The adventures ever end

Wow!! Today was quite the African adventure. Today we went to go and see hot springs. It was amazing. Even before we got there. Nakuru is really green and stays at a very comfortable temperature. Where the springs are is almost like the dessert. It was close to a hundred degrees. The hottest i have been so far. On the way we almost ran into a ostrich. We quickly pulled over and ran after it so we could get a good picture. We also stopped by the Equator, took a few picture and jumped in the car before we were bombard by people trying to sell us all the stuff they had. Than after close to a two hour drive, we made it. It was a very beautiful drive. Pictures just can't captor the true beauty.
We had to pay to get in. It was almost like a safari. There was a big salt water lake, filled with flamingos. The van George has is really nice, the top comes up, so we could stand up. We took loads of pictures of all the wild life. The springs were gorgeous and very hot. They were not joking when they said hot springs. There is steam coming off of them and there were people standing in the steam. I eventually joined them. It was really neat feeling. First you would get really hot from the steam, than it will blow away from you than you would cool off. After we took pictures of the spring and stood in the steam we ate lunch. We were all really hungry. Man, the flies were all over everything it was crazy. Then we headed back home.
The adventure does not end here. When we were about thirty minutes down the road, the van broke down. It was not the best time to break down, but things always tend to happen at the worst time. We were in the bush, it was close to a hundred degrees, we had drank all our water and George did not have any tools. So George had to leave us and hitchhike to the nearest town to get a mechanic. It took him about forty five minutes to get the mechanic and come back. What was wrong with the van there was a little tiny speck in the carburetor, that blocked it enough to make the van not run. The mechanic for got his screwdriver, so he used our butter knife from lunch. To get the speck out they got a thorn from a tree. All the trees around where we were have thorns. Believe it or not they fixed the van with a butter knife and a thorn. They did use other tools to get to the carburetor, that is why George did not just do it himself. George is a mechanic. Finally after two hours in the bush, in a hundred degrees, with no water, we got on the road again. The drive home was even more beautiful. The sun was starting to set and the temperature got cooler the close we got to Nakuru. Here are all the pictures that I took.

The big bird that was in the middle of the road.

Some of the scenery on the way.

Here we are.

The most wonderful people in the world

Hot Springs

The little speck

Our empty water bottles.

The mechanics

The opposite of yesterday

Today was the opposite of yesterday. I had a lot of fun. First we had a youth meeting. Abba and I showed them the Ingathering. That made me miss you all. I'm not sure what they thought about it they did not say anything the whole time. It is hard to read them.
After I played a few games of chess with Lloyd. We went and played soccer it was fun. My team at first was not a good team. They all left me at one point in the game to get a drink and left me there with one little boy. Before they left we had the only point, but when they left the other team made five points. I about killed myself running around like that. I did not go with them to get a drink because I can not drink that water. Only bottled water and I forgot to bring some. I had Simon go buy me some water. I had no clue where I would get some.

Then George drove up with Abba and Amma. Then I say Simon and Lloyd getting in the van and they drove off. I could not believe they left me. We did have young people from the church, but we had a lot of other kids. It is a good thing they came we would not have enough people without them. When Simon and Lloyd left we waited for a while. I did not know if they were even coming back they did not say anything to me. At this point we were all tired, so no one was playing any more. Vivian and I were kicking a ball around for a while then a few of us decided to go walk down where you go to take a safari. It was about a mile away from the field we were playng in. It is really beautiful and there was monkeys running around everywhere. I could see zebra and gazel off in the distance. On the way back we say the rest of the kids walking towards us. They got chased off the field by some guy. The field we played in is a school field. Simon and Lloyd asked if we could play on the field and they were fine with it. I guess that guy was not there. Then we walked back to George's house and met Simon and Lloyd on the way. They told me they left to help get the rice and beans.

Every month they buy rice and beans funded by the village. So we divided the 80 pound bags into something like one hundered fifty smaller bags. It took a while, but we had fun being together. There was five of us. They were trying to teach me some swahili. We had a good time. we laughed a lot. I am starting to be good friends with them. It is sad that I only have a month left, but at the same time I miss all of you. That is all for now.

rainy day

Today has been a rainy day. :( We were going to go to a water fall today, but decided not to. I guess it is a good thing because it have been raining all day. I have done everything I could keep myself occupied. I have just accepted the feeling of being bored.

I had nothing better to do, so I took a picture of the wonderful scenery i have out my window.











