FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Our first day of school was Monday, August 22... 

It's unbelievable how quickly the first week flew by, and here we are already on week two! :) :) 

My class :)  

Heidi Gingerich (2nd) Hannah Gingerich (3rd) Brad Yoder (1st) Jeneva Miller (3rd)

Vanessa, Shonda, Wynndon, Wilson, and Miss Rhoda :) 

All of us (few though we be) ready for a brand new year :)

Here's a random assortment of pictures from the last few weeks... These were taken with my phone, so some of them aren't the greatest quality... pole sana (so sorry)

Mahlon

Joey

 

"The Bag Lady" ...every time I see her, I have to wonder what her story is!

 Two of my friends from the slums, with Tiffany at church:

 Fabric shopping at its finest:

 Helping my friend, Loyce, move:

Little Sylvia, checking out her new home...

The place was just filthy before we got it swept...

Imagine if all of your belongings could fit on a stack this size!  Seriously!!

The guys getting her bed frame put together...

Time to start unpacking...

When you have three little fellows at a downtown hardware store and they sit so quietly and patiently! :) 

All I said was, "Smile!"

Babysitting these little guys~ Joshua trying out a new sawing technique ;)

Talia... one of the sweetest little ladies ever...

A Sunday afternoon at Zilpa's with Rosemary...These women are two of my closest native friends...

Rosemary's oldest son :) 

One morning, one of my neighbors and I went out early with two fisherman on Lake Victoria.  The experience itself was topnotch, but our success didn't quite match up.  Right now is the "off" season and so our fellow fisherman (in this picture) only got a few Tilapia and some Nile Perch.  It was still so much fun to just relax out on the water.  So many things here line up with the culture in the Bible times, and coming in with mostly empty nets, I was thinking of the morning that Jesus told the disciples to cast their nets on the other side.  Other things too, such as wedding customs, etc. are completely in tune with NT Bible stories.

Babysitting... and making cookies...

My new co-teacher, Rhoda Wengerd

Rainy Days and Oranges

It was Monday.  I was driving along in the rain, eating an orange that I had just bought from a happy old mama at the market.  It was one of the best oranges ever.  Or maybe it was my cheerful mood that made it seem better than ever?  Well, rain is enough to make any day happy.  I was heading home from Luanda after shopping with two of my friends at the market there.  We had finished our shopping just as the sprinkles began to change to splatters.  While we dashed to our vehicles, the tenders began pulling out tarps to cover their goods.  What a lovely rain it was.  I couldn’t help but sing out loud to myself as I headed back toward the town of Kisumu, toward home.  The windshield wipers swished back and forth as accompaniment.  What a beautiful world God has given us.  What a gift to be able to live in it!!  

It was a few hours later.  I was scrubbing at school.  Scrubbing grimy walls, dusty desks, a filthy floor.  The world didn’t seem so sparkly anymore.  My finger hurt.  Severely.  It was a very little burn.  On only one finger.  I had hurriedly pulled the pan of lemon cookies out of the oven before heading out the door again, but somehow… I came in contact with the hot cookie sheet.  Unwanted contact.  Other things seemed gloomy.  The job seemed big.  Overwhelming.  Yet, what a beautiful world God has given us.  What a gift to be able to live in it!!   So why let my current perspective destroy the joy of the moment?  The grime, dust, and filth were wiped away.  Oh, the classroom will get dirty again, but for now it’s clean.  For now. 

The day didn’t seem to improve.  In reality, it seemed as though it couldn’t get much worse.  The sewing machine wouldn’t cooperate when I tried to obtain its assistance.  Thread wadded up on the underside of the fabric.  The needle jumped over and began sewing to the side.  It continually unthreaded itself.  Without permission.  Seams didn’t match up.  The popcorn bowl dumped and spilled all over the floor.  Everything seemed to go wrong.  I went to bed.  Mosquitoes decided it was time for my daily blood donation.  I scratched.  I felt miserable.  For a moment.  But life is a gift.  A gift we don’t deserve.  A gift that I am thankful for…even tho it doesn’t hurt to be realistic and remind yourself that life isn’t always about eating oranges in the rain.  

MOMBASA

The beginning of June, my co-teacher and I flew to Nairobi where we met up with 2 of the teachers from Nakuru and then flew from Nairobi to Mombasa together.  We four had so much fun relaxing, laughing, and just having a great time.  Mombasa is a city on the eastern coast of Africa.  We had a lovely place on Diani Beach with a quick walk down to the white sand and blue, blue Indian Ocean.  

my co-teacher, Charity

Jan and Delores

I didn't take many pictures, because I was too busy soaking it all up in real life.  In reality, I was too lazy and now I'm wishing I had a little more visual proof here to show you exactly how beautiful it was!  Since I don't have better pics of our place, here are two phone pictures... The first one shows our house at Marula Park.  The second one was taken from my upstairs bedroom balcony one evening.  It was so much fun to wake up every morning to this lovely view.  

