Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is doing well and had a blessed Christmas day. I have to apologize for not communicating more this fall. I did not realize how being here during the holidays was going to negatively affect me so much. Going to Nairobi at Thanksgiving was to be a time of rest and refreshment, but ended up being more stressful due to many meetings and extra time needed to shop for supplies. It left little time for relaxation. It was nice to be back in the land of beautiful colors, cool weather and clean stores, but I was more overwhelmed by the stores and the shopping than I had anticipated. Also my fun time shopping at the Maasai market turned into me having a total meltdown when it rained and I slipped and fell on the muddy wooden steps. Luckily I was not badly hurt, just bruised, drenched and dirty.  I think everything just hit me then and I could not quit crying. It was not a pretty picture.

Forgot a picture with ornaments

I really do try to find the good in bad situations, but sometimes it is hard. Missionary life is full of many ups and downs and I have to admit there are days when I would rather be at home with my family, church family and friends and not here. Of course things got better after Thanksgiving and God blessed me with a chance to come back to Nairobi for Christmas, which has been very refreshing. So a little late, but still appropriate for the season, here is a list of things I am thankful for.

Christmas Decorations

The tree for my room

I got excited when I saw 3 boxes of lights and a few cards in one of the stores in Lodwar on November 1^st, unfortunately other than a few more cards and some tinsel strands, that was about the extent of decorations available to purchase in Turkana. Nairobi was better and the malls were decorated but still rather minimally compared to the malls and stores in America. It was such a big contrast that I had not expected. However, I managed to purchase a couple small trees and ornaments and a teammate donated some lights. I will not go into the light buying and trying to return fiasco of 2014….also occurring on the day I fell in the mud!

I made cut out snowflakes from white printer paper and a wreath for my front door from the green and white tinsel in Lodwar. Even though it was 90+ degrees and I was wearing flip flops as I sang Christmas carols it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  

Christmas Music

Candle light caroling

The music is what really makes it seem like Christmas to me, so I brought over Christmas CD’s and music loaded on my Kindle. I knew I would miss singing the songs at church and going caroling with my church friends. No American Christmas songs are sung at the Turkana churches and that is as it should be, but still sad for me. In the blessing of coming back to Nairobi, I arrived on the day that one of the churches here held their large picnic and caroling event. I sat on a blanket eating cheese (dairy is what I miss the most in Turkana) listening to songs as the people all streamed in before the real sing along event began. Then it got even better. As we had driven to the event we passed 2 camels being led along the road. They had on riding pads and we joked that maybe they were coming to the caroling. Those were the first camels I had seen in Nairobi. They are so commonplace in Turkana that I almost did not think it was odd, until the people I was with pointed them out and said something. Wow how my perspectives have changed. About an hour later, those camels showed up where we were. I was probably more excited than all the kids who wanted rides. So now I can say I have ridden on a camel in Kenya.

The camel I rode

Language Learning in the Bush

Language learning in Lodwar has been hard. I was blessed to have my language helper from my vision trip back in the area to work with me for about 2 months when I got to Turkana, but it is too easy to use English there in my daily life. About the time I was realizing this, my language helper got a full time job. This made me sad at first, but I am thankful for the time I had with her and am thankful that she has a job to help her provide for her family. 

I will now be spending more time in the bush during the week. This will push me to use the language more and not fall back on English. I will also have a better chance to see how we can incorporate growing food for the animals in the farms. I will be able to see and learn more about the farms and the wells and begin to develop relationships with the people. Please pray for me and my language learning and some of the other stresses that will come with building relationships.

My new "friends"

One example of that is when I visited the farm and talked with ladies I had previously met. It took only about an hour for them to declare me their new friend. Great, I thought, until I realized that that meant they had the right to start asking me for things. Although I could barely understand the words, I was catching most of the meaning of them pointing at my clothes and their beads and saying Lodwar and lotaun (in town) a lot. Later someone else translated for me. They had asked for rides to town, new clothes, more beads, watches and for me to slaughter a goat when they came to my house to visit. I said I did not have a goat. They said I could buy one. I said “no”.  So seriously, pray for my language learning and for the relationships, that I can develop some genuine ones and not just be asked for things all the time.

CHE (Community Health Evangelism)

I came here to be a part of the CHE program and I still know this is God’s leading for me. However, the CHE program has gone through some changes recently and I am not sure what it will look like in the future. I have been blessed by my CHE training and still know that CHE can work in Turkana. I am thankful that just when I was feeling frustrated about it, God showed me two examples of CHE at work.

