I am back from Mt. Kenya and thought you might like to see some pictures and hear a few stories…

We left on Monday, April 9^th early in the morning. There were six of us on the trip. Bill and Jan Bevins are a married couple who organized the whole trip. Kayla is my bosom friend and fellow teacher who was brave enough to come along. We were also joined by a couple other friends, Simon and Megan. We loaded all our things into the Bevins’ Land Cruiser and headed for the town of Chagoria. The drive was gorgeous, and this picture is of some of the tea fields we saw along the way.

The first night we stayed in the Bandas, which are these buildings that we are standing in front of. They had beds, toilets, a kitchen area, and a fireplace. It was quite nice. After eating dinner, Kayla, Megan, Simon, and I played speed Scrabble and then headed to bed. The next morning we packed up our things and began our journey up Mt. Kenya. This picture is me, Kayla, and Megan just before we began to hike. Notice how dry and happy we look!

The hike on the first day (Tuesday) was only 2 or 3 hours long and fairly gradual. It began to pour down rain part way through, and this trend continued throughout the day. When we made it to our camp, we frantically pitched our tents in the rain. This picture is Kayla and me trying to get dry inside our tent. Three girls trying to get dry in a 2-man tent was quite the endeavor! The Lord was gracious, however, and gave us some sunshine later in the afternoon.

Our guides were wonderful and started a fire for us. When they saw us trying to dry our wet clothes, they made these little stick-clothes lines for us. One of them even sat in front of the fire with Megan’s socks for an hour to try and get them dry. It rained again while we slept, but the Lord gave us just enough dry weather to get things reasonable dry.

The next morning (Wednesday) things were wet again, and none of us girls had slept very well. We were a little squished in the 2-man tent, and we also had to cram all our gear under the rain fly to keep it dry. We ate a wet breakfast and were really looking forward to hiking so that we could warm up. The hike this day was incredible. At some points we all felt like we were on the set of Lord of the Rings. This picture is Kayla and me in front of this amazing waterfall. Of course, since the weather changes every 7 minutes, you can’t see the waterfall. Had we waited 7 minutes to take the picture, you may have been able to see it.

This is me, Kayla, and Simon. We are so happy that we are climbing!

As we continued our hike, it began to pour down rain once again. I started to feel that cold dampness again and dreaded the cold temperatures we would have to face at our next camp. After the rain, it started to hail. After the hail it started to snow. We hiked for a while in these conditions and then came to the place we would camp, called Minto’s. The only sort of building here was what Lonely Planet calls “a nasty hut”. This hut is for the guides, porters, and cooks to cook and sleep in. We were soaking wet. And cold. We stood in the hut probably for 30 minutes in our wet, cold misery, trying to figure out what we should do. There were probably about 20 people crammed in this tiny building, and eventually Kayla, Megan and I decided we would try to change into dry clothes. We created a sort of changing room, surrounded by 20 men in a dark, damp room. It wasn’t exactly the high point of the trip. Eventually it stopped snowing, and we went out and pitched out tent. Once again, God gave us a small window of sunshine so that we could put our wet clothes out for about an hour. The clouds rolled back in, and we were happy to have clothes that were damp rather than soaked.

This is me, Kayla, Simon, and Megan at Minto’s. That night we hardly slept at all. The altitude was affecting all of us, and we were all very uncomfortable in our tents. We were supposed to get up at 2:30 so that we would be on top of the mountain for sunrise. I thought 2:30 couldn’t come soon enough as I lay there with little hope of sleeping. At 2:30 (on Thursday) we all got ready to begin our hike up to the summit of Mt. Kenya. This summit is called Point Lenana, and it is about 16,000 feet high. We put on our warmest clothes, headlamps, and began our journey in the dark. The beginning wasn’t bad, but as we got higher, many of us began to feel nauseous. When our guide said we still had 2 hours left to hike, it was only will power that kept me going. I felt light-headed and weak, and as the comedian Brain Regan says, “I felt like everything on my inside wanted to be on my outside.” It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I made it.

Here are Kayla and me at the top. The smiles are completely fake because we were sick, freezing cold, and completely miserable. But it was totally worth it – the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I forgot to mention that as we hiked, we watched the sunrise above the clouds. The cool part was that we were above the clouds already, so we got to see the sun rise to meet us. I have never seen such rich shades of pink and orange, and the reflection off the snow on the mountain was indescribable.

After admiring the view, we hiked back down the mountain. When we got to level ground and turned around to see the peak we had just summitted, we couldn’t believe how far away it was! I’m so glad we were hiking in the dark and had no idea how far we needed to go. The peak in the center of this picture is the peak we summitted, called Point Lenana.

The rest of this day was spent hiking all the way back to the Bandas where we started from. It was a loooonnnnggg day. We spent probably 10 or 11 hours hiking, and though it was incredibly beautiful once again, we couldn’t wait to be done. Pounding feet going downhill is hard on the joints after a while. Here is a picture of Jeff, our guide, and some others as we hiked down.

This is the forest we hiked through. You can see Bill Bevins on the left.

There was elephant and buffalo poop everywhere at the Bandas, and this sign explains why. Apparently on our first night (Monday), a guy got chased by an elephant. We saw both elephants and buffalo, but we were fortunate to see them from a distance. When we finished hiking, we were able to take hot showers and sit by the fireplace in the Bandas. It was so nice to hear the rain outside and know that we would be completely dry and completely warm.
The next morning (Friday), we ate breakfast and headed for home. This is Dunston tying our bags to the top of the land rover. We fit 12 people inside! Pretty amazing. The hike was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done, but as I look back on it, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I hope you all get the opportunity to do something like this one day.

