June 2011 Team Picture

Sunday - One in the Spirit

We headed out to the church on the Salgaa plot today to help with Sunday School. We joined the congregation in the church for a time of prayer and worship. The children were all singing when we came in and that was so awesome to hear! The worship team then lead us in singing. Some songs were in English and others in Swahili. But even though we could not understand all of the words, we enjoyed praising God together. One of the songs we sang had the phrase "We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord". And we truly felt that way! The Kenyans again made us feel very welcome. After that we went with the children out to their Sunday School Class. The ages of the children were from infant to around 13 years old. The team shared their skit about forgiveness and then Coach Ummel summed up the skit telling the kids about God's forgiveness and because He forgave us we need to forgive each other. Ally Jenkins and Brittany Lengacher each shared their testimonies and did a great job! Then we passed out the same coloring pages we used at the slum orphanage. Again the kids spent a lot of time making their pictures look perfect. We had planned to play Duck, Duck, Goose with the kids, but the skit involved using soccer balls so several children requested we play "football" instead. We soon realized we needed to have an older kids and a younger kids game. Still some of the younger ones of the older kids got knocked down trying to kick the ball. It was such a joy to see the kids running around, smiling and laughing. Many of them rarely if ever touched the ball, yet they still enjoyed the game. Some of the older girls just wanted to talk, so they stood in the middle of the field and asked questions while the game went on around them. It was a very enjoyable morning for both the Kenyans and the Americans.

June 2011 - Saturday (con't.) - "Baby Abraham"

When we got home everyone was anxious to get downstairs again to see the babies. Baby Abraham, who had just returned from Tenwek, was awake and alert. He is looking really good after his illness and we were so thankful!
It was easier for the team this time to remember names and to start to form attachments to all of the babies. Already some are thinking about how hard it will be to leave on Friday!

June 2011 - Saturday - "Beautiful Lake Nakuru"

We headed to Nakuru Game Park early this morning. Well really not too early but it felt like it because we were all still tired from the journey. It is good for the teams to see the magnificent beauty God has blessed Kenya with. Many of the girls had already expressed surprise over the beautiful trees (especially the acacia) and all of the gorgeous flowers. And they were really excited to see the giraffes, flamingos, cape buffalo, warthogs, zebras and rhino all roaming freely in the park with no fences or cages like the zoos at home. The biggest find of the day was a male lion resting in the shade of a tree right by the road. We were also fortunate to see a black rhino momma and child. They aren't seen often because they like to stay hidden in the bushes. The funniest moment of the day was at the gate while we were waiting to get our tickets. Some little vervet monkeys kept trying to get into our vans. The one was peeking down thru from the open top and scared Ally, Inger, Brooklyn, Cassie and Danae. Many of the people around were looking to see what all the screaming was about. Not long after that another monkey scurried over the top of Brittany, Hillary, Taylor and Kiersten's van. At one point it was right behind Kiersten looking thru the open sliding door. We were truly blessed to be able to go on an African Safari!

June 2011 - Friday (con't.) - "Meet the Babies"

We then headed to the Baby Centre. It was about a three hour trip, but to most of the team members it seemed much shorter because they slept most of the way! Everyone woke up very quickly though with the prospect of meeting the babies. After quickly settling into their rooms, the team headed downstairs to play with the babies. There were two new babies (Michael Moses and Natasha) that just came today. It was fun to ber here on the the day they arrived. They are a little anxious and fussy today, but we pray they will quickly settle into their new surroundings and feel loved and comforted. There were also 50 other babies to get to know, so it was a little overwhelming, but very exciting as they are the main reason we took this long journey!

