Home Again

Well I arrived back in Canada today safe and sound.  My trip home was long but very uneventful which was nice.  It is good to be home but it does feel weird.  I am looking forward to a long shower and to bed early for a good nights sleep.

Thank you all again for following along.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers along the way.  It has meant a lot.

May you all feel God's continued blessings.
Carla

Last Night

Well I sit here on my last night not really believing it is true.  It is an odd feeling that I don’t know how to explain.  So much has happened over these three months, most of all God’s faithfulness.  There have been many trials that God has walked me through and I feel like a different person because of them.  The good times have been too many to count and sharing them will take some time but I can’t wait to share all that has gone on.  It will take time but once again I know God will continue to give me the strength I need to start the next part of my life.

I also had another chance to have time with my little Claire.  I just could not keep the attached picture to myself.  It brought much joy on my last full day.

The final picture is just one of the beautiful looks at Kenya that I will miss.  God and his creation are so amazing.  All around is his handy work.  And I will miss the work he has done in Kenya.  I have said that it feels like I am leaving home to go home.  I will spend Sunday at church in the morning and then off to Nairobi.  It will be hard to drive away but will look forward to seeing home.

Thank you all for following me on this journey.  It has been wonderful for you to follow along.  I will post again once I am home as soon as I can.

God’s richest blessings to you all.

One Week Left

One week and counting.  I don’t think it has totally hit me yet that is one week I will be getting on a plane and heading home.  I think the real reality will hit when I get home.  On Tuesday night my pastor Sean and Phil arrived in Kenya.  It was so good to see someone from home.  We spent the night in Nairobi and then headed to PACE on Wednesday.  Once here we relaxed and had supper.  We will spend most of week visiting local pastors and PACE.  We got a chance hang out with the little ones so that was nice.  I always think that it could be my last time with them so I take in every moment.

I have started to pack which again is odd as I pack up three months of my life.  There is a lot of reflecting as I go through things.  I continue to be encouraged that God has all my plans laid out for me.  I just need to trust in him and wait for his leading.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

The Count Down is on

It seems like a long time since I posted something.  It has been a busy week.  There was a team that came to PACE from the U.S.  This kept us busy as there were activities every day.  I was privileged to go on a one safari with the team.  At least it felt like a privilege when we left.  We were only in the park for about an hour and a half before both of the vehicles got stuck in the mud.  Normally suck in the mud is okay but when you are stuck in the mud with wild animal wander around it makes it a little more interesting.  There was some panicking going on as it took almost four hours to get unstuck and back to the front gate.  It was defiantly an experience I will not forget. 

I was able to spend some time with the high school kids and speak to each of their classes (grade 9 & 10).  I talked a little about my life and what God has shown me and tried to encourage them in knowing that God is there source of strength.  It is hard to say how they felt as they don’t and didn’t talk a lot.  This in normal and I was not expecting a lot from them as it is not easy for them to share.  After talking with the high school kids I went and spent some time with the nursery kids (age 3-5).   I was gifted before I left with some clown balloons.  So I gave these to the kids.  It was a blessing for sure.

There is less than two weeks left here in Kenya.  There are many emotions that I am feeling as I look to say goodbye and also prepare to come back home.  I have described it as leaving home to go home.  It has been such a blessed time here with lots of learning and growing.  Today I go to pick up my pastor Sean and Phil at the airport.  I am really looking forward to seeing someone from home and showing them around my other home.

I was also blessed to be able to spend time with little Claire. This is a girl that I got to know and love the first time I was here.  She is a beautiful child and if you could hear her laugh you would fall in love as well.

I have been reading through the Psalms while I have been here and have been reminded that we need to praise God in all we do no matter good or bad.  There are many promises of his goodness for us when we seek him first.  This has helped me so much as I continue to lean on him more and more every day.

