The Sojourner

Carol Services, Coming Soon!

2010-12-22T17:06:00.003+03:00

Check back soon - I'll be posting photos and maybe some videos from our Christmas Carol Services in Nice and Saint Paul de Vence!

Jack-o-Lanterns

2010-11-01T01:19:00.000+03:00

Amy and I, along with our house guest Pauline, had lots of fun carving pumpkins for Halloween! We decided to try some new things, and I think they turned out really nicely. Thanks, Karina and Marie, for finding pumpkins for us!!!

Amy's Cat

Pauline's Jack-o-lantern

Jill's Haunted House

Car Accident

2010-10-30T01:13:00.001+03:00

So, I had my first foreign car accident this week. The bus driver left the scene without giving me his information, but other than that, everything is fine. Well, except for the car.

I'll post photos soon - I especially want everyone to see how well the new bumper I put on held up!

Avignon

2010-10-25T00:52:00.001+03:00

Here are some photos from our recent day trip to Avignon. It was a really cold and windy day, but we really enjoyed visiting the old Papal Palace and the Pont du Gard!

Emilio imitating the elephant statue outside the Palace!

Here is the entrance to the palace, where French popes lived and worked for 70 years.

A statue on top of the Palace at sunset.

The inside of the Palace was incredible!

A shot of Nacho by the window. It was cold!

This was the dining room of the Pope. The inside of the fireplace is the size of my bedroom!

The courtyard of the Papal Palace.

I just thought this old door looked cool.

Daniel and Marie celebrated 19 years of marriage. Congratulations!!!

The Pont du Gard, a 2000-year old aqueduct near Avignon. It was still in use until about 100 years ago.

You can still walk across this bridge, and the water still flows smoothly through. Amazing!

Half Day of Prayer

2010-07-21T15:55:00.005+03:00

Every three months our church hosts a Half-Day of Prayer, where we get together and pray for one another, for our church, and for the world. This time we all met at James and Jen's house on a sunny Saturday to pray, and then had a barbecue to celebrate Independence Day. The prayer time was great: we modeled our prayer time after the Lord's Prayer. Here are a few photos from our day together:

The Arnold's have a great yard for gatherings like this one!

We used every corner of their property to pray and visit.

The kids had a program too, and Amy and Jen did a great job with them.

Can you imagine a better place to pray?

Daniel and Francois during small-group prayer.

Another prayer group...

What Independence Day celebration is complete without a flag cake?!

Our New Home

2010-07-21T15:41:00.004+03:00

After 3 months of searching, we finally moved into our new home on June 21st! Here just a few photos of our place:

We have many fruit trees and flowering plants in the yard, including 2 palm trees!

Our living room has lots of windows, making it very light and open.

Here is a view of the living room. It's been a great gathering place for us. (We're going to re-cover the sofas!)

Our kitchen is very big, especially by European standards.

I found a desk I really love at a secondhand furniture store, and here it is in my bedroom. It's important to have a desk I like, because I'll be spending a lot of time studying there!

Baptism!

2010-06-25T16:17:00.004+03:00

This Saturday five members of our church family were baptized in the Mediterranean. It was truly an international event, as those baptized come from France, the USA, the Ukraine, and India. Each one gave a short profession of their faith before getting in the water. They were all very moving, though perhaps most moving of all was our own teammate, 9-year old Rebekah, who was baptized by her dad.

Marie Durant

2010-05-17T13:02:00.007+03:00

While we were at the castle last month, we visited a museum dedicated to the Huguenots, the French Protestants of the early 18th century who were persecuted for their beliefs. I was especially touched by the story of a woman named Marie.

Below is an excerpt from an article called "The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood" by John Piper (full article here, who tells her story.

The opposite of a wimpy woman is a girl named Marie Durant. In the late Seventeenth Century in . . . southern France, she was brought before the authorities, charged with the Huguenot heresy. She was fourteen years old, bright, attractive, marriageable. She was asked to abjure the Huguenot faith. She was not asked to commit an immoral act, to become a criminal, or even change the day-to-day quality of her behavior. She was only asked to say, “J’abjure.” No more, no less. She did not comply. Together with thirty other Huguenot women she was put into a tower by the sea. . . . For thirty-eight years she continued. . . . And instead of the hated word J’abjure she, together with her fellow martyrs, scratched on the wall of the prison tower the single word Resistez, resist! The word is still seen and gaped at by tourists on the stone wall at Aigues-Mortes. . . . We do not understand the terrifying simplicity of a religious commitment which asks nothing of time and gets nothing from time. We can understand a religion that enhances time. . . . But we cannot understand a faith which is not nourished by the temporal hope that tomorrow things will be better. To sit in a prison room with thirty others and to see the day change into night and summer into autumn, to feel the slow systemic changes within one’s flesh; the drying and wrinkling of the skin, the loss of muscle tone, the stiffening of the joints, the slow stupefaction of the senses - to feel all this and still persevere seems almost idiotic to a generation which has no capacity to wait and to endure.

A painting of Marie Durant and her fellow inmates at the tower of Aiges-Mortes.

The stone from the tower wall where the women etched "Resistez".

A Week in a Castle!

2010-04-22T18:57:00.004+03:00

Here are a few more pictures of our week in the Cevennes, near La Salle. We stayed in a Chateau on a hill, and the trees and flowers were really getting ready for spring! These are pictures of the grounds of the castle. Later on I'll post some photos of the surrounding area, including a story from the Musee du Desert, a museum we visited which commemorates the Huguenots of the early 1700s. The Huguenots were the French Protestants who were persecuted heavily for their faith and lived mainly in the hills of the Cevennes, where they could hide from the French troops. It was a really moving and inspirational museum - I'll tell you more about it soon!

The chapel on the chateau grounds.

There were many beautiful doors!

This was the view from our bedroom! The pot you see in the foreground is from the nearby village of Anduze. These pots are very famous and expensive, and can even be found decorating the palace in Versailles!

There were beautiful flowers everywhere!

House Guests

2010-04-19T11:11:00.004+03:00

I've been out of touch for about a week as the entire team, along with our visiting guests Dr. and Mrs. Young, traveled to a International Church Conference at a castle in the Cevennes. It was such a beautiful region, the Cote d'Azur almost pales in comparison! (At least, for those like me who prefer mountains and rivers to the blue of the Med.) We had a great week of teaching and meeting together with church leaders from all over Europe, and I realized my childhood dream of sleeping in an actual castle for a week!

Now that we are back, we have a couple more house-guests to add to the party, as the volcano in Iceland has prevented Dr. Young and his wife from flying home for a few more days. Never a dull moment here!

I will write soon and post more pictures of our lovely week in the Cevennes!

A Great Birthday

2010-04-13T11:02:00.003+03:00

I had a really fun birthday last week! I tried to take a few pictures to remember the day.