One of the things I did was take a picture of my multi-purpose bedroom. At night I have the whole room to myself. In the day it is were Beitris (the maid) sleeps on the bed with baby Mechelle. The bed is also used as the changing table. Now the room is used to keep all of Beitris, Mechelle and my stuff and very thing else that we can fit. It is not really as bad as it may sound. All those things are true about the room, but I'm very grateful for where I am staying. It is like a mansion compared to how everyone else lives here in Kenya. You have to take the bitter with the sweet. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm not in America anymore.
Tomorrow is going to be fun. I have been planning a soccer game with all the young people here with Simon and Lloyd. It has been quit a process. I can't wait, hopefully it will rain tomorrow and make everything a bigger adventure. Other than not doing anything today things have been going really well. Abba teaching have been really encouraging me. I hope he does them at home so that you all can benefit from them also. I miss you all.

Today I grilled the pork chops. I was in a little back ally. I smoked up the whole house. The coal got a little out of hand at first. I thought I was going to make char coal out of the pork chops. The flames went pretty high for such a little thing. I figured it out and the pork chops ended up perfect. They tasted great, like they were cooked over a fire. It reminded of camping at home. I looked up and say all the stars and the moon. I started to get homesick, but the pork chops kept me on my toes. It was a lot of fun.

still have mice in my room

Last night I had a mouse in my bed!! I got up to turn on my fan and when I pulled up my mosquito net there it was. I was horrified. I do not know how long it was in there. How the mouse got in my bed was it climbed up my mosquito net. I think it was trying to get the peanuts I had on my night stand. I have not seen a mouse in a week, so i thought they were gone. I found mouse traps at Wool Matt finally, but I did not think I was going to need it so I never bought it. I will try to remember to buy one next we go to Wool Matt.
Today we did a budget. it is really nice to have a guide line on how much to spend a week. I already had a budget I had for myself so that i could space out my money, but I could never tell how much I was going to spend on food. Because I never know when i would pay for groceries or for when we went out to eat. Abba and I would take turns paying for groceries. We were eating out way to much, so now that we have a budget of money for food in a week it will really help with our spending. We are only going to try to go out once a week now. Everything is doing really well. I feel really good at least physically and spiritually. I have never felt this close to God before in my life. It feels like something has woken up inside. Abba's teaching are really encouraging. I'm really enjoying seeing how a church is built. This whole experience have been so incredible. I really hope that God will let me come back here and let me go to other countries to help build the church. It is amazing work. Hard work, but there is nothing more worth it.
I was feeling really discouraged and depressed last week. I have been able to spend sometime with Abba just me and him, it has not been very much, but it has helped me. We did not talk about much, but just being with Abba helps me. Because he really loves God and it radiates off him. I feel like the luckiest boy in the world for getting this opportunity to come to Africa. I am very grateful. Thank you all for your prayers. I miss you all very much. Thank you for doing what you do great or small to keep the village going. It is a place I am honored to call home.

Monday

Well, I do not have much to really talk about. There are not as many new things now. It almost feels like I have been here all my life. It is really weird.
One thing that happened today that stuck out to me, was I always joke with George that he is my roll model. He always asks me to serve him at dinner or get him a drink of water when he is watching TV. So I pull the roll model deal. We always get into argument on who served who last. Today Amma said that we sound like brothers. I thought that was pretty neat, because I have never had a older sibling. I'm the oldest in my family. I do not know what it would be like to have a older brother. Anyway, he is I think fifteen years older than me, that would be a really old brother. I like George he is a really good friend and we get along really well. There is time when things he does starts to get under my skin, but I don't let that get in the way. Well, that is a little something for today.

Cleaning the tent

Wow!! Today was not boring. Well, I did wait all morning for Simon and Lloyd, so we could clean the tent. They decided not to and did not tell me. They said 7:30 they were going to come and I was ready, but they never showed up. It was for the better in the end. After our usual youth meeting with Abba on Saturday. We all came to George's house. Well, Simon and Lloyd disappeared right as we got there and left me with all the girl. Amma was not feeling well and she asked me to make her some popcorn. I have never made popcorn before. Amma told me how and She also said that I should make some for all the girls. So I thought I would practice on them first before I made Amma popcorn. I went to the kichen and got a pot. When I looked up all the girl were looking in the kichen at me with faces that obviously said what is he doing. I laugh to myself. So i made the first batch it was easy and it turned out fine. I was very suprized I did not burn it. You should of seen the girls faces when I brought the bowl in. I must say it did sit there for a while. I guess they were waiting to see who was the bravest, but before I was done with Amma's batch they brought in the empty bowl. Finally Simon and Lloyd showed back up and we started to clean the tent. It was a lot of fun. We had a big water fight. They all went after me at first than I showed them. It ended up being everyone against everyone. I would of taken pictures, but unfortunately I was to wet to hold anything electronic. After hours of soaking each other we finally cleaned the tent. I did not think we were ever going to get done. They were all freezing cold, it was around 70 degrees outside. We all at this time were hungry, so we ate anything we could find within reason. Simon heated up some water and everyone started making tea. There was mustard on the table and they had never had it before. I almost got a few of the girls to put it in their tea, but I could not keep a straight face. We had a lot of fun.