Most of you already know we are back in Maryland…
We came home a week early (our plan from day 1) to surprise our families. We surprised Andrew’s family at our first niece’s one year old birthday party and Dana’s family the next day. It was great!
So lets backtrack a little…the last blog was on May 23, we couldn’t write much without giving away the surprise.
May 23- Andrew had some of his Bible Study Boys over and other boys he established close relationships with
He had an auction of his clothes, shoes, ties, and socks! There were 5 rounds. Each round they picked a number, which told them the order of who got to pick 1st. They loved it! Especially his nice work shirts and ties! They were looking in the mirror at themselves, posing, and making us laugh so hard!
May 24- last day at Sakuu Primary with the mentally handicapped students
It was the first day where all 7 students came! What a wonderful way to say goodbye… although it was extremely difficult to leave them behind! We had the teacher explain to them in their language that we were leaving…some were very upset, some- I don’t know if they understood. We gave them a pack of colorful pencils for a goodbye gift and they were very excited about that!
We spent the evening at the secondary principal’s house with his family. Dana had henna done all over her arms, hands, legs, and feet (will have to post pictures on facebook=amazing art!). The girls were very excited to see Dana all decorated : )
May 25-This was our last day at Dakabaricha Secondary School and in Marsabit.
The school treated us to a chicken lunch which was delicious. Then the students preformed all their songs, skits, and dramas for us that they were doing on Saturday for their parents day. It was fabulous! Lots of traditional singing and dancing, and hilarious skits about saying no to the influences they face as adolescents. Saying farewell to all the students was extremely hard and very sad.
We spent our last evening with the Keltys and Anna, the missionaries in Marsabit.
May 26-May 27-to Nairobi
The Keltys drove us down to Nairobi. We stopped halfway at their friends house and stayed with them. They run the game park and took us on a quick evening game drive which was fun…although we did get stuck in a rut for about an hour!
May 29- enjoying a game drive one last time!
We went to Lake Nakuru to celebrate our 2 year anniversary (May 31)! It was beautiful! Flamingos all along the lake and we saw about 10 rhino! A little monkey also grabbed Dana by the leg…which was quite scary/funny!
May 31-June 1- We debriefed with AIM in Nairobi.
June 2- We left Kenya : (
June 3- Arrived in New York and debriefed with AIM.
June 4-Arrived in Maryland!
* We want to thank everyone for being a part of this journey with us! We thank you so much for all of your support! We had a wonderful experience! We still have lots of pictures and vidoes to share.
*** You can find Andrew’s album on his website: http://monkeytoes.smugmug.com/
*** Dana will be uploading some of her photos and vidoes to facebook over the next month so make sure to stay tuned to “Collins Kenya”
NYOKA! (snake)
We went on a hike around a crater for Susanah’s birthday on Saturday. Andrew came within 2 feet of a HORNED COBRA! His second encounter with an extremely poisonous snake. Did he run for his life? No. He stood there and took some fantastic pictures (we will try to post, but no promises). I am glad I was on a different side of the crater with Susanah and Tato. Thank God once again for his protection.
MERU
Tim and Susanah had to drive to Meru (big town) to pick some things so we decided to join them on their trip. It is the same road we traveled to Nairobi back in November to go to the conference. However, with all the rains, the road was quite a bit worse…way more bumpy to say the least! It was about 5 hours of dirt road before hitting 3 hours of nice pavement. We also stopped to drop somebody in Logo Logo (very small town), where Rendili and Samburu tribes live. It was neat to see 2 other towns in Kenya. In Meru we were able to buy some items that we can’t get up here in Marsabit, so that was a nice treat. It was only a two day trip, so quite tiring, but a nice to treat to see some other places.
SALT 4 LIFE INSTITUTE
The teaching sessions and small group sessions went very well. The girls were engaged and opened up to share a little bit. It was a really nice time for Dana to be able to develop a more personal relationship with some of the girls. We even had time to watch a movie together- “The Hiding Place” (with Corrie Ten Boom).
BIBLE STUDY
Andrew took his boys to Normads- the new hoteli (restaurant) in town. They had a good time and were impressed with how much African food Andrew eats! (They had a hard time finishing their plates)
One more week still school starts!
PRAYER
- Continue to pray for relationships with people
- Please pray for Andrew’s health. He has been sick since December and it is really wearing down on him. He is on his 5th course of medicine now and will start a 6th after two weeks. Pray for healing and strength.
We are back in Marsabit! We spent a few days in Nairobi after we enjoyed 5 days in Mombasa (Indian Ocean) with all the A.I.M. short termers from Kenya and Tanzania. We each did a presentation of our ministry; it was great to learn what God is doing in different places! We also had time to go snorkeling and ride a camel!