Donna and Amy woke up early and fixed fresh cinnamon rolls for all of us! Donna assures me that she loves waking up early, though to me it seems like the ultimate sacrifice!

After our French lesson, a few ladies from church took me to lunch in a nearby village in the mountains called Tourrette-sur-Loup. The weather was a little overcast, but the village was still very charming.

We ate at a place called Chez Grand-mere, a favorite of everyone who has been there! It only has about 10 tables in the whole place, but the food is amazing, and I'm sure they could fill a room many times larger!

The family who owns the restaurant is French, but they spent many years in North Africa, and I enjoyed the best couscous I've ever tasted!

After dinner I had some Moroccan Mint Tea, which may have been the best part of the meal! The owners also came out to sing for me, which I'm told is very rare here. I definitely felt special!

After our big lunch, Amy, Donna, and I took a stroll through the old city of Saint Paul. There is a cemetery in the city where the artist Chagall is buried.

The view of the city and the surrounding countryside from the cemetery is magnificent!

Here you can see the Medieval wall that still surrounds the old city of Saint Paul.

We decided to try and hike from Saint Paul across the valley to the Arnold's house, where we are staying until we find a place of our own. We had quite an adventure! At different times we were in danger of snakes, large dogs, briers and thorny vines, raging rivers (okay, it was just a small creek we had to cross)... but it felt really good to take a hike in the woods, and when we emerged on the other side of the valley, we were rewarded with this view of Saint Paul:

As we walked up to the road, we were thrilled to discover we had come up less than a city block from the Arnold's house! We couldn't believe our good fortune!

The girls, the Arnolds, and the church all made my birthday a really special and memorable one. We ended the evening with a rousing game of Phase 10 (which Donna did not let me win). There's always next year.

Quick Update

2010-04-01T22:25:00.003+03:00

I have a French bank account! I think we've finally broken through! Now we have what we need to get a cell phone plan. Then we'll get bills with our names on them, and we'll have proof that we reside here. With that, we can do all kinds of things!

Looking forward to seeing how God gets it all done...

The Bermuda Triangle

2010-03-30T16:24:00.002+03:00

I've been in France for about two and a half weeks now, and I'm enjoying it here. Southern France is known for its beauty, and the blue Mediterranean, picturesque mountains, and spring flowers do not disappoint. We've experienced cold and warm temps, sun, rain, and fog, and I believe the Cote d'Azur is nice in any weather.

If all we needed to do was look at the foliage, we probably wouldn't have a care in the world here. However, we have a lot more to do. We are still living with our team leaders and their five young children. We don't have bank accounts, cell phone contracts, a house or apartment. We have not registered for language school. We are not officially registered with the government yet. 'So,' you might be wondering, 'What have you been doing all this time?' Well... let me explain.

France has many rules, laws, forms, procedures, policies, etc. that can make it challenging to get things done, or even to know where to start! When we went to the bank to open an account, they told us we would need proof of our address in France. One form of 'proof' could be a cell phone bill in our name. So, off to the cell phone company to set up an account. And they will be glad to set us up with a plan... they just need to see our bank card.

And so the circle goes. To rent a house, you need a bank account. To open a bank account, you need an address. It feels a little like the Bermuda Triangle - lost in an impenetrable fog of regulations. Our lighthouse, however, has been the Church. Members of our two churches, the International Baptist Church in Saint Paul and in Nice, have been helpful and generous beyond imagining. Several members have offered to act as a guarantor when we are ready to sign a lease. One couple offered to put up their house as a guarantee for us. They have donated furnishings for our future home. Although they hardly know us, many church members have advised us, translated for us, made calls for us, and interceded on our behalf in ways that can only point to one thing: We are one body, with one Lord and Father of all. Praise God for his provision.

So, although it feels as though my two teammates and I are stuck in a strange holding pattern, we are encouraged by the Body of Christ, and we hope that we'll soon be in our own home, furnished, with bank accounts and cell phones, studying French and getting to know our church family that has already loved us so well. The Church in Cote d'Azur is small, but it is true.

Everyone wants your $20...

2009-12-04T21:30:00.002+03:00

What will you purchase with yours?

I love humor, so when I was deciding how to appeal to people to give toward the ministry we're doing in France, no matter how much or how little they were able to contribute, I came up with a little ad campaign. Here's the basic idea...

It's so easy to blow $20 on an impulse! There are a million products out there that claim to improve the quality of your life... A gun that blows chicken-scented bubbles for your dog to chase around; a baby carrier with hooks so you can hang your baby on a bathroom stall door while you use the facilities; and here are two more examples I found. Enjoy!

These are just people trying to make a living, and my intention is not to tear them down. But if we're buying stuff like this and NOT investing in the Great Commission, we may need to adjust our priorities, and examine who we're living for.

More to come!

The New Plan

2009-12-02T21:08:00.002+03:00

I'm on my way to France, sooner or later, though I hope it's sooner! I have about $1500 in monthly support to raise before I am ready to go. I love meeting with people to talk about what I do, but calling them to sacrifice is not easy. I have to constantly ask myself, "Do I believe the work I'm doing is important enough to ask people to invest in it?" Yes. I do.

I'll be writing more frequently now. I've been lax while I've been in the US this year, and I apologize for that. I look forward to sharing the new adventures to come!

Catching Up...

2008-12-09T17:43:00.004+03:00

I've been a bad blogger! It's been a long while since I sat down to update my page, partly due to computer problems, partly due to busyness, and partly due to a general sense of apathy that I'm going to blame on the climbing temperatures here in Mombasa. In any case, I'm back, and here's a taste of what's been happening lately...

The sunsets off my verandah are still the best show in town. I try to take advantage of my front-row seat as often as my schedule allows!

Anjela is getting bigger all the time! She is walking like a champ now, she has four and a half teeth, and she says a lot of words. She can name all her best friends, though my name comes out sounding a little like "Diyahhhh".

She's also got a great Stevie Wonder impersonation! haha...

Last week I let Jacinta braid my hair. I'll be taking it out soon - it's too hot to carry around so much hair right now - but it's been fun! People say I look African now. I'm not so sure...

This spider moved in this week. He spun a huge web on my bedroom verandah. I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but he's roughly the size of my hand (open palm). I took my broom to his web today and moved him back out. Sorry, big guy.

Mostly, I've been spending lots of time with the worship team at church. We're getting ready for Christmas now, and I'll be helping with the Christmas play as well as the music. It's pretty fun. After years of singing in holiday concerts and acting in plays, getting involved in this production makes the Christmas season feel a little more real to me, even despite the heat.

Yearbook Yourself!

2008-09-12T12:55:00.006+03:00

I was reading the great blog of an old college friend of mine, and she mentioned a website that turned out to be the evening's entertainment last night! It's called Yearbook Yourself. It will show you what your yearbook photo might have looked like if you graduated in 1958, or 1998, or anywhere in between! All my results were laugh-out-loud funny, but here are just a few of my favorites...

