"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" ~Ephesians 4:1-2
Showing tolerance for one another...in love...I'm not very good at that. Not only am I not very good at that, I sometimes make it hard for other people to do that. I am probably not the only person that feels this way, but I require a lot of patience and tolerance. If you are going to be my friend, you have to have patience. I would love to be the kind of person that you love to have around, but sometimes its hard enough to just tolerate me.
I am not saying this to be down on myself, although it sure sounds that way. I read this verse this morning, and it hit me hard. I want to be that person. I want to walk every step of my life in a manner worthy of the calling that I have. I want to be a woman of humility and gentleness, patience and tolerance...a woman of love. Anything less than that is not what I have been called to.
So, how can I grow in humility, gentleness, patience and tolerance? The answer to that question hit me like a ton of bricks, and actually made me laugh out loud...the after-school program!!! The after-school program was once my passion and the one thing I looked forward to more than anything else. However, because of a bunch of different things, the after-school program has become the most challenging thing that I do. And I have to do it every day. Alone. There are many days that I want to quit, and many more days that I dread 3:00.
The truth is, though, the fact that its hard doesn't make it bad. I have been throwing around the idea of not having after-school again next year, and I am still very seriously considering it. However, those thoughts were making it even harder to get through each day now. I started to get excited about where God might take me next year, and completely lost sight of where He has me now. Regardless of what He has for me and after-school in the future, I know I'm all in for now. I wish I could say that I am 100% excited about the rest of this year, but I'm honestly not. In order for me to grow in humility, gentleness, patience and tolerance, I have to be challenged in those areas. Believe me, I am challenged in each of those areas every day at after-school...and I have a long way to go.
Today was actually the first "normal" day that I have had in a while. I didn't have any trips to the hospital to make (I forgot to mention that Travis was released from the hospital yesterday and is doing well! Keep praying, though, he is still pretty weak, though the malaria is gone for good!), I wasn't in Africa, and all my regular stuff is back in full swing. My house is clean, I'm caught up on my work, after-school and Kids Club went well and overall things seem pretty good. I have also been able to spend some good time with Bonita and Linda, and I just love those girls! I do still need to clean my car, which I will hopefully have time for tomorrow.
I have consistently heard the word "persevere" in my quiet times over the last few months, and I know that's what I need to do. It was very easy to do that today, we only had 5 kids at after-school. They all did their homework quickly and played together well the rest of the time. It was a great day! We'll see what tomorrow holds...
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Exhausted!
I can not believe how exhausted I am feeling. I am feeling physically exhausted, but I think that is caused by the spiritual and emotional exhaustion that I am feeling. I haven't been doing much physical activity, and I have actually been getting a good amount of sleep at night. My days are filled just with so much! Its not that I am worried about Travis at all. I know that the Lord is taking care of him. But, that doesn't make it any easier to watch him suffer. He has been so sick for the past 3 days, and all I can do it sit and watch and pray. I know in my head that praying is the best thing for him, but its just so hard to not be able to do anything. I just want him to get better!
Today he is feeling (and looking) much better. I haven't spent a lot of time at the hospital...I think after 3 full weeks in Africa with me, and 2 days stuck with me in the hospital he could use a break. We were hoping he would be able to go home tomorrow, but they are thinking Tuesday or Wednesday now. His red and white blood cell counts got pretty low. They are rising, but the doctors want to make sure they stay that way before releasing him. Plus, he is just now starting to barely eat, and they want him to be able to eat a good amount as well as stay hydrated before sending him home. I am really praying for Tuesday, I know he is ready to get out of the hospital!
On a different note, my house is clean! Well, not exactly clean, but it is cleaner and I can live with it being this way for a little while until I can find the time to really clean. I finally unpacked everything from my trip and washed and folded all my clothes. Everything isn't put away where it should be (my bedroom door will stay closed for a while, haha), but my house is at least presentable. My car on the other hand...hopefully I will have time for that tomorrow. Today was the first day in over a week that I have been home when I'm not working or sleeping. That could be why I am so tired as well, haha.
I actually just finished making dinner and I think Frankie is coming over with the girls so we can eat together. I am heading to church at 6:30 for membership classes. I'm going to head to the hospital one last time after that, just to make sure Travis has everything he needs (and some gifts and cards people have made for him) and then I will crash for the night. Tomorrow looks like a really full day with a lot of work, hospital visits, after-school and God Squad. Don't worry, though, as exhausted as I feel, I'm actually doing really well. I have spent the vast majority of the last 3 days in intense prayer, which means I have been at the feet of my Jesus, and that feels SO GOOD! So, don't worry about me, my man is taking care of me, hehe.
Today he is feeling (and looking) much better. I haven't spent a lot of time at the hospital...I think after 3 full weeks in Africa with me, and 2 days stuck with me in the hospital he could use a break. We were hoping he would be able to go home tomorrow, but they are thinking Tuesday or Wednesday now. His red and white blood cell counts got pretty low. They are rising, but the doctors want to make sure they stay that way before releasing him. Plus, he is just now starting to barely eat, and they want him to be able to eat a good amount as well as stay hydrated before sending him home. I am really praying for Tuesday, I know he is ready to get out of the hospital!
On a different note, my house is clean! Well, not exactly clean, but it is cleaner and I can live with it being this way for a little while until I can find the time to really clean. I finally unpacked everything from my trip and washed and folded all my clothes. Everything isn't put away where it should be (my bedroom door will stay closed for a while, haha), but my house is at least presentable. My car on the other hand...hopefully I will have time for that tomorrow. Today was the first day in over a week that I have been home when I'm not working or sleeping. That could be why I am so tired as well, haha.
I actually just finished making dinner and I think Frankie is coming over with the girls so we can eat together. I am heading to church at 6:30 for membership classes. I'm going to head to the hospital one last time after that, just to make sure Travis has everything he needs (and some gifts and cards people have made for him) and then I will crash for the night. Tomorrow looks like a really full day with a lot of work, hospital visits, after-school and God Squad. Don't worry, though, as exhausted as I feel, I'm actually doing really well. I have spent the vast majority of the last 3 days in intense prayer, which means I have been at the feet of my Jesus, and that feels SO GOOD! So, don't worry about me, my man is taking care of me, hehe.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Still Sick...
Its about 9:45 p.m. and I have been at the hospital since about 7:00 this morning. Travis is still here, and although they say that he is responding to the treatment, he isn't feeling any better yet. The bad news is that he has the most severe of the 4 kinds of malaria. The good news is that it is not a liver dwelling kind, which means that there is no chance of recurrence once this is treated. So, he has to suffer through a lot right now, but once he gets past this it should be over for good.
When I say suffer, I am not exaggerating. Malaria absolutely sucks. Travis looks and feels horrible all the time and there seems to be nothing we can do about it but wait for the medicine to work. His fever got up to 105 last night, but hasn't gotten even close to that high since. Unfortunately, that further dehydrated him, which is what makes him feel so bad. Plus, he can't eat anything, but his stomach isn't happy about that. Please pray for him! I remember what it felt like to be that sick, and describing it with words doesn't do it justice. I just want God to come and heal his body and restore him!!!
I am actually learning a lot about malaria through this, including some things I had wrong. The strand of malaria that I have is a liver dwelling kind, which means that while I was treated 3 years ago, that only killed the parasite that was in my blood stream. There is still a parasite living in my liver that can come out and attack at any point. Since I have already battled this parasite, my immune system is somewhat ready for another attack. So, if the parasite launches a small offensive, I will get sick for a short time, but my immune system will take care of it (which has happened a few times). However, there is always the possibility that the parasite will again try to bring all out war, which would require going to the hospital again. The threat of "malaria war" will always be there for me, which stinks, but I know how to fight it, so it isn't too bad. I had previously though that the malaria got into my liver because it took over 3 months to diagnose, but that was wrong. Even if it had been caught immediately, I would still have it in my liver. Still, the misdiagnosis cause me to suffer for 3 months! Watching Travis for the past few days makes me wonder how in the world I survived!
Well, needless to say, my house is still a mess and I have no plans to clean it anytime soon. I will probably go home tonight to sleep, but will be back at the hospital for most of the day tomorrow...at least until Travis starts to feel normal. I get the feeling he isn't too excited about me being around, but I don't like leaving him alone right now. Once he actually looks and feels like he is recovering, I'll feel much better. For now, though, I will sit in his room and pray...and we'll see what the Healer of bodies and hearts wants to do.
When I say suffer, I am not exaggerating. Malaria absolutely sucks. Travis looks and feels horrible all the time and there seems to be nothing we can do about it but wait for the medicine to work. His fever got up to 105 last night, but hasn't gotten even close to that high since. Unfortunately, that further dehydrated him, which is what makes him feel so bad. Plus, he can't eat anything, but his stomach isn't happy about that. Please pray for him! I remember what it felt like to be that sick, and describing it with words doesn't do it justice. I just want God to come and heal his body and restore him!!!
