Monday, April 20 - The Day It Rained

Today was the first day it actually rained during the day, and of course the only day i didn't have my umbrella with me. I had stayed overnight at Joyce's house, she's the director of Amani and was trying to pack light.She picked me up Sunday morning at 9 am for church at 10. But first let me tell you about Saturday....I slept in a little bit then went with my cab driver and picked up one of my students, Josephine who was my designated escort for the day. First we went to the part of the city called Karen. We visited the Kazuri bead making facility They also do other clay pieces there. We had a tour of the work being done there and then went into the little shop and got a few things. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't buy any loose beads, they only had ready made jewelry for sale.Then we went to the giraffe center which wasn't too far away. There we were able to pet and hand feed giraffes which were living in their natural habitat. This is where the house of the original lady named Karen is still standing. She's the one who wrote "Out of Africa". We had a soda there and took some pictures of the giant tortoises (for you, Sarah!). Then we went on the the Mamba Village which was a crocodile preserve. We saw baby and giant crocs. and also some ostriches. It was a lovely park around a lake which was shaped like Africa and there was a big company picnic going on with lots of kids. From there we went to a mall with a food court to find some lunch. By then it was getting late, so we dropped Josephine off to meet her husband and my driver brought me back.As I said, on Sunday i went to church with Joyce at her church which is a plant of Nairobi Chapel. It was under a tent with gravel on the ground, but God's Spirit was there! The music was wonderful and the preaching was sound. After the service visitors were invited to a little room for tea and welcomed by people from the welcome committee who asked where you were from and made sure you knew you were welcome to come back!After church we went to Joyce's house, had lunch and Sunday afternoon naps. That night there was a rainstorm and we lost power so we went to bed pretty early after dinner. I did have a short chance to visit with my family on Skype before my computer battery went out.Today we continued working on the jackets at our sewing classes. We are up to setting in the sleeves and encountering a little difficulty. I finally decided to tackle mine fresh in the morning! We did have a special lunch today that one of the ladies made, I'm not sure if they said it was from Western Kenya or Western Africa, but it was from Western somewhere and very good! I even ate the ugali which is the African equivalent to bread served at every meal and is kinda like thick grits. I have pictures to prove it! Well, let me see if I can get those pictures downloaded. Thanks everybody for your comments and your prayers. See you next week!