All together now...

Six weeks in, can you believe it? Neither can I, the African time-warp is REAL! HAHA. Well all the teams are alive, and mostly well; and gathered just outside of Nairobi at a retreat center called Little Sisters of St. Francis. We have almost all been sick at one point, some more than others. So far 6 people have gotten malaria, my partner Darnell came down with Typhoid, and I had one terrible night of vomiting...but I'm feeling MUCH better!

We have all learned so much and experienced so much on assignment, from open heart surgery, to healing, death, new life, overwhelming joy and crushing disappointment. It has been so amazing to hear everyone's stories and we are all anxiously awaiting the video that Daniel Barassa shot. He should be home by now...how is Missoula buddy? Haha.

So here is a brief run down of our time since we've been back. We had a day of Hindu training and outreach in Nairobi. We had the opportunity to visit two temples and learn about their faith. It was pretty intense to say the least. We enjoyed some Indian food...which actually I never want to eat again. That was the night I got pretty sick and well it doesn't taste so good the second time around. EW. I couldn't eat anything for about a day and now I'm feeling much better, praise the Lord! Brian and Darnell got sick too and we had to stay in bed to recover the following day, but the rest of the team went to Mathare Valley again to do a day of service. I heard it was amazing, lots of balloon animals and laughs. We attended Nairobi Chapel on Sunday...it was so BIG, most of us were just in awe, having attended tiny tin-sided dirt floor churches for the last four weeks. We then went to the market and put our bargaining skills to work and got some cool gifts for home. I met two vendors from my neighborhood in Korogocho and spent most of my time talking to them instead of shopping, haha.

We had a day of Islam training and had the opportunity to visit a mosque later that day. I have a new heart for Muslims, and I can't wait to pick Kevin Nalty's brain when I get home. International students have have really been put on my heart lately, and I can't wait to love them when I get back to the University of Montana. We went on a Safari, and it was my first time out of the Nairobi area for over five weeks! Not all of Kenya is city or slums! HAHA. I enjoyed it SOOOOO much, so much greenery and amazing animals that I had only seen in photos or movies. At one point we saw six rhinos at once, WHOA, they are so huge and weird! We visited Huruma children's orphange, what a wonderful sad place. I was on the music team and we visited the different wards and sang for the children, disabled ladies and the toddlers, it was so much fun. I also got to just love and hold the babies there, most abandoned in the slums, and just marvel at their tiny beauty. What a God we serve.

We just got back from a day at another slum of Nairobi working with World Hope, a sports ministry that uses soccer (futbol) to spread the gospel and reach out to street children. It was amazing and hard and really tiring...I'm not very good at soccer, haha. Well tomorrow we head off to Mombassa by train to debrief and learn how to re-enter into our American culture. America seems so weird and far away right now. God has really been working in me, teaching me so much about myself and who I am in him. I'm unpacking lessons everyday, and I can't wait to share them with all of you! Talk to you all soon, be blessed!!

-Bess