The Beatitudes

As we prepare to go to Siyaipei (where we will be living for the remainder of our trip) tomorrow, my prayer comes from Matthew 5 - the beatitudes. I pray that I will internalize these promises and encouragements from Jesus.

Lord, give me a humble heart to put all others above myself. May my heart and soul hunger and thirst for righteousness by walking closer to you than I ever have before. Let me remember that you will comfort me when difficult and challenging times come my way. May I show mercy to those I come in contact with and the people I will build relationships with. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me so that I may see you clearly. I pray that you would give me a peaceful presence among the people surrounding me. When times of persecution arise may I rest in the assurance of my salvation and building your kingdom. Amen.

Life in Nairobi...

Jambo marafiki!

Today is our third full day in Kenya, and we are already learning and experiencing much! As the girls on my team have been quick to discover, I thoroughly appreciate the value of a good list, so the following outlines a bit of what we have been up to recently:

-Sleep: Thankfully, the jet lag has not been unmanageable, and I think we are now completely on the Kenyan sleep cycle
-Eat: The house in which we are staying, Mayfield House, provides us with three meals a day, and they are great!
-Drink Chai: This is a Kenyan staple, and I think we are all hooked!
-Kiss a twiga (giraffe in Swahili): We had the opportunity to visit a giraffe park. Check out the picture below. What a blast!
-Go to church: It was such an incredible blessing to worship with Kenyan believers! Kenyan people are incredibly hospitable and welcomed us into a smaller waiting room after the service was over, where they served us chai and cookies and we were able to get to know some of the college students. What an amazing experience to be able to hear the Word of God preached and to worship our God with Christians across the world!
-Play Bananagrams and learn Swahili, in that order: We have a few pages of introductory Swahili that we are attempting to learn. As a reward for semi-focused studying, we allow ourselves to play a round of Bananagrams (double points if you play a Swahili word). See video below!

We are so looking forward to tomorrow, when we hit the road early for our drive to Siyaipei. We are sad to leave our dear friend Aimee, who is going to be staying in Nairobi and working in Kibera Slums, but are excited about what God is going to do in both locations!

Upendo,
Janie

This is a Masai man we met at the market

Giraffe center!

Nairobi Orientation

We are in Africa!! The thought still makes me smile :) We arrived last night and because of a little switch up, it was thought that we weren't coming until 6am this morning, but we saw someone with an AIM Mayfield guesthouse sign who was there to pick up others going to the guesthouse and they said they could take us. So we called our Kenya shortterm facilitator who talked to him and knew him, so we trusted it was safe and packaged all of our bulky bags along with those of a family of six plus an adventurous solo traveler's bags in the back and on top of the church-sized van to the guesthouse. Since they weren't expecting us for the night, they didn't have room for all of us at the normal quarters so Alyssa and I stayed in a room still inside the complex but through the yard, under some clotheslines and around the corner to a place where the workers normally stay. I think the innworker was sad to have us stay there and we felt bad that he felt bad, because as we are learning, hospitality is so important to Kenyans, especially when you are from america, that they want to give you the best and do anything they can even at their own expense. But we didn't mind one bit! Infact it was kinda cool to experience that, and the quarters were not at all bad, it was simply a small room with cement floors and regular walls, one bunkbed with a mosquito net, and a side table. This morning we got moved to the room they prepared for us and we feel as though we are in luxury, the room is like an american room with four beds and a Kenyan touch! The guesthouse very much has a feel of like a camp on the lake, only Africa style. The three from my team and a girl we met at orientation who will be spending the next six weeks in the Nairobi slums, Kibera, (the second largest slum in Africa I believe) is staying with us too! It is absolutely beautiful here and the people are wonderful and warm! They feed us well and at Atlanta orientation we all bought the water bottle that filters itself so we can drink the water wherever we go. We are getting over jet lag fairly well and more excited than ever for the days to come even as we prepare for hard times. The Kenya shortterm facilitator (He is american but lives here) came to meet us this morning and took us for a walk to the local grocery store, market, and walmart type store here in Nairobi to get anything we needed. He also took us to a local coffee place "the mug" where I had Kenyan coffee for the first time and where he told us a vast amount of information (we have packets to study too) all about the culture, etiquette, people, health, safety, importantance of spiritual life and guidelines, etc. etc. and answered many of our questions! He is very friendly and had so much incredible advise that we would have never known had he not told us! At Siyaipei we will have a Kenyan facilitator who is a native Kenyan and who will be the go to for all questions on local culture, prices, etc. We have met many missionaries here at the guesthouse and it is like an amazing family, everyone being believers and many of whom are passing by on thier way back to or on their way to North African countries, and are amazing to talk with and learn from. They all are so wise, I feel like a sponge that can not seem to soak up enough of thier words. This afternoon we are going to go outside and study our books, practice Kenyan culture, work on our swahili, have tea time (a practice we hear almost all people from Kenya observe, setting aside a time to simply sit, chat, and drink chai!) and then watch Lion King!! Also fun fact, today is a holiday here, like Kenya independence day! Dont worry, although we are living quite well here, when we get to Siyaipei we will be living in what many here call "the bush," although they say it is rural, they also say it is not far at all to the nearest town which has most things we need! This only makes us more excited and we are much anticipating Siyaipei!! :) We will be going to experience Nairobi church sunday and heading out to Siyaipei on monday! Anyways, I could talk for hours already but I must conclude. I hope and pray that all is well with all of you!

We made it!!!

We made it to Nairobi!! :D Safe and sound! We can not say thank you enough for your prayers because we had several close calls for missing flights, rides, etc. but it was so evident that God's hand was in every single detail, allowing us to have a wonderful and smooth trip even filled with great conversations with people we met along the way! We will be staying in Nairobi for the weekend, meeting up with a missionary to show us the ropes, have a little orientation, and then we're off to Siyapei on Monday!

We are ahead by seven hours so we are going to sleep!!! (in comfy beds where we can stretch our legs after a loooong time traveling by airplane :)

Atlanta Orientation

Today is the day! We are about to depart for Kenya via Atlanta, New York, and Amsterdam. We have just finished two wonderful days of Orientation and have learned so much and have gotten to know each other better. It has actually started to hit us that we are going to be serving for two months in another country, and we cannot wait for what God is going to do!

We can't wait to get settled into our new home, and are looking forward to having Ashley join us in 2 weeks!

Goofy picture taken in front of our hotel in Peachtree City, a.k.a the Golf Cart Capital of the World (it's true!)

 

The Siyaipei Clinic Team

We are going to Kenya!

Where 3 of us will be in 3 days and 1 of us will be in 2 weeks!

Love,
The Siyaipei (See-yah-pay) girls

PS: If you have a free minute, watch this short video to get a glimpse of Africa!

Jambo!

Welcome friends and family to our Kenya blog!

We are so thankful to have the opportunity to reach out to Kenyan men, women, and children in the nearby villages sharing the love of Jesus Christ (woohoo!!) and to share many of these moments with you! We will be working at the local dispensary (similar to a permanent clinic) to provide medical care, building relationships, and becoming involved in the local church. We are excited to have you experience this journey with us and we appreciate your prayers more than we can express! 

Alyssa, Janie, Ashley, and I (Janessa) will be flying to Nairobi very shortly for the summer! Throughout the summer we will be updating this blog with stories/prayer requests/pictures/whereabouts/etc. as much as possible! We are looking forward to growing, being challenged, and being used in every way God has for us!

As for now the packing and Swahili practicing will continue! The countdown is on!!! :D eeek!

Kwaheri!