Well it’s been another quiet week here in Nairobi… Actually that’s a lie. It’s been another crazy one! This week my class was in charge on chapel. That means we had to plan out skits, make props, practice, and all that other stuff that goes into a performance. We decided to do a rock n roll theme. We had a band called Jesus and the Disciples. They would lip sync to songs and then other kids performed skits of modern interpretation of Bible stories. One example was Jesus washing his disciples’ cars instead of their feet. Of course, he washed their cars so they could go to the disco party. We did a modern version of the parable of the lost coin. The band followed up with Abba’s “Money Money Money. It was pretty funny. After our first dress rehearsal on Wednesday, I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. We practiced a lot on Thursday, and when it came time for chapel on Friday, everything went smoothly. These kids are so amazing, and they were hilarious too. I am so proud of them. I included a few pictures, though you can tell we have very poor lighting in that room. Aren’t they cute? I love my job. Everything else is going well here. This evening I was invited to a barbecue at a missionary family’s house. They are hosting some people from a church in Alaska, so I’m wondering if I will know any of them. We will probably at least know some of the same people. I hope you have a great week!

the pictures from left to right are 1. a babboon, 2. the trout tree restaurant 3. my roommates and i at the lusoi farm, 4. some monkeys, 5. the lusoi farm house where we stayed, 6. kayla (my roommate) and i at the equator, and 7. a cute little boy (or maybe girl) we saw on the drive down from mt. kenya.

Well it’s been quite an exhausting week and weekend, but it’s all been quite good. I finished up parent-teacher conferences last week. I met with over 30 parents, which sounded quite daunting at first, but it ended up being an energizing time. Everyone was so encouraging and supportive of what is happening in the classroom. All of the new students in my class have adjusted quickly, and none of them want to go back to their old school. I have a couple boys who struggled a lot last year and are really beginning to excel this year. It’s nice to know that the Lord is blessing my efforts. I certainly feel inadequate for this job at times, but He is helping all these kids along as He helps me. Thank you so much for your prayers.

This past weekend a group of us teachers went up-country to the Lusoi Farm. Our friend Kungu’s aunt runs a sort a bed and breakfast at a house that used a British-colonist house. It was about a 3-hour drive to get to the farm, and there were several large rooms for us to stay in. We had such a good time! On Friday we explored around the farm. I went running in some of the fields nearby. I greeted the locals with “sasa”, which means “what’s up”, but unfortunately I don’t know much Swahili beyond that. One man took my little greeting to mean that I was a fluent speaker, so when he started talking to me in Swahili, I smiled, nodded, and ran past. Maybe I should just stick to English. Or better yet, I should learn some more Swahili. In all my spare time…

On Saturday we went to the equator. It sounded so exciting, but it was actually quite anti-climactic. There was a sign. We took pictures underneath the sign. We took some more pictures underneath the sign. Then we got hassled to buy a bunch of souvenirs that I can get for cheaper at the market near my house. But even when I say I have no money, they say, “Come look at what I have. Looking is free.” They never believe me when I say I have no money. After the equator, we went to the base of Mt. Kenya. I thought our poor little car wasn’t going to make it up that horrible road. It was a beautiful drive, of course, but we scraped bottom more times than I care to count. The drive back was awesome because the sun came out, and there were little kids everywhere chasing our car, smiling at us, waving at us shouting, “How are you! How are you!” in their cute little Kenyan accents. It was so beautiful. I felt like I was in Kenya! Nairobi kind of wears on you after a while.

On Sunday we went to church…for 3 hours. Then we went to the Trout Tree Restaurant. At this restaurant, they serve trout. In a tree. Hence the name. It’s probably the coolest dining experience I’ve ever had. We sat in a tree, we ate good food, and we watched the monkeys. It was quite nice. The drive back was fine until we got a flat tire. It was bound to happen. We had been over so many rough spots in our car, but the neat part is that we didn’t get the flat tire in the middle of nowhere. We got it about 10 minutes from our house, right by a gas station. We pulled into the gas station, and one of the attendants put on our little spare donut for us. We also had friends in a car in front of us who helped out. I felt like God really protected us.

That about wraps up my exciting weekend. Thanks for reading this incredibly long update. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures too. Good bye!

Hello everyone! I am having issues with my internet connection, so this will be short. Last weekend some friends and I went to a town called Naivasha to hang out. The scenic picture is of the Rift Valley, and the girls in the tree are me, Kayla, Jen, and Alison. We had a really fun time, and I will post more pictures later. Things are going well at school. Report cards are due on Monday, and conferences are next week as well. You can pray that those would go well. I am a little nervous about them. Also, if you want to see pictures from my birthday party, you can go to my roommate Kayla's blog. www. kayla-in-kenya.blogspot.com. Her blog is way better than mine, so I hope you don't grow dissatisfied with mine. I hope you have a great week! Thanks for your prayers, e-mails, and support.

Hello everyone!

The picture on the left is of one of my roommates, Jen and I. We were kind of twins that day. The picture on the right is Kayla, Heather, Megan, and I at Rift Valley Academy.

I hope you all had a good week. While you are beginning your Sunday, I am finishing mine. I went to church with some friends this morning. I have learned not to have high expectations of church, and I have not been disappointed since. Church in Nairobi is a lot different than church in America. The sermons are mostly life skills sermons, teaching people that they need to eat well, exercise, take care of finances. It's been interesting, but it is always good to gather with a large group of believers. That is never disappointing. Today I'll do a little shopping at the Maasai market, the place where they sell all the cool Kenyan goods. They like to yell, "Sistah, sistah, come see what I have. For you, I give my best price." And it's never a very good price, but I've gotten good at talking them down. Once guy last week told me he would grade papers for me. He says, "When will you bring the papers? When?" They're probably expecting some sort of pay. I will grade my own papers, thank you very much.

My week at school went quite well. We finished up our first unit in reading, so I had them do projects on the stories we read. It was fun to see how creative they can be and how much talent I have sitting in my classroom. I have a few pictures from that that I will have to post at another time. I have one group of girls who went well above and beyond what I had asked for. The managed to have a Colgate commercial in the little talk show they created.

Yesterday I played frisbee with a few friends. It was the first time I've thrown around a disc since being here. It felt really good! Apparently I don't know my own strength because I ended up hitting my friend in the nose with the frisbee. It bled quite profusely for a while, and I felt terrible. I don't think I've ever done that to anyone. Luckily, when he wears his glasses the scab isn't that noticeable. And he's tall, so not everyone will see that nice scratch I placed there. He likes to pretend he got the injury in a bar fight.

Well, I must be going now. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful week!