The Rose in a Trash Heap, Day 3

Day 3 at Imani: It is honestly harder to say whether yesterday or today was harder. In one sense I was "slightly" more prepared because I remember what we did yesterday and yet it was because of yesterday that my back, arms and chest (basically everything above my waist) were SO SORE that doing it again today made it that many times more painful and strenuous. It's practically a tie. On the positive side because of yesterdays experiences I had remembered which babies to avoid, lol. For example, one particular baby name Christian (our largest baby in our age group) eats like a small horse AND whatever he eats has to go SOMEWHERE. Because of this simple biological truth I now know to avoid him at changing time, lol. At one time today I looked over at Shiro, the girl changing him, and when she unwrapped his nappy I just about lost my breakfast. It was like someone had wrapped a hand-grenade labeled poop inside his outfit and ran for dear life! Let's just say it was further encouragement to always be "busy" with another baby at changing time. I enjoyed getting more familiar with the other workers in my room. They were all very kind and helpful people. I am learning so much from being around them. And not being too far from my age made our conversations much easier. As for Loveen (the girl described in the previous post) I must continue to be careful; she is TOO KIND and TOO HELPFUL. All around it was yet another amazing day filled with strenuous work that glorified our Lord.

We got back to Imani B and shared the numerous stories of our adventures. It was a nice change from last night when we got into a sizable disagreement in which Nathan vented his plethora of issues and problems with me. Unfortunately in my flesh I completely compromised and retaliated; trying to defend myself and bring the argument towards the realization that he's no perfect saint either (a completely childish and selfish thing for me to do). It just went down hill from there. At one point I felt EXTREMELY convicted and knew I needed to yield. I knew in my horribly selfish and prideful flesh I COULD win--SHOULD win (once again being completely self-seeking and in the wrong)--but I knew what the Spirit was whispering to me in the quiet of my heart and with all the strength I could muster I did my best to be obedient, shut up, and take it. That night (the prior night) I begged to be humbled and be made more into the image of Christ (being disgustingly far from it). I got on my knees and begged for forgiveness and mercy knowing I didn't deserve it. The next day (today) it was on my mind continually to be a servant and to esteem others (specifically Nathan) better than myself. Something I needed to ask God for help throughout the entire day. When we got home I did my devotions and checked my verse for today from a stack of verses I received as a gift for the trip (you know who you are and I couldn't thank you enough!) and my verse for that day was Daniel 10:12, "Then he said to me, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, you words were heard; and I have come because of your words.'" I read that verse and my jaw dropped! I could not believe the timing! I instantly dropped my face into my hands and thanked God for the encouragement, and begged Him that, like Daniel, this verse could be personally applicable to me too! "Oh Father, please let this be for me too. Please send me help!" Thankfully Nathan was in the shower and so I was secluded in my room and enjoyed a deep time of humbling prayer with our Lord. I arose that much more in love with our King, knowing for certain, that at the VERY LEAST He was hearing me, and was inclining His ear to my plea. That night was THE BEST night I had all trip beyond a shadow of a doubt. A night spent with my Abba. God is doing a work in me, I know it, and I couldn't be happier. Less of me, more of you oh God. Desperately do I need this. And I draw comfort oh Lord, in Your promise that "the work you have begun, you shall finish." : )

The Rose in a Trash Heap, Day 2

Day 2 at Imani: Wow... I scarcely have words to describe the day we/I had... I honestly don't barely know where to begin...BUUUUUT here I go, lol. Well I definitely didn't get ANY sleep last night. The reason must have been a tie between: it being a strange new place; being surrounded by weird loud noises nearly all night long; having drank way too much water before bed; not being able to stay cool or comfortable in my bed; genuine spiritual attack; a million thoughts racing through my head; constantly thinking I heard someone approach my shadeless/curtainless window; the Netherlands guy waking up and using the restroom as much as me; Nathan walking through my room to use the restroom; and just when I thought I was about to truly lose consciousness and rest I heard the rooster start crowing, some girls walked by our rooms singing in Swahili and then stopped feet away from our windows to do morning laundry (while still singing at 5 in the morning) at which point I tried to ignore it but then heard Nathan get up and do push ups, haha. At this point I knew it was over and I was merely delaying the inevitable... We got ready just in time to be picked up at exactly 6:30 sharp and arrived at Imani A at around 6:45. Almost immediately we were separated and given different tasks in different rooms on different floors. If I didn't know better I would have sworn they had received this advice from our boss Pastor Mickey in the Children's Ministry Office, lol. I was placed with the 6 - 9 month old infants on the second floor while Nathan was taken to the 9 - 13 month old infants on the third floor.