Digging the trench

Refilling the trench with sand

The first was in a location where the pipes from the well and water tank were leaking. The community leaders contacted the missionary and told him about the problem. When we went out to see the area, they had not only identified the problem, they knew how they wanted to fix it. They just needed a couple different connectors and the tools and then concrete for the water run off for the animals. I was so impressed as we suggested they put the spicket in the shade and they stood up to our suggestion and said no that was a bad location. As I remembered being there a month earlier and seeing all the people gathering in the shady area I realized they were right, it would have been a bad location and I was glad they told us that. After some initial work by the missionary, they dug the needed trenches and got everything ready for the concrete. We had left to get the concrete and by the time we came back they had already been gathering the rocks and sand needed. We had not told them to have it ready, they knew what they needed and they did it. What a blessing to see this. I love the picture where we wazungu (white guys) are standing around watching them work. That’s a community working together, identifying a problem, the solution and then fixing the problem and taking ownership of the project.  

Concrete in place

Patching up the holes

The second example was the next day when we went out to build a shelter on one of the farm plots so tomatoes could be grown there. Tomatoes are more sensitive to the heat and mites, so the netting used would provide shade and eliminate a lot of the mites blown in with the dust. I had my doubts about the design when we started, because the wind was actually so bad that day that I was being blown over just trying to hold the netting, but in a few hours we had it secure and stable. The whole time the people at the farm gathered the needed sticks and cut the ends. They helped remove the netting from another area and move it over. Then when we mentioned that there were some holes in the netting that needed to have patches sown over them, immediately, the lady whose plot this was whipped out a needle found a loose thread from the edge of the netting and began to sew the patch in place. By the time we had finished securing all the netting to the frame and gathered our supplies she was almost done. She had taken ownership of that shelter and understood what she needed to do. She did not tell us we needed to sew it for her, she took the initiative and did it herself.

These may seem like very small things, but they were not. They give me hope, even with a culture that has been led into dependency by the many NGO’s that come and do nothing but give handouts over and over. Please continue to pray for the work we are doing teaching development. Pray that the people will understand that they have resources and knowledge. They can have a better life for themselves and not just resort to begging and taking handouts all the time. The fact that they have learned how to survive in the harsh elements of the desert in the bush is amazing to me. They live a hard daily life, but they also know how to have fun.

Cultural Learning at a Turkana Wedding

Which of these does not belong?

Often I learn about the culture through discussions that come up as I learn the language, but sometimes I just have to experience it to understand it. I was really excited when my language helper in the bush asked if I wanted to go to a wedding. My first question was “Is it ok if I go?” and then “Do I need to change clothes?” although I was already wearing the best outfit that I had with me in the bush that week. Luckily the answers were, Yes and No, in that order.  Then I had my first culture lesson when I asked what time the wedding began and I was told it had started the night before, when the families got together to discuss how many animals would be given for the dowry. I thought that should have been done long before the wedding started, but I guess maybe this was just the final official negotiation.

So, after a morning of language learning that included some dancing lessons with the ladies in the farm, we were driven out to the site of the wedding and dropped off. I do not like being the center of attention, especially at someone else’s wedding, but I have realized most times that is hard for me to avoid, especially in the bush. After the initial excitement of me being there, I was able to just blend in a little more and enjoy what was happening. I still have a limited understanding of most of it, and one question always led to more questions. I may not have all this completely correct so someone with more Turkana cultural experience is welcome to comment and correct this, if needed.  

The men entering

 ·      We were there on the second day of the wedding in the afternoon for about 3 hours. I never saw the bride. The groom showed up after I was there for about 2 hours.

·      Some people were gathered in the shade of every tree around the houses of the bride’s family where the wedding was taking place. Every time I glanced around there were more and more people there.

·      Then the dancing began. The men walked in as a group from the distance. The circled around and then came up to where a pen was in place and the bull was being slaughtered. They wore bells on their legs and feathered hats that had different colors for the men from the grooms family and from the brides family. They carried their small seats (ekicholong).

·      The father of the bride had 2 wives and the mother of the bride received the slaughtered cow. As each piece of meat was taken to her the men danced as they carried it to her hut and then danced back to the pen. After that was done a camel was brought over and it decided it did not want to be a part of the wedding that day, but unluckily for the camel some brave soul caught its tale and it too became part of the wedding feast. However, it was given to the father of the brides other wife. Having more than one wife is still rather common here.

