SAFARI!!!

The safari was great to learn about Maasailand and see soo many awesome animals!

This first picture is the inside of my tent! I will have to show you more photos of the extravagant resort.
Just check out the pictures! I don't feel like I have a lot to say right now, but as the saying goes-"a picture's worth a thousand words"-so here ya go!

My favorites to see were the elephants and lions (especially lions!); we saw one male lion Saturday night and two Sunday morning! We saw a lot more animals but this is a taste of what we were able to see!!!

KENYA: Days 2&3 at Tenwek >>> Community Health

Riding along on red clay two-track roads with more rocks, ditches, and mudpuddles than ever thought imaginable- this has made up many hours of the past two days of my life. I have traveled with nurses and doctors to faaarrrr out villages and communities to do immunization clinics for children (usually babies) and pregnant women. Yesterday we rode in a small truck that had a cap of sorts with two rows of seats facing each other in the back, that is where I rode. Today we had a bit more of a normal vehicle but definately no shocks. I actually love the rides though, because the countryside is soo beatiful and riding bumpy 2-tracks reminds me of Drummond Island. But yes, yesterday we had an extremely busy clinic. Upon arriving I had no idea what to do or how to help, but thankfully there was one other American girl yesterday who could show me the ropes- and I needed the basics!- I learned how to assemble different simple medical instruments, diluted one of the vaccines, and was able to give orals to the children (being Vitamin A gel and Oral Polio droplets, if you care haha). Today I did many of the same tasks but was the only non-Kenyan in the group; I really enjoyed talking to the men more and being able to ask them questions and begin learning a couple Kipsigis words. I can say them once, but I REALLY have trouble remembering them...ugh. This afternoon on my "lunch break" I just took my water bottle and camera with me and was able to take a few photos of/with the women at the clinic. They knew nothing about a camera and thought it was awesome to see the picture on the back. One man I took a picture with wanted a copy immediately; unfortunately I had to tell him I could not do that ;) This was a really great ice breaker though for a group of people that only speak Kipsigis...sometimes language barriers REALLY STINK but taking a few pictures was fun. One lady, Estell, invited me to her home, but when Alfred came to ask how far it was and to translate, we found out that is was quite far away so I could not go, but thankfully with Alfred translating, he made things clear and the decision was more reflected on him than on me- I didn't want to offend.
Something that is definately a part of the culture here is CHAI! We have tea twice a day, morning and afternoon. The past two days, our afternoon chai has been in restaurants on the way home from community health. It is just funny, because a cup of chai is 10 shillings, which would be somewhere around $.15. I thought of fifteen cents compared to my like $5 typical Bigby/Starbucks treat and could only laugh. One thing though, you always here those stories of people drinking coffee in foreign countries and having their glass refilled over and over; well, today in the White Hotel, I had to learn to be strategic in my chai drinking. My glass was refilled once, and from then on... I casually watched the waitor as he made rounds and when he would near my table, I would take a sip, assuring that my glass was not on the table at the time he came. Yes, this was not the best thing I could have done-but at the time, it is what I did.
And as far as lessons learned from this trip... I cannot tell you what they will be, but I do know that God is frustrating me in ways that I would have never expected and has much different (and I am sure much greater) plans that I had ever imagined.
Praise the Lord that I have been able to have my computer and the internet both function long enough to write this blog.
Hope you are doing well; I would LOVE to hear from anyone who reads this!
I will write soon and hopefully put up pictures; tomorrow morning I leave for an overnight Safari! -Adios all.

***These are some of the women from the clinic today. The picture below is from a walk with Michael and Aliya today near the compound.

So this is Africa.

