unbelieveable

yes it is. it is unbelievable that i haven't updated my blog in almost a month. it's unbelievable that camp bluesky 2010 is right around the corner. it is also unbelievable that this school year is nearly over. ok... all those things are totally believable, really. :)

but because of all of that i have been so busy that updated my family and friends has dropped on the priority list. which is wrong. so forgive me please.

i am currently taking a day "off." so i have a little time to update you. i am, however, neglecting the much needed trip to the gym that i had planned today. oh well, tomorrow, right?!

camp is nearly here! sarah arrives on May 6, in my mind, marking the first arrival of camp staff. sarah's on the leadership team for the summer as the rock climbing coordinator. then on 16 May Isaac, Brittany, and Greg join us. and then starting from 24 May the counselors will be there. and they will trickle in throughout the summer. it's going to be good. i have now been to rosslyn and WNS to recruit campers. they are starting to sign up, but we are hoping for way way more. pray that more campers will sign up, for the leadership team as they travel, and unity among staff as we all meet together for the first time. pray also for camp preparations.

youth group is winding down. we have three more meetings for both middle and high school youth groups. it's been a good learning year for all of us. middle school youth group has grown in size and depth and the high school leaders have really started to grow into their leadership! high school youth group has waned some. the leadership teams for both have worked hard this year to follow God in teaching basic truths of the Gospel and life as a Believer. pray that we'll finish strong and have healthy goodbyes with the seniors and those moving away from Kenya. pray also that i will take all that i've learned about youth group and put it into great practice next fall.

praise God for my sweet little vaca with Mega. what a dear friend she has been! i'm so sad that she is leaving Kenya (and me) in July. thank God for her with me! here's a picture of our trip to Zanzi for Easter. it was so sweet to worship God and celebrate His resurrection on the beach. lucky us!

this is where Meg and I celebrated Easter.

famous Zanzibar door.

stay tuned for details about youth group end-of-the-year parties, high school graduations, and CAMP BLUESKY 2010!!!

happy Easter!

i've been enjoying this guy casually walking around the mall/coffee shop where i use internet, have meetings, and work. he's got a little cotton ball in the back.

i'm headed to a nice little easter break with a dear friend. so i'll not be posting for a week. enjoy our Savior and fellowship with His Church and you celebrate His resurrection together this week!

upset fruit baskets and Palm Sunday

this is my job:

it's natural to be jealous of my awesome job.

my favorite part is that the game is called "fruit basket upset." i just think that's an awkward phrase. kids were asking why the fruit basket was so upset. haha!

and then right after this we talked about Palm Sunday. we had some really good conversations about how if Jesus came today in our neighborhood like he rode into Jerusalem he'd probably be riding a donkey cart or a bicycle and would be greeted by street kids, people from the slum, prostitutes and beggars. we talked about the humility of the whole scene.

and one 6th grade girl said, "yeah, i think that if Jesus came today a lot of people wouldn't even know who he is because people have turned away from believing in Him and they have turned to other things... like... um... kissing people of the same gender."

we had a great time at middle school youth group yesterday.

humping dolphins

on Sunday when we drove to Church someone said, "you guys seen the new humping dolphins statue?" as we drove past this.

this is just a taste of some of the funny and random things that we get to enjoy around here. this beautiful new statue is just on the side of one of the roads we frequent. it's between our house and rosslyn. so i get the pleasure of driving past this every day more than once!

it's in the parking lot of a building that's been empty as long as i've lived in Kenya. a few months ago they installed a little grocery store there. and upon further investigation yesterday i noted that there is also a little indian restaurant next door to the grocery store. both establishments have names i can't remember. but i will try the restaurant soon, i'm sure. when i drove into the parking lot i was stopped by the guards. they only wanted to smile a lot and say hello. so friendly. :)

on Saturday both dolphins were spitting water and there was also water coming from the top dolphins back! i guess that's a special saturday thing. i won't talk about the fact that there's water coming out of a dolphin statue, but there hasn't been water coming from my shower in months. or how we're back on water rationing for the entire city. that's another post.

too bad i couldn't get a picture when the fountain was turned on.

outback

a trail marker

last year at Thanksgiving i was invited (thanks to one of our favorite camp BlueSky families) to be a part of a weekend family camp program by Outback America held at Brackenhurst. Outback is an outreach of JH Ranch. these are both incredible programs that i recommend. being a part of Outback in Kenya was a wonderful blessing in many ways. one, of which, was that almost all of the outback team was from the south. it really blessed my heart to be around those southern families during thanksgiving. and i was stoked to be a part of a family camp program because we have always wanted to do this and i was looking for new ideas.

while i was with the outback team in kenya they invited me to join them for Outback Mobile in Mobile, Alabama if my stateside schedule would allow.

so...

last month i made the 5-hour drive way down south where the spanish moss hangs thick, the tea is so sweet, and the hospitality is rich to Camp Grace in Mobile, Alabama for Outback Mobile. there are so many things through which God spoke during my one-night stay in Mobile.

the big top

teams meeting in their huddle groups after a talk

the "odyssey course"

under the big top for a talk

i also met some missionaries who work in Tanzania! they were on the volunteer staff for the weekend as intercessors. it was so sweet to stand around and talk about Africa together. it was much like when i spent time with the southern women in Kenya over thanksgiving, but the exact opposite. i love my two homes and the small comforts i get when i'm away from them.

i picked up a lot of great tips about family camp. one day (hopefully soon) camp bluesky will again attempt a family camp. and now we're a little bit better prepared.

the wearin' o' the green

happy st. patrick's day!

this is my favorite holiday. here are my reasons:

1. i'm irish. right, i know, it's like being cherokee, isn't it. everyone's irish. but i really think i am. i always argue, "my grandmother's family name is o'neal! i have to be irish!" Nana says we're Irish, so Irish we are. one day soon i will return to the motherland (i've never been there before).

