This is an excerpt from my journal while I was in Kenya this summer.... this is the first of many volumes.
Day 2 June, 3 2005
Today was our first day in Kenya we arrived last night about 9:00 local time. It is weird to arrive in a place at night you really don’t get the full effect of the place unless you are landing in a place like Las Vegas. Night to me makes the places different. So when we got in the airport I don’t really think it hit me that we were in Kenya. I don’t know if it has hit me yet or when it will. So once we cleared customs, which was the easiest entry I have ever done we grab our bags and we were greeted buy Nicki and Amy Jo who are the base RA for AIM. They have been in country for about 10 months now. Once we loaded our almost 3500 lbs of luggage in to at small Mazda pick up with a frame rack in the bed we off in our Matus (Swahili for van) We were off to Kibera our home for the first couple of nights of our trip. Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa.
So the ride to Kibera was kind of erie. I road in the front with Francis a Kenyan from the church that we will be working with. I had 13 of the team members with me and I tell you could hear a pin drop. I mean I was excited about being here but I could tell there was some culture shock setting in or maybe just vivid realization that we are really in Kenya. Who know what the next two months will have in store for us.
*********************************************
So today was our first day in Kibera. Waking up the morning was kind of weird, at first I didn’t know where I was, and then I remembered. But I was kind of excited to see this place in the day light. The guys and I are staying in our own house. It is actually a nice set up. You walk in and there is a court yard and then two rooms with three beds in each room. And then another separate living room a small Kitchen a shower room, with running water (didn’t expect that) and then a toilet with a western (doesn’t flush very well).
So we walked across the street to the girls house. And let me tell you it was strange. For one of the first times in my life I felt out of place.
After breakfast we had cultural training with Amy Jo and Nicki I think most of us were still in shock. And then we met Pastor Timothy our host pastor here.
I love this man already. He has so much energy and he is fire for the Lord. He gave us a welcome speech that really turned into a sermon. It was amazing! He told us his testimony of how he was saved by an American Missionary. I had images running in my head of the people that we will be coming into contact with and the lives that we will be changing while we are here. Pastor Timothy took us on a tour of the slums. To tell you the truth I was not prepared for what we experienced today. You cant even imagine this place. I mean the roads if you can call them that are just dirt roads that are rutted out beyond be drivable, but they do drive on them. There is trash everywhere, there are pieces of plastic bags everywhere, water, waste and who know what else.
As we walked in the slum one of the girls in on our team told me that she thought this place might be what hell was like. If this is hell is like there are a lot of people here that are going to hell here. But on the other hand there are a l lot of people that need to be saved. When we are here in another I pray that we will have so many amazing opportunities to minister to people here.
We have already met a couple of cool guys that are use to Americans. They hung out with the AIM group that was here before us.
We talked to Francis last night. This guy is so smart; I swear that he is going to be the president of Kenya some day.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Vice President of What?
Ok ok so I have been lacking in the blog department. No excuse really, other that life is crazy.
So I was golfing the other day and to my surprise I was told I was golfing infront of one of our former vice presidents. I actually asked vice present of what? Then I was told it was former vice - president Dan Quayle. At first I was kind of giddy to be in the mist of a famous politicatal figure. And then I starting thinking. What did this guys ever do for our country. I mean besides spell potato wrong and rag on Murphy Brown. I mean really what did he do? Please someone tell me. Please.
Ok so I know I keep saying I am going to start posting blogs about Africa. Well I am finally going to do it. I mean besides Matt I don't know if anyone actually reads my blog. Well I will keep bloging until I get published. And then maybe I will keep bloging.
Well leave a comment if you please, call me anything you want just dont call me late for dinner.
So I was golfing the other day and to my surprise I was told I was golfing infront of one of our former vice presidents. I actually asked vice present of what? Then I was told it was former vice - president Dan Quayle. At first I was kind of giddy to be in the mist of a famous politicatal figure. And then I starting thinking. What did this guys ever do for our country. I mean besides spell potato wrong and rag on Murphy Brown. I mean really what did he do? Please someone tell me. Please.
Ok so I know I keep saying I am going to start posting blogs about Africa. Well I am finally going to do it. I mean besides Matt I don't know if anyone actually reads my blog. Well I will keep bloging until I get published. And then maybe I will keep bloging.
Well leave a comment if you please, call me anything you want just dont call me late for dinner.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
8 Days!!
8 days unitl the new Donald Miller book "Through Painted Deserts" comes out!
Ok, ok as some of you know I am a little obbessed with Miller. I think this summer while I was in Kenya I talked about him more than my own dad.
But I think that Mr. Miller does a great job of presenting the gospel in a way that kids my age can understand it.