As soon as we arrived in Marsabit we went to visit some of our students, although most were working in the shamba (farms). We have had students visiting us the past few days, which is always a great time. We have been catching up, playing UNO, and giving them photos that we printed in Nairobi (which they are very excited about!). It is neat to see how comfortable they are with us and how eager they are to come to our house- God has truly blessed our relationships with some of the secondary students. Many of the boys are in Andrew’s Bible Study and already asking when they can meet again- so they are meeting Sunday and he is taking them to a hoteli for lunch.
There is a new long term A.I.M. missionary in Marsabit. Her name is Anna and she arrived Monday. She will be doing Sunday School minsitry and Vacation Bible Schools for the children. We are excited she is here and have been helping her set up house the past few days.
For the next two days Dana will be involved in “The Salt for Life Institute”. Susannah Kelty is doing the teaching, while Dana will be leading the small group sessions. Four girls, two from our school, will be attending. Please pray for Susannah and Dana as they interact with the girls, and pray for these four seconadry girls, that they would learn more about God and be able to apply the teachings to their daily life. We will be talking about how they can be salt to others around them, as well as how they can have their own quiet times with the Lord. Two of the girls are new believers so we are praying that this will be a time of great sprititual growth for them.
For the next 2 weeks we will spending as much time as we can visting students and inviting them into our home. Please pray that God would continue to grow these relationships for the short time we have left here. School opens May 4 where we will pick up where we left off. We will be able to teach until midterm and then we will be on our way back to the States.
* We spotted our first scorpion in Tim and Susannah’s home on Sunday night after prayer time. Dana saw something crawling around Andrew’s foot and it was a scorpion! Praise God for his protection!
We are back in Marsabit! We spent a few days in Nairobi after we enjoyed 5 days in Mombasa (Indian Ocean) with all the A.I.M. short termers from Kenya and Tanzania. We each did a presentation of our ministry; it was great to learn what God is doing in different places! We also had time to go snorkeling and ride a camel!
As soon as we arrived in Marsabit we went to visit some of our students, although most were working in the shamba (farms). We have had students visiting us the past few days, which is always a great time. We have been catching up, playing UNO, and giving them photos that we printed in Nairobi (which they are very excited about!). It is neat to see how comfortable they are with us and how eager they are to come to our house- God has truly blessed our relationships with some of the secondary students. Many of the boys are in Andrew’s Bible Study and already asking when they can meet again- so they are meeting Sunday and he is taking them to a hoteli for lunch.
There is a new long term A.I.M. missionary in Marsabit. Her name is Anna and she arrived Monday. She will be doing Sunday School minsitry and Vacation Bible Schools for the children. We are excited she is here and have been helping her set up house the past few days.
For the next two days Dana will be involved in “The Salt for Life Institute”. Susannah Kelty is doing the teaching, while Dana will be leading the small group sessions. Four girls, two from our school, will be attending. Please pray for Susannah and Dana as they interact with the girls, and pray for these four seconadry girls, that they would learn more about God and be able to apply the teachings to their daily life. We will be talking about how they can be salt to others around them, as well as how they can have their own quiet times with the Lord. Two of the girls are new believers so we are praying that this will be a time of great sprititual growth for them.
For the next 2 weeks we will spending as much time as we can visting students and inviting them into our home. Please pray that God would continue to grow these relationships for the short time we have left here. School opens May 4 where we will pick up where we left off. We will be able to teach until midterm and then we will be on our way back to the States.
* We spotted our first scorpion in Tim and Susannah’s home on Sunday night after prayer time. Dana saw something crawling around Andrew’s foot and it was a scorpion! Praise God for his protection!
We are back in Marsabit! We spent a few days in Nairobi after we enjoyed 5 days in Mombasa (Indian Ocean) with all the A.I.M. short termers from Kenya and Tanzania. We each did a presentation of our ministry; it was great to learn what God is doing in different places! We also had time to go snorkeling and ride a camel!
As soon as we arrived in Marsabit we went to visit some of our students, although most were working in the shamba (farms). We have had students visiting us the past few days, which is always a great time. We have been catching up, playing UNO, and giving them photos that we printed in Nairobi (which they are very excited about!). It is neat to see how comfortable they are with us and how eager they are to come to our house- God has truly blessed our relationships with some of the secondary students. Many of the boys are in Andrew’s Bible Study and already asking when they can meet again- so they are meeting Sunday and he is taking them to a hoteli for lunch.
There is a new long term A.I.M. missionary in Marsabit. Her name is Anna and she arrived Monday. She will be doing Sunday School minsitry and Vacation Bible Schools for the children. We are excited she is here and have been helping her set up house the past few days.
For the next two days Dana will be involved in “The Salt for Life Institute”. Susannah Kelty is doing the teaching, while Dana will be leading the small group sessions. Four girls, two from our school, will be attending. Please pray for Susannah and Dana as they interact with the girls, and pray for these four seconadry girls, that they would learn more about God and be able to apply the teachings to their daily life. We will be talking about how they can be salt to others around them, as well as how they can have their own quiet times with the Lord. Two of the girls are new believers so we are praying that this will be a time of great sprititual growth for them.
