Reagan Michelle

I'm not sure how many people will still be checking this, but I plan on using it to keep others updated on my life and prayers, and such.

It's been a great couple weeks being at home. I've been to lots of baseball, the beach, Heidi's wedding, celebrated my 21st, experienced a sprinkler going off in a hotel room, and had lots of quality down time at home with my family. As you know, my cousin and his wife welcomed Miss Reagan Michelle on June 28. Since then, she's spent about 5 hours total at home, and quickly returned back to the hospital where she has spent the past 3 weeks. God willing, she will be able to go home next week, but she will have a feeding tube for the food she's not able to take through the bottle still. There have been really good times, and also a few really scary times. It's been really awesome to see my family's constant dependence upon the Lord throughout this very trying time in their lives. My cousin and his wife have been staying at the hospital and are in charge of the normal caretaking as if they were at home, but she's still connected to many tubes and such. So they sleep there, and take care of her while older brother, Blake stays with Grandma and Grandpa most of the time. He's been handling it all very well and loves his baby sister very much. She's going to have a procedure for the stomach tube on Friday, and if that procedure goes well, then hopefully she will be able to go home next week. Please pray that it would go well and that they would all be able to return home.

She went through a bout of fluid in her lungs, but has seemed to have gotten over that; although it was quite the scare at first. She's back up to her birth weight, but still has a rough time with eating.

Here is a picture of Tammy holding Reagan and Blake looking on. He really loves little Reagan, and cannot wait for her to come home again!



She's so precious, and I can only have faith that God will send her home soon. Please join with the family and me to help her be healed!

Last Full Day in Kenya!

I definitely can't believe it, but I'm also definitely ready to come home. I got to talk to my mom last night, and it was great to say that I would see you in 2 days! We've had some crazy adventures this week, and it's been a great way to close out our time here. Last night (Friday) we had the opportunity to go to Nick's Aunt's (kinda) house to enjoy a home-cooked Kenyan meal. Her name is Aunt Jedi, not pronounced JEDI like in star wars, but we had a fun time saying it like that. She's possibly the craziest person I have EVER met. She has lived so many different places in the world, so she has a very unique accent. It's Irish, Kenyan, Southern (like american Southern) and English. But the Irish was the most dominant because she's married to an Irish man.

That was definitely the most exciting thing that happened. Tonight, we are having a farewell party with the students, so it will pretty much be our last time to hang out with the majority of them! I'm excited for it! It should be a fun time. It's just so exciting that I'm going to be home!

Some other news that I wanted to share with everyone is some stuff that's going on at home with my family. Last Sunday, June 28, my cousin Phil and his wife Tammy had a beautiful baby girl..Reagan Michelle Janeski. She was born about 3 weeks early, but seemed to be health weighing in at 6 lbs 1 oz, and only 18.5 inches long. She was doing well and was able to go home on Sunday. But that night, she wasn't feeding well and began screaming inconsolably. When she finally stopped, she was wimpering, so they were very concerned. They called their on call nurse, and they told them to take her to the children's hospital in Charlotte. She seemed to be very cold, so they had the heat on the entire way to the hospital. When they got there, her temperature was only 93. The doctors told them that they would do what they could, but it really didn't seem promising. They discovered that she has a heart issue called Coarctation of the Aorta. Basically, her aorta is narrowed, and wasn't able to pump enough blood to her extremities. They had to stabilize her before anything could be done, and they thought they would be doing a surgery on Friday to repair it. She stabilized earlier, and actually had the surgery on Wednesday. They said that the surgery went well but there's still a long road ahead of her. She's no longer on a ventilator, but is still requiring a small amount of oxygen.

My mom told me that if they had not gotten her to the hospital when they did, she probably would have died. It's scary how much she's gone through when she's only 6 days old. They're doing more tests to see if there are any other issues that she was born with. Those tests will take about a week to come back. She's been more alert, occasionally opening her eyes and moving a small amount. She is their second baby, and is absolutely precious. I'm hopeful that she will be ok, but right now the family needs your prayers. I know they will appreciate it all, and I will do my best to keep you in the loop, even when I get home!

She's so precious, and looks just like her older brother, Blake! Please pray for the family, I know they appreciate it! Love you all! Be home in 2 daysss!!!!

T-Minus 7 Days

I can't believe that it has come down to our last week. I'm very excited to come home, but am going to miss the students and staff here sooo much. This weekend we had our training program. We had spent a lot of time coming up with a schedule and preparing workshops for the students to ensure that they really learn a lot and were able to experience the Presence of God while they were there this weekend. Our theme verse was Colossians 2: 6-7 - So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. It was really encouraging to see how much the students were excited about the weekend - not only the fun parts, but also growing in their faith.

