shop lady

Kaleigh and I would come here everyday to get food from this little lady. She was always so patient with our bad Swahili. She was super sad to see us go. We were sad to say goodbye. She told us that when we come back to bring her an American dollar. That is a promise we will keep. 

It was so convenient to walk across the street and just pick up any fruit or veggies that you needed or wanted for the day. It was also always at such a good price. I am down for that. 

lucky summer ward

The last Sunday we were in Kenya we made sure that we took a lot of pictures. Kaleigh and I kept it together the whole day. We did so well. You can give us a pat on the back the next time you see us. No tears at all. It was a miracle. 

The Lucky Summer Ward in the Kenya Nairobi Stake is the best and most favorite ward I have ever been in. No jokes. 

Brian and Oscar wanted a picture with Jesus. These boys. 

This is my friend Eugene. He is so great. He always cleans the building on Saturdays and never complains. He is waiting on his mission call. He has been waiting on it for a few months now. I am getting so antsy to see where he goes. 

Rispah's mom came out to visit us on our last Sunday and to give us some of Rispah's things to bring to America with us. 

This is Oscar's family minus him, one niece and one sister. I love this family. I love this family so much. His sisters are so spunky and just so funny. His mom is such a sweetheart. I swear they are all the funniest people I have ever met. The best part is they crack me up and it is mostly in Swahili. I have no idea what they are saying but you just know it is funny. 

These were the goof balls in the ward. Just look at them.Oscar was the freaking ringleader. He always got everyone to be a little more crazy then they really are. 

These were basically the cats I would hang out with at church. The only real person missing is Eugene. It feels like I am at home when I am with them. Kaleigh and I are the token white friends. It is fabulous. 

This is Brian. He is wonderful. He was on a branch mission for most of the time I was in Kenya. He was the boy who got down on one knee at the YSA dance. We only hung out for the last week I was in Kenya but it was great. It was so great. He just finished his mission papers. I am so excited to hear where he is going but I will also miss him so badly when I go back to Kenya next year. He is Oscar's best friend. They are man lovers. 

Elder Karson Cook was a turd when I first met him. I did not like him at all. He was a greenie with a bad attitude and was always dogging on Kenya. I love this place. He doesn't even know how lucky he is to get called on a mission here. He and I both had a change of heart. I love this boy. I love him with all my heart. He became one of my best friends. He is so kind. He is learning to love the people and the culture. When we were driving to the airport I got a text from him, "I already miss you so bad." That was the breaking point for me that day. I miss him terribly. 

Lastly, Oscar. This boy. 

I will tell you more about him later. 

These are my people. I love them all so much. 

The weekend before this one was testimony meeting. I went up and bore my testimony to all of my ward family. I teared up a little. It wasn't bad. I got in the important things for them to hear. 

Like:

Flirt to convert. 

White Mormons are boring. 

Idaho is going to kill me.

I love them all so much. 

And most importantly... the church is true.

dull knife

We got invited to a wedding. It was more like we got commanded to go to this wedding. 

We got there super early. I got roped into helping make the food. I cut all the zucchinis and then I got the lucky job of cutting the carrots. The knife was so dull that it was hard enough to cut the zucchini let alone try to man handle these carrots that were as thick as my wrist. In the end I finished what I said I would finish and had pretty bruised up finger. It hurt for days after. 

They decorated the chapel all pretty like. The wedding was about 3 hours long. I think. It was super long. They had opening prayers and songs. Then after that there were talks about marriage. It was so hard to sit through all of it. 

After there was eating and dancing in the back. Kenyan weddings are so much different then American weddings. 

I mostly just hung out with the missionaries. They are kind of my crew. I love these boys so much. I also helped wash all the dishes. I felt like I was back in New Zealand at a family reunion. 

Richardsons

This is the white family in town minus Dave. They are so great to Kaleigh and I. She gave me a haircut and great advice about life. Their hearts are just so set on Jesus and service. They are such great people. I love that Katie tapped me on my shoulder in Tuskys last time I was in Kenya and found out I was also from San Jose. We had a insta-bond. I am so thankful for her. I am so excited to see this family again next year. 