From the moment I entered the room nearly all the babies were crying bloody murder and boy-oh-boy did they reek to high heaven! Of course (with our impeccable luck) the very first thing on the agenda was to change all of them. AWESOME! (sarcasm, lol) Though this has never really come up in daily American-youth conversation and is not necessarily something I would want to admit, I have NEVER changed a baby's diaper, nor have I ever been in a hurry to do so. Today I got my chance... multiple times in fact. I changed more diapers in a single day than I had ever planned to do in my entire life! I was always sorta, kinda hoping that was a wife/mommy thing, lol. Oh, and on top of that, these weren't your standard super-duty, hyper-absorbent disposable diapers with a picture of a joyous baby strategically placed on the package cover, no no no, these were your old-fashioned linen towel-like sheets folded into triangles and skillfully wrapped around the baby... The appearance was horrifying, the texture unforgettable, and the smell inescapable. I honestly survived that first encounter fake smiling and almost gagging, lol. Talk about not knowing how to swim and then being challenged to race across the English Channel. What a task. For the longest time (hours leading into days) I couldn't get the poo and pee smell out of my hands! Well the day continued on and shortly after starting Nathan and I were called to breakfast. Already we had stories to share, and share we did. We returned to our rooms and just in time for feeding them. This too was a first and trying experience, not because I had never "bottle-fed" an infant before but because instead of bottles they were cups. Talk about the mess. At one point we got to take the babies outside and around that time a young-lady my age arrived. As God as my witness I was not initially distracted by her presence and was simply focused on not creating an ocean of porridge in my lap, unceasing prayer for strength, and surviving the day. Unfortunately she didn't feel the same. To my surprise, in the midst of baby chaos, this girl actually started to flirt with me. It started with a bunch of light questions about where I was from and what brought me to Kenya (all cordial and often-asked questions for me) but soon became more. Once she asked me my age and she realized we were the same age it all went down hill. Though over the course of 12 hours she literally asked me if I wanted to ever get married, how many kids I wanted, what were my likes/dislikes, and actually said, "Ray? Is your brother cute like you?" I am fairly certain I borderline froze and did not know what to say. I think I scanned the area for facial expressions from the other workers to see if they were picking up on anything I was. UNFORTUNATELY everyone else was hard at work and I was left to face the awkwardness on my own. This along with many other "weird" experiences throughout the week reminded me of Robbie playfully warning us of either finding a Kenyan wife OR at the very least, getting majorly "hit on." I honestly didn't take any of this seriously... Now I do, lol. Needless to say I became extremely well practiced in various diversion-like methods. Methods such as: pretending to not hear; inexplicably becoming distracted with a crying baby; acting as though I did not understand due to cultural differences; walking out of the room with a perplexed look as if looking for something; quickly adding a new topic to the conversation as though I had just remembered an important comment I had been dying to say earlier but had forgotten. This and much-much more became my arsenal of defenses against such extreme moments of awkwardness.

Later that day we returned all our babies to the second floor and changed them, AGAIN! Ironically during all my out-of-the-blue girl troubles Nathan had met two Mzungu girls volunteering at Imani too. As if by some strange twist of fate it was also their first day of work AND they were assigned to the same "area" as him. UNFORTUNATELY for him neither of them were Christian and the one he considered pretty cute cursed like a sailor thus ruining even the fake, imaginative hope for him, lol. That day we both shared our hilarious experiences over lunch and got quite a kick out of them. The day continued, I did a TON more changing, feeding, carrying, snot wiping, and much-much more and though it was killer hard work I really saw the Lord in all of it and thanked him for the opportunity to serve Him in such a way. Those children were downright beautiful and looking deep into their searching eyes while feeling them grip my finger with their tiny little hands was an experience I could never forget (not that I could forget being there ALL week, lol). As the day concluded and I got a closer examination of my muscular soreness and I realized that I felt literally beat up. Aside from an injury, I don't think I had ever felt every muscle in my back scream like that before. My biceps felt broken from carrying all day, my back was pulsating with ache, and my entire person emanated with the essence of "smelly baby." We returned home and I borderline ran into the shower. Ironically even after showering the smells lingered and even the towels given to us for showering and drying smelled EXACTLY like the linen nappies used for the make-shift diapers. This was understandable, but admittedly even after showering I never truly felt/smelled clean. Something ALWAYS seemed amiss, lol. Day 2 accomplished. May God have mercy on us...