One major thing that we had to get used to was that the schedule was used only as a rough estimate for the weekend. But - we're pretty much used to it by now! Sacha, Greg and I did a workshop on witnessing and fellowship. At times it seemed like the students were paying much attention, but I think they can multi-task a bit better than we can; they absorbed a lot and were able to remember a lot also. We had really fun times when we played soccer, frisbee, volleyball, and just played with the guitars and such! We also had a massive bonfire in which we made s'mores for the students, and they LOVED them! It really was a great weekend. A highlight for me was when we were sharing our highlights in our small groups. The girls were one group, and we were all sharing with eachother. We had all gone around once and shared what we had learned, when I really felt like I needed to share the progress that I had seen in the students as a whole. Of course, I got choked up and started to cry. That was one of the first times I had really realized how much I have come to love these students. I've loved being part of their lives and helping them in their walks with the Lord. I can only pray that they continue to be rooted in Christ, and develop their ministry as a whole. I'm going to miss all of them so much, but I know that I will always have multiple homes, here in Kenya if I ever want to come back!

We've got a busy week planned, and I know it's going to fly by. Pray that we can spend as much time with the students as possible, and love them as best as we can while we're here the rest of the time! Also, begin praying for safe travels; we'll be coming back without Chris and Greg, so pray that everything runs smoothly for Nick, Brett, Sacha and I! I miss you all, and am very excited to see everyone so soon!! love, Hiliary

Highlights

I can hardly believe that, as I write this, I only have 10 days left. It's a complete shock to me, even still. So much has happened, in the past week and even things that I have forgotten about in my last post. I'll try to update with as many details as possible.

about 2 weeks ago, we had the opportunity to go to the Kibera Slums. It is the biggest slum in Kenya, holding about 1.5 million people. We first went to a school for young children - 2-7(ish) years. We took some soccer balls as well as cookies with us to give to them! They loved all of it. Then we just played with them for about 2 hours. It was so much fun, yet heartbreaking to see the children. We made such an impact on their day, and really were able to give some joy to them. After this, we went to an orphanage. There are 90 children that live there, and about 250 that go to school there during the day. We didn't spend much time there, but we will be going back next week. I can't even put into words the living conditions there. As we walked through the slums, the children would yell "how are you?" because often that is the only thing they can say in English, and most of the time they don't even know what it means. They just know that's what you say to a mzungu. Then we got to see an overlook where you can see the whole slum, or at least most of it at once. When we went through the gate to get there, there was a swarm of children that ran up to us, and would not let go of us. One little boy grabbed y hand, and wouldn't let go. He melted my heart. At that moment, I considered stealing him and bringing him home. :(
It was a great experience and I'm excited to go back and see all the children next week and take them some more supplies.

Another MAJOR highlight of the last week or so is that we got to visit with a team of students that spent 10 days in Rwanda. They had a very long lay over in Nairobi on their way home, so we got to spend an entire day with them. We rented out a 29 passenger bus that we used for the day! We got to the airport right as they were coming out, so we took of running. It was soooooooo great to see them and catch up with all of them for a while. As we were leaving the airport, we saw some giraffes. Right there, in the city - so crazy! Then we just hung out at the Y for a while before heading into town. We took them to JAVA to get some coffee, then to City Market to experience a Kenyan market. Then finallyyy it was time for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Carnivore. You pay a flat rate for a meal of many crazy kinds of meat. We had ostrich meat balls, lamb chops, beef, chicken, turkey, crocodile, and each had its own accompanying sauce. It was so delicious. They would come around with a slab of meat and use a machete to cut it off right on your plate. It was something I have never experienced before, but such an awesome experience. Sadly, after dinner we had to take them back to the airport. Leaving so late at night and coming back to the city, was like deja vue of our arrival. It was an odd experience.

Early in the week, we were also able to go to two of the students' homes for a meal! We got some home cooked kenyan food, and were able to meet some of their family members. It felt really great to be in a home again, as the Y is not so homey. Butttt, it was lots of fun, and also came with lots of adventure!

This weekend coming up, we have our training program. We will be going away for the weekend with all of the students and staff for a retreat. We will have a key-note speaker that will be speaking three different times throughout the weekend. The program will be called Deepening Roots, and based off of Colossians 2:6-7. It is our desire that the students really experience God this weekend and are able to deepend their relationship with God. As a team, we will be doing 2 different workshops. I will be helping with the one on fellowship and witnessing. They are two different aspects of our walk that are both very important, and we hope to convey to the students why they are important based off Biblical reasoning as well as personal experiences.

