Day 20 Experiences--Tuesday, July 7

Well, just looking at my sheet, I have a ton of notes from today, so I'll just jump right in.

-Matthew and I visited the church at Kibera and Kawangware again today, with a mom and her son from the US. Hopefully the trip made an impact on them, and maybe they'll be encouraged to help out sometime. We also got to help out with the feeding program at Kawangware, meaning I got to do all the hand washing before and after (they use their hands to eat). It was rather nice to do.

-I woke up with this question on my mind: What am I afraid to give up for Christ? I then thought about how Jesus asked the rich man to give up all his money and he wouldn't. I don't think it means all of us need to donate all we have and live with nothing, but I do think that God asks us at times to give up something we may not like to give up to do his task. Or maybe to do things we aren't comfortable with. I then think of Moses having to lead an entire nation, and he wasn't "comfortable" with speaking, or with Jonah having to preach repentence to a vile and evil city, which he obviously wasn't comfortable with doing. The question remains, what am I afraid to give up for Christ? And, is it something that you should be giving up to serve him? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't...

-I've determined that I need to learn more languages. The language issue has been on my mind the whole time here, meaning I'll probably write a separate post about that. Which means I then also need to still do the other post about the group, and the one about the stereotypes I asked so long ago, and then one responding to the necessary comments that have been graciously left. My work is cut out for me.

-Walking through the slums, you are just walking through smoke and haze, of burning trash and other putrid scents that you pick up on. Its very sad.

-Pastor Winterle talked today about the difference between the Brazil slums and the Kibera slum. He said that the difference is that the Kibera slums are poorer, but as can be plainly seen they dress rather nice, much nicer than the Brazil slums.

-I'm worried about the bad habits I may be developing here, like expecting traffic to be coming at me from the opposite lanes when I cross roads. That's kind of a big one. Not being able to watch baseball is another. Yes, prior to contrary belief, not watching baseball is a bad habit.

-I will never look at hand sanitation and medical sanitation the same way. I hate to say it, but sometimes I become a hypochondriac here when I am around the slums and such. Its a wonder I still have hand sanitizer left.

-Everyone who donated will be happy to note this, and even more happy will be those that were here with me the first two weeks from Redeemer and King of Kings. I have seen much of the donations we have made put to use as I have revisted the places. I have seen our gospel message soccer balls (pardon me, "foot" balls) being played with. I have seen the Al Michel wooden crosses being worn around. I have seen the white color in bags being worn. The list goes on and on. I feel like our impact here has truly been felt by the people that we reached out to, and that was our goal. I have even many times recieved questions about where the rest of the group is. I sadly had to tell them you all had returned home.

-As I have stated before, there are many things about this culture that frustrate me, the efficiency, etc. I feel like (without trying to sound like we are high and mighty and have the answers) that they have a lot more that they can still gain from learning from us. Saying that puts me at the risk of sounding like some of the original imperialists that looked upon these people as heathen barbarics. I want to step away from that and say that just as they have much that they can gain from us, we have a lot that we can learn from them. Several of which are their emphasis that they place on the each individual and the relationship, as well as their cultures general sense of modesty to name just a few.

-Saw my first police car with lights on the top today. That was fun.

-As it turns out, despite the fact that I have already written a lot, I still have a lot more on my paper. What I found out though, is that the rest of it is notes to me from conversations with Pastor Winterle. This deserves a point in and of itself. This is not my first large page of notes that I have taken from conversation with him. My learning experience with him alone for this month has been enough to justify my trip here. I feel as if I am on a vicarage, or internship, studying directly under a very gifted man that I respect greatly. My insights and knowledge I have gained from him have been invaluable. Its like he conducts a seminar for me each time we have a car ride. Pastor Winterle and his wife have been ridiculously supportive of the many groups that they have organized and brought in from all over the world, and without them, none of what I have done, or many of the other people have done, would be possible. This only adds to the fact that he has mentored me so well. I am truly in his debt.

-Some of the road intersections here are confounding. They are not roundabouts (as are most of the intersections) and yet they do not have stop signs as some do, and they are major roads! In Springfield it would be like having no sign or stop light of any kind at Campbell and Battlefield, albeit the times that it occurs here are roads with the same amount of traffic but only two lanes with no traffic markings on the road. It is amazing there aren't even more complete traffic standstills and wrecks by the minute.

Well, I suppose that is all I have for this day, I know I have a few days coming up in which I wrote a lot, so I will try to continue with another tonight. God's blessings!