Some Pics

Emma and I on the 1st plane ride to ATL

the second plane ride. yep same clothes. :-(

When we got there this lady was walking it was insane

Emma and some kids. shes holding Ginni pig. yep there gonna eat him

Some of the kids from the havilla childrens home

Jennifer. she was our whole team leader. she was amazing!!

Safari!

We have some time to enjoy Africa on Friday. We will go on a safari, drive to Nairobi and then visit a giraffe park and have some time in the afternoon to do some shopping for souvenirs & gifts. Please pray for safe travel and that we will be able to relect on our time in Kenya. We leave early in the morning on Saturday and will be home in North Carolina Sunday morning! This will be the last scheduled post....the next one should be after we return and we will share all the stories about our JOURNEY TO AFRICA!!!

Leaving Karima!

Today is our last day in Karima. We will finish up our service projects in the morning and then after lunch will have time to visit a few families in their homes and say goodbye to our new Kenyan friends. Please pray for us as we say goodbye to the people we have grown close to this week.

Staying in Karima another day...

Because our flights on Friday were cancelled, we are now leaving Kenya on Saturday. Because of this, we have another full day in Karima working in the community! Please pray for us as we really miss our families! We will be spending time with lots of families in Karima and will have many opportunities to visit these families in their homes. Please pray for us as we form relationships and share our lives with them!

We miss you!

We are working in Karima again today! Please pray for us as we spend time with our team members and the people of Kenya. Pray that non-believers will see Jesus through us as we interact with people around us.

Workin'!

Today is the first day of working in the community. Our team will split up into two groups: one to work with school kids and one to help in building 2 water tanks for the community. We will most likely be working with the kids most of the week, but Emma wants to do at least a little manual labor while we're here! Please pray for us to be open to opportunities to share Jesus with the people we are around while we serve in the community.

Karima

We think that Karima is going to become a very special place to us in the next few days. This is where we will be spending most of our time serving and forming relationships with Kenyans. We head to Karima Sunday and will be attending their church services, which normally last about 3 hours. At the church services, we will all introduce ourselves and share a Bible verse or testimony. Please pray for us to be open as we start relationships with the people of Karima!

Unaenda wapi?

"Unaenda wapi?" means "Where are you going?" in Swahili. We are finally heading to KENYA! After a 12 hour layover in the Ghana airport, we are now boarding Kenya Airways for about a 4 1/2 hour flight to Kenya. (That is, if Emma is doing her time change and math correct!) Please pray for continued safe travel and our sanity after spending such a long time cooped up in a small airport. After all the time spent together, hopefully we've had some good bonding with our team members!

Children's home

We arrive in Nairobi at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, which is 9:30 PM EST on Friday night. (8 hour difference from home!) We'll try to sleep on the plane and start the day by getting showers, changing and heading to the Havilla Children's home. We will be doing some chores around the home and probably do some crafts with the kids while we are there. Please pray for us as we spend time with the children and miss our kiddos back home!

Kenya- here we come!

Right now we are over the Atlantic Ocean on our way towards Africa! The picture is supposed to be of us flying- or skydiving- or something like that. We are scheduling these posts in the next 10 days to update you with our tentative itinerary to give you an idea of how to pray for us and give you an idea of what we might be doing. We flew to Atlanta this morning, had a 4 hour layover, met up with the rest of our team and are now on our 16 hour flight to Ghana. Please pray for safe flights and good attitudes on our long journey. We'll have a lot of time to get to know our team members from Atlanta, Alabama & Texas, so please pray for those new relationships that will be forming as well! Asante Sana!

Leaving on a jet plane...

Can you believe it? We are leaving for AFRICA early tomorrow morning. AFRICA! We went down to Atlanta last night for a cookout to meet some of our team members. It was a really good time and we are very excited to get to know everyone more in next 10 days. We'll update each day with our tentative itinerary and list some specific ways that you can be praying for us!

we're going to KARIMA!

We just got some exciting news about where we will be serving in Kenya.  We leave in 42 days- can you believe it???  Here is some information about the community of KARIMA.

Bordered by two rivers, Karima closely neighbors another community,  Kwambekenya. It's name is a Kikuyu name meaning "small hill".

Karima's greatest need is WATER, as they are dependant upon agriculture as the main source of income. 

Education is also a major need here. Like many Kenyan communities, Karima has an abundance of youth, who they recognize will be the future of their community. The primary school is overcrowded with more that 1,000 students, and is in need of additional classrooms and teachers. This makes learning difficult, thus preventing many children from advancing to secondary school.

