Life at Taconic

The months are flying by. Nine months ago, I came back from Kenya to be bludgeoned by a mythic February snow storm. That is enough time to create a child. I have created no children in these last months, but I've been busy none-the-less. Professionally I started working at a flower shop (which was AWESOME but fizzled out after Mother's Day), I spent a couple months scrubbing decks in Westchester County (which was MEDIOCRE but it paid well), in the summer I worked part time at Taconic Retreat Center (TRCC) (which was HILARIOUS, as I learned I am indistinguishable from an 18 year old). Since September I have picked up more responsibility at Taconic; now I work and live on the property full time.

The work here is a good fit for me, I feel utilized and challenged. We have long term goals, short term complications and daily rewards in the work we do at TRCC. Every week I make a schedule for crews of teenagers to come and host groups at the camp...we scrub pots, serve food, clean bathrooms, sweep floors...the list goes on and on. On top of that, we try to learn to be better servants and workers by learning from the Bible and the big JC himself. Actually that last part isn't really happening yet, but I invest most of my time (along with some of my lovely co-workers) towards making the CREW program a real spirit filled discipleship experience.

One unfortunate thing is the fact that I work every weekend...but really, it's not bad. This weekend we have a group of 120 Spanish ladies, and 20 Indian men having retreats at the same time. These ladies are incredibly energetic and awesome. I went out of my office and saw 20 ladies streaming past (on the way back from the bathroom, that by no means can handle 20 users at once) wearing sparkly princess crowns, going back into their service where the other hundred women are dancing around in a mosh pit singing "Ole, ole ole ole! Jesús, Jesús!" Needless to say, the poor Indian men have spent the weekend cowering under the load of this excessive energy.

With some of the fellas on CREW I played 2 hugely epic games of Monopoly. I won them both (due to "luck"... ... ;) ) Also there is always someone to play Settlers of Catan with at camp, I have stayed up far far too late with Todd and Janelle Hoffman (One more game!)...I think we have developed something like an addiction...naaaah no way! (This is denial.)

Life at Taconic is definitely unique, and I am totally digging it. I have found myself yet again in the tension of loving the life that I am living while waiting with great anticipation for what is to come (marrying Allison, being a real electrical engineer, having a church again...) Some might disagree, but this tension is wonderful; life is good, and it is only getting better.

More than Catechism

More than Catechism


Every Catholic kid I knew hated catechism, today known as CCD. They envied me that I didn’t have to go after school twice a week. As it turns out; catechism is a good thing. It is good to know the facts about our faith. It is good to have a solid foundation.

A solid faith, however, is more than just figuring things out. Faith is much deeper than merely knowing/believing that which is factual. We can be theologically correct, philosophically astute, logically sound and also fearful and overwhelmed. There times when life is so ruthless that reciting a memorized catechism or glibly reading a string of promises leaves us still weak, lost and fearful. There is more to faith than a theological/teleological understanding that God cares for us and is at work for us. Faith becomes truly real only in a deeply intimate relationship with a personal God. A relationship that grows ever deeper and stronger in the storms of life.

John Wesley was a deeply earnest, well nigh unto obsessive, Anglican priest. His deepest desire was to be holy and obey God. As a young priest he made his way across the Atlantic Ocean to Georgia as a missionary to the Indians. Even as he sailed across the sea, he was preaching, teaching, praying and administering the sacraments to those on board. Every moment was devoted to seeking and serving God. He speaks of his daily schedule:

“We now began to be a little (are you kidding me?) regular. Our common way of living was this: - from four to five in the morning, each of us used private prayer. From five to seven we read the Bible together … at seven we breakfasted. At eight we were the public prayers. From nine to twelve I usually learned German … At twelve we met to give an account of one another what we had done since our last meeting and what we designed to do before our next …”

It goes on like that; lunch at one, 2pm reading to the passengers, 4pm evening prayers, 5pm private prayer, 6pm more reading with some passengers, 7pm German service, 8pm another meeting to check up on one another, 9-10pm sleep. And this was on a cruise ship! This guy really had faith i.e. he really believed God.

But it wasn’t long before the storm blew in and that obsessive compulsive religious cruise ship began to rock and roll! Wesley describes waves that … “rose to the heavens above and clave to hell beneath.” He was overwhelmed with fear and was … “ashamed of my unwillingness to die.” Asking himself, “How is it that thou art unwilling to die?” At the same time he observed the German Christians calmly singing a psalm through to entire storm.

Clearly, knowing and believing the right stuff was not enough when the storm threatened to turn his ship upside down. He confessed:

“I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well; nay and believe myself, while no danger is near: But let death look me in the face and my spirit is troubled.”

Without a warm, genuine, intimate, life changing relationship with God, Wesley was unable to face the storms of life that broke in upon him.

In his search for God Wesley speaks of going “very unwillingly” to a society on Alsdersgate Street where at about quarter to nine he felt his “heart strangely warmed.” He continues, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

It is vital to have a clear assurance of the unshakeable, immoveable foundations stones of faith. No matter what our feelings, whatever the situation, nothing will change that: God is (a reality) … God is love (in nature) … and God is at work (through grace). But while a solid faith foundation is vital; a genuine, warm, personal relationship with God through his one and only Son is indispensible. Living our faith is less about what we believe and more about our relationship with God and how we respond to him in obedience..