If you are unfaimlar with Mr. Miller, he has written books like "Blue Like Jazz" and "Searching for God Knows What"
The cool thing about this guy is that he is just a normal guy. He is not a pastor, or a theoilgan, he is just like you and me. He is a full time writer and speak who devotes all of his time talking about God to anyone that will hear.
You should check out his website, www.bluelikejazz.com He has put the first chapter to his new book on there. You should give it a read and then pass it to a friend.
I tell you this, you have never heard the gospel in the way Miller writes about it.
So go to his website, or your local bookstore and preorder you copy of his newbook today! I am!
Ok, ok as some of you know I am a little obbessed with Miller. I think this summer while I was in Kenya I talked about him more than my own dad.
But I think that Mr. Miller does a great job of presenting the gospel in a way that kids my age can understand it.
If you are unfaimlar with Mr. Miller, he has written books like "Blue Like Jazz" and "Searching for God Knows What"
The cool thing about this guy is that he is just a normal guy. He is not a pastor, or a theoilgan, he is just like you and me. He is a full time writer and speak who devotes all of his time talking about God to anyone that will hear.
You should check out his website, www.bluelikejazz.com He has put the first chapter to his new book on there. You should give it a read and then pass it to a friend.
I tell you this, you have never heard the gospel in the way Miller writes about it.
So go to his website, or your local bookstore and preorder you copy of his newbook today! I am!
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Generation Now Part 1
2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." 3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say.The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 NIV
No this is mot a bible comementary. Don't I have not gone to seminary yet. These are the words of the psalmist David. Not Michelangelo David, be the David from the bible. And he is right everything is meaningless!
If you did not know already I returned from Kenya, East Africa about a week ago. And I am I changed man.
I cannot really explain it in words but I felt like a found my purpose in Africa. I did not go there in search of purpose, purpose just found me there. Some say it takes years to discover your purpose, well it has. And I believe my purpose is to tell the world about Africa. Not the Africa that you see on the evening. That Africa we know. I am taking about the issuses that you don't hear coming from your TV while you are cooking dinner.
The Africa where Aids patients are shunned from the home churches, the Africa that my friend Alex gets kicked out of school because he does not have school fees, and the Africa that the roads are in horrible condition because tax money does not make it to the government. This was the purpose of God sending me to Africa.
Coming back to the states I have found the about verse to be true everything is meaningless! Now as I have said before, when you come back from a place like Africa everyone expects you to come back acting if you have the answer for all of the worlds promblems. Well I will say it again I don't have all of the answers, if I did I would go back to Africa in a second.
But what I have come back with is awareness. Awareness of how we should be counting our blessing everyday that we live in this country. Some of us complain everyday about how our government runs things. Well I am here to tell you that it could be worse. And it is worse other places.
So before I get off my soapbox until my next post I just have to get something off of my chest.
I was in Dallas this past weekend and I reluctantly went in a trendy hipster upscale retail outlet (in which I will not name) with my Dad. Talk about culture shock! Of course afetr living in a mud house for a month many things are. But this place was nuts. I mean it was my worse nightmare. It was like the surban night of the living dead. Countless twenty-something wanna be hipsters guys with spiked hair and paid shorts, as well fake tan short shirt wearing barbis walking around everywhere. It was a feeding freenzy. I kind wanted to yell FIRE! and see how many would run outside. I mean just looking at the prices in this place gave me a heart attack. $72 for a shirt with any alligator on it.
And I am not going to sitt here and say that I have never bought designer clothes, because I have. But after the way I witnessed how people lived in Africa, never again!
Now I not track to attack every frantically frat-boy and prettied up girl. Because I have love for everyone.
I am just trying to point out of a few things about our culture. Especially the twentysomething crowd. I mean come on, is it our goal in live to spend the most money that we can before we die! Who are we trying to impress? The oppoistie sex? Try writing a letter!
An old t-shirt comes to mind "He who has the most toys, wins." More like he who dies with the most debt loses. Maybe it is just me be our generation is all about status. We want to have it better than our parents. It that really what is important in life?
It is time that we stop thinking about ourselves and stop thinking about others.
There is not enough time for me to tell you how to get involed. But if you want to know email me and I will tell you.
But what I am saying is get involed! Find out how you can help in your community, at your school, in your world. Trust me it will change your outlook on life.
Going through life worrying how your 401K is doing is not way to live, besides you cant take it with you.
So dont let your life be meaningless! Make everyday count!
No this is mot a bible comementary. Don't I have not gone to seminary yet. These are the words of the psalmist David. Not Michelangelo David, be the David from the bible. And he is right everything is meaningless!
If you did not know already I returned from Kenya, East Africa about a week ago. And I am I changed man.
