Home Sweet Home

I'm back home in Cali! It has been 3 weeks on the go, catching up with family and friends, eating American food, getting use to driving on the right side of the road again, and traveling from place to place. My dad, mom, and sis met me at the airport in San Fran, where we spent some time together before heading to Oakhurst. The first week home was quite an adjustment.








Followed by a welcome home party...
thank you to everyone who came.








Oregon state is where I spent my second week at home. The reason being, while in Africa, I met an amazing guy. His name is Josh and we have been dating the last three months. Josh plays professional soccer through an organization called Ambassadors in Sports. So many wonderful things I could say about him but for now I'll leave it at that. During this week, we did the "meet the family thing". I thoroughly enjoyed our time together and the opportunity to get to know the Westermann family.

London

A quick stop in London to see the main attractions. My layover was 48 hours this time, so I thought why not take advantage of being in a beautiful city. I did the tourist thing and bought a day pass for the big red open top bus tour. You were allowed to get off anywhere you wanted, walk around and then pick up the next bus coming through. I saw glimpses of it all... Big Ben, Parliament, the London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abby, etc. I loved being amongst the incredible history and breathtaking architecture. Some day I hope to see more of Europe.

I was thankful not to be completely on my own while in London. I joined up with the Bussell family from WNS, for a changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and a stroll through the park.

Schools Out for Summer

Texts books, papers, and pencils are packed and put away. Everyone said their goodbyes and now we head home to the states. On June 3rd (that's tomorrow!) I begin my journey, taking a two day stop in London. I'm anxious and excited, nervous and sad. It's been almost a year since I've seen the familiar faces of family and friends. But while I've been gone I've built new relationships that are just as hard to leave behind. I guess that is life though. We treasure things as long as God allows them to be in our lives. Woohoo... summer vacation!

A memory that I will always take with me. This cheer was started by our fabulous athletic director, Peter Kim, and its catchy tune eventually caught on. Pictured: 6th grade on the last day of school

A Week at Camp

As I previously mentioned, thanks to the families at West Nairobi School and those of you at home, we sponsored 166 kids to go to camp. These slum students spent a week in paradise... three meals a day, warm beds to sleep in, a bible to study from, fun activities to take part in, and teachers who loved on them.

Myself, and a group of WNS High School students, spent 3 days at camp. We were given the responsibility of presenting bible lessons and games in hopes to interact with the campers. We also ate lunch there. To my surprise, the food was quite good. Lots of seasoned potatoes, vegetables, and soups.

I spoke with the camp director (Pastor Shadrack) at the end of the week. He proudly informed me that over 30 campers had accepted Christ. In my opinion, all of our hard work was summed up in that moment. The following are a couple of videos to show you the joyous faces I got to see throughout the week.

Minor Details

Funny story... This weekend I came upon some microwavable kettle corn at Nakumatt, our local super market. A rare treat to find something like this on the shelf. Knowledgeable of the fact that I don't have a microwave at home, I still made the purchase. The plan being to worry about how to pop the corn at a later point in time. I think my excitement proceeded me.

A solution to this problem came with the restaurant next door to Nakumatt. I kindly asked the gentleman behind the bar if I could use their microwave. It appeared that he understood, so I handed him the box and went back to a conversation I was previously in. 45 seconds later I decided we should only pop two of the three bags in the box. So, I turned to the guy behind the bar one more time to relay this message. He then stopped the microwave and pulled out (to my surprise) the entire unopened box of popcorn. I didn't know whether to laugh or to feel stupid that I assumed this man would know the procedure of microwavable popcorn. I salvaged what was left from the gooey plastic and asked if I could come behind the counter to do it myself. Pole sana!

Neighbor to Kenya

Spring break I spent in Uganda visiting Kristen Fry, a friend from back home, and rafting the Nile River. GOOD TIMES!

I arrived Saturday, on an early flight, excited to explore more parts of Africa . Kristen organized our time so that I could see some of Uganda's main attractions and cities... Entebbe, Kampala (the capital), Lake Victoria, the market place, and taxi park.

Kristen currently works with African Inland Missions, providing resources for local street kids. Right up my alley. I had the opportunity to meet her co-workers at Dwelling Place and the kids they look after. We brought them 6 stalks of sugar cane and played all day.













Means of transport in Uganda's crazy traffic: take a taxi or a boda-boda. My personal preference is the second one, what we know to be a motorcycle. Inexpensive and fun!










Tuesday, I worked my way through 12 rapids down the Nile River. I cannot describe to you how breathtaking this experience was. I went with a group of teachers from school (Eric, Becca, Jonathan, and Kate) and together we paddled through the bends and curves of the Nile. Our guide, Juma, was hilarious. I promise I spent half the day laughing. The rapids ranged anywhere from a class one to class five. We were a strong group but about 55 percent of the time our boat flipped. The best thing though is that everything is on video.

Results Are In

Both community development fundraisers have come to an end. In the "donation of slightly used shoes" project we reached our goal of 150 pairs, and then exceeded it in abundance. The shoes were delivered by 10 WNS students to kids in Sinai slum on March 20th. We spent time walking through the slum, interacting with kidos, and sharing about God's love. I am proud of my students, that they had open hearts to work hands on with the less fortunate in our surrounding area.










And... thanks to several of you at home, we are sending 166 Mitumba slum children to VBS (Vacation Bible School) at the end of April. Our original goal was to receive 200 sponsorships, but what we achieved is fabulous. To send one child it was roughly 25 dollars, meaning that we raised over 4,ooo dollars all together. Once we get back from Spring break, WNS high school students will start to prepare lessons/activities to share over the week long camp. I also want to thank our partner organization, Christian Mission Aid, in helping our projects to be successful.