At Taste of our New Home

It is the beginning of our third week at KIST here in Kenya. Becca and I are doing well emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. Each day has been a blessing of knew information and experiences. I am writing this as Becca is preparing to teach her first lesson of this week. One week of teaching has passed and both her and I are settling into our teaching rolls here at KIST. So far they have been great. The classes are small which has been a great blessing in comparison to teaching back in the states. Our students are equally great; thriving to learn and equally thriving to teach us more African culture. Relationship building is possibly one of the greatest attributes to African culture, each and every day we are greeted with open arms and love. In addition to classes starting last week, discipleship groups started as well. A group of students (7-10) are grouped together with mentors (faculty and staff) to discuss varying topics about theology, the Bible, culture and any amounts of life’s issues and or blessing. We meat every Wednesday, and although we have only had one meeting both Becca and I have come away fulfilled and enriched in the small communities that our two discipleship groups have formed. I look forward to this time, in which we can really dig deep in relationship with our groups and discuss the Lord and share our hearts with one another. These are the new developments in the ministry, academic and professional portions of our internship here at KIST.

Now on a much less serious note, let me update you on the various nuances of life and daily activity for Becca and I here in Kenya. Firstly, I shall note that I am winning the war against the evil empire know as the cockroach invaders. The nasty little buggies (side note freaked Becca out finding one in the shower, although dead…lol) invade our home here in Kenya on a regular basis. My first military campaign against the invaders saw a smashing victory with the death toll of seven roaches in two days from the help of a large size 13 sandal. This is an old stand by tactic that I learned in previous skirmished against these evil foes back in the states. We recently have employed chemical warfare tactics introducing a roach paste in the evenings seeing dramatic results. As of now we are only finding dead roaches in the house. Becca as a result has become much happier at night, no longer worried to find any of the enemy in our bed. I am glad to announce the war has tipped in our favor and I see victory in sight soon.

Oh to a much more important topic, experiencing Gods amazing beauty. To all of you; if you ever have the chance to come to Kenya, do so. Seeing God’s beauty in nature here is breath taking each and every day. Upon our first day driving through the packed capital of Nairobi in the distance we witnessed Giraffes a half mile from the highway. It is wondrous to know there is a national park in the heart of the city of over a million filled with all manner of wildlife found in the Lion King movie. This is only for starters however, the plant life and animal life throughout everywhere we have been thus far is phenomenal. God is a true master painter when he painted the landscape and created the animals of Africa. I cannot give justice to this place and only hope that we get decent pictures to share with all upon our return.

More news! My birthday is coming close on January 21, 2012. As a result Becca and I had our first experience in the local curio market (market in which locals sell handcrafted African goods…more bombart you with deals and offers until you finally give in and buy something) because she insists that she must celebrate my birthday despite my never ending attempts to point out that the 21^st of January is just another ordinary day. The curio market thus is the site in which she decided to purchase a birthday present. Once again I am very apprehensive about this because I do not want to celebrate my birthday, however I am now struggling to do so since she purchased me an African Tribal Spear and I must admit its pretty much bomb.com. Yes fokes, I said bomb.com. I am a product of the 90’s so I am entitled to a 90’s flashback or two even in my blogs. To all of you mockers out there, God loves me just the same if my lingo is not hip and up to date all of the time. Anyways this spear is amazing, but sadly is wrapped up and won’t actually get to be enjoyed until our return back to the states. I dare say I love it, however Becca will read this and take it as a sign that I do in fact want to celebrate my birthday. “Oh and dear, no I do not, but thank you so much for the gift, the spear is awesome.” Anyways the curio market is crazy. Rows of Dukas (not sure on the spelling, which are little covered areas full of handcrafted amazing stuff) lined through a small little area that maze around to the point that I am not actually sure one begins and the next ends. I am only certain however that they were designed this way so that the sales person can corner you and offer you different deals until you cave. However, caving brings zero relief because before you can finish the okay or yes they are already trying to convince you to purchase something else. All in all, it’s quite an exhausting experience but a great place to save money on beautifully ornate handcrafted stuff. Stuff is the best term for description because there are thousands of soapstone carving, woodcarvings, beautiful fabrics, handcrafted baskets, bowls etc, etc, and etc.

I must quit typing now because I fear I have written too much and have lost many of you already due to the shear length of this blog. Sorry that I have only gone into little detail about the ministry that we have been apart of so far here at KIST, but as the days continue and we encounter more I pray that I will finally be able to do justice to what our experiences here are like. Know that God has blessed us with our internship here and that he is doing amazing things here in Kenya. To all that are reading this, Becca and I miss you and love you. Thank you all for your prayers and financial support you have been a true blessing in our lives.

Signing of,

Your Brother in Christ near the Jungles of Africa,

Ryan