Deliverance Church Kondele - Sunday Morning Service!

Mike - We went to our first Sunday morning service today. Last week we were still unable to attend due to our dutch elm disease...
The service was great! They have two services, one at 8am, and one at 10am, and they go for about two hours each. WOW - they are extremely loud! I honestly think the speakers are going to blow every time I'm in there. Take the youth service at Centre Street, and multiply it by 10 - HONESTLY! We were warned - but it's great. We love it. The worship was African style (kind of Gospelypso), and Pastor Jasper spoke in English with a Kiswahili translator so we were able to understand what was going on. We are learning more Kiswahili as we go - although I'm pretty sure everyone is making fun of us. Pastor Jasper allowed us to speak for a bit in front of the congregation for both services, where we shared a testimony and expressed how excited we are to be here. It was vonderful goot fun!!

Driving...What a Gas.

Mike - Because Pastor Jasper had only about 3 hours of sleep the night before, he was extremely tired for the trip home - and he had me drive!! OH MY!! It was UNBELIEVABLE!! Imagine - it was like Nascar rally driving, on pot-holed streets, where you drive within inches of other cars, trucks, bikes, tiny children, cows, goats, chickens - you name it. And you are going between 80-120km/h. So I drove, and I was driving on the opposite side of the road, driving standard with my left hand, it was so intense. Our lives flashed before our eyes several times!! Here is a picture of my face...the entire time (2 1/2 hours).

More of Jakes Photography Inc.

What a great kid!

Lunch at the Nyakoe Hotel

Becky - After meeting with the people at the service, we stopped for lunch at the Nyakoe Hotel in Kisii, because it has safe, clean food. We tried our first African beef - that was very good! As well as some goat meat, and Ugali, a corn-type meal, a staple here. Delicious! It was also my first experience using a toilet that is simply a hole in the ground. Very interesting.
Jakes took all these pictures...haha he was having some serious fun with our camera!

Kisii Road Trip!

Becky - On Friday we went with Pastor Jasper Mose and his 10-year old son T.D. Jakes (what we call him - his name is Jakes) to Kisii, a town about 300 km from Kisumu, which is where he was born. It is also where our massive stash of fruit came from! We went to hear him preach at another Deliverance Church there. He is a very animated, powerful speaker! He's very much an inspired man of God.
I have to say - that being driven on the "highways" here - could very well be a ride at Disney World! Pastor Jasper is very used to driving here so we were in safe hands...but wow, driving at 100-120 kph on narrow, severely potholed roads, dodging cattle, goats, bikes, cars, shepherds, people and tiny children....is quite the experience!

Making Chakula in our Kitchen!

Becky - Making our first meal here! All we had were some carrots, beans and rice, and some butternut squash soup mix. Soo it became a meal...and tasted amazing! Our electricity died that night though so the fridge went out and we had to throw the rest of it away...sad.
We also made some nice sweet potato fries from the stash the pastor brought over. They were pretty good! No Red Door sauce to dip them in though... teehee
Also here's a pic of how we wash our clothes...in the kitchen sink. Then we dry them out back in the chicken coop. Good times!

Disciples of Mercy School/Church/Farm

Mike - On Wednesday morning Becky and I had the privilege of going on a private tour of the Disciples of Mercy compound where we live, and new building sites, by our good friend Natalie who runs it. What an amazing story they have! Everything was built because of the faithful donations of people mostly from Germany, who are non-Christians. It's quite amazing how God has moved to build this facility. Disciples of Mercy has it's own dairy farm with 48 cows, 150 chickens that they use for eggs and meat, and it's own bakery where they sell fresh buns and bread. They have over 500 students who attend the school, from nursery to high school. They also have a special needs unit, which has 15-30 students in it, and they have a church in the compound as well.
Natalie also drove us to their new building site, where they are in the midst of building a high school. Construction looks a LOT different here! It's all done by human hands, without machines. It's hard work under the hot sun, but they do a great job.
The pictures you see are some sweet shots of the tour, and some of the kids at the compound.

