One big ol’ African smorgasbord

Welp, we’re finally in Busia! I am so glad to finally be here…despite the fact that I’m soaking in my own sweat as I’m writing this. It feels so good to finally be in one place knowing that we don’t have to travel anymore. Let me tell ya…I have ridden many a plane and bus in my life but never have my feet been so swollen or my derriere so asleep and numb. When we finally got to Kenya we stayed in Nairobi for a couple of days. We stayed in this super sweet hostel called Milimani Backpackers. I have made a mental note to go back there one day. I met some really interesting people there, a few of which had been on trips with AIM in the past…small world. The food they made us was so good! So far Samosas are my favorite food I’ve had here. Mmm…yummy in my tummy.  We left at around 5 in the morning on Saturday to take a 10 hour bus ride to Busia. That may sound awful but I honestly thoroughly enjoyed it (when I wasn’t sleeping, of course.) It was amazing to look out the window as we drove through Africa. It was so precious the amount of kids that would stop what they were doing to wave and smile as we drove by.
That is one thing that won’t change while we are here. Literally everywhere we go people stop and stare, wave or smile. They also yell “mzungu mzungu mzungu!”, which is the Swahili word for someone who is foreign.
 We arrived in Busia that Saturday night, and went straight to the Deliverance Church where we met Pastor Gideon and Pastor Steve. Our night turned out to be a lot more eventful than we planned. It ended up storming and the power went out for a while. TIA (this is Africa). Because our team is so large they split us up into 2 houses. Some of my team ended up staying at Pastor Gideon’s while the rest of us are being housed by a member of the church. We are staying in the guest house of a lady who we call Mama. She is extremely sweet and hospitable, as is each person we’ve met so far. We attended our first church service on Sunday morning. It went for about 4 hours…definitely not something we’re used to in America. The church service was purdy sweet. Every single person was SO excited to meet us and shake our hands. The worship was filled with dancing, which was so refreshing to see!
One of the things I am most excited about here are the children. I can’t even express in words how beautiful they all are. The kids at church latched onto all of us. One little boy that followed me everywhere was so sweet, quiet and shy. He eventually fell asleep on my lap for a while (which I was pretty happy about). But..and a big but at that, the person that woke up was definitely not the same person I knew before. He started to hit and pinch everyone sitting around me, and at one point kept making a lot of loud noises and would only smile bigger or imitate me when I tried to make him be quiet. He also spilled milk all over my skirt. This lasted for the last couple hours of the service. Needless to say, he was a sweetheart.
The rest of the day we spent hanging out at the church and today was our first day off. We relaxed at home and now I’m blogging..whattya know! Tomorrow is our first day of ministry and I am so excited to see what God has in store for us. Woo! Keep on prayin’ folks.
 
P.S.  I forgot to write about squatties..those of you who don’t know what they are should look up those bad boys. It’s what we gotta use the bathroom in..fun stuff, fun stuff. I’ve used them in Europe before but never every day. …Is it weird that I kinda like them more than toilets?…

P.S.S. I'm learning Swahili…what what!

Sincerely,
the squattie queen