If I graduated in 1968, I would apparently have had the neck of a giraffe!

In 1978, the year I was born, I would have looked like this! It's so humid in Mombasa that my hair really does look like this most of the time these days...

Mm. 1982. A good year for hairspray.

And perhaps a personal favorite, 1964! Oh, dear...

The Thought Does Count

2008-09-01T19:16:00.003+03:00

Ramadan began today. All my Muslim friends have started fasting during the daylight hours. One friend explained to me that the fast is meant to help the poor. Instead of using your money to buy food for yourself, you are supposed to give the money (or some food) to the poor. You share in their sufferings for a season by depriving yourself of food. I know Ramadan is significant for many reasons, and the meaning varies from person to person (much like Christmas in the West). This is how my friend explained it to me, however, and I like the idea that there exists in the world a month when the rich become poor that the poor might be rich.

I met the Omondi’s and their visitor Abby for lunch today at Leonardo’s, a paradise of homemade Italian Gelato and fresh pasta, located within dangerously close walking distance of my home. I ordered a Hawaiian pizza and only finished half, so I carried the rest home with me. I decided to give it to Hassani, the gardener in my apartment complex who is always ready to help me carry things upstairs. I told him to come get it when his work was done. I didn’t want to tempt him to eat in the middle of the day. So, about 20 minutes ago, he knocked on my door, and I opened to find him holding a small bowl with something wrapped in a green leaf and tied with twine. He said with a big smile, “I have come with your food!” So I went and got his package of pizza, and he left me with this… thing. He didn’t tell me what it was called – only that it is somehow related to a banana, and his mother used to make it for breakfast. I wish I could post smells on the internet, because I’ve never smelled anything quite like it. (I smelled it behind closed doors, of course, for smelling food in front of the person offering it is offensive here.) And the taste… well, there is definitely something banana-ish in there, and it’s a little smoky, and mostly it tastes like a dense loaf of nothing much. Even so, that small token brightened my whole day!

Say What?

2008-08-29T20:53:00.006+03:00

I think Arabic is a pretty language to look at, but it's tough when I need to know what it says! Here in Mombasa where so many of our products are imported from the Middle East, I run into trouble sometimes. It makes me appreciate the marketing geniuses who came up with the logos for some of the world's biggest brands. Do you recognize these?

I've heard some pretty funny stories from people in countries that use different symbols for their alphabet. One friend of mine in Asia once brushed her teeth with hemorrhoid cream. Someone else I know used powdered sugar instead of flour in a tortilla recipe. It's a dangerous world out there...

(By the way, the answers are Diet Coke, Colgate, and Ritz)

I'm Not a "Lady in Waiting"...

2008-08-27T20:59:00.003+03:00

While in Nairobi last week I stayed in the guest house of the International Bible Society. They have a Christian bookstore on their campus which is awesome for several reasons. One: it has the best price on Bibles in all of East Africa. Two: You can get Bibles in any Kenyan tribal language there is a translation for. Three: They have cool mugs. Four: I really like Judy, the girl who works behind the counter.

Sadly, there is one thing I regret about the place. Apart from the great Bibles, there isn’t much in that shop (easily the biggest Christian bookstore in Kenya) that isn’t fluff. Now, there may be some diamonds hiding among the… shall we say cubic zirconium?... but I’m always disappointed to find the patently shallow array of Christian self-help books and romance novels (I think we like to call it Spiritual Growth and Christian Fiction).

I have little patience for the literary (and musical) mediocrity of the evangelical world, but there is one thing I find particularly intolerable. Have you ever walked down the Women’s aisle in a Christian bookstore? Let me share with you most of the titles I found on the shelf at IBS.

Date… or Soul Mate? (How to know if someone is worth pursuing in two dates or less)
Becoming the Woman of His Dreams (Seven Qualities Every Man Longs For)
More than a Match (How to Turn the Dating Game into Lasting Love)
Dating With Passion (More than Rules, More than a Courtship, More than a Formula)
Sassy, Single, and Satisfied (Secrets to Loving the Life you’re Living)
Women Making a Difference in Marriage
Preparing for Marriage
A Wife After God’s Own Heart
A Mom After God’s Own Heart

There were a few other books about motherhood and marriage (including His Needs, Her Needs, and a potentially amusing offshoot called Mommy’s Needs, Daddy’s Needs, where I can only assume the author tries to convince young children that their parents have needs too, by golly, and you should give them a little more space). Then there is one devotional book for busy moms. Sadly, I’ve just inventoried the entire section for you.

Have you ever heard a single woman say, “I don’t feel like my life is worth anything until I get married and have kids.” What did you say to that woman? What would you say?

What is the Women’s section in the Christian bookstore saying?

What is the Church saying?

Let’s pretend for a moment that I’m a new Christian, and I’d like to know what the Church believes about singleness. If the bookstore is anything to go by, the job of a single woman is to make herself as attractive as she can and do whatever necessary to attract a man, then get married and have children as soon as possible. Then she will spend the rest of her life trying to make that marriage and those kids “work for her”.

Please hear me, I’m not trying to say that the Church should stop helping young women prepare for marriage and motherhood. I know many young women whose hearts’ desire is to be a wife and mom, and I believe that is a worthy calling. But I believe the Church has erred by bending to the world in this area, and it has placed an unhealthy focus on finding “true love”, which isn’t really true at all, and has called women away from the truths of the Bible. The Bible says if you can stay single, you should, for as long as you are single, you are able to devote yourself wholly to God and the things that concern Him. (That’s in 1 Corinthians 7.)

Well, this is a big topic, and I’m going to write more about it in the coming weeks and months. I hope you’ll feel free to comment on what I write, and even share your experiences if you like. I’m sure it would enrich my own study.

No Need for Miracle Gro!

2008-08-27T20:50:00.004+03:00

I always tell people I have a missionary nose. Either I don’t smell very well, or I just don’t notice (the latter option is more consistent with my character J). My friend Cristina has a very sensitive nose, which is unfortunate, because she lives in Bolivia, where I’ve experienced some of the worst odors I’ve smelled to date. I’m really glad Cristina wasn’t in my house this week when I got back from Nakuru. There was a little science experiment growing in my kitchen in a pot. Two weeks ago, when I was here last, I made some oatmeal for breakfast, then put the cover on it and promptly forgot all about it (see what I mean about my character?). Now, this isn’t the first time a dirty dish has escaped my notice for a couple weeks. But this is the first time it’s happened in an un-air conditioned apartment on the equator. Whatever grew in that pot produced an odor even I couldn’t miss! I had to wrap a bandana around my face to keep from gagging while I cleaned it out.