I cannot really explain it in words but I felt like a found my purpose in Africa. I did not go there in search of purpose, purpose just found me there. Some say it takes years to discover your purpose, well it has. And I believe my purpose is to tell the world about Africa. Not the Africa that you see on the evening. That Africa we know. I am taking about the issuses that you don't hear coming from your TV while you are cooking dinner.
The Africa where Aids patients are shunned from the home churches, the Africa that my friend Alex gets kicked out of school because he does not have school fees, and the Africa that the roads are in horrible condition because tax money does not make it to the government. This was the purpose of God sending me to Africa.
Coming back to the states I have found the about verse to be true everything is meaningless! Now as I have said before, when you come back from a place like Africa everyone expects you to come back acting if you have the answer for all of the worlds promblems. Well I will say it again I don't have all of the answers, if I did I would go back to Africa in a second.
But what I have come back with is awareness. Awareness of how we should be counting our blessing everyday that we live in this country. Some of us complain everyday about how our government runs things. Well I am here to tell you that it could be worse. And it is worse other places.
So before I get off my soapbox until my next post I just have to get something off of my chest.
I was in Dallas this past weekend and I reluctantly went in a trendy hipster upscale retail outlet (in which I will not name) with my Dad. Talk about culture shock! Of course afetr living in a mud house for a month many things are. But this place was nuts. I mean it was my worse nightmare. It was like the surban night of the living dead. Countless twenty-something wanna be hipsters guys with spiked hair and paid shorts, as well fake tan short shirt wearing barbis walking around everywhere. It was a feeding freenzy. I kind wanted to yell FIRE! and see how many would run outside. I mean just looking at the prices in this place gave me a heart attack. $72 for a shirt with any alligator on it.
And I am not going to sitt here and say that I have never bought designer clothes, because I have. But after the way I witnessed how people lived in Africa, never again!
Now I not track to attack every frantically frat-boy and prettied up girl. Because I have love for everyone.
I am just trying to point out of a few things about our culture. Especially the twentysomething crowd. I mean come on, is it our goal in live to spend the most money that we can before we die! Who are we trying to impress? The oppoistie sex? Try writing a letter!
An old t-shirt comes to mind "He who has the most toys, wins." More like he who dies with the most debt loses. Maybe it is just me be our generation is all about status. We want to have it better than our parents. It that really what is important in life?
It is time that we stop thinking about ourselves and stop thinking about others.
There is not enough time for me to tell you how to get involed. But if you want to know email me and I will tell you.
But what I am saying is get involed! Find out how you can help in your community, at your school, in your world. Trust me it will change your outlook on life.
Going through life worrying how your 401K is doing is not way to live, besides you cant take it with you.
So dont let your life be meaningless! Make everyday count!
Thursday, August 04, 2005
The New Me
So life goes on..... I am adjusting to life back in the States. When you leave the country for 2 months you really opposite the simple things. For me it is hot running water, a toilet that flushes on the first try, ice, taco bell, and driving my car on a smooth paved highway at 70, just to name a few. A friend emailed be the other a day and said that I had into a hippie and had become earthy. I disagree I think I have become a realist. My eyes have been opened to more of a world view. My view is beyond life in the states. Being in Africa for 2 months changed my life. The person I was before I left is no more. Some say that a traumatic experience will change your life. Well my trip to Africa was traumatic, in the way that I figured out that I need to live my life differently. Before this trip I had no idea which direction my life was headed. My friend James and I call it a 1/4 life crisis (assuming we will live to 100.)
You are out of college, quite your job, become a ski bum, then you do something crazy like go to Africa. That is what I did and I have no regrets.
Now I come back from Africa changed. Done with my crisis. Not saying that I have life figured out, just that I know now that I have matured from this experience and ready to become a mature adult.
I know that I went through this "crisis" for a reason. It was God's purpose for my life. He knew that I had no idea what I was doing with my life. He knew that I would go to Africa and come back like I have. He sent me half way across the world to find purpose in life, to find purpose in Him. For me it took letting go. Letting God take over my life. If someone would of told me a year ago that I would quite my job and become a missionary and then go into full time ministry, I would of laugh; no I would of peed my pants laughing so hard.
But it took giving God total control of my life. Letting him be the polite of my life if you will. Letting Him take me to far off crazy places in a matted in Kenya. And for me to be the co-pilot, to sit up front not touching anything, just letting Him know about air traffic and the weather. In other words letting him km owe what is going on in my life. Telling him when to pull me up and when I need to land.
So as the days go on I am challenging myself to be changed everyday. Not to be the same lazy guy I was before I left. To take a stand. To accomplish the thing I set out to accomplish years ago.