After our trip to New Life Home, the orphanage for abandoned babies, my class took a field trip to a larger orphanage called Dagoretti Children's Home (or something like that). This place takes in kids from infancy all the way up through age 18. Many children with disabilities come here. We spent the afternoon touring the beautiful facility and playing with the children there. Here are a few pictures.

Last week at school was busy as usual, and I found myself left with little energy for the grading of papers, the planning of lessons, and the typing of blogs and e-mails. When Saturday rolled around, I faced the reality of going to school on a Saturday. Again. So as Megan and I drove the ever-familiar Miotoni Road towards West Nairobi School, I managed to see beyond my fatigue into a world of beauty.

When we leave our apartment in Nairobi (I know you may be disappointed that I don’t live in a hut. Sometimes I am too.) and drive toward Karen, where our school is located, the traffic and exhaust fumes are horrendous. As are the drivers. And the potholes... We spend about 15 minutes navigating around these aforementioned obstacles, and then we turn onto Miotoni Road. This is where the drive becomes utter bliss. The road is calm, almost deserted, and the brilliant, green trees form a sort of canopy, framing the strikingly blue sky. It is a beautiful sight, only to become more beautiful as we head toward the campus of West Nairobi School. Seated atop a hill, overlooking the Ngong Forest, the campus is absolutely serene, the prettiest place in Nairobi, if you ask me.

As Megan and I pulled into the parking lot of school on that Saturday afternoon, my eyes that sometimes have trouble seeing beyond the end of my nose, were open. The birds were singing, the light breeze was blowing the acacia trees ever so delicately, and I was thankful. Thankful that I can come to such a place on a Saturday, thankful that I can work in an environment where God’s glory is so evident, thankful that the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind brings such reassurance. Reassurance of God’s sovereignty, of His beauty, of His ability to make a magnificent tree grow out of a pile of dirt. With the satisfaction that can only come when the Lord’s voice is heard and heeded, I got to work in my classroom.

On Tuesday I took my class on a field trip to New Life Home. We went there back in November, so some of you may remember that this is an orphanage for abandoned babies. We spent the morning holding babies and running around with the toddlers. Some of them are just learning to walk and others are hard to keep up with. It was a well-spent morning. The kids in my class absolutely love playing with all these chocolate-skinned beauties. And we decided that as a classroom, we could adopt 3 or 4 of them and then we can add "baby duty" to our class jobs list. Oh it's fun to imagine. And I have some imaginative students. My internet connection isn't very good, so I'm only able to post this one picture. At a later date, I will try to post some more of the students in my class because they are much cuter than me.

Not only did we have a great field trip, but we also had parent-teacher conferences this week. It was good to talk with parents and see how they feel about the class and their child. The most encouraging thing was looking at all the progress they have made throughout the year. Several students came from Kenyan schools, which are quite different than American schools that accommodate different learning styles and abilities. For many of these students, the first semester was an adjustment period to this new system of school. And now many of them are beginning to thrive. It's so encouraging to see that! I realized, however, that I am not used to talking to adults all day, and when I got home from conferences on Wednesday, I couldn't stay awake past 8:00.

Aside from school, I don't have much to report because, well, school seems to be my life. I love it, but I am definitely ready for a break, some much-needed reprieve. Spring break is coming up in about two weeks. So to take full advantage of my break, I am going to climb Mt. Kenya again. This time I hope to make it to the summit, but mostly I'm looking forward to the journey, being in the outdoors, being with Kayla and other friends, and not being in Nairobi! The city begins to wear on you after a while.

The fatigue is setting in quite heavily, as Kayla and I had a lock-in at the school with the middle school girls on Friday night. We had a great time, but even after two naps on Saturday afternoon, I still went to bed at 10:00 Saturday night. We used one of the classrooms to watch movies, and then we slept in the library. After the movie started, Kayla and I snuck outside to lie on the ground and get a glimpse of the stars that I so often ignore. It was noisy night. Not noisy with cars and sirens but monkeys and birds. Monkeys and birds. A year ago, the wildlife consisted of the moose in my yard and the bears in the woods. And now I live with the monkeys.

Some things I love about my life in Kenya.
1. The smell of tempera paint on my classroom
2. The hugs and high fives from my students at the end of the day
3. Kayla
4. the tall, skinny 8th grade boys who pretend they are really tough but still like me
5. acacia trees
6. sunrises
7. power outages at night when i get to use my candle. did you know they make a sound when they burn?
8. mangos
9. the men who wear Bill Cosby sweaters when it is 90 degrees outside
10. the community of people I teach with
11. the families who send their kids to West Nairobi School
12. children who teach me how to believe
13. learning to trust God's sovereignty
14. learning what the word "sovereignty" really means
15. e-mails
16. letters
17. Psalm 139:5
18. my tiny, L-shaped bedroom
19. and many more, too many to tell...

Written on Thursday, March 1, 2007...

It was a year ago today that he died. He was outside on the field, teaching P.E., when suddenly he collapsed. A heart attack. An unexpected death. And the innocent eyes of children standing by, watching, knowing they will never forget the day that their teacher, Mr. Stauffer, died.

As I sat down to finish reading the book Walk Two Moons with the 6th graders, I was a little nervous about the ending. I remember spending a weekend in college reading this book, barely able to put it down, choked with tears at the end of the story when the main character realizes her mother is dead and her grandmother dies shortly thereafter (sorry if you haven’t read it and were planning on it...). Reading this part of the story out loud, I managed to maintain my composure as best I could. But there was an eerie silence when I finished the story, and then I remembered that a year ago these students had tasted death, many for the first time. I looked across at the beautiful eyes gazing up at me, many starting to turn puffy and red.