While traveling with our visitors from Denton, we remarked a lot how small potted plants in the

grow to almost Jurassic proportions here. For instance, Americans have little potted poinsettias on our tables at Christmas time. Here they grow into 20-foot tall trees! Lantana, those sweet little ground covering flowers that sit just a couple inches off the ground in so many Texas lawns grow into giant bushes in Nairobi. Below are a few pictures of the mammoth flora we saw. Most of the time, it’s a good thing that things grow bigger and faster here. Unless you’re talking about that pot in my kitchen. But I won’t show you a picture of that.

A poinsettia tree!

Gayle said she has one of these, but it's tiny!

Schneicky, that's big!

Moved and Connected

2008-08-26T22:11:00.002+03:00

After a month of moving, hosting visitors, and traveling, I have signed away the inheritance of any future children I may have in a contract with the most reliable (for that, read least incompetent) internet service provider in Ukunda. I no longer pay more for internet service than I pay to rent my flat. Sadly, that's only true because my rent increased! But, this is Africa, and I'm just happy to be online again!

I have so much to share from the last month! In the next few days I hope to post some things I've been saving. Be sure to check back!

Life in the Waiting Room...

2008-07-21T11:36:00.004+03:00

Just hangin' out.

I haven't posted anything in a while. That's because life has been pretty plodding lately. It seems that I'm living in a waiting room.

I've packed and moved most of the things that will fit in my car. Now I'm waiting for the end of the month to hire a truck to carry my furniture to my new flat and finish my move.

I'm waiting for the carpenter to finish constructing my new dining room table. Sure, it was supposed to be ready almost two months ago, but that's okay, because everytime I talk to him, he assures me it will be ready tomorrow. Funny thing about tomorrow (as a wise young redhead once sang) - it's always a day away.

I'm waiting for my best friend to arrive. Rachael is coming to spend three weeks with me. Wednesday night seems so far away!

All this waiting is a little unsettling. But who likes to be settled, anyway?

You never know where your stuff will end up...

2008-07-11T02:00:00.003+03:00

Did your mom ever tell you that you should clean your plate, "because there are starving kids in Africa"? If you were a sassy kid like me, you might have wondered, to yourself or out loud, how you would ever get your food to Africa, because you'd gladly give it away.

Well, sometimes your stuff might actually make its way to Africa. There is a store in town called Soko Ndogo, or "small market". It has the look of a garage sale, and that's basically what it is. Things end up there that don't sell in the Goodwill's and Salvation Army's of the US. It's obvious that it all comes direct from America, because it's stuff you can't find anywhere else here in Mombasa. I've found many useful things there, such as ice cube trays and cast iron skillets. I've also found some pretty random stuff, like the Mickey Mouse Talking Telephone that I had when I was a kid, Bernstein Bear books (I'm saving them to read with kids who come to visit), and a fly swatter in the shape of Indiana. But every once in a while, I find something truly bizarre. Something that hits so close to home that I forget I'm in Africa for a moment. This week, I found a Minnesota State Lottery travel mug! It's got a loon on it and everything! Can you imagine the incredible journey that mug must have taken to get here? How many hands it must have passed through? And now it's back in the hands of a Minnesotan, though half a world away!

If you ever wondered where your freebie plastic cups go when you donate them to Goodwill... you know, the ones from the Municipal Fire Safety Campain, or the Coffeyville Colts 7th Annual Dance-a-thon, or the Summerpalooza concert you went to back in 1992 - the answer is... they end up here. In Mombasa, Kenya, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Who would have guessed?

My new favorite mug!

The Backwards Bridal Shower!

2008-07-11T01:47:00.004+03:00

The people on the Serve:Kenya team have some really wonderful friends! This week Allison received not one, not two, but three large boxes from her friends back home in North Carolina. It was a baby shower in a box! Okay, technically it was a baby shower in three boxes.

The men were all away in Nairobi this week, so Allison and I, along with our newest arrival Jessi, decided to have a baby shower! Allison's friends actually sent muffin mix and plates so we could do it up right. The theme of our evening was the "backwards baby shower," because everything was backwards. Most showers are thrown before the baby is born; this one happened afterward! Most shower guests bring gifts; we didn't have any! So we wore our clothes backwards and had a fun time laughing and opening up all the boxes. Seeing all the gifts laid out on the floor was truly an amazing sight!

Mama for a weekend...

2008-07-11T01:04:00.005+03:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take care of my "niece", baby Anjela, while Dennis and Allison went away to celebrate their anniversary. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work!

Before the Omondi's left, we celebrated the 4th of July with the turtles and giraffes at Haller Park...

We also fed the giraffes. They have looooong tongues! (I guess that's why they need all that neck!)

Dennis and Allison left, and Anjela and I celebrated the 4th of July again on the 5th by going to the beach to meet some friends. Here is Anjela playing with her favorite toy: my car keys...

The next day was Sunday, and we went to church to hear Uncle Ben preach at Word of Life. Ben did a great job. Sadly, Anjela slept through the whole thing!

Back at home again, we just hung out. We got out the camera and worked on our acting skills a little. I like to call this next little photo montage, "The Many Faces of Anjela".

Okay, Anjela, let's get started. First, smell your feet and pretend they are stinky.

Now show me suspense...

Hm. We have to work on that one. Okay, now do sad.

That's a good one! Now give me your best Dana Carvey Church Lady impression. "Well isn't that special."

How about worry and concern?

And for the grand finale... the face you do best: Happy!!!

Independence Day

2008-07-03T20:17:00.003+03:00

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. I spent a little time this evening reading the Declaration of Independence. I feel a sense of responsibility about the holidays I celebrate. It's so easy to lose the significance of these special days, I guess because they come back around every year, along with taxes and teeth cleanings. But I don't think it's fair to allow ourselves a day of celebration if we don't take an interest in what we're celebrating - it's like we're throwing a birthday party without inviting the birthday girl. I wonder how many people today think Christmas is about a fat guy with a beard and Easter is about a bunny who lays eggs. What does it all mean?

On July 4th, 1776 (232 years ago), a group of men got together and drafted the Declaration of Independence. The colonies of America would no longer recognize the authority of the British government in their affairs. The beginning of the document is very familiar: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Then the document goes on to spell out the grievances of the people of America against the British crown. The basic idea is that a people should not be ruled by a governing body which is in no way accountable to them. If no one in Britain had the best interests of the American people at heart, then the American people should not be forced to submit to their rule.

As a Christian who believes that the Bible is the final moral authority, that doesn't sit well with me 100%. I love America - it is my home - but I can't help but wonder if our preoccupation with the idea of freedom, which is obvious even in our earliest document as a nation, is somehow harmful to us. In truth, we are all slaves to something. This is a deep and complicated thought, and it's late, but it's something I'll be thinking about tomorrow as I celebrate Independence Day.

The Fathers of our nation believed that "all men are created equal." Well, all except "the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." Yep - that's in there too.

