Take off your shoes...

This past week I've heard multiple references to the Israelites. You'd think after the first few times I'd get it....the Lord is trying to teach me something. It wasn't until today, when I was listening to a song ABOUT the Israelites leaving Egypt that I was able to grasp a morsel of what the Lord may be teaching my heart. Funny how a simple song can finally drive a point home and connect my heart and mind....but that's kind of how I'm wired. I love to listen to a song above skimming over it's lyrics and search deep for its meaning and find beauty in the carefully chosen and woven words.

The song is called "Painting Pictures of Egypt." Sara Groves truly does paint a picture with her lyrics of what my heart feels. The song is about this pull between two places and the heart that is stuck in between. She sings as if she is one of the Israelites on her way into the Promised Land and how it is filled with opportunities and dreams but how her heart still longs for the way things were....comfortable, familiar, easy and "home."

"The past is so tangible...I know it by heart Familiar things are never easy to discard I was dying for some freedom,but now I hesitate to go I am caught between the Promise and the things I know "

Can I relate? 100%. I feel that I'm in this "limbo" stage right now, or as the song says, "I am caught between the Promise and the things I know." I'm not sure if its the things I know or to be known that I miss the most. I took comfort in being known inside and out by friends and family back at home. Here, I'm just a new missionary carving who I am in the sands of Kenya. On Monday, my office had our Monday morning devotion. My co-worker, Andy, was the one to give the devotion. He spoke on this exact topic and explained the same struggle he too had in coming over here and not being known by anyone. He said that the one thing he and his family had to do was claim that the Lord created them for this and to find rest in knowing that the Lord has called them here to Africa and has equipped them accordingly. Our identity should not be found in our skills or talents but in Christ alone.

Things were so comfortable and familiar three months ago...that has since all been stripped. I was talking with my dad the other night and shared with him about my "limbo" status and feeling that my heart is at this tug of war....loving it here but not wanting to settle entirely. The thing he said made me see a verse in a whole new light. He told me to take off my shoes, for where I am is holy ground.

Exodus 3:5 "Take off your shoes, for where you are standing is holy ground."

Hmm...where I am is holy ground...take off your shoes. Yes, of course their is the significance of taking of the shoes because the ground is holy but I started thinking about it in a more "African" way and I learned something new. It is custom here to take off your shoes when you enter in a Kenyan home. You are then "home" and should make yourself feel comfortable. Its like the whole "take off your shoes and relax, stay a while" mindset as if the Lord wants me to take off my shoes here and let myself settle for this season of my life. He doesn't want me spending my time here wearing my shoes in case in a split second I'll need to take off running. I know this will not come easy because my heart longs for the things familiar such as walking into a room and having people know what makes Kate Joyce, Kate Joyce. But then again, who's to say I won't eventually find that here? Maybe its about time I start untying my shoes and feel this holy ground beneath my feet. I always did like walking barefoot anyways! ;)

Grace: (n.) the free and unmerited favor of the Lord.

The Lord sure has His ways of extending his love and grace to us. Over the past week I have been blessed to see these ways more clearly. About a week ago I started coming down with a cough, which progressively worsened throughout the week. If you heard by voice you would think that I had been smoking a pack of cigarettes every 10 minutes…don’t worry, I can’t smoke that fast. Just kidding, I don’t smoke at all haha. Anyways, so as the weekend hit, my body decided it wasn’t happy with me and revolted anything I consumed. By the time Monday morning hit I figured it was about time that I go see a Dr. I ended up at Nairobi Hospital to be seen right away. Because of how early it was in the morning, the husband of a friend I met here drove me and waited with me until one of AIM’s Physician Assistants joined me through the process. After I bounced from line to line to get registered, I sat down in the waiting room waiting for a bed in the ER to open. As I was sitting there, Jim said he would like to pray for me and for the doctors who were about to see me. Prayer, duh! Others have been praying for me, but to be in prayer and to be prayed for in person was such a breath of fresh air. One of the things that Jim prayed for me specifically was for grace. I like the definition of grace above. The free and unmerited favor of the Lord. I was seen shortly after we prayed. After some blood tests and being seen by a doctor it was determined that I had an upper respiratory and bacterial infection in my stomach. I was given antibiotics and some medications to lower my fever. The PA that joined me was incredibly sweet and helped me get back home with some sprite to calm the nausea. During this time, I saw the Lord’s grace with me, not only with my health but the ways that he provided so much help from the AIM family here in Kenya. I received many text messages and phone calls from missionaries wanting to hear how I was feeling and letting me know they were praying for me. A few hours after I got home from the hospital and was able to rest, one of the missionaries I’ve gotten to know well sent over some homemade chicken noodle soup, crackers, and j-ello. The soup is MmmmmMMmm better than Campbell’s!

