. It was amazing to hear their stories and talk to them about helping them with their project over the next few months!

All in all today was a much needed day for our team of focusing on what is really important. It was so great joining LIA in giving thanks for what has been accomplished and requesting strength and wisdom for what is to come. We are so excited about our first week of work and are ready to go, especially after today! Please be in prayer for us as we tour the Kenyan health system this week and begin to learn how we will be able to be plugged in and used here. Pray also for the connections with the local church – we are really hoping to be able help out with their youth and teens. You all are awesome and we love you guys,

The Kenya Team

Side note – we are now learning two and three word Kiswahili phrases: Jina langu ni Courtney (My name is Courtney)!

Fanta is Awesome

Hey it's Ben-jammin here. We've ben doing good in Kenya here so far. It has ben quite an experience to this point. Today we went to church with Dr. Emily which was amazing. The singing, dancing, and enthusiasm put into all aspects of the service were unrivaled to anything any of us has ever seen. It is a joy to see how other cultures worship and a blessing that we have been placed somewhere that takes such joy in honoring God. The sermon in itself was spoken with such a thundering passion and conviction that you felt like the Red Sea was being parted all over again in that very room. We could not have ben blessed with better people to take care of us as Dr. Emily and her husband William took us to an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch. They brought out the food on two giant pita style breads and in order to eat the food you had to peal off a piece of the bread and scoop up the meat. After lunch we were able to go to the Masai market for the first time and witness the insane confusion of bartering. Every which way we turned there was another salesman attempting to trade us something or begging us to make him an offer on his goods. It was nice though talking with the market people even after we would tell them we were just browsing for the day and didn't have any money. Everyone here is genuinely enthusiastic to learn more about where we are from or to teach us a little more about their own culture. As a team we have decided to run in a 4k in Nairobi on June 6th to raise money for BTL, which is an organization that translates the new testament into tribal languages of Kenya so the word of God may be spread even further. Well it has ben good catching you all up on the exciting things going on here abroad. Continue to pray for us, especially us non-runners in this race because I have a feeling we are going to come in last.
~Ben

I promise I don't believe in witchcraft...

Lauren speaking… first off… WE’RE IN KENYA!! It still hasn’t quite sunk in. Even though everything is very different here, the fact that we’re more than 14 hours of flying away hasn’t quite clicked. We’ve all really enjoyed starting to try and adjust to the culture, but it will definitely take a long time to stop looking and pointing at things.

This morning we went to downtown Nairobi, and it was amazing to see the floods of people everywhere… literally everywhere.. Pamella, Jacob, and Beth (3 LIA staff members/volunteers) took us to the markets downtown to stock our cabinets full of yummy yummy Kenyan food. Praise the Lord that Holly and Courtney are on the trip, because they both really enjoy cooking. If I were in charge of cooking, we would be eating a lot of Kenyan PB+J’s… but we have been eating in style for the past few days. Today was one where I was completely out of my comfort zone, first because I was in Kenya (obviously) and secondly b/c I don’t cook. But it was a good day of learning more about the culture all around…

OK… I realize I’m not very good at blogging b/c I keep getting off topic. Anyway, today we went to downtown Nairobi and here are a few things we learned:
1. We would never, ever be capable of driving in Nairobi. It’s craziness. Apparently rear ending someone here isn’t nearly as big of a deal as it is in the states. And if you “break” a traffic violation (which I don’t really know how it’s possible to determine), the cops will jump in your car with you and drive your car around to “guilt trip” you for as long as they see fit.
2. While they do have a few “supermarkets”, most of the stores downtown are very small with a few select items. There are also several open air markets to get vegetables, fruits, etc.
3. Oranges in Kenya are not orange. They are green..
4.. The most embarassing thing I learned today was that I looked like I believed in witchcraft all day. I have a toe ring and an anklet on my left foot/ankle. Today, Beth asked me what they meant. I told her that they meant absolutely nothing. She proceeded to inform me that, in Africa, you only wore jewelry on your feet if you were trying to keep yourself from being bewitched, and that if I told someone about Jesus while wearing such items on my feet that they would be very confused b/c they would think that I believed in witchcraft. So, the rest of the morning while walking around in my witchcraft jewelry I felt a little awkward… but needless to say I took them off when I got back to the condo and now my feet are witchcraft free.