Well, this won't be poetic or probably even using proper grammar, but I will give a quick update of our events so far. The travelling here consisted of 3 airplanes, no misses flights, and only one engine repair (which apparently was a long 2 hours for everyone else, but I slept). We arrived in Nairobi Sunday night [which would have been Sunday afternoon or evening for you; we are 7 hours ahead of MI time]. We stayed two nights in Nairobi and relaxed, doing more touristy yet fun things around town. We saw baby elephants, warthogs, a couple rhinos (one Aliya named Jim), and fed giraffes. At the elephant place, I saw monkey's in a tree, that was purdy cool! We went out to lunch at a really nice outdoor restaurant that day, and our afternoon was spent at Kazuri Beads. This is somewhere that had been recommended for me to see, yet I did not think we would go, so I was very excited to see Kazuri. It is a ministry where single mothers are provided with work, and they make beaded jewelry and pottery. The whole process is very open to visitors, so we saw the clay to the molding, where they fire, paint, ect...
So anyway, around the city, it was not too different, because it was still a city BUT there were some fun sights, like men herding goats or cows along side the road, women carrying jugs of water on their head, random markets and kiosks, baboons along side the road, dangerous driving -basically just being in a foreign city :)
Ok, fast-forward to yesterday when we drove to Tenwek, which is about 3-4 hours outside of Nairobi. The nearest town to us is Bomet if you want to see kinda where I am. It was beautiful to see some of the countryside. We stopped at one point where we were able to take in the beauty of the Rift Valley. It was one of those roads along side the mountain with the valley below; we passed a huge semi-truck that on a curve had rolled and seriously could not have gotten ANY closer to rolling ALL the way down the side of the mountain into the valley. But reguardless, Rift Valley- gorgeous!- even though pictures don't look that amazing. After this, we continued driving, first in an area of great drought. This is very sad, because the people already struggle and now this. We passed one spot that was a place of government food handouts; giant white bags filled with rice. Our driver, Gerald, said that people would have walked for miles and miles to receive these handouts-so sad. But later in the drive, nearing Tenwek, things became much more green.
Ok, well let's see; now we are here! I must say that already the compound is not really anything like I had imagined it. It is much larger than I pictured and different in ways I cannot necessarily describe. Today I got a tour and saw my way around a little bit, but I still have a lot to learn about where things are and have lots I want to see! Late this morning I began working with a lady by the name of Lisa who runs all the visiting guest coordinating; she described to me all that her job entails and what she does everyday and WOW. So, I did different just following things today, helped with some filing, helped to sort through "application" type packets for future doctors-small tasks to help her be [hopefully] more efficient. Tomorrow I am going out with Community Health to fairly far away village and be gone all day. I may be organizing vaccines or holding screaming babies while they are given immunization, but I am excited to see what tomorrow brings. The next few days I will be doing a lot with community health and just see from there when they have need for more people; starting the 8th a group of student nurses will be around helping in that area. Other tasks I will be doing will be making rounds with chaplains (probably what I am most nervous about because being in the hospital and around all the medical is not my strong point at all, just getting the tour today was somewhat difficult) and I may be doing some just excel type number entry things for one of the permanent staff surgone. A lot of my schedule is just day to day though, which we will have to just figure out as time goes on :)
So yes, sorry for this not being thought out or profound in any way, but we are doing well. Evenings are the roughest for me with feeling the time difference. Anna and Michael are struggling with sleep deprevation, but for the most part everyone has been healthy and happy.
Hopefully I will be able to write on here again soon, but the internet is unpredictable...so hope to hear from you, feel free to comment and email.
Adios and God bless :)
Psalm 145!!!

Open our eyes...to reality.

While reading in 2 Kings 6 today, I came across a story from Elisha's life that really struck me. Some men were searching for him to capture him and had surrounded the city of Dothan (where he was) during the night; his servant woke up early the next morning and basically freaked out [definately the natural thing to do, freak out and say, what are we going to do?!?] Soo 2 Kings 6:16-17 is Elisha's response, "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
After this, the passage goes on to Elisha asking God to take away all the men's sight and he makes them think they are in the wrong city ect, -just read the chapter from the Word, it's sweet!-
One random thought about this passage: I thought it fit purdy well to the theme/title of my blog, "Abre mis ojos"
But this passage is just so cool, because it shows the reality of the super-natural and God's abiding presence. The theme at camp this summer is Stand, based off of Ephesians 6:10-20. We need to put on the armor of God to stand against the devil's schemes and need to remember "our struggle is not against flesh and blood". Elisha knew that crisis he was encountering was not only what it appeared to be from a physical point of view. He saw the larger picture and prayed that his servant's eyes would be opened to those who were with them! Remembering our struggle is not against flesh and blood can go both ways of seeking the Lord's super-natural help [maybe it won't be hills full of horses and chariots of fire, but He is in control], but we also need to remember that Satan is alive and roaming, looking for every opportunity to make us Christians ineffective in the Lord's work.
p.s. I love that Elisha is almost always referred to as "the man of God", and yes, I realize this was in the OT times and was a prophet of God...but I still think it's ok to ask, what do I need to do to stand out and be referred to as, "a woman of God"?