I don't want to rain on the parade. Literally. Going to the 4th of July parade at my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jimmy's house every year is one of my favorite memories of childhood. Tomorrow I'm going to Haller Park with my team, a place where you can pet 150 year-old giant tortoises and feed giraffes from your hand, and I'm going to celebrate the birthday of a great nation, which I am fortunate to call my home. But I'm learning that even our successes are mingled with impure motives and sinful attitudes. My "American-ness" should never rank above my Christianity. I do pray that God will bless America. And may He bless every other nation on earth as well!

Happy 4th of July!

It's an Obamanation!

2008-06-30T15:26:00.002+03:00

We followed this matatu (the most common form of public transportation here in Kenya) on our way back from church yesterday! The side said "Vote4Obama". I wonder if they know they can't vote?

Mtwapa Conference

2008-06-29T22:09:00.004+03:00

I haven't taken a shower since Friday. Why not, you ask? Because here in Mombasa, we have to buy water from a guy with plastic jugs and a cart, and I haven't had time to even walk downstairs to find the guy and ask him to come!

The second women's conference was this weekend, and it went very well. The ladies exceeded our expectations in many ways. First, in sheer numbers! There were about 75 women in attendance. Second, in punctuality. Kenyans are not very good at keeping time, but these ladies were there before we were! Third, in perseverance. Some women came from 60 kilometers away to attend the conference, and other women who lived nearby opened their homes to them. We heard from a few women that their non-Christian husbands don't approve of them going to conferences, so some of them snuck out to be there! (I can't endorse the behavior, but I still admire the determination...) And the ladies were all there every day!

Teaching was fun, but I'm glad it's over, and I'm in much need of some rest. This week will be mainly a time for rest and recuperation. A lot of things have taken a backseat to these conferences this month, so I will try to return to my normal habits and disciplines. First on my list: get some water and take a shower!

Some of the women who attended the Mtwapa conference!

Safari!

2008-06-22T20:09:00.007+03:00

Here are some pictures from the safari I went on recently with the team and our summer short-term visitors!

Great tree!

He looks ferocious, but he's just yawning.

Mama Lion

and lion cubs

Water Buffalo

An ostrich couple out for a stroll

This is a termite hill. Seriously.

Baboons hang out in clans close to lodges. They like people food.

This elephant almost charged us!

gotta love a giraffe!

I wonder what he's thinking about...

This little kitty heard Anjela crying and thought she might make a tasty dinner.

Ujamaa Conference

2008-06-20T19:30:00.003+03:00

Hi! I know it's been a long time since I last wrote. Last week I was on safari with some of our guests from America, and this week I've been teaching a women's conference in a village called Ujamaa. Thirty pastor's wives and church leaders came to the conference from over ten different churches, and we had a great time together! This is the first time I've done anything like this, and it was fun, challenging, and exhausting! Below are a few pictures of the women's conference. I'll add pictures of the safari soon!

The women on the last day of the conference (today!)

Teaching about the Beauty of a Godly Woman with my translator Evalyn

The ladies listened attentively

Several of the women brought their small children with them

On the last day we all had lunch together - Allison and some yummy pilau!

The 51st State?

2008-06-10T21:54:00.004+03:00

Kenyans are taking the news of Senator Obama's nomination and running with it! Everyone is so excited - I get asked multiple times a day if I am going to vote for Obama. They are so proud of his Kenyan roots (his grandmother is from the same tribe as my boss Dennis). Let me quote an excerpt of what the Daily Nation, Kenya's national paper, said this week:

"(Obama is) inspirational, articulate, brilliant, funny, and naturally empathetic... Now it will be up to every Democrat, every progressive, to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make Barack Obama the American president who leads the world into a new progressive era of unprecedented possibilities."

Wow! That's a tall order to fill, especially in 4 to 8 short years!

I'm not surprised at the support Senator Obama has found here in Kenya. What does surprise me is that Kenyans seem to think they will reap a harvest of blessings if Obama is elected. One Kenyan man (the guy I buy fruit from) said, "When Obama is president, our problems will be over." When I pressed him to tell me what he meant by that, he conceded that his problems wouldn't be over, but he believes his situation will improve with a "Kenyan" in the White House.

It's an interesting phenomenon. I'll keep my political convictions to myself for the moment. Let me just say that it will be interesting to participate in the elections this year from here in Kenya!

Well, that's a first!

2008-05-31T18:28:00.002+03:00

It's been an encouraging week in ministry. Three things happened that I've never witnessed before. They all happened at College Ministry events here in Mombasa. For the last 18 months or so, working with college students at Fellowship Baptist Church has been my primary job. It's a lot of fun, especially when the sort of things happen that I'm about to share with you...

First, rewind to Tuesday night. I write a Bible Study for our Tuesday night meeting, and lately we have had an attendance of about 20 students. We're learning how the Gospel can be applied practically in our day-to-day lives, and for the last couple weeks, we've been talking about forgiveness. Last week we discussed how God forgives us. This week we talked about how we need to forgive others. We asked questions like, "What if God forgave us the way we forgive each other?" The answer: That would be bad. So we thought of people in our lives that we need to forgive, and imagined what it would look like if we offered that person radical forgiveness as God asks us to. One of the students actually walked out of the study because, and I quote, he was "too convicted" to stay. He knew it was right, but, much like Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, he couldn't handle the truth. That's a first! I'm sad for this student, but glad the study is hitting so close to home.

Second, move ahead to Wednesday night. We were all up in Dennis and Allison's apartment where Dennis was teaching on leadership principles. He asked the students to share one practical way their life has been changed this semester through College Ministry. Ben was there, a young guy who had been on my mind all semester because I knew he didn't own a Bible. None of us had any spare Bibles to give away, but I kept thinking that we ought to buy him one. Just goes to show how ignorant I am. Ben raised his hand and said, "The most practical way my life has changed this semester is my priorities. If you had told me four months ago that I would spend my own money to buy this (he waved a brand-new Bible up in the air), I would have laughed in your face!" He bought his own Bible! I know it was a big sacrifice for him, so it will be special to him - more special than anything I could have given.

Third, fast-forward to Friday morning. I have Swahili tutoring with Jackie once a week. Jackie is a pharmacy student and College Ministry leader. This week my assignment was to teach her a Bible lesson in Swahili. I talked to her about Mary and Martha, and about the sin of worry. As it turns out, she didn't know that worry is actually a sin. I got to teach her a lesson about worry vs. trusting God (in Swahili!), and she had one of those light-bulb moments that make all this missionary stuff worthwhile. It was my first Swahili light-bulb moment!

Wait for it...

2008-05-26T22:19:00.003+03:00

I'm back from a great weekend on Mombasa's South Coast, the place our team will be moving to sometime in the next few months. On Friday I taught in Swahili, which I haven't done very much, and it was fun! A friend was bringing a program called "True Love Waits" to a community school in a village near her home, and she asked me to come along. The program targets young kids in upper elementary school and teaches them the benefits of abstinence and purity until marriage. The program has had great results in other African nations in stemming the spread of HIV. It is based on Biblical principles, but because of its important message, even schools that are predominantly Muslim (like the one we went to on Friday) welcome it.

