I have absolutely no words to describe today. Last night we go into Nairobi around 10pm. We got to the house around 12am. It took about an hour and a half to get to the house we are staying at. It was a bumpy ride. As soon as I stepped off the plane it was amazing. It's so much different than what I'm used to, and I love it. In the bathroom at the airport, there was a lady who was standing outside of the four stalls. After each stall is done being used, the woman goes in and cleans each one after it is used. She also wipes off the sink after it is used too.
The people here are all so kind. Not like in America.. this type of kind is different. It's genuine.
As we got to the house last night the stars that were out were unlike ANYTHING I have ever seen in my entire life. The whole sky is filled with stars. MILLIONS. They were nothing like the stars in America, even on the darkest and clearest of nights. There is not much electricity or clouds at night in Kijabe, so that's why all the stars are able to be seen that clearly.
When we got into the house, we got to meet everybody. I don't really remember anyone's name though. Once I learn everybody's name I'll name them all. They all seemed really cool! One of the girls showed us our room and everything. There are two bunk beds and a bathroom in the room. Our room has me, Magan, Alyssa, and a girl from Clemson named Lindsey.
This morning we woke up at 8:45am (12:45am in Decatur.) I slept reallllly good thank goodness. Around 5 or 6 this bird started yelling.. it sounded like a kid screaming. not joking. But we woke up a few hours later. Since it's Sunday, we were going to church there. We went to the Lamuncha Massai Village. It took about an hour to get there. The ride there was amazing. The views on the ride there are incredible. I forgot to mention that our house over looks all of the Rift Valley! I have never seen anything like it in America. We saw cute little kids EVERYWHERE we went looking at us like they had seen a ghost. Then, slowly they give us a slight smile and start to wave like they've seen someone famous. It melts my heart. I haven't been called "mzungu" yet ("white person") but I CANNOT wait until I am! hahah. People walk everywhere here too. There are people all over the sides of the road walking. Oh yeah, and people drive on the left side of the road here, not the right. So it's kinda scary. And sometimes it looks like we are about to hit a car head on a literally .2 seconds before we do, one of the cars happens to not hit it. It's gonna be an interesting 2 weeks of driving. haaa. On our way to church, we passed through a town called Mahi-Maau and there are a lot of market shops and 'hotels' (restaurants.) I think next Sunday we are going to church in Mahi-Maau is what core team said.
So, an hour later we pulled up to a gray-foundation stone block building. I thought we were just turning around, but it was the Massai church that is being built for the Massai people. The church they are currently using is towards the left about 100 yards. When we got out of the car, a little girl (soon known as Agnes) was standing next to where we parked. She was the first little girl I got to see and meet and she was PRECIOUS. A few minutes after we pulled up, many women and kids were gathering around us wanting to shake our hands and meet us. We shook everyone's hands and said "soap/apa" ("hello" I think), introduced ourselves, and walked to the church. Two little girls held my hands walking there. Everytime I would wave at a child there, they would look so terrified. But as soon as I would smile at them and kept waving, they would grin SO hard. They kept grabbing my hands and would point at my bracelets and say "gimmie" over and over again. Never in my life have I ever seen more flies than I did today. They were everywhere. It was like the pictures you see on sponsor child commercials where the kids have flies covering their noses and you can't believe that could ever be real... but it is. I saw it. At least ten would be on some of the kids faces. Some would be PILED on them where you couldn't see the skin in a small area. It's unreal. The saddest part about it is that the kids have no idea flies are even on them. It's a 'normal' to them. Then don't even wave their hands to get the flies off.. that's how much they are used to that. In America, a fly gets on us and we are bothered by that ONE fly. Imagine hundreds. I have no idea how I didn't have a breakdown by that point. All I could think about this whole day is "I am such a brat." God slapped me in the face a lot today.
ahhhh
Eventually, church started. It was in a building maybe a little bigger or smaller than 1-2 elementary school classrooms combined. Nothing like churches here. The chairs were plastic pastel chairs like the ones you sit outside at cookouts. I thought the inside of the church was adorable, especially the lace wall decorations they had. Worship there was so awesome. They had the Massai women go down to the front and sing first..and it's like a huge dance party. The kids would jump up and down at the front along to the really unique keyboard they have.. it's adorable. That keyboard though.....it's somethin else hahah it's precious.... they are so grateful for it too is what I love most.