VENDETTA...

Mike - I don't even think I can explain it. There are no words for the rage. OK - it's not that bad! We have a lovely rooster who walks around our house and crows all day. He loves to stand right at our open door - and belch his little sinner heart out. I think he's pretty puffed up about his status around here...little does he know that we Canadian's deal with things a little differently. There might be an unfortunate accident by the time we leave!

Spare Oom! With a War Drobe...

Becky - Well folks, here is our Spare Oom, for when you all come to visit! In two, separate, cozy single beds...hehe. Each complete with mosquito net, pet gecko, and your own can of DOOM...hahah I just love DOOM.

The Master Suite

Mike - Check out our sweet bed. That mosquito net saves our lives every night. Nothing can penetrate the nylon :)
Oh and check out our sweet fluffy pillows - thanks Rachel & Dave & Little B:)

The Choo!

Becky - This is our Choo, or toilet, in Kiswahili. All our water is cold because it comes from rain water reserves, as well as a main line from a spring in the mountains nearby. We are fortunate enough to have an electrical heater hooked up to the shower head that we can switch on if we want hot water. So we'll shower hot to get clean but then switch it off so we can cool off...which we need! I'm getting more used to having critters scurry in and out of every crack, up the shower curtain, out of the faucet, up the tile...I guess by more used to, I mean we have a bottle of DOOM in every room. I'm pretty sure the amount of death chemical we are spraying around will eventually kill us too...

Kitchen Fun!

Becky - This is our delightful little kitchen. It's very simple - gas cooker stove, little fridge, and we wash all of our utensils before using them because the cupboards are pretty overrun with bugs. But we have running water & electricity - which the majority of people here do not have, so we are majorly blessed!

Living Room / Dining Room

Mike - Here is where we dine, lounge, and are writing this very post! We do some heavy thinking out here. It's also the same room with our family shelf of love, with all your pictures on it. Everyday we read the Bible on the couch and do Bible trivia. It's great! It's quite amazing what one can get accomplished without much technology.

Our Cute Abode

Becky - Here is the outside of our lil place! A teacher from the compound and her husband live in the doors to the left. The black door is one of the 3 that we deadbolt, padlock and bar each night. We also have a massive nest in the corner...not sure what they are...they sort of look like flying scorpions...no big deal. They're starting to haunt my dreams so we bought two massive bottles of DOOM and are going to double team the nest. If there are no more blogs after this one...you'll know why.

Our New Best Friend

Becky - well I think the title and picture says it all....we bought this fan today and he is indeed, our new best friend. We like to call him Jesh.
We had one in our bedroom already that kept us from melting away in our sleep, but it sounded like a machine gun shooting a bag of roosters. Ok Mike wrote that part...he has a vendetta against roosters...you'll see why in later pictures...but honestly it was terrifying and we couldn't get any sleep.
But our new fan Jesh runs like a top.

Fruit Stand at the Schorr's!

Mike - Pastor Jasper came by today and a member from his church named Steve. They just returned from a trip to Kisii, his home where he was born and grew up. It looks like we might be going there as well with them tomorrow, ROAD TRIP! We are excited to see the mountains, and to spend some quality time with Pastor Jasper.
When he came by to see us tonight, he said he had a "little fruit for us". We went out to his car, and he opened the trunk, and the picture you see is all the fruit and vegetables he gave us! He says Kisii has some of the most fertile land in the country, and grows the best stuff. We can't wait to dig in! It will definitely last us a while. We are super excited - the fruit here is SUCCULENT.

Family Shelf of Love!

Becky - Here is our family pic shelf....so we can see your beautiful faces every day. So we can pray for you. And so we can miss you...sniff...
If you look close, you'll find your face! FUN!

Our House Elf!