The school is also a neat place. The community got together and erected the buildings with their own hands. They also help the poorer children in their area pay for uniforms so they can come to class. I was surprised to learn that many kids don't go to school because they can't afford the uniforms! This community is really taking care of it's own, and I'm so glad I got to visit. I'll post pictures soon!

I also spent time with a couple families from our new church, and enjoyed getting to know some new people and hearing their stories. It's fun to think about these small beginnings, and wonder who will become my close friends in the months and years to come.

My other task this weekend was house-hunting. Friday was a torrential day, but my friend Melissa slopped around in the rain with me looking at apartments and houses that I might rent. We found a few places that may work for me, though there is often more to a place than meets the eye. The biggest "invisible issues" that are common problems in Diani are the fresh water supply, security, and shifty neighbors. Diani is a unique place with a lot of different dynamics - lots of tourists on one side, bringing with them a variety of benefits and problems, and on the other side is a very distinct group of indigenous people, the Muslim Digo tribe, who I am just beginning to learn about.

I haven't made any decisions yet about where I will live. All I can do is choose based on the things I know, and trust God for the rest. I am praying that I'll make a wise choice!

Driving Dangers

2008-05-20T22:56:00.008+03:00

I've already explained that driving is dangerous here - especially during the rainy season! Not only are there potholes of absurd proportions, there are also many things to dodge: fallen branches, livestock, pedestrians, wooden carts, matatus (Kenyan public transportation), tuk tuks (imagine a taxi on three wheels powered by a lawnmower engine, and you've got a tuk tuk), speed bumps, lawless intersections, and a host of student drivers from Mombasa's many driving schools. Schools with names like Unik, Rocky, and AA Driving School. Incidentally, the only school that doesn't promise a guaranteed "pass" (for that, read "we don't care if you can drive, just cough up the cash") is AA.

The other day I was on the road with two friends. We were returning home after getting a bite to eat, and we rounded a bend to see a matatu just ahead of us, picking up a passenger on the side of the road.

Matatus are decrepit, boxy vans that seat 15 people and drive in circuits picking up passengers. For 20 shillings you can get through town in a matatu. It's not just a bus - it's a cultural experience! The most popular ones are painted black or orange, decked out in black-lights and neon, with booming music so loud you hear them before you see them. Part roller coaster, part disco, part extreme sport; once you've ridden a matatu, you'll never forget it.

There are more matatus than monkeys in Mombasa, so I'm used to dodging them as I drive. However, on this day, as this particular matatu pulled back out into the road, we noticed the conductor struggling to shut the big sliding door on the side. Before we knew what was happening the door fell off it's top hinge and the van began dragging the door along the road beside it! Sparks were flying, the matatu was swerving, and I ducked down a side-street just in time to see the door completely detach itself from the van, do a flip, and skid to a halt in the middle of the road. We were almost flattened by a runaway car door! And the strangest thing about it was: no one was even phased. Just another day here in Mombasa...

A typical matatu waiting for passengers

When in motion, matatus look like this!

Ann!

2008-05-15T18:30:00.002+03:00

About two weeks ago I hired a new girl to help me around the house. Since 2006 the Omondi's and I have shared one worker named Ruth, but now that their family is growing they need Ruth full-time.

It may sound pretty posh to have a house-helper, but it's a big part of the culture here. Even people who live in the slums often pay someone a few shillings to wash, sweep, cook, or do some of the million chores that Americans simply buy machines for.

On a typical day, Ann will take a hand-brush and get on her knees to sweep the rug (no vacuum), use a rag to wash the tile and concrete floors (no mop), wash the dishes (no dishwasher) that have piled up after a day of making everything from scratch (no 'Hamburger Helper'), wash the towels and sheets by hand (I have a washing machine, but she's not used to using one and prefers to do it by hand), hangs them on the veranda (no dryer), purifies the drinking water (no Brita fliters), and wipes the dust off everything that has drifted in the open windows (no air conditioning).

Ann has worked really hard, and I am really glad to have her help. She is a timid girl who hasn't escaped life's troubles. Her father died when she was in the 3rd grade, and she had to drop out of school because her family couldn't afford to send her anymore. She has three older sisters and two younger brothers, both of whom she is helping to send to school with part of her wages. She loves the Lord and sings in her church choir. I'll try to get a picture of her so you can see what she looks like.

Something that has been very helpful to me is that, because of her lack of schooling, Ann doesn't speak any English. Finally I have someone who is a part of my daily life who needs to communicate in Swahili! I've been trying to tough it out and use our conversations as practice sessions. I'm not sure what she thinks of my Swahili - she smiles a lot when I talk...

Word of Life

2008-05-06T09:51:00.007+03:00

Last Sunday was a big day for our team. Dennis officially became the pastor of Word of Life Church in Diani, about an hour south of Mombasa.

The first family! Dennis, Allison, and Anjela

The church is in a beautiful location, right off the beach in a hall with makuti (a thatch roof).

It's even pretty on a rainy day!

The service went really well, and afterward the whole church had lunch together. After that Allison and I took Anjela to the beach to put her toes in the Indian Ocean. She loved it!

Anjela with her Auntie Nelly

Anjela's first dip in the ocean!

Mama Allison and Auntie Jill!

What could it mean?

2008-05-03T22:11:00.003+03:00

Today the Omondi's and I met together with Pastor Elly and his wife Amina. Elly works with us training leaders in a village south of Mombasa. To get to the place we were meeting, we had to take a ferry. In front of us on the boat was an unusual car we'd never seen before. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it! But the funniest thing about it was the methali, or proverb, adhered to the rear bumper (making a statement with your car is cool here - sticking catchy sayings on your bumper or side panel is very hip!). It said, "UNALIA NA KIBOKO BADO". I read it slowly, trying to figure out what it said.

'How strange. Surely,' I thought, 'I've misunderstood.' Finally I asked Dennis, my team leader who is a native of Mombasa, "Hey, Dennis, does that really say, 'YOU ARE STILL CRYING WITH THE HIPPOPOTAMUS'?"

He looked at the car and laughed. "I hadn't thought of it like that!" he replied. "It does say that. But it also says, 'YOU ARE CRYING AND THE WHIP HAS NOT YET COME'."

I looked again, and sure enough, it says that too! Swahili is all about context. One word can have 20 different meanings! Just a comical reminder that communication is hard work - even when we think we've communicated clearly, the message may get 'lost in translation'. The lesson I learned today: if something doesn't seem quite right, always clarify!

