JournalEnd0122

we slept at the house for the first time last night and we got the email working from the africa online place so the messages you send there i can receive at school. ...well i fetched water for the first time this morning and that was interesting! there are a few mud huts right outside of the campus where the people live that supply the milk for the school. they are pretty cool looking so i will try to take some pictures. we are still not in a routine yet because oneal is here and we are getting the house ready but we are getting used to some things. anyway after we go to the game park monday and tuesday then we will be at the school for good and we will probably start teaching on monday the 1st of feb.

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 -- Note from Mark

   we are getting semi settled into the house. we have mattresses and we have beds being made. we comissioned 3 bunk beds for 1200 shillings, which is about $18 or so! some things are really cheap here. i am kinda the driver and it has been interesting learning to drive on the left and using the round abouts. our car has been great though, it is not real powerful but it does fine and the four wheel drive works well and is easy to use. we have met the other teachers at the school and they are excited that we are here. i think they think we are going to teach some of their classed though, so maybe that is the source of their friendliness! we have a meeting to discuss our responsibilities at the school and we are shooting for one english class and special apearances for the other classes and then the club activities. we have the water situation pretty much under control, we have a purifier that has three large ceramic filerers and it holds like 4 gallons or so. ben and i walked to the well today to fetch the water and so it is being purified as we speak. we also learned that the house is wired for electricity and that we have it for 2.5 hours after dark so that will probably be enouth for the recharging we will need!
    we are sleeping for the first time tonight at the school! we are here in eldoret now trying to stock the house with the things we need. last night we camped out at this site next to a river with oneal and another missionary named bob sartoris. it was great. there was one other camper and we learned that he is walking from south africa to jerusalem! he started in 1999 when he was 21! aren't you glad i am not doing that mom! anyways he is a Crhistian and we had a good time with him.
    we have gotten to know the children of the teachers pretty well! they are so fun! they are kids that are from about 1 year to 5 years. when we drive onto the campus they shout "wazungu wazugu" which means "white people"! it is funny. they like to touch our hair and then run away, i think they are still a little scared of us. everybody waves to us when we drive anywhere, it is funny.

Monday, Jan. 19, 2004 -- Note from Mark

we are finishing many of the projects that need to be completed before we can stay in the house at Chepkong'ony. we have water puifiers, but we need beds and mattresses and furniture and cookware so that is our plan for tomorrow!

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004 -- Note from Mark

jambo! well we just got out of church, went to a congregation that is right off the road that goes from eldoret to Chepkong'ony. the way it works is that fove or six churches that are close together are called a cluster and they meet every month or so, today was a cluster meeting and so it was fairly large, about 70 people. it was great! it is incredible how different it is here! church goes from 11am to about 4:30pm! we sing which is so amazing! they do alot of the call and response type songs and it just is touching to worship with these people. then we had like 5 sermons by different people and then the Lord's supper, Meza la Bwana. and then we eat! today the cuisine was ugali and sukuma wiki (greens) or beans and rice covered with a stewed beef and broth. it was really good actually, oh and then we had chai, which is kenyan tea and then whole cream milk and sugar. chai is great!
     according to oneal things are going great at the present as far as meeting people and building the important relationships for this next year so that is very encouraging! we met with the school officials and the church officials for this area yesterday at Chepkong'ony and it was wonderful. they were very excited to have us and we talked to the local youth chairman, David Busiane and he is excited about working with us and preparing for the youth rallies. they are going to be smaller one day events and we are going to utilize the school children from Chepkong'ony as much as possible with those.
     we also got to speak with the children that are boarders at the school. they wer so awesome! they were so respectful to us and interested in us! i am really excited about getting to know them and the other children that are day schoolers. we are meeting again this friday with the school board to discuss the calendar for this year. we have to work the rallies around the kids sports events and all of that. we are sleeping at a hotel tonight and we are going camping with this missionary from Niarobi tomorrow, but by wednesday we hope to be able to sleep in our house at the school.
     things are working so well and the credit is all due to the Lord. i am continually amazed by Him and His goodness towards us!! continue to pray for us that we may more fully allow Christ to work and will His good pleasure in us. the group is doing well and everything.

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004

Jambo! We are really here now! We have been blessed in very many areas in this trip, however, finding a fast internet connection is not one of those ways! Right now the we five students and Oneal our fearless leader are staying in Eldoret town at a hotel while we work on furnishing our house and getting familar with this town. We attended a church that is inbetween Eldoret and Chepkong'ony and it was great! It was much different than any church I have ever seen in America! They were having a fundraiser type event after church and there were chickens and a calf up on the stage of the church! We have already fallen in love with the people of this country. In the first part of the trip, from Wednesday to Friday, Oneal was indroducing/bonding us to the missionaries of Nairobi, Kisumu, and Eldoret which was a wonderful blessing. Each of the families we met were extremly hospitable and they informed us that if we need anything during our stay to contact them! In the last two days, Oneal has been connecting us to the local church leaders as well as the Chepkong'ony leadership! He has been such a blessing to us! Things have gone very well concerning our relationships with these leaders and we are all very encouraged and excited about both our time at the school and the youth rallies! We send our love and gratitude for your support! All glory and praise be to the living God for His abundant goodness to us. Only through Him is anything good possible.
In Christ, Mark, Ben, Chris, Denton, and Nathan

Initial Entry Jan. 2004

Here we are! We are continually amazed at the abundance of grace that our Lord is revealing to us in our involvment in His work here. We must thank you who are reading this right now for your support and prayers for this trip. Indeed God has used all of you to carry out His will in this effort, that is our submission to the movement of God in opening the doors for this trip. We are here to proclaim the majesties of the Lord God and to spread a passion for Him to the students of Chepkong'ony and the youth of the area. That they may see and savor Him for all that He is worth and drop their earthly treasures for the infinately valuable person of Christ, who becomes our life after we make Him our treasure and are immersed into His death. We pray that you can see that God can use the weakest, most inadaquate people of this world, that is in their flesh, and work in mighty ways for His name sake. We also pray that we only point you to God and boast of His infinate goodness and that you see this truth once again proven through this endeavor. Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
~Ben, Chris, Mark, Denton, and Nathan