We are beginning to be very warn out. We seem to be tired all the time, regardless of the amount of sleep we've been getting. And, as this weekend approaches, we fear that we will continue to be tired. Please pray that we will feel rested, and be able to give our all for our last week and a half here. We want to finish strongly and be able to invest full-heartedly in the students, but it is very difficult when we are so exhausted.

It's going to be a very crazy, and busy week and a half, but I'm so excited for it! And I'm also excited to be home! Thanks again for all of your prayers and updates! miss you lotsss

Harambee Stars 2, Mozambique 1

So there surely has been a lot of exciting events since my last post! But, by far, the best thing was attending the Kenyan National soccer game. Their team name is the Harambee Stars! They had been on a 2 game losing streak, but (due to our attendance, haha) they were able to pull out with the win yesterday! It was so exciting to see the commodore around the game! It seems that everyone in Kenya is a futbol fan! for some reason, they only sold 6,000 tickets for the game yesterday, even though the stadium holds 30,000. So due to this, the stadium was very empty, butthe people that did attend were very into the match. Many fans paint their entire body and have very loud noise makers. Because I'm not a huge soccer fan, I didn't really know what to expect. BUTTT I had a great time none the less! Kenya ended up winning 2-1, in a thrilling match! We were video-taped at one point because we were some of the only mzugus there. They love talking to us, and "welcoming" us to Kenya! The tickets were so cheap; if any tickets were that cheap for professional (or college) games in the US, I would be at every single game. I paid 300 shillings which is equivalent to about $4 US.

As far as the ministry goes, it's going well. I still haven't had the opportunity to meet with my girls because they've either been out of town or too busy with exams, but now they're done! So we'll have much more time with them, and we already have been having more fun with them! Friday night we got to hang out pretty late with a group of the students, and we had so much fun getting "chips" and ice cream. It's going to be a tiring 2 weeks that we have left, but I'm so ready for it!

Maasai Village!

I almost forgot! I mentioned the Maasai Village and the people there, but forgot to go into detail about that. The afternoon on Wednesday, we were able to visit a village. They live completely in the wilderness, and usually raise cattle, sheep or goats for a living. The village we went to had 250 people living in it, with one chief. The men, called Maasai Warriors, dress in red to show their warrior status. The boundaries of the village are multiple branches of trees that have been gathered - the men do this job. The women are in charge of building the homes, which take 2 months to complete. They are built out of sticks and cow "dung". Yes, it's for real. There is one tiny hole in the wall to allow air into the building. There are usually 4 rooms - one for the children (usually 3), bedroom for the parents, a room for the fire and cooking, and a room for the family goat or cow. Room is a loose term; they are all connected and bedroom just means a place to sleep - there aren't actual beds or anything. In the center of the village is the cow ring. This is where the herd of cows stays over night to be protected from any intruders - like lions! They kill one cow for the entire village, everyday! They use the cows for their main means of nutrition - milk, meat, and BLOOD. And no, I'm not kidding. They poke a hole in an artery of the cow, and then drink it, straight from the cow. They say this helps build up their immunity, I say it's gross. Then, they are only allowed to kill any other animal if it has made its way into the village. Sometimes a lion will get into the village, and then they can kill it.

The men and women also have special dances that we were able to participate in. The women's is much less interesting than the mens, and I'm still not sure what we did when we danced with them. The men was cool. They go around in circles singing and chanting then they have a jumping contest. They can jump sooo HIGH! The guys got to jump with them, and they did alright, but the warriors could all jump much higher. The kids there melted my heart. They were so cute, but it was difficult to see them covered in flies. There were so many flies there because everything was made out of cow dung. Some had flies all over their faces, and they wouldn't even care. It was also cute to see them jumping as the men were dancing. It wasn't the most enjoyable experience, but it's definitely something that I'm glad I had the opportunity to see.

Wow --- Safari!

That's the best I could come up with for the Safari. I honestly think it was the coolest thing I have ever done. And - (thanks to the girls) - we had the opportunity to stay at a very nice lodge. I'm not even sure where to begin, honestly.