·      I never did get an exact answer about how many animals would be needed for a dowry in Turkana. However, I was assured that I would be worth more in Turkana than the typical 8 cow dowry in Maasailand. Interesting! That was about all I could say to that!

·      There were also goats roasted for the meals that would follow and at least 4 were put directly on the fire while I was there. Since I was crashing the wedding anyway, I was happy to leave before dinner was served.  

The women entering

·      After the men had started their dancing the women had gathered and began their dancing separately. Most of them wore fancier larger beads that they placed over their every day neck beads. Many also carried and waved a cloth or a “pom-pom” (because I do not know what else to call them) made of cow tail hair.  They waved their hands and the hair or cloth up and down as they danced and one lady that danced around me hit me in the head with her pom-pom. I was a little shocked and not really sure what that meant, so I just smiled and said “Ejoka” the typical greeting.

The men talking about the next dance/song

·      The dancing continued separately, then eventually melded into a inner circle of men with the women on the outside. The men sat and talked, I think about which song or dance to do next, then got up and danced and the women danced around the outside. Then the men sat again and talked and then got up and danced again. This went on for a long time, until the men left and got the groom and came back with him at the front of the group dancing and singing also. Then the circle reformed and they continued as before.

The large dancing circle

·       I left when the sun was going down, but the next day my language helper told me the wedding had continued until past midnight and there would still be more of the wedding that day until the afternoon, when everyone would finally go home.

·      

At one point I tried to explain a typical American wedding to share some of the contrasts with what I was seeing there. My comments were met with many strange looks and many questions from the Turkana.

Here are just a few more things I am thankful for:

Monitor lizard 

Another learning experience when the monitor lizard was finally dead after an hour hiding on my teammates porch and then a battle with our dogs. I necropsied the critter after it was dead and learned that the Turkana use the fat as “dawa” (medicine). I think I would rather be sick that eat abdominal fat from a lizard. 

I do not have to pump gas here, like a blast from past (my early years of driving) the gas station attendants pump it for you. Even getting your gas pumped is very social and you need to chat a little first.

 I do not have to mow grass at my house. The blessing of having a yard of pure sand! Of course all that sand likes to blow into my house, but with a 12 month growing season, the mowing would get old very quickly, especially if I had to use a panga (machete).

 Sunflower seeds planted along the fence in front of my house and a place to start a garden in the back. Trying to add some “curb appeal” and something beautiful for me to look at as I wash dishes. Here’s hoping the dogs have left my flower beds alone and the guards are watering them.

A desert Rose planted by the side kitchen window and the hope 

that I can get more to grow from transplanting branches.

Ice skating in Nairobi 

Scorpions in my shower, that I was able to remove before the 

cats or I were stung.

Ice skating in Kenya on the same day I rode a camel for the first time. I hope its not the last time for either one of those activities.

Ali and Bonnie

My cat and kitten.  I cannot wait to get back to Lodwar to see them. Ali is 10 weeks old now and very mischievous. I had to post a sign on my refrigerator that says “Please make sure kitten is not stuck in the frig.” Yep the little bugger climbed in there one day when the housekeeper was there and luckily I got home about an hour after she left and heard Ali mewing and let her out, before she got too cold.

My teammates here in Kenya. I am thankful for all they do for me in Nairobi and in Turkana and how they made this a great Christmas.

I am also thankful for my family and friends. Thanks for praying and partnering with me in this ministry.

Most of all I am thankful for God leading me to Turkana and for the sacrifice of His Son Jesus to save me from my sins. I am thankful to spend Christmas celebrating with teammates here and at a church where we did sing American Christmas songs and freely and openly read scriptures. It has been refreshing to my soul to be here and I am thankful for that.

I have Joy because of JESUS.

Thanks to everyone who has sent emails, messages, cards and notes of encouragement. I do not always get to respond to each one personally, but they really do mean so much to me to receive them.

Thanks also for my many partners, for the prayers and financial partnership. You are so important. I can always use more partners, so if you would still like to make a year end donation you can do that at my CMF page

http://www.cmfi.org/wherewework/missionary/stucker

Or contact my parents and they can get you a prayer card that you can mail to CMF.

