Pictures!

African children are so cute.
The 2nd from the left is Amin's daughter, Gloria.

More colours.

Some more beautiful children.
The girl on the left was a wild and brilliant singer.

Christina braiding Melissa's hair.

The main road into town

Baby :)

Matthew and his camels.

This is Matthew showing us how to milk a camel.

Tarzan vine!

This is the waterfall we hiked up to.

Mobile clinic time!

To weigh the little kids, we would hang them up
in funny blue pants.

After weighing them, we would measure them.

The kids who were old enough would just hang on to the scale.

A lady making some beaded jewelry. They're all so talented!
I mean, look at the necklaces she's wearing!

Holding hands with little kids. One of my favourite parts about Africa.

Here are a few of the silly balloon hats we made at the party.

Some of the young women dressed up for the
biblestudy/purity talk we had with them.

HERE is the picture you have all been waiting for...
THE WARRIORS!
Okay, so we only got a sneaky picture of them while
we were sitting in the truck, but you get the picture.
Aren't they exciting?

Giraffe!!!

We sat and watched this herd of elephants for so long...

This is the monkey that pooped on Melissa's supper.

This is what Sara and Melissa looked like after
they took out their braids.

At the elephant orphanage.

And, these pictures are self explanatory:

Thank you all for your patience, prayers, comments, love, encouragement.
It's been a fun journey.
With Love,

-Team Kenya.

Pictures!

Dearest friends,

It has been a month and a half since we were in Kenya, and we still haven't put up any pictures for you to see! We are very sorry, but today is the day that will all change! Here are some pictures that will make some of the stories come to life. Enjoy!

Sara and Melissa with Amin and his family infront of their house.

(minus one daughter who couldn't get out of school for a picture)

This is the lovely vehicle we travelled in.

Amin with a brand new soccerball hat.

Lovely Gloria surrounded by some beautiful children.

Three Cheers for Team Kenya!
(Sara, Dieta, Melissa)

Language lessons with Amin!
We tried so hard to learn Samburu...

A women's meeting in the church.

Kids :)





Everyone hanging around talking after church.

This is the dispensary. The big building in the middle is the office
building where we would write to you from.

So we made it safely to Nairobi! Hooray.

The trip up here was pretty exciting...because we had 10 people squished into the back of the pickup...and three squished into the front. Ohh boy. On the second day we spent a few hours in the Samburu Game Park before we continued our trip. Matthew was with us and told us all about the different animals. We saw a herd of 27 elephants!!! We followed them around for a while and it was exciting watching them drink and play in the water. We also saw giraffes, gazelles, zebras, crocodiles, a monitor lizard, some really big ugly birds that were some sort of stork but looked like vultures, oryx, and many beautiful birds.

We were very fortunate to drive on paved roads for all of Sunday. On the way we stopped at the Trout Tree Restaurant for lunch. Oookay, this is the coolest restaurant we've ever seen! It's in a tree house! They have trout living in little pools behind the restaurant, so it's all fresh. They even have trout pizza, and there are monkeys living in the trees that look like an old man crossed with a skunk. So as Melissa was enjoying her whole grilled trout (yes, with the head and everything,) one of those silly monkeys pooped right on her head. The poop bounced off and just missed her plate. To top it all off, the monkey also stole her potato and fish bones. Silly pooping pirate monkey.

And now we are in Nairobi. We relaxed and bought groceries on Monday, and today Gloria had an all day meeting so we hired a taxi and went on an adventure. First stop, the elephant orphanage! It's an organization that rescues orphaned baby elephants from the wild. They currently have 19 little elephants living with them, all under 2 years. They raise them until they're ready to rejoin the wild elephants. When they're released back into the wild you can't even tell the difference because they raise them so well. Their keepers sleep with the babies and feed them milk every three hours. It was pretty exciting.
Next stop...the giraffe park! Wanda, you were right! It was definitely worth it. We got to feed giraffes these food pellets right out of our hands. And...yes...we all kissed the giraffe. We even talked Melissa into being kissed by the giraffe. If you put a piece of food between your lips it'll lick it right up. Yummy. They're tongues must be a foot long.