Our faith in God is more than a tool needed to smooth out the bumps of life. It is by faith we come to know God. God is a God of revelation who wants to make himself known. In the harmony of nature, we see the nature of God. In Jesus Christ we see God seeking to restore a relationship with us as his children. In the beginning we see God walking and talking with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The whole revelation of scripture is the account of God’s pursuing and pleading that we (as his creation) would return to an intimate relationship with Him. The innate longing of our heart, is the voice of God within, calling us to come to him as his children. He is seeking to live in union with us in the joy, pain, triumphs, and defeats of life.

Now it gets pointedly personal. Is your heart strangely warmed by the presence of God? I sort of believe in altar calls. Sort of … because I have seen preachers in my formative years harangue and manipulate guilt ridden Christians to walk to the front of the church as a validation of their oratory prowess. I believe in altar calls because; when God speaks it is good to respond.

The warmth of a genuine personal relationship with a benevolent God is your deepest need. A cold clinical faith system will not bring the strength and courage you need in the cataclysms of life. A sweet loving Jesus is adequate to get you by when they snicker at your born again profession. But when the storms really start to rattle and roll your ship on the sea of life; you will need the very presence of the all mighty God of the universe. The good news of the gospel is that: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him”. In the crises of life – live your faith – stay close to God. He truly does love you and in him you live and move and have your being. As the catechism says: “The chief end of man is love God and enjoy him forever”.

The Psycho Snow of 2010

As of February 17th I am officially HOME. I have been here for almost 2 weeks and it has been wonderful seeing all my family, friends and loved ones. I can't even start to describe all the great things I've been enjoying about coming home...though I can give some highlights:

• Surprising my poor sister: Christina thought I was coming home on Feb. 24th, so I hid behind a tree and threw a snowball at her on the campus of ENC. She was really happy to see me, which was just what I needed after a 24 hour journey from Kenya.
• Swing dancing with my Allison: We found a public dance with a great band in Boston - it was great getting back into the "swing" of things with Allie. Also, taking her out for a nice dinner in her home town was wonderful as well.
• Walking through Narnia with my Mom: we had so much snow in our back yard, we arrived from the back and Mom was convinced it was not in fact our yard...she was wrong but I don't blame her things looked so different it was surreal.
• Eating my Dad's food: mushroom chicken marsala with special Emeril seasoning was crazy good, and even Cambell's tomato soup was especially good. Funny, eh?
• Watching my niece play with my djembe...great enough to warrant a picture, in my humble opinion :-D
  
  
  
  

Well, the biggest news since we've come back has been the incredible snow storm that hit Fishkill this last week. On Saturday we had 30 inches in our yard. Thursday I spent the day shoveling 2 inches of snow off the driveway every hour, but a huge amount of snow hit us in the evening, so on Friday my mother and I spent the whole day shoveling. It was hard, back breaking work - it really made me miss the tropical climate of Kenya, for sure. Our yard looks like a hurricane went through, trees are just decimated, in particular our poor magnolia tree out front. My Mom is really sad about that, but it's nature! Brutal, hardened New England nature, but nature none-the-less.

Now, I'm looking for work. I'm hoping to get a job in New York so I can get involved with my home church again, hangout with my parents and some old friends who I haven't had any real contact with for a few years. A lot happens in a few years, so I really can't wait to reconnect with all my friends. I'm working on putting together a presentation so that I can spread the story of many of the inspiration folks I've met in Kenya. Also, I want to write up a story for the online missions magazine Engage, (I haven't forgot about that, Amy :) ) but I am still struggling as to what, or how, to write about my time in Kenya.

I miss friends and neighbors at ANU quite so much, I think of them often. It is very strange, it's almost like there is another world in Kenya that is still going on, but without me. It really makes me think about our world...so many people doing good things, bad things, just doing life all over the world. I wish I could go and connect with people in every continent and country. It was so humbling and valuable to be a part of the life of the people in Kenya. Now there is not only another world in Africa, but it has become a part of my world. I'm grateful to have my world broadened, and even more thankful to have a chance to spread God's love around the communities I was involved with. Of course, when you spread love around it only leaves you with more people to miss, but it's worth it, it is definitely worth it.

Kenya Update 1/18/10 - Borrowed Time

It seems like 2010 is not the year for writing in this blog. It's definitely not for lack of activity, as I've been here and there and everywhere for the last couple weeks. My time is running very short in Kenya, I will be home soon! It is very surreal, being so close to coming home. I have really grown to love the people here, my little community at ANU, and Kenya in general. Consequently, it has been an emotional roller coaster, every 8 hours or so I swing from being so excited to come home and see everyone I love and miss so much, to being extremely sad to be leaving this place that I've grown to love and will miss so much. Once again, it seems the best things in my life are always bitter sweet.

Last week on Thursday one of the more significant role models and mentors in my life died of cancer. John Williams was an incredible man who was in love with Jesus Christ. This love inspired every word and act of his life. His love of Christ and consequential love of everything transformed everyone he came in contact with. Near the end of his life he became increasingly positive and shared more and more love with everyone around him. John's faith was unshakable. He was absolutely and unequivocally convinced that everything he did, and everything that happened to him would bring about God's will. John finished his life epitomizing what it means to be a Christian - finding increasing measures of joy in the face of sorrow and suffering, finding a real vision for God's plan not only through his life but through his death and beyond. It takes real faith to look in the face of death and smile. How I long for that faith! How I long for that vision! John's life has helped me see that it is possible.

Like I said earlier...some of the best things in life are bitter sweet. Life is a peculiar dichotomy between sadness and joy. One of the many things I learned from John is that when you are following Christ, there is nothing in life, whether it is cause for mourning or celebration (or both!), that is without hope.

I have quite a few goals for the next just-over-a-month, I will definitely be busy. Yet, I will need prayer to find the wisdom to identify the most important needs I can meet, and realize the discipline to work hard and leave this place better than how I left it.

