An Update

I don't have a whole lot of time to update but i wanted to fill you all in on the happenings here. Today was the conclusion of my orientation. This week was full of Kiswahili lessons, moving into my homestay, taking the matatu (the taxi-type public transportation) for the first time, learning as much as you can about cross-cultural relations, and going into Kibera (the place where I am going to spending the majority of my time) for the first time.

I have loved every moment of all these various angles of being here though they have not been easy. Kiswahili is going well. It is difficult to learn another language and maybe even more difficult since most of the people here do not speak it in public. The official language of Kenya is English so most of the people speak English. However, Elf and I really want to learn as much of Kiswahili as possible so that we can show in another way that we care to learn and that we are not expecting the Kenyans to adapt to us but we, coming into their country, need to learn to adapt as much as we can to them. It is all part of bridging gaps and building relationships. The pivotal and vital aspect to the Kenyans (and I think it should be for all of us) is the idea, and reality, of relationships. So, with this in mind, if Elf and I can find as many ways as we can to build into relationships we can gain trust within these relationships and hope to be a source of encouragement pointing to the One who is our encouragement and hope as well...Jesus!

My homestay family is amazing! They are absolutely a riot! They make me laugh constantly! They have hosted a lot of short term missionaries so they are definitely a great resource for us when we have questions about things, etc. They have three young adults (ranging from 22-27) staying with them at the moment. In Kenya, since relationships are so important, hospitality is a very big deal. My homestay BaBa (kiswahili for father)says, "there is always room for one more..." That makes me smile!

Elf and I are LEARNING to be good Kenyan housewives. We are trying to make sure we are in the kitchen when the chapatis, the ugali, and the chai are being made so when we are living on our own (in 5 weeks)we are not un-hospitable when visitors drop by (which is pretty much expected). It is crucial to have a thermos ready for chai when people come over or you will be seen as un-welcoming. We have discovered that we have an amazing capacity for chai because you are expected to drink it whenever you go to someone's house, even if you just came from someone's house and had it there. We (and by that I mean me because Elf already knew how) are also learning to hand wash all our clothes. It is very pathetic when I think that I have never really had to hand wash my clothes. You learn to do it more often though because you can only do so much at once and it takes a while to dry especially when it is as cold as it has been lately. We are also learning to bath in a bucket in cold water! We are hoping to get running water in the next couple of days since we have not had it since we have moved in. The neighborhoods go through a cycle of sorts where you have two days off of water so as to conserve it. We get the water we use to bath in out of a massive conservation bucket outside our room...we are not sure where that water comes from but know we must boil it to drink it...we assume it just miraculously appears when it gets low:)

Yesterday was our first time to Kibera. Basically, we just spent the morning there, doing some home visitations with the staff of the organization we will be working with. I am still processing through my initial thoughts and feelings of yesterday...It is one thing to do research about a place, see all the pictures and hear all the stories and then quite another thing to go there and look into to the faces of people, hear the beautiful, excited voices of the children, smell the smells that words cannot describe, and learn the names and begin to start to know the lives of the people there...It is something else. But, i will say, I am so thankful that God is a God that does not despise the broken and contrite in spirit and those that call on Him from a sincere heart. This is what I have been and am learning...Only He can give me the wisdom and strength and love and hope as I come to Him with this kind of heart and I can intern point people with the same heart to the Only true source of love and hope and peace. It is truly all about Him and for Him!!

Apparently, I had a lot more time to update than I anticipated, though I know I could write more. However, I will end here, thank you all for your comments on the Blog, it is encouraging to me in more ways than you can know! Thank you especially for your prayers...this battle we fight is not one of flesh and blood and I truly treasure those of you battling with me spiritually! Know that i think about you all often and would love to hear of prayer requests you have as well!

In Him and for Him,
Shayla

Habari!

It is my first officical day in Nairobi! I can hardly believe i am actually here!! Sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if it is a dream or a reality. My roomate Elpspeth (she goes by Elf) and I attended a church this morning close to the place we are staying. We are staying at an AIM Guesthouse called Mayfield until Tuesday when we move in with our family. After talking to some of the college-aged members of the church this morning we found out that we should never greet someone with the term "Jambo." This is because it is a very touristy term and nobody really uses it. They said that people can take advantage of you if they hear you greet with Jambo because they know you are a tourist. So, instead, we are supposed to say, "Habari." Habari is literally translated as, "how are you...or...what is the news." In response you say, "Mizuri." Which means, "good."By the way i have no idea if i spelled either of those words right! I loved the church we attended this morning! The people were so hospitable and I loved how solid the teaching of the Word was! The pastor preached on Ephesians chapter one and how God, who loved us first, chose us from before time began to be His children! The Lord has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and we are so spiritually rich in Him.