And now we are restless and just waiting to fly back home tomorrow night. Tomorrow will be another very relaxing day, possibly a trip to the market, and other than that...just trying to pass time. We'll be home soon guys! Hooray!

Goodbye Arsim...

Yesterday we ate supper with Amin's family. It was supposed to be lunch but...well, Amin and his wife decided they would slaughter a goat for us because guests are such a blessing. So Amin had a goat tied up, ready to be killed and eaten. Unfortunately one of his dogs was trying to play with the goat, which made the goat so nervous that he chewed through the rope and ran away! Amin spent some time chasing the goat around the bush, and by the time he caught the goat it was too late for lunch. But we enjoyed a lovely supper of goat stew, roasted goat, chapati and tea. It was actually really good! And there were puppies! Two little happy puppies that ate all our leftovers. So we ate food under the stars in the moonlight with friends and puppies in Africa. It was lovely.

On the drive back from a biblestudy yesterday we met a man named Matthew. He was talking to us about camels, and then he told us some Canadian students stayed at his home a few years ago: Alex, Joel, Marianne, and Kirstie. HEY! We know them! How exciting.

And that brings us to today...our last day in Arsim. We wanted to make the most of it. So we woke up at 6am, and headed off to Matthew's house at 6:30. He wanted to show us his camels and let us taste camel milk. Camels are very very strange animals. And the noises they make! Hahahah. And when they run....especially when the baby camels run. It's hilarious. They were all afraid of us...he said its because we're white. We all got to try milking a camel, and Matthew told us all sorts of interesting facts about how amazing God made camels. After he milked them all, it was time for us to "taste" the milk. He poured us each a full glass. Oh boy. And we had to finish it before we were allowed to drink tea! Turns out camel milk isn't that bad, although it was warm and frothy, fresh from the camel. Interesting. But we all got it down, and so far its staying down.

We have so much crammed into today. We already taught some bible lessons at the primary school, and we will have to do laundry and get packed for tomorrow and eat lunch with a family and teach piano lessons and go to a youth meeting and say goodbye and feel very sad.
I knew this would happen...as soon as we're about to leave we finally feel comfortable and want to stay. Ah well. We still have today! And it will be a very very good day.

Please pray for safety and sanity on our trip back. The road can be pretty sketchy and its easy to get stuck. And the truck is going to be packed with people. And we get pretty motion sick, and sore. But we get to stop at a game park and hopefully see lots of animals!

Okedokey. We'll talk to you again in a few days when we arrive in Nairobi.

Bye!

Yesterday we got to help out with a mobile clinic for a while. The dispensary has about 20 mobile clinic sites. They weigh and measure the babies and young kids to make sure they're growing properly, give immunizations, and make sure the nursing and pregnant mothers are healthy. We got to help weighing and measuring the kids. Most of the babies didn't like it and they cried a lot. It was cute. There were some very very small babies too... :)

Later we were all pretty bored, so we went outside and started tossing around this foam football we brought along. Kids slowly started joining in...it was pretty funny. They have no idea how to throw a football. By the end of it there were about 15 of us, and we played for over an hour. Footballs are fun because they don't require words. We don't have many Samburu words...

And today we went on one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on! Amin took us on a hike up to a swimming hole, about an hour and a half walk. Wow. We followed the river, climbing (and slipping) over rocks, enjoying the sun and the butterflies! They are EVERYWHERE! And everything was so green...and the sun was so nice...and there were tadpoles and fat caterpillars and cool lizards and butterflies. And it was magical. You guys should all be looking forward to seeing pictures. Africa is beautiful, but not very friendly. Everything seems to have thorns, or seems to be wayyyyy bigger than usual.
At the top there was a little waterfall that went into a pool. It was much shallower than usual, so we just waded around and sat in waterfalls. Sigh. Yes. It was perfect.
The walk back was a bit trecherous. We wanted to follow the river down the whole way instead of walking on the path...but Melissa is accident prone and would fall or get stuck every few feet. But never fear! Amin and his sturdy walking stick cleared the way and we made it home safely.

