Safari Walk with our kids!

So since I'm a day behind now due to the exhaustion that set in last night....It's Monday evening here in Nairobi, but I'm going to be blogging about our Sunday.  I'll try to write another post tomorrow morning  to get us back on track....so be sure to check back either LATE Monday evening (CST) or early Tuesday morning (CST)!  Or else, you'll just have multiple entries to read at once which is perfectly OK too.  :)

[The team on the bus headed to church and then to the Safari Walk on Sunday morning!!]

We started out Sunday morning by attending Nairobi Pentecostal Church - Woodley.  I was surprised at how "Western" the service was...the entire thing was in English and after the third Michael W. Smith song, I'd about forgotten that I was in Africa at all!  (I filled out the visitor card and this afternoon received a lovely email from the outreach team inviting me to please visit anytime I happen to be in Nairobi!  Love it!)  Post-church-service lunch was spent at Nairobi Java House which is sort of a cross between a Starbucks and a sandwich joint....well, and I had quesadillas while another guy had chicken curry.....so I'm not sure how to classify it.

Of course what we'd REALLY all been waiting for was time with our sponsored children.  We all drove to the "Safari Walk" just outside the city which is truly one of the best zoos I've ever been to (and I've been to the Memphis, Ft. Worth and San Diego zoos...so, you know....I've seen a few...haha.)  All the animals are African animals and the habitat is completely natural.  The bilingual Swahili/English signs are really informational and you walk on a boardwalk through the whole thing which makes you really feel like you're walking through the animals' natural habitats.  Keith and I had arranged for his sponsor boy, Tony from Dandora, my little girl Rukia from Kibera and my mother's sponsor child, Issac...also from Rukia's project in Kibera to meet us there.  It's truly an amazing thing when a child who up until that moment has just been a face in a photo, a name on a letter and a $38 withdrawal on your credit card every month comes running at you with a smiling face and a hug the strength of a vice grip, and you realize that this "good thing" you think you're doing is far beyond that.  It's a relationship...and it's changing the nature of that child's very existence.

 [Our Compassion "family" inside the Safari Walk park.  Issac wasn't so sure about all the group photo taking!!]

Keith has sponsored Tony for almost 6 years now and has met him several times, but was amazed at how tall he has grown in the year and half since they last saw each other!  Tony is an incredibly kind, good-natured (tall!) and gentle 14 year old who is at the top of his class.  They enjoyed catching up and talking about Tony's family and how well Tony is doing in school!  He wants to be a doctor and he is in the top few students of his class!

 [Tony and Keith.  I think next time we see him, Tony will totally be taller than Keith!!]

I've sponsored Rukia since the spring of 2009.  Keith got to meet her shortly after I began to sponsor her, so I've been blessed with many pictures and a few videos from that trip, but was thrilled to finally get to meet her for myself.  She stuck to me (literally...she wouldn't let me further than a few inches away from her) like glue and seemed as equally really-excited-but-not-sure-what-to-do-with-her-emotions as I was.  We talked a good bit (English is her best subject) and giggled even more.  I get to visit her home tomorrow and I am so excited to see her again.  When I asked her what her favorite sport was, she replied "futball" (soccer).  When asked if she owned a "futball" she replied, no....but that she'd much rather have a bicycle.  :)  At least she's honest.

 

[Rukia was super sassy stylish in her beaded sandals she bought with extra money I'd sent her family as a gift.]

When my mom wanted to sponsor a child, I was excited to find one in the same project as Rukia!  Issac is super smart, but was really quiet all day.  It wasn't until we were giving them their gifts that I found out that part of why he'd been so quiet was that he was disappointed when I showed up instead of my Mom...who sponsors him!!!  He dreams of being an engineer when he grows up.  There were several university students with us who had been Compassion children growing up, and one of them took a few minutes to really encourage him to work hard in his studies so that he can go to University and achieve his dreams.  He seemed to really take her words to heart and she promised to go visit him and talk to him some more about his future which was awesome!  I really hope my Mom gets to meet him one day!!!

 

[Issac and I after a long day of animal spotting and gift opening!]

There is so much more that went on with the kids and in my thoughts....but that's all I've got for tonight!  Please continue to pray for our trip!