I am actually learning a lot about malaria through this, including some things I had wrong. The strand of malaria that I have is a liver dwelling kind, which means that while I was treated 3 years ago, that only killed the parasite that was in my blood stream. There is still a parasite living in my liver that can come out and attack at any point. Since I have already battled this parasite, my immune system is somewhat ready for another attack. So, if the parasite launches a small offensive, I will get sick for a short time, but my immune system will take care of it (which has happened a few times). However, there is always the possibility that the parasite will again try to bring all out war, which would require going to the hospital again. The threat of "malaria war" will always be there for me, which stinks, but I know how to fight it, so it isn't too bad. I had previously though that the malaria got into my liver because it took over 3 months to diagnose, but that was wrong. Even if it had been caught immediately, I would still have it in my liver. Still, the misdiagnosis cause me to suffer for 3 months! Watching Travis for the past few days makes me wonder how in the world I survived!
Well, needless to say, my house is still a mess and I have no plans to clean it anytime soon. I will probably go home tonight to sleep, but will be back at the hospital for most of the day tomorrow...at least until Travis starts to feel normal. I get the feeling he isn't too excited about me being around, but I don't like leaving him alone right now. Once he actually looks and feels like he is recovering, I'll feel much better. For now, though, I will sit in his room and pray...and we'll see what the Healer of bodies and hearts wants to do.
Pray for Travis
I am exhausted! I ended up taking Travis to the Emergency Room this morning around 11:00. He has been exhibiting the same symptoms that I had 3 years ago when I got malaria, so we were pretty sure that's what it was. We got to the hospital around 11:30, waited in the waiting room until 1 and then finally got to see a doctor. The didn't have any beds in a room, so they put us in the hallway! Travis went up and down, feeling horrible and then better, and then horrible again. He was pretty dehydrated as well, which made him feel worse. There were a couple of times today that he looked absolutely horrible. I wasn't too worried, but it wasn't easy seeing him like that. We ended up staying in the hallway until they decided to admit him and found him a room...which was about 10:30 p.m. When we got to his room the doctor came in and said that Travis definitely does have malaria. They aren't sure which strand he has, which is what they are trying to figure out now. They started him on aggressive anti-malaria treatment, and will get more specific with the treatment when they figure out which strand he has (thankfully, there wasn't a lot in his system, but it also means that its going to be harder to diagnose the specific strand).
So, Travis is going to be in the hospital until at least Monday, which is exactly what happened with me. Unfortunately, his grandfather's funeral is on Sunday, so he will have to miss that. His parents are handling it all really well, praying for him and trusting the Lord to take care of him. I know this can't be easy for any of them.
I'm actually on my way to bed; I just got home! I am getting up early and heading back to the hospital. There were a few times today that the doctors and nurses forgot about Travis, so I don't like the idea of him not having someone there with him (especially since he gets kind of out of it when he gets really sick). Please keep praying for Travis and his family! The good thing is, since the malaria was caught early they will be able to kill it for good and he won't have it forever. Thank you Lord!
So, Travis is going to be in the hospital until at least Monday, which is exactly what happened with me. Unfortunately, his grandfather's funeral is on Sunday, so he will have to miss that. His parents are handling it all really well, praying for him and trusting the Lord to take care of him. I know this can't be easy for any of them.
I'm actually on my way to bed; I just got home! I am getting up early and heading back to the hospital. There were a few times today that the doctors and nurses forgot about Travis, so I don't like the idea of him not having someone there with him (especially since he gets kind of out of it when he gets really sick). Please keep praying for Travis and his family! The good thing is, since the malaria was caught early they will be able to kill it for good and he won't have it forever. Thank you Lord!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
In the News
I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to give you the links to all the media attention we have been getting.
Here is a link to the article in the Philly news about our new "Miracle House":
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/16531491.htm
And here is the link to the article about me in the South Boston newspaper:
http://www.thenewsrecord.com/trishtreed.htm
Today was another really busy day and I am absolutely exhausted from the week. Teen Club started up again tonight. It went well and was pretty uneventful, but I can already tell that this is going to be a challenging ministry for me. Teen Club is our outreach to teens, so the teens that come are not all believers, yet. I am not used to being surrounded by the attitudes that are at Teen Club. Add to that the fact that I am really shy and there are a lot of teens there that I don't already know....and you can see how Teen Club will be interesting. There were very few leaders that tonight, however, so I know I am needed...and I always like challenges. We'll see how it goes!
I'm off to bed now and tomorrow is supposed to be my day off. I am feeling really tired and worn out from the week, so although I am hoping to get a lot of house work done, I don't know if I actually will. Please pray for Travis right now, he has been really sick all week. He is having flu-like symptoms, which incidentally are the same symptoms as malaria. If he is still sick tomorrow I am taking him to the hospital. His grandfather is really sick as well and they aren't expecting him to live through the night, which means that in addition to being sick he will have to travel to North Carolina this weekend for the funeral.
Here is a link to the article in the Philly news about our new "Miracle House":
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/16531491.htm
And here is the link to the article about me in the South Boston newspaper:
http://www.thenewsrecord.com/trishtreed.htm
Today was another really busy day and I am absolutely exhausted from the week. Teen Club started up again tonight. It went well and was pretty uneventful, but I can already tell that this is going to be a challenging ministry for me. Teen Club is our outreach to teens, so the teens that come are not all believers, yet. I am not used to being surrounded by the attitudes that are at Teen Club. Add to that the fact that I am really shy and there are a lot of teens there that I don't already know....and you can see how Teen Club will be interesting. There were very few leaders that tonight, however, so I know I am needed...and I always like challenges. We'll see how it goes!
I'm off to bed now and tomorrow is supposed to be my day off. I am feeling really tired and worn out from the week, so although I am hoping to get a lot of house work done, I don't know if I actually will. Please pray for Travis right now, he has been really sick all week. He is having flu-like symptoms, which incidentally are the same symptoms as malaria. If he is still sick tomorrow I am taking him to the hospital. His grandfather is really sick as well and they aren't expecting him to live through the night, which means that in addition to being sick he will have to travel to North Carolina this weekend for the funeral.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Busy, Busy, Busy
My first week back in Philadelphia is turning out to be an incredibly busy one. I am still sticking to going to bed early and getting up early, which is helping me a lot, but each day is so full!
I had a full day of catching up on Monday before heading to After-School and then our Member's Dinner. Tuesday was another full day before After-school, then I headed to After-School and then hung out with Frankie for the first time in months. Actually, Tuesday was pretty exciting for the church. In the morning I attended a ceremony (that was on the news) where the DA in Philadelphia donated a house to us! The house has been boarded up for the last few months after the police raided it. For years it was a well known drug house, that now will be rehabbed and used to free people from addiction! We will spend the next few months rehabbing the house (it was damaged by a fire recently) and then AA and NA meetings will be held there, and we are praying that God will use it in amazing ways to free people in bondage. We are calling it the Miracle House, and I am so excited to see what God is going to do there!
I actually made the news myself, in South Boston, haha. While I was home over the weekend I was interviewed by the South Boston newspaper and the article appeared in the paper on Monday. The article was titles "Police Chief's Daughter Enjoys Work with Underprivileged Children in Philadelphia". While the article does not specifically state that I am support raised, my dad has already gotten a lot of response from it and he always makes sure to tell people that they can be involved. My aunt also got a hold of the article and is passing it around amongst her friends and church family in Richmond. I am really praying that this will open the door for me to gain more supporters. The response has been incredible so far, so we will see what God is going to do with it! (South Boston is in the bible belt and is full of people that want to be involved, at least financially, in missions. Hopefully, they will want to be involved with me, haha).
After-school started up again this week and its been going really well...although I forgot how draining it can be. I LOVE to program and the kids in it, but running it by myself is extremely difficult. I am taking it a day at a time and as tired as I am, I'm also having fun. After the kids finished their homework we all decided to work out together, haha. It was so much fun! I even had the kids running laps around the backyard. From there I went straight into Prayer Pals, which was really fun tonight. Carisa and I am implementing some new rules to the program that we are hoping will help control the kids and allow us to actually spend time with the kids rather than spending the hour trying to keep peace and discipline kids. Its going to take a few weeks for the kids to get used to it, but we are praying for God to do something big with it!
The difficulty of running the After-School program alone has really caused me to reevaluate my ministry. Actually, the Lord took me through a lot of that in Kenya and I am really praying through a lot of things, the biggest of which is whether or not to have the After-School program next year. At this point I would like to have that time freed up to be able to pour into more kids and teens one on one (going to their volleyball games, having them over for a snack and hang out, etc) rather than running a program. I have also really found myself LOVING working with people and being the behind the scenes person that you can depend on. In fact, I have always loved that and I really believe that is the role God has created me for. When I worked for AIM, Elizabeth ran things and I worked along side her as her support. When I moved to Cornerstone, I took that support role along side Carisa (and even Andy and Frank somewhat as I work with the teens) and I really enjoy that. I am much more comfortable, and I think better suited, for the support role. I would rather not be the one in the lead role. I have learned a lot from After-School, and I think the challenge has prepared me for the places God is taking me next, but I think its time for me to move on. I haven't made any decisions, but that's what I am praying through!
In the meantime, I have 3 1/2 months left of After-school and I am working on some new ideas to hopefully motivate the kids to learn, and actually enjoy it. Teen Club is the only other program that is starting up this week, but everything gets back into full swing next week. As of right now, I am the only female leader at God Squad, and I am adding Teen Club to my list of clubs. I don't know what God is going to do with me and the teen girls, but I want Him to use me however He wants.