Well, i would love to write more but lunch time is coming up and i want to share some photos with you all! So, here are some traveling photos and ones here in Kenya.

.....umm...yeah, i just tried to load my pictures and it is taking forever! The wireless connection is not that strong here but I will try again later!

I love and miss you all! Please pray for both Elf and I. We will be starting orientation this evening and then Kiswahili lessons tomorrow. Pray that she and I will have unity and know how we can be there for one another. Niether of us have any idea what is in store but we know whom we have believed and He is able to keep that which was committed and begun by Him...for His glory!! Pray that our time with the Lord will be a priotity and that we will be able to find somewhat of a schedule in the midst of a very unscheduled season of our life!

I will be in touch!

Sorry this entry is so scattered, it is a reflection of my mind at this juncture with jet-lag and the like:)

Friends!

The afternoon of the day I arrived in Pearl River, a group of about 8 college-age people from all over the country came to meet up as a group to leave as a team to a city in Uganda called Arua for one month. One of the girls was staying here for orientation and actually left yesterday for her individual assignment (one month also) to a small group of islands called Comoros (spelling?).

It was an amazing answer to prayer because coming here alone i felt very....well...alone. I know that God has planned this trip before I ever knew about it and I know that He goes before me and with me wherever I go but I am also aware (and thankful) that He has created us with a need for community and relationships. I am praising God because He provided for my need in this area through the group that was here!! It is crazy how you can know people for such a short amount of time and feel like you have known them forever. Unfortuantely...for me, not them:)...., they left this evening. I have to admit, I am a bit sad and feel a bit lonely. However, God does not stop with His provisions for me in this area!! A group of about 15 people (mainly married couples and one teenager) came in today! Though i reckognize it is not the same as the group I got close with, I am thankful that I will be traveling with them to Nairobi tomorrow and will have the opportunity and priveledge to get to them and thier hearts for Africa. They have already been very welcoming to me, and for that I am so thankful...it will take a bit of time for me to get to know them too, but i know we have at least a day of constant traveling together so I know it will be great...nothing like traveling to bring people close:)

Here are some pictures of the Arua Team and I hanging out. I hung out with them as they attempted to make balloon animals to use as methods to teach the Gospel and all kinds of other things!







Carolyn (the one in Comoros) and the puppet!



Tea with the Girls!



Some of us got tired, too:)




We are so professional in the big conference room..




Some of my favorite pictures in the office:






So, tomorrow is the big day! I am so excited but admittedly anxious about the unknowns and so forth. I do know, though, that this is exactly where I am supposed to be and in that I rest. I leave at 1:30pm for the airport and following a layover in London, will be getting into Nairobi Saturday night sometime.

I love you all so much and i will stay connected as I can!

Wireless...Hallelujiah!

I made it to New York! It was quite the trip. It was my first time ever experiencing a Red Eye flight. I can usually sleep really well on planes but the combo of travel anxiety and time changes, i was only able to sleep for probably two hours the whole trip. Needless to say, I was exhausted when I arrived at 6:30 this morning. Now, don't get me wrong, I would do a Red Eye again I just don't think I am the biggest fan! After arriving at the AIM conference center, I slept for a good 3-4 hours which was so needed...and might be added to this afternoon:) I was stoked to get a meal! The simple things in life...Since they don't feed you on the plane I hadn't eaten since dinner in San Fransisco. It was nice eating a hamburger meal with some of the staff here at AIM. Many of them were or are missionaries in Africa so it was neat to chat with them a bit about thier experiences....more to come I am sure.

It was so fun, too, because when I was in the airport I ran into my COUSIN David!! David is my cousin on my dad's side and I have not seen him in over a year! It was random (or not so random...) seeing him and so much fun!!!

