We slept in really late today because we were up so late picking me
up from the airport. We live in the "posh" part of town and when I
walked in, I saw 12-15 cockroaches. Some of them were about 2 inches
long. It was very disgusting. Honestly, since that moment, I've hardly
even seen another cockroach. I think they were there to welcome me to
Kenya. I felt very welcomed... ;)
I took a shower when I woke up. Let me set this up a
little bit... In Kenya, you prepay for your electricity. We are
staying with this really nice member of the ward and she only paid for
about 1 day of electricity before she left. The boys, used up quite a
bit of the electricity watching movies until 2:30 so they could come
pick me up. Anyway... I get in the shower, wash my body, wash my
clothes and I'm just about to wash my hair and the water goes ice-cold.
The electricity had run out. We spent the rest of the morning without
electricity-which is fine if you're expecting that, but we weren't.
Anyway, I had a nice, "refreshing" shower this morning. :) It was
great.
After I got ready, I read scriptures out on the
balcony of our flat. I watched about 14 Kenyan men who were working
construction (I use the word working very loosely) just sitting in the
shade the whole time I was outside. Most of the buildings around us are
under construction. Also, they build almost everything out of bricks.
They make their cement and hand place the bricks. The measurements are
only approximate so everything is a little bit crooked. While I sat
out there, I could hear a man somewhere in the distance singing a really
beautiful melody. I wish I could have written it down. I wish I could
have seen who was singing it and ask him about the song. Hopefully, I
will be able to record some really great songs out in the bush.
When we were all ready, we left the flat to eat
lunch. We went to this tiny, one-room restaurant. Nathaniel ordered
the pilaou for all of us. It's goat meat with rice, veggies, and a
small soup on the side. It was ok. the veggies were great, but
apparently you need to be careful eating them. The other four men in
the room were watching a Kenyan soap opera with terrible music.
Terrible music. Anyway, that happened.
We left there and got some sugar cane. I LOVE
sugarcane! Yum! It is the nectar of the gods. Wow. :) Very
refreshing if you get a good one. We chewed the cane while we walked
about 30-40 minutes to get to the orphanage.
There were only four girls at the orphanage when we
first arrived. They were finishing up their homework. They are so
cute!! They alternated between being shy and being very outgoing. It
was so fun. We asked them if they wanted to read with us and they did.
When we asked them to choose a book, one girl chose two books - The
Book of Mormon, and another book (that I don't remember). The girl Jake
was going to read with, chose the hymnbook. They sat down and started
singing. I quickly joined them. All she wanted to do was sing the
hymns. They LOVE the hymns! We sang for about 45 minutes. I learned
later that the owner is LDS. When she started the orphanage, the
children asked her what church she went to and they decided to go to
that church as well. They have scriptures and a devotional every night
with prayers, reading from The Book of Mormon and singing hymns. 3 of
the kids were baptized last week.
After we sang with the children, we started playing
volleyball with their flat soccer ball. We went outside and played in
the weeds and then I taught them a singing game I teach my students back
home. We played that for a little while and then the kids wanted to
play hide n' seek. Every time I hid, I had about four little orphans
vying for my hands. I held their sweet little hands! It was so fun! I
taught them how to play sardines after that, but one little girl that
was supposed to hide didn't quite understand she was supposed to stay
put. :) She hid everywhere so no one could find her. I taught them
another song game I teach my kids. It's actually an African rock game
so we played it with the rocks. They learned it MUCH faster than my
students back at home. It was SO fun! They taught me a rock game after
that. I have some of that stuff on tape and I'll show you that when we
get home.
One of the girls ran to us while we were hiding and
said the missionaries wanted to say hello so we went back inside. The
missionaries were there to teach the discussions to the three kid that
got baptized last week. We sat and listened to the discussion with the
kids and the spirit was strong. These kids are happy. They are taken
care of and they are loved so much. I can sense that they feel loved.
Honestly, they are much happier than most of my students in the US.
What these kids lack in materials, US kids lack in time, and love. It's
an interesting perspective.
After the discussion was over, it was time for
devotional. The kids led the whole thing. When the girl came up to
lead the hymn, she sang the whole first line as an example and then
everyone else joined in. They also singing different versions of the
hymns where just a phrase is a tiny bit different with the notes. Some
of the changes are better than what's written in the hymn book. They
are learning the hymns aurally though so it's understandable that there
are variations. It's incredible beautiful and humbling to watch an
orphanage sing the hymns of Zion with so much love and enthusiasm. They
really love the hymns.
They performed a welcome dance for me that I
absolutely loved!! I want to learn it and teach it to my students back
home. Oh my goodness! It was So cool!!! I have a video of that as
well. They danced for us and then brought us up to dance with them. It
was so fun!
The missionaries walked us home after that and we
had a cool discussion with them about the work in Kenya. We might do
some work with the Elders tomorrow morning. We shall see. If we don't,
we will be at the orphanage all day with the kids again. I asked them
to help me learn their songs and they were excited. Hopefully, I'll get
some really good stuff recorded tomorrow.
Well, I love you all!!!! This is an amazing time and I'm learning a lot. :) I'm also slowly learning Swahili... ha.