My house is still an absolute mess...I haven't fully unpacked yet. I did make it to the grocery store, but that's about the only "personal" stuff I have been able to do. I get up before 8 and I work most of the day until I come home exhausted (its a good exhausted though...I actually get a lot done), so I don't really feel like doing much else. I'm banking on having some time this weekend to get my house together. Hopefully....
I had a full day of catching up on Monday before heading to After-School and then our Member's Dinner. Tuesday was another full day before After-school, then I headed to After-School and then hung out with Frankie for the first time in months. Actually, Tuesday was pretty exciting for the church. In the morning I attended a ceremony (that was on the news) where the DA in Philadelphia donated a house to us! The house has been boarded up for the last few months after the police raided it. For years it was a well known drug house, that now will be rehabbed and used to free people from addiction! We will spend the next few months rehabbing the house (it was damaged by a fire recently) and then AA and NA meetings will be held there, and we are praying that God will use it in amazing ways to free people in bondage. We are calling it the Miracle House, and I am so excited to see what God is going to do there!
I actually made the news myself, in South Boston, haha. While I was home over the weekend I was interviewed by the South Boston newspaper and the article appeared in the paper on Monday. The article was titles "Police Chief's Daughter Enjoys Work with Underprivileged Children in Philadelphia". While the article does not specifically state that I am support raised, my dad has already gotten a lot of response from it and he always makes sure to tell people that they can be involved. My aunt also got a hold of the article and is passing it around amongst her friends and church family in Richmond. I am really praying that this will open the door for me to gain more supporters. The response has been incredible so far, so we will see what God is going to do with it! (South Boston is in the bible belt and is full of people that want to be involved, at least financially, in missions. Hopefully, they will want to be involved with me, haha).
After-school started up again this week and its been going really well...although I forgot how draining it can be. I LOVE to program and the kids in it, but running it by myself is extremely difficult. I am taking it a day at a time and as tired as I am, I'm also having fun. After the kids finished their homework we all decided to work out together, haha. It was so much fun! I even had the kids running laps around the backyard. From there I went straight into Prayer Pals, which was really fun tonight. Carisa and I am implementing some new rules to the program that we are hoping will help control the kids and allow us to actually spend time with the kids rather than spending the hour trying to keep peace and discipline kids. Its going to take a few weeks for the kids to get used to it, but we are praying for God to do something big with it!
The difficulty of running the After-School program alone has really caused me to reevaluate my ministry. Actually, the Lord took me through a lot of that in Kenya and I am really praying through a lot of things, the biggest of which is whether or not to have the After-School program next year. At this point I would like to have that time freed up to be able to pour into more kids and teens one on one (going to their volleyball games, having them over for a snack and hang out, etc) rather than running a program. I have also really found myself LOVING working with people and being the behind the scenes person that you can depend on. In fact, I have always loved that and I really believe that is the role God has created me for. When I worked for AIM, Elizabeth ran things and I worked along side her as her support. When I moved to Cornerstone, I took that support role along side Carisa (and even Andy and Frank somewhat as I work with the teens) and I really enjoy that. I am much more comfortable, and I think better suited, for the support role. I would rather not be the one in the lead role. I have learned a lot from After-School, and I think the challenge has prepared me for the places God is taking me next, but I think its time for me to move on. I haven't made any decisions, but that's what I am praying through!
In the meantime, I have 3 1/2 months left of After-school and I am working on some new ideas to hopefully motivate the kids to learn, and actually enjoy it. Teen Club is the only other program that is starting up this week, but everything gets back into full swing next week. As of right now, I am the only female leader at God Squad, and I am adding Teen Club to my list of clubs. I don't know what God is going to do with me and the teen girls, but I want Him to use me however He wants.
My house is still an absolute mess...I haven't fully unpacked yet. I did make it to the grocery store, but that's about the only "personal" stuff I have been able to do. I get up before 8 and I work most of the day until I come home exhausted (its a good exhausted though...I actually get a lot done), so I don't really feel like doing much else. I'm banking on having some time this weekend to get my house together. Hopefully....
Monday, January 22, 2007
Its Snowing!
It snowed last night! I don't know if it snowed at all here while I was in Africa, but this is my first snow of the year! I'm not really sure why I am excited, I don't generally like snow, and I am still readjusting to really cold weather, but something about the first snow fall is still exciting.
So, unfortunately I don't have anything more to write about my trip yet. I am about to tell you about my weekend and you will see why I haven't had the time yet. If nothing else, I definitely want to take time on Friday, my day off this week, and really sort through things from the trip, so I would expect a post about the trip then. In the meantime I am trying to get back into the swing of things in Philly...which includes cleaning us the mess I made when I returned and dumped all my stuff everywhere (however, I can't seem to get motivated to do that, so for now my house is a mess!).
This weekend was amazing and I am so glad that I went home to visit my family! Travis and I arrived at my parents' house Friday morning at 6 a.m., right when they were getting up. I wasn't tired at all, so I stayed up and hung out with my mom while Travis took a little nap and then headed to his parents' house for the weekend. I sent all day Friday with my mom, talking about the trip and life in general. I LOVED it! I also made dinner for my family and enjoyed hanging out with my dad when he came home from work.
In the middle of the day my dad called me and asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed by the South Boston newspaper. Apparently my dad had been talking to a reporter about the happenings in South Boston (being the chief of police, he has regular phone calls with the paper to update them on things) and at the end of their interview the reporter asked how my dad was doing and how the family was. He mentioned that he was really excited because I was in town visiting and had just returned from Africa. The reporter asked about my trip and my dad shared what I do, why I went, etc. The reporter was very intrigued and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed for a story! Of course I said yes and we made an appointment for Saturday!
I ended up going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday (still on Africa time!) and getting up at 7:00 the next morning (I like this schedule). I got some things done and then went to my interview. The reporter was very interested in my life, not just my trip to Africa. We actually talked a lot more about Philly than anything else. I definitely made it a point to mention that I am support raised and that there are tons of ways that people in South Boston can get involved in what is going on in Philly. I don't know what the article will look like, but I'm excited to see what God is going to do with it! In the meantime, my dad also met with a pastor of a church and a guy who is on the missions committee of another church. Both of these meetings were related to his work, but he made sure to tell them about me, what I do, and my support needs. Both guys seemed very interested and said they were going to take the information that my dad had given them back to their church and see if they wanted to be involved. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I'm definitely praying that God will do something with all of that!
I spent the rest of Saturday with my family; going to the gym with my dad and my brother and again cooking dinner and talking with my mom and dad. It was the perfect way to come back from a long trip because my parents wanted to hear every detail. I was able to talk through all of it, so when I got back to Philly and people didn't have the time to hear every minute of my 3 week trip, I didn't feel bad about it. It was great!
Travis and I left late on Saturday night and drove back to Philly, getting here around 2:30 in the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took Gizmo with me to my parents' house, haha. (Gizmo is my cat, for those of you who don't know that). He is a VERY affectionate cat, and very people oriented and was a mess after being alone for 3 weeks. So, he traveled with us, spending most of the car ride in my lap. He did not get along with my parents' dog, but survived the 2 days (he is also a BIG cat, so he was a pretty even match for the dog, haha).
Anyway, I went straight to bed and got up on Sunday to go to church. I picked Bonita and Linda up for church and was SO excited to see them! I have never been apart from them that long, and I hope never to be again. We were a little late to Sunday School, and I walked into my class to find tons of girls hiding in the dark to surprise me with a welcome home banner and cookie. It was so great! They were all so excited to see me! We spent all of the Sunday School class talking about my trip and it was awesome to see how excited the girls were about what God was doing, and they even started talking about ways they could help out. I told them about villages that I went to where they people couldn't really afford clothes, and they immediately started talking about ways they could get clothes to Kenya. We also had some good laughs as I shared some of the more...culturally interesting aspects of the trip (sorry, those are saved for personal conversations, hehe).
After Sunday School we headed to church where I was surrounded my kids wanting to be near me. It was awesome! I missed everyone SO much! Paxton came and sat on my lap during part of the service and pretty much made my day. After church, the girls and I, along with little Kearstin and Zuly (Bonita and Linda's older sister) went to lunch. We had a blast and it felt SO good to be back with them. Basketball started on Sunday for the kids, and the girls wanted to participate, so after lunch we went back to the church for basketball. Kearstin was in the younger group and Bonita and Linda were in the older group, so we ended up being at church for 2 hours for basketball. At that point I was exhausted (it was 5 p.m.!). I needed to go to the grocery store, but couldn't seem to find the energy, so after I dropped the kids off, I picked up some milk to get me through to today and then headed home.
I rested for a few hours before heading over to the Hinson's to play "Pop Culture Cranium". They had bought the game for me for Christmas, but I hadn't been able to play it yet. We actually ended up talking about my trip for a long time before playing, but we did get one quick game in. I want to play again though! It was a blast hanging out over there, and I have decided I am definitely going to do that more often. (American Idol is starting up, so that should hopefully provide some good opportunities). :)
After the game, Frank and Carisa headed to bed and I actually stayed for over an hour talking to Kirsten, the teenage girl that lives with them. She has been struggling a lot recently and we haven't had much of a chance to talk. It was an awesome conversation and I am so glad that God opened the door for us to have it. We just talked about the Lord, and how He is the only one that can come in and heal our hearts, no matter how desperately we want someone else to do it. A story that I had shared earlier in the night that had happened in Africa really applied to a lot of what she is going through and it was so great to be able to talk about it. She is young, and hurting, so there is a lot that the Lord needs to do...but I think she is on the road to actually letting Him!