My address for letters and cards:

Shannon Tucker

PO Box 98

Lodwar  30500

Kenya East Africa

If you wish to send other items please contact me to discuss where they should be sent. I have to pay taxes on everything that is sent and right now I am still happy with what I have been able to get here and have brought over with visitors. Thanks

What's New? Everything!

Camel wandering past our training

First, I inspected the scapula (shoulder blade). Then I moved on to the stifle (knee joint). It looked good and I was happy to see that the cruciate ligaments were intact. Staying scientific, I thought about the muscles I was looking at, but I struggled to remember their names. We were out in the bush, in the desert of Turkana and it was hot. I was lucky to be sitting in the sand in the shade, but my mind was working slowly.

Students performing a CHE skit

So, I shifted to a utilitarian thought. This scapula could be useful for the next step. I had to stay focused. I said a quick prayer for God to give me the strength for what was next and……… I began to eat. It was a goat and these parts along with some rice and vegetables were my lunch. Even though I was not feeling well that day, I was honored to be sitting there sharing that goat with the Turkana who were leading and attending that CHE (Community Health Evangelism) training. So I ate the meat off that scapula and used it as a utensil along with the spork I carry with me and I finished most of my lunch and then “shared” that stifle and its muscles with someone who appreciated it more than I did.

Finally able to connect with friends serving in Kenya 

Just a week before I had been in Nairobi eating ice cream, beef hamburgers, pizza, lettuce salads and other treats. I was staying at a guesthouse and had met many new missionary friends and unexpectedly reconnected with other missionary friends. What a huge blessing! Everyone was so kind and answered my questions about life at the guesthouse, helped me get around that area of town, showed me where to shop and where the best restaurants were. This was an important learning experience, since I will sometimes stay at that guesthouse when I go back to Nairobi for meetings and breaks.  

Great to see friends from the US

I was also staying at that guesthouse so I could attend the Global Missions Health Conference, which was at a nearby church. This conference started as a missionary medical conference held in Louisville every fall. That conference has grown and last year it also expanded to the African conference held here in Nairobi. I was excited to be able to attend, since I knew I would miss the next 3 in Louisville. I was even more excited when I learned that friends from the US would be there. It was great to see them, talk about home, and get lots of hugs and goodies.  I really do appreciate all these wonderful Christian friends and their hearts for missions and not just because they brought me chocolate!

“So what’s new in your life?” This was the question one of my friends asked as we were catching up. 

I looked at her and said “Everything! Everything in my life is new and different!” All of a sudden I found it very liberating to have said that. Even though I had done a lot of training and knew this would be the case, it had not really occurred to me in this way. Every single, little, big, significant, insignificant, silly, not so silly thing in my life really was “new and different”.

I had learned that different is not necessarily bad, and to not think about it as wrong or stupid and I often have to catch myself before I make judgments like that. That is hard. I have my own set of cultural “norms” and my “American baggage” that I carry with me. It is not something I can just set down and walk away from. It goes with me, everywhere and it seems even larger and heavier here in Turkana where the differences are greater.

At least I got a picture at the equator!

Preparing to leave for Turkana and shopping was a challenge. I asked my teammates many questions about what I could buy up here, but that often changes, so in the end I decided if I really wanted it I would bring it with me from Nairobi. So a few days later, the shopping was done, the vehicles were packed and we were on our way to Turkana. Knowing I was carrying enough chocolate to help us survive for days if the vehicles broke down was reassuring, but the trip driving back up to Turkana was worse than the one in April. The traffic was terrible, the zebras were not as photogenic and I had the prior knowledge of just how bad the drive was weighing on my mind. I also had the reality of this being my “real transition”. The big one. The tough one. I had just had this revelation about everything in my life being “new and different” and now I was about to experience even more “new and different”, but at least this time I would be warm (well hot)!

I have been up here for 6 weeks now and every day there are so many new things, that it is sometimes overwhelming and exhausting. I try to find one “win” everyday. Sometimes these are very small, but they keep me going. Some days seem utterly ridiculous, like I will never learn what I need to know, let alone everything I really want to know. Other days I feel like I nailed it and learned so much and accomplished so much. I keep thinking that I need to keep a journal, since I know I am forgetting things, but it seems like after a long day of just living and surviving and trying to thrive, who has time to stop and write it all down. Doing everyday tasks take longer and I have to think twice about everything I do to remember if I did it the way I should have or if I need to ask more questions because I do not know what something means or how to handle a certain situation.