In other news, I went to Mombasa! I explored around with Dr. Mark Pitts' son Ben and my friend Graham. Check out my Picasa albums for all the bloody (not really) details. I am quite sun burned, but happily so having experienced a true tropical paradise. Also, I retrieved my pictures from my trip to Luo-land in December. Included is a link to that album on Picasa!

Christmas in Kenya

Mombasa, baby!

Kenya Update 1/4/10 - "Happy New Year!" or "Wild Animals and Birthday Cheese"

I have been having a great time as 2009 departs and as I grow accustomed to 2010. From this point on, we will be able to say it is "two thousand and ten" or "twenty ten". This will not change for 90 years, we will always have 2 ways to describe the date. My friend Jessica made a comment about the relativity of time that still has me thinking. At this point in my life, 1 year represents 1/23 of my life. When I was young (say, 4 years old), 1 year represented 1/4 of my life. Thus, the years are getting shorter and shorter.

Anyway - I have seen some animals and spent some time with good people the last few days of 2009 and these first few days of 2010. On New Years Eve we got together with the Pitts family, Riao Yi and his wife, the Dibos and myself to go to the Giraffe Center in Karen. We were able to feed the giraffes, pet them and kiss them which looks much more gross than it is, don't worry! After the giraffe center we hustled over to the Nairobi National Park to see the baby elephants at the elephant orphanage. They were cute and dirty, and the sun was hot!

The rest of New Years Eve was very fun as well, we had dinner at the Pitts and lit off ghetto firecrackers and had a silly dance party in the driveway under a nearly full moon. It was super fun! Also, Charles spent the night in my flat, which is always a good time, though we went to be early (big plans for New Years Day...)

On New Years Day, we piled into the Pitts car at 5:30 am to go to Amboseli National Park down close to Tanzania and Mount Kilimanjaro. It was such a cool trip, we saw so many animals: buffalos, flamingos, hippos, monkeys, baboons, and of course elephants!!! I got some great pictures, and it was a LONG day. So long in fact, that we spent the night at the field office (we didn't get back till 10:30 pm)

The following day (Saturday) we went out for breakfast and spontaneously decided to go to the theater to see Avatar. I'm SO glad we did that, the movie was fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. It satisfied me entirely, it had everything I like in movies and pushed all my buttons for awesomeness. After the movie I took it easy and prepped for the coming week. This week, new students are moving in, and returning students are moving in on Wednesday.

On Sunday the Crawfords took me out for lunch for my "birthday". It was great, they also gave me some cheese that has been passed around, which I am very excited about. I miss cheese.

These are links to pictures I posted on Picasa from the Giraffe Center, Elephant Orphanage, and our trip to Amboseli. Enjoy!

Giraffes and Baby Elephants!

Amboseli National Game Park

Kenya Update 12/30/09 - Kenyan Christmas!

I am home from a 12 day journey "up country". I traveled about 800 kilometers north (past the equator! :) ) to spend time with the families of friends I have made in the last 4 months. My first destination was to the home of a pastor-in-training named Peter Nyonje. He's an older fellow, whose first born son is heading to ANU to student science in January. It was great being in their home. They live in a sugar plantation that is maintained by the family (immediate and extended) - I learned that while my teeth are stronger than most in the US, they don't hold snuff up to Peter's sons who have grown up peeling sugar cane with their teeth. I tried it...it felt like I was chewing on a piece of wood. One example of how I had to return to the state of foreigner hyper-dependency for the first few days I was there. Peter's home was beautiful - on a hill over looking the river bordering the Nyanza providence and the Rift Valley Providence. Panoramic views of the Kenyan countryside accompanied everything we did. It was a relaxing time as they did not allow me to do anything as far as work. At length I managed to coerce the family to let me help with some planting, and taking me some places...they were surprised at how far I could walk (it wasn't that far...)

I spent my birthday with Peter's family, they all gathered and we ate, his daughters and nieces sang for me (which sounded very good! crazy.) and he gave me a sweet pot from a potter who lives a km or so from his village. It's a sweet pot, versatile and good looking! It was so great spending time with him and his family. Some of them did not know English or Swahili...so it was interesting trying to communicate, though I did pick up some of their tribal language (They are Luo...I mainly learned thank you, good morning, how are you, I'm fine, and grandma! :) )

On the 22nd I met up with Charles' family. It was a great time - they are all grown, functional people who live in and around Nairobi. We all piled into a bright blue 14 passenger van and traveled another 3 hours or so North to his parents home. It was with the Okinyo family (they call themselves OFA...awesome.) that I spent my Christmas in Kenya. It was a great time, plenty of straight up hanging out, eating washing dishes (they actually let me help, God bless them) and playing games. On Christmas morning we slaughtered a ram to roast (nyama choma!) for the big Christmas meal. We didn't exchange gifts till boxing day, and it was a white elephant style deal. I was left with some funny little toy that is small and peculiar.

Oh a sad note: I took about 550 pictures and videos (3.4 gb). On Christmas day I accidentally formatted my memory card, deleting everything. Very heart breaking business...they were some special pictures. Luckily, after a few hours and days I don't feel that sinking disappointment anymore. I gave my card to a friend of Charles' brother Japheth who works for a data recovery company. I hope they can get the pictures back, but my expectations are not high. Pray that Timothy's computers are smart enough to recover the lost data!