After that conversation I was spent, so I just went home and went to bed. I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning and immediately got to work. I have gotten a lot done, but I still have more to do. I'm not in the least bit stressed about it, though, God is SO good! I probably should actually get to work, though. I have after-school this afternoon and then we have a church dinner tonight...and tomorrow is another pretty full day too. I'm being 100% serious when I say this, it feels SO good to be back! :)
So, unfortunately I don't have anything more to write about my trip yet. I am about to tell you about my weekend and you will see why I haven't had the time yet. If nothing else, I definitely want to take time on Friday, my day off this week, and really sort through things from the trip, so I would expect a post about the trip then. In the meantime I am trying to get back into the swing of things in Philly...which includes cleaning us the mess I made when I returned and dumped all my stuff everywhere (however, I can't seem to get motivated to do that, so for now my house is a mess!).
This weekend was amazing and I am so glad that I went home to visit my family! Travis and I arrived at my parents' house Friday morning at 6 a.m., right when they were getting up. I wasn't tired at all, so I stayed up and hung out with my mom while Travis took a little nap and then headed to his parents' house for the weekend. I sent all day Friday with my mom, talking about the trip and life in general. I LOVED it! I also made dinner for my family and enjoyed hanging out with my dad when he came home from work.
In the middle of the day my dad called me and asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed by the South Boston newspaper. Apparently my dad had been talking to a reporter about the happenings in South Boston (being the chief of police, he has regular phone calls with the paper to update them on things) and at the end of their interview the reporter asked how my dad was doing and how the family was. He mentioned that he was really excited because I was in town visiting and had just returned from Africa. The reporter asked about my trip and my dad shared what I do, why I went, etc. The reporter was very intrigued and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed for a story! Of course I said yes and we made an appointment for Saturday!
I ended up going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday (still on Africa time!) and getting up at 7:00 the next morning (I like this schedule). I got some things done and then went to my interview. The reporter was very interested in my life, not just my trip to Africa. We actually talked a lot more about Philly than anything else. I definitely made it a point to mention that I am support raised and that there are tons of ways that people in South Boston can get involved in what is going on in Philly. I don't know what the article will look like, but I'm excited to see what God is going to do with it! In the meantime, my dad also met with a pastor of a church and a guy who is on the missions committee of another church. Both of these meetings were related to his work, but he made sure to tell them about me, what I do, and my support needs. Both guys seemed very interested and said they were going to take the information that my dad had given them back to their church and see if they wanted to be involved. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I'm definitely praying that God will do something with all of that!
I spent the rest of Saturday with my family; going to the gym with my dad and my brother and again cooking dinner and talking with my mom and dad. It was the perfect way to come back from a long trip because my parents wanted to hear every detail. I was able to talk through all of it, so when I got back to Philly and people didn't have the time to hear every minute of my 3 week trip, I didn't feel bad about it. It was great!
Travis and I left late on Saturday night and drove back to Philly, getting here around 2:30 in the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took Gizmo with me to my parents' house, haha. (Gizmo is my cat, for those of you who don't know that). He is a VERY affectionate cat, and very people oriented and was a mess after being alone for 3 weeks. So, he traveled with us, spending most of the car ride in my lap. He did not get along with my parents' dog, but survived the 2 days (he is also a BIG cat, so he was a pretty even match for the dog, haha).
Anyway, I went straight to bed and got up on Sunday to go to church. I picked Bonita and Linda up for church and was SO excited to see them! I have never been apart from them that long, and I hope never to be again. We were a little late to Sunday School, and I walked into my class to find tons of girls hiding in the dark to surprise me with a welcome home banner and cookie. It was so great! They were all so excited to see me! We spent all of the Sunday School class talking about my trip and it was awesome to see how excited the girls were about what God was doing, and they even started talking about ways they could help out. I told them about villages that I went to where they people couldn't really afford clothes, and they immediately started talking about ways they could get clothes to Kenya. We also had some good laughs as I shared some of the more...culturally interesting aspects of the trip (sorry, those are saved for personal conversations, hehe).
After Sunday School we headed to church where I was surrounded my kids wanting to be near me. It was awesome! I missed everyone SO much! Paxton came and sat on my lap during part of the service and pretty much made my day. After church, the girls and I, along with little Kearstin and Zuly (Bonita and Linda's older sister) went to lunch. We had a blast and it felt SO good to be back with them. Basketball started on Sunday for the kids, and the girls wanted to participate, so after lunch we went back to the church for basketball. Kearstin was in the younger group and Bonita and Linda were in the older group, so we ended up being at church for 2 hours for basketball. At that point I was exhausted (it was 5 p.m.!). I needed to go to the grocery store, but couldn't seem to find the energy, so after I dropped the kids off, I picked up some milk to get me through to today and then headed home.
I rested for a few hours before heading over to the Hinson's to play "Pop Culture Cranium". They had bought the game for me for Christmas, but I hadn't been able to play it yet. We actually ended up talking about my trip for a long time before playing, but we did get one quick game in. I want to play again though! It was a blast hanging out over there, and I have decided I am definitely going to do that more often. (American Idol is starting up, so that should hopefully provide some good opportunities). :)
After the game, Frank and Carisa headed to bed and I actually stayed for over an hour talking to Kirsten, the teenage girl that lives with them. She has been struggling a lot recently and we haven't had much of a chance to talk. It was an awesome conversation and I am so glad that God opened the door for us to have it. We just talked about the Lord, and how He is the only one that can come in and heal our hearts, no matter how desperately we want someone else to do it. A story that I had shared earlier in the night that had happened in Africa really applied to a lot of what she is going through and it was so great to be able to talk about it. She is young, and hurting, so there is a lot that the Lord needs to do...but I think she is on the road to actually letting Him!
After that conversation I was spent, so I just went home and went to bed. I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning and immediately got to work. I have gotten a lot done, but I still have more to do. I'm not in the least bit stressed about it, though, God is SO good! I probably should actually get to work, though. I have after-school this afternoon and then we have a church dinner tonight...and tomorrow is another pretty full day too. I'm being 100% serious when I say this, it feels SO good to be back! :)
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Back from Africa!
I am back from Africa! After literally over 40 hours of traveling (not including out traveling within Kenya) Travis and I made it back to the states Thursday night around 8 p.m. It was an amazing, long and wonderful trip...that will take me several posts to effectively cover. I am actually in Virginia right now, spending a few days with my parents, but I will be heading back to Philly tonight. I have been resting and trying to process through all the incredible things that God did on this trip, and I still have a ways to go. So, you will definitely be hearing all about it over the next week or so, but be patient because its a lot to sort through!
I figured I can start with just the details of our trip...what we did and when. That doesn't take too much thought, haha. From there I will share with you things I learned, things that God did, and especially what has changed in me...but like I said, I'm still processing through a lot of that. For now, here are the details!
Oh, and I will post pictures soon as well. I'm using my parents' computer right now, and all the pictures are on my computer, so they will have to come when I get back to Philly. The bad news is, I don't have any digital pictures of the first 2 weeks of the trip. I had taken over 400 pictures, but one day somehow accidentally reformatted the disk in the camera, which erased all the pictures. It was a VERY sad moment, but actually one that I think God ordained and used to teach us a lesson. I will share about that later. Travis does have his pictures from the first 2 weeks, but they are all film pictures, so they have to be developed. In the meantime, you'll have to live with my descriptions and pictures of the last half of the trip. Sorry about that!
We left Newark, NJ on Friday morning, December 29th. It was about an 8 hour flight to London's Heathrow airport where we had an overnight layover (and 2 free hotel rooms to stay in!). We arrived at the airport and spent about an hour trying to figure out the cheapest way to get to our hotel (London is VERY expensive). We ended up taking their subway, and after about an hour we arrived at our hotel. The hotel was VERY nice, but you could tell they did not roll out all the stops for free rooms. Travis and I had rooms next to each other that, when combined, would barely be the size of a regular room. I'm not complaining though, it was free! We had originally planned on touring the city a bit, but it was cold, rainy and windy outside, and we were very tired and hungry and not impressed with London at all. So, instead we went and got dinner, watched a little TV and then just went to bed. We had to get up early to make it back to the airport anyway. (Incidentally, we woke up the next morning to the news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged...and glad to no be flying from the states that day!)
The next morning we boarded out flight to Nairobi and I will still filled with some apprehension, but more and more excitement was coming. The flight was about 10 hours long, so we watched a lot of movies. We finally arrived in Nairobi at 10 p.m. (their time...which is 8 hours ahead of the east coast). As soon as we stepped off the plane Jackson, our host for the trip, was at the gate waiting for us. He has a friend that works for the airport that was able to get him at the gate, which is really good because I don't know how we would have found each other otherwise. It took a LONG time to get our bags, but we finally did and headed to Jackson's friend's house for the night.