Culture: Every day is a cultural learning experience; from what language I should speak with which person, to the family structure, the traditional dress and weapons, customs with children and other cultural practices. I will not be able to explain all these things, because so many I just do not understand myself.  You are always welcome to send comments and ask questions and I love hearing from you all, but realized that I may not be able to answer, simply because I do not understand enough to give you an educated, appropriate answer.

Communicating in Turkana is easier with kids

Language: I did not realize how blessed I was, when I was in formal school, in a location away from the area where I would serve. That may sound backwards, but it gave me a chance to focus on learning without being pulled into the ministry right away. I was able to really focus on studying. It was also a much easier life there in so many ways. My first month up here, we had many team meetings and they were invaluable to learning about life here, but often took me away from language learning and studying. I have tried hard to keep a regular schedule with my language helper, Hellen. She was my helper when I came on my vision trip in 2013 and I am so happy that she is here and available to help me now.

We meet 3 times a week for 3 hours each time. We go over a Turkana grammar book that I began at language school. We started at the beginning reviewing lessons quickly, but now we are going more slowly as I am having trouble just keeping all the vocabulary straight. I also am working on translating some Turkana bible stories to use for devotions, as we did with Swahili at the language school. I have another book with lists of words (mostly nouns). I would love to say I am easily memorizing them, since many are borrowed and are similar to the Swahili nouns, but with Turkana having masculine, feminine and diminutive nouns and plurals for each of those, there are sometimes 6 versions of how to say what I would consider one basic noun.

We also work on greetings and basic conversations so I have more to say when I meet new people and I have tried to learn “series”, list of sentences about doing a task. Just writing and translating these was much harder than I had thought it would be.  It took almost 2 hours to write up about 7 sentences for “This is how I make chai” and about 6 sentences for “This is how I wash dishes”. I then struggled for 2 weeks with barely getting the first few sentences for making chai. I just cannot memorize random words and sentences.  (Keep reading to find out what I did to create a “Win” for that situation).  Oh yeah! I am also still learning Swahili. Hellen also knows Swahili, so I try to use it as much as possible with her and relate the Turkana words to the Swahili words I already know or learn the Swahili word also. I am reviewing my Swahili from school by using another book and doing one lesson on my own each week. Luckily the answers are in the book, so I do not waste class time with that.

I am beginning to understand the tones and cadence of the language a little more, just through listening. I sometimes just look down or shut my eyes when someone is speaking to listen for words I recognize and see how they are pronounced. Most pronouns have an up and down sound to them. The word for today is very choppy, but all the same tone and hearing the past tense verbs that go up at the end is something I am working on still. Turkana seems like a very harsh language compared to Swahili ,which seems to flow better. I can now recognize when someone is speaking Swahili or Turkana and when they are throwing in words from each language together. That’s a huge WIN! I cannot roll my “R’s” YET, but I am trying. I say that a lot. Ninajaribu! (That means “I am trying!” in Swahili, not sure how to say that in Turkana, YET!)

CHE lesson on teaching and learning

Learning with others: Three days after we arrived up here, I left for the CHE training that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. That was hard. I had barely unpacked and had to find what I needed to go stay in the bush. We stayed in a house with running water (just had to make sure the tank was full, before you got in the shower) and a generator so we can have lights at night during dinner and for an hour or so after that. I slept on a mattress on the floor on the porch and was actually cold due to the strong winds. I was the only mzungu (white person), going out with the CHE facilitators and farm and water crew that week.

I learned a lot. I listened as they spoke at the training and wrote down words that they wrote on the board. If you know CHE you know we usually use large white paper. That was different and using the paper is something I would like to add to their training. That way the class has the copy of what was discussed in each lesson. In America we hang the papers on the walls so you can see them. We were in a church that was only a roof. I commented that we could put the paper on the ground held down with rocks and they could still walk around and read the papers. It was still great to be there and have the information written so I could copy it and come back and learn the words and compare the lessons and the translation.