After resting last night I’m starting to feel better but still taking it slow. A few moments ago I went to the Duka (small African store) next door to my house. The owner, and my neighbor, Rose, asked me if I was feeling better than told me that I am looking much better. She then added, after I asked her for four bottles of Pineapple soda, “You are in love with Pineapple!” Haha…that’s the only drink that my stomach seems to be able to handle right now.

Although I’m not sure I would say that the sickness has been a huge blessing, I would, however, say that the lessons I’ve learned through it has been a huge blessing. I learned that no matter how much of a stranger I am to those here or they are to me, we are all still a family. I’ve only been living in Nairobi for a week and I already have people making me chicken noodle soup and calling me up to see if I’m feeling better. I even have a Kenyan neighbor who cares about my health…and recognizes my love for pineapple! ;) As I begin to settle my life in Kenya the Lord breaks me, challenges me, and encourages me in ways that produce refining in my heart and character. I’m thankful for these lessons. As I’ve said before, even if the graces from the Lord were not so evident as it has been recently, it does not make him less graceful…. it just means I might have to seek a little harder to see His grace.

Thank you to all you at home who were praying for me and continue praying that I feel better. Your emails and messages have been a comfort…its not always fun to be sick in another country.

Below is a picture of the ER room I was seen in!

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!

I am excited that I have had my first Kenyan Hospital experience…I’m not sure what I was worried about, its just like an American Hospital…however I did get through to the ER much quicker than I would have in America! (Hannah, if you ever want a job in an ER in Kenya, I know one you can work at and its probably pretty similar to yours, as far as the type of people go ;) )

Started off as a visit to the market...ended up on a Safari!

Bedroom...finished!

Warning...very girlie post: I spent the day today decorating my room. One thing I didn't realize before contracting myself to this job was that there are NO paint rollers to be found here. Yep...my right arm is pretty much dead now after painting from 7am-2pm with a single paintbrush. As I was painting I kept getting new ideas of what I wanted to do, which is why it took so long. Its amazing what a can of paint, paintbrush, and tons of painting tape can do! Except for a dresser and a possible chair, my bedroom is finished! :)

Fun little African finds.

Today, I ventured out with a friend. I definitely needed to get out of the house. My friend, Cathy, was going to this glass blowing factory called Kitengela. I hopped along for the ride. And quite the ride it was! It was seriously in the middle of nowhere. At one point, Cathy pointed out the window and said "Look at the horizon over there, its Nairobi!" I squinted my eyes and could just see trees, dirt, and dust. "No...look further!" And sure enough...we were FAR from Nairobi! We had left the city life behind and were driving through land that looked like a scene from the Lion King...minus the animation, of course. To further the point of how far out there we were, as I looked out my window, there were zebras, antelope, and baboons! I couldn't believe it...we weren't even in a safari park, but these animals were just roaming around! I was really hoping we wouldn't run into any wild hungry lions out there!

Ever since I moved into the house, I've been searching for cheap ways to decorate. One thing I was thinking of buying was some glass jars and somehow tying twine around the rim and hanging them up with flowers. Well, I walked into the bargain part of the glass store and looked above my head, and there they were. Flower vases with leather string tied around the rim to hold flowers! Even better than I was imagining! I practiced quite a lot of swahili with the glass blower to try to get the best price possible. I ended up with 8 of these hanging vases and he threw in one for free! I already cut flowers from my back yard and hung them all up on all the random nails in my house...amazingly there were 8 nails already in the downstairs wall which left one vase for above my kitchen sink!