If I could, I would love to write for 4 more hours and tell of all the things we are learning and seeing and experiencing here, but unfortunately, that is all that I can report at this point. If you could be praying that we would be as helpful as possible even though we really don’t know anything that’s going on, that would be awesome. I don’t really know how to end this post, if I knew how to say “bye” in Kiswahili I would…

P.s. I write really long blog posts apparently. Sorry.

Habari Yenu? (How are you?)

Well if you respond with "mzuri sana" then you are probably doing very well like we are. Kenyan hospitality is really indescribable. So far we have met with several members of the LiA-Kenya Team and each have several things in common, a beautiful smile and a warm heart. And not to be left out is their incredible faith and commitment to the cause of Christ that is shown in each of their actions.

A couple of us on the team like to see a little direction for what the summer has in store, and today we got it. It might be hard to understand from home, but there was a strategic plan by those in charge to let it unfold before our eyes as to not have us come in with huge assumptions. I'll be the first to admit that I can be very foolish of what I create in my mind.

One thing I have noticed and the team discussed this morning is in our situation of tiredness and culture shock, that we may have forgotten some of the essentials to living as a Christian is instructed to. For me, Philippians 2:1-7, is a good reminder of the guidance we were given for personal interactions, and if you haven't noticed yet, that is a HUGE part of our trip. We all came to serve, but humble acceptance of our host's service is also of utmost concern. Diving through our team's need for unity amongst ourselves and the LiA staff was also of great concern. How awesome is it that a plan was laid out for us by Jesus himself!

A little side note just to let you worry warts know, we are in a very secure location with nice amenities. The guest house is very cool and only slight modifications to a typical schedule are needed. Shower with your mouth closed, plug in an adapter before you start your computer, and take your malaria medicine with breakfast are about it.

We look onward with great expectations and no reservations that God is really going to work both through us and in us over this summer, hope you are now updated and as excited as we are!

-Mi2 Daniel

Burnin' down the house

Check out the link in the post below for pictures from our pre-Kenya trip!
We actually did make it to Kenya alive!
Stats:
1.5 hr flight to Detroit
1 hr layover
6hr 15min flight to Amsterdam
3 hr layover
7hr 45min flight to Kenya
Things we’ve learned while in Kenya (keep in mind that we’ve been in the country for approximately 3 hours now, and we’re extremely sleep deprived):
1. Kenyan pizza doesn’t taste the same as American pizza
2. There are no road lines in Kenya
3. Dutch stewardesses are the tallest people on the face of the earth
4. It’s possible to find 2 people on your flight out of Louisville that are also traveling to Africa
5. You should be careful when mixing power adapters and converters, hence the title of this post
6. You shouldn’t write a blog post when you’re jet lagged and sleep deprived
Just wanted to say that we made it safely! Obviously, we’re excited to be here. The LIA staff is super awesome! We love you all!
Courtney, Holly, Lauren, Ben and Daniel

Directives Slideshow

Check out the Mi2 Directives slideshow at www.youtube.com/mi2internships

Rafting Adventures

Hello all! The team is headed down to Tennessee for a weekend of bonding, preparation, eating and enjoying nature! Keep us in your prayers as we traverse treacherous white water rapids in hopes of building friendships and preparing our hearts for service overseas!
If you're in the Louisville area, come to The Post at The Block at Southeast Christian church at 7pm Tuesday, May 19th!
We'll have a time of prayer for the teams headed out to Kenya and Poland!
We head out on Wednesday to fly across the ocean blue to our destinations. Please pray for safe travels for everyone!
Thanks for being awesome supporters! Ken-ya believe it's almost time!?
In Christ,
The Kenya Team