Lynn teaching ESL

A few weeks ago, I was able to sit in on my teammate, Lynn’s, ESL class (English as a Second Language). I was so impressed with the Turkana men and how they were struggling to say words in English, but they kept trying! They wrote down their lessons and were often reminded to speak English in the class and to each other. It sounded just like my teacher in Swahili classes, but in reverse. I also was reminded that song could be used as a great tool to help me learn. I had used many mnemonic devices in vet school and during my MPH to learn anything and everything and sometimes my classmates and I had resorted to songs. I think that was mostly after long hours of study when we were tired! But it all worked. Lynn had made a song about washing their clothes and I joked that she needed to make songs for me and she said, just do it yourself. That was a great idea, why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? Probably because my brain was so hot and overwhelmed that I could not even think of simple things some days. Anyway, I put my making chai series to song and it helped. It still needs some work, but now I can say “Etukulauni ayong ng’akipi!”  (I boil the water!) Almost without thinking about each syllable. Big WIN! Thanks Lynn for reminding me of the obvious things I could be doing.

My truck, the license begins KAT!

Driving: I am doing it! In a manual transmission hilux truck (always had smaller cars), in the sand (different) , sometimes in four wheel drive (scary), on the left side of the road (very different), sitting in the drivers seat on the right side of the vehicle (very, very different).  About 50% of the time I still walk to the left side to get in and drive and about 20% of the time I still turn on the windshield wipers when I try to signal a turn. Some days my win is just going to the “right” side of the car to get in and drive and getting it into every gear I want on the first try.

That first trip out to the CHE training, I drove part of the way with the help of one of our workers. He is very patient and a great teacher and I am thankful I was able to do that with his help. He had a great hand signal way to tell me to move to the left or right, slow down or go faster. He knew every bump, every turn and could spot a camel hiding behind a tree before it even stood up and ran right in front of me. At one point I thought I was doing ok and all of a sudden his hands were flying all over the place. I started to slow down and said “What does  that mean?”. He said “Not you, keep going.” He had started talking to the others with his hands and forgot he was using them to guide me.

That was a very rough trip, but this week I redeemed myself a little as I drove back out in my vehicle (much easier for me to handle) and the two people who had been with us on that first trip both said I was much better. Well, I really do not know how it could have been any worse! It was a huge win and this time I only almost got stuck in the sand 1 time, versus 2 times on the first trip. It is a tough drive and I was sore and mentally exhausted, but I felt great about the accomplishment.

Looking South, our houses are somewhere in the trees

Getting around town to shop: Lodwar is not a huge town, but it can be crowded and with road construction it can be a little difficult to get around. Again my teammate Lynn helped me, by letting me ride to town with her quite a few times. She even drew me a map,  so I could see where I was as she drove. She also introduced me to people at some of the main stores where we shop. Thanks again, Lynn. I have also learned that dropping her name can be a big help to break the ice if I go somewhere new. The shop owners are starting to recognize me and I am not just that mzungu mgeni (white visitor). I had only been to the gas station once before and on my second visit when I got out of the car the attendant called out “Apetet”. (That’s my Turkana name. It is a type of thorny tree.)

Traffic: Jams here are usually caused by sheep and goats. I had to stop in the middle of the bridge for a few minutes the other day while a herd passed. We have a small one lane bridge that vehicles share with piki’s (motorcycles) and has a separate walking lane that is always full of people. It carries us over the Turkwel River, since we live to the South and the shopping and business areas of Lodwar are to the North. I joked about getting away from the bridge problems in Louisville and now I have come to bridge problems here. In the past there have been demonstrations that shut the bridge and blocked our way to town. I do not think they have any “new bridge plans” pending, which is a little scary. However, just this week, they repaired the main road up to the bridge and into town and it is very nice. I asked one of the guys riding with me how long it would stay nice and he said “Maybe a month” then he thought again and said “Maybe a week”. Either way, its nice while it lasts and means I do not have to decide whether to drive on the tarmac and try to miss as many potholes as possible or to drive off the side of the road and try to miss the people trying to walk there. My big win yesterday was going to town without my map, getting everywhere I wanted on the first try and being able to park close to the front of the shops. 