It was time for lunch, so I told my class that if any wanted to stay in the classroom and cry or think or pray or whatever, that they were welcome to. I took the rest of the class to lunch and came back to the sniffling sounds of every girl in my class but one. I got them some tissue, and we all sat on the rug in my classroom together. We just sat there. They cried, they sniffed, I cried a little, and we soaked in the silence of sorrow, knowing that there were no words. What mattered was that we were together. I kept praying, asking the Lord for the right words to say, if there were any. And I felt strongly that it was important for all of them to sit. To sit and cry. The Native people in Alaska will often sit together for hours and never speak a word, and I felt this was one of those times where being together was what we needed to do.

Eventually the girls were able to choke down the sobs and talk a little. I read Psalm 116 to them, emphasizing verse 15 where it says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”. I was so thankful the Lord brought me to this Psalm last week. It was as if this was the moment for which the Psalm was written. So we talked about heaven and eternity and people and God and all those other things that somehow we never get to in our academics. And when it was time for recess, they all wanted to stay.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing. In my mind, I am thinking about the lessons I will teach and how much I will get accomplished on my breaks. It’s like a game. How many tasks can I get done, and will I go home tonight with no papers to grade? It’s a fast-paced job, and every minute is filled. God tries to remind me of the opportunities I have with people, the students that need to see Christ in my life. And I probably put on a pretty good show for them, but do I really care about them, or do I just care about getting my job done? As the Lord tries to remind me, knowing that I can be a little dense, He brings a day like today. A day when I had planned on grading two stacks of papers on my lunch break. And instead I spend it with pre-pubescent girls draining their tear ducts. I did not get my grading done, I was not ready to teach math at 1:00. But what I walked away with was a feeling of deep satisfaction. When I recount the events of my day, I grin from ear to ear because I know that the Lord met me in my busy-ness and that He met these girls in their sorrow, and though not many words were shared, the fellowship was some of the sweetest I have known. I know why I teach, I know why I prepare all these lessons, grade all these papers, discipline these students. It is because I have been seized by the power of a great affection. This affection moves me beyond my tasks and gives me the power to bring others to this same affection. May the Lord give me the strength to do this with my whole heart.

Well happy post-Valentine’s Day to you all! I don’t have anything monumental to report, but just some of the day to day things that some of you may find interesting while others will wait until I can report on something of significance. But significance is in the in the eye of the beholder, so here I go.

Right now I am typing away on my old laptop which I have christened the Beast. I’ve had it since 2001 and had loaned it to a friend while I came to Kenya. When my newer computer (a hand-me-down from my dad) got stolen, my brother brought me this one when he came to visit. It is nice to have, but I look forward to the day when I can carry a laptop around and not feel like I have just been to the gym and back. I am sitting in the living room of the house I share with my 4 roommates. The middle schoolers were over for youth group again (it’s Friday night), and we just finished cleaning up after their mess. It was so much fun to have them here again. We played mafia and then had a little worship and a time in the Word. I’m reminded of the way God uses all our little talents that we think are insignificant. In my family, my two brothers are amazing guitar players, and I would consider myself to be proficient. In college, I was only asked to lead worship if everyone else fell through and they needed someone at the last minute. And I was just fine with that. I am not known for my mad guitar playing skills, and I am happy about this fact. But at this school, I am the only person who plays guitar, or at least can play and sing at the same time. So I often end up playing for chapel, and I have been playing for youth group on Friday nights. Anyway, all that to say that I have little talent in this area, but my God is big enough to use my little talent in a big way. “Neglect not the gift that is in thee” as they say.

So to continue in my trivial meanderings... I came to Kenya with a few of my favorite DVDs. One such disc is a live broadcast of the 30th anniversary of Prairie Home Companion. I knew I couldn’t go a whole year without my Garrison Keillor and Lake Wobegon fix. Yes it’s folksy, and yes I love it. So here I sit, laptop in place, feeling all nostalgic and thinking fond thoughts of my Saturday afternoons back in Alaska that used to be spent listening to my favorite radio show.

This week was teacher appreciation week at school, and let’s just say that I feel appreciated. And fat. I was given so many cookies and candy that I think my sweet tooth will be satisfied for the next year. But the best part was the notes my students wrote me. They were so sweet, and I will treasure their words forever. I got the cutest note from one of my Korean ESL students. She doesn’t know English very well yet, but she is the sweetest girl in the world. Here are her words to me:
Hi Miss Arnold. I’m Jenny (Min Kyung)
I came Kenya and out West Nairobi School. So I’m 6th so I can meet you. I”m not well English first time I very worryed. But you’re always good teach for me. So I think I meet good teacher. So I feel peace of mind. And you’re always smile. Look like-good. You teach me easily and many time do consideration. I happy always thanks. I stay here very short time. But you good to me so I stay here very comfortable. I think you’re good teach student. You have humor and nice personality you go anywhere many people like you. You’re Christian always God help you. I pray for you everyday. God love you and you too love God so you success after. I trust you. I meet good teacher I until school life. Thank you very much! You meet good people and help them. So you givft a lot of prize in kingdom of Heaven you make you’re life comfortable, ok? I expectation. You teach tribe student so very many trouble. So thank you I don’t forgot you. You sped good valentineday.

From. Jenny!