June 2011 - Friday - "Hit The Ground Running"

We "hit the ground running" when we finally landed in Nairobi. Our flight had some mechanical difficulties and after sitting on the runway for awhile we were forced to return to the gate to fix it. We finally left 1 1/2 hours later, so we were late getting into Nairobi, We went straight from the airport to Missionary Robyn Moore's home. We joined a graoup of nurses who ere serving short-term with Robyn and the Least of These Ministries. Three of the girls were from Indiana Wesleyan University! We then headed to the slum to serve in an orphanage there. The older children were in school so we performed a skit for the preschoolers. It was difficult in the room we were in because the sound echoed and it made it hard to hear what the team was saying. The teacher did a good job of explaining that the skit was about forgiveness. We then sang some songs with them - Deep and Wide and Father Abraham. The coloring page we brought for them had Colossians 3:13b "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." The children really enjoyed coloring and spent a lot of time making their pictures look "just right"! We then played a game where a small group of chilren held hands and tried to keep a balloon off the ground by kicking it with their feet. It was a little bit hard for the kids to understand the concept and soon it was a "free-for-all" in which anyway you kept the balloon in the air was acceptable! An extra challenge to the game was working around the desks in the middle of the room and the chicken tied up in one corner and a large pile of fresh green beans in the other corner. I'm afraid a few of the beans were flatter when we left then they were before we came! Before we left the children washed their hands and then sat in a line in the open air hallway between the classroom and the main building. They were each given a children's vitamin (thank you to those who donated those) and a peanut butter sandwich (thank you to those who donated peanut butter as well!). This was a special treat they all enjoyed and some of the slower eaters soon found themselves surrounded by many "friends" who would gladly finish whatever they "couldn't" eat! The team did an excellent job of coming alongside the Least of These minsitries to serve the children of Kenya. And they had the following comments:
Ally - They were all so beautiful!
Brittany - I hope that in the future they remember someone came because they cared about them.
Brooklyn - I was tired from long flight but the kids being so happy to see us made me forget that.
Cassie - Seeing that they were so happy even though they live so differently than I do brought perspective.
Danae - Loved hearing them laugh, hated leaving because they were holding on to me.
Hillary - We take the simple stuff for granted. Loved playing the balloon game with them.
Inger - This was an "eye opener" for me. I loved how happy they were.
Kiersten - They were amazed by my braces. I loved how happy they were to see us.
Taylor - I think it changed us. It was worth it. I loved seeing them smile.
Phil - It was easy to see the joy of God in them. It made me thankful for my own parents.

June 2011 - Thursday - "Long Layover in London"

Our flight went smoothly from Chicago to London. We were so thankful that the staff of the airline was very helpful and switched our seats so that we could all sit together instead of singly all over the plane. An answer to prayer! The long flight was made easier by watching movies and playing computer games on individual screens on the backs of the seats. Some of us were even able to sleep some. And there are some good videos to prove it! Our red Global Impact shirts made it easier to stay together and prompted questions from several people. Christians and non Christians alike. Going through customs went very smoothly and we were soon on a train to the middle of London. Unfortunately the leaders of the team were trying to cut corners and made a bad decision to not use the subway system. We walked from Paddington Station all the way into town. We don't know exactly how far that was, but we think it was approximately 2.5 miles. We then walked to many of the major sights such as Buckingham Palace (where we saw the changing of the guard ceremony), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the House of Parliament, the London Eye and many, many statues. Everyone was so exhausted at lunch that many of them laid their heads on the table to sleep. Then we walked all the way back to Paddington Station. We were all so exhausted that the next 8 hour plane ride was actually sounding good! Unfortunately, the plane had a minor issue and had to go back to the gate where we sat for over an hour. Many of us slept through it though and all of us were able to get a good amount of sleep on the flight to Nairobi. We are so excited to finally be on our way to Kenya!

June 2011 - Wednesday - "Ready to love on some babies..."

The team is excited and ready to serve God by holding, rocking, playing and loving on the babies of the AGC Baby Centre. Pictured above bottom row: Kiersten Lehman, Cassie Dyksen, Inger Yoder, Taylor Stutzman, Allyson Jenkins and Jolinda Lengacher. Top row: Brooklyn Moore, Danae Ehret, Hillary Lechlitner, Brittany Lengacher, Phil Ummel and Jamie Lengacher