(Aren't they beautiful?)

I was going to the grocery store yesterday and stopped by the market. I've been looking for a lamp shade for my ceiling light but hadn't found one thats caught my eye. In the market, I found this woman who makes these really sweet looking ceiling lamp shades. From what I understand, she dips twine into colored glue and wraps it around a balloon and leaves it to set and dry. Once dry, she pops the balloon and then you have a really cool looking lampshade! I found a blue one that totally completes my bedroom!

(More pictures of the house is on the way, but not till the house is finished)

The other African find that I wanted to share with you is kinda silly, but I thought it was fun. Check out their bananas! I put an egg next to the bunch just so you get an idea of the size. I laughed when I saw them because it seemed like even fruits are going for the smaller "100 calorie pack" sizes.

Better than words can describe!

I am now in Nairobi...praise God! One of the blessings tonight, other than moving into my new house, was to have better internet! I was able to video chat with my dad and siblings. At one point I was even talking to EVERYONE in the family because my dad ended up calling my mom on the phone and putting it up to the speakers, haha. It was incredible because this was the very first time in 2 months that I got to see the faces of my family!

Two days till I move into my first home ever!

Maureen recently moved in with my Kenyan family. She is the house-helper…and quite the language helper for me too! She is from up-country in a more rural village and came here looking for work to help save money for school loans someday. Her dream is to become a Swahili teacher for Muzungu’s like me, which works out perfectly for the two of us. I get to come home from my class and practice what I had just learned and she gets to practice correcting and encouraging me! When the two of us are not conversing, however, she has a list of responsibilities to complete each day. Maureen wakes up at 5:15am to start preparing breakfast so that Baba can have it before he leaves for work. Every morning she boils milk for our chai, walks to the store to buy bread, makes porridge for mama, and sets the table for the rest of us. Never have I woken up and there hasn’t been bread and chai on the table waiting for my hungry mouth. At this time of the morning (7:30am) she is already busy doing chores. She has to “mop” all he floor with a bucket and a rag which ends up just as dirty as before she mopped due to all the dust in the desert air. She also washes all of our laundry by hand. There are 9 of us in the house right now…and you can imagine how laundry piles up if it is not done on a daily basis. Maureen has an efficient system. She sets a bucket under the faucet and has to wait about 25 minutes as the dripping water fills up. She then soaks the clothes, scrubs with a bar of soap, rinses (somehow, still haven’t seen this step), then rings and rings and rings and rings the clothes… finishing up with placing them on the clothes line. I’m always so impressed with how clean she can get the dusty clothes I’ve been wearing for 2 months. Once I tried to wash my own…it wasn’t the same at ALL. After she is done with the clothes she then heads back to the kitchen and washes the dishes used from breakfast and puts away all the uneaten food. At this point, I’ve already left for language but I assume she finishes mopping all the floors before she starts to heat up lunch. I’ve never been around for lunch but I arrive home shortly after when she is washing the dishes from lunch. Around 2:00, Maureen begins the preparation for dinner. Our meals consist of (I have no idea to spell these so just imagine phonetically what they sound like) sukumo-wiki which is like chopped spinach with tons of salt and boiled, ugali which is corn meal boiled with water into a thick paste, and stew which has a thick chop of meat boiled with various chopped vegetables, salt, and oil. We don’t eat until 9:30 at night, but the meal requires the attentive eye and stirring of Maureen.

Tired just listening to all this girl has to do in her day? Get this….she is only 19 years old! I couldn’t believe it when she told me that. Her day seems exhausting! Once I found out how young she was and how far away she is from her family I stared making more of a point to talk with her throughout the day. Last week , while she was attending to the dinner, I went in the kitchen with her to teach her how to make tortillas! We had a fun time talking about our families in Swahili. Of course laughter filled the kitchen as we mixed the dough, rolled it, and placed them on a hot skillet. I told her how much I loved these tortillas…and they truly are amazing when made from scratch! She too enjoyed snacking on them as we continued. One mistake I did make, however, was making the tortillas in the first place. Ever since I initially made tortillas, ‘momma’ has wanted more ever since. I’ve made over 130 tortillas in just two weeks! Wowza. Good thing I found a rolling pin…the first time I made them it took me over 2.5 hours cause I had to try to flatten each tortilla with the palm of my hand.