Isn’t that the most precious thing you’ve ever read? I was laughing and crying all at the same time. I never imagined I would love teaching 6th grade this much, but in so many ways I feel that I’ve really come alive with this class. It’s not all perfect, of course. I have been dealing with a lot of social issues in my class lately. Kids make fun of other kids and gang up on them, and I have been working out discipline issues with a few students. The cool part is that discipline is also spiritual. We have been learning about the mind of Christ, and the Lord has allowed me to use this to challenge my students. When they are drawing dirty pictures or writing mean notes, is that really showing the mind of Christ? I know that some 6th graders really don’t care about this, but my job is to challenge them, and they can choose to accept the challenge or learn it later on in life. I’m thankful for these opportunities to deal with things because, without mistakes, how will they ever learn? And if they are going to “rebel”, it is better for them to do it now when they are around so many people who care about them and will help them through it. It’s an opportunity for me to love them through discipline. I just pray I don’t do this on my own strength because I always seem to fail miserably when I do.

This is the first weekend where I have not brought any planning or grading home with me. I am quite excited about this, though I still brought one textbook home because it just didn’t feel right to come home empty-handed. I’m finally to the point where I can stay on top of things and work efficiently. I feel like I spent the first semester just figuring out how to be a 6th grade teacher. It was so much work, and now I can actually have a life outside of school, though if you ask my students they say I don’t have one since I spend time with them at soccer practice and on Friday nights. Now that I know how to keep my classroom in order, I feel like I can have more of a ministry with my students. I can focus on the spiritual issues that need to be dealt with instead of worrying about what I should be teaching in reading. I’m so thankful the Lord has brought me to this place.

Soccer is going well. If you didn’t know, I am an assistant soccer coach for the middle school girls. My good friend and roommate, Kayla, is the head coach, and she’s amazing. I’m just along for the ride. We’ve had three games so far. We’ve lost 2 and tied 1, and we have a game on Saturday. I’m hoping the girls will play more aggressively than they have been. And it would be great if they scored some goals! They are improving, and hopefully one day they will win a game. And now I will sign off. Thanks for reading.

Hello to you all once again!

On Wednesday, West Nairobi School had cultural day. So all the kids (those who participated) wore their culture's special clothing. The Koreans wore their beautiful dresses, the Kenyans wore their Masai blankets or Kikuyu wraps, and people like me, the Alaskans, wore a t-shirt ( my Alaska Grown one), shorts, wool socks, sandals, and a bandana. It was fun to see everyone dressed up.

Sorry, this is kind of an old post, but I didn't have time to publish it before. Enjoy!

Hello to you again!

I'm trying to post a few pictures, but my signal strength is not very good at the moment. On Friday night, my roommate and dear friend Kayla and I hosted the 6-8th grade youth group at our school. It is mostly kids from our school, but there were a few kids who were not. We don't have the largest living room, and with 35 (that's right, thirty-five) middle schoolers in that room, it was a little cozy. And noisy. But we had such a good time. It's such a blessing to be able to have a ministry with them outside of school. You can pray that Kayla and I would be able to really challenge them and make them think. The youth group is every Friday night, and we are hosting it for the month of February. We are blessed to have such awesome kids at our school, and I think they enjoyed "crashing" their teachers' house. They left quite a mess for us to clean up.

On Saturday (Feb. 3) Kayla and I went hiking up Mt. Longonot with our principal and his family. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of people out hiking this dormant volcano. Kayla and I hiked to the rim of the giant crater, and then we hiked around the crater a ways to get to the highest peak. It was so beautiful, and so nice to get out of the city. The pictures I am posting are from the hike. It was a simply gorgeous spot and so worth every minute of the challenging hike. It was impossible to make it to the top without some scrambling, and our hands and knees suffered a little on the descent. All and all I we came out with just a little blood, and a whole lot of dirt. And I like dirt =).

Hello all!

I apologize for not writing for such a long time, but I haven't felt like I had anything blog-worthy, not to mention the fact that I haven't had much time on the internet lately. I forgot what a blessing it was to have internet available at home, in my college dorm room, etc. Things have been going quite well the past few weeks. It feels like school has been in session for a long time, but in reality it's only been 4 weeks. It's going by quickly, and I have a feeling that this year is going to slip between my fingers without me being aware of it.

All the new students in my class have settled in quickly, and it's hard to remember what things were like without them. The ESL students are improving each day, and I am growing in my ability to modify my lessons for them. It's still hard, but I'm getting used to it. Starting this Friday, my roommate Kayla and I will be having the 6-8th grade youth group at our house. You can pray for that ministry as it is an opportunity for us to connect with students outside of school. We are both really looking forward to this opportunity. It meets at our house every Friday night in February. I'm not sure how we will squeeze all these kids into our house, but I'm sure we'll manage. It will be fun.

The other exciting thing that Kayla and I are doing is coaching the middle school girls' soccer team. Kayla is a P.E. teacher and also the athletic director. It's really fun to be able to help her out, though it has been a long time since I've played soccer. The girls are so wonderful and cute...and out of shape. We had our first game on Tuesday, and even though we lost, we were the first team to score any goals against the team we played. We'll take our victories where we can. The loss was good because now the girls realize that you really do have to run all the time in soccer. They've been doing a lot of walking in practice, so I'm glad they're aware of what a game is like now. This is the first your that our school has had inter-school sports (thanks to Kayla), so it's just exciting for the kids to be out playing at all. The parents are so thrilled, and so are the girls. It is such a joy to be able to coach them. This picture is the team with Kayla and me on the edges. That's about all I have to report from Kenya. Thanks for reading!

