Nairobi Standard Chartered Race

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being able to run a half marathon along with the best runners in the world, literally! I have run three marathons in the States, but this was my first half. Due to all of our ministry work, and mile high elevation, I did not find it wise to try the full.

We had some friends, who we have worked with in ministry, that also ran yesterday and this is us before the race started.

I was able to run the half in 1:43, which I was really proud of! I was just hoping to break 2 hours. I had no idea how big of a factor elevation plays in running until living here.

It turns out that the guy who won first place in the marathon had just won the Arizona Rock n' Roll Marathon in the beginning of this year. It was kinda cool knowing that the winner had been in our town. It was truly a great day running among 10,000 people!

Our "Visitor"

We were "greeted" with a visitor last night at our place. As we were getting ready for bed, Shauna went to brush her teeth and found this pleasant surprise. I'm just going to be honest and tell you that I freak out more than her over stuff like this. When I heard her scream, I knew it was bad. I almost didn't want to check it out because I was thinking it was a snake.
She was the one that took this picture. I wasn't about to get close enough for this shot. Our Kenyan help came in and killed it. I freaked out...

Community Development Project

One of my responsibilities here at the school is Community Development. We had our first outreach this week and I was pleased with how it went.

Our 12th grade hosted the 7th grade of Mitumba Slum School. There was some concern that the Mitumba students would experience some "culture shock" being at our school because their entire campus can almost fit in our multi-purpose room. I spoke with the director, Pastor Shadrach, and he told me that these kids have a "slum mentality" from living there their whole life. He says that because the slums are all they know, they don't dream of attaining more. He thought it would be beneficial for the children to come to our school in hopes of causing them to develop greater dreams so they can achieve them.

The Mitumba students had a great time and were almost constantly smiling and laughing. I went with our driver to pick them up and almost immediately, they were laughing and fascinated with leaving the slums and travelling somewhere. You would have thought they were at DisneyLand. Their teacher, who also came, said that most of the students had not left the slums in many months.

I was concerned with how our day would go because this is something different I am trying this year than what the school did last year. This is more comprehensive and engaging. There were good results and feedback from students and staff. We are going to be hosting them, one grade at a time, with our students twice a month in hopes of creating relationships and encouraging them in the Lord. This is also the school that we are doing the Christmas Bucket Drive so they will have a bucket of food to eat during Christmas. If any of you, State-side, would like to give to them just let us know. Each bucket costs 1500ksh, which is the equivalent of $20. Please keep them in prayer.

Mitumba Slum School

Earlier this week, we were able to visit Mitumba slum, which is located close to Wilson Airport. It's not nearly as big as some of the other slums, i.e. Kibera-one million people! but the need is still just as great and the conditions are just as desperate!

God directed us to an amazing man in this slum named Pastor Shadrach. He runs a school in this slum for almost 400 children and doesn't charge them anything. This doesn't necessarily sound too generous, but there is no such thing as free education in Kenya. Even in the slum schools, if the parents can't afford the fees, their children do not go to school. I can't tell you how often we will be doing evangelism and see children everywhere playing because they are not in school. As part of my job as Community Developer, I will be taking our high school students to do various activities and form relationships with them.

These children come from the poorest of the poor and most don't eat anything outside of what they are fed at school. Through donations, this monetarily(not spiritually!) poor pastor, is able to feed them TWICE a day! He gives them a porridge at 10 o'clock that consist of a day's worth of vitamins and minerals that is even more expensive than feeding them lunch. I have just initiated the Christmas Bucket Drive at our school where we will try to get enough buckets that consist of maize flour, beans, rice, etc. to give them so they will have something to eat at Christmas. Please pray that our students and families will give generously!!

Mrs. Key's Kindergarten Chapel

Here at our school, elementary has chapel every Friday. Some weeks there will be outside guests and speakers, while other weeks different grades at the school will lead it. This past Friday, Shauna and her class did chapel and they did really great. I think alot of it has to do with the fact that they have an amazing teacher! Here is a picture of them before any of the other classes got there.

They sang songs and cited a verse that had to do with creation. There was even one child brave enough to pray.

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We have been busy with work and are doing many things on the weekends, some ministry and some recreational. We are developing many friendships here which is so important living cross-culturally. God has been really good to us. We love you guys and thank you for your prayers!

Video of Crescent Lake

Thought I would include just a short video of some of the zebra and giraffe we were around. It was really windy that day so the audio isn't the best.

Lake Navaisha

Over the last couple of days, we have been at Lake Navaisha which is in the Rift Valley. Our school has a faculty retreat every year and they took all of us to stay for a couple of days. Its really nice because it only takes an hour and a half drive, its quiet, and there is alot of wildlife.

We went on Saturday to a place called Crescent Lake. The pictures of the wildlife are taken there. This was over 200 acres of property that went along Lake Navaisha that is actually privately owned. This property is where much of the filming took place for the movie "Out of Africa." These are impala, which are similar to gazelle that were also there.

What was really cool about this place is that we were able to walk, with a guide of course, instead of being in a vehicle like you have to at most safaris. I think one of the main reasons is that there are no predatory animals, outside of hyena. As we walked, we saw many different bones and skeletons. A couple of guys got full gazelle skulls that still had the horns to take back to the house. I only came out with a jaw of a zebra and some bones of a wildebeest. I'm suprised Shauna let me bring them to the house, of course they have to stay outside for now.

We found out that hippos sleep in the water during the day and are on land all night awake. We accidentally stumbled onto one that was on shore and fortunately he was more scared of us than we were of him. A little further along a friend found a boa constrictor that was laying out in the sun on a rock. We eventually saw it in a crack in a rock. It was huge and different seeing one in its own native surroundings and not in an aquarium. We had a really good time.