Naomi's Village Day 2

          
         I was woken up at 5:30 by a rooster that lived down the road. We all got ready to go to church. We were going to a place called Mwi' Hangiri. (Muy Hungary) It is a camp with a little over 30 people living in it. These people have been living in tents for over 7 years. 8 years ago the government was having an election to select a new president. Something happened to where all of these people were ran out of their homes to stay safe. After a couple of months Habitat for Humanity came in and built houses for many camps. Then an announcement went out telling everyone that there are no longer any camps, everyone has a place to live. They had only built houses for the camps that were right along the highway. There were still camps way far back that no one knew about, still living in tents that were falling apart. One day Naomi's Village found them and asked them how they could help and what they needed. These people have no water, no food, they barely have a place to live, and the first thing they asked for was a church to be able to worship in. So NV built them a church and is in the process of building them homes. When I say home its not what we think of as homes. The homes being built for them are 6ft. by 6ft. homes made out of sheets of in roots. They are so proud of their homes it is amazing. 

         Right when the vans pull up to the church all we hear is loud voices singing in Swahili and drums beating.  We all file in and stand in the back clapping along to their idea of worship. It was so beautiful. We did that for over an hour. Then they had different people come up and speak about God's goodness. It was so cool. Then my dad was called up to lead some of the worship songs we sing in America. I got to go lead with him. They knew most of them. We sang 10,000 Reasons, Our God, Amazing Grace, This is Amazing Grace. Then I got to teach them one of my new favorite songs called Good Good Father. After I finished singing, I look up at the crowd and all I see are smiles. Then I was told to sing more of the song so I just kept repeating the chorus and after doing it 3 times I could hear little voices singing it with me. Soon everyone in the church was singing, "You're a good, good father. It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am." It was life changing looking at them with their eyes closed, smiling, shouting praises to our King. 

          After the service, a lady named Margaret invited my family to see her home. We walk in and can barely fit 5 of us standing in there. She was so proud of her home. She explained how 6 people live in that house and she is so blessed by all God has given them. She is such an amazing woman. I got to meet her daughter Juliana. She is 16. I was asking her about school. She explained that she walks 3 hours to school, goes to school from 7:30-5, then walks home 3 more hours. She never complained. All she could say was how blessed and honored she was to be able to attend school. 

         We left and went back to Naomi's Village. We played with babies and played soccer with the older kids. We ate dinner then went to have movie night with all 59 of the NV kids. We watched the Croons. The whole movie, I had toddlers crawling in and out of my lap whispering things in my ear that I would nod and reply with, "ya!" to even though I had no clue what they had just said. 
We went back to the house and went to bed. All I could think about was the church experience I had had at Mwi' Hangiri. It was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced. Our God is so powerful! 

Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than another. Our God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our God. // For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. 
2 Corinthians 13:4

      

Naomi's Village Day 1

           

          First, I would like to apologize for not getting these blog posts done while being in Kenya. The wifi there was not very good at all and I couldn't publish anything! Very sorry! 

          Day One: We woke up at the resort in Nairobi and ate breakfast. At 8 we got in the car to go to a market place to exchange american dollars for shillings and to get any last minute food items before we got to Naomi's Village. Within 2 minutes of driving we saw a huge slum. This was my first time to ever see something like this. I was in tears within seconds. Then we see little kids with no shoes and ripped clothes chasing each other laughing and having the best time. This was the first time I realized and picked up on the fact that these people really don't have anything at all, yet they are so joyful. 

You would think that they have everything in the entire world. 

           After driving for an hour we arrive at this huge cliff. The elevation was so high that there were clouds right in front of us. So much that the driver had to slow down to be able to see the road. Before going to Kenya, I thought it was going to be a desert with red dirt everywhere and nothing around. Turns out, it is the complete opposite. There are beautiful green mountains and trees everywhere! It is so amazing! 

          After 2 hours of driving we arrived at NV. It is so pretty! We pulled up to the guest house, where we were all staying, and quickly got out to look around. The whole group went into the house to unpack and get everything settled. I look outside my window and see a swarm of kids running out to the soccer field with soccer balls. We found out that on Saturdays they host a soccer program that invites Naomi's Village kids and also kids all around the community to participate in soccer drills and 'matches' as the kids would call them.

          Milana and I ran out to go meet some of the kids and try to play soccer with them. They were so good!! The first girl I met was named Essie. She is 11 and the first thing she asked me was if I knew how to sing. If you know me, you know that I love to sing! I told her that I loved to sing and her face lit up! Then she asked, "will you sing a song with me?" At that time I didn't know how much english she knew or what songs she knew in english. So I asked her, "what song do you want to sing?" All she did was lift up her hand and point out her pointer finger and started waving it around. She wanted to sing This Little Light of Mine but she didn't know what it was called. So we started singing and she was so happy! Throughout the whole trip she would come up to me and stick out her pointer finger and we would sing that sweet little song. 

          Then, my brother Mitchell, and I taught the kids how to throw the football. Within 10 minutes they were kicking it around. I'm not sure they liked using their hands. Then we all went in to eat lunch. At NV they have a playroom for the toddlers and a baby room for all of the babies. So right when I was done with lunch I went into the playroom to meet the toddlers and play with them. The toddlers are so different from the older kids. The older kids are very shy at first because they don't know you. The toddlers attack you right when you sit down. I sat down on the floor and immediately had 2 kids in my lap and 3 holding my left and and 1 holding my right hand. They were so precious. Everyone went up to eat dinner. 

          After dinner I went to the baby room. Oh my goodness, it is the happiest place on earth. They are so sweet and so well mannered. There are 6 babies in the baby room right now. Virginia is always laughing and giving kisses. I never saw her cry the whole time I was there. Julia is very sassy. If you don't give her what she wants she throws her head back, kicks her legs, and screams so loud. I don't think she liked me as much as some of the other kids. Haha. Hope, Baby Hope, she was so sweet. Hope was the size of the newest baby who was a little over 3 months old. She came to NV around Easter weekend. Hope is 13 pounds and 2 years old. She is so small because she was so malnourished as a baby. Since she has been at Naomi's Village she is much happier and healthier. Jake was my buddy. He was 22 months old and he was huge! My mom joked by saying he was Mitchell sized. Mitchell, my brother, is huge. Jake liked to play a game where i could sit on the ground and he would run to the other side of the room and sprint over to me and knock me over. We played that game everyday. Robbie is another baby boy. He loved being held. Every time I walked into the room he would put his arms up and say, "upa, upa auntie, upa!" He was telling me that he wanted up, up auntie, up. Then there was baby Franklin. He was the newest baby at NV. He was right over 3 months. He was so sweet. All of the babies were adorable. 

           After the baby room I went back to the house to get supplies for s'mores. They were having a big bonfire and we were making s'mores for them to have. For over 2 hours we sang praise songs around the fire. It was so amazing. My first day at Naomi's Village was one I will always remember. It is such a special place. 

Set a fire down in my soul, that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you God, I want more of you God // As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 

Psalm 42:1