Ben's Slow At Posting

Well I guess by now it is easy to tell who is new at the concept of blogging (me), so this first post may be a little longer and a little more serious to make up some lost ground. As I have been preparing for our trip I conciously kept in the back of my mind why I applied to go in the first place. Yes it sounded adventurous, rewarding, and completely right up my alley but at the same time it was the type of trip I had been hiding from for years. Since coming to college I have felt the Lord tugging at my arm to step out and do something like this but I had always been too nervous to answer the call. My roomate recently shared a chapter in a book he is reading on leadership with me and I found it helped describe this a little better. It is rather long but I urge you to read it all because it is something that can be applied in all of our daily lives as Christ has called all of us to be leaders in this world for him.
Perhaps the best way to understand courage is to define its opposite state. Some would say the antithesis of courage is “cowardliness”…avoiding (or succumbing to) pressure, difficulty, and danger. Others would say “fear”…being afraid to do the right thing when the going gets tough. Certainly, both of those answers are logical and appropriate. But there’s another description of the opposite of courage-one not as commonly thought of, although equally valid. That description is “conformity”…letting things be the way they have always been because of the high price associated with changing them. As a leader, you need courage to do what needs to be done… to do what you know is the right thing. There will always be those who tell you you’re wrong- even when you’re thoroughly convinced that you’re right. There will always be those tempting you to take an easier and less resistant path. And, there will always be those who- either unintentionally or purposefully –create obstacles that will challenge your mettle. Even the very best leaders must regularly pass the courage test. Courage is about having the guts, nerve, and heart to do the things that foster and support progress. And that begins with the realization that: 1) improvement won’t be found on the path of least resistance known as conformity, and 2) status quo is the archenemy of progress. When you think about it “doing things the way we’ve always done them” requires no leadership at all. What is there to lead to? How can others follow someone who’s not going anywhere? That’s why “leadership” and “courage” must be viewed as synonymous concepts.
After reading this, I wouldn't so much describe what I was feeling before as being afraid, but rather being too comfortable at where I was. Jon Piper put it best when he wrote, "The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing." It was time for me to finally step out of the boat and not look down. It was time for me to finally listen to my master.

Courtney's Pre-Directives Post

Pre-directives Post: Man, these past two weeks have been so intense. I could easily say this has been my busiest semester at Murray State University. Finals for me are still not over, I've been working on a final paper that is due very soon. After that, it's off to packing up my apartment and moving it into a storage unit, while simultaneously celebrating fellow friend's and my boyfriend Jeremy's graduation. We may take a day to go rock climbing/hiking before heading up to Louisville to get all packed up and ready for Directives! To be honest right now, I do not feel prepared because I have been so busy at school and so busy just trying to take care of things. I've felt a little inadequate because I've not been able to prepare as much. But I have my shots, my money is in, I'm excited, and I'm ready to serve. I was at a concert a week or so ago and was reminded that Jesus says to us, "Come just as you are..." So even in the midst of this end-of-school craziness I think that I am ready to come just as I am, as His beloved child and servant. I'm excited to meet my team and begin to grow in the Lord together. Thankfully He is already moving and preparing the way...

Holly: 2 Weeks to go!

I should be studying for my developmental biology final, but I decided to post instead!
I've been preparing for Kenya since I found out in March that I was accepted, but until last night, I hadn't REALLY thought about our upcoming trip.
We leave the states in two weeks! Fourteen days! In 336 hours, it will be May 20th, when we board the plane to head out to Kenya.
I guess you could say I had a minor "freak out" last night. Suddenly I felt overwhelmed, by school, by all of the "things" I've got to get done before I go to Africa, and by many other things running through my mind that are unrelated to the trip.
Don't get me wrong, I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this trip. God has really been working on my heart, He's been preparing it in so many ways. I'm looking forward to be living out part of the call that God has placed in my life! I'm so grateful for all of the support and prayers that have been offered by my friends and family.
I also have my own blog at: www.FaithToGo.wordpress.com, so be sure to check there for updates as well!
Back to stuffing my head full of biology information that will probably render useless when we're in the field...
God bless you all!