It's nice to be "home" in Nairobi, able to communicate with my family again and sleep in my bed. It was a wonderful trip - something I'll remember forever and something I wish I could have shared with everyone I love. Thanks for your prayers. As far as I can tell I made it off the trip healthy enough, so I have so much to be thankful for. It's surreal to think of there only being 2 months left (2/3! I think in ratios.) ... I hope that God uses me in exciting ways during these last 2 months in Kenya.

Kenya Update 12/14/09 - Jamburi Days

Happy Birthday-week Ardreys! Friday was my Dad's birthday, tomorrow is my sisters birthday, and Saturday is MY birthday! Wahoo. I gave Dad a call during his birthday dinner which required me to get up at 3 am in the morning...I had some halfway coherent conversations with some friends sitting remotely in my living room...but it was 3 am, so I take no real responsibility for what I said!

This weekend was Jamburi Day in Kenya - Kenyan Independence day, if you will. It's pretty sweet end of the semester, especially for the students...Friday was the last day of classes, and Saturday was a public holiday. Speaking of Saturday, the Nairobi Chamber Chorus (who I have the GOOD fortune of singing with) was invited to sing at the National celebration at the Nairobi State House - where the President of Kenya lives. It was a big ol' jamboree in the front yard of the State House, there were about 12 (maybe?) performing groups to provide entertainment for Mr. Kibaki (the president) and a bunch of dignitary hoo-ha's. We were one of those groups. It was a lovely day, and I expected to get home late afternoon and do some stuff before dinner. Well, the event was scheduled for 2 pm, but Mr. Kibaki did not show up until about 4:45, so the program didn't really get moving until 5.

The singing and dancing was all very fun though - I wish they allowed me to take pictures! They were checking cameras at the edge of the State House property. Very sad because there were some awesome traditional performers that would've made some wonderful pictures...not to mention the President. Oh well. Its the closest I've ever been to a political "big wig" so it was pretty fun.

SUNDAY we had a performance as well. I went to church in the morning then hopped down to Nairobi to meet up with the choir. After some scrambling to photocopy music, we all piled into a matatu and went to the British High Chancellors house. I actually know nothing about what the British High Chancellor does, but the event was a fund raiser for um... something. Anyway, we had a good time, it was a long concert where we sang most of our repertoire, including a good chunk of Christmas carols. Highlight of the day for me (despite their lovely home and mince pies they gave us...so. delicious.) was our accompanist (accompianist? :) ) A Chinese woman whose name I forget (so you won't have to butcher it) had her "Doctor of Musical Arts", basically the PhD of piano performance. She was incredible! I wish she played more pieces, but alas.


After the concert I spent the night at Emmanuel Ashene's place. It was quite fun, we watched a movie, ate some githeri and eggs...then we fell asleep to the addicting goodness of 24. So good - though I'm glad I don't have the DVDs, I would have no soul.


Today, I hope to touch base with my Norwegian friend at St. Paul's orphanage to hopefully make some progress on their website (it all depends on whether I can find some air time...), finish my laundry and juggle other details and responsibilities.

On Wednesday morning (early!) I'll be going up country for a bit less than 2 weeks. This will be quite fun, I am looking forward to it, but it means I need to finish some stuff up on campus promptly! Pray for me for the wisdom/discipline to finish things on time and not forget anything!

Kenya Update 12/9/09 - The Wedding Weekend

How many days have I not posted in my blog just because "I don't even know where to start"? The answer to that question is 2. The problem with this particular excuse for inactivity is that the longer you wait, the more happens, and the more difficult it is to start writing about it! Craziness.

I will start with Friday and walk through one of the coolest weddings I've ever been to! Friday night all the groomsmen and bridesmaids came to the campus of ANU for the rehearsal and to spend the night so there would be no complications in the morning. The rehearsal was, well, a wedding rehearsal (slightly painful but necessary), and I had 2 groomsmen spend the night with me in my flat. It was a nice time, though Samsung (the fellow I was sharing my bed with) didn't come to bed till 4...some folks have some seriously weird sleep cycles/body chemistry. Saturday morning we woke up nice and early and headed to where Dibo (the groom) was getting ready for breakfast and harassment. I'm proud to say all the groomsmen were there on time, the ladies were a bit late, but all in all the ceremony was extremely punctual, starting at 10:30am with a published start time of 10:00 am (bravo!) This is very foreign for African weddings, evidenced by the fact that very few people were at the ceremony when it first started (even 30 minutes later than what was on the invitation!) Dibo tells me that guests were still arriving at 3 pm, surprised that they missed the ceremony...so funny.

African weddings are awesome. Even Americanized ones. Everyone was SO excited. It reminded me of the state of the union address in that the pastor could not finish 2 sentences without the crowd bursting into cheers and applause (though the cheers and applause were definitely more genuine then they are when our president speaks!) What else was cool? There was a troupe of women from Dibo's family and from around campus who surrounded Jeannette before she even entered the church, singing dancing and celebrating. Such a cool tradition. During the reception they have public presentation of gifts - which was great. It was fun watching Jeannette figure out what to do when one of Dibo's relatives gave her a live rooster. The reception was very nice and wrapped up by about 3 o'clock. Dibo and Jeannette stayed around to spend time with Jeannette's mom (Cathy) who flew in from Oregon for the wedding.

You can find some sweet pictures from the wedding on my Picasa page.

The Dibo Wedding

Sunday was also a very neat day - church was a lot of fun. My Congolese neighbor's son Gustaf decided he wanted to sit with me on my chair while I was playing my drum during worship...so that means I was multitasking keeping him well behaved (no shadows in the projector), keeping him from falling off the chair, and playing my djembe the whole time...it was quite the challenge! After church Pastor Gift grabbed me and we went to help fix the roof on the home of a church family...it was hot work, but it definitely helped (when it rained the water flooded into their front door, so we put up an extra piece of sheet metal to help keep the water out.)