The Rose in a Trash Heap, Day 1

Day 1 at Imani children's home: I am literally flabbergasted and in utter awe over how quickly our plans change on us out here. So a quick and short (short only in comparison to what is really going on out here) recap, just this past weekend we were waiting in expectancy over the acclaimed arrival of Elizabeth and Abby (Pastor Robbie's wife and daughter). This has been an event over 3 months in the making and MUCH anticipated by poor Robbie having been separated from his family for so long. We originally planned to stay with Jonathan and Adrienne Ferguson for a weekend to give Robbie a few days to be alone and catch up with his girls. The Spirit bore witness on all sides and thus the plan was agreed upon. All was set in motion when, yet again, let-down. The girls were delayed AGAIN, and were going to arrive a day late. Robbie, whose poor emotions were being yanked up and down like a roller coaster--but all the while composed himself and always praised the Lord in patience--now had to wait more... The girls arrived the next morning as scheduled (the morning of the U-Turn Pig Roast Party on Saturday) but once again there was a flip. The girls arrived sick, and poor Elizabeth's neck was hurting her. Robbie joked with Jonathan over the phone, "I finally get my girls back and I receive them defective." Needless to say, the family needed some long-awaited recuperating time. So what was originally a Friday thru Sunday plan, became Friday thru Tuesday, and THEN metamorphosized into Friday through the following Sunday scenario, haha. And all in a matter of days! Though Nathan and I were becoming accustomed to "last minute" alterations in schedules this was still yet another hilarious example of, "You never know what tomorrow brings..."

We were just about to get psychologically prepared for the new momentum of being with the Fergusons for a week and even bought a weeks worth of groceries in preparation for it all when the VERY NEXT MORNING we awake to yet another SURPRISE... I had just finished my bowl of morning cereal when Robbie called us telling us to "quickly" pack your bags "you are going to Imani." I couldn't believe it. It had to be a joke, I thought. No way plans change THAT MUCH and THAT QUICKLY, AGAIN! I quickly realized once more... yes they do. : / We quickly packed our things, got onto Jonathan's laptop for about 7 minutes to attempt to update the blog thus far: "Church Relocation Project - Take 3" when Robbie arrived at the door and rushed us into the car. Hence the quick, "Uh oh, I got to go..." We quickly drove home to pack for a week, having nearly no clue what to expect, and almost no clean clothes to prepare with. Poor Nathan had to pack nearly all soiled clothes for the week. In fact, the only reoccurring statement or description from Robbie was an exhortation that Imani would be "very hard," and no matter what we've done up to now, we "will be stretched." AWESOME! Within 30 minutes we gathered our belongings and were off. Nearly the entire ride Robbie pep-talked us over how big of a deal this was. The fact of the matter was Mama Faith (the founder of Imani Children's Home and completely in charge of their 7 scattered compounds) had called Robbie that very morning asking for us, having already arranged jobs for us in expectancy. This was a huge deal according to Robbie. Having served with Faith personally he explained that this never happened before in the 9+ years he had known her (to his knowledge). "Mama Faith loves her kids dearly and has never let anyone serve with the kids without having met and interviewed all volunteers before a single thing is decided," he said. Unbenounced to us, Robbie had spoken to Mama Faith earlier this trip and personally likened Nathan and I unto the male versions of two outstanding young ladies named Vira and Talitha who had served at Imani years prior and left with an amazing reputation of sincere servanthood in their wake. It was a beautiful and sincere compliment from Robbie and ultimately got us the stamp of approval. Though overwhelmed with the knowledge that Robbie thought so highly of us--and after living in such close quarters with us for over a month no less--these were still very big shoes to fill. Earlier that morning Nathan and I had prayed together for the complete armor of the Lord and perfect strengthening of the Spirit so I definitely had a "peace that surpasses all understanding" but also knew aside from our Father's help, we were doomed, haha.

