Thank you all for your continued prayers and financial
support.
Well faithful blog readers, I just want to apologize for
taking nearly two weeks to post this blog but life in Kenya has become much
more busy with classes in full stride, Becca and I creating and teaching
professional developments, creating curriculum for a future course offered here
at KIST, internship homework, homework for our TESOL in Ministry course and
discipleship groups. My goal is to in the future post weekly, but I may fall
short a few weeks.
Firstly, teaching is going great for both Becca and I. The
fourth week of classes just ended and our students are doing well. No major
crises thus far and I look forward to seeing future progress in learning. To
all of you teachers our there, you know how wonderful it is to see your
students learn and succeed in your classrooms. Teaching has been slightly
difficult due to the available resources, but that has not stopped learning at
all. Please pray for continued guidance in teaching as well as students who are
still ready to learn as the term continues on.
This past Wednesday Becca and I created and taught our first
ever faculty professional development. I will be honest and say that both Becca
and I were nervous as anyone usually is when they teach their colleagues in
front of the entire administration. From what I have been told, it went well
with lots of positive feed back about what we taught and how we did. I guess if
you get compliments from the Principle and Academic Dean you did something right.
We have three more that we are leading while we are here so pray for continued
success.
The Principal and Academic Dean asked Becca and I to create
an entire curriculum for an introduction course to college. This was a
requirement passed down from Global University (the US university that KIST is
associated with), which was passed on to us since we have the most experience
in creating lessons and curriculum. This will be a large amount of work in
addition to all of our other responsibilities here at KIST. We feel honored to
have such responsibilities while here and know we can accomplish it all but we
do ask for your prayers in accomplishing this and our other duties in our last
two months here.
Now for some home life, general life and really anything else
that does not fall into the category of work and or ministry…
Where to start? In addition to teaching and being here at
KIST, Kenya is amazing; the people are so nice, the landscape is beautiful and
the weather stays between 75 to 85 most of the time.
Well I better report that we had a successful campaign
against all things that are cockroach. I have not laid eyes upon a living or
preferred dead roach in about a week. The poison did its job admirably and upon
any future invasions of my home by the pesky menaces I will quickly deploy the
poison once again…mwahahaha (sinister laugh). However, we do have other
creatures living in our home such as the colony of ants that live in our walls.
Why don’t we kill them you ask? Well we cause DOOM upon them once or twice a
week (DOOM is the insect killer that is common to Kenya), however, after a few
days they return and we watch them scurry up and down our walls once again. I
don’t know what your definition of doom is, but doom to me means death!
Destruction! Eradication! Ant mass murder! Extreme happiness of humans, oh and
did I mention death!!!!! Not, hey a few ants die; they are gone for a few days
and then its back to same old, same old. Oh well, ants are ants and they are
not that harmful, just pesky. Although on a side note about the ants, we do
have two lizards living in the house as well affectionately know as Baby lizard
(cuz yeah, he is a baby) and Norman. We find both in random places in the house,
but it is always entertaining to see Norman launch out his tongue and eat one
of the ants.
Anyways enough about bugs and lizards, well probably for now
anyways (I have a few wood burrowing bee stories as well as spider stories). On
a more serious note, if you are currently experiencing rain and would prefer
sunshine please ask the Lord to switch weather with us. Kenya needs rain for
cops and house water supply. It is the dry season here in Kenya and each day
past without rain our water tanks cry just a little more about how empty they
are (side note, for sake of smell, pray that we get rain soon so we don’t have
to start skipping showers and reducing toilet flushing. We are not close to
this point yet, but the dry season does not end until March and I fear it might
be a smelly February).
About 30-45 minutes away from KIST there is a restaurant and
resort called Kaboko Bay. We were taken to the restaurant for dinner twice and
its pretty much super beautiful there. The restaurant sits on the bay of Lake
Victoria (second largest lake in the world) and the landscape is just
spectacular. Seating is outdoors, which gives you the picture of eating your
dinner under perfect blue skies, palm trees and flowers everywhere and the lake
off in the distance. There is only one tricky part to this restaurant. Kaboko
in Swahili means hippo, so it is called Hippo Bay. This is on account to the
hippos that roam around the bay and resort, or at least so I’m told. Hippo Bay
has been hippoless which is sad because Becca and I really want to post
pictures of the wildlife and the hippos have been a no-show.
At long last I must stop being distracted from my TESOL in
Ministry homework and stop writing. It probably doesn’t come soon enough; I
hope I didn’t put anyone to sleep at this point. Once again thank you all for
all that you have done for us.
In poor attempts of making fun of Ryan Seacrest,
Hodges out
Ryan, I so enjoy reading everything you post, but especially the part about the bugs and Norman. I really was overwhelmed by the phone call I received today from you and Becca. Thank you so very much for taking time to call me.
ReplyDeleteI love you both very much.
Love Mom