We set out early Tuesday morning, returned back to Nairobi on Thursday ~ 2:30. The journey included a 5 hour drive to the Maasai Mara, where we set out for 3 different days worth of game hunts. On the way there, we were able to stop at a lookout for the Great Rift Valley. This spans across 5 countries (I think) and it is absolutely breathtaking. Then we continued on our way. The road is a fun place to start. For a period of time, it was smooth (mostly) and then we hit some dirt. It was so crazy how bumpy it was. They also do not feel the need to stay on their side of the road, unless completely necessary, meaning there is oncoming traffic. If there is smoother road on the wrong side, then they will drive there, and wait until the last minute to move back to the correct side of the road. As we traveled, we ventured through many different villages and found the people to be very friendly. We could practically wave to everyone, and we would receive a wave in return. Of course, it was my favorite when the children would wave to us, and get so excited when they would see a white arm flailing out the window. The closer we got to the Mara, the more Maasai people we began to see. They have a very unique lifestyle that is very much...not modernized, to say the least (more on that later). Before we even got to the Mara, we saw some wildlife. I think we saw wildebeest, zebras and some giraffes. This was sooo awesome, I can't even describe - don't worry, I took a lot of pictures! When we finally got to the Mara, we began to see more wildlife. We saw some elephants, and more of the same things we had seen previously. We finally got to the lodge, and had a few hours before we would be setting out for our evening game drive. It was just in time for lunch, so we ate and then perused the area. The meals were all buffet, and we probably ate enough to keep us satisfied for 5 or 6 days. We were in love with the food there. Then, we went to see the hippos. Behind the lodge, was a hippo pond. There were so many! After this, we enjoyed the beautiful pool! We were able to rest and relax while soaking in some rays. The lodge was so nice, it was exactly what we needed. Sacha and I got to share a king size bed that had a canopy style mosquito net. The floors were all slate, and the walls were all wood. The bathroom was also fantastic, not to mention the fact that we could get hot water whenever we wanted!!! On the first game drive that evening, we saw so much amazing stuff. We saw so many elephants, and antelope and that sort of stuff, but the coolest (by far) were the lions we saw. They are usually pretty rare, and difficult to find, but we didn't have any issues. There was a whole pack of them that were hanging out. There were two males that were leading the group. They had previously killed a buffalo (probably 2 days before) but were still in the process of eating all that they could. While one male kept watch for any scavengers, the other one laid on top of the carcass, with a very full belly. It was quite the sight. Then, we went up further on the hill, and found about 7 more lionesses and cubs. They were all so full from eating the buffalo! It was so awesome be to so close to the lions!

Other than the lions, we saw soo many elephants. By the end, we really wanted to see a rhino and a leopard so when we continued to see the elephants, we were getting annoyed. It was so much fun though, and I continued to be in awe from God's majesty. I don't think I've been in a situation like that where I've been able to see just how big God really is. It was awesome to see the sunrise, and the sunset two different times each. The classic picture of Africa with the Acacia tree in the foreground was just so beautiful. (and yes mo, I took lotssss of pics of it)!

the whole trip was the perfect length and provided us with an awesome opportunity to get out of the city (much needed).

now that we're back in the city, i think things are going to be easier. We've spent some time in the city, and just hanging out and resting up while the students are taking exams. We've begun the planning process of a training program that will take place next weekend, our second to last weekend here. I'm very excited to see the students grow and just have a very fun weekend with them, sharing in the love of Christ and helping equip them in their walks with the Lord.

I almost forgot some major event. Last Monday, we were able to meet up with Courtney, Corey and Kaitlin who were preparing to go home after their time in Nyeri, Kenya. It was SO great to see them, and have a little taste of home. We spent the afternoon/evening together as we took them to the Arboretum to feed some monkeys and then had a great dinner and dessert with them before saying our farewells. I loved seeing them and just sharing a bit of our trip with them as well as hearing about theirs.

I really think it's going to be an awesome 3 weeks that we have left. It's crazy to say that we've been here for 25 days already, as the beginning seems so far away. After we got back from the Safari we had a meeting with Naftali. It is always very encouraging for us to hear about our work from him. In this meeting he told us that we had already accomplished 6 weeks worth of work in the 3 weeks that we had been here so far. He told us that he doesn't want us to have an agenda when meeting with the students, but just to spend time with them and form relationships that will last. I think that was something very important for us to hear, as it can be difficult for us to see the progress. To us, the progress seems so small, but to him it's so much more than he could have imagined. It was a huge reminder that I cannot put a measure of success in this trip of my own standards. I have to constantly remind myself that I am doing the Lord's work, and that I cannot mess that up. He's the one doing the work by using the Holy Spirit in my life.

Please keep in your prayers:

• time with the students; that we could share in our lives and not feel like we are working when we are with them
• continued rest - i have much more appreciation for the staff now than i ever have before - i'm exhausted all the time!
• continued patience with the students and time, but also with each other
• a sincere appreciation for the country, and the people here