Could it be . . . Another blessed time

One might think that it would soon stop but it has not.  The blessings just keep coming.  Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to take Pastor Mugo (one of the local pastors) and his family to Nakuru for the day.  We had a few main goals for the day.  To see were Pastor Mugo and his family will be building a house this year and to take the daughters swimming which they have never done.  Nakuru is about an hour and bit away from where I am.  We left by 9:00am by way of matatu which is their way of getting from place to place.  It is like a van but it is packed fuller then it should be with people.  We were only traveling for about 25 minutes when there was an issue with one of the tires.  So we stopped in one of the small towns in hopes go fix it.  After about 15-20 minutes it was fixed and we were on our way.  We made our first stop shortly before town.  Then we got on motor bikes for the rest of the travel to see the land that they will be building their house on.  Once we were done there we took the bikes back to the main road and got into another matatu to make are way to down town Nakuru.  Once there we did some walking around and stopped for some tea and a little something to eat.  After that we did a little more walking and then found were we wanted to go to swimming.  We found a pool at a hotel that was going to work.  Only one of the girls was brave enough to go in.  Going in water tends to be a very scary thing here when you have never been in it.  The water was a bit cold but that did not mater.  Once we got use the water I showed her a few things and once she got some confidence she was off and loving every minute of it.  She could not keep the smile off of her face.  It was such a joy to be a part of.  Once she had more confidence I took a swim to the deep end.  That just amazed everyone.  They tend to really hit the water with their hands and feet and when I swam there was not splashing.  It brought another smile to my face.  Once we were done swimming we went to get something to eat at another hotel.  At the end of lunch it started to rain (which it does know every day).  So we went and sat in the lobby of the hotel hoping the rain would stop soon and we could start our way home.  While we were waiting the girls noticed the elevator (or lift as they call it here).  It was glass elevator that looked out to the lobby.  I asked if they had ever been on one and they had not.  So I offered to take them on.  The youngest girl has some fear but her parents encouraged her to try.  There was six floors so we went up to the top.  The youngest held on to me tight the whole time.  It was another experience that they will not forget.  Once the rain slowed down we made our way to pick up a matatu to head home.  I arrived at the house around 6:30.  I was told many times through the day how blessed they are to have this experience but I am not sure who was more blessed them or myself.  My heart was defiantly overflowing by the time I got home.

Another Blessed Time

This weekend for Saturday and Sunday I had an opportunity to go with Wachira and 50 of the kids from his church to Naivasha for some fun time away.  It is about 1 ½ hours away.  We stared out at 8:00 and did not get there until 12:30.  Let’s just say that there was lots of stops that needed to be made along the way.  We would normally have the food we were taking purchased before we left.  In this case it was not so we had to make a few stops to pick up what we needed.  In Naivasha we stayed at a church.  Once we got there the kids unpacked there things and put them in the rooms they were sleeping in.  The girls slept in one big room and the boys in the other on the floor.  Wachira and myself were going to stay and a close by guest house for the night.  Once the kids were unpacked we headed to a local park that had a swimming pool for the kids to go swimming.  I was reminded again how much joy is brought to these kids with not much effort made.  We were at the pool for almost two hours.  Even though the kids were cold in the water the wanted to be swimming.  We headed back around 3:00 for lunch.  This consisted of Ugali (flour and water cooked), cabbage and some meat in broth.  I had a little Ugali with broth on it (gives it some taste) and some cabbage.  After lunch we went to the local market to purchase some sugar cain for the kids to have later.  I had never tried it before.  It was good but I thought it would taste sweeter than it did.  Once it was purchased we headed to Lake Naivasha.  It is a beautiful area that is surrounded by animals which included giraffes and wildebeests.   The kids went to see the lake and then we eat the sugar cain did some walking and then headed back to the church.  Supper still needed to be made.  As a treat they were making Chapatti for all the kids.  They wanted them to have two each which meant over one hundred needed to be made.   As you may remember from my other blog and the way they are made it is not a quick process.  So I joined the efforts in rolling them out.  It was good to help.  Myself and Wachira had something to eat around 8:30 as we need to be at the guest house by 9:00.  Along with the chapatti we had beans and cabbage.  Once we were done we head to the guest house for the night. 