This morning I woke up a little late, trying to catch up on some sleep that I had missed over the past couple of nights. I was the only one at the breakfast table and filled my cup up with chai. I was about to grab for the bread when I heard a ‘psst’ from the kitchen. I strained my neck and looked around the corner to see Maureen washing the dishes with a huge smile on her face. She was whispering “njoo” (‘come here’). I went into the kitchen and Maureen handed me a plate. The plate was covered with another plate to keep whatever was inside warm. I lifted the top plate and found two round flat pieces of warm dough. “Tortillas” she said with a smile. I smiled back and said thank you, thank you, thank you! It was so cute that she made me two tortillas on her own for me for breakfast. Most likely that meant that she woke up even earlier than normal to make these for me. When I got back to the table, I opened the plate again and got a closer look. These tortillas were dowsed in oil. I’m pretty sure had she not been watching me I could have wrung out each tortilla and filled a cup with oil. Another ‘gulp’ moment for me. I knew I had to eat these considering that she had made them for me and that she had stopped washing dishes to watch me eat them. “Mmmm, Maureen!” I said with a smile. “Nzuri sana…Anante!” (Very good…thank you!). My taste buds and stomach weren’t quite saying the same thing to me. Each bite seemed to squirt out more oil in my mouth. I finally took to swallowing huge portions until the ‘tortillas’ were gone and then chasing it all down with my cup of hot chai. Unfortunately all our filtered water ran out last night so I couldn’t even try to compensate for all that oil.
Despite all the oil, however, how sweet this action was. Out of Maureen’s busy day she wanted to show me that she had learned something from me. She put to practice what I had taught her just as I continually practice her language. One of AIM’s goals is to make me into a “Lifelong Learner.” This time spent in a Kenyan home has broken me most of my standers of living. I’ve been challenged with bathing with a milk can and a basin, washing my clothes by hand, making food from scratch, trying food I’ve never would have wished to try…but its all been great for me. I don’t say “broken” as a bad thing. I think the Lord knew how closely I held my comforts in Northern Virginia and too knew how hard it would be to break me of them. I’ve been humbled this month indeed. There have been times, like today with the ‘oil-tilla’ or the other day with the flies and larva that I would like to refuse what is placed before me and stick up my nose to say that it wasn’t what I eat, and no thank you. But that’s not what it is about to be a “lifelong learner.” Maureen’s actions today displayed what a “lifelong learner” is. She may not have nailed the tortilla recipe down, but she tried. I know that I didn’t learn everything about this culture in this one month but its been a continual learning experience…and I’ll continue to learn if I trust and try.

I can’t believe that I have only these two more days left with the Kenyan family. I think back on a month ago, talking with my parents on the phone and saying, “I’ll give it one week…JUST one week. I can’t do more than that because its just too hard for me to do it alone.” And yet, here I am…one month later and LOVING all that I was challenged with and learned. The confidence I’ve gained from each step of the way is priceless. I also laugh thinking of how slowly I unpacked my things. The first week I still was living out of my suitcase thinking that at any moment I would call the coordinating missionary to tell them that I need to move out cause its too ‘different.’ That second week I moved my clothes to a shelf but left everything in the trunk…just in case. Now, however, you would think I’ve been living here forever. I have one shelf dedicated to all my books, one to my clothes, the bottom shelf holds my flip flops, my scarves are hanging up, and my toiletries are in the bathroom. Its going to be a process to pack up in a few days. Hmm could this be foreshadowing of my time in Kenya? ;) So scared to make this my “home” for now…but if I just let the process of change and settling happen, I wonder how God will provide and humble me next? I wonder what different “shelves” he has in store for me to place my gifts and talents to start to build roots here? I wonder how hard it will be to collect and pack up once my time here is through? One thing is for sure…I’ll be learning along the way…learning for a lifetime.