I was thrilled when i turned my computer on in my room this afternoon and it picked up on a wireless connection!!!! It is sad to say but as excited as I was to eat and sleep (the real necessities of life), I was almost equally excited to have wireless!! Pathetic, I know! It is so nice to be able to get online and check email and update my blog!! Again, a simple thing in life we often take for granted...until we don't have it! I will say, I am thankful for internet so that I can stay connected with y'all! I mean, just a few minutes ago, I talked to my mom via Skype (an online phone system) for FREE...it really does not get much better than that:)

While i wait for oriention to start this evening, I will enjoy every minute of this update...pictures and all! Here are some pictures of my room at the conference center:






And, to fill you in on the stages up to leaving yesterday...Packing was quite the ordeal! Thankfully, my girls came to my house to save the day! Here are some funny pictures of us packing. It was hysterical trying to weigh my bags on a standard scale!! I also found some of these bags that you can vaccuum the air out of in order to save space...they pretty much changed my life!! Here are some before and after pictures of the process...it's hard to see in the photo the difference the vaccuum made, but I will not lie to you...they are amazing and I would highly reccommend them to anyone!








Well F&F (stands for Friends and Family...i think that is what I am going to start calling y'all..), I love and miss you all so much! Thank you all for your prayers. Honestly, I feel bathed in it! Please let me know how i can pray for you all! We are all on this journey together, just at different stages in it...we all need the Lord and one another...as a Family! I'll keep you posted as I hope to hear from y'all too!

Packing Progress...

I knew that packing for nine months would be a process but I really had no idea how much of a process it would really be! My friend Stephanie came over a couple of days ago from Portland to help me get organized, shop, and begin to pack. She left on Thursday (3 days ago) and I really don't think I have done much since she left! My mind is in a million other places and time, being the way it is, just has snuck up me like I could not believe! It is time to get serious! I leave TOMORROW, so i need to kick it into high gear.

Here are some pictures of this process so you can have an idea of what my life has been like the past couple of weeks. Also, Stephanie, my parents and I were able to take a packing break and go up to one of the spectacular cascade lakes in Central Oregon. Enjoy some of those photos as well:)









Family Photos:

We had a family dinner last week. Here are some pictures of us hanging out. My grandma has a doll that we call her baby. She carries her baby around, attempts to feed it, and cares for it as if it were her own. It is amazing how our minds get when we get older, she truley is like a young child now...it is very sad...She is so beautiful though, I love her so much.

Hellos and Good-Byes

As many of you know, my grandparents on my mom's side have lived in Brazil, as missionaries, for the past 50+ years. Needless to say, I have lacked the opportunity to really get to know them over the course of my life. I have been blessed to know about the godly legacy the Lord has planted through them, but have only a select few times had the priveledge to get to know them personally. The last six months my aunt (who is from here and lives with another aunt) has been down in Brazil caring for my grandma, while my other aunt and my mom were up here taking care of my grandpa. My mom traveled with my grandpa down to Brazil about a month ago and left him there in preperation for the big move of both my grandparents up to Bend, OR... permanately....a little bit different from Brazil. The main reason they have been moved here is that thier health (especially my grandmas) has begun to decline. Health care is much better in the States than in Brazil and with my grandma having alzheimers and my grandpa not being in the jungle going shape he used to be, it was best to bring them here. I have been able to spend some time with them the last week they have been back. I will not lie when i say it has been challenging seeing my grandma in the condition she is but when i look close into her eyes I see the grandma I knew at a time and love! It is interestng seeing she and my grandpa interact...in her eyes, he is the only thing that matters and the only one in the room...she is fixated on her husband of 55 years! Even though she is not all with it, it is a pretty beautiful thing...even when she is hitting at him and yelling at him. Here are some pictures of us hanging out at my aunts' house:









With that Hello, i had to say a Good-bye this weekend. My great friend from Moody and her husband moved to Portland after they got married last year. Her parents have a house boat out a lake near me so it worked out for me to go out for a night and spend some time with her and her family! It was so great and relaxing! We ate a bunch, visited, played spoons, and even had enough time to get out on the SeaDoo...and then break it...oops! Supposidly it was not our fault, but i am starting to wonder why I seem to be around when everything breaks:)

Aubrey and her husband Luke, had some exciting news for me when i was visiting. They found out that Aubrey is pregnant!! They are so thrilled and so am I!! It's crazy to think that they will have a little bundle of joy when i get back from Africa!

Here are some pictures of our weekend: