We spent the entire day African Safari-ing. We had a BLAST! We saw impalas, gazelle, zebra, elephants, chimps, baboons, water buffalo, water bucks, rhinos, giraffes, birds, and LIONS!!!!! We searched so hard to find lions and we finally found some at the very end of our time in the park! We saw 3 lionesses together laying down resting and we were soooo close to them! I was seriously scared, but it was so worth it! We had so much fun today admiring God's creation and the incredible animals that He created. And it was only a VERY small fraction of the MAGNITUDE of our Creator's beauty!!!
I'm alone right now, and I've been reflecting on the trip a lot for some time now since it just hit me that I only have 3 days left in Kenya. This trip has gone by so fast, I can't believe it ends on Thursday. This mission trip has been beyond amazing for me. God has opened my eyes to SO MUCH and has seriously challenged me in so many ways. I have no idea what it's going to be like going back to the States.. I can imagine I'm going to be a little bit skeptical and frustrated, which I am already feeling right now and I haven't even left yet. I have experienced God in a completely different way here and I have seen and done things that I never have before.. It would take me 10 pages to tell you everything that God has shown and taught me during this trip. Although I am pretty bummed about the fact that my time here is almost over, I do know that God still has 3 full days of stuff for me to do, learn, experience, and see. He's not done yet. And I am excited to see what else is in store.
Thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog and praying for our team while we've been gone. It means so much, you all have been such a blessing to me!
Missing you guys,
Morgan
Monday, June 13, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Purity
Well this morning we worked at a different school in Nanyuki, Mt. Kenya Baptist School. It is a GREAT school- the teachers are very qualified and a lot of families move to Nanyuki simply to send their children to this school. We spent the morning doing another teacher workshop with all of the teachers at the school. It's crazy... I had no idea that I would come here and actually do anything with education, but I've spent soooo much time on this trip working in schools, helping teachers make learning more effective, and actually teaching students in their classes. It isn't ironic at all that I am studying to be an elementary school teacher one day! I knew that God would stretch me spiritually and emotionally on this trip, but I had no idea that He would stretch me regarding my future career! During our workshop this morning, we did an entire presentation for them that we prepared last night and this morning with the four main points that they asked us to discuss: 1) interventions for below-average students, 2) how to deal with students who consistently turn in incomplete assignments, 3) how to spark intrinsic motivation within the students, and 4) how to make/when to use visual aids. It took us about 2-3 hours to present all of the information, and we got the teachers really involved by doing a few games and hands-on activities to demonstrate our points. It REALLY challenged me as a future teacher. I was forced to stand up in front of about 20 very qualified teachers from a completely different country and tell THEM how to improve THEIR teaching in THEIR classrooms!.... I kept thinking, who am I to tell them what to do in their classrooms!?!? But it actually went extremely well and the teachers were so receptive and attentive the entire time. I learned so much by doing this workshop and I was seriously challenged so much as a future educator. I THANK GOD for these opportunities that I've had to teach and present in Kenya!
We went to the Equator this afternoon... yes, THE Equator and took pictures on the line! It was crazy, I was straddling the Equator and standing in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere at the exact same time! We did a little bit of shopping in Nanyuki and then spent the afternoon playing with the boarders who go to/live at Mt. Kenya Baptist School. Crissy and I, of course, started a huge dance party with all the girls. Just wait until you guys see the videos! They are soooo talented, and we had so much fun with them.
Every Saturday night, the missionaries that we are working with-Andrew and Abby (who are married)-teach a purity lesson with the standard 8 (8th grade) boarding boys and girls who live at the school. Andrew and Abby are from Florida, and they are 23 and have been married for almost 2 years now! Their story is absolutely incredible.. they are WONDERFUL followers of Christ. Abby asked me if I would join her in leading the girls purity lesson tonight and of course I said YES!...Ok guys, it was SO COOL. But also challenging. Let me just say that the topic of sex and purity is A LOT DIFFERENT in Kenya than it is in the States. Our cultures are extremely different, and dating/marriage is extremely different between our countries as well. There were about 25 girls in the purity lesson, ranging in ages from 12 to 16. We mentioned the word "kiss" one time and they all BURSTED out laughing and gasping! Kissing is completely inappropriate in Kenyan culture for children so young, so they felt very uncomfortable when we mentioned it! They had no idea what "making out" was, and when Abby said the word "flirt" they looked at her like she was speaking another language. In Kenya, you usually don't start dating until you're at least 21 or 22 unless your parents arrange a marriage for you earlier. So you can imagine how different our purity lesson was compared to what it would be like if we were to give it to 12-16-year-olds in Texas. But...it was AWESOME! Different, yes, but still incredibly effective and fun. The girls opened up so much with Abby and I and they were sooo interested in what we had to say about sex and dating and purity. When we finally ended our lesson with questions and answers (an hour late), Abby told all of the girls to head back to their dorms. After about 15 seconds when not a single one of them had moved, she asked them why they were still sitting there, and they all said that they had MORE questions that they wanted to ask us individually. So we stayed back and sat at different ends of the room and literally had 2 lines of girls waiting to talk to us! I couldn't believe that they wanted to talk to us and ask us questions so bad after we had just talked for almost 2 hours already! Some of the questions I got were:... 1) What do I do if a boy likes me but I don't like him back?.. 2) How do I handle a situation where I am just good friends with a boy but all of my friends think I like him, but I really don't?.. 3) What if I want to be a boy's girlfriend but my parents won't let me?.. 4) Is it bad if I think about sex sometimes?.. 5) My friends are pressuring me to hold hands with a boy but I don't want to. How do I tell them that I don't want to without hurting their feelings?..... After about 20-30 minutes Abby told the girls that we had to stop with questions because they were already almost 2 hours late for bed!!! So as we were walking out, another girl came up to me with a pen and a piece of paper that had a survey on it. It had questions like: what's your name, what's your favorite food, what is your favorite memory, when is your birthday, what are you most excited about, and some others. She looked at me and said, "Morgan, I know you will only be here for 2 more days, but I want to know more about you. Will you please fill out this survey so I can keep it and remember some stuff about you?" Oh my gosh, I almost cried. I filled out the survery and then Abby and I were approached by 2 more groups of girls who wanted to ask us more questions about sex and purity lol. Of course we stayed back to answer their questions and then finally came back to the house.
Tonight was an incredible blessing to me. I was without a doubt stretched and challenged, and forced out of my comfort zone. I got to talk about sex and purity-something that I am very passionate about-with 12-16-year-old girls who live in a country on the complete opposite side of the world and share my heart with them and hear theirs as well. I was reminded about what God says about sex and dating and marriage and purity. I learned much more about the Kenyan culture in regards to sex and marriage. I was forced to communicate in a way that was very different from how I would communicate the same lesson back in the States. I got to love on and encourage and pour into girls who live in a different country as me but who still have the same struggles and questions and confusion that I had at their age. I was reminded that there are temptations outside of the United States... that there are other young girls in this world who have questions and who are attacked by the Enemy and who have sexual desires that they don't exactly know what to do with. I was able to fellowship with my sisters in Christ..my sisters in Christ who are 4-8 years younger than me, who live in another country, and who have a very different culture than me.. but my sisters in Christ who all love Jesus just as much as I do and who truly desire to honor Him with their hearts, minds, and bodies. I.was.blessed.
Thankful for girl time and sex talks,
Morgan
We went to the Equator this afternoon... yes, THE Equator and took pictures on the line! It was crazy, I was straddling the Equator and standing in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere at the exact same time! We did a little bit of shopping in Nanyuki and then spent the afternoon playing with the boarders who go to/live at Mt. Kenya Baptist School. Crissy and I, of course, started a huge dance party with all the girls. Just wait until you guys see the videos! They are soooo talented, and we had so much fun with them.
Every Saturday night, the missionaries that we are working with-Andrew and Abby (who are married)-teach a purity lesson with the standard 8 (8th grade) boarding boys and girls who live at the school. Andrew and Abby are from Florida, and they are 23 and have been married for almost 2 years now! Their story is absolutely incredible.. they are WONDERFUL followers of Christ. Abby asked me if I would join her in leading the girls purity lesson tonight and of course I said YES!...Ok guys, it was SO COOL. But also challenging. Let me just say that the topic of sex and purity is A LOT DIFFERENT in Kenya than it is in the States. Our cultures are extremely different, and dating/marriage is extremely different between our countries as well. There were about 25 girls in the purity lesson, ranging in ages from 12 to 16. We mentioned the word "kiss" one time and they all BURSTED out laughing and gasping! Kissing is completely inappropriate in Kenyan culture for children so young, so they felt very uncomfortable when we mentioned it! They had no idea what "making out" was, and when Abby said the word "flirt" they looked at her like she was speaking another language. In Kenya, you usually don't start dating until you're at least 21 or 22 unless your parents arrange a marriage for you earlier. So you can imagine how different our purity lesson was compared to what it would be like if we were to give it to 12-16-year-olds in Texas. But...it was AWESOME! Different, yes, but still incredibly effective and fun. The girls opened up so much with Abby and I and they were sooo interested in what we had to say about sex and dating and purity. When we finally ended our lesson with questions and answers (an hour late), Abby told all of the girls to head back to their dorms. After about 15 seconds when not a single one of them had moved, she asked them why they were still sitting there, and they all said that they had MORE questions that they wanted to ask us individually. So we stayed back and sat at different ends of the room and literally had 2 lines of girls waiting to talk to us! I couldn't believe that they wanted to talk to us and ask us questions so bad after we had just talked for almost 2 hours already! Some of the questions I got were:... 1) What do I do if a boy likes me but I don't like him back?.. 2) How do I handle a situation where I am just good friends with a boy but all of my friends think I like him, but I really don't?.. 3) What if I want to be a boy's girlfriend but my parents won't let me?.. 4) Is it bad if I think about sex sometimes?.. 5) My friends are pressuring me to hold hands with a boy but I don't want to. How do I tell them that I don't want to without hurting their feelings?..... After about 20-30 minutes Abby told the girls that we had to stop with questions because they were already almost 2 hours late for bed!!! So as we were walking out, another girl came up to me with a pen and a piece of paper that had a survey on it. It had questions like: what's your name, what's your favorite food, what is your favorite memory, when is your birthday, what are you most excited about, and some others. She looked at me and said, "Morgan, I know you will only be here for 2 more days, but I want to know more about you. Will you please fill out this survey so I can keep it and remember some stuff about you?" Oh my gosh, I almost cried. I filled out the survery and then Abby and I were approached by 2 more groups of girls who wanted to ask us more questions about sex and purity lol. Of course we stayed back to answer their questions and then finally came back to the house.
Tonight was an incredible blessing to me. I was without a doubt stretched and challenged, and forced out of my comfort zone. I got to talk about sex and purity-something that I am very passionate about-with 12-16-year-old girls who live in a country on the complete opposite side of the world and share my heart with them and hear theirs as well. I was reminded about what God says about sex and dating and marriage and purity. I learned much more about the Kenyan culture in regards to sex and marriage. I was forced to communicate in a way that was very different from how I would communicate the same lesson back in the States. I got to love on and encourage and pour into girls who live in a different country as me but who still have the same struggles and questions and confusion that I had at their age. I was reminded that there are temptations outside of the United States... that there are other young girls in this world who have questions and who are attacked by the Enemy and who have sexual desires that they don't exactly know what to do with. I was able to fellowship with my sisters in Christ..my sisters in Christ who are 4-8 years younger than me, who live in another country, and who have a very different culture than me.. but my sisters in Christ who all love Jesus just as much as I do and who truly desire to honor Him with their hearts, minds, and bodies. I.was.blessed.
Thankful for girl time and sex talks,
Morgan
Friday, June 10, 2011
My night as an orphan
Last night we went to an orphanage in Naibor, which was about 30 minutes from the missionaries' house that we are staying at in Nanyuki. It was in a very rural area- there was literally nothing but animals and villages out there. The married couple who started the orphanage, John and Mary, built themselves a mud hut to live in and then they started picking up street kids from all over the area and bringing them in. Now there are about 45 orphans who stay there, and all of them were brought in from the streets and have nowhere to call home. The children were extremely dirty- they were covered in dust and mud and you could tell that they hadn't bathed in a few days. Most of their clothes were really torn and falling apart and a lot didn't have any shoes. But they were PRECIOUS. Oh my gosh, we loved them. They were so much fun! You guys can see the pictures of them whenever I get back and upload them.
When we first got there, we joined in on some of the games that the kids were playing. Most of them didn't speak any English so they got a huge kick out of us 'mzungus' who had literally no idea what they were saying lol. Luckily a lot of the older kids spoke English so we could talk to them without any problems. We played with them for awhile and then they asked us to go down and "fetch water" with them. We all walked down to the nearby river and literally collected water with the jugs that we brought down there. Crissy and I stayed back to play with the little kids and keep them entertained, and Crissy also taught the kids how to dougie during this time which was sooo funny! They thought it was the coolest dance ever. One little girl, Wandea, would NOT let go of me. She immediately grabbed my hand as soon as we started walking to the river and didn't let go until we got back. She didn't speak any English, but she was so sweet. She kept grabbing my hands and arms and rubbing her hands on my skin because she could tell it was different than hers. I also got to talk a lot with a 16-year-old orphan girl named Isabel. She spoke broken English so we couldn't have too much of a conversation, but she wouldn't leave my side. Another girl that I got to know well was Ann- she was 19 and was telling me all about how she wants to be a businesswoman one day. We all fell in love with Ann, she was so fun. After we got water, we came back and the orphans did a few dances for us and sang us a few worship songs and then they asked us to sing to them so we sang a few Hillsong worship songs for them. Then we had dinner- beans and rice. I'm really not a fan of beans and rice at all, but I've pretty much learned to just suck it up and eat it! They were all so ridiculously nice and hospitable to us. We felt so welcomed by them, they treated us like royalty. By the time we ate dinner it was completely dark outside and there is no electricity at the orphanage so we ate in the dark except for a few lamps. I also had my very first experience with a "squatty potty," AKA, the hole in the ground. I'm not even going to lie...it was disgusting lol...but all apart of the experience! I was a good sport about it I must say. Crissy, Megan, and I slept in a one-bedroom hut with all of the little kids- there were about 10-12 of them. We slept in bunkbeds; the three of us got our own but most of the orphans slept 2-3 to one twin-size bed. To be honest... I slept horribly. And not because I wasn't comfortable. The beds were actually really comfortable and I was totally warm, I am just a really light sleeper and at the orphanage they have cows, donkeys, dogs, cats, roosters, and chickens just roaming around outside. The roosters crowed ALL.NIGHT.LONG. And the dogs barked ALL.NIGHT.LONG. I probably slept about 2-3 hours the whole night, but again, it was all apart of the experience!
We woke up this morning around 6am and watched the little kids bathe. They use the water that they collect from the river (so you can imagine how clean it is), put it in a big plastic bowl, and then use a cup to wash off their arms, legs, and faces. They slept and bathed wearing the same exact clothes that they were wearing when we got there yesterday to play with them. After we got dressed and ready to go, Crissy looked at me and asked me if today was the 10th. I told her yes, because OF COURSE I knew today was the 10th (it's mine and Garrett's 3 months)!!! For our first- and second-month anniversaries, Garrett had come over to my apartment at like 5am and had my roommates let him in so that he could leave me one rose for the first month and two roses for the second month on our kitchen counter for me to get when I woke up. I was not at all expecting anything from him for our 3rd month, obviously because I am in Kenya and I knew there was no way for him to give me anything today!... WRONG! This morning Crissy handed me a bag, with 3 smooshed roses in it and a letter. I honestly was so confused; I had no idea who it was from/what it was for. I did not once think, "oh it's from Garrett." I looked at her super confused and when she told me it was from him I was SO SURPRISED! I couldn't believe he did that! And he had written me the SWEETEST and most uplifting letter ever with a ton of encouraging Scripture! Okay, I am bragging......... But I was so excited! :) Thanks babe, happy 3 months! :D
We walked a little bit over a mile this morning to the school that we spent the morning at. Josh, our team leader, spoke during the students' Chapel and then we spent some time with the teachers, giving them ideas and talking about how they can improve their teaching like we did at WHA.
So.... last night I was an orphan. I really did feel like one. I didn't have my parents there, not anywhere even remotely close, and I played with the only other people that were around me- other orphans. I ate the only food that was available to me-beans and rice-and ate my meal in darkness. I peed in a hole in the ground in a shed that was completely full of flies. I slept at an orphanage in a hut made out of mud and I was kept awake all night long by an annoying rooster crowing right outside of my door. It was hard. I was 110% out of my comfort zone and was forced to be completely selfless. It broke my heart thinking about the fact that these children, and John and Mary, are the only family that they all have. They don't have a mommy and a daddy to take care of them while they're sick, to buy them the newest games, to make sure that they're getting their homework done at night, to take them to Disney World. It, once again, made me appreciate my parents so much more.
My night as an African orphan was by far the most humbling experience of my life.
When we first got there, we joined in on some of the games that the kids were playing. Most of them didn't speak any English so they got a huge kick out of us 'mzungus' who had literally no idea what they were saying lol. Luckily a lot of the older kids spoke English so we could talk to them without any problems. We played with them for awhile and then they asked us to go down and "fetch water" with them. We all walked down to the nearby river and literally collected water with the jugs that we brought down there. Crissy and I stayed back to play with the little kids and keep them entertained, and Crissy also taught the kids how to dougie during this time which was sooo funny! They thought it was the coolest dance ever. One little girl, Wandea, would NOT let go of me. She immediately grabbed my hand as soon as we started walking to the river and didn't let go until we got back. She didn't speak any English, but she was so sweet. She kept grabbing my hands and arms and rubbing her hands on my skin because she could tell it was different than hers. I also got to talk a lot with a 16-year-old orphan girl named Isabel. She spoke broken English so we couldn't have too much of a conversation, but she wouldn't leave my side. Another girl that I got to know well was Ann- she was 19 and was telling me all about how she wants to be a businesswoman one day. We all fell in love with Ann, she was so fun. After we got water, we came back and the orphans did a few dances for us and sang us a few worship songs and then they asked us to sing to them so we sang a few Hillsong worship songs for them. Then we had dinner- beans and rice. I'm really not a fan of beans and rice at all, but I've pretty much learned to just suck it up and eat it! They were all so ridiculously nice and hospitable to us. We felt so welcomed by them, they treated us like royalty. By the time we ate dinner it was completely dark outside and there is no electricity at the orphanage so we ate in the dark except for a few lamps. I also had my very first experience with a "squatty potty," AKA, the hole in the ground. I'm not even going to lie...it was disgusting lol...but all apart of the experience! I was a good sport about it I must say. Crissy, Megan, and I slept in a one-bedroom hut with all of the little kids- there were about 10-12 of them. We slept in bunkbeds; the three of us got our own but most of the orphans slept 2-3 to one twin-size bed. To be honest... I slept horribly. And not because I wasn't comfortable. The beds were actually really comfortable and I was totally warm, I am just a really light sleeper and at the orphanage they have cows, donkeys, dogs, cats, roosters, and chickens just roaming around outside. The roosters crowed ALL.NIGHT.LONG. And the dogs barked ALL.NIGHT.LONG. I probably slept about 2-3 hours the whole night, but again, it was all apart of the experience!
We woke up this morning around 6am and watched the little kids bathe. They use the water that they collect from the river (so you can imagine how clean it is), put it in a big plastic bowl, and then use a cup to wash off their arms, legs, and faces. They slept and bathed wearing the same exact clothes that they were wearing when we got there yesterday to play with them. After we got dressed and ready to go, Crissy looked at me and asked me if today was the 10th. I told her yes, because OF COURSE I knew today was the 10th (it's mine and Garrett's 3 months)!!! For our first- and second-month anniversaries, Garrett had come over to my apartment at like 5am and had my roommates let him in so that he could leave me one rose for the first month and two roses for the second month on our kitchen counter for me to get when I woke up. I was not at all expecting anything from him for our 3rd month, obviously because I am in Kenya and I knew there was no way for him to give me anything today!... WRONG! This morning Crissy handed me a bag, with 3 smooshed roses in it and a letter. I honestly was so confused; I had no idea who it was from/what it was for. I did not once think, "oh it's from Garrett." I looked at her super confused and when she told me it was from him I was SO SURPRISED! I couldn't believe he did that! And he had written me the SWEETEST and most uplifting letter ever with a ton of encouraging Scripture! Okay, I am bragging......... But I was so excited! :) Thanks babe, happy 3 months! :D
We walked a little bit over a mile this morning to the school that we spent the morning at. Josh, our team leader, spoke during the students' Chapel and then we spent some time with the teachers, giving them ideas and talking about how they can improve their teaching like we did at WHA.
So.... last night I was an orphan. I really did feel like one. I didn't have my parents there, not anywhere even remotely close, and I played with the only other people that were around me- other orphans. I ate the only food that was available to me-beans and rice-and ate my meal in darkness. I peed in a hole in the ground in a shed that was completely full of flies. I slept at an orphanage in a hut made out of mud and I was kept awake all night long by an annoying rooster crowing right outside of my door. It was hard. I was 110% out of my comfort zone and was forced to be completely selfless. It broke my heart thinking about the fact that these children, and John and Mary, are the only family that they all have. They don't have a mommy and a daddy to take care of them while they're sick, to buy them the newest games, to make sure that they're getting their homework done at night, to take them to Disney World. It, once again, made me appreciate my parents so much more.
My night as an African orphan was by far the most humbling experience of my life.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
For the love of God
Well... our time at World Hope Academy is over until next Thursday when we go back just for a few hours to hang out with the teachers and students one last time before we leave that night! We had such a great day at the school again today. 4 of us from our team woke up at 5:30am this morning and made about 12 posters and visual aids that the teachers asked us to make them for their classrooms. When we got to school we spent the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon making more posters and helping the teachers with more ideas for their classrooms. We played with the kids for the rest of the afternoon and got to just love on them and give them all the attention in the world! Crissy and I opened back up our nail salon for the girls again today, which we started yesterday. We have quite a business. Too bad we don't get paid :P lol... Right before we left to go to dinner I made the mistake of getting out a sucker for one of the girls, Faith, who asked me if I had any candy. I gave her the sucker and literally within 20 seconds I was surrounded by about 30 of the kids begging me for candy! Luckily I had a huge bag, but eventually Crissy and I were getting legitimately attacked by all of the students, so the handing out of candy ended quickly after that. Those kids were fighting and begging for candy as if it was a million dollars! It was funny at first but then got actually scary lol.
Tomorrow we are moving on in our Kenyan journey: Nanyuki. It's about 4 hours from Nairobi (where we are now) and we will be spending the next week there working in 3 more schools and a few orphanages. We also get to go on a real African Safari! I am super excited, and so pumped to see what the Lord has in store for us there. We've been fortunate enough to have Wifi at our guest house here in Nairobi so blogging hasn't been a problem, but I'm not sure if we'll have Wifi in Nanyuki since we are staying at a church for a few nights and an orphanage the rest of the time. Hopefully I will be able to continue blogging while in Nanyuki, but in case I can't and don't write any more blogs I just want y'all to know why! :)
I can't believe that tomorrow is already Thursday! This trip is going by so ridiculously fast, I wish it would slow down a little bit! I am having so much fun, learning so much, experiencing so much, growing so much. I am seeing God and experiencing Him in a way that I never have before. He is working on my heart in so many different ways, stretching and challenging me like never before. He is opening my eyes and showing me things that I need to be more concerned about.. literally breaking my heart for what breaks His. He is showing me a whole new world outside of my own comfortable, convenient, fortunate life I have in the States. I have totally fallen in love with about 400 beautiful, enthusiastic, loving Kenyan children, the majority of which walk home to an African slum every day and whose families live on about one American dollar per day, but who come back to school the next morning just as joyful, excited, and loving as the day before. I've received a love from them different than any other love I have ever felt or known. It's unconditional, sacrificial, and completely genuine. Maybe this is God's way of illustrating to me the type of love that He has for me... And the crazy thing about it is that God's love for me is a million times higher, wider, deeper, and stronger than the love I am receiving from these precious children! I seem to have forgotten how sweet the love of my Savior is. I seem to have forgotten how MUCH my God truly, sincerely, and deeply loves me. And today I was reminded. For the love of God... is beautiful. It's real, it's intimate, it's perfect. For the love of God is completely unconditional.
Thanking God for Kenyan children,
Morgan
Tomorrow we are moving on in our Kenyan journey: Nanyuki. It's about 4 hours from Nairobi (where we are now) and we will be spending the next week there working in 3 more schools and a few orphanages. We also get to go on a real African Safari! I am super excited, and so pumped to see what the Lord has in store for us there. We've been fortunate enough to have Wifi at our guest house here in Nairobi so blogging hasn't been a problem, but I'm not sure if we'll have Wifi in Nanyuki since we are staying at a church for a few nights and an orphanage the rest of the time. Hopefully I will be able to continue blogging while in Nanyuki, but in case I can't and don't write any more blogs I just want y'all to know why! :)
I can't believe that tomorrow is already Thursday! This trip is going by so ridiculously fast, I wish it would slow down a little bit! I am having so much fun, learning so much, experiencing so much, growing so much. I am seeing God and experiencing Him in a way that I never have before. He is working on my heart in so many different ways, stretching and challenging me like never before. He is opening my eyes and showing me things that I need to be more concerned about.. literally breaking my heart for what breaks His. He is showing me a whole new world outside of my own comfortable, convenient, fortunate life I have in the States. I have totally fallen in love with about 400 beautiful, enthusiastic, loving Kenyan children, the majority of which walk home to an African slum every day and whose families live on about one American dollar per day, but who come back to school the next morning just as joyful, excited, and loving as the day before. I've received a love from them different than any other love I have ever felt or known. It's unconditional, sacrificial, and completely genuine. Maybe this is God's way of illustrating to me the type of love that He has for me... And the crazy thing about it is that God's love for me is a million times higher, wider, deeper, and stronger than the love I am receiving from these precious children! I seem to have forgotten how sweet the love of my Savior is. I seem to have forgotten how MUCH my God truly, sincerely, and deeply loves me. And today I was reminded. For the love of God... is beautiful. It's real, it's intimate, it's perfect. For the love of God is completely unconditional.
Thanking God for Kenyan children,
Morgan
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Dance parties and Math class
Yesterday and today we went to a Christian school in Kawangware called World Hope Academy. Kawangware is where we went Sunday to the slum that I told y'all all about. Pretty much all of the children that go to World Hope Academy live in these slums, and they walk to and from school every day from their slum houses. There are about 400 students, K-8th grades.
When we got there yesterday at about 8am, all 400 students were waiting for us in the courtyard on the interior of the school and they were sooo excited to see us! They all sang for us and then later on in the day each class (grade) performed a little song and dance routine in front of us. It was the sweetest thing! They sang songs in both Swahili and English, and a lot of them were worship songs.
Throughout the morning we walked around and visited all of the classrooms and got to know the kids and teachers. We helped the students with their schoolwork and asked them questions about school, and OF COURSE Crissy and I started a dance-off in all of the classes. Even some of the teachers participated! It was so much fun, they LOVED to dance. The dance party got really wild in one of the Class 3 classrooms, it was soooo funny! Every single kid was up dancing and showing us their best dance moves. It was a blast! My favorite class that I visited was a Class 7. I just went and sat down next to three 12-year-old boys and started a casual conversation with them, and within 5 minutes I was completely surrounded by about 15 7th graders who were asking me a million questions: "Do you know the guy who said the world was going to end? Do you like Obama? We love Obama. Have you met him? Have you ever met Lil Wayne? What are your talents? Do you play football (soccer)? How come you don't look white? What do you eat in Texas? Do you ride horses?" After about 5 minutes they apparently were extremely comfortable with me because then they started cracking jokes and being silly and saying things to me in Swahili that they knew I couldn't understand! It was hilarious though, I was almost crying because I was laughing so hard. I had so much fun with them, I felt so loved. I left that classroom imagining what it would be like to be a teacher in Kenya... Wasn't too bad of a thought either...
Next we went out the fields and played soccer. Let me just say that I haven't played soccer since I was like 6. I was terrible. But we still had so much fun! I got to know a lot of the older girls (classes 6-8) during our intense game of soccer, they were wonderful. I was legitimately out of breath and sweating after the game! We went back inside and helped the teachers cover library books for a few hours while the kids were in class and then we ate lunch (rice and beans-for those of you that really know me you understand how difficult that was for me, but it really wasn't too bad!) before going back outside to the fields to play games with the students! We split up into 4 stations (sprinting races, duck duck goose, red rover red rover, and soccer) and played games with the kids for awhile and had them rotate stations. After that, we danced again. Of course. Crissy taught 400 Kenyan children a choreographed dance to "I'm Fresh" by Tedashii and she did AWESOME! Took so much patience and she did such a great job. The kids LOVED the dance! They had so much fun! School ended after that and let me just say that we were EXHAUSTED! We were there from 8am-4pm; it was a long, busy day but an absolute blast. We bonded with so many of the kids and had soooo much fun playing with them!!
After school we went to eat dinner at the house of some close friends to Tin Roof Society. The husband's name is Richard and he is British, and the wife's name is Joy and she is Kenyan! They live in a gorgeous 3-story home in Nairobi and have two BEAUTIFUL little mixed daughters- Abigail and Cassie. They are 5 (Abigail) and 3 (Cassie). They reminded me soooo much of Mariah and I when we were little! Abigail was super sweet and polite; Cassie had a bit of an attitude and was pretty darn stubborn (like Mariah), but still so adorable. Joy cooked us an incredible dinner and we got to just relax and talk and hang out with them for a few hours before going back to our guest house to go to bed. It was such a fun day; I was soooo tired by the time we got home!
Today we went back to World Hope Academy and spent the day there again. We spent the morning with all of the teachers at the school, talking with them about ways they can improve their teaching and make learning more fun and effective for the children! They wanted us to tell them how they can incorporate visual aids into the classroom, when to use them, and how to make them. We were able to share a ton of examples with them and illustrated for them a lot of activities, games, and techniques that we use in the States. They were extremely interested in what we had to say and share with them! We spent about 2-3 hours talking with the teachers and showing them new teaching strategies and they were so appreciative. In the afternoon we split up among the classrooms and helped the teachers out and worked with their students. This was my FAVORITE part of the day!! I went to a Class 5 classroom with one of the really nice teachers. She told me that they were learning about time and she was having a hard time explaining it and the kids were having a hard time understanding it. An example of what they were learning: "The bus left Nairobi at 10am and it took 5 hours to get to Nakuru. What time did the bus arrive in Nakuru?" So she asked me to go up to the front of the class (of 41 students, btw) and try to teach them the concept in a way that I learned it in the U.S. So I spent an entire class period actually TEACHING a 5th grade math class of 41 students in a 3rd world foreign country all by myself!!! It was SO COOL! I felt like a real teacher. I showed them how to work out a problem or two on the chalkboard, then gave them examples and had them tell me how to do it.. So I let them walk me through the problems as I wrote them on the board. Once I felt like they had it down, I gave the students a chance to come up to the board and work it out on their own. They did WONDERFUL! I couldn't believe how successful it was! They were soooo well-behaved and made it so easy for me. They all listened and participated and were so excited to learn from me! It just totally re-confirmed for me my choice of majoring in Elementary Education. It made me even MORE excited to teach one day! Who knows, maybe I'll end up teaching in Kenya one day!! Wow I thank God for that moment.
After teaching I went back to the teachers' lounge and hung out with a few of the teachers for the last hour that we were there. They are the sweetest women in the WORLD! They were so interested in my life and we talked all about differences between Kenya and the U.S. and they were completely shocked when I told them that there are poor people in the States! They seriously believed that everyone was filthy rich. They asked me if I was "attached to anyone" (if I had a boyfriend) so of course I told them aaaaall about Garrett and then they wanted to see a picture of him. So I showed them a picture I had on my phone and they all FREAKED! It was the FUNNIEST thing!! All 5 of them literally started screaming and freaking out, saying over and over, "Morgan, he's BEAUTIFUL!!! That's your boyfriend?? Is he your fiancé? He's not? Why not!?!? Marry him! He'll give you pretty children!!! Morgan, he's so BEAUTIFUL!!!" One lady actually took my phone out of my hand and ran out of the room with it to go show one of the other teachers! I could hear them talking about it outside of the room!! Hahaha! Then I showed them pictures of my family and they absolutely freaked out about that too. They especially couldn't believe how beautiful Mariah was; they kept saying, "Are you SURE her hair is real?? It's not weave!?"
For dinner we ate at a Kenyan restaurant that our driver Chris took us to. It was GOOD! We ate chicken and goat (which is not so great) and a bunch of other random Kenyan foods. And we didn't use silverware for anything; we ate with our hands. We had fun, they played all American R&B music in the restaurant and even some Backstreet Boys lol.
Tomorrow is our last day at World Hope Academy :( I am so sad. I am going to miss those kids and teachers so much.
When we got there yesterday at about 8am, all 400 students were waiting for us in the courtyard on the interior of the school and they were sooo excited to see us! They all sang for us and then later on in the day each class (grade) performed a little song and dance routine in front of us. It was the sweetest thing! They sang songs in both Swahili and English, and a lot of them were worship songs.
Throughout the morning we walked around and visited all of the classrooms and got to know the kids and teachers. We helped the students with their schoolwork and asked them questions about school, and OF COURSE Crissy and I started a dance-off in all of the classes. Even some of the teachers participated! It was so much fun, they LOVED to dance. The dance party got really wild in one of the Class 3 classrooms, it was soooo funny! Every single kid was up dancing and showing us their best dance moves. It was a blast! My favorite class that I visited was a Class 7. I just went and sat down next to three 12-year-old boys and started a casual conversation with them, and within 5 minutes I was completely surrounded by about 15 7th graders who were asking me a million questions: "Do you know the guy who said the world was going to end? Do you like Obama? We love Obama. Have you met him? Have you ever met Lil Wayne? What are your talents? Do you play football (soccer)? How come you don't look white? What do you eat in Texas? Do you ride horses?" After about 5 minutes they apparently were extremely comfortable with me because then they started cracking jokes and being silly and saying things to me in Swahili that they knew I couldn't understand! It was hilarious though, I was almost crying because I was laughing so hard. I had so much fun with them, I felt so loved. I left that classroom imagining what it would be like to be a teacher in Kenya... Wasn't too bad of a thought either...
Next we went out the fields and played soccer. Let me just say that I haven't played soccer since I was like 6. I was terrible. But we still had so much fun! I got to know a lot of the older girls (classes 6-8) during our intense game of soccer, they were wonderful. I was legitimately out of breath and sweating after the game! We went back inside and helped the teachers cover library books for a few hours while the kids were in class and then we ate lunch (rice and beans-for those of you that really know me you understand how difficult that was for me, but it really wasn't too bad!) before going back outside to the fields to play games with the students! We split up into 4 stations (sprinting races, duck duck goose, red rover red rover, and soccer) and played games with the kids for awhile and had them rotate stations. After that, we danced again. Of course. Crissy taught 400 Kenyan children a choreographed dance to "I'm Fresh" by Tedashii and she did AWESOME! Took so much patience and she did such a great job. The kids LOVED the dance! They had so much fun! School ended after that and let me just say that we were EXHAUSTED! We were there from 8am-4pm; it was a long, busy day but an absolute blast. We bonded with so many of the kids and had soooo much fun playing with them!!
After school we went to eat dinner at the house of some close friends to Tin Roof Society. The husband's name is Richard and he is British, and the wife's name is Joy and she is Kenyan! They live in a gorgeous 3-story home in Nairobi and have two BEAUTIFUL little mixed daughters- Abigail and Cassie. They are 5 (Abigail) and 3 (Cassie). They reminded me soooo much of Mariah and I when we were little! Abigail was super sweet and polite; Cassie had a bit of an attitude and was pretty darn stubborn (like Mariah), but still so adorable. Joy cooked us an incredible dinner and we got to just relax and talk and hang out with them for a few hours before going back to our guest house to go to bed. It was such a fun day; I was soooo tired by the time we got home!
Today we went back to World Hope Academy and spent the day there again. We spent the morning with all of the teachers at the school, talking with them about ways they can improve their teaching and make learning more fun and effective for the children! They wanted us to tell them how they can incorporate visual aids into the classroom, when to use them, and how to make them. We were able to share a ton of examples with them and illustrated for them a lot of activities, games, and techniques that we use in the States. They were extremely interested in what we had to say and share with them! We spent about 2-3 hours talking with the teachers and showing them new teaching strategies and they were so appreciative. In the afternoon we split up among the classrooms and helped the teachers out and worked with their students. This was my FAVORITE part of the day!! I went to a Class 5 classroom with one of the really nice teachers. She told me that they were learning about time and she was having a hard time explaining it and the kids were having a hard time understanding it. An example of what they were learning: "The bus left Nairobi at 10am and it took 5 hours to get to Nakuru. What time did the bus arrive in Nakuru?" So she asked me to go up to the front of the class (of 41 students, btw) and try to teach them the concept in a way that I learned it in the U.S. So I spent an entire class period actually TEACHING a 5th grade math class of 41 students in a 3rd world foreign country all by myself!!! It was SO COOL! I felt like a real teacher. I showed them how to work out a problem or two on the chalkboard, then gave them examples and had them tell me how to do it.. So I let them walk me through the problems as I wrote them on the board. Once I felt like they had it down, I gave the students a chance to come up to the board and work it out on their own. They did WONDERFUL! I couldn't believe how successful it was! They were soooo well-behaved and made it so easy for me. They all listened and participated and were so excited to learn from me! It just totally re-confirmed for me my choice of majoring in Elementary Education. It made me even MORE excited to teach one day! Who knows, maybe I'll end up teaching in Kenya one day!! Wow I thank God for that moment.
After teaching I went back to the teachers' lounge and hung out with a few of the teachers for the last hour that we were there. They are the sweetest women in the WORLD! They were so interested in my life and we talked all about differences between Kenya and the U.S. and they were completely shocked when I told them that there are poor people in the States! They seriously believed that everyone was filthy rich. They asked me if I was "attached to anyone" (if I had a boyfriend) so of course I told them aaaaall about Garrett and then they wanted to see a picture of him. So I showed them a picture I had on my phone and they all FREAKED! It was the FUNNIEST thing!! All 5 of them literally started screaming and freaking out, saying over and over, "Morgan, he's BEAUTIFUL!!! That's your boyfriend?? Is he your fiancé? He's not? Why not!?!? Marry him! He'll give you pretty children!!! Morgan, he's so BEAUTIFUL!!!" One lady actually took my phone out of my hand and ran out of the room with it to go show one of the other teachers! I could hear them talking about it outside of the room!! Hahaha! Then I showed them pictures of my family and they absolutely freaked out about that too. They especially couldn't believe how beautiful Mariah was; they kept saying, "Are you SURE her hair is real?? It's not weave!?"
For dinner we ate at a Kenyan restaurant that our driver Chris took us to. It was GOOD! We ate chicken and goat (which is not so great) and a bunch of other random Kenyan foods. And we didn't use silverware for anything; we ate with our hands. We had fun, they played all American R&B music in the restaurant and even some Backstreet Boys lol.
Tomorrow is our last day at World Hope Academy :( I am so sad. I am going to miss those kids and teachers so much.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Margaret
It's 5am Monday morning in Kenya and I am wide awake! I'm still trying to adjust from jetlag so by 9pm every night I am dead tired and by 5am I am wide awake and ready to go! It's frustrating. Hopefully in a couple of days I'll be on a normal sleep schedule...
Yesterday (Sunday) was my first time in a slum. After church in Nairobi our Kenyan friends Chris, Sally, Kish, and "Giant" took us to the slum right behind the church so that we could walk around and see what it was like. It was by far the most disturbing thing I have ever seen and experienced in my life. What you see in movies and pictures doesn't even compare to what it's really like when you walk through it and see it all with your own two eyes. I couldn't even believe that what I was seeing was real and actually existed in real life, not just on TV commercials and Slumdog Millionaire. The smell is terrible.. worse than you can imagine. That's something that videos and pictures can't capture, but I'll never forget that smell. There was livestock literally just walking around everywhere, and apparently it was completely normal because no one except for us Americans seemed to notice. Pigs, goats, chickens, dogs, and HUGE cows were just walking around through the paths, waiting to get slaughtered by the slum butcher. A cow almost peed on me! No joke. I had to step and jump over countless puddles of mud and piles of trash, but my feet were still black by the end of it. The people-they were everywhere. I felt like I was back in NYC walking along the streets of Manhattan, dodging adults and children left and right. I ran into so many people and almost plowed right over a ton of small children. Most of the people in the slum live and work in the same little tin-roof hut, which is on average about 8 ft x 10 ft and shared among 5-6 people. Some of us in the States have CLOSETS that size, with so many outfits and pairs of shoes to choose from that we come across certain clothes and forget we even had them. These people literally have nothing. 70% of them are unemployed and over half live on less than $1 a day. One dollar a DAY. Can you imagine living on less than one American dollar a day and trying to feed and care for not only yourself, but your children too? I can say that I can imagine how hard that would be, but really I have no idea. None of us do. And you can forget electricity and running water. The majority of them don't even know what clean, filtered water even looks like, much less tastes like, while we have water fountains with perfectly clean water on every single wall in our schools and college campus buildings. More than that, we have the luxury of driving in our air-conditioned cars up to the nearest Walmart or gas station and choosing for ourselves what BRAND of clean water we want. Are you joking? And God forbid that we buy the Walmart brand-that's what "cheap people" buy, right?... Obviously we didn't fit in very well there because every single person we walked by did one of three things: 1) stared at us until we were out of sight, 2) went out of their way to come say hello to us, or 3) shouted "mzungu!" (white person) as we walked by. I felt famous lol. The worst and best part of it all- the children. Most precious children I have ever seen in my life. They were running around everywhere, the majority of them with absolutely no adult supervision whatsoever. We were told to not let them follow us too far or they would get lost and not be able to find their way back to their slum house. They were totally in awe whenever they saw us; a lot of them had never seen a white person before, or really anyone other than Kenyan. They knew that we were "mzungus" though, that's for sure, and they made sure that we knew it too. It was hilarious. And the children that knew even a little bit of English would yell "how are you!?" at us over and over and over. They ran around, barefoot, with each other and played with anything they could find. We saw one little boy PLAYING with a NAIL. Playing with a sharp nail. My first thought, of course: 'Where are your parents??? Do they know that you are playing with this!?!?' What's crazy about it is that they were the happiest kids I'd ever seen, no exaggeration. They were completely fine with what they had, they didn't know any difference...while over in the States our children are given iPhone 4s at the age of 10 and brand new BMWs and yes, even Range Rovers, for 16th birthdays. And we aren't "cool" unless we have the latest game, shoes, or computer. Sometimes when we walked by, some kids would literally run up to us and immediately put out their hands to shake ours and say "jambo" (hello) and ask us how we were. One group of about 6 children ranging in ages about 5-10 literally sprinted over to us, without even knowing us or seeing us before, grabbed on to us and, of course, asked "how are you?" And that's when I met Margaret. As soon as I came into her line of sight outside of her slum house she ran over to me and latched on to my legs. I found out that Margaret was 10-years-old, although she looked no more than 7. As soon as she grabbed on to my legs I could tell that she was not planning on letting go. She looked up at me with her yellow eyes-result of Malaria-and said "Jambo, how are you? My name is Margaret, what's yours?" My heart melted, of course, and I knelt down so that I could face this beautiful little girl and make eye contact with her, and I told her that I was fine and introduced myself. She guessed that I was 20-years-old (she was right!), and when I told her that I had to leave she begged me to stay and play with her. It took everything in me to say I'm sorry and walk away before I exploded into tears, and after I was immediately harassed by a young man begging me for just 85 Kenyan shillings (one American dollar), I looked back to find Margaret already gone. Maybe she was used to being left behind.
This description of what I experienced yesterday still doesn't even do it justice. Before coming here I thought that I knew what the slums were like and that I knew how bad they would be. But the truth is that there is no way to truly know and understand it until you've seen it, smelled it, and experienced it live, for yourself. I left completely speechless, and didn't have much to say for about the next 2-3 hours because it was all I could think about. I was starving when we left, but the thought of me eating a full meal after seeing something like that made me feel even sicker. I was absolutely starving, sweating like a man, beyond exhausted, emotionally drained, and my feet were covered in mud. And yet, I would have given anything to stay even just a little bit longer to play with Margaret and the other children.
We have no idea how blessed we are. No idea, not even a little bit. I thought that I appreciated everything that I have, but I couldn't fully appreciate it until after I saw that yesterday. I thought that I appreciated everything that my parents have done for me and how much they have sacrificed and how hard they have worked to give Phillip, Bryce, Mariah, and I everything that we have and all of the opportunities we've been given. Yesterday was the first time that I was truly, undeniably thankful to my ridiculously amazing parents. I am so blessed, and for the past 20 years my mama and daddy have always met every single one of my needs-physically, emotionally, financially, mentally, spiritually-and because of them I've never truly had to suffer, struggle, or starve in any way at all. I don't know what it feels like to have nothing, to wonder if I'm even going to eat for an entire day. I don't know what it feels like to wake up and do the exact same thing every single day and never leave my neighborhood. I have no idea what it's like to be poor, starving, and uneducated. Yet I am not half as joyful as those children I saw yesterday. It doesn't even make sense. I challenge all of you to take a serious look at everything that you have, even if you think it's not much, and thank God. You have no idea how blessed you are. Absolutely no idea.
Yesterday (Sunday) was my first time in a slum. After church in Nairobi our Kenyan friends Chris, Sally, Kish, and "Giant" took us to the slum right behind the church so that we could walk around and see what it was like. It was by far the most disturbing thing I have ever seen and experienced in my life. What you see in movies and pictures doesn't even compare to what it's really like when you walk through it and see it all with your own two eyes. I couldn't even believe that what I was seeing was real and actually existed in real life, not just on TV commercials and Slumdog Millionaire. The smell is terrible.. worse than you can imagine. That's something that videos and pictures can't capture, but I'll never forget that smell. There was livestock literally just walking around everywhere, and apparently it was completely normal because no one except for us Americans seemed to notice. Pigs, goats, chickens, dogs, and HUGE cows were just walking around through the paths, waiting to get slaughtered by the slum butcher. A cow almost peed on me! No joke. I had to step and jump over countless puddles of mud and piles of trash, but my feet were still black by the end of it. The people-they were everywhere. I felt like I was back in NYC walking along the streets of Manhattan, dodging adults and children left and right. I ran into so many people and almost plowed right over a ton of small children. Most of the people in the slum live and work in the same little tin-roof hut, which is on average about 8 ft x 10 ft and shared among 5-6 people. Some of us in the States have CLOSETS that size, with so many outfits and pairs of shoes to choose from that we come across certain clothes and forget we even had them. These people literally have nothing. 70% of them are unemployed and over half live on less than $1 a day. One dollar a DAY. Can you imagine living on less than one American dollar a day and trying to feed and care for not only yourself, but your children too? I can say that I can imagine how hard that would be, but really I have no idea. None of us do. And you can forget electricity and running water. The majority of them don't even know what clean, filtered water even looks like, much less tastes like, while we have water fountains with perfectly clean water on every single wall in our schools and college campus buildings. More than that, we have the luxury of driving in our air-conditioned cars up to the nearest Walmart or gas station and choosing for ourselves what BRAND of clean water we want. Are you joking? And God forbid that we buy the Walmart brand-that's what "cheap people" buy, right?... Obviously we didn't fit in very well there because every single person we walked by did one of three things: 1) stared at us until we were out of sight, 2) went out of their way to come say hello to us, or 3) shouted "mzungu!" (white person) as we walked by. I felt famous lol. The worst and best part of it all- the children. Most precious children I have ever seen in my life. They were running around everywhere, the majority of them with absolutely no adult supervision whatsoever. We were told to not let them follow us too far or they would get lost and not be able to find their way back to their slum house. They were totally in awe whenever they saw us; a lot of them had never seen a white person before, or really anyone other than Kenyan. They knew that we were "mzungus" though, that's for sure, and they made sure that we knew it too. It was hilarious. And the children that knew even a little bit of English would yell "how are you!?" at us over and over and over. They ran around, barefoot, with each other and played with anything they could find. We saw one little boy PLAYING with a NAIL. Playing with a sharp nail. My first thought, of course: 'Where are your parents??? Do they know that you are playing with this!?!?' What's crazy about it is that they were the happiest kids I'd ever seen, no exaggeration. They were completely fine with what they had, they didn't know any difference...while over in the States our children are given iPhone 4s at the age of 10 and brand new BMWs and yes, even Range Rovers, for 16th birthdays. And we aren't "cool" unless we have the latest game, shoes, or computer. Sometimes when we walked by, some kids would literally run up to us and immediately put out their hands to shake ours and say "jambo" (hello) and ask us how we were. One group of about 6 children ranging in ages about 5-10 literally sprinted over to us, without even knowing us or seeing us before, grabbed on to us and, of course, asked "how are you?" And that's when I met Margaret. As soon as I came into her line of sight outside of her slum house she ran over to me and latched on to my legs. I found out that Margaret was 10-years-old, although she looked no more than 7. As soon as she grabbed on to my legs I could tell that she was not planning on letting go. She looked up at me with her yellow eyes-result of Malaria-and said "Jambo, how are you? My name is Margaret, what's yours?" My heart melted, of course, and I knelt down so that I could face this beautiful little girl and make eye contact with her, and I told her that I was fine and introduced myself. She guessed that I was 20-years-old (she was right!), and when I told her that I had to leave she begged me to stay and play with her. It took everything in me to say I'm sorry and walk away before I exploded into tears, and after I was immediately harassed by a young man begging me for just 85 Kenyan shillings (one American dollar), I looked back to find Margaret already gone. Maybe she was used to being left behind.
This description of what I experienced yesterday still doesn't even do it justice. Before coming here I thought that I knew what the slums were like and that I knew how bad they would be. But the truth is that there is no way to truly know and understand it until you've seen it, smelled it, and experienced it live, for yourself. I left completely speechless, and didn't have much to say for about the next 2-3 hours because it was all I could think about. I was starving when we left, but the thought of me eating a full meal after seeing something like that made me feel even sicker. I was absolutely starving, sweating like a man, beyond exhausted, emotionally drained, and my feet were covered in mud. And yet, I would have given anything to stay even just a little bit longer to play with Margaret and the other children.
We have no idea how blessed we are. No idea, not even a little bit. I thought that I appreciated everything that I have, but I couldn't fully appreciate it until after I saw that yesterday. I thought that I appreciated everything that my parents have done for me and how much they have sacrificed and how hard they have worked to give Phillip, Bryce, Mariah, and I everything that we have and all of the opportunities we've been given. Yesterday was the first time that I was truly, undeniably thankful to my ridiculously amazing parents. I am so blessed, and for the past 20 years my mama and daddy have always met every single one of my needs-physically, emotionally, financially, mentally, spiritually-and because of them I've never truly had to suffer, struggle, or starve in any way at all. I don't know what it feels like to have nothing, to wonder if I'm even going to eat for an entire day. I don't know what it feels like to wake up and do the exact same thing every single day and never leave my neighborhood. I have no idea what it's like to be poor, starving, and uneducated. Yet I am not half as joyful as those children I saw yesterday. It doesn't even make sense. I challenge all of you to take a serious look at everything that you have, even if you think it's not much, and thank God. You have no idea how blessed you are. Absolutely no idea.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Kenya Bound
So today is the day that I am finally leaving for Kenya! I honestly can't believe that today is actually here. I remember just last summer I was talking to Crissy about how badly I wanted to go, and it seemed so far away at the time...And now it's HERE! I could barely even sleep last night because I was so excited! And every dream I had was about Africa, of course...
I am soooo pumped for all that God has in store for our team over these next 14 days. I can't wait to meet the beautiful Kenyan people and love on them for 2 straight weeks and..oh my gosh.. play with those adorable kids all day long OMG.. You guys know how much I loooooove children! I am a sucker for them. My heart is already so joyful. Just thinking about it makes me cry!...
God has been preparing my heart for this trip for an entire year now, and I know that there is so much that He has for me to experience and learn and see and do in Kenya. I am a little bit nervous, but so ready! I am already excited to come back and share stories with you guys and tell you all about what the Lord did while I was there! :)
THANK YOU to everyone who supported me financially for my trip. You guys are so wonderful! God provided the $3500 for me to go- He is so faithful and I am so thankful to all of you for helping!
I am not going to be on Facebook while in Kenya, and I won't have my cellphone either so my only way to communicate with all of you is on THIS, my blog! I am going to do my best to blog every few days and share with you guys what's going on, so feel free to check in every once in awhile and leave comments below and I will try to respond to them! :) www.beautiful1015feet.blogspot.com
Please keep our team in your prayers over the next 2 weeks!- Morgan, Crissy, Megan, Michael, Josh, and Kendon
Missing you guys already!!!!! Have a wonderful 2 weeks... What does God want to do in YOUR life over the next 14 days??? Just because you are at home doesn't mean He doesn't have things for you to experience and learn and see and do, too! Open the door, He's knocking... (Revelation 3:20)
Anxious to be in Kenya,
Morgan
I am soooo pumped for all that God has in store for our team over these next 14 days. I can't wait to meet the beautiful Kenyan people and love on them for 2 straight weeks and..oh my gosh.. play with those adorable kids all day long OMG.. You guys know how much I loooooove children! I am a sucker for them. My heart is already so joyful. Just thinking about it makes me cry!...
God has been preparing my heart for this trip for an entire year now, and I know that there is so much that He has for me to experience and learn and see and do in Kenya. I am a little bit nervous, but so ready! I am already excited to come back and share stories with you guys and tell you all about what the Lord did while I was there! :)
THANK YOU to everyone who supported me financially for my trip. You guys are so wonderful! God provided the $3500 for me to go- He is so faithful and I am so thankful to all of you for helping!
I am not going to be on Facebook while in Kenya, and I won't have my cellphone either so my only way to communicate with all of you is on THIS, my blog! I am going to do my best to blog every few days and share with you guys what's going on, so feel free to check in every once in awhile and leave comments below and I will try to respond to them! :) www.beautiful1015feet.blogspot.com
Please keep our team in your prayers over the next 2 weeks!- Morgan, Crissy, Megan, Michael, Josh, and Kendon
Missing you guys already!!!!! Have a wonderful 2 weeks... What does God want to do in YOUR life over the next 14 days??? Just because you are at home doesn't mean He doesn't have things for you to experience and learn and see and do, too! Open the door, He's knocking... (Revelation 3:20)
Anxious to be in Kenya,
Morgan
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