Food, Friends, and Fspiders

2008-05-02T22:29:00.004+03:00

The rainy season brings a lot of bugs to Mombasa. Weird, African bugs. For instance, at this moment in my pantry are hiding an unknown number of black, jumpy spiders about the size of a raisin. I've killed three already today. By African standards, they aren't that bad. They are smaller than a loaf of bread, they aren't interested in killing me, they don't carry a deadly disease, and they aren't really hairy. They are only spooky because of how fast they move. They are a bit unpredictable. I suppose they also feel that way about me. We're learning to coexist.

I had reason to spend some time in my pantry today. My dear friend Jacinta and her husband James came for dinner! I have been meeting with Jacinta for discipleship for over a year now. In fact, her husband sent her to Mombasa just so that she might be discipled. You see, James has a job that takes him to the Sudan nine months of the year. So while he is away, he wants Jacinta to grow in her spiritual life (doesn't he sound like a great husband?!), and Jacinta wants that too. Since James was discipled by my team leader Dennis, he entrusted Jacinta to me in his absence.

She really has grown, and we've been through a lot of life's ups and downs together. James just came back to Kenya for a month, so I was thrilled to spend the evening with them! I made lasagna (it was easy because I had everything already prepared from last time), and we shared some great conversation. It's so nice to have friends you can talk to past "How'dya like this weather," and "Man, how about Kenyan politics?!"

We are praying for several things for James and Jacinta. First, we pray that they will stay faithful to the things they have learned, even among a corrupt generation. (see Psalm 73 for a recap of our conversation on this issue...) Second, we are praying that God will make it clear to James what he needs to do about his job. It's hard on both of them to have him gone so much. And third, we are praying that they will start a family soon! Jacinta has had some ongoing trouble with her health in this area, but they have a deep desire to start a family, and they know anything is possible for God!

Jacinta!

James!

Lasagna! (It's becoming famous now!)

The dishes... an unfortunate by-product of a tasty meal!

The Rains, Fellowship, and Fellowship with the Rains...

2008-04-28T23:52:00.006+03:00

The rains have come! I love rain. I love it even more here in Mombasa, because it cools the weather down. Today the high was a refreshing 88 degrees Fahrenheit (which felt like 92 because of the 90% humidity, but that's still a break from the norm!).

The rain also makes driving more exciting. Not only does it flood the roads, but often it washes chunks of the road away! As you drive down a familiar street, for example, you can't assume it is perfectly paved and rut-free just because it was yesterday. And if you come to a puddle of water, beware: it could be two inches deep, or the standing water could be hiding a crevasse large enough to swallow your Subaru whole, never to be seen again. Finally, for some reason, wet goats are dumber than dry goats. A dry goat knows that the road is no place for livestock. A wet goat does not. A dry goat will never step into the street when it sees an approaching car. A goat that has been rained on has no qualms about doing this. Inexplicable, but true. Like I said, driving in the rainy season is exciting.

Shallow pothole, or major fissure in the earth's crust?

I've enjoyed great time with friends, old and new, this week. On Saturday I drove down the coast to spend a night with the Rains, a missionary family I've met a few times but never gotten to know well. It was really fun to be with them. They have three energetic and fun boys. The middle boy is Andrew, and at 3 years old he has already developed the middle-child habit of assuming no one will pay any attention to him. For this reason he yells everything he says, and, speaking slowly and clearly, repeats himself over and over until he gets a response. "MOM, I FOUND A DEAD LIZARD MOM, I FOUND A DEAD LIZARD MOM, I FOUND A DEAD LIZARD MOM, I FOUND..." Despite what you might imagine, he is one of the most charming little boys I've known.

Tonight some girls stopped by to hang out at my place. My main responsibility last year was the direction of a college ministry through a local church, and many of the girls I worked with are still around. Every Sunday night I have them over to watch a few episodes of "Ugly Betty", a TV show I got off iTunes. We eat brownies and popcorn. Tonight being Monday, my theoretical "day off," I was just settling down to some filing work when I got a text from one of the girls which read, "hey jil hop ur good am fine but very hungry n brok so do u hav food at ur place i come n feast?" Now, when these girls say "broke", you've got to know, they are truly broke. They are college students - a poor sect to begin with - and some of their parents can't afford their own bills, much less meet the demands of their children. Things are even tighter this year because of the recent unrest here in Kenya. These girls know what it is to be thankful for every meal!

But I've set all this up to say that the evening took an unexpected turn. I had dinner and spent the evening with four of these girls, and we had such a sweet conversation. It was one of those talks that moves effortlessly in and out, weaving together the larger picture of God's work in our lives. Have you ever had a moment of clarity where all subjects seem to connect together into one Subject? We talked of being poor, which lead to talk about the family of God, and the Fatherhood of God, and the patience we will need to wait for Him to provide His best for us, and about our struggle to stay focused when it seems like corruption and immorality is working for everyone around us, but how glorious it is to love and be loved by God. I gave these girls a meal, but they revived my heart.

Why it took three days to cook dinner...

2008-04-26T01:08:00.005+03:00

It's late on Friday night, and I've just finished cleaning up after hosting a dinner party of 10 ladies in my home. The girl currently living below me (Rachel, from the UK) had a birthday today, and she wanted to throw a party. There were a few hitches in that plan, though. A) Her apartment only has 4 chairs in it. B) She has no oven. C) She can't cook. So I gladly offered to come to the rescue! Though I wouldn't want to do it every day, I really enjoy hosting a party from time to time. We talked it over early in the week and decided on a menu of lasagna and cake.

In America, if I wanted to make lasagna for 10 people on Friday night, what would I do? I'd go to Kroger or Cub Foods on Friday afternoon and buy a box of Stouffer's frozen lasagna. I might pick up a salad in a bag, some dinner rolls, and either a box of cake mix or a bakery cake to go with it. I'd get home, throw the lasagna in the oven, set the table and SHAZAAM! - ready to party!

Not so in Kenya. No, my preparations began on Wednesday!

Wednesday: Go to the market to pick up produce. Then go to the "western" supermarket (called Nakumatt) to get things you can't get elsewhere - wheat flour, pasta, tomato sauce, cheese (I found cottage cheese there for the first time ever! Hooray!), ice cream, etc. Look for birthday candles. Nakumatt doesn't carry them, but the man you ask knows a place where you can get them. Drive there. No, they don't sell them, but the woman working there is sure of a store that has them. It's right next to Nakumatt. Drive back. Buy candles. A bittersweet victory.

Thursday: Make the pasta sauce (from scratch). Make the cheese filling (from scratch). Grate the mozzarella cheese to go on top (who grates cheese anymore?). Layer the lasagna together, cover and refrigerate. Take a shower because you're too hot to stand in the kitchen for one more minute. Bake the cake (from scratch). Make the frosting (from scratch). Bake another cake because the oven is temperamental and burned one layer to a crisp while under-cooking the other layer. Cool the cake. Take another shower. Frost the cake and refrigerate. Wash the dishes by hand.