Well Dayn and I are finally back from our last round of big adventures. In case you haven’t been keeping track of my travels (and I wouldn’t expect you to be keeping track), Dayn and I ushered in the new year by climbing Mt. Kenya. We left Nairobi on Sunday, December 31st and drove for about 3 hours. We stopped at Batian’s View, where we would camp for the night before beginning our journey up the mountain. Batian’s View used to be the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) base for Kenya. It closed down in 2003, but the camp is still running. It was a beautiful place to stay, and in the morning we even got a view of the very top of the mountain.

On Monday (Jan. 1), we packed up all our gear and drove up to the gate of Mt. Kenya National Park. We went up the mountain with two guides (Patterson and Kamau) and a cook (Joseph), which was something I have never done before. The trip wouldn’t have been the same without them, and I’m so glad we did it this way. Apparently most people climb the mountain and have porters carry their stuff. This seemed an unnecessary extravagance to me. I mean, I thought having a cook was extravagant enough. There were 4 of us climbers - Dayn, a fellow teacher Stephanie, her fiancé Kungu, and myself. Kamau (one of the guides) said that normally a group of 4 people will bring 8 porters to carry all their stuff. I felt like my bag was pretty light since I wasn’t carrying food, a tent, or a sleeping pad.

Our trip was laid out so that we would take 4 days. The hike on Monday was a nice, gradual uphill. The forests surrounding us were beautiful, and things weren’t too muddy despite all the rains we have been having. We arrived at Old Moses camp in the early evening. The camp had two buildings with bunk beds for hikers to sleep in. It sat atop a hill overlooking part of the Rift Valley (I think). Whatever we were looking at, it was gorgeous. Joseph and Kamau got to work cooking our dinner, and we enjoyed some nice hot rice and a vegetable beef concoction that tasted so good. We went to bed early to prepare for the long day ahead of us on Tuesday.

After we ate our hot breakfast on Tuesday morning, we began our hike toward Shipton’s camp. This was to be the longest and probably the most challenging day of our climb. The 4 of us came prepared with gaiters, which went over our pants and our boots to keep the mud out of our boots. It’s a good thing we had these because it was a very wet and muddy day. Dayn and I stayed with Patterson (our head guide) for the first part of the day, and as we hiked he gave me Swahili lessons. I can’t say I was the best student, but I’m glad I learned a little more.

We stopped at a nice cliff area for lunch, and while we sat I think the weather changed at least 18 times. The sun would come out, the clouds would move in, the wind would blow, then it would all stop. And this kept going and going. I’ve never seen the weather change so quickly and so often. When we started hiking again, the clouds had fully rolled in and it began to rain on us. Luckily, it wasn’t a torrential downpour, but it was consistent for about an hour and a half. The trail was already muddy, and this only made the hiking more challenging. I tried my best to just watch where Kamau placed his feet. If I followed his footsteps I was fine. At some point, of course, I had to use the little girl’s room. The guys kept walking and I caught up with them. Since I was so focused on catching up, I didn’t pay attention to where I was putting my feet. I stepped in some unsuspicious-looking mud and ended up sinking past my knee. I thought I was going to be stuck for a while, but luckily my other foot only sank a little, and I was able to pull myself out. I laughed so hard at my baggy, balloon-like pants, now covered in mud. This accident came at just the right time because I was starting to feel nauseous and achy from the fatigue and the elevation. But when I fell like this, it took my mind off the way I was feeling, and I was fine after that. I thank the Lord that He can use my clumsiness to help me get up a mountain.

The vegetation changed drastically on this second day of climbing. As we got higher, there were no more trees. Instead there were huge tufts of long, tough, multi-colored grass sticking out. And there were these lobelia plants that had huge green leaves sticking up in a circular pattern kind of like a cabbage. But so much more beautiful than a cabbage. Then where were these weird looking trees that were kind of like joshua trees except they had big green leaves sticking up. They were so cool. The plant-life was like nothing I have ever seen.

We finally made it to Shipton’s camp early in the evening. We could easily tell the difference in elevation where we were. We began the day at 11,000 ft and ended the day at 14,000 ft. Dayn and I could both feel our hearts beating faster than normal, and it was quite a bit chillier here. We waited a little while for Stephanie and Kungu to catch up, and as we waited, we could hear all the Kenyans chattering away in the kitchen. It was the most amazing sound. They were busy cooking for all of us, and I’m pretty sure they were having way more fun than those of us who were resting. They were speaking Swahili and Kikuyu (a native dialect), and it was this amazing symphony of sound. I wish I could describe it better. The word loud comes to mind.

There were a lot of climbers at Shipton’s Camp, and it was fun to talk with all of them. One couples we met was form Yorkshire, and we had a lot of fun talking to them. After eating another warm meal, we headed to bed. The rooms here were bigger and had more beds in them, so we shared the room with a lot of the climbers. Dayn and I decided that we would like to summit Point Lenana in the morning, which was supposed to be about a 4-hour hike in the snow to get to the 15,000 foot mark. I was nervous about this, but was looking forward to the challenge.

It was probably just below freezing when Dayn and I woke up in the morning. We put on our cold, damp hiking clothes to get ready for the climb. Dayn had not slept at all the night before because of the elevation. His heart kept racing, and for the first time since he was 5 he felt like he was going to throw up. I did not feel well either. I kept waking up feeling dehydrated, and it was hard to go back to the sleep. By the time we began climbing, I felt OK. Unfortunately, Dayn did not. Each step he took made his heart race, and altitude sickness began setting in. We made it about a quarter of the way up to Point Lenana and then decided to turn back. Patterson said, “Better to come down on your feet than on a stretcher.” And with all the fog and moisture, it was hard to see anything. I was disappointed to not make it to the top, but the people who did make it said that they could not see anything because of the clouds. And it took them over 7 hours to reach the summit and come back. Dayn and I still had an entire day of hiking ahead of us, so though we were sad to not make it to the top, we were glad to have more energy for the hike back to Old Moses.