They are always a good break from Kenya life and a taste of home. 

goodbye party

For Kaleigh and I's goodbye party we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we gave the boys lollipops, juice and chips. It sounded like a great idea but the boys ate a ton that night and were just too full to eat the food that we made them. 

The best part of the night is that Kaleigh put together a slideshow of pictures for them. The boys loved it. We just put her laptop on a table and pressed play. I loved hearing the giggles and the pure happiness that it brought them. These boys just know how to hit me right in the heart. 

Kaleigh and I did not cry at all. We held it together so well. 

animal orphanage

We wanted to be tourists. We went to the animal orphanage. It was basically like going to a zoo. It was so much fun. 

Oscar is a perfect tourist. He smiles and waves at the locals. He taught me everything that I know. 

There were a lot of cool animals. This baby giraffe was wicked. 

This is Gabby trying to communicate with his brother or something. 

This monkey was so freaking creepy isha. I have no idea how to describe him. He just scared me. His cage was also under some tight security. I don't think he was a safe animal. 

There were the tourist animals in cages and the local ones were just chilling where ever they felt like. Here is one of the local animals. 

After the animal orphanage we headed to the stake center. We were going to go salsa dancing but of course the one night that we make it there it is canceled. Perfection. 

We went and visited the bishop and the missionaries there instead. 

Oscar and I told the bishop we were getting married. He didn't believe us. 

This is our walk home from the stake center. It is always so fun with these kids. 

We also have to walk through this huge park. It is a dream. You feel like you are in NYC or something for a split second. 

After we got home we hung out with the street kids for just a little bit before we headed over the Sizzle N' Grill because our white friends were playing love songs there. It was so fun. Dave did such a good job. I also loved just hanging out with Katie. 

To end the night we went back to our house. Brian came out of our room with his number on. It was so random and funny. I loved it. Of course the mustache was upside down and made it all 100% better. 

I also tatted up the boys. 

We went to bed that night after 2 and had to wake up at 6 in the morning. The next day was hades. That is no joke. Kaleigh and I were over emotional and so tired. I broke down multiple times. Elder Cook was so worried about me. Poor child. 

water 2

We had another water fight. Obviously I lost. 

I had no hope. 

alex

(In the red)

One day when we came home from church Kaleigh came running back into the house because Alex was there. He had moved out of his house and collected all his things. He was on the move. This is such a blessing in his life. Not only was Alex there but Godfrey and Derick were there too. 

This organization called Friend's Vision has offered him and all the older boys that got kicked out of the orphanage an incredible opportunity to move to Naivasha and help built a new children's center. I don't know if they get paid but I do know that they are given a place to live and food to eat which is move then they have had in a long time. I was bittersweet. I was so happy to see that his future is just a little brighter but I was sad to see him leave to somewhere that is so far from me. 

Friend's Vision does amazing things for the boys I love and live with. 

You should check their website. 

http://www.friendsvision.org/

hedgehog

For a day or two I had a pet hedgehog. The boys found the hedgehog when the back field was burnt down. The poor animal had a lot of its quills burnt too. He was definitely scared. The boys gave him to me and told me to put it in my house. I was totally willing. I love hedgehogs. 

I named it Rafiki. That is the same name I gave my hedgehog from last year. 

Come to find out that these animals poop a lot. We had to let it free. There was too much poop in our house.

Kaleigh I walked across the street one day and found a good home. We dropped him off and said goodbye. We never saw him again or his poop.

football

During PE the boys play football. These are some of my favorite pictures. 

This is an epic picture of Opondo like head butting the football in midair. The boy is a stud and there is no denying that. 

In this picture they just scored and goal and he is so excited about it. 

Prado is a dancing machine. In this picture he is doing just that with a little side dancing done by Papa. They are such fun little people. 

alien

Kaleigh and I had been in Kenya 90 days and our visas needed to be renewed. It went so fast. We went to the Immigration Department in Nairobi. Most of the whole process went fast and nearly effortless. The worst part was just waiting to get finger printed. We sat and waited for about an hour for them to call our names. It was a long wait. 

After becoming legal in Kenya again we told Oscar we would go visit him at work. I thought this would be an easy task. It was... kind of. 