Becky - Meet Rick, our bathroom newt. He's been hanging out there for a few days...he's sweet, he just chills, and eats the bugs for us! How nice. His buddy showed up a couple days later. His name is Lars.

An African Slurpee!

Becky - So Mike put our pop bottles in our lil freezer for a bit just to chill them quickly...however we forgot about them, and through the exploding of the bottles, we accidentally discovered our first African Slurpee! There were a few glass shards that we had to spit out...hee hee but ever since, we've been pouring pop into plastic bowls and freezing them for frozen treats to cool us down throughout the day!! Oh how delightfully serendipitous...

Fresh Milk!

Mike - Disciples of Mercy, the compound we're living in, has it's own school, family church, medical clinic, and little dairy farm and bakery! Here is the milk we drink, straight from the cow's udder!! Although, since our food poisoning last week, this milk is no longer appetizing to us...

Fort Knox!

Becky - Our front door! Behind it are two steel doors, each with 4-6 bolts/locks each. All our windows have wrought iron bars across them, and our little house is made out of concrete, so we're nice and safe! Apparently the area is quite unsafe, so the compound we live in has taken quite the precautions, including 5 armed watchmen and 3 guard dogs that patrol 24 hours. So as long as we're in before dark, we feel perfectly safe here!

Warning: Do not read while eating....!

Mike - well we haven't been writing the last few days because things have been interesting! A couple of days ago, we were feeling great - the best we've felt so far actually! Then a couple hours later, out of nowhere, Becky and I both got violently ill...as in constant vomit, diarrhea, some fainting....we'd take a sip of lemonade to try to get some sugar into us and it would be out a second later....we just got worse and worse so the lady who runs the compound we are living in (Natalie) sent a car for the nurse and she did a late night call to our house and put us each on IV's. She came by the next morning and took samples, and we were told we both had a bacterial infection, probably from food poisoning, so our bodies were expelling everything even though we weren't eating or drinking. It could have been anything - but we are taking huge precautions now! We ended up being on IV's for 2 days in total, pumping glucose, antibiotics, and sugar water into us. It took 3 days for us to pull out of it, but it worked! Our bodies don't hate us anymore...AMEN!

Praise God, we are doing MUCH better now. The nurse was fantastic, and our bodies are running normally again. I made sure to ask Natalie all the right questions about clean needles, etc, and they only use the highest standards here on the compound. That was reassuring for sure! We are now cooking and cleaning and feeling more rested. However, we will still need a few days to fully recover from this week of constant sickness!

MOM'S & DAD'S / BROTHER'S & SISTER'S - you can rest well, we are feeling much better!! Hallelujah!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO US!

Becky - We arrived in Kisumu, Kenya on Valentine's Day! Well actually it was still the evening of the 13th back in Calgary - but for us it was Valentine's morning! We celebrated on the short flight to Kisumu...with Sour Patch Kids...love always, Rachel (thanks, we love you sister)! Teehee!
And then we met Pastor Jasper of Kondele Deliverance church and were driven to our house where we passed out for the better part of the day. Good times!
The other pic is us at the outdoor Kisumu airport...right before we found out you're not allowed to take pics there, just like any other airport...it just didn't feel like one! Oopsie! Although I do recall taking a ton of pictures with family at the Calgary airport before we left....hahah how are we not all in jail!

Destination - AFRICA!!

Mike - Our time in London was a little hard, but of course great to see Rob! What a guy! We can't wait to go back in July.
Becky and I slowly made our way through Heathrow to find our next flight, stopping every 10 minutes to visit the restroom! I think we learned our lesson from the first flight however - and we both took Gravol immediately when we took our seats. We instantly became zombies and passed out for the next 8 hours. It was glorious! Simply...the best. We woke up feeling much better, but still pretty groggy and definitely not 100%.
We arrived in Nairobi early Sunday morning at 6am - found our luggage, and made our way through a maze to find our next flight to Kisumu. When we stepped out of the airport, the air was humid and scrumptulously warm! Becky was DEFINITELY in heaven...haha!
We walked out onto the tarmac to board the flight to Kisumu, and that is the picture you see attached to this post. For any of you who don't know, Becky dyed her hair dark and I shaved my head! Yay!
When we soared above the clouds in Nairobi on our way to Kisumu, the sky was amazingly blue and the sun was so hot! We were definitely in Africa. OH - and we were the only white people. That too, hehe.