It is eye opening to see some of the needs people have in Kenya - they are often so simple to meet. Just a few dollars can make such a difference in these peoples lives who are struggling to feed their families, much less buy material to keep their home from flooding!

Tuesday was a very fun day as well. I spent the morning working on data entry for the registrar (slightly more fun than invigilating...slightly...) and giving Rao Yi an english session. After that I met up with Jeannette, Dibo and their Mom to go see some elephants. Unfortunately we were 15 minutes late to their feeding which means we did not get to see them. Very sad. We went and got pizza to make up for it. After lunch we spent a bit over 2 hours at St. Paul's children's home playing with the kids. It is so great having Dibo there. He's got such a gift for children's ministry, and he knows Swahili which is a huge help. Jeannette got some pictures, I'll start a Picasa album for St. Paul's. Though the kids kind of go crazy when there are camera's around, so I might avoid pictures more than I want to.

Lots of walking, lots of friends and good times in Kenya. Like I mentioned, I'm doing data entry for the registrar, doing my best to get to the orphanage whenever I can and I'm also helping the student council plan their "cultural week" in February. It's hard to plan things here - lots of hoops and you're forced to hop through.

I miss the snow, but I'm loving the weather here. It's perfect, and I have the most impressive farmers tan of my life!

Kenya Update 12/4/09 - Invigilation

This week I learned a new word: invigilation. This is like the old school style of proctoring exams, literally defined as "keeping watch over examination candidates to prevent cheating" (thanks Google define:!) I think sometimes how "cool" a word sounds influences my gut reaction to how cool something is. For example: I was asked to be an invigilator for the final exams that were help this week! That sounded very cool, like I would get a sash or a whistle... but it turns out invigilating is not as exciting as it sounds - indeed the act of saying the word "invigilation" is more fun than the act of invigilating itself! The way that final exams work is super intimidating though - 400 students in one room with invigilators walking up and down the aisles looking for cheaters...for 3 hours...in silence...fun? Reminded me of the standardized tests we took growing up.

My students did well enough on their exam, both passing, one with flying colors and the other with muted earth tones. Uncanny how there is a direct relationship between how much you study and how well you do on exams. Who would have thought?

Yesterday evening I spent time with the Pitts getting ready for Christmas. This involved eating a delightfully home cooked meal while watching Elf, putting up Christmas decorations and a long conversation. It is very good to have people in your life to encourage you who seem to encouraged by you in the process. This is their first Christmas sans immediate family as well, so it's good to be together. Also, when I was doing lights I shocked myself with good ol' 220v Kenyan AC current...it didn't feel good, but my hearts still beating. More fodder for that "2 Truths and a Lie" game that everyone (teenagers) love so much!

The name of the game this weekend is wedding. Tomorrow Dibo and Jeannette are getting married, which means this evening I'll have 4 of the groomsmen sleeping in my flat, which will be WILD. 2 in the bed, 1 on the floor and one on the coach. Super fun. Tomorrow should be fun too. Dibo asked me to be a groomsman which is quite an honor and pleasure, and I get a nice blue tie from China (um...no lie) out of the deal! I don't know what tonight will hold, but I know tomorrow will be a very exciting day (while it will be exhausting!) I'll be sure to take pictures of the festivities.

My thoughts are with everyone at home during Christmas preparations. It won't be easy being apart, but God is faithful - and we're still celebrating together, we'll just be doing it globally instead of locally! :) Speaking of which, there is a neat thing that the Blood:Water Mission folks are doing this year...for 85 dollars you can buy whats called a BioSand Filter, a device that uses sand to clean water. It is hard for us to imagine how great the need for clean water is in developing countries - but it's true. This filter seems like a natural and efficient way to improve peoples lives where its not possible to get clean well water. Check out the site and video and think about the real difference your dollars can make for people!

Kenya Update 11/28/09 - Basically Beaker.

Nothing to say that can top this:

Kenya Update 11/25/09 - Orphans and Termites

It's been a fun and busy week so far. It took way too long to recover from our late night of games at the Wakias home...I worry that my college "function on negligible sleep" mojo is leaving me. This would be tragic. I went to sleep at 9:30 last night, so today I'm chipper and awake, and not falling asleep during my English lesson (yeah, that was embarrassing!)

Yesterday I walked to St. Paul's Childrens Home, an orphanage about a 25 minute walk from ANU. I was asked by pastor Gift (from the church on campus) to organize the compassionate ministry for our congregation. I am working with an intriguing fellow named Sylvanus Michael Otieno - he's a retired teacher who is aiming to go back to school, but for now he's just helping with the church. An old football player, he has stories upon stories (which, of course were shared on the way to the childrens home!) The home itself was delightful - we chatted at length with the matriarch (an incredible woman named Margaret) about how the good people at ANU can meet their needs and minister to the kids. The kids are adorable, a little girl sat on my lap playing with my wrist watch the whole time we were chatting. There is also a Norwegian volunteer living at St. Paul's who seems like a great guy. He is a digital design type person, and is aiming to create a website for the school so they can raise money more effectively (for little things like food and water!)

Are there any good people at home who would be willing to take his designs and design the web interface? It would be a "fun" project that would make a HUGE difference in a lot of lives (especially for those kids) here in Kenya.

So for the next few days I'll be galvanizing all my friends to go to this home over Christmas break to do music with them, teach a bible lesson and play games. It is exciting to participate in such a dynamic and practical ministry. Pray for St. Pauls Children's home!