Only two full days left in Arsim! AHH! But they will be a good two days. We are having lunch with Amin's family tomorrow, and with his sister's family the next day, and there are all sorts of other fun things squished into those days too.

Oh yes, and you really can't get sick from soy sauce that expired 5 years ago. It just makes stir fry look really freaky. The canned peas and dried soy meat chunks didn't help either. We stuck the dish outside so something else could finish it...and the monkeys stole our bowl.
We also have an adopted cat...we call him leftover cat. He's scraggly and grey and Sara is afraid of him, but Dieta likes him a lot, and he eats our leftovers without stealing the bowl like the monkeys.

The End.

Hellooooo every body!

Here's a few stories for you from Kenya.

On Saturday we helped Gloria throw a party for the dispensary staff and their families. Early that morning we saw a man bringing three goats past our house. We found out that was lunch! Sara and Melissa are not big goat fans...but Dieta thinks goat tastes great. Melissa just didn't want to hear the poor goats dying. Traditionally, the Samburu suffocate their animals to kill them, and talk to them the whole time, something like "I'm sorry that I have to kill you but I'm really hungry..." But there were going to be a few Muslims at the party, so the goats were killed the Muslim way, with a knife.
We had all sorts of fun at the party: water balloon toss, musical chairs, potato sack races, three legged races, tug-o-war. All of these took place on the gravel driveway, and all the kids were barefoot! Kids here are tough. We brought some long balloons with us, so Dieta made very silly balloon hats for all the little kids. When we put hats on the first few kids everyone couldn't stop laughing at how funny it was.
The party was great because it broke the ice with all the kids, and it was great having a chance just to hang out with the people. Community! Manyera! (Thats how you would say it in Samburu. Ke supati el manyera? = how's your community doing?)
Later on Saturday evening we ate the hugest sweet potato we have ever seen for supper, and Dieta made lefse. In Africa! Hooray!

We brought three soccer balls along with us because we heard that everyone loves playing soccer in Africa. A few days ago Amin, our faithful tour guide/teacher/translator/friend told us that he had just been elected coach for the town's soccer team. We told him we brought some soccer balls that he could use, so he invited us to a game on Sunday afternoon.
It turns out this was a bigger deal than we thought. No one in town had a soccer ball, and Amin was wondering how he was going to teach soccer with out balls to practice with. The soccer game started out with a meeting to introduce the new soccer team, and to thank us for blessing them with the balls. They were so greatful! They had been praying about the soccer team and then we showed up with what they needed. Pretty cool. God's pretty awesome. Then they played soccer, we watched and played with the kids, and tried to be sneaky and get a good picture of a warrior (they're so cool...) but we failed. Thats our goal for this week. Picture of a warrior.

Last week we went for a hike. Sara forgot sunscreen and Dieta used expired sunscreen, so they both burned pretty bad. Their burns have just started peeling...which is something you don't see very often in Africa. Everyone is shocked when they see our peeling skin, and we have to assure them that we're fine and it doesn't hurt...and some of the kids help pick off the dead skin. Hehe. Funny kids.

We're still trying to learn the language...but its so hard. Melissa and Dieta are teaching piano lessons. Thats pretty funny, but they seem to be getting it. Tomorrow we get help with a mobile clinic...weighing babies and things like that. Woohoo!
There's just a few more days left in Arsim...and we're squishing quite a bit into those days. The best times are when we're just hanging out drinking tea with one of the families in town.

Please pray for...strength and patience. Energy. Pray that discomfort won't distract us from fully enjoying our time here. And continue praying for health.
Ashe Oleng (thankyou!)