On Sunday we were at church.  Frist was the English service and then the Kiswahili service.  It total I was in church from 9:00 to 2:00.  After church we had lunch (beans, cabbage and rice) and then headed home.  There was a bus and van that brought everyone.  On the way down I was in the bus but on the way home I was in the van.  We started off good.  Then when we were just coming into the first town we got a flat tire.  So it was changed and the spare was put on which was not a real tire.  Once that was done we carried on in hopes that the tire would make it.  We were going along smoothly when we heard something dragging.  We pulled over and took time to “fix” what was dragging.  Again we started driving in hopes that nothing else would go wrong.  As we got closer to home we saw that they had lots of rain.  When we turned on the road to PACE we discovered that it was flooded over.  So then a decision had to be made.  Do we try and take some back roads which would take longer and could be worse or do we try and drive through it.  I could see people walking through it and it was knee high.  They decided to drive through it.  I have some good video it.  We made it with little issue but I was not sure.  It was a good weekend and another experience that I will not forget especially as my time is drawing to an end in four weeks.

God's Goodness

This weekend I had an opportunity to spend in Nairobi.  We left early Friday morning and arrived there around 9:30.  Our first stop was at a place called village market.  It is a big mall that also hosts a Masai Market.  Masai is one of the tribes here in Kenya.  The market is huge with lots of vendors.  One thing to know about these types of markets is that when they see white skin they really want your business and will do what they can to get it.  They can be in your face and come to you requesting that you come and see their goods.  The first lesson is not to touch anything unless you are interested in buying it.  If they see you looking or touching they will really incest that you buy.  When I was first there it was going fairly well but after about 40 mins I was done and needed a break and I had not seen everything.  I took a break had some lunch and then Joanie and myself headed back in.  We spent about another 40 mins going through the market.  Everything is also bartered.  And that part is exhausting in itself and they can give you many stories about how they need to feed their families.  Once we were done we met up with Joanie’s friend for supper.  She was also the person we were going to be spending the weekend with.
Saturday morning we were up and going early to visit the Nairobi National Park.  It is a park that you drive through and hope to see some animals.  There had been sightings of lions the day before so we were hoping to be able to see them.  We started off slow with not seeing too much.  Then we came a pone three female lions and one male.  They were not that fare from the road.  It was so amazing to see them up close.  We sat there for some time and then they got up and moved.  We only drove a short distance from there and we came a pone two more male lions that were on the road.  It was amazing.  One come over and sat right beside our car.  He was so beautiful.  We drove a little further and saw some giraffes.  These are my favourite.  In total we saw about 5 of them.  It was great.  On the way out of the park we reflected on how wonderful God’s creation really is and all that he has made.
From there we went to the elephant orphanage.  This is a place that was started by a couple many years ago.  They take in baby elephants that have been left due to losing their mothers either to natural causes or from poachers.  They are taken in and cared for 24 hours a day.  They have keepers that stay with them even while they sleep.  Most of the elephants are fairly depressed when they come in as they morn their loss.  At fours years old they start the process of putting them back into the wild.  We spent about an hour there as they brought out the elephants and told us the story of how they got to be with them.  Once again it was amazing to be a part of the wonderful things that are being done in this country.  This place also currently has two rhino’s that are staying with them.  One they are working with to be put back into the wild.  The second one is blind and will spend the rest of its life there as it would not survive in the wild.
When we were done there we had some lunch and then went to the giraffe centre.  This is a place that you can go to and have a chance to feed the giraffes.  If you are also brave enough you can put the food in your mouth and have them give you a kiss as they take the food.  I was brave enough.  It was so cool to be this close to them and to see more of their beauty.
After spending some time there we moved on to our last spot for the day.  It was a show were they do many different tribal dances.  The music and dancing was amazing.   There was also a group that did acrobats.  They were really amazing.  The show lasted almost two hours.  It was good to see some more of the culture.
Then we treated ourselves to pizza made in a wood heated oven.  It was a good end to a great day.  We reflected many times on how wonderful God’s creation was and on how all the details have been put together for great purpose.
On Sunday we attended church in the morning.  It was more of a western style service.  It was good to be able to sing along with the songs as it was all in English.  I have not done that since I got here.  It was a blessed time and I was glad to be able to have had the opportunity to worship there.  When church was over we had some lunch and then headed home.
Though it was a busy weekend and we were tired by the end it was a great to be able to take the time to do these things and to see more of this country.  God is good.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18