So if you see me on the road, at the golf course, coffee shop, or my favorite dining establishment. Asked me what I have done today. Not what I have done for myself, but what have I done for others. Ask me how I am challenging myself today.
What about you? Are you tired of the life you are living? Want to change it for the better?
Change it forever? Email me and I will tell you how.
Grizzlyadams02@yahoo.com
You are out of college, quite your job, become a ski bum, then you do something crazy like go to Africa. That is what I did and I have no regrets.
Now I come back from Africa changed. Done with my crisis. Not saying that I have life figured out, just that I know now that I have matured from this experience and ready to become a mature adult.
I know that I went through this "crisis" for a reason. It was God's purpose for my life. He knew that I had no idea what I was doing with my life. He knew that I would go to Africa and come back like I have. He sent me half way across the world to find purpose in life, to find purpose in Him. For me it took letting go. Letting God take over my life. If someone would of told me a year ago that I would quite my job and become a missionary and then go into full time ministry, I would of laugh; no I would of peed my pants laughing so hard.
But it took giving God total control of my life. Letting him be the polite of my life if you will. Letting Him take me to far off crazy places in a matted in Kenya. And for me to be the co-pilot, to sit up front not touching anything, just letting Him know about air traffic and the weather. In other words letting him km owe what is going on in my life. Telling him when to pull me up and when I need to land.
So as the days go on I am challenging myself to be changed everyday. Not to be the same lazy guy I was before I left. To take a stand. To accomplish the thing I set out to accomplish years ago.
So if you see me on the road, at the golf course, coffee shop, or my favorite dining establishment. Asked me what I have done today. Not what I have done for myself, but what have I done for others. Ask me how I am challenging myself today.
What about you? Are you tired of the life you are living? Want to change it for the better?
Change it forever? Email me and I will tell you how.
Grizzlyadams02@yahoo.com
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
The World Beyond this One.
Well the road trip begins. Today I hit the open road. I will be traveling to Louisiana for about a week, then then headed back to Durango, via Dallas.
As I wake up each day after my trip to Africa to say I am a changed man is an understatement. And that is what most of the writings in my blog will consist of. To quote an exuberant African pastor, I am tried of being a "noise maker" now it is time for me to be a "news maker"
I am going to stand on my soap box for quite a while, until I am blue in the face.
You might be saying to your self, "just because this guy went to Africa and saw a lot of bad stuff he can come back here and fix everything that is wrong with the world." Well your wrong I know I can't change the world but I can sure as it is light outside give you my opinion on what can be done and share my experiences.
The only thing that was fixed after going to Africa is me. The things I saw, the experiences I had, the people that I met all changed me for the better. I like to saw I have some what of an world view on things now.
Living in a madhouse for a month builds character, and it make you fully aware of the comfort in which you live at home.
Quote of the day: "Now is the time, why wait?"
As I wake up each day after my trip to Africa to say I am a changed man is an understatement. And that is what most of the writings in my blog will consist of. To quote an exuberant African pastor, I am tried of being a "noise maker" now it is time for me to be a "news maker"
I am going to stand on my soap box for quite a while, until I am blue in the face.
You might be saying to your self, "just because this guy went to Africa and saw a lot of bad stuff he can come back here and fix everything that is wrong with the world." Well your wrong I know I can't change the world but I can sure as it is light outside give you my opinion on what can be done and share my experiences.
The only thing that was fixed after going to Africa is me. The things I saw, the experiences I had, the people that I met all changed me for the better. I like to saw I have some what of an world view on things now.
Living in a madhouse for a month builds character, and it make you fully aware of the comfort in which you live at home.
Quote of the day: "Now is the time, why wait?"
Monday, August 01, 2005
The Blog Begins
Ha, this is my Blog and no one can take it away from me. Finally a open forum to say what I want. Well I have always done that but now everyone can hear it.
No for real, I want to use this blog to express my thoughts, feeling and all of that mushy stuff. I really want to ust this blog to describe to the world the journey I just returned from. This summer I co-lead a group of 21 university students from to States on a Mission trip to Kenya. Hopefully I can give justice to this life changing trip.
I am also planning on posting some essays and original thoughts of my own. Like everyone else in the word I am an inspiring writer. So if you want to publish my works please let me know. Until then I will keep writing for the pure enjoyment.
Late.
No for real, I want to use this blog to express my thoughts, feeling and all of that mushy stuff. I really want to ust this blog to describe to the world the journey I just returned from. This summer I co-lead a group of 21 university students from to States on a Mission trip to Kenya. Hopefully I can give justice to this life changing trip.
I am also planning on posting some essays and original thoughts of my own. Like everyone else in the word I am an inspiring writer. So if you want to publish my works please let me know. Until then I will keep writing for the pure enjoyment.
Late.
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