Cooking with Team Kenya

Beet-Loaf

2 cans of corned beef
1/2 c. crushed cornflakes
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 egg
Pepper & garlic to taste
1 can of beets
Ketchup

Mix beef, cornflakes, onion, egg, pepper, and garlic together.
Put on greased cookie sheet. Mould into the shape of a beetle.
Cover in ketchup.
Using beets, create the beetle's legs, eyes, spots, antenna, etc.

Bake at 350 degrees until it looks good.
Enjoy

Note: Do not add salt. Cannned corned beef is very salty.
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Mayo Surprise

Maybe 2 cups of chopped boiled potatoes
2 cans tuna
3 boiled eggs

dressing:
1 c. mayonaise
2 tbsp mustard
2 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp sugar
Pepper

Mix the dressing together, pour it over everything else. Yummy.

Note: pickles would have been a nice touch, but we didn't have any.
____________________________________________________

Note: You really can't make jello without a fridge!

Home Stay

Well, we've been in Kenya for just about a week now. Crazy! So much has happened in this past week, but we only have a short amount of time on this computer, so I'll keep it short to one story.
Last night we had the privelege of being able to stay with a family from Arsim in their home. The house was made up of branches woven together with plastic sacks overtop to keep any rain out. The house a small circular shape, I could almost stand up straight, but I am about 5'4". So any normal person would had trouble standing up straight. :) It was maybe about fifteen feet in diameter. Inside the house was dark and smoky because they had a small cooking fire. The woman that we stayed with has eight children, and they all sleep in the house every night.
It was fun to get to know some new people, and also to interact with some of the children. The kids knew that we are trying to learn some of the language, so they gave us a lesson on how to pronounce different body parts. Most of the time they just laughed at us because we couldn't pronounce things right. It was fun!
So, things are going well here. We are tired, but still eager to learn. We will hopefully post more soon.
Melissa

Zebras and elephants and gazelles, oh my!

Supa! (Hello!)

We arrived in Arsim (which hardly anyone has heard of) a few days ago. Hooray! The ride was very bumpy, and very exciting. (Our buttocks are very strong now) We rode in the back of the truck with our two new friends, Amine and Peter. Bob and Jean Ward were also traveling with us. They first started the work here in Arsim many years ago, and came with us for a visit.
It was a long trip but there was so much to look at! We saw gazelles, zebras, dik diks, buffalo, cranes, ostriches, monkeys, giraffes and elephants! We drove through many small villages and got to see how the people here live. It was a good introduction to Africa.

So we've been in Arsim for a day and a half, and we love it! The people are lively and energetic. We went to church yesterday and received a warm welcome from all the people. Church is so exciting here! They sing all the time and the songs are very rhythmic, with lots of clapping.

We've found out a bit more about what we'll be doing here. We'll be going to many of the bible studies they have, and leading some...teaching guitar, piano, and computer lessons. We take Samburu lessons from Amine every morning, and are slowly learning the language. On thursday we'll be doing a homestay for a night with a Samburu family, and possibly throwing a party for some of the families on Saturday.

On Friday, as we were packing all of our food into the truck, Gloria told us that she just heard that there was no food in Arsim or the surrounding towns. We felt sick to our stomachs looking at how much food we were bringing, while the people we were going to see had none. Every meal we have so much to eat here, and then we go to church and shake hands with everyone else who is probably starving. It's frustrating, confusing, hmmm. Our feelings are taking over our thinnking...

However, last night some emergency food did come in and I think they're cooking up a goat right now to feed some of the women and children. God provides. Every time we walk out our door there are people waiting to sell us things, to make a bit of money. It's hard to say no to them. And we're unsure what to do about all the people asking us for money for surgery and medical treatment.

So, thats where we're at right now. Confused and tired but, enjoying everything and learning a lot. Keep praying for us and for all the people here in Arsim.

Until next time...

We are really not yelling.

