Children's Home Photos

We had a six hour bus ride from Nairobi to Karicho, but there was a mix-up and we went an hour out of our way. Greg ('dad') was waiting to drive us to Litein when we arrived, so we kept him waiting for awhile, but he simply stayed with Mary Rose ('mom') at the Tea Hotel. She was pretty sick with a stomach bug. When we got to the right place, he introduced himself by saying "just call me dad; that's what everybody calls me."
This picture is a section of road where there's not really a guardrail, and we were up pretty high, so I was a little nervous at first (just because there aren't a lot of speed limits/traffic signs in Kenya, so the ride was quite an adventure. I took several short naps on the way, and we also saw herds of sheep, goats, donkeys an cows; and even a few zebras and impalas/ gazelles.

Mallory holding Faith Ann <3 

One of the classrooms.

Courtney and I stayed up late inventing chocolate and vanilla cakes for the birthday celebration, which we had yesterday. Hannah, Greg and Mary's youngest girl, is hiding behind me. She really loves sprinkles, and she's such a good helper, so she helped decorate the cake(s). The icing was tricky: we didn't have a mixer, shortening, or corn syrup; but we used Somo (vegetable fat), a little butter, cocoa, -we did have powdered sugar-, vanilla extract, and a little evaporated milk to make chocolate frosting. -and then we made another batch with a cherry drink mix packet instead of cocoa to make pink icing, too.

This is the most American birthday cake you'll ever see in Africa. 

Me with Sheila <3

Stirring the Ugali. 

Mallory stirring the Ugali ;)

This is Kathleen (isn't she adorable?) she has a crazy hairdo, but the sweetest face:
and she was even looking at the camera! :)

Beautiful vine archway from our yard to the Guest House lawn.

We learned all the Swahili we needed to know in Nairobi. It turns out that Lion King is the best way to learn it: and yes, rafiki (friend) and akuna mattata (no worries) are real words :) 

More pretty flowers <3

Guest house scenery

We stayed at missionary homes on the Guest House grounds, but this is the view from the actual Guest House where tea is served every morning at 10, and every afternoon at 4. 'Tea' usually consists of coffee and black tea, and a small sweet or savory something).

One of several beautiful plants outside. There are walls around the property and we post a guard during the night, so the yard was walled in securely. As 'muzungus' in Nairobi, we have to be very careful -not that it's a bad place, but because: "IN AFRICA, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANY TIME: BUT MOST OF THE TIME IT DOESN'T."

The view from my bedroom window :)
we arrived at 11:55 PM (Kenya time) on Sunday, January 20. I was dark outside, so it was a little scary finding our way through Nairobi to EMM's Mennonite Guest House, but then the beautiful plants and everything outside were  such a pleasant surprise in the morning.

Kabariyako (hello/how are you) from Kenya :)

Hi everyone! Travis, Mallory and I made it to Kenya safely. ( Travis and Mallory are friends from training who are also serving in Kenya). We flew from Harrisburg to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi; and we had a delay on the Amsterdam > Nairobi flight, but arrived at EMM's Mennonite Guest House location here at 11:55 PM on Sunday night (3:55 PM Pennsylvania time). Someone must be praying for us because we had absolutely no jet-lag whatsoever. Connecting to the internet is a lot easier than predicted, and we're already learning a lot about language and culture specific to Nairobi and Litein (pronounced Li-tane). I have some other events to catch up on, but I'll skip straight to today: we cooked breakfast at 8:00 (midnight in PA) with things we bought in Westlands yesterday: bananas, oranges, eggs, and tea.  We had a session on Spiritual Disciplines after breakfast, teatime at 10:00, and at 2:00 (6 AM in PA) we went to a baseball field on the other side of Nairobi to meet the kids involved in the Sports Ministry connected to EMM. Almost everyone here speaks English, but it's good manners to attempt Swahili, so we've learned pretty quickly, but it's good that for the most part, everyone understands what we're saying. The version of English here is not exactly the same: there are British words for a lot of things, and definitely different accents. We speak what Kenyan people refer to as "high English", which is different. Kenyan culture is more formal in every way, and more relationship-centered than task-oriented. Well this is pretty short and sweet, but hopefully you get an idea what it's like and what I'm attempting to learn so far. the Guest House is the most beautiful place i have ever been. I have pictures, and hopefully I'll have time to upload them soon.

Thank you for reading about my little adventure, and for praying for me!

Love and prayers,

-Olivia

P.S. The Guest House functions as a home base of sorts; and it's a very restful place ideal for quiet times and a little more training/language studying. Courtney, Mallory and I are staying here until Thursday morning (Wednesday afternoon in PA) when we head to the orphanage for the official start to our assignments. Courtney is so kind and welcoming, and Mallory is an excellent friend and set-apart   

example: I truly could not ask for better teammates.

