Week 2: Everything is fine

GOOD NEWS! Remember my last post? A little sad I know (some of you were worried, sorry for the scare), but I promise that changed so quickly. I still miss home and everyone I care about all the time, but once the second week started, it was a night and day switch in how much better I felt. I'm writing this during the third week, so by the time the third week ends I'll be all caught up. But don't worry I have a lot to say about the second week.

First of all, I had a schedule! If you know me, you know I operate so well when I have a structured timeline of my day, which is probably why God sometimes puts me in environments where I have to learn to adapt. But it was more than that, having things to do and places to be made me feel like I was being useful. I grew fonder of the girls and the babies every day, and having a routine made me feel less out of place. When those thoughts of feeling out of place disappeared once I was handed my roles here, I was able to realize that this whole time I've actually been loving it here! This place is gorgeous, life is slow and simpler, the girls and the ladies who work here are so sweet and welcoming, and life is good. Kenyan culture is extremely sociable and friendly, and not just for the people that you know! The days we go out to the market, if you pass by a stranger you will most likely always greet them as a custom, which is really refreshing compared to how distant people in America are sometimes. For any future student missionaries thinking of coming and serving here, I would definitely recommend it, between the girls and the adult staff and the people in general, it is impossible to feel unwelcome or to not find connections.

After school :) the girls love taking pictures

Another thing that helped was that two other SMs, Katie and Lauran, got here a week after we did! Once the four of us started hanging out more especially at meals when we'd cook together sometimes, all the emotions of the first week went away. We formed our plans for who was in charge of worship on which day and came up with some ideas for the weekend! In case I didn't mention, SMs are in charge of evening worships every day, along with vespers on Friday, Sabbath schools, and Sabbath afternoon activities for the girls. This seems like a lot but it's honestly fun and simple to do, and the girls always engage. So now that we were all here and we bonded pretty fast the four of us, life got so much easier. By then I was able to call and catch up with the people I was missing, and I was enjoying it here so the week flew by. A past SM once told me that during the year it's really just slow days but fast months, and after the first couple of weeks I could tell that it would definitely be that way.

Worship!

Henry is the orange cat that roams around! There's others but he's the only named one

Cutest little princesses with sunglasses

For the sake of keeping this at a normal length (my story telling gets wordy sometimes, sorry), here's a recap list of the second week highlights in bullet points!:

• First day of teaching at Mara Christian Academy! I taught 6th grade English and it could not have gone better. The students stood up and greeted me in unison and they were so engaged and curious the whole time, even clapping at the end of the class period. They asked me to stay for tea (here we have tea time in the mornings, so the teachers have tea during the first recess) and the kids made me a cup, and were so curious to ask about where I was from and if I knew Swahili. Proud to say I'm learning some greetings, which was enough to impress them. Phew.

• Kim took the four of us SM girls on a night safari drive! It was the coolest thing ever, since we are 5 minutes from the Mara and there's no fences, we just drove in. We saw zebras, elan, hyenas, and rabbits!

• On Friday night, Kim set up a fire in our little yard and brought us hot chocolate so we could chill and bond! I cannot stress enough how well taken care of we are here.

• For our first Sabbath activity, the four of us along with Ms. Betty (a lady who works here), and the older girls put on a play that Ms. Betty wrote. It was so fun and she even wrote short songs for us to sing in the play, one of which still gets stuck in our heads to this day.

• I started playing more guitar for our worships, which has been fun. Shoutout to my sister Fio because she's better than me at guitar which makes me want to take this year and practice.

• Played soccer on Sunday (the altitude takes me OUT still) and these girls have stamina for days.

• The girls started teaching us how to make beaded bracelets, and I made one with the Kenyan flag!

• So so so much quality time with the girls this week. They love showing us Maasai songs and teaching us how to dance to them. It's hard not to smile around them.

Toddler time outside!

I spend so much time in Nursery I (babies less than a year old)

That's the end of week 2! Hopefully tomorrow I will have week 3 up and then I'll be caught up. It's nice having a way to have all my experiences in one place, even though I'm sad I can't write every single detail for you all or else I'd be here for days. Eventually when I'm caught up I'll be better at summarizing. Hope you liked it :) thank you all so much for reaching out last week, your prayers and messages really mean the most! I'm doing better, staying alive, and life is good. See you next week!

Another week, another Kenya sunset

Zebras on the night drive!