Dayn, Stephanie, Kungu, Patterson, Kamau, Joseph and I all left Shipton’s Camp around 9 in the morning. As if to smack us in the face for not making it up to the top, the clouds cleared and we could see the very top of the mountain. It was so beautiful, and I was so glad to have the sun shining down on my face as we left. My pack felt so much lighter going downhill instead of uphill. Plus, I happened to be wearing most of my clothes to keep warm, so there wasn’t much left in my bag anyway.

In case you’ve lost track of the days, we are now on day 3 of the hike, which was Wednesday. This day was not quite as eventful as the previous day. I had told Patterson about my fall in the mud, so all morning he was trying to get me to reenact the scene, telling me to step in piles of mud. But I didn’t grant him the pleasure of seeing me fall. Too bad he missed it the first time. I managed to stay fairly clean all day.

We had the best dinner of our lives at Old Moses, and that left our tummies very full and our bodies ready to sleep. That night we all slept so well. We were warm, we were exhausted, our hearts were beating almost at a normal rate. It was lovely. Simply lovely.

The next morning (day 4, Thursday), it was pouring down rain when we woke up. It was sort of a good omen for our last day of hiking in Mt. Kenya National Park. We ate a quick breakfast and then began our hike to the park gate. It wasn’t the most difficult hike, but because it rained all day, it was extremely slippery on the path. I am quite proud to say that I did not fall the entire time, but I can’t say everyone had the same luck. I can say, though, that everyone was soaking wet. No matter how much waterproof gear you may have, no matter what REI tells you about waterproof-ness and breathability, at some point you are just going to be wet. And wet we were.

It was a relief to make it back to the parking lot. The climb was beautiful, incredible, beyond words, but we were all tired, stinky, ready for some warmth and dry-ness. After we packed up all our gear and crawled into Stephanie’s car, we headed to the Trout Tree Restaurant for lunch. It was delicious. After dropping Kamau off at Batian’s View, the place we began the trip, we began our drive back to Nairobi. Coming back to the polluted city was a little more on the depressing side. It still is a little more on the depressing side, but when my mind starts to think about the pollution, the dirty city, I go back to the beautiful landscapes of Mt. Kenya where the Lord revealed His glory through His creation. I am thankful for this experience, and I am thankful for the beauty of my everyday existence in Nairobi. It’s a different kind of beauty, and I will continue to adjust to it. Thank you for reading. May God reveal His glory in your everyday existence as well.

Well Dayn and I are back from Mt. Kenya. I will post a more detailed blog in a few days, but i wanted to post a picture from our safari. The picture files are so big that I can only post this one for the time being. See the elephants in the background? More to come later...

Hello friends!

I thought I would update you on the Adventure Kenya 2006. Dayn (my brother) and I got back from the coast on Wednesday, Dec. 20th. We had a day in Nairobi to gather ourselves, find enough sleeping bags for everyone, and then we headed out for our safari on Friday, Dec. 22nd. Dayn and I joined up with one of my roommates, Jen, 4 of her family members who are visiting, and another teacher named Esther. We met our driver at a shopping center near our house, and after “settling the bill” we began our journey to the Maasai Mara.

We loaded up in a 10-seater safari van, fully-equipped with rear wheel drive. It was practically a full day’s journey just to get to the Mara. As soon as we got on the dirt road to go to the park, we knew we were in for an adventure. It had been raining for several days prior to our arrival, and the road that was bad to begin with was nearly impossible to drive on. But our driver was amazing. There were countless places where I thought we would need a helicopter to rescue us (and I was pretty sure those weren’t very accessible in Kenya), but somehow, with a lot of jostling of the vehicle, we would get through. It was a amazing. There was one part of the road that had actually been washed away, and we had to drive through the river. We had a great caravan going on. There were about 8 of these safari vans driving the “road” and we would all get through one tough spot, wait for the others to get through, and the move on to the next. When we would stop and wait, all the little Maasai children would come up to us and say, “sweet?” or “pen?” or “picture book?” or “watch?” I’m assuming these are all things that other people have given them in the past. I tried to explain that sweets were bad for them and that they wouldn’t have such nice teeth if they ate them, but for some reason they didn’t understand what I was saying to them. Go figure.

As soon as we got to the park, we went for our first game drive. It was a beautiful landscape with rolling green hills and abundant wildlife. We saw the usual gazelles, antelope, impala, and zebras. And as we proceeded further into the park, we saw our first lion from a distance. It reminded me of a song... Anyway, it was quite thrilling to see it attacking something in the bushes. We didn’t have much time in the park before dark, so after watching the lion for a while, we went back to our campsite. We stayed in canvas tents that had tin roofs over the top. The camp is run by a group of Maasai people, and they cooked delicious food for us. We met a bunch of other young travelers, and it was fun to hear how everyone ended up in Kenya, and how we all ended up camping together. That night there was a thunder storm, and it rained all night.

In the morning, it was still raining. We had to delay our departure time because with the roads that wet, we weren’t going to go much of anywhere. After waiting for an hour or so, the rain let up and we began our drive into the park. We saw many of the same animals we had seen the previous day. On top of those animals, we saw a large herd of elephants. They were so close that we could see all the wrinkles on their thick skin, and I didn’t have to zoom in with the video camera. It was an awesome sight to behold at least 10 of them altogether - some old, some young. Later on we saw the awkwardly beautiful giraffes. They are by far my favorite animals to watch because they are so unique-looking.