Flight to London!

Becky - Well we were pretty messed on our first flight - actually, the whole flight was totally fine - we just both got sick at the VERY end...like the last 5 minutes of the flight to London. Mike beelined for the bathroom as soon as the plane stopped. I was still fine...maybe it was sympathy pains, but after a minute of him being gone I started to feel sick - so I got up and threw up everything I'd eaten over the past couple hours...sick.
Great story though - AWESOME story actually - as I was sitting there alone - everyone filing off the plane, and Mike in the bathroom, when I started feeling sick I got up to head to the washroom, leaving Mike's sweater and both of our ipod headphones on his seat...and at the last second I grabbed his money belt that he'd taken off, thinking "oh y'know, just in case". You usually leave your stuff on the seat when you use the washrooms on a plane, right?? No big deal! Well we come back from the bathrooms - and his hoodie and our earbuds had all been stolen! We checked with the plane security for almost an hour after to see if the attendants had taken them and turned them in, but no luck. It was a HUGE God thing that I grabbed the money belt at the last second. It had all of our American money (enough to pay over a month of rent here), BOTH our passports, and Mike's VISA, debit, international driver's license, ID, everything basically. The only reason he'd taken it off was because his stomach was upset and that's what it was strapped around. I hid it under the hoodie when he left, but then just thought at the last moment that I should take it anyway, even though I was scared I would drop it down the toilet...so it's a good thing, because it would have been taken along with the hoodie since it was all taken. That's our already exciting story I guess!
So Mike's friend Rob picks us up from the airport in London, it's freeeezing outside and now Mike only has his t-shirt on....anyways the plan was to have lunch with Rob's housemates and family at their house - then he was going to take us around London - but we were so sick he was pulling the car over so we could throw up....and we passed out in his parent's bed...when we weren't taking turns throwing up in his toilet....hhahah oh gosh. Then he took us back to the airport - where we both threw up in a bag he had in his car. We passed it back and forth...front seat to back....poor Rob. He was so nice and understanding though. He gave Mike a navy hoodie jacket actually - to keep him warm! So nice of him!! Haha...and he gave us different malaria pills that we might try....supposed to be less nausea-inducing. Which may have been a large part of our problem...we'd taken our weekly dosage that day and the pills over the last couple weeks have been making us pretty dizzy and nauseous.
Alright well I think I've given you enough mental images to last you for a while! Sorry about that!
Our good friend Rob and his wonderful family was such a blessing, so accommodating and hospitable, and we appreciated it so much, especially in our state! Rob you basically saved our lives!
And from what we saw of London from the car and house that day, it was beautiful! Hehe!

Always on God's plan!

Mike - Well we had planned to leave Sunday, February 7th, but God had other plans! Which is super cool as always. We were getting ready to go, packing, final meetings, and putting the final touches on everything. On Saturday, the day before we were to leave, Becky was coming down with something. By Sunday morning, it was clear that we were not ready to travel 18 hours. Becky couldn't even get out of bed - let alone be on three long flights over two days. So we rebooked our trip for the following Friday.

It turns out, that week was exactly what we needed. I ended up getting sick two days after Becky, and was basically on bed rest. However, God knew we had to leave by Friday, and he graciously healed us up by Thursday. We said our final goodbyes at the airport Friday evening, which was both emotionally and physically exhausting! We were so excited to go, but so hard to leave at the same time. We stepped onto the plane not sure what we were going to encounter, but knew we had to rely on God.