Monday, January 31, 2011

Week Three- Camp La Vida Style

     I have always loved going to camp and living in the orphanage is a lot like camp. We wake up early, sing songs, eat the same thing all week, talk about our lives, with everything being highly structured. I tried to teach the concept of camp to a couple of the girls yesterday and they kinda understood I think. Probably my favorite part of everyday is between four and five when the little kids come home from school. We have a whole hour to play before the other kids get home. There are two girls and three boys all of which I would bring home in a heartbeat! They think I am funny which is a rarity in my life so I take full advantage of it! I usually try to play old youth group games with the bigger kids when they get home. For all my past GCC youth readers out there, I tried to teach them ORANGE JELLO and it was an epic fail! Not only did they not know what jello was but they tried to do the hit and miss with their hands for every single letter.
     Some random thoughts for you: Protein is completely nonexistent in my diet, at least not at the orphanage. Twice a week when I go to take my shower I usually eat beans and on occasion some goat. This past weekend I was at a celebration and had two chicken wings. I have also had cow stomach, chewy and not my favorite. Lets just say Chick-fil-a is getting lots of my money when I get home from the amount of nuggets and cookies-n-cream milkshakes I will consume! I only see the television on the same nights that I go to have my shower but I have come to realize that the most popular show in the world is American Idol, worse show in the world Kenya's Best Dance Crew! It is really really bad, like when Ashley and I danced to Lean On Me when we were seven is better than some of the crews. There are only three people I have found that every kid here and myself know: Michael Jackson, David Beckham, and Obama. Obama is the most famous person in Kenya! He is EVERYWHERE! His ancestors come from here and the people adore him! Anytime I say I am from America everyone replies Obama with a big smile. I have been very respectful and just say yes he is my President.
     It would take me a whole day to tell you about the events of this past weekend but I am going to try really hard to sum it up in as few words as possible. On Saturday I went to a Kikuyu village for a big celebration. In their tribe it is a custom for each child to host a big party of singing, dancing, and a meal to honor their parents and then at the end the parents pray a blessing on them. There were 150+ people there! The village was beautiful, very lush and full of vegetation. I did not understand one word the whole time but very much enjoyed the celebration. On Sunday I went to church with Patrick and Grace, my coordinators for my trip, and it was quite the event! Church was like a spiritual version of a Oxy Clean commercial combined with Tae Bo and Praise Week! It was a party start to finish! I was asked to teach Sunday School and did a little lesson on Colossians 3. At the end of the service they took up an offering for our church. It didn't come to much in American money but it was one of the sweetest acts of giving I have ever seen. It really touched my heart and I hope that we as a church can pray for them.
     And now for my serious thought of the week. I am often asked about the wealth of my country and it has brought about an interesting debate in my head. The people of Kenya have very little and they struggle for everything that they do have. However, they are very happy people full of faith, love, and generosity. But in my mind I am still trying to decided who really wins in the end, an American who has the nice car, food always in the house, tv, ipod, cell phone, vacations, but also is unfulfilled spending their days working to pay for all of their things and feels like the only way to be happy is to keep up with society. Or the Kenyans who struggle for even the small things and live very modest lives yet are fulfilled, happy, and full of more faith than you can imagine. And then I get to thinking why is there an us and them? Is it possible to live like an American but have the faith of a Kenyan? I really don't know. This is something I am really struggling with and maybe it will give you some food for thought as well.
    I have enjoyed my camp like life here and have decided that we should open a camp at home. Tell me it would not be awesome. Can't you just see it, Mom, Ashley, and I running it and cooking, Dad preaching, Jesse leading worship, Tjay being the hype man, Drake running recreation. We could even have guest speakers like Adam Hopkins, Tim McCall, and Jake Black. I'm telling you guys this is a good idea! If we had the right facility it would be the coolest camp around!

     Thank you for continuing to read and for all the prayers! Keep them coming, I have 25 days left and would like to stay healthy and safe so that I can keep up with the kids : )

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