2. i like beer. I KNOW they don't celebrate this day in ireland by drinking beer like we do in america (i think they celebrate every day in ireland by drinking beer), but i think it's fun that beer is associated with this holiday. don't get carried away, i'm not getting drunk. let's be mature.

3. green is a really nice color.

4. i like rainbows and so do leprechauns.

5. i REALLY like celtic music and irish step dancing a-la micheal flatley and lord of the dance.

i could go on.

last year on st. patrick's day my pastor Mitch gave a sermon about the life of st. patrick and i learned why i really like him and his day. i was talking with lauren about this earlier today and i remembered why i identified so much with patrick's story. when i first heard this story last year i was preparing to move back to kenya after more than a year in the States. i remember feeling lonely and crazy. crazy because i had just quit a decent job to be a volunteer and raise support. and lonely because i was going alone. and i was fairly alone in my perspective (though not alone herding pigs for 6 years like st. patrick).

patrick was captured from his home in england and sold as a slave when he was 16 years old. he was a pig herding slave and totally and completely alone until age 24 when he heard a voice telling him to go to the sea where his ship to go home was waiting. while he was alone in the irish countryside with the pigs he prayed to God day and night, waking by sunrise to worship. when he heard the voice telling him to go home, he marched 200 miles to the sea and was miraculously protected by God. of this journey patrick said, "i came in God's strength and had nothing to fear." when he got there the ship's captain refused him, but as he turned around to go back to his hut and prayed, some sailors called to him offering him passage. there is much more to the story and my friend Lauren tells more here (must read!). when he finally returned to his home in england he could not stay there. he had to go back to ireland and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus where it had not been heard.

i remember feeling so comforted and encouraged when i heard this. i was feeling alone. and i was feeling like i could not stay at home. God was calling me back to Kenya and i had to get back there and share the love of Christ. i wanted to believe that i was going back in "God's strength and had nothing to fear."

st. patrick's faith in God had an impact on the people who met him. people knew he followed Christ. people even made fun of him for it. but people also came to faith in Jesus because of his faithfulness and intense belief.

i am encouraged again today.

and i'm really enjoying wearing my shamrock shirt from mcguire's irish pub in destin, florida.

today when you are wearing your green and pinching people and drinking guiness, remember the faithfulness of st. patrick and be encouraged, comforted, convicted, and challenged. God has a plan for His children. we can trust Him. may you and i say of our journeys, "I came in God's strength and had nothing to fear."

there's a restless feelin' knocking at my door today

home

i hate saying goodbye! i start feeling anxious a few days before i fly nearly every time i leave america... and when i leave kenya...

but, alas, my Stateside hours are drawing to a close. i've been here for 6 brilliant and busy weeks. i've visited family and friends, gone to a youth ministry conference, worked at a family camp, conducted a staff retreat, visited colleges and churches to recruit staff, and done a little clothes and shoes shopping. :) it's been good. i'm returning to kenya tonight ready to jump back into things. there aren't too many weeks now until camp staff arrives. this means a fast push to the end of the school year. that will look like rugby season, more cheerleading, lots of youth group, spring break, spring banquets and proms, AND getting everything ready for camp. i'm excited!

today i finished up changing banks. i'm switching to a bank with lesser international fees (at least, i hope it will be). so i went to my old bank to close my account. when i'm in the States i spend a whole lot of time explaining what i do and why i'm living in kenya. the lady at the bank, of course, in asking why i'm changing banks, asked me what i do in Kenya. she'd never met a missionary before! her perception was that missionaries have no possessions and move around frequently. she was surprised that a missionary would need the services of a bank. :) i thought that was funny. i mean, i have very little possessions, but actually probably wayyyy more than i need. she was laughing that i needed to use a bank, but some people laugh at how financially "poor" i am. (like the guy at the investment company i went to. he said my account was very small and there weren't many services he could offer me). anyway, the lady at the bank was pleasantly surprised to learn that i work at summer camp. then she explained that she grew up as a military kid and lived in lots of different countries and never had the opportunity to go to summer camp or anything like that. she explained that when her family was living in florida some missionaries there started a Christian camp and she and her 11 brothers and sisters got to go for free. she described the experience as life changing. she's a Christian now because of hearing the Gospel at camp! HA! she and her husband don't have any children yet (they're having their first next month), but they regularly donate to a nearby camp to pay for one child each summer because camp is so important to her. would you believe that my sister goes to that very camp and each summer she receives a scholarship probably from a family just like this lady's? small beautiful world.

God continues to show me little love stories like this just when i need encouragement. in all my goodbye saying and "business" doing over the past few days, He loves me so much He gave me a sweet reminder about why He's called me to camp and Kenya. He is good.

i'm not really looking forward to this. :)