What I'm learning

Well, my last official day of work was Saturday January 12th. Sunday the 13th was a great morning at Millport: I felt so loved and supported by my church family, and I was very happy to see that John and Becky Thompson from Green Meadow Farm came! They're becoming such great friends of mine because of their obvious love for and direct obedience to Jesus Christ. (The whole team at G. M.F. is pretty special, actually).
Kerry, my pastor, asked some commitment questions, which brought the entire process of going to Kenya into perspective. Daryl and Mary Martin led the commissioning prayers for me, and that was definitely the best thing :)
My mom also made it a really special day for me -in her usual way, which is telling me that she's happy for me and focusing on me and understanding how I'm feeling. She does so much for my whole family every day <3.
My first day of training was today, and it was so good to meet the EMM staff and the other GO! participants. There are six of us total, 4 girls and two guys.
It was an exellent time of learning about discipleship and what it means to follow Jesus and live for Him. I've been reading so many good books and miscellaneous quotes lately, and some of those really tied in. God has really been reaching out to me and showing me a whole new perspective on my life with Him through a little book called "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23" lately. It is an in-depth anaylsis of the Psalm and shows me paralells that mean so much more than I understood just within that one Psalm.

 Hopefullly the blog will be more interesting and informative when I actually leave the country. It's been rather...uneventful so far. A short update: DANITA'S HOME! -and I'll be home for Christmas and New Years, and my birthday :) Then I have training January 14-19, and I still don't know the exact day/time when I'm flying to Nairobi (because I don't have all of my support raised yet), but it'll be sometime directly after the 19th. Meanwhile, I will enjoy this special holiday season while I'm here. I will look back on this time with sweet memories of 'comfort and joy', and I will have those memories to remind me of home while I'm in Kenya. I know it's going to be hard, and I might be homesick at times, but I'm going to focus completely on the task at hand, because that is God's will for me, and the best way to make the most of this experience. I know that I will learn a lot about humility, -and that the way God planted this in my life is part of His plan. I am quite small and insignificant on His grand scale, and I pray that my own self will be overtaken by His Truth so that the children will see Jesus' love through me. Nothing is more beautiful to me than God's Creation, so when I read that "the whole earth declares His glory", I wish for my life to reflect Him like that. It takes time, and it's probably one of the hardest things I have attempted in my life (going away to Kenya, that is), but the point is to simply live in obedience to Christ for the Glory of His Name. -not because I'm such a nice or caring person. I think that's what makes the difference between 'humanitarian aid' and truly reaching people (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) and selflessly loving them in a way that dramatically impacts their life for the better. Because people -although they have excellent qualities- are all flawed, and we all need to be forgiven. We all need God's truth, His grace, and His love. -and you can only find that in Jesus Christ. Jesus said "apart from me you can do nothing", and I have never been more convinced of that fact than now. It's daunting when I think about going far away from everything I know for a long time, but that truth gives me peace. God is watching over me, Jeus loves me, and His Holy Spirit is with me. He will do whatever He wants to accomplish whereas if I were trying to change the world without knowing Him, with only my percieved 'goodness,' it would be a waste of time.
Too many people say they would die for their faith, but they're not living for God. Sadly, that has been true for me, too. God is so unfathomably good, though, and He invites us to live the adventure of a lifetime by knowing Him. It's not that you have nothing to lose by following God, it's just that there's everything to gain!
That's why anything that I will do in Kenya matters. If one person can know Christ because of me, then every minute was worth it. We all love a good cause and a beautiful romance. Well Christ is THE Cause, and a Heavenly Romance, and all of our media, understanding, accomplishments, connections, comforts, and relationships can't even come close to HIS TRUTH, THE REASON for living, the endless frontier that is living for Christ. It's too perfect, we can't attain it. But He can. It's by Him, for Him, and because of Him that we can know Him and live with Him endlessly, forever.
I feel a sense of urgency as our culture gets more and more perverse, false religions are more prevalent, and 'new age' thinking warps the truth: because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one can come to the Father except through Him. In conclusion, it's not my faith but God's faithfulness. I'm going to Kenya to live for Christ and invite children to know Jesus and Savior and Lord as I serve their needs, and teach them the hope that we have in Him.  
Merry Christmas, everyone! May the peace of Christ live in your hearts <3
-Olivia

Thank you so much to Sherrie Ober, Troy Landis, and Cara Hershey for being patient with me and coordinating so much for this trip. Thanks to my brand new MST:  Mary and Daryl Martin, Kerry Martin, Danita Beachy, and Jean Kruis :) for being so supportive and encouraging ; and Amber Huber and Sharon H., Jan, and everyone at Landis Homes. In the last two weeks, I have met a few people that have been to Africa, or specifically Kenya, or specifically on GO! assignments. I can really see the prayers working already; and God is bringing everything together.
There are some response questions to finish before training, a lot of financial support to raise, miscellaneous mental/emotional/spiritual preparation, and overseas medical emergency coverage to purchase- but things are going well. I was putting those hugely important things on the back burner for awhile because I've been so busy, but now I'm working on them again.
I also haven't been very dedicated to updating this blog throughout the process, but originally I didn't plan to include the beginning stages of getting ready while still living my usual life here in Pennsylvania. I will be posting a paragraph or two more frequently now, in order to keep everyone informed. (That'll  keep me more accountable and focused, too).
Today I turned in my resignation form at work: a sad moment, because I am finally at some level of proficiency in my job, and have learned to love the people I work with and the residents that I serve.
But I know good things will come from this, and life moves on to new things.