After eating lunch, we spotted a male lion fairly close to the road. We drove up close to him, and he got up and moved. So our driver turned the van around and drove up next to him again. The lion got up and moved again, and we proceeded this way for a good 15 minutes. I took video of a lot of it, and there were times where the lion could easily have jumped up and knocked the camera right out of my hands. It was quite a thrilling experience and rivaled my giraffe-chasing adventure. What a beautiful creature!

We spent the entire day in the park, seeing animal after animal. After my two summers of guiding tours in Alaska, I had grown accustomed to seeing a few bears, a moose, some caribou, and considering that a pretty good day. But the wildlife here was just abundant. I could hardly believe it. In Denali, sometimes we just had bad days in the park where we saw practically nothing. I don’t think you could have a bad day in the Mara. We didn’t see leopards, cheetahs, or hippos, but we saw almost everything else. I’m hoping to be able to post some pictures later on, but because I am now working with a computer from the stone age, Dayn and I are having some technical difficulties getting his pictures on here. But we will find a way. For now you just get to imagine all these things I am trying to describe.

Day 3 of our safari (Christmas Eve), we took a short drive into the park and then packed up camp. We left the camp around 10:30 A.M. and got stuck within the first 5 minutes of our drive. We tried pushing, but we were too deep in the mud to get ourselves out. Our driver called someone to come pull us out, and after about 40 minutes we were back on the road again. We got stuck a few other times, which meant we would get out, push, get back in, and then keep going. We went about 24 miles in 2 ½ hours. Eventually we came to a place where about 10 vans were waiting in line to pass through mud that came up to our knees. Some of our fellow campers had left at 8:00 that morning. Our van had left at 10:30, and we caught up with them at this place. Dayn and I helped push our van. We were knee deep in mud, surrounded by other Kenyans and Maasai people, rocking this van, pushing it, rocking it some more. And then its wheels finally started to roll. What a team effort it was! Dayn and I were filthy, and we still had quite a distance ahead of us. Hooray for Charles, our amazing driver.

We finally made it back to Nairobi at 7 P.M. Dayn and I headed back to my house, and I slept like a rock on our first Christmas Eve in Kenya.

Hello Everyone!

I apologize for not updating my blog for so long. These last few weeks have been a whirlwind. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering about the robbery. We now have more bars on our windows and a huge metal wall in our backyard. I'm glad for the safety they provide, and I try my best not to feel like a prisoner. People have been so generous with opening up their homes to us and offering us comfort foods and other nice things like that. We are still so thankful that no one was hurt, and of course, Alison and I miss our things. The Lord always provides, though, and my dear friend Katy Rogers offered to give me my old computer that she had been borrowing. Since my brother Dayn was coming to visit, she gave it to him. It is old and heavy, but it is a computer, and I am thankful for it.

Dayn arrived last Friday, and Kenya Airways did not have his bags. Unfortunately, we were leaving for the coast on Sunday (the 17th), and that wasn't enough time to get his bags. So we got a couple shirts and pairs of shorts at the market, and he made do with what he had. We went to Tiwi Beach for 4 days, which is just south of Mombasa. It was my first time at the Indian Ocean, and it was beautiful. It's nice to be in water that doesn't require a certain degree of numbness before it can be enjoyed. We learned to wind surf one day, and we were able to go to a national wildlife preserve another day. I saw my first wild elephants! That was quite exciting. We got back from the coast yesterday (Wednesday) and today we are relaxing, doing laundry, and e-mailing. Tomorrow we go on safari for three days, and hopefully I will be able to post some pictures after that. Oh, and we did get Dayn's bags yesterday. Hooray!

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support in everything that has been happening here. I don't have time to write to everyone individually, but please know what a blessing it is to hear from all of you and to see the answers to all your prayers. I am so grateful for them. I wish you all a merry Christmas!

Hello to you all once again!

It has been a great week here in Kenya, except for the incessant rain. The drainage system on the roads is virtually non-existent, so with these heavy rains, the roads are terrible. One of my roommates and I have been house-sitting for a family that is visiting the U.S. for a few months. They have a nice house, but with these heavy rains, the road to their house is like a series of little lakes. One day I was pretty sure I was going to have to get out of the car in my skirt and push. Luckily, we were able to get out of that muddy situation unscathed.

On Thursday my class and I went on a field trip to the New Life Home. It is a home for babies who have been abandoned. We went there to play with the toddlers and hold the babies. It was such a good time! These wee ones are so precious and beautiful. One of the girls in my class said, “How could someone abandon something so cute?” She is so right. It’s hard to imagine leaving such an adorable little bundle of life. The kids were so cute, and I have a hard time deciding who was cuter, the little babies or the 6th graders playing with them. All the kids in my class had so much fun and were really sad when it was time leave. It warmed my heart watching them play with these little ones. I can already see what wonderful moms and dads they are going to be one day. It almost makes me cry! What a sappy teacher I am. But I am just so proud of them.

We have only two more weeks until Christmas break, and that means less than two weeks until my brother, Dayn, comes to visit. We are planning on going to Mombasa, which is on the coast, for a few days. I was finally able to find a place for us to stay. After our visit to the beach, we will go on safari to the Maasai Mara. I can’t wait to see all the animals and have a real African adventure! We might do a little traveling after that, but the big plan on New Year’s is to climb Mt. Kenya. We will be going up with another teacher from my school and also her fiancé, Kungu. He is a Kenyan and has climbed the mountain a few times before. I am so excited about all these plans! And even if I weren’t doing anything exciting, I am so glad my brother will be here with me. He is one of my dearest friends in the whole world. With that, I think I will bid you a fond farewell. May you enjoy whatever form of precipitation that this season brings you. I am trying my best not to dream of a white Christmas. Toodles!