Friday: Wash the rest of the dishes from the night before which you left because you were too hot to finish. Make a batch of bread dough (from scratch). Knead it. Take a shower (kneading is hard work!). Form the dough into dinner rolls and let it rise. Make a cream sauce for creamed peas (from scratch). Put the rolls in Allison's oven upstairs (I learned my lesson from the cake fiasco yesterday!). Run back down to put the peas in the oven downstairs. Run back up to take the rolls out. Put the other half of the rolls in the oven (because ovens are too small for all the rolls at once...). Run back down to treat and filter enough drinking water for 10 people. Run up to take out the second pan of rolls. Put the lasagna in the oven upstairs. Take the peas out downstairs. Make juice. Run down to the corner kiosk and buy sodas (in Kenya, it's not a party without soda!). Take out the lasagna. Set the table. And the guests arrive...

As I stood back and looked at the table, with the lasagna, dinner rolls, creamed peas and birthday cake on it, I thought to myself, "Is this it? All that work for this?"

I'm happy to say that everything turned out delicious, evidenced by the fact that none of it remains. The girls ate it all, and that's a good feeling. What's even better, we had a great time. We ate and talked and played games and laughed... It's nice to know that you've made someone's day - especially their birthday - really memorable for them. We enjoy good food in the US anytime we want it, but a special meal like lasagna is a rare treat here. (And it's no wonder, considering the time it took me to prepare it!) But when I saw the girls laughing and eating, and when I saw Rachel smiling and enjoying herself, I thought to myself, "Ah, so that's it! All that work for this."

When was the last time a plate of lasagna made your day? That's one of the beautiful things about living in Kenya. Every day is a gift, and an evening with friends over a special meal followed by a hilarious game of "Taboo"... well, it seems like a glimpse of heaven.

Are you sisters?

2008-04-21T10:53:00.004+03:00

Yesterday was my first Sunday back in Mombasa, and I was excited to go to church and greet everyone there. I got dressed and ready as usual. When it was time to go, Allison (my teammates Dennis and Allison live in the flat above me) came to my door to tell me they were ready to go. I opened the door, and thought I was looking in a mirror. We had dressed EXACTLY the same! We had a good laugh, took a quick photo, and then I ran back to my room to change before church. It was just too weird!

At church, Allison and I get asked a lot if we are sisters, especially by little kids. A girl asked if we were sisters just yesterday. To Africans with little exposure to white people, I guess we all look alike! I'm glad I changed clothes!

Great minds think alike? We couldn't have planned this any better!

Eating ice cream when it rains and spending nights on German trains...

2008-04-19T22:23:00.008+03:00

I had a really special birthday last week. When I left France, I took a train to Florence, where I spent a day and a half wearing holes in my soles trying to see all I could of the city. One of the highlights was the Giardino Boboli at the Palazzo Pitti, called "the most beautiful backyard in the world."

Just a small corner of the immense Boboli Garden

The palazzo was once the home of the Medici Family, whose wealth and love of art was largely responsible for the Renessaince. Many of art history's greatest masterworks were commissioned by this family: Brunelleschi's dome, the Sistene Chapel, numerous works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Masaccio... Galileo himself tutored generations of Medici children, and named the moons of Jupiter after four of them! The family produced queens, rulers, popes, and it even had a black sheep, Savonarola, who was the driving force behind the "Bonfire of the Vanities," an event that destroyed many of the great masterpieces his own relatives had commissioned. He was hanged the following year.

But I digress. (I love art history!) I also had dinner with some old friends in a tavern that was once the workshop of Bronzino, an artist that I've always admired. And the food was great!

From Florence I moved on to Venice and met my friend Lori and her roommate Susan. I had a wonderful time with them, roaming the streets of Venice and cruising the Grand Canal. We also visited Murano, a small island famous for making blown glass.

Lori and I by the canal

It rained every day while we were in Venice, and it was chilly, but that didn't stop us from eating lots of Gelato - Italian Ice Cream! My brother and I had a theory when we were kids - ice cream actually warms you up when it's cold out, because it makes your insides match your outsides, so you don't feel so cold! (When you grow up in Minnesota, you have to come up with stuff like that, or you'd never get any ice cream at all!)

When Lori and Susan left I took a night train to Germany to catch my flight back to Mombasa. I love European trains, but I do not love German night trains. I was placed in a compartment with five other people and bunks stacked three-high on either side of a narrow aisle. Across from me was a German lady who was apparently terrified she'd miss her stop, because every hour or so all night long she sat up and cried out, "DUSSELDORF?!?!" Directly above me was a 300-lb. Slovakian man who made the bed creak in a most frightening manner, and across from him was his wife, who refused to sleep with the light off in case she woke up and had to use the toilet. Above those two was a German couple. The man snored continuously, and the woman yelled at him continuously to stop. So, I spent most of the night with my head under a scratchy blanket trying to block out the light and noise, praying that my life would be spared and calculating if it would be better to lay on my back, front, or side in case the bed above me should come crashing down. I'm still not sure about that...

Back in Germany, where I celebrated with my aunt Deb and uncle Steve

Back at Last!

2008-04-18T18:19:00.006+03:00

I am finally back! Back in Kenya, and back to my blog! I'm going to try to post to this page at least every week, and hopefully even more often than that, but we'll see how things go... I'd love to add lots more photos, but the internet connection here in Africa won't always allow it, so please be patient as I work with what's been given to me!

The last few weeks I've been feeling like a circus - coming to town, pitching a tent, staying a while and then moving on! It all started in France...

Jen n' me!

I went to Albertville, France to hang out with James and Jen Arnold and their kids. The Arnolds are missionaries of Denton Bible Church too. James was traveling, and with five kids in three schools and Jen in language school herself, I thought I'd try to help them out while I was waiting to get back to Kenya. I'm not sure how helpful I was - I mostly cut dolls out of paper (you know the kind that are joined together at the arms and feet? Yeah, those.) and washed dishes, and I got a pretty nasty head cold while I was there, but I had a lot of fun getting to know Jen better. Albertville is a beautiful town, though surprisingly hard to get to considering it hosted the Winter Olympics just 15 years ago.

After that, I took off for Italy... more on that to come!

Rebekah with some paper dolls!

Welcome!

2007-09-13T08:45:00.000+03:00

Welcome to my blog! I was just thinking to myself today, "Self, you don't spend enough time on the computer. You should start a blog."

Okay, not really. But I hope this little project will be worth spending a little more time in front of the screen.

My name is Jill, and I am currently a missionary living in Mombasa, Kenya. I work for an organization called Serve International, which is the missions sending agency of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas. I'm not a Texas native, however - I grew up near Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended college in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In this blog I'd like to share what I'm doing, what I'm learning, and what I'm thinking. I also love to take pictures, so I'll try to add photos regularly too. Feel free to give me your feedback. I hope this page is a blessing to you somehow!

Warmly,
Jill