The three of us just had a team meeting and we need to apologize for all the capital letters. Dieta has been typing these blogs, and she uses CAPITAL LETTERS to add EMPHASIS in SENTENCES! When Sara and Melissa read this, they imagine yelling. We are not actually yelling at you. We have realized that a more appropriate method will be purple letters. Whenever you see purple letters, please add emphasis and excitement to your tone of voice.
Lets try it out:

Once upon a time as Sara, Dieta, and Melissa were on a plane from Seattle to Amsterdam on their way to Kenya, Dieta started to feel pretty sick. As they waited for their huge plane to take off, she noticed that the barf bags on Delta Airlines were very high quality. They were made out of plastic instead of paper, and had a handy adhesive strip to seal the bag. Good thing, because a few hours into the flight the bag was her best friend. Sara looked over and saw Dieta trying to sleep cradling the bag in her arms. She knew something was not right. HOOOUGHAAALLALLA. (notice the purple and caps. This means screaming and emphasis.) This is what Dieta sounded like as she filled up the high quality barf bag. Several passengers could not care less that she was spilling her cookies into a bag, they really had to pee. So they pushed pass her, bumping into her poor little sick head as she was leaning into the aisle, filling a second faithful bag. Don't worry! The flight attendants took good care of her and after a little nap she happily enjoyed her meal of chicken and rice cakes.

The end.

Here we are! This is Team Kenya in KENYA!

Hello dear friends and family.
We just took a lovely picture of us in Africa so you could all see us...but we can't plug the camera in to the computer. Sorry :) But imagine this:
It's nice and warm outside, and the birds are singing beautiful songs (or sometimes strange honking noises) to us through our window. The sun is shining, everything is green, and the flowers are big and beautiful.
So we made it to Kenya. The rest of our trip was smooth, but very long and sleepy. There were many possibilities for things to go wrong, but they didn't! As soon as we stepped off the plane in Nairobi we could tell we were in Africa. It felt like a sauna at first, but we have adapted. Gloria met us with enthusiasm and we breathed a sigh of relief.
Right now we are staying at the Hampton House, a place for missionaries to stay, sort of like a motel.
Earlier today the three of us went shopping for groceries to last us the whole two weeks that we will be in Arsim. TWO WEEKS OF GROCERIES! It was slightly stressful. We won't have a fridge so we stocked up on canned food and dried stuff. Yum. Who knows what concoctions will emerge from our kitchen.
Nairobi is a very big city. The traffic is INSANE! It seems like there's four cars squished into two lanes of traffic, with people walking in and out as they please, others trying to sell magazines, pirated dvds, sunglasses, or socks.On top of all that there are constant horns honking and even an explosion. We drive around in a land rover pickup truck. Two of us sit in the back, feeling like caged animals. We technically aren't allowed to sit back there..."pickups are for carrying things, not people!"
Tomorrow morning we will begin the two day drive to Arsim, in the back of the truck, along with two other people and a whole lot of stuff. It will be a very long and bumpy ride. Please pray that the roads will be passable, if it rains tonight they may flood.
We're all feeling pretty good. We aren't suffereing too much from jetlag, and we are all anxious to get started.
Thankyou for your prayers, support, and comments. It's very encouraging!

Talk to you later, in Arsim.

From Dieta Melissa and Sara.

SEATTLE!

Hello everybody!
So after staying up all night we arrived at the Edmonton airport at 4am. The line moved quickly until we got our tickets and started going through customs and security! Yikes! We were only allowed one tiny carry on bag, TINY! Consisting of almost NOTHING. We stuffed our pockets with the things we wanted to keep and went through customs, and then through security, where we each got a very personal check...VERY personal. But in the end they decided we were safe and we got on our tiny plane just in time. It was a very stressful, very sleepy morning. But now we are in Seattle where it is beautiful and rainy and there is no snow. One step closer to Kenya.
Our flight is currently on time, and we have a few hours to kill in the airport. So we found an internet kiosk, so we could talk to you.
We miss you all dearly.
Keep praying for us, for safety and rest and health! And that we'll learn to trust God because he's here right beside us, at this internet booth, and he wants us to go to Kenya.

We'll keep you all updated.

From Dieta, Melissa, and Sara.

YAY!

Hooray we're leaving in 11 hours!!!