Here I go...and here I come!

I love the Senior Staff this year! Everyone moved in a couple weeks ago, and I have loved the community developing already. Our first day of the real camp season begins tomorrow, so that is very exciting, but the awesome part of training and guest group weeks are that we are all living in the staff house together still :)
I have loved the evenings of swimming at the lake, fishing, worship times, and lots of talking and prayer. Two things that strike me and excite me the most about our staff is commitment to prayer and a steadfastness to the Word. Last summer I grew a lot and thought according to the Bible and through an eternal perspective more than any time in my life, but this year I am learning a ton about the power of pray and about community. This past semester at school I was really lacking community and felt like a part of myself died a bit, the past few weeks have brought a lot of healing. Another thing that made me feel so much more alive in the past week was going to work in downtown South Bend last weekend at a ministry for people trying to get a new start to life. I have missed Lizzy and the other kids in Grand Rapids and missed going downtown to meet with the homeless in GR also, so serving in South Bend with our staff was an awesome opportunity. I played with a little girl and little boy who did my hair, played with action figures, and just made my week! There was karaoke going on a lot of the time we were inside which was a ton of fun to sing along and dance with the kids too.

Ok, well I rambled there a lot, but the title of this is "Here I go...and here I come!"
I have been at camp and loving that (other than some long, stressful days lol), but a week from today I fly out! I am going to Kenya and cannot wait to see God working and to witness the church fully alive in Africa. I will write updates on here often and would love for your support through many and constant prayers! God [through the awesome body of Christ] has already fully provided for my financial support!!!!!! I will be working in the business office at Tenwek Hospital compound assisting the lady who organizing everything having to do with the guests coming to serve at the compound. I will also be working with the community help group, the local school and orphanage, and helping to teach a Sunday School once or twice too. There are many opportunities presented within the hospital that I may encounter that I could really use extra prayers for... I will have the opportunity to make rounds with a chaplian, sit with individuals while they pass from this life into the next, and may even have to do small tasks to help out if there is a large accident while I am there(bus accidents are common there). Needless to say, it is uncertain what I will experience and can only rely on Christ for strength for everything. Also, a very basic thing to know in my head but when working through it, the language barrier I know will be very frustrating when I just want to be able to connect with the Kipigis and other local people in Kenya.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the blah blah blahness of anything I write on this blog. Have a great day. Keep smiling and strive to be blameless until the day of Christ's return!

Been a while...