For the next 2 weeks we will spending as much time as we can visting students and inviting them into our home. Please pray that God would continue to grow these relationships for the short time we have left here. School opens May 4 where we will pick up where we left off. We will be able to teach until midterm and then we will be on our way back to the States.
* We spotted our first scorpion in Tim and Susannah’s home on Sunday night after prayer time. Dana saw something crawling around Andrew’s foot and it was a scorpion! Praise God for his protection!
End of Term One:
C.R.E. CLASS (Christian Religion Education)- On our mid-term exam in February, 7/17 students received A’s. This time 13/17 students received A’s!!! We were so excited. What was really neat- we tell students they can always come for help anytime, but they never do. Well this one student who did very poorly on a quiz just the week before came for help and he got 67/70 on his exam! We were thrilled. Even the ones who did get A’s improved from their mid-term grade. We are very proud of them! On a funny note- we gave our students an extra credit question, asking them to write both of our full names. Andrew was spelled in the following ways: Andrew, Handrew, Adrew, Andrius. While Dana was spelled the following ways: Dana, Dayna, Diana, Dina, Danna, Danner, Donah, & Jeselina. Dana is very difficult for everyone to say, being that they do not have long vowels like us, so the long a in my name is very confusing! It was a good laugh. I actually changed my name in the staff room about a month ago, after they had posted Diana…I changed it to Dayna…since they know the English word “day” I thought that might help and it did! : )
BUSINESS CLASS- Just over half the students received A’s on their exam! And another big portion of the class received B’s. We were also very excited about this! Unfortunately we caught several girls cheating and had to give them zeros. Bittersweet.
STAFF CELEBRATION- On Sunday we attended the staff party at “Motherland”. The party started at 9:30 a.m. and went until 6 p.m. We were there at 10 a.m. to witness the slaughtering of the two mbuzi (goat). Then the women roasted the liver, kidney, and meat and cooked the intestines and ugali. They do not usually cook chipoti (similar to tortillas) for the staff party, but included it in the menu just for Andrew and I because we love it so much! It was an all day event and we enjoyed it very much! We even helped the cooks…we peeled onions! And Andrew helped cut the meat after it was cooked!
SCHOOL CELEBRATION- On Monday they slaughtered a cow for the whole school. The students were very excited. It was very good meat!
VISITING- Our principal at the secondary school and his wife, who is the mentally handicapped teacher we work with at the primary school, invited us over to their house for dinner on Wednesday night. We really enjoyed spending time with them and their three children. It was the best meal we have had in Kenya so far, we told her she should open her own hoteli (restaurant)! We had chipoti, fried meat, stew with meat and potatoes, bananas, passion fruit, chai, and soda! We had a wonderful time!
We arrived in Nairobi yesterday…We are able to skype now so give us a call! (Name:Collins.Africa) We went go carting with some AIM missionaries in the city last night! Superfun! We had qualifying races and everything…after each race they give us all a printout on our times and places. It was great!
We go to Mombasa (the coast) for a retreat with other AIM short termers on April 8th. We are excited! Then we return to Marsabit mid April. We then are able to teach for the next half of the 2nd term before we return to America.
Dakabaricha Secondary School had their big Games Day yesterday. You would have thought they were all competing in the Olympics…they take it extremely seriously. Each grade competed against one another in all the major track and field events (100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, javelin, discus, shot put, long jump, triple jump, relays). Form III (11th graders) are very athletic so they won pretty much everything and ended up taking home the trophy. Then the students asked the staff to race in the 100m, but the finish is still being debated among staff and students. Half the school believes Andrew came in 1st and the other half thinks teacher Kimau came in 1st. I guess we will never know.
We will have our final week of regular classes next week, followed by exams week. At the culmination of this first term we will have a short break. On April 8, we will be traveling to Mombasa (our eastern shore, but the Indian Ocean) for a three day retreat for all the Kenyan AIM short-termers. After that we will come back to Marsabit for the remainder of our time here in Kenya. Our flight home is scheduled for June 11th.
Thank you so much for your prayer support and walking with us on this journey. We appreciate it so very much. Please continue praying for our Bible studies, relationships and health (big issue). Thank you!
Andrew & Dana
So in Maryland we have early dismissals for snow…well in Marsabit we have early dismissals for heavy rains. We left school half an hour early to allow students more time to walk home (our 15 minute walk turned into an hour walk). Dirt roads=MUD!!! It has rained for 3 days straight now, which is a rare occurrence in Northern Kenya, especially in March. Every single bucket, drum, and water bottle is full at our house! Last time we wrote we talked about all the dust. People are amazed and extremely happy. The teachers said that at this time last year it was the dustiest it had ever been due to one of the longest droughts in recent memory (3 years). What a blessing!
Prayer:
THANK GOD FOR THE RAIN!!!