The next morning Jackson headed back to the airport to see if the 3 of us could get a flight to Lodwar, the city where he lives. Its literally across the country from Nairobi, and a flight would only take about 2 hours. Unfortunately, because it was New Years Eve, we couldn't get a flight and had to take buses. We were actually excited about that, we got to see the entire countryside! We were on buses all day on the 31st and stayed at another friend's house that night. (Everyone is SO welcoming!). We slept through the new year in Kenya, but we awake when it turned midnight in Philly (that would be 8 a.m. in Kenya). We headed to the bus station early in the morning on the first and got a bus, but it didn't leave until after 1:00. So, we hung out at the marked in the hot sun for 5 hours! We got SO burnt! We did get to meet a lot of amazing people that day, though, so it was totally worth it. We finally arrived in Lodwar around 8 p.m. Jackson immediately took us to a guest house where we would stay while in Lodwar. It was pretty nice, Travis and I each had our own room with a toilet! It didn't flush, but its still so much better than a hole in the ground!
The next day was day 5 of our trip and it was our first day with no traveling! We took the day to rest, which was really nice. We got to meet a few people, but spent most of the day reading, writing, resting...doing whatever we wanted really. It felt good!
Wednesday, January 3rd, we woke up early, rented a car and drove with Jackson and his family to Lake Turkana for the day. Jackson is married to Agnes and they have 3 kids...Gregory (7), Keith (5), and Racheal (1). Samson (16) is Jackson's nephew and he also lives with them because both of his parents died. So, the 8 of us loaded into a truck and headed to the lake (the family had never been to the lake before!). It was about a 5 or 6 hour drive to the lake, but the kids we so excited they didn't care. We spent the day swimming (the lake never gets deeper than about 3 feet, haha), playing in the sand and again meeting people. Around lunch time we headed to another friend's house for lunch, and then drove back toward Lodwar. Instead of going all the way back, though, we went outside the city to a village in the bush. There we spent the night in tents and hung out with the village. The killed and cooked a goat for us and then took us to their nightly outdoor church service. It was really amazing to worship God with these people under only moonlight! The night was pretty hot and uncomfortable though, so we were okay with leaving on the morning. :)
In the morning we headed back to Lodwar, ran a few errands, and then drove around and toured some other villages outside of Lodwar. We ended up doing that all day, driving around for over 8 hours before heading back to Lodwar for the night. We were so happy to be sleeping in a bed! (And under mosquito nets, which we didn't have in the bush).
The next day, Friday January 5th, was another day of rest where we spent most of the day doing whatever we wanted. I spent most of our rest days reading and writing (my journal is filled from the trip!) as well as walking around and meeting people. Plenty of people know English, but even the ones that don't were always wanting to come up and at least shake my hand (and most liked to touch my hair as well). Neither me nor Travis had a watch, and there were no clocks around, so we rarely knew what time it was...we got up when the sun came up and went to sleep a little after the sun went down. Not knowing what time it was got kind of frustrating during the day, but I also kind of enjoyed it. In the afternoon we did head out to tour some of the ministries in Lodwar. We visited a home for street kids (which has over 250 kids), and home for deaf children and met a lot of really incredible people and kids. Then we went to the local community center where Travis got to play basketball with some people. He played really well and I think I accidentally told people that he was an international player (the language barrier is confusing, haha).
On Saturday morning Jackson came by with his family to take us to a funeral. A man had passed away in the village and everyone was at the funeral. We had actually heard the funeral for several days (it lasts a week) but this was the day of the burial. So, we all went and spent most of the day there. We didn't really talk to many people, but we surrounded by kids a lot and I constantly felt them touching my hair and then heard them giggle. The funeral was not a sad occasion, they really celebrated the man's life.
Sunday morning we went to our first church service, and had no idea what was going on. It was interesting, and long, and we were very well welcomed. Sunday is definitely taken as a sabbath, so after church everyone went home to rest, which we did as well. I know it sounds like we rested a lot, but I'm telling you we had to! Between the travel, the walking and the incredibly hot sun, you get really tired! Our schedule for the trip tended to be to go hardcore for a few days, and then rest for a few days. It worked well for us, and seems to be the norm for a lot of people.
Monday, January 8th, was the day we headed into Southern Sudan. We only spent a day there, but I will have to write a whole post just on that trip, it was incredible! We left early in the morning to get there, so we could get through all the border stuff. Once in Sudan we drove to a village out in the middle of nowhere where we spent the night in tents. The people of the village were incredible, and SO happy to see us! I was quite the attraction there. Between my digital camera, my really long (and light colored) hair and the fact that I was a woman with a shirt on (seriously), they couldn't get enough of me. (Haha, that sounds conceited...they were just intrigued by something different). There is so much to tell about this trip that I can't do now, but I will say it was my favorite day!
We left the village the next morning, January 9th (Travis' 20th birthday!) to head back to Lodwar. We had planned on staying in Sudan longer, but realized that morning that the insurance on our car was going to run out that day, so we had to get back to Kenya or pay huge fines. On our way out we stopped by a different village to try and find John, a man we met the day before traveling into Sudan. John was one of Sudan's "Lost Boys" (I will tell you more about them later), but he now lives in the US. He was heading back to Kenya that day as well, to Kakuma. Kakuma is a HUGE refugee camp in Kenya where most of the refugees from Southern Sudan fled to during the civil war. We were hoping to drop him off there. January 9th is also the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan in 2005, so its kind of like Southern Sudan's Independence Day. So, when we got to the village to get John, we found a huge celebration going on, that included a lot of UN soldiers and officials. We decided to check it out for a few minutes, but became instant celebrities. Once they saw Americans (they LOVE America in Southern Sudan...we had a lot to do with the relocation of the refugees. We did not intervene in their civil war, however, the army of Northern Sudan is hugely funded and supported by Al Queda and other Islamic groups, so the fact that we are at war with them is encouraging to the Southern Sudanese), they immediately ushered us to the front of the celebration and gave us seats right by the speakers, with all the UN people! It was crazy! (We joked that it was all really a celebration for Travis' birthday).
We couldn't stay long and felt very awkward leaving in the middle of the ceremony, but we had to get back to Kenya. We did find John, but he wanted to stay longer, so we just got his contact information and said we would talk to him when we were all back in the states. From there we headed to the border to get back to Kenya. What we didn't know (and because there really is no communication system in Southern Sudan, no one knew) was that they closed all the borders because of the holiday. So, when we got to the border we were told we wouldn't be able to cross until the next day! We weren't too upset about it, we LOVED Southern Sudan, but we also weren't too excited about sleeping in a tent at the border...with the hundreds of other people that were trying to cross as well. So, we prayed and just waited to see what God would do.
In the meantime, we started to talk to and meet a lot of the people waiting with us and met another "Lost Boy" named David, and his cousin Matthew. David lives in Mississippi and was back visiting family for the first time since he left for the US 6 years ago,
and Matthew lives in Kakuma, the refugee camp. We had an awesome time talking to them and agreed to give them a ride back to the refugee camp whenever we crossed the border (I deleted the pictures on this day, so I don't have any pictures up until this point, but I have all my pictures from this day forward).
Around 5 p.m. they finally opened the border and we headed home. David invited us to spend the night with him and his family in the refugee camp, which sounded great to us, so we planned on doing that. However, halfway there the owner of the car called and said he wanted it back asap. So, we dropped David and Matthew off and then headed back to Lodwar. We decided to take a bus back to Kakuma the next day though, so we could visit David, meet his family, and he could take us on a tour of the refugee camp (which includes a school built by Angelina Jolie). It turned out to be a really nice drive home too, with the completely clear African sky filled with stars for Travis' birthday.
On Wednesday, January 10th, we got up early and got in a taxi to take us to Kakuma Refugee Camp. We were riding along nicely when suddenly, about an hour into the trip, the car broke down. In the US this isn't a big deal, but it is in Kenya. We were literally in the middle of the dessert stranded on the side of the...well, technically it was a road, but not really. There wasn't anyone we could call or anything we could do but hope that another car or bus would drive by and have room to pick us up and take us to Kakuma. It was around noon at this point, so it was also the hottest part of the day. We weren't too worried, but definitely prayed. This part of the road is well known for bandits, who come and take all your money and are known to strip you of all of your clothes as well. So, we just prayed for God to take care of us! About an hour or so after the car broke down, a truck of Kenyan soldiers drove by and offered us a ride. We weren't so worried about the bandits anymore! :)
The soldiers drove us all the way to Kakuma, where we finally met up with David and Matthew. We spent the day touring the camp, meeting their family, and having an awesome time. After a little while they found out that Travis played basketball, so we headed to the court to see if he could play. He didn't have sneakers, so he played barefoot (which was not smart). It took a little while before they let him play, but once they did he immediately scored 2 baskets and caused a commotion. Everyone was so excited to watch him play, we drew quite a crowd. He played for a while barefoot before someone gave him shoes. It was at that point that he noticed that some serious blisters were forming on his foot and it really started to hurt. He didn't last too much longer, which was okay because it was getting dark anyway. We headed back to David's house for the night, only to discover that an entire layer of skin was literally coming off of Travis' foot. So, we had to cut it off and clean it up, which caused another commotion and drew another crowd. It was an interesting night.