In other news: I made the mistake (or, had the wisdom to) lift up the loose linoleum in my bathroom to see a vast army of termites chowing down on the baseboard and stretching across the floor. A good part of my morning today was spent cleaning up and having a maintenance fellow spray the inside and outside of my bathroom...so it's a mess, but hopefully it will be a bug free mess (in a few hours) so that I can transform it back to a bug free bathroom!

Here are some pictures from Sunday's concert:

Jazz n Folk

Kenya Update 11/23/09 - Jazz, Settlers and British Capitalism

It has been a very fun weekend. Saturday we had "Thanksgiving" - after which I went back to ANU and satisfied my turkeyitis by reading and snoozing my way in Sunday. Sunday morning there was church where I filled in on the keyboard. Our preacher was a masters student named Evans Katanga who spoke on the importance of excellence while serving God - he gave the ABCs of excellence (all I remember is that J was "Just do it!" hahaha).

After church I headed into town to see Immanuel Ashene's jazz combo group do a recital. Immanuel is the choir director here and I do lots of stuff with him (including playing ping pong every day at lunch! Excellent!) It was very fun, he did well (on piano) and I'll post some pictures on Picasa.

After the concert I accompanied Dibo and Jeannette to Ken Wakia's house to spend the night playing board games. Some info on Ken: Ken is the former assistant dean of ANU, but now he is directing a few choirs around Nairobi (one of which I sing in: the Nairobi Chamber Chorus). We played 2 games of Settler's (6 players! awesome.) and 1 game of Monopoly. It was super fun, Ken's British wife Joanna won the first game of Settler's, I won the second, then we both decided at 1:30 am that it would be a tie "power sharing deal". It was pretty brutal, but sleep was definitely the best option at that point!

Sunday morning (during our bible study on Romans) Dibo told a quick fable about faith:
In the midst of a terrible drought 2 men decide to pray that God would send them rain. The first man spends all his time fasting and praying, pouring out his mind body and soul to the purpose of entreating God for rain. The second man prays, but then spends his time planting seed and preparing his fields for the harvest. When the rain came, the first man had to scramble, rushing through the preparations in order to take advantage of God's providence. The second man reaped a great harvest. Which of these men had greater faith?


This story really made me think about where I am in my term of service in Kenya. The semester is ending, and I will not be here long enough to teach another unit. So, I've got a solid 5-6 weeks where my responsibilities are spread thin. In other words, I will have more time than I've had in the first 3 months here (by the way, it's three months today :) ) I want above all to do what God would have me do (my activities the last 3 months is enough to make my resume look awesome. I'm not worried about that, beyond actually getting a job - yikes!), and I have been trying to figure out what exactly that is. It is complicated, juggling intentions and insecurities as I try to divine what I ought to do. Dibo's little fable is great because I'm encouraged to make it a matter of prayer, but to not sit complacently in flat #3 waiting for something to happen so I don't doubt my intentions or second guess myself. I am working on opening opportunities for me to serve in a few different areas, but never outside the context of prayer. That being said: I hope that enough information for some other folks to pray for me as well :)

Kenya Update 11/21/09 - Happy "Thanksgiving"

Today was Thanksgiving in Kenya! Okay, not really - of course Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Kenya, but we had a big ol' Turkey-style Thanksgiving meal at the field office with all the missionaries and their family today. The food was wonderful (as usual) and I am always struck by how warm, receptive and kind the Nazarene ministers and teachers who live at Mount Carmel are. It is always an encouragement - especially when I get a plate full of food to bring home! :) It's been a good week at ANU. I spent a lot of time planning a trip up-country to visit loads of people (most of whom I have not met yet!), organized by my pastor friend Peter who I've been getting to know more and more.

Things with the student council are going well - things are starting to get rolling because I've found some good people to work with. The Leadership Training organized last Saturday was a huge success and it gave us a solid foundation of transparency to start building the relationship between the Student Council and the administrative staff. I am optimistic mostly because of the competence Charles (the newly elected Student Council chairperson) has shown. So it's alot of organizational strategy type stuff which I find compelling but most people don't care about! Oh well. It really feels like that I've found a niche at ANU that is using my all my skills, refining them and challenging me.

I have been challenged in big ways while here at ANU, challenges that I am still figuring out how to meet in the way God made me to meet them. I think these challenges can be summed up in one statement: "How can I be a Jesus person in a world full of so much desperate need?" This is a question that you could write a book about, for sure. It's a question I think us Christians ought to ask ourselves daily - not only to remember how important it is to be Jesus people, but to remember how desperate the needs of people around the world are.

I wonder if Facebook will update with this blog entry? Perhaps that will make these entries much more public, hopefully more people can enjoy them. God Bless!

Kenya Update 11/13/09 - Ping Pong Parasites

Awwww yeah three P's. I'm such an alliteration junkie. Anyway I've had a busy week since my close encounter of the microscopic kind on Tuesday. Just to be clear - I have an amoeba that totally wrecked me on Tuesday, but has since slipped into latency. I have amoebacide from the clinic at ANU that should clear me up in a few short days. I am so thankful it has eased up too, because I've had a lot fall into my lap the last few days. A busy weekend looms, and I've been asked to organize the student leadership training on um...Saturday. I feel okay about it, I'm worried though because I would claim that the students and administration are not "practiced" at working together or communicating...so, I hope folks hang their frustrations, immaturity and fears at the door for the seminar I've planned on Saturday!
Also, on Sunday I'm traveling with the choir to some church in Nairobi, followed immediately by a rehearsal for the Nairobi Chamber Chorus which will be nice - it's been a while since I've done some quality singing. Unfortunately, another busy weekend means one less chance to go see some animals. Drat! It will get done - perhaps at the beginning of next week I'll take a day off and hit up the Giraffe Center or something.
In other news: I have found equipment to play ping pong regularly on campus...a pair of NICE paddles that the school is letting me use (keep in my flat so they're not broken like everything on college campuses are broken) a net and some balls. So, my neighbor Riao Yi and I play after our english lessons, and now that I've RElocated my phone (yeah it was missing...) I can give my Ethiopian pal Joseph a call (he's quite the player too). Also, on Friday I skipped down to the lounge to play some students, some of them are very good, but I won 3 games to 2. I felt like this was luck. This did not in any way detract from the thrill of victory. I will update tomorrow after leadership training and my day of singing!

