JAMBO!

Well Hello...
Greetings from Africa!! I see that my dad discovered how to post to let you all know that I did make it here safely! Not only safely, but i actually enjoyed my two days that it took to get here! I actually did go out into London, and had a great time! I found a park, journaled, read, ate lunch, etc. It took me a little while to figure out the underground, but i did it! it was great, just like a LONG one-on-one date with the Lord! I don't know that I'll eve have another opprtunity to do that. But He really carried me the whole way.

Now...Africa! Since I arrived on a Friday, and fridays are our day off, I wasn't able to write you until now. I will try to just give you a brief overview of what it is like here!

First of all, the people are WONDERFUL! The children in the children's home are simply angelic. They have completely stolen my heart! I have never seen children like this. I've worked with children a lot at home, but what a difference it is! These kids have the biggest smiles and the biggest hearts that I have ever seen. They just looove to love you! And they are SO easy to love! On example is the other day we were singing the song "He's got the whole world in his hands", and you know how in america, the verses are "he's got the itty bitty baby...you and me sister, you and me brother", etc. Well here the verses were "He's got the people of Sudan, the people of Kenya, the people of KipKaren (the other village ELI works with), and the people of America." wow! They are just wonderful children that I am loving working with!! God blesses me through them everyday. Learning names is a big challenge. But i was very determined this week to make a concsious effort to learn as many as I could. I almost have all of the girls on my side down (24 of them), but the boys will maybe be my goal this next week. And i doubt that I'll ever get all of the other side memorized, because I don't spend much time over there. There are two "sides" to the childrens home- east and west. I am on east side with Christy, and Jared is on west. We can switch if we want to, but that is just the side we are supposed to focus more on and spend more time with kind of. So there are 50 kids and 2 sets of parents on each side.

The food is not bad...it is just the same eeeevery day. It is some sort of stew on top of rice for lunch, and then cabbage on ugali (a thick poridge-like thing) for supper. I am reaaaally missing variety of food! I am craving fruit and juice and milk! It's hard to get a balanced diet here, so I'm trying to stock up on some food here in town to take back and keep in my room to hold me over. But again, the food tastes fine, it's just always the same. :) And I can't believe how much these kids eat! They have never ending appetites, but then i remembered, they never snack during the day or anything. What they get at meals is all they get!

Bugs are not a huge problem, but get this- lizards are! We still sleep under mosquito nets, but i haven't had much of a problem with mosquitos. However, I'm not a fan of the lizards! I still jump everytime I see one.

I am staying in a little hut with the other girl intern...her name is Christy and she is from New York. It's fun to have our own little hut! She has been very helpful because she has already been here for 4 weeks, so she is helping me with who's who and how things work. Christy, Jared (from Kansas, but goes to APU), and I spend hours a day working on something called the paper project. ELI had a program set up to help recovered alcoholics. Many of them got their money from brewing alcohol, so ELI helped them recover from that, and then gave them work with making paper. However, it got a little out of control, and there is now TONS of paper and nothing to do with it! So we spend a lot of time sorting through it, folding it, packaging it, and getting ready to sell it...we don't know where yet. I will bring some of it home if anybody wants some:) It's really great stationary!

The language is a bit of a barrier. The adults all speak pretty good english, so that is great. However, ths children are still learning. Esepcially the younger ones really can't speak at all. It gets hard and sometimes discouraging, but i can still play with them and hug them as much as I want:). I am learning some swahili...kind of picking up on it more than I thought I would. But it's coming to me slowly. "Habari" (hello/how are you) is the most common greeting, to which you are to answer "mzuri". ( good) At the beginning of the week, I was asked "Habari" and I answered "Mzungu"...which means white person:). They got a kick out of it. But they never make you feel stupid. They love to teach you!!

I have decided the theme of this trip is : complete dependency! Every single day, I have to beg for strength to do this. I am away from ANYTHING that I can depend on normally. No family, no friends, nothing I'm familiar with. The Lord is expanding my heart and teaching me that he is ALL I need. I'm used to living with Him + ...those few other things that I think I "really need". But i have had that stripped from me for a month, and what a stretch this is. But is is great! God is sufficient and this is how I should have been living long ago. I am learning to daily lay down my life and give all of myself to the Lord and to these people. It is difficult at times. Sometimes I feel lonely, sometimes even purposeless. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really going to affect these kids, but then it comes back to: I, Rachel Grove, am totally incapable of anything. It is only in the Lord that I find any strength or purpose!

I appreciate your prayers so much. I think of you all every day and know that without you lifting me up, i would be falling so much! THANK YOU all. I love each of you and can't wait to tell you again. And i loove hearing from you. Becuase my time on the computer is limited, I may not be able to write you back, but know that I really do appreciate your emails!!

Until next week,
Rachel Chepkoech (that's the second name they gave me...everyone here has two names)