Here's a picture from Kivulini Beach Villa where Marlin and Lavina's family was staying.  They came a few days after we did and stayed a few days longer.  They were approx a kilometer away, so we got together a few times for meals... This picture is a shot of their front yard...they were right on the beach...no walking for them... :) 

One of my favorite days was Tuesday.  We seven youth headed out bright and early and traveled for about an hour and a half... Got all of our alien card and passport and payment jazz taken care of and then spent the day out on the water.  The day was just topnotch! We had a semi-delicious breakfast, happy music, and good times ...until the good times got even better and we spotted dolphins.  Now, dolphins are fun to watch and these were no exception, so I enjoyed that part of the day so much!

Our breakfast of crab cakes and bread...

Another favorite part of the day was snorkeling.  We dropped the guys off first and then we girls jumped out farther up the reef.  That was just great!  I truly felt like I was swimming through my fourth grade A Beka science book with my students.  Hundreds and hundreds of bright neon fish that really didn't look "real" at all... Seeing several manta rays down below...swimming in sync with a big ole sea turtle ... checking out the beautiful coral... a brilliantly blue starfish ... and many, many fish that were just plain down fascinating.  I had never snorkeled before and definitely enjoyed it kabisa!! The guys saw several octopuses and a lobster, so that was pretty cool!  We hopped back on the boat for a quick break, but then a few of us headed back out for a little.  The second time I was having some serious issues with my paraphernalia and I felt like I spent as much time with my head above the surface trying to fix my equipment as I did looking at anything underwater.  My mask insisted on being leaky and fogging up and my snorkel kept malfunctioning and giving me salty tastes of the sea.  Not to mention that these fins were apparently not the pair I had just been wearing and were beginning to introduce blisters to my feet in rapid concession.  And!  Did I mention that the sun wasn't doing such a splendid job of shining and it was cold!!  So I was happy to climb back on our dhow and head to Wasini Island for lunch... 

We ate our crab, fish, rice, potatoes, chapatis, and fresh fruit (oh and some seaweed too) and enjoyed the magnificent view before leaving for the mainland.  Toured a cave that had been used for holding slaves at one point and then hit the road again and journeyed all the way back to our stretch of the beach.  It felt great to be home, but wow, what an awesome day!!!!

Our view during lunch...

A group pic in the cave :)

Jan and me

Charity, Jan, Delores, and me

On our way back to Kisumu we picked up Rhoda, Charity's replacement.  This picture was taken at her welcome/Charity's farewell... You would have thought that we youth girls had planned what to wear for the evening... :D

Stacy, Rissa, me, Sylvia, Rhoda, Charity

Pictures from long ago...

Here are some snapshots from the beginning of summer vacation...

Last day of school activities:

My co-teacher, Charity :) :)
Yes, we were as soaked as we look... but kickball in the rain is great ;)

 The Nakuru youth came over for a weekend.  Sunday evening, we had supper together and played some group games... fishbowl, stand-up confusion, etc.  Monday morning, we left bright and early and hiked good ole Monkeystone.  It rained while we were at the top so we girls had fun slipping and sliding down the muddy mountain that afternoon.  The guys spent the night at the top and came down Tuesday.  We had lunch together and then the Nakuru folks headed back home.  It was great being able to do something "extra" with them! :) 

Our DRENCHED (but very happy) tribe...

The next week started off with chicken butchering and then cleaning and painting at Charity's house... getting ready for Rhoda... :)  

Days of scrubbing and mopping and organizing get to ya after awhile! 

"Mom" Becky came to help paint... what fun we had!

Our work day at church:

The last Friday in May, our youth group headed out to Ng'ia one last time while the Stoltzfeese youth were still on this side of the world...

...great vb memories...

Group picture at the equator, only a few miles from here...

...another group picture...this time with just the Kisumu gang...

That evening, when we got back, we youth headed to Simba Club for supper.  Janette spent the night at my place and we had a great time talking and looking at the stars from my roof before finally getting some sleep.  

As a "farewell" for Charity, we three girls spent a night at Rondo Retreat.  We had so much fun!!

 Mark's were there as well, so Markus and Micah kept us entertained part of the time... :)

Marlin's farewell with some epic youth volleyball afterwards!!

Lydia, my good friend from church:

Stacy, Charity, and the Gingerich children at the food court:


Last Java House expedition with Charity~ Thanks, Micah!!


Next thing on my summer agenda before heading to Virginia was MOMBASA... that post will be coming sooner or later... hopefully sooner! :)

...until next time...