Wow, I haven't written on here for 2 & 1/2 months!!! Guess life has been pretty busy. First of all, guess those "coming soon" posts will never be written, but if you want to hear any of those stories or life lessons- I'd love to talk and tell ya! Let's see, my fourth semester of college is now over, I am hopefully over 1/2 way done with my college career!!! This semester really took it's toll, and I have never been so excited to not be writing papers and studying!!! I realize the work will not get any easier, but I am very grateful for a break from it all. My studies become consuming when so many things are constantly hanging over me; I hate the pressure. I hope that my mental power this summer will be used to read and study things not of this world. Reading daily planned passages of Scripture is a great thing, but I want to go way above and beyond that level or reading to truly learning and studying the Word. [don't have a particular direction, so any suggestions would be sweet!] Memorization is also a part of my goal; my summer plan is to memorize Matthew chapters 5 & 6. Please anybody who reads this, keep me accountable and check with me to make sure I am making progress in this goal. In the past I have only done around 20 vs, this is close to 80 verses-definitely won't be doing this by my own strength!
Also, outside books have been a part of my agenda; part of preparing for Kenya included reading a few books about missionaries to Kenya and to Zambia. The first book was about Ernie Steury who was the first doctor at Tenwek Hospital (the compound I will be living on) and a lot of the history of Tenwek, as well as the Steury family and live story. This book definitely made me fall in love with the vision and actions of this ministry. Christ and the Gospel are always in the proper place of supremacy. Every patient who enters the hospital will be prayed with and will hear the Gospel in their stay. Many proper actions in reguard to educating the community and reaching anyone in need has led to a ton of ministries and programs stemming from Tenwek. For example, they have a nursing school, a chaplain training school, and community health programs. Anyway, I will write more on here with pictures and real explainations when I am actually there in a little over one month from now. :)
Well, just for sakes of a life update- like I said, finished my sophomore year of college and now off for summer break. I am working at Bair Lake Bible Camp again this summer; I stayed out there this past week just to help out along with the company of Natalie and had a great week. We worked hard but also were able to enjoy things like bottling homemade root beer, the game of Life, Pig Pong, fishing, volleyball, and other fun "camp" things like Bag-o. I am very excited for our staff this summer and cannot wait will everyone moves in on June 5th! Also, the Retreat Center has had a makeover! It's sooo sweet; Lori Wickes (and family & friends) has total repainted and decorated and the whole building is starting to have so much more potential. I am soo excited to see returning staffers' reactions when they move in!!! But yup, camp, uhh basically working in the kitchen and then like one week of counselling in August this summer. I am missing most of the bulk of true camp time though with my trip to Kenya-which of course will be totally worth it!
I fly out June 27th and will be back, I believe, August 2nd!
Other things in life include seeing lots of transition in life for many people I know, and mostly all of it is exciting but sometimes change can be really hard. Sometimes change isn't even as hard for the people experiencing it as it is for those around them who must adjust to the new normal.
oh & random but I got rid of facebook since I have last written; such a good choice! I will probably get back on in not too long, but not having the need to spend time on it or use it in class or who knows-I was just on it all the time! Now, I will write people on it, occasionally look at pictures, ect but the whole perspective has changed after not being on facebook and also being at camp away from tv and easily accessible internet. Basically, as Christians we are to strive to be people of excellence and the time spend on facebook was not doing what was best with the time given to me. Also, I want to really stop focusing soo much on things of this world! Entertainment of all sorts is so bad for me, and I can say that something isn't bad (necesarily sinful) but what is it hindering me from doing instead? I love country music, but I am really trying to not listen to secular music right now because if I am thinking about the things in the songs or humming/singing country songs-than my mind is consumed by things of this world, not by prayer or worship or a potentially uplifting conversation. In Hebrews 12, talking about throwing off everything that hinders-these are the things that hinder, things like facebook or country music that aren't evil but are not spurring me on to grow in Christ or accomplishing anything valuable in my life. Just working through a lot of similar thoughts, sorry for rambling rather than saying anything to intelligent sounding or having a good conclusion to this update.
Life is good. I am enjoying lots of summer outtings like rock climbing and Lake Michigan!
Peace and Love in Christ!!!

Lessons Learned

Last semester was a tough one for me. Not living at home for the summer brought tension with my parents, a WHOLE bunch of stuff happened with my church back home, many of those circumstances led my parents and other people I love to hurt like I have never seen before. While being at school, I did not know how to handle the situation. Also during this time I was confused with myself on a lot of things and just needed a time to clear my head and not view myself as a burden to everyone around me.
During this time, I did not enjoy who I was all that much, but I was able to experience Christ's faithfulness. He will never change or leave or disappoint. I guess that was a theme for fall 08 in my life > God's faithfulness.

Anyway, over winter break I was able to have a time of great renewal and feeling like myself again. I want to radiate His glory, but I often stuggle with socially finding time amid my studies. I hope that I will be able to find small ways to bless those around me, for His glory.

I am reading through the Bible again this year, it is good and bad for my devotional life. It means I take in a small amount of the Word each and every day, but this also means that for some reason I am less apt to jump into my small random studies about things that really change me. I need to continue spontaneous topical studies amid these readings.

Probably so far the one thing that has impacted me most this semester though is the idea of Christ VICTORIOUS! We sing all the time about "Jesus conquered the grave" but man, do we know what we are saying?!?
I read Mark 5 a while back and am still being impacted by the reality of this story. Verses 2-8 tell of a man possessed by a legion of demons so powerful that this man could not be contained! He could tear lose from iron chains!!! Satan and his demons are very very powerful, this cannot be forgotten.
Now, Jesus enters the scene, He steps out of a boat and the man sees Him from a distance...the man ran and fell at Jesus' feet and shouted "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't tortue me!"
First of all, these demons know who Jesus is--- & if that isn't enough, they immediately make the man fall at Christ's feet, declare His Lordship, and plead for His mercy!!!
This is utterly incredible.