Along with the youth, there are a large number of widows and single mothers struggling to provide for their children and grandchildren. Karima is also home to the Tumaini Children's Home, which currently houses about 60 orphans, with capacity for about 100.

Karima is unique, in that it is a melting pot of people from different areas of Kenya. The community saw a surge in populations back in the early 1990s due to political instability in nearby areas of Kenya. Members of the Kikuyu tribe that were evicted from their homes, migrated to Karima, and eventually settled there.

There exists a different, but positive dynamic among the people, as they build a culture in their community and learn how to work together towards growth and stability.

Our team will be working on a water project while we are there, as well as having the opportunity to do relational things like home visits and working with the children in the community. It's so exciting to be able to visualize what we will be doing in Africa in just over a month!  

Some Words

Hello to all. Riley here. Emma and I received a book all about Kenya and what we should expect. It's becoming more and more real. Well I thought it would be fun to share with you some Swahili. So here are some.

How are you? Habari yaku?
Hello, Good Day = Jambo
No worries/no probelm = Hakuna Matata
Please= Tafadhali
How are you? = Uhoro waku
How old are you? = Uri na miaka iigana


there are some of the words. Hope you enjoyed them just do me and Emma a favor and not pop random ones out on us cause I know I can't pass yet. I'm not sure about her. hehe

It's been too long since we've posted updates about our journey to Africa this summer-Sorry!  We had our first meeting a couple weeks ago and time has flown by since then.  So we'll start with saying how the first meeting went.  Lacey and Riley drove up for the meeting.  After a yummy dinner at Donato's, we headed over to Crossroads Coffee Shop.  Most of our team was there and it was fun getting together to start forming relationships with each other.  We watched a video and talked about some logistics (shots, fundraisers, etc...)  Angie, our team leader, talked about the importance of unity within our group.  

We had our second meeting yesterday.  Obviously Riley won't be able to make it up to all the meetings, so there were only three of us at Crossroads Coffee Shop last night.  We recieved booklets that include great information about the 410 Bridge, Kenyan culture and a little bit of what to expect on our African journey.  We had some encouraging time in regards to fundraising and God's plan for each of us going on this trip.  We ended the meeting in a prayer time for our team.  Our next meeting is May 28th!

The beginning of this journey is requiring a lot of FAITH in terms of money.  We know that money is not a big deal to God, but it's been hard knowing and accepting that God will provide what we need to go on this trip.  Our team has a fundraiser- a big yardsale- on June 6th.  Riley has a weekly babysitting job that is going towards her funds; Emma has some graphic and photography jobs to put towards hers.  We're excited to see God provide and are really looking forward to our journey that is just 63 days away.  

Here are a few Swahili phrases that we plan on using on our trip:

Jambo (Hello, Good day)

Asante Sana (Thank you very much)

Sasa? (How goes it?)

Sijui (I don't know)

Hakuna Matata (No worries)

Tafadhali (Please)

Una umri wa miaka ngapi? (How old are you?)

Since Kenya used to be a British colony, many Kenyans do speak English, but it will be fun to learn some phrases to show our new Kenyan friends that we care to learn about their culture and language.  

We'll try to keep everyone posted a little more often!  

Hey Guys...

Emma here.  I haven't written anything yet, so I wanted to share some thoughts & new information on our trip to Kenya this summer.  

I think that Riley and I both are getting very excited and the trip to Africa seems a little more real now that things are getting started.  We've sent out support letters, have started the passport process, & have completed an online application.  We will need to get shots too, so I will be looking into that this next week.  In two weeks, our team will meet for the first time to discuss the logistics of the trip.  

Our deposit is due this next week.  I got several responses to my support letters and have already exceeded the deposit!  Thank you everyone!  I'm excited that you want to be a part of our journey to Africa!  In our meeting,  we are going to discuss fundraising.  Any ideas?    

In just over 13 weeks, our journey begins.  I'm excited to experience what God has planned for us in a foreign country.

-emma

What's Happening?

Hello friends,
You may be wondering what this blog is for? Well I shall tell you. Recently Emma and I have been offered the chance of a life time and we are going to take it.
On July 9, 2009 through July 19, 2009 we will be embarking on a missions trip to Kenya. We are going with Emma's church.
This blog will keep you updated on all of the things that are happening in our lives and how much money we have raised for the trip. We will try to have a new post or update every week.
We will be getting more info on our trip at a later time so I don't really know that much about it yet like what we will be doing , but when I do find out about it me or Emma will let you know.
On our blog you can leave comments. That always makes us smile when we get them.
One more thing at the end of every post we will sign our name to let you know who wrote it. :-)

-Riley