Kenya Update 11/11/09 - Happy Corduroy Day

This morning was wonderful - no vomiting, no terrible toilet time...while it is very confusing, I am not complaining. I got my test results back from the clinic and it seems I have an amoeba! Plus I've had it for a while, because there are not many symptoms at first. Yet as the first generation of amoeba spawn come to life in my stomach there is a violent reaction which is not fun for the host! So I've got my drugs from the clinic and I should be on the path to good health in good time.
This is good because now I can focus on trying to get my students to pass Logic Circuits, elbowing my way into student council and making music with Mr. Ashene! Also, I'm working with a gentleman named Michael from church to put together a compassionate ministry program for ANU students and the congregants of the ...we have our first official "meeting" this afternoon, so I hope things work out and God blesses our work.
Thanks for everyone's prayer and encouragement yesterday. It helped so much and made me realize how difficult (well nigh impossible) it would be to do this Africa thing alone.

Kenya Update 11/10/09 - An Interesting Morning

I knew something was a little weird when I couldn't get to sleep last night until midnight. I woke up this morning around 6:15am and I just felt awful all over. Perhaps it was a tell tale sign yesterday: I was very sore all over my body, but I thought that was just from ODing on pushups before and after bed...but no. I'll spare the "oh feel bad for me" details, I spent the morning vomiting (but only 3 times!), riding the porcelain throne and sleeping. Just around 11:30 I had a big scare: I was taken with a huge case of the chills and dizziness, coupled with that feeling of "here comes an upchuck" as well as the very real need to empty my bowels. Luckily I was able to alight the toilet to take care of the latter of those issues before I passed out (I didn't actually pass out), and I sat there recovering. Now (12:30), I feel better, I'm able to sit up and eat and it seems as if the worst is over. I am definitely going to hit up the clinic after I print some stuff for class tomorrow. I hope I feel better for choir rehearsal tonight - get this: we're singing Christmas music the whole chapel on Thursday. What a riot, but they're some really cool Caribbean feel/west African feel songs that are about Christmas time. So funny. I might play my drum for one of the A Cappella songs.
So I was able to post some pictures I've taken since the sun has come out: they're not many, I'm at 20% of my Picasa storage so I'm aiming to conserve - though I plan to add more pictures of campus so folks can get a better feel for where I live! This first album is going to be an "updated regularly" album of friends I make.

Good People

Now the campus shots:

ANU Campus

I appreciate the prayers as I fight my way back to health!

Kenya Update 11/9/09 - Quite Like Paradise

It has been a good week at ANU. The weather is starting to move towards the post-rain "spring" phase, and everything is beautiful. I will make an album of shots from around campus and post it on Picasa tonight. Several times this week (and especially this weekend) I had to pause, look around, and think (or comment) "you know, ANU is quite like paradise..." Things are green, there are flowers everywhere. I see now the intentionality of the groundskeepers starting to come to fruition, and I love it.
It was a great week working with the Immanuel and the choir, my logic circuit students (who are struggling with flip flops...poor guys) and hanging out with friends and neighbors. It's fun going into the market with Riao Yi and his wife. Folks in Ongata Rongai aren't used to seeing white folks walking through the market, much less a mzungu with a pair of Chinese! Very fun to see the wide eyed children scamper to their mothers and mischievous shop owners try to think of creative ways to get at our money. Speaking of children, on my walks to and from Dibo and Jeannette's place I often run into some kids - their reactions are consistently in one of two categories. They are either intrigued by this mzungu with a drum, or stricken with abject terror. I saw one boy who was perfectly happy walking with his Mom until he saw me coming, he immediately starts bawling and will not stand such that he can see me from behind his Mother. His Mom thought this was great and did her best to dodge out of the way much to my delight and his despair. Other kids smile, laugh and wave shouting the "mzungu salute" over and over "HOW ARE YOU? HOW ARE YOU?"
The novelties of being a racial minority can be enjoyable just as often as they are frustrating and sad. That's what I keep telling myself and I'm finding that if I'm "on purpose" about it - it's true. It's time for me to head out. I will post more tomorrow. Allison reminds me that while things are starting to approach "normalcy" for me, the little things I barely notice (like cows in the streets or homemade carts or even the trees) are still total novelties to most people who read this blog. That being said, I'll work harder to write about my every day life, and take some pictures to go along with it :) Blessings to all. God is good and He is with us everyday.

Don't Panic

Another common and less than positive response to crisis is panic. We had a gang of young boys growing up in our town just outside of Boston. This was gang activity in the best sense of the word. These were the unenlightened days of the late 50’s so it was politically correct to play cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, knights of the round table, NFL football but the thing we loved most was “raiding the girls”. The girls would be playing house or whatever other girly thing they happened to be doing and we would swoop in as marauding bandits, over turn their tea set, frighten their dolls and generally wreak havoc and misery upon their existence.