David's mom cooked us an amazing dinner and we stayed up for a while looking at the stars and talking before we all went to sleep. (Our time in Kakuma was also another one of my favorite things, so you will hear more about it soon!). The next morning we visited more parts of the camp, including some of the UN run agencies that help take care of the refugees. Jackson has a friend that works in one, which also happened to be a medical tent, so we were able to get some stuff for Travis' foot. Plus, instead of having to walk 2-3 miles back to where we catch the bus to go home (vehicles aren't allowed in the camp), we were able to get a ride in one of the UN cars, which was really great because Travis was having a really hard time walking at this point. We got on a bus that took us back to Lodwar and hung out with Jackson's family the rest of the day.
Friday, January 12th, was supposed to be the day we headed to Uganda, but we were way too exhausted, so we decided to rest. I'll get to it later, but this day was an awesome day with me and the Lord, so I am very glad that we rested.
We had decided to leave to head to Uganda on Sunday night, taking Saturday to spend with Jackson's family. We woke up at 8 on Saturday, expecting Jackson to come around 10. Around 6 p.m., we still hadn't heard from Jackson, but weren't worried (that's how things go in Africa, haha). Agnes finally showed up around 6:30 to take us to her house for dinner, where we found out that Jackson had to go to a funeral and take care of a bunch of other things that took a lot longer than he thought. We enjoyed eating and spending the evening with his family though.
Sunday, January 14th, left us with only 3 days left in Africa. We went to church in the morning (a different one, where we were again welcomed amazingly), and then headed to Jackson's brother-in-law's house for lunch. We were there until about 5:00, which gave us enough time to get back to our house, pack up and get ready to go. We were taking a bus with Jackson's wife and kids overnight to Eldoret, a town where we could get Agnes a passport to get to Uganda. From there we were going to head to the border and spend the rest of Monday and Tuesday in Uganda. Then we were going to take another bus overnight from Uganda to Nairobi, to arrive at the airport in time for our 10 a.m. flight. That was the plan...
We got on the bus around 6:30 p.m. Sunday night and arrived in Eldoret at 7:20 Monday morning. We went straight to the immigration office where we were given the run around for over 5 hours trying to get Agnes a passport. Finally around noon, things were taken care of. However, we were very tired, had spent a lot of money and were questioning our trip into Uganda. Travis, Jackson and I talked about it and we decided it would be better to head straight to Nairobi, spend all day Tuesday in Nairobi (his kids have never been there, and there is a game park there with animals they have never seen) and then just go to the airport from there on Wednesday. (It was going to cost me and Travis at least $100 to get into Uganda...which we didn't really want to spend anyway. I really wanted to go to Uganda, but I would rather go when I can spend more time there anyway).
Once we decided to go ahead to Nairobi we bought bus tickets to get there, but the bus wasn't leaving until 10 p.m. There wasn't a lot to do in Eldoret, and we were exhausted from traveling, so we decided to get hotel rooms and take a nap during the day. It is impossible to sleep on the bus anyway, with all the bumps and stops, so another all night ride wasn't looking too good to us. We ended up sleeping for about 8 hours before getting on the bus, so we were ready for the ride!
We arrived in Nairobi around 5 a.m. on Tuesday and immediately tried to get in touch with Jackson's friend that had helped us at the airport our first day. It took us a while to find him, but eventually we
went to his house to drop off our stuff before heading out to the game park. It took us about 2 hours to see all the animals (it wasn't that impressive, but the kids loved it) and then we walked to a playground for the kids to play on for a while. (They had never been to a playground either!). The sun was hot and I was tired from all the traveling, so I wasn't feeling great. I still really enjoyed the time with Jackson and his family though. We went back to his friend's house that night, at another huge dinner and then went to sleep.
Wednesday January 17th was the day we were supposed to get back to the states. We got up around 7 and tried to catch a bus to the airport. After about an hour of trying we decided to go ahead and get a taxi (they are more expensive) and got to the airport around 8:30...to discover that our flight had been cancelled. At this point I was feeling really sick and the idea of staying in the airport all day was not appealing to me. We waited in line for about an hour to talk to the airline and find out what was going on. They told us that our flight, which was supposed to leave at 10 a.m., was rescheduled for midnight. On the bright side, they had gotten all of us hotel rooms as well as transportation to and from the hotel, and all meals paid for at the hotel. It took another hour or so for everyone to get loaded on the buses to the hotel, but thats much better than waiting at the airport for 14 hours!
Because of the change and the chaos surrounding our flight cancellation, we had to say a quick good-bye to Jackson and his family before we got on the bus. I was really ready to go home at this point, but I am going to miss Jackson so much, he and his family are incredible.
The hotel we went to was amazing! It had 2 pools, one of which had a water fall going into it. Each room had a bathroom with a flushing toilet and hot showers! We also got huge buffet meals for lunch and dinner as well as TV in our rooms (although Kenyan TV isn't quite what I have at home), and nice bed to take a nap in! I was feeling so sick at this point that I was not able to enjoy the food, but I did enjoy a hot shower, a nap, and a toilet that flushed! We didn't really mind the delay too much at this point. Plus, the hotel had computers with internet, so we were able to email home and let people know that we were delayed (it costs $6 a minute to call, so we emailed, haha).
The bus came to pick us up and take us back to the airport at 9:30. We got there and ended up waiting until about 1:30 a.m. for our flight to actually take off. It was a 10 hour flight, and I think I slept for at least 6 hours of it. That is one good thing about being sick, its easy to sleep! We were supposed to arrive in London at 6:30 a.m., and several people had connecting flights to Newark leaving at 9. For some reason we were put on a connecting flight at 2:45 in the afternoon, but we were going to try and get on the earlier flight.
Unfortunately, because we left so late and we had to circle a bit in London, we didn't land until after 9, so everyone missed the early flight to Newark. Once we got off the plane we again had to stand in line for a long time to figure out what to do (we were not given boarding passes for our next flight, so we had to get those). When we got to the counter we asked if there was a flight to Philadelphia that we could get on instead. There was, but they told us that because we didn't technically miss our connection, since we were scheduled for the 2:45 flight, then we couldn't transfer our tickets to the Philly flight. So, instead of leaving London at 11 (London time...6 a.m. Philly time) and getting to Philly at 3, we would again have to wait. I was pretty upset about this, but there was nothing we could do. In fact, the people that had missed the 9:00 flight were rescheduled for our flight and were given meal vouchers. However, because we didn't miss our flight, we were not able to get meal vouchers. Again, I wasn't too happy (and still feeling sick) but there wasn't anything we could do, so we waited.
Finally, 2:45 rolled around and we started to board our plane. London was experiencing extremely high winds and we ended up sitting on the plane for about an hour and a half waiting for it to take off. We finally got to leave a little after 4, hoping to land in Newark by 8. Then we would have a 2 hour to drive to Philly, making it close to 44 hours of traveling from the time we arrived at the Nairobi airport for our first flight to the time we would get home to Philadelphia. It was definitely a crazy way to end our trip!
On the flight I had the opportunity to share with one of the stewardesses the whoas of our travel, and she was very upset that the airline had not allowed us on the flight to Philadelphia as well as not giving us a meal voucher. She asked me to fill out a comment card about it and said that she would get it to customer service and that someone would contact me about it. Who knows what will come of that, but it was so nice that she cared!
So, at 8 p.m. we finally stepped off the plane in the United States. J was at the airport to pick us up and we really enjoyed riding in a car on actual roads. We got back to Philly a little after 10, and were not tired at all (we slept a lot on the plane). Both Travis and I really wanted to see our families, so we decided to drive to VA. We got to my parents' house around 6 a.m. and I have been here ever since. I am actually leaving in a few hours to head back to Philly. After all the traveling we have done, the 6 hour drive to Philly on the interstate is nothing to us!
Whew, okay, so that is our trip...the details at least. I hope it made sense. I promise to write more soon about all the inside stuff, but I am way too tired from writing all of this to do that now. I will add pictures to this post when I get back to Philly, and you will be hearing from me again soon. It feels so good to be home, and I can't wait to go to church tomorrow and see everyone!!!!
I figured I can start with just the details of our trip...what we did and when. That doesn't take too much thought, haha. From there I will share with you things I learned, things that God did, and especially what has changed in me...but like I said, I'm still processing through a lot of that. For now, here are the details!Oh, and I will post pictures soon as well. I'm using my parents' computer right now, and all the pictures are on my computer, so they will have to come when I get back to Philly. The bad news is, I don't have any digital pictures of the first 2 weeks of the trip. I had taken over 400 pictures, but one day somehow accidentally reformatted the disk in the camera, which erased all the pictures. It was a VERY sad moment, but actually one that I think God ordained and used to teach us a lesson. I will share about that later. Travis does have his pictures from the first 2 weeks, but they are all film pictures, so they have to be developed. In the meantime, you'll have to live with my descriptions and pictures of the last half of the trip. Sorry about that!