Baby getting big, 9 days old

Veterinary Medicine: I got to play vet and it was great. I got 5 of our 6 animals vaccinated for Rabies. The one who really needs it is the feisty one who will take some more work and planning and maybe sedation. All 6 got dewormed. Bonnie, the cat I adopted from another missionary family, is doing great and has become very happy as a house cat. Nine days ago she had her kitten and it is her “Mini me”. I pronounced it a girl and began thinking about names, but just call her Baby now.  Bonnie is a good mama and very protective of Baby. She lets me pet her and pick her up briefly, but if I try to keep her, the kitten meows and Bonnie comes and takes her by the scruff back to their box. Luckily she adapted to my wishes and had the kitten in a box and they have been happy there. However, this week when we went to the bush for 2 days, my hope that she would stay in the box was not my reality. I had my housekeeper come check on them that first evening and she could not even find Bonnie. She came back the next day to clean as normal and Bonnie came out from under the big cupboard in the bathroom. When I got home I grabbed a flashlight and there was the kitten under the cupboard. I used a broom handle to scoot it out and did a thorough check and thought maybe I had misidentified the gender. I like boy cats better, but I think the poor little kitten just did not get as good of a rear end cleaning while stuck on that dirty floor under that cupboard for 2 days and is swollen and irritated. So I am trying to help with some ointment, but Bonnie is cleaning her better now, so it is hard to put anything on Baby’s poor little bottom. She has grown so much in just a week and she opened her eyes at 5 days of age, very early. I guess up here they have to grow quickly and thrive or they will not survive. This is Bonnie’s 3^rd litter and none of her other kittens have survived. I will spay them both in a few months and keep them both. They match, how could I break up the set!

More new and different and Praises!

• -       Figuring out which way to turn about 6 knobs to get water to fill my tanks (when it is on), Praise God for indoor plumbing and city water

• -       Learning how to use the generator when the electric is off (they began about 3 weeks of repairs the day we arrived up here, of course), Praise God again for city electric, a generator, freezer refrigerator and air conditioner in the bedroom

• -       Deciphering what temperature the oven is really at when 3 different thermometers all say something different, Praise God for the oven that works and the opportunity to buy a new thermometer in Nairobi next month

• -        Learning a pattern to follow for filling the filtered water tank, then refilling all my jugs, bottles and the ice cube trays and not having to worry that I might have used the water from the tap, which is not potable. I can’t even tell you how many ice cube trays I refilled that first week, because I used the tap or just could not remember where I filled them, Praise God for learning the small things to make the day go smoother

• -       Getting quicker at shopping and getting home with my goods, because it still takes extra time to clean the fruits and vegetables and even the dry goods and other items because they are too dirty and dusty to even put in the cupboard or refrigerator without a thorough cleaning first, Praise God for the variety of food and supplies that are available here and for the potato chips last week

• -       Communicating better so that someone does not show up at my house at 8am for a meeting that I thought I scheduled at 2 pm (2 is hour 2 or 2 hours after the sun comes up or 8 am in Swahili and Turkana). I thought if I was speaking English when I said the time it would be understood to be the American time, but now I have been told I need to say the time and then point to where the sun will be to make sure we are all on the same page. Praise God for another opportunity to learn

Bonnie and one day old Baby

• -       Learning that I need to say “Here puss, puss” (pronounce the “u” like the “oo” in boot) to call my cat, not “Here kitty, kitty” like in America and then having her save me from a small green gecko that was hiding in my cupboard. After screaming like I usually do when I encounter a gecko, Bonnie ran into the room growling, so I yelled “Get it puss” and she did and then she took it back to her baby in the box. Too bad Baby was only 3 days old and did not have her eyes open yet, but I think there was learning going on between them. Praise God for my reptile controlling and stress relieving cat and her beautiful, healthy, fuzzy kitten.

Ten years ago, I had my first ever taste of goat, when I was in Haiti. I remember it being not bad, just kind of different. Since my first goat lunch here I have eaten goat about 5 other times, including once in my samosas (a fried meat snack) when I thought it was beef, but turned out I was wrong.  I think I still like beef better, but that is because it is familiar and I know what to expect from it. Goat is new and different and I never know which part I will get or how to eat it.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of going to the home of one of our CHE facilitators for his new baby’s dedication. I had sat outside his home and visited with he and his wife and his 2 boys just last year when I came here on my vision trip. It is exciting to see how his boys have grown and to see his new baby girl. She is named “Faith” because he and his wife had faith that God would give them a girl. They did not know what they were having until she was born. The baby dedication is a very important part of the culture here, now she has been welcomed to the world by the church family and we have prayed over her, so she can be taken out into the world and they will soon begin to bring her to church. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, together with my new Turkana church family and friends. They are all very different from me and I am different and new to them also. However, our common bond of our love for God and Jesus makes all those differences just fade away.

By the way, I was lucky enough to get the scapula again yesterday, so I was a little more skilled at getting the meat off. This time it was the kidney and liver that I shared with someone else who appreciated it much more than I would have.