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Our first youth rally was this weekend in Nadi and it was such a blessing. There were probably about 70 youth at the most because one church group didn't come. It went very well though. We separated them into three groups and played games against each other and stuff. We played a lot of games at the beginning of the rally and then we had the more serious parts in the afternoon. It started raining right before I spoke on purity so it was a blessing that we were done with the games. Nathan, and Chris and I spoke. I did a talk on purity and it was about 40 minutes long. It is getting easier to speak. We have class this week and then we are going on the retreat next Monday. This weekend was so tiring! We woke up at 6am on Saturday and didn't stop until about 9:30pm. We slept in our tent inside David Busienei's church. There are no pews yet. We're blessed though. We went back to the church today for service and they said they wanted us to come back once a month. So I guess they enjoyed us. Some of it is just that we are white. It just feels good to have a better idea of what we signed up for this year! I think it is going to be a really fun year. Well we are going to be in Eldoret on Friday and I plan on sending a package and updating the site so be ready for that.

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

...We are running through our youth rally tonight that is on Saturday in Nadi. The other guys all got their packages on Monday. It is kind of a hassle just to get our mail. Letters are no problem but packages are weird! They try to get you to bribe them for customs! A missionary from Nairobi visited us yesterday and he stayed the night here! It was really fun. He brought us corn chips and root beer! We are going to see him again at the missionary men's retreat a week from Monday. It is really going to be cool to be there! Oh and Jaime Swift is going to be there! 30 men are going so we are really excited about it.

Monday, Feb. 23, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

...We had a good day in Eldoret. We bought some cheese and tried to have mac and cheese tonight, but when we were straining the macaroni we dropped half of it on the ground! Ahh! But it was okay. We used some of the cheese to make cheese bread but it was not nearly as good as yours mom!

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

...We have been doing a lot of things with the students this week and I am really enjoying it! Tomorrow we are going to do a service project with the Christian Union club, it is sort of like FCA in American high schools if you know what that is. Anyways and oh we had two of the teachers over for supper tonight and me and Chris had made no bake cookies! They are really good! We are also getting good at making chai, the secret is to boil the water and milk together and to use Kenyan tea!

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

...Hey Nathan has been working on a powerpoint of our trip so far and I think I will send it with the pictures on that cd. Hey what did you think about our requests for the package? I thought of one more thing, if you could send a bunch of benadril that would be good. There is this girl who has really bad alergies and we have been giving her benedrill and it has helped a lot. She was the girl who we took to the doctor, but the medicine he prescribed is really expensive.

Monday, Feb. 16, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

...I have been getting used to driving the trooper and it is a standard. It is only a four cylinder and it is pretty weak. We have to use the four wheel drive sometimes if we have too much weight in the car. It is interesting trying to live in a house with five boys in Africa and learn how to cook and clean and bathe and preach... but it is way fun!

Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

We are at the Bell's and we got to upload some more pictures! We will be sending some information about some of the people in the pictures... We went to church out in the bush today with the Bell's and there were 13 baptisms! The service started at 10:30 and ended at about 2:15. I think we are learning patients! We are getting better at navigating the Kenyan roads and taking care of the car. It is pretty crazy that we are able to come here to Kisumu on our own! Really God is being so gracious to us and has helped us to settle in quickly.

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 -- Excerpts from Mark's e-mail to his parents

...we are going to Kisumu again to stay at the Bell's house. Mrs. Bell said she was really excited about us coming! I think she really likes to be a 'mom' to us! ...we are going to watch a movie and then have some chai. It was really rough here tonight! We have really had a couple of really busy days lately. We had three classes Thursday and then Christian Union which is just a bible study and then today we had two choir practices and we worked on getting the generator hooked up. It is funny how just normal activities take a really long time here. It is nice to be able to relax tonight a little before our traveling.

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004 -- A poem from Mark's e-mail to his parents

Heri I sit, upon my bed
The blustering wind above my head.
Though soft and still and cozy, warm
Adventures rough and wild swarm
Through halls of thought so vast and deep
Where misty tales of wonder keep.
And for these treasured hours I quest,
And still I gain my nightly rest.