We left Newark, NJ on Friday morning, December 29th. It was about an 8 hour flight to London's Heathrow airport where we had an overnight layover (and 2 free hotel rooms to stay in!). We arrived at the airport and spent about an hour trying to figure out the cheapest way to get to our hotel (London is VERY expensive). We ended up taking their subway, and after about an hour we arrived at our hotel. The hotel was VERY nice, but you could tell they did not roll out all the stops for free rooms. Travis and I had rooms next to each other that, when combined, would barely be the size of a regular room. I'm not complaining though, it was free! We had originally planned on touring the city a bit, but it was cold, rainy and windy outside, and we were very tired and hungry and not impressed with London at all. So, instead we went and got dinner, watched a little TV and then just went to bed. We had to get up early to make it back to the airport anyway. (Incidentally, we woke up the next morning to the news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged...and glad to no be flying from the states that day!)
The next morning we boarded out flight to Nairobi and I will still filled with some apprehension, but more and more excitement was coming. The flight was about 10 hours long, so we watched a lot of movies. We finally arrived in Nairobi at 10 p.m. (their time...which is 8 hours ahead of the east coast). As soon as we stepped off the plane Jackson, our host for the trip, was at the gate waiting for us. He has a friend that works for the airport that was able to get him at the gate, which is really good because I don't know how we would have found each other otherwise. It took a LONG time to get our bags, but we finally did and headed to Jackson's friend's house for the night.
The next morning Jackson headed back to the airport to see if the 3 of us could get a flight to Lodwar, the city where he lives. Its literally across the country from Nairobi, and a flight would only take about 2 hours. Unfortunately, because it was New Years Eve, we couldn't get a flight and had to take buses. We were actually excited about that, we got to see the entire countryside! We were on buses all day on the 31st and stayed at another friend's house that night. (Everyone is SO welcoming!). We slept through the new year in Kenya, but we awake when it turned midnight in Philly (that would be 8 a.m. in Kenya). We headed to the bus station early in the morning on the first and got a bus, but it didn't leave until after 1:00. So, we hung out at the marked in the hot sun for 5 hours! We got SO burnt! We did get to meet a lot of amazing people that day, though, so it was totally worth it. We finally arrived in Lodwar around 8 p.m. Jackson immediately took us to a guest house where we would stay while in Lodwar. It was pretty nice, Travis and I each had our own room with a toilet! It didn't flush, but its still so much better than a hole in the ground!
The next day was day 5 of our trip and it was our first day with no traveling! We took the day to rest, which was really nice. We got to meet a few people, but spent most of the day reading, writing, resting...doing whatever we wanted really. It felt good!
Wednesday, January 3rd, we woke up early, rented a car and drove with Jackson and his family to Lake Turkana for the day. Jackson is married to Agnes and they have 3 kids...Gregory (7), Keith (5), and Racheal (1). Samson (16) is Jackson's nephew and he also lives with them because both of his parents died. So, the 8 of us loaded into a truck and headed to the lake (the family had never been to the lake before!). It was about a 5 or 6 hour drive to the lake, but the kids we so excited they didn't care. We spent the day swimming (the lake never gets deeper than about 3 feet, haha), playing in the sand and again meeting people. Around lunch time we headed to another friend's house for lunch, and then drove back toward Lodwar. Instead of going all the way back, though, we went outside the city to a village in the bush. There we spent the night in tents and hung out with the village. The killed and cooked a goat for us and then took us to their nightly outdoor church service. It was really amazing to worship God with these people under only moonlight! The night was pretty hot and uncomfortable though, so we were okay with leaving on the morning. :)
In the morning we headed back to Lodwar, ran a few errands, and then drove around and toured some other villages outside of Lodwar. We ended up doing that all day, driving around for over 8 hours before heading back to Lodwar for the night. We were so happy to be sleeping in a bed! (And under mosquito nets, which we didn't have in the bush).
The next day, Friday January 5th, was another day of rest where we spent most of the day doing whatever we wanted. I spent most of our rest days reading and writing (my journal is filled from the trip!) as well as walking around and meeting people. Plenty of people know English, but even the ones that don't were always wanting to come up and at least shake my hand (and most liked to touch my hair as well). Neither me nor Travis had a watch, and there were no clocks around, so we rarely knew what time it was...we got up when the sun came up and went to sleep a little after the sun went down. Not knowing what time it was got kind of frustrating during the day, but I also kind of enjoyed it. In the afternoon we did head out to tour some of the ministries in Lodwar. We visited a home for street kids (which has over 250 kids), and home for deaf children and met a lot of really incredible people and kids. Then we went to the local community center where Travis got to play basketball with some people. He played really well and I think I accidentally told people that he was an international player (the language barrier is confusing, haha).
On Saturday morning Jackson came by with his family to take us to a funeral. A man had passed away in the village and everyone was at the funeral. We had actually heard the funeral for several days (it lasts a week) but this was the day of the burial. So, we all went and spent most of the day there. We didn't really talk to many people, but we surrounded by kids a lot and I constantly felt them touching my hair and then heard them giggle. The funeral was not a sad occasion, they really celebrated the man's life.
Sunday morning we went to our first church service, and had no idea what was going on. It was interesting, and long, and we were very well welcomed. Sunday is definitely taken as a sabbath, so after church everyone went home to rest, which we did as well. I know it sounds like we rested a lot, but I'm telling you we had to! Between the travel, the walking and the incredibly hot sun, you get really tired! Our schedule for the trip tended to be to go hardcore for a few days, and then rest for a few days. It worked well for us, and seems to be the norm for a lot of people.
Monday, January 8th, was the day we headed into Southern Sudan. We only spent a day there, but I will have to write a whole post just on that trip, it was incredible! We left early in the morning to get there, so we could get through all the border stuff. Once in Sudan we drove to a village out in the middle of nowhere where we spent the night in tents. The people of the village were incredible, and SO happy to see us! I was quite the attraction there. Between my digital camera, my really long (and light colored) hair and the fact that I was a woman with a shirt on (seriously), they couldn't get enough of me. (Haha, that sounds conceited...they were just intrigued by something different). There is so much to tell about this trip that I can't do now, but I will say it was my favorite day!
We left the village the next morning, January 9th (Travis' 20th birthday!) to head back to Lodwar. We had planned on staying in Sudan longer, but realized that morning that the insurance on our car was going to run out that day, so we had to get back to Kenya or pay huge fines. On our way out we stopped by a different village to try and find John, a man we met the day before traveling into Sudan. John was one of Sudan's "Lost Boys" (I will tell you more about them later), but he now lives in the US. He was heading back to Kenya that day as well, to Kakuma. Kakuma is a HUGE refugee camp in Kenya where most of the refugees from Southern Sudan fled to during the civil war. We were hoping to drop him off there. January 9th is also the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan in 2005, so its kind of like Southern Sudan's Independence Day. So, when we got to the village to get John, we found a huge celebration going on, that included a lot of UN soldiers and officials. We decided to check it out for a few minutes, but became instant celebrities. Once they saw Americans (they LOVE America in Southern Sudan...we had a lot to do with the relocation of the refugees. We did not intervene in their civil war, however, the army of Northern Sudan is hugely funded and supported by Al Queda and other Islamic groups, so the fact that we are at war with them is encouraging to the Southern Sudanese), they immediately ushered us to the front of the celebration and gave us seats right by the speakers, with all the UN people! It was crazy! (We joked that it was all really a celebration for Travis' birthday).
We couldn't stay long and felt very awkward leaving in the middle of the ceremony, but we had to get back to Kenya. We did find John, but he wanted to stay longer, so we just got his contact information and said we would talk to him when we were all back in the states. From there we headed to the border to get back to Kenya. What we didn't know (and because there really is no communication system in Southern Sudan, no one knew) was that they closed all the borders because of the holiday. So, when we got to the border we were told we wouldn't be able to cross until the next day! We weren't too upset about it, we LOVED Southern Sudan, but we also weren't too excited about sleeping in a tent at the border...with the hundreds of other people that were trying to cross as well. So, we prayed and just waited to see what God would do.
In the meantime, we started to talk to and meet a lot of the people waiting with us and met another "Lost Boy" named David, and his cousin Matthew. David lives in Mississippi and was back visiting family for the first time since he left for the US 6 years ago,
and Matthew lives in Kakuma, the refugee camp. We had an awesome time talking to them and agreed to give them a ride back to the refugee camp whenever we crossed the border (I deleted the pictures on this day, so I don't have any pictures up until this point, but I have all my pictures from this day forward).Around 5 p.m. they finally opened the border and we headed home. David invited us to spend the night with him and his family in the refugee camp, which sounded great to us, so we planned on doing that. However, halfway there the owner of the car called and said he wanted it back asap. So, we dropped David and Matthew off and then headed back to Lodwar. We decided to take a bus back to Kakuma the next day though, so we could visit David, meet his family, and he could take us on a tour of the refugee camp (which includes a school built by Angelina Jolie). It turned out to be a really nice drive home too, with the completely clear African sky filled with stars for Travis' birthday.