There is something so incredibly beautiful about worshipping God in another language. It was so awesome sitting there watching these people praise the same exact God that I praise.. in a totally different language. I had absolutely no idea what in the world they were saying, but all I could think was: He knows every word coming out of the both of our mouths. He knows what we both think, say, do.... at the same time. And not only us, but everyone in the WORLD. At the same. EXACT. time. ALL THE TIME. forever. How crazy awesome is that? ahhhh I love when God reminds me of stuff like this, that is so easy to overlook!!
What I also really loved was when different Massai women in the church went up to the front and told us trials they were going through. All they could say about whatever it was that they were dealing with was "mesi sietto" over and over, which means "praise God." One woman's husband was really sick.. and she praised God for it. These people really get it.
Worship lasted 2-2.5 hours. After worship, the preacher preached, and when he finished, there was more worship! They showed a Massai music video at the end LOL it was cute. During that, the kids were crawling all over mine and Magan's laps wanting everything we had on us haha. We gave a few kids some of the button bracelets I made. I told them "friends."
Only some could understand English there though. After church ended, we did this thing where the preacher lines up and shakes hands. After shaking his hand, the first person gets in line beside the preacher. Then, the second person shakes the preacher & first person's hand, and then gets in line behind the first person... and so on. Until everyone has shaken everyone's hand and is in line. It's so cool! After shaking hands, we went to the preachers house and he made us chai (tea) and chipatte (fried tortilla.) All 17 of us went and sat inside his house, which is probably the size of a regular sized laundry room. Maybe 2 laundry rooms. It was really crowded, but he somehow managed to have seats for all of us in there. Before eating and drinking, the preacher's wife came in with a bucket and a tea pot of cold water. She put the bucket on the ground, and went around the room pouring the water on our palms so we could wash our hands before we ate! It was a neat experience. I found out that I like chai too. And chipatte. But I put the crust part in my backpack because I couldn't eat any more of it. After chai and chipatte, we ended up leaving Lamuncha.
incredible view.
Eventually, church started. It was in a building maybe a little bigger or smaller than 1-2 elementary school classrooms combined. Nothing like churches here. The chairs were plastic pastel chairs like the ones you sit outside at cookouts. I thought the inside of the church was adorable, especially the lace wall decorations they had. Worship there was so awesome. They had the Massai women go down to the front and sing first..and it's like a huge dance party. The kids would jump up and down at the front along to the really unique keyboard they have.. it's adorable. That keyboard though.....it's somethin else hahah it's precious.... they are so grateful for it too is what I love most.
There is something so incredibly beautiful about worshipping God in another language. It was so awesome sitting there watching these people praise the same exact God that I praise.. in a totally different language. I had absolutely no idea what in the world they were saying, but all I could think was: He knows every word coming out of the both of our mouths. He knows what we both think, say, do.... at the same time. And not only us, but everyone in the WORLD. At the same. EXACT. time. ALL THE TIME. forever. How crazy awesome is that? ahhhh I love when God reminds me of stuff like this, that is so easy to overlook!!
What I also really loved was when different Massai women in the church went up to the front and told us trials they were going through. All they could say about whatever it was that they were dealing with was "mesi sietto" over and over, which means "praise God." One woman's husband was really sick.. and she praised God for it. These people really get it.
Worship lasted 2-2.5 hours. After worship, the preacher preached, and when he finished, there was more worship! They showed a Massai music video at the end LOL it was cute. During that, the kids were crawling all over mine and Magan's laps wanting everything we had on us haha. We gave a few kids some of the button bracelets I made. I told them "friends."
Needless to say, I absolutely love it here. I didn't even get to write all I wanted to write or all that I had to say about today, but this will do. Today is only the first day here, and my heart is so full, it was PERFECT. I can't imagine what the next 2 weeks will be like.
"Do we truly stumble so blind that we must be affronted with blinding magnificence for our blurry soul-sight to recognize anything grandeur?" -Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts
No comments:
Post a Comment