We first had to walk to the other side of town to find the bus we needed to get on. He made us walk to the freaking ghetto. We got directions of how to get there from some random girls on the street and they told us to not talk to anyone when we got over there. Hello, red flag. We got closer and closer but were still not 100% sure where we were going. Luckily I got a phone call as we were walking. It was Oscar's boss. She spied Kaleigh and I walking through town. She met up with us and directed us to the bus we needed. We got on the bus and everything was fine after that except the ride was way longer then I thought it was going to be. 

We brought fake snow to show the boys. They have never seen snow before. They loved it. Kaleigh and I are basically the coolest for even having fake snow. 

Before the end of the time I was there my hair was getting braided. This always happened to me. There is just something about my hair that attracts people. The girls at the orphanage loved to make sure I came out of there with at least 20 tiny braids in my hair. I am so blessed. 

tomo

There has been this Japanese PE teacher that has been living at the center for 2 years. We all knew that his time was coming to an end. We just never thought that it would end. It is kind of like a mission in that sense. It was so sad when he left. The boys love Tomo. He can also speak Swahili. This made it easy for the kids to communicate and learn to love him. 

When volunteers leave they have goodbye parties. At these parties they give the boys food... normally. 

Tomo went all out. He got a bunch of new clothes for the boys. You can see some of the new items in the picture above. The boys were most excited and about the shirt Dan Sammy is wearing with the skull. Boys will be boys. 

That night Tomo prepared 2 sausages for each boy. Tomo gave them each about 20 crackers and yogurt. To support his culture he gave the boys those little jello cups with mochi or whatever in the middle. They look like little jello shots. I am pretty sure he also gave them something else but I forgot what. The boys were so excited because Tomo also got them 7 new DVDs that held about 20 cartoons on them each. That will keep them busy for a few weeks. 

Tomo is so great. He is so kind. It was so sad to watch him leave. He bawled when he said goodbye to the boys. It was enough to tear your heart. 

alcohol wipe

Kaleigh and I thought it would be fun to surprise Oscar and Gabby at work. When we first got there it did not look like Oscar was excited about our choice but then he quickly changed moods. We brought them bags and bags of things for the kids to play with and use. 

It was a great day but the best part of the day was when Oscar almost did make Kaleigh cry. 

Here is the story:

Kaleigh had this open wound on her foot. I have no idea how she got it there but she took off her shoes and asked for a bandaid for it. Oscar jumped to helping her. He first got an alcohol wipe to clean the area. He put it on her cut for maybe like 1/8 of a second and Kaleigh was in tears. It was so funny. He bandaged it up and she was good to go. Poor girl thought she had a near death experience.

puppies

Mzungo had her babies. She had 5. 

1 died right away. 

2 died in the next few weeks.

It was so sad. 

stake conference

I went to the Kenya Naibori Stake conference. It was awesome. Maybe I didn't pay attention very much because Oscar was super distracting and when he wasn't distracting me then Charles' daughter was. She wad just so cute. We were also towards the back. It was hard to hear. 

Everyone was so happy to see their favorite mzungo twins from the Kasarani ward there. Kaleigh and I were equally happy to see them too. 

These are the orphans from where Oscar works at. Kaleigh sat with them in one of the first rows. They were all so sad when I was not up their too. I was so happy to see them all. They look so good in their little Sunday get up. They clean up so well. 

We also ran into this child. He is like 50 feet tall. 

visit

Oscar and Gabby came out to visit us. 

While we were waiting for class to start... Oscar did magic tricks for the boys and Gabby played some football. The kids loved them. 

We did crafts in class and just let the boy's mind's flow as they had a lot of free range on this activity. It is so fun to see what they come up with. We had a lot of cars, flowers and random isha. 

Oscar promised the boys that he would bring them some treats. We gave them juice and biscuits. They were so freaking happy about it. It made the boys love Gabby and Oscar even more. 

We ate taco salad for lunch and headed off to see the older boys that now live on their own. I got to interview them all and find out their live stories and how they ended up where they are. Oscar and Gabby talked to them in Swahili and then translated so it would be easier on all parties. I am thankful that they helped us. 

It was amazing to see how much they have been through and how some of them are still only 14 and living on their own. They have been through so much more then I have. 

These are some strong people. 

These are the 4 older boys I interviewed with Oscar and Gabby too. 

Aren't they the cutest boys ever?

All of them. So presh.