On Wednesday, January 10th, we got up early and got in a taxi to take us to Kakuma Refugee Camp. We were riding along nicely when suddenly, about an hour into the trip, the car broke down. In the US this isn't a big deal, but it is in Kenya. We were literally in the middle of the dessert stranded on the side of the...well, technically it was a road, but not really. There wasn't anyone we could call or anything we could do but hope that another car or bus would drive by and have room to pick us up and take us to Kakuma. It was around noon at this point, so it was also the hottest part of the day. We weren't too worried, but definitely prayed. This part of the road is well known for bandits, who come and take all your money and are known to strip you of all of your clothes as well. So, we just prayed for God to take care of us! About an hour or so after the car broke down, a truck of Kenyan soldiers drove by and offered us a ride. We weren't so worried about the bandits anymore! :)
The soldiers drove us all the way to Kakuma, where we finally met up with David and Matthew. We spent the day touring the camp, meeting their family, and having an awesome time. After a little while they found out that Travis played basketball, so we headed to the court to see if he could play. He didn't have sneakers, so he played barefoot (which was not smart). It took a little while before they let him play, but once they did he immediately scored 2 baskets and caused a commotion. Everyone was so excited to watch him play, we drew quite a crowd. He played for a while barefoot before someone gave him shoes. It was at that point that he noticed that some serious blisters were forming on his foot and it really started to hurt. He didn't last too much longer, which was okay because it was getting dark anyway. We headed back to David's house for the night, only to discover that an entire layer of skin was literally coming off of Travis' foot. So, we had to cut it off and clean it up, which caused another commotion and drew another crowd. It was an interesting night.
David's mom cooked us an amazing dinner and we stayed up for a while looking at the stars and talking before we all went to sleep. (Our time in Kakuma was also another one of my favorite things, so you will hear more about it soon!). The next morning we visited more parts of the camp, including some of the UN run agencies that help take care of the refugees. Jackson has a friend that works in one, which also happened to be a medical tent, so we were able to get some stuff for Travis' foot. Plus, instead of having to walk 2-3 miles back to where we catch the bus to go home (vehicles aren't allowed in the camp), we were able to get a ride in one of the UN cars, which was really great because Travis was having a really hard time walking at this point. We got on a bus that took us back to Lodwar and hung out with Jackson's family the rest of the day.
Friday, January 12th, was supposed to be the day we headed to Uganda, but we were way too exhausted, so we decided to rest. I'll get to it later, but this day was an awesome day with me and the Lord, so I am very glad that we rested.
We had decided to leave to head to Uganda on Sunday night, taking Saturday to spend with Jackson's family. We woke up at 8 on Saturday, expecting Jackson to come around 10. Around 6 p.m., we still hadn't heard from Jackson, but weren't worried (that's how things go in Africa, haha). Agnes finally showed up around 6:30 to take us to her house for dinner, where we found out that Jackson had to go to a funeral and take care of a bunch of other things that took a lot longer than he thought. We enjoyed eating and spending the evening with his family though.
Sunday, January 14th, left us with only 3 days left in Africa. We went to church in the morning (a different one, where we were again welcomed amazingly), and then headed to Jackson's brother-in-law's house for lunch. We were there until about 5:00, which gave us enough time to get back to our house, pack up and get ready to go. We were taking a bus with Jackson's wife and kids overnight to Eldoret, a town where we could get Agnes a passport to get to Uganda. From there we were going to head to the border and spend the rest of Monday and Tuesday in Uganda. Then we were going to take another bus overnight from Uganda to Nairobi, to arrive at the airport in time for our 10 a.m. flight. That was the plan...
We got on the bus around 6:30 p.m. Sunday night and arrived in Eldoret at 7:20 Monday morning. We went straight to the immigration office where we were given the run around for over 5 hours trying to get Agnes a passport. Finally around noon, things were taken care of. However, we were very tired, had spent a lot of money and were questioning our trip into Uganda. Travis, Jackson and I talked about it and we decided it would be better to head straight to Nairobi, spend all day Tuesday in Nairobi (his kids have never been there, and there is a game park there with animals they have never seen) and then just go to the airport from there on Wednesday. (It was going to cost me and Travis at least $100 to get into Uganda...which we didn't really want to spend anyway. I really wanted to go to Uganda, but I would rather go when I can spend more time there anyway).
Once we decided to go ahead to Nairobi we bought bus tickets to get there, but the bus wasn't leaving until 10 p.m. There wasn't a lot to do in Eldoret, and we were exhausted from traveling, so we decided to get hotel rooms and take a nap during the day. It is impossible to sleep on the bus anyway, with all the bumps and stops, so another all night ride wasn't looking too good to us. We ended up sleeping for about 8 hours before getting on the bus, so we were ready for the ride!
We arrived in Nairobi around 5 a.m. on Tuesday and immediately tried to get in touch with Jackson's friend that had helped us at the airport our first day. It took us a while to find him, but eventually we
went to his house to drop off our stuff before heading out to the game park. It took us about 2 hours to see all the animals (it wasn't that impressive, but the kids loved it) and then we walked to a playground for the kids to play on for a while. (They had never been to a playground either!). The sun was hot and I was tired from all the traveling, so I wasn't feeling great. I still really enjoyed the time with Jackson and his family though. We went back to his friend's house that night, at another huge dinner and then went to sleep.Wednesday January 17th was the day we were supposed to get back to the states. We got up around 7 and tried to catch a bus to the airport. After about an hour of trying we decided to go ahead and get a taxi (they are more expensive) and got to the airport around 8:30...to discover that our flight had been cancelled. At this point I was feeling really sick and the idea of staying in the airport all day was not appealing to me. We waited in line for about an hour to talk to the airline and find out what was going on. They told us that our flight, which was supposed to leave at 10 a.m., was rescheduled for midnight. On the bright side, they had gotten all of us hotel rooms as well as transportation to and from the hotel, and all meals paid for at the hotel. It took another hour or so for everyone to get loaded on the buses to the hotel, but thats much better than waiting at the airport for 14 hours!
Because of the change and the chaos surrounding our flight cancellation, we had to say a quick good-bye to Jackson and his family before we got on the bus. I was really ready to go home at this point, but I am going to miss Jackson so much, he and his family are incredible.
The hotel we went to was amazing! It had 2 pools, one of which had a water fall going into it. Each room had a bathroom with a flushing toilet and hot showers! We also got huge buffet meals for lunch and dinner as well as TV in our rooms (although Kenyan TV isn't quite what I have at home), and nice bed to take a nap in! I was feeling so sick at this point that I was not able to enjoy the food, but I did enjoy a hot shower, a nap, and a toilet that flushed! We didn't really mind the delay too much at this point. Plus, the hotel had computers with internet, so we were able to email home and let people know that we were delayed (it costs $6 a minute to call, so we emailed, haha).
The bus came to pick us up and take us back to the airport at 9:30. We got there and ended up waiting until about 1:30 a.m. for our flight to actually take off. It was a 10 hour flight, and I think I slept for at least 6 hours of it. That is one good thing about being sick, its easy to sleep! We were supposed to arrive in London at 6:30 a.m., and several people had connecting flights to Newark leaving at 9. For some reason we were put on a connecting flight at 2:45 in the afternoon, but we were going to try and get on the earlier flight.
Unfortunately, because we left so late and we had to circle a bit in London, we didn't land until after 9, so everyone missed the early flight to Newark. Once we got off the plane we again had to stand in line for a long time to figure out what to do (we were not given boarding passes for our next flight, so we had to get those). When we got to the counter we asked if there was a flight to Philadelphia that we could get on instead. There was, but they told us that because we didn't technically miss our connection, since we were scheduled for the 2:45 flight, then we couldn't transfer our tickets to the Philly flight. So, instead of leaving London at 11 (London time...6 a.m. Philly time) and getting to Philly at 3, we would again have to wait. I was pretty upset about this, but there was nothing we could do. In fact, the people that had missed the 9:00 flight were rescheduled for our flight and were given meal vouchers. However, because we didn't miss our flight, we were not able to get meal vouchers. Again, I wasn't too happy (and still feeling sick) but there wasn't anything we could do, so we waited.
Finally, 2:45 rolled around and we started to board our plane. London was experiencing extremely high winds and we ended up sitting on the plane for about an hour and a half waiting for it to take off. We finally got to leave a little after 4, hoping to land in Newark by 8. Then we would have a 2 hour to drive to Philly, making it close to 44 hours of traveling from the time we arrived at the Nairobi airport for our first flight to the time we would get home to Philadelphia. It was definitely a crazy way to end our trip!
On the flight I had the opportunity to share with one of the stewardesses the whoas of our travel, and she was very upset that the airline had not allowed us on the flight to Philadelphia as well as not giving us a meal voucher. She asked me to fill out a comment card about it and said that she would get it to customer service and that someone would contact me about it. Who knows what will come of that, but it was so nice that she cared!
So, at 8 p.m. we finally stepped off the plane in the United States. J was at the airport to pick us up and we really enjoyed riding in a car on actual roads. We got back to Philly a little after 10, and were not tired at all (we slept a lot on the plane). Both Travis and I really wanted to see our families, so we decided to drive to VA. We got to my parents' house around 6 a.m. and I have been here ever since. I am actually leaving in a few hours to head back to Philly. After all the traveling we have done, the 6 hour drive to Philly on the interstate is nothing to us!
Whew, okay, so that is our trip...the details at least. I hope it made sense. I promise to write more soon about all the inside stuff, but I am way too tired from writing all of this to do that now. I will add pictures to this post when I get back to Philly, and you will be hearing from me again soon. It feels so good to be home, and I can't wait to go to church tomorrow and see everyone!!!!
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