Tourist time and Language Lessons

In my last update I mentioned that we were going to go to the elephant orphan sanctuary and to see and feed giraffes…it was an amazing experience! I’ll let the pictures tell the story! It was so surreal to pet elephants as young as 6 months old and to watch them eat and drink! Then we were able to see a rhino! It was so much bigger than I thought and I think it needed a bigger space to walk around.

this little guy was about 6 months old

We were able to get right up to the rope and pet them!

This elephant looks so content.

Then the 8 of us piled back into our van to head to see the giraffes! I had seen pictures of friends visiting before but it’s hard to express just how big, beautiful, and soft giraffes are! Every person gets two handfuls of pellets to feed the giraffes and I was the first out of our group to let it kiss me…definitely an experience…and for your information…giraffe’s have very hairy tongues!

 Sunday I was so blessed to be able to go to Nairobi Chapel and to the Maasai market (which was an awesome crash course in bargaining and in tactfully saying no) with Joelle and her two friends. It was another unreal experience and one of the many ways it’s hit me that I’m actually HERE…12 year old self…it happened! In light of that, I’ve continued to be convicted that this time is so short, I have around 50 days left. I don’t want to waste them worrying about the next stage of my time here or about what life back home will look like. Daily, through prayer and reading in 2 Samuel and Proverbs, I’m being called, encouraged, and equipped to live in the moment; in my friendships here and in the daily tasks before me…like Jim Elliot articulates, “wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be from God” (Shadow of the Almighty).  Last night I was able to spend some time with people from SIM and AIM playing volleyball and having a worship time. It was another amazing way of seeing how diverse the body of Christ is, yet how united we are in Him!

Another big thing this week has been my 3 hour a day language classes. Before starting I was pretty nervous…I wasn’t sure how my hearing loss would affect this short stint in learning conversational kikuyu, a tribal language of Kenya. Gracias a Jesus! My Spanish background has proved to be essential in my comprehension of kikuyu since the verb conjugations are very similar in rule and in look; (drop the first letter add 2 or 3 different ones for tenses, etc). It’s neat to see how God truly does use everything for our good and his glory. Admittedly, I’ve had to “turn the Spanish switch off” since my default is to want to answer my teacher in Spanish. But she has told me I’m a fast learner and that is so encouraging! For our last lesson today we spent a good portion of the time just talking about life and it was so encouraging to hear her say that she believed God was going to use me to encourage people with disabilities! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!

Tomorrow we head out to our placement for 5ish weeks, with a break this coming weekend for a safari!  I hope to update once a week while there but internet will be limited.

Please continue to pray for health (for myself and the others who are adjusting to new foods/climates/altitudes) and for language comprehension and retention….I tend to understand it but remembering it….haha. se me fue el avion. J

Thii na wega

(may goodness go with you)