Well we were enjoying our raid this one particular day when the ground began to rumble and here comes Mr. LeBrun. He was big and we thought ugly and very mad ... steam from his ears ... froth from his mouth ... coming to save the girls and demolish the enemy. Well it was fight or flight time and knowing that fight was not an option I burst into all out flight mode. I began to run ... and lo and behold he starts chasing me ... did he not know my older brother was the ring leader of this nefarious plot? I Put my head down, ducked into a neighboring nursery and began running thru the trees. He was getting closer, I could feel his hot breath on my neck. He was just about to get me when I found myself spinning my legs in mid air ... not unlike Wiley Coyote in the Road Runner cartoon. I had run straight of the precipice of a sheer cliff and was sure I would fall to my death, landing flat on my back after a frightening fall of at least 4 - 5 feet. When things get tough the easiest thing to do is panic ... worry ourselves sick ... do something stupid ... take things in our own hands ... run off a cliff in fear.

We don’t need to panic. We are not alone as our God is an ever present help in time of trouble. We are not alone as the family of God is a help and support. A loving God sends his Spirit to comfort, strengthen, and lead. We have a guide in the words of God and as we listen and seek the wisdom of an infinite God he will show us the next step to take when life shakes you up.

I am quite sure the next step taken in obedient response to the words of God will not be off a cliff. Then what we find is that our place of greatest fear and danger is most often the place of greatest blessing.

… our place of greatest fear and danger is most often the place of greatest blessing.

Real Life Ain't Disney World

Real Life Ain’t Disney World


I love Disney World. Every employee is ingrained with the core value that the guests are the most important people on earth. Everyone smiles. There is a sense of peacefulness that is not reproduced in the typical theme park. Employees do not rush into work, throwing on their apron at the last minute. Rather they are actors who enter the park through specially camouflaged doors. I love Disney world but I couldn’t live there. It is nice but not real.

People do not always smile at you. Good fortune does not always fill your life with sunlight. There are times when the darkness of pain, trial, suffering and injustice consumes your existence. Facing the facts, living by faith involves an acceptance of the trials and suffering of life … not a pain free life but a deep rich abundant life. Accepting the facts is more than a passive endurance of pain but is also a decisive turning from a self absorbed obsession/pre-occupation with personal comfort, convenience and pleasure. It is as we accept and even embrace the reality of suffering that we come to know and understand God’s working in us.

It is in the real finite struggles of life that an infinite God reveals his love, grace, and power to us as well as to those around us. Skye Jethani quotes Dallas Willard, “We are not to try to get in a position to avoid trials. And we are not to ‘catastrophize’ and declare the ‘end of the world’ when things happen. Jethani goes on to say, “the trials of ordinary existence are the divine curricula for spiritual maturity. These are the laser beams God uses to put our old self, with it’s misappropriated desires, to death and then resurrect a new self with new desires focused on a more lasting joy". In other words although I really prefer comfort and a painless existence … that is neither my deepest need nor the way of greatest happiness. My greatest joy is in facing the trials with the empowerment, grace, inner strength and joy of a practical relationship with a personal God.

Kenya Update 11/2/09 - Chakula na Rafiki

It seems alliterations don't translate well from English to Swahili. This weekend was full of good food and good people. Friday night I was invited to stay at the Crawford's at the field office complex (Mount Karmel) down in Nairobi. There was a potluck to bid farewell to Dr. David Graves and his wife. Dr. Graves is the newly elected General Superintendent for the Africa region. We spent dinner listening to some wild stories. If you ever get a chance - ask me how they tenderize meat in Sudan. It was a very fun night especially considering how good the food was - and that I watched Stargate with the Crawford's afterwards! They were very kind to let me stay in their home, I really enjoyed visiting with them...plus they let me borrow the complete Colubmia recordings of Simon and Garfunkle, which is 5 more CDs of music to enjoy!

Also, Amy and Greg got me into "Facebook Scrabble" which is called Lexulous. It could be a ministry, perhaps. I am so bad at that game that anyone playing against me will feel like a champ. So, if you need an ego boost, feel free to challenge me and I'll do my best against you (to no avail!)

Saturday afternoon was pretty lazy, I watched a movie with Graham and visited with my family in New York. My niece is one seriously happy baby when she wakes up. Then Pitts invited me over for home baked PIZZA, which was delicious, and some episodes of the West Wing. The pizza was great, and I got to take some pieces home!

Sunday was a good day. Ombui wasn't there to play keyboard so I stepped in, which isn't as much fun now that it means I don't get to play my drum! The service was good, but I was tired. After church I slept for 2 hours...which is an unusually long nap for me. BUT it was good thing I rested up because yesterday right before sun set I tromped on over to Dibo's home with my djembe. We spent the night eating and playing music in his finance's Jeannette's flat by candlelight because the electricity didn't come on until about midnight. So, Dibo and I shared a bed last night, and he will be the first to tell you how crazy his sleep cycle is. He listens to LOUD music all night long; he says he enjoys listening to worship music and reading the verse on his desktop background as he falls asleep! Luckily, he was gracious enough to turn it down a little bit so I was able to sleep. I really enjoyed staying with Dibo - he is a solid man of God who is focused on where he is going.

This week my goal is to see some animals! I figure I've been here for over 2 months, its about time I hit up one of the safari's or animal centers around the area. So: cool pictures to come! I miss my family and my Allison very much. Thanksgiving is coming up and so is Christmas - prayers would be appreciated as I search for constructive and Godly ways to avoid letting homesickness drag me down!