Robbie dropped us off at Imani A (where we would be actively serving) to give us a familiarity with the facilities as well as meet our presiding supervisor, Maria. She was a kindhearted and very hospitable host, and as it turns out, she was one of the original orphans Mama Faith took in when Imani started. The fact that she was now 25 years old having left and lived her own life for a bit, to then return to the home that nurtured her as a servant and now a member of the board. Maria asked us many questions concerning our strengths and weaknesses, what we could and could not do, and our overall willingness to serve. In multiple ways throughout the conversation we admitted we were not in any means fully in-tune with our gifts and didn't fully know what we were going to be better at in a given situation BUT we were willing to do anything and everything that needed doing. Wherever there was a need we would fill it, there was nothing we wouldn't try, and whether or not we excelled at a given task we would always give our best and not complain. It must had sounded over the top but we were honestly willing to get the full experience and do all that needed doing. This answer shocked and thrilled her. She gave us a thorough tour of the baby house (where we would be serving) and then arranged for us to be driven to Imani B (where we would be living as well as have our meeting with Mama Faith). Both places were beautiful in a unique way. Like Robbie said, it truly was a "beautiful rose in a trash heap." We met Mama Faith officially at Imani B and had our second tiny interview though she made it abundantly clear we were already wanted. We promised her 2 weeks of service though she wanted us longer but also encouraged us that they were overjoyed with whatever they could get. She too expressed her joy that two young American men would leave their comfortable homes and serve with them thousands of miles away. We knew we never deserved such praise, but thanked her nonetheless and often pointed up into the sky saying, "Hey, this isn't us, it's all our Father's doing." The meeting didn't last long and we settled into our new living arrangement which included our OWN ROOMS! Nathan was ECSTATIC, proclaiming he would finally get a good nights sleep, lol. I must admit, the sparkle in his eyes of pure happiness was duely noted. It was an interesting setup. The front door emptied into a living room area which then had a right and a left door, like something in a maze. The right door belonged to Eda's room. Eda was a tall, older gentleman from the Netherlands who spoke in extremely broken English. Our conversations with him were often humorous was we both did our best to pretend to comprehend what he was saying to us. ANYWAYS! The door to the left opened to the bathroom, which also had a door opening to another room. That room had a door as well which opened to the end room like some kind of reverse Jack & Jill apartment situation. We agreed that I would take the room closest to the bathroom because I am notorious for regular restroom trips. I really need to not drink water before bed : / . This decision only sharpened Nathan's joy. All and all this had been an amazingly interesting day, and the precursor to an epic week. God help us, lol.

Church Relocation Project - Take 3, Part 2

Wow! What a week! There will be time to describe it in more thorough detail later. ANYWAYS! Where did I leave off? Ah yes, now I remember. Beyond reminding me of my grandfather, what was particularly special about meeting Mark was that it turns out his ministry was also ministering to the Maasai women of Kenya and in the same location no less! Turns out for the past few years while Robbie and his wife were with the older women and men, Mark was serving the younger women just down the same street. Literally the very next turn left and down an obscure dirt road. Crazy! You'd think after spending so many hours in the air, and traveling thousands of miles away from home I would come to the realization that the world is just SO BIG, when in actuality I am constantly thinking, "Wow Lord, what a small world." Well after enjoying lunch with Mark and a few others from the Christian Missionary Association we parted ways and decided to check on the church and take care of a few minor things--only to find 4 full grown female chickens we SOMEHOW missed/forgot/didn't notice... First thing was first, we had to catch them as well, bind their feet, disassemble the chicken coop--completely this time--and then faced the newly discovered, horrifying realization that our once relaxed and calm day now had an hour plus trip to Maasai land factored into it, AGAIN, lol. So we sucked it up, put the chickens in a big bucket this time (to avoid the wonderful plethora of poop) and went our way. An hour or so later we arrived at the Shamba in Maasai land and left the chickens with Christopher (the hired groundskeeper/guard aka Shamba Boy). All around, yet another busy day to add to our calendar. : )