Greetings to you all!

Today you will actually be getting 2 (yes, two) updates from me. I wrote one last week and never had the chance to publish it, and now I am about due for another. My apologies for being so long in the writing. This morning I woke up early and walked to a café that happens to have wireless internet. I did this in hopes that I would be able to chat with my family on their Friday night, my Saturday morning. So far the internet has not been turned on. And here I sit, sipping my coffee, alone in a booth, waiting. Waiting. At least I have my computer and can type while I wait.

Happy post-Thanksgiving to all of you! I had a nice one despite the fact that the only break we got was a half-day on Thursday. I’m thankful we had that, but I’ve never gone to school on Thanksgiving, much less the Friday after Thanksgiving. There’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Some of the other single white female teachers and I went over to a family’s house (the Ernisse’s) for dinner. They are missionaries with SIL (Wycliffe), and they have a daughter at the school. They are wonderful people, and we had a really nice time. Dave Ernisse has become like a father to our roommates and I. He helped us buy our car and hook up gas to our stove. Today he’s going to clean our leaky faucet.

Well, now it is a little later, and I have been talking to my family online for over an hour. My hands are shaking from my 2 cups of coffee. Yesterday was crazy hair day at school. I was tired of teaching, so in the afternoon we watched a rather boring science video. I took a picture of my class. There were about 6 kids absent, so this picture has almost everyone. I told them to do something silly, like pick their friends’ nose, and this was the result. Oh I love 6th grade.

I think the rainy season may be almost over. On Thanksgiving, it was pouring down and the streets were flooded everywhere. I was soaking wet after walking from my classroom to the middle school side where I teach pre-algebra. The good news is both today and yesterday, it has been reasonably dry. And as I sit here writing, I realize I don’t really have much else to say. Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend!

I wrote this on Nov. 18th! Sorry I'm a little late in publishing it! These pictures were taken at our school bazaar about 3 weeks ago. The picture on the top left is of Naomi, Rachel, me and Adrian. Then girl in the red in the next picture is Priscilla. Then the picture of the bottom is Heather, me, and Shel Arendsen. Notice his Kokrine Hills Bible Camp hat! He has some connections with my family, and he wore his hat just for me. I was so excited!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry that it has been a couple weeks since I’ve written, but there is a very good reason for it. Actually, the only reason is that I’ve been busy and haven’t had the energy to sit down and write. Lately my time has been consumed with the usual planning, grading, teaching, and all that. I also have a few students who are in serious need of remedial help, not to mention my 5 ESL students. God is so faithful in providing, though, because I now have an aide in my classroom as well as someone to take these students out of the classroom to work on reading and math. It’s such a relief. With 27 students in my class, I was unable to give them the attention they needed. I am so thrilled that they are receiving the one-on-one help that they need.

We are still heavy into the rainy season in Kenya. It usually pours down rain at night and in the morning, and we have been fortunate to have it clear up for a few hours around lunch time and later into the afternoon. It’s like God is saying that He loves us so much, He doesn’t want us to have to suffer through indoor recess. I really appreciate that. As much as I love my students, I love for them to have recess outside where they can run, scream, bounce balls, argue, and all those other things pre-pubescent pre-teens need to do. The rain makes for interesting running conditions. I usually have to slide around in the mud. In fact, one of my little neighbors saw me after I went running one day, and in his thick East African accent says, “Why are your legs all dirty?” I explained it to him and then asked if it looked funny. He thought for a good 30 seconds and then grinned and said yes. Driving is also an adventure in this season. The heavy rains dig the pot holes even deeper, so we can’t help but have a bumpy ride to school.

Every Friday night there is a youth group of sorts called King’s Kids for the 6-8th graders at West Nairobi School. The meeting place rotates between different missionary family’s houses. This month it has been at a house just down the road from me. Last week I was asked if I would be willing to play guitar for their singing/worship time. I was delighted, and I had such a good time that they asked me to do it this week as well. We sing for about half an hour, have a Bible discussion time, and then play and eat. Most of the kids are either in my 6th grade class or in my 7th and 8th grade pre-algebra class. It is so much fun to spend time with them outside of school. Sometimes I get so busy with the school side of things that I forget about the ministry side, the relationships. This is the perfect opportunity, and I feel like the Lord just placed it in my lap. In February my roommates and I are going to have them meet at our house. It will be an adventure. Just imagine between 20 and 30 middle schoolers in one room together. It’s chaos and an absolute blast. They are such wonderful kids! I absolutely love it.

Second quarter is just flying by! We only have 4 weeks left before Christmas break. I am definitely feeling the need for a break as my patience with certain students is not what it used to be. You can be praying that God would grant me the patience and tenacity to love these little darlings who have the potential to drive me insane. I don’t want my general fatigue to affect the way I treat them. At the same time, there are times when they take things too far and need me to be hard on them. Pray that I would be discerning rather than moody. Continue to pray for the students who don’t know the Lord and even for the ones who do. Many of my students know all the answers to the Sunday school-type questions, but I don’t know if the love of Christ has truly pierced their hearts yet. Of course, I know it has not fully pierced mine either! Prayer in that area would be appreciated. Thank you for reading this very lllloooonnnnngggg update. I hope all is well with you and yours.

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!