Friday, Day 3 (for blogging purposes)

Alright, I don’t know if this is technically day three, or four. For the purpose of the blog, it’s day 3.

Woke up around 1 this morning. It’s a Friday morning, and I have no reason to be up at 1 in the morning, except that I thought it was 6 in the morning. I started walking around the hotel room getting what little stuff I have with me together so I can get ready for the day because I can’t be the one that’s late and holding up the team. Jan wakes up when I start turning on lights, asks me what the heck I was doing, and tells me to go back to bed. “It’s one in the morning!” she says. Dazed and confused, I figured that she must be right (because I’m hardly ever right) and I slither my way back to bed. Woke up (again for the second time) around 6 to the ever annoying sound of a ringing phone. I picked up the phone, ready to throw it against the nearest available wall, and realized that it was my wake up call so instead politely made some kind of noise to the guy on the other line to let him know that everyone in my room was indeed awake, and that he could stop calling the room now.
I DID get my shower… it was ice cold, and I had no shampoo (our luggage was on a bus somewhere headed to kimikungi, the team only had what they carried on the plane.) So, I took the “imperial leather” soap, and lathered it up quite nicely until it sufficiently washed my hair. Did I tell you that the shower was freezing? I think it needs to be said a third time. I came out of the freaking bathroom with ice crystals on my eye lashes and I was shivering. Cold and I are not friends, I’ve apparently adapted to much to Vegas.
I was downstairs by 6:35, and by 6:45 (maybe 7) the team was on lake Victoria checking out hippos in their natural habitat. After that was breakfast- eggs, sausage, potatoes, watermelon, and oh-so-precious COFFEE! Today we’re on our way to Bungoma. I’ve been told that it’s pronounced “boon-go-mah” not “bun-go-mah” so please, dear readers, don’t get confused. On our way to this little town, we passed the Equator (I felt no change between the northern and southern hemispheres) and stopped to take pictures of one of the many wonders of the world- the Weeping Rock. The weeping rock has been featured in national geographic. It’s a wonder because water seeps from between these two rocks that are stacked on top of each other. No one knows where the water comes from, or how it got there, or why it flows, but they do know that the water is quite uncollectable because it disappears before hitting the ground. National geographic says that the water never stops flowing, but a lady that lives close to the rock (and who was kind enough to come talk to us) said that every once in a while it will make a loud noise, and the water will stop flowing for a short while before starting up again. It was around this time that Pastor Titus started talking about how seeing two bats flying next to each other around the rock means something is going to happen. (good or bad.)
Fast forward:
Now we’re in Bungoma. Pastor Protus is one very cool gentleman, with a stellar family! His wife’s name is Judith, and his kids are Zapporah (the eldest, a girl) Junior(a boy) and Senior (a girl). Junior and Senior are twins. Zippy is about 10, and junior and senior are 7.
Fast forward again- we found out today that Pastor Webb and his Wife, Mary, are going to be getting married. I guess they have been married, have kids and grandkids and all that, but they are going to be married on an official basis under God. I’m told that Jan, Sharon and I are going to be Wedding Planners! How fun will that be?
This may be a good time to mention that the water buffalo song by Superchick is stuck in my head. I might just have to show this song to Jan and Sharon today. [I brought my i-pod with me, good thinking ;)]
Oh! I haven’t told you about camp yet, have I? my apologies. Well, after the bumpy ride that was the road from kisumu to kimikungi, the team gathered up all the bags we had and set up camp! Whoever lives onsite was kind enough to have these ginormous tents already set up for us, so we just had to set up our tentcots inside. We also set up tables, got the ministry items all separated, and created our “kitchen”.
After all of this was done, we were given short tours of the grounds. There are big, beautiful fields of corn. I saw a coffee plants for the first time (personal victory!) and found myself enamoured with the way of living here. We got to check out the school, church, the place where the cows hang out, the kitchen, protus’ house, and the rock of prayer. The rock of prayer… I think that’s where I’m going to have my hiding place while I’m here. I’ll have to find a good spot that’s just away from everyone.
Anyway, half the team went to the store (for 3 hours) to get food and any other necessary items that may have been overlooked. The rest of us got to relax at camp and finish up some lifejournaling. It’s been discovered that for whatever odd reason, my teammates seem to enjoy reading the scriptures from the lfiejournals out loud. They also want us to share our lifejournals with each other. This is fine to an extent, but really, I don’t want to share something so personal with people that I don’t know. This whole life journaling with EVERYONE may not work out so great, I don’t know how long I can handle this whole “sharing with the team” thing. I don’t plan on knowing them all THAT well. Had dinner at camp, tough chicken (flavor was decent) rice, and chapatti (tortilla that’s thicker and tastes better). It filled me up, so I can’t complain.
I have to say- African sunsets are amazing! The colors are so vibrant and relaxing! Another Treat… the stars were so bright! It was a clear night, so I really got a chance to lose myself in the stars. I saw the milky way, and was reminded of how small I really was compared to the world. I really wondered, as I looked at this intricate sky, what God would do with someone so imperfect as me, when he can make something as perfect as that?
I wonder what all he’s got in store for me now. I have a feeling I’m going to get stretched.