Absolutely Amazing!

where do i start - that's the true question! guess i'll start with my saturday, then move forward. this is gonna be a stinkin' long post! (since power has been out since saturday, i've not had a chance to update, for which i'm apologizing. welcome to african style!)

Saturday: we left the base about 8.30. (supposed to leave at 8, but again, it's african style, and 30 minutes late isn't too bad!) it was raining really hard the entire way. 'the monster's' defrost doesn't work so the person, asante, sitting the middle had the position of wiping the inside of the window for the driver. 'the monster' is our 80's landcruiser. it's a pretty sweet vehicle, proven to go thru practically anything!

i'm including far too many detail, since i've been typing for 15 minutes and only have 1 paragraph!

so anyway, we drove on sanya juu road until the pavement ended. then we took a left into the bush. the road was mostly washed out due to the rain, but the monster plowed its way along the road without any troubles. the road lead to this small village town. one of the guys from my class, abraham, rode along on the adventure, and we saw his father at this little town. so we had to stop and talk for awhile to him. then we continued on our way to the mburiashi student center, by way of a less used road, which was really rough and seldom used by vehicles. not sure how far we traveled down that road, but there were many walkers on this road, one being the father of the monster's driver. so again we had to stop and chat for awhile. this place is the 'bush bush' and these people were just walking along this road. it was so strange to me. the closer we got to the student, the more excited i got. so anyway, we kept driving and finally arrived at the student center - it's a very remote area. we drove into the middle of the compound to find all the kids outside singing. i got out of the car and looked into the crowd. guess who was standing in the front, directly in front of me? of course, FLORA! i said her name, and she looked at me like, 'how does this 'angel' know my name?' my eyes filled up with tears at the sight of her. she's so incredible beautiful! the kids were all very curious as to why we were. i later found out that i may be the only white person these students ever see. Asante and I were quickly escorted to the office to fill out some paperwork. our driver and the other passengers of monster went to senye's house for a brief visit. because i didn't follow protocol by filling out all the necessary paperwork, so i put the staff under some stress. because they didn't have the paperwork at this center, they sent someone by bicycle to retrieve the paperwork from the little town where we met abraham's father. with some consultation with asante the staff calmed down and brought Flora to the office so we could officially meet, even tho i hadn't completed the required paperwork. it had been about 30 minutes before i was allowed to meet her. i was pretty nervous, my heart was racing and my eyes were occasionally filling with tears. she's so adorable! at first she was really shy, but it had to be incredibly intimidating being in a room full of adults, several of whom you don't know. and having an interpreter was probably very strange for her. but she was very gracious and answered my questions. she knows a little english, so she understood a little of what i was asking her. after i had run of out question to ask her, i gave her a little stuffed elephant. she was so excited about the gift. her eyes lit up and she had this big smile. so precious. then i got my camera out and we took some photos together. so thought that was pretty exciting to have her photo taken.

after awhile, senye and abraham returned with the monster. i was asked if i wanted to meet Flora's parents and without thinking i just blurted out 'yes'. so preparations were made for us all to travel to meet her family. we piled in the monster, about 10 of us (not exactly sure where the extras came from), and made our way to her place. we drove until there was not road, then walk to last 1/4 miles to her house. on the walk she and i held hands the entire time. by now she was feeling quite proud, i could tell from her expressions. (i later found out that having a white person come to meet her will put her at the top of her class.) at one point we stopped and took a photo - one of my favorites of us together. it's so green and lush near where she lives. the maize is quite tall, the coffe plants and banana trees are ready for harvest, and all the trees and plants are thriving this time of year. you can see from the photos.

her house is up on a small hill. as we were walking to her house, i could see a couple of cows, some chickens and 3 small kids. the house is a small mud house with a tin roof. you can see the pictures. as we approached i could see her dad working in a garden. he came over to us and joseph, one of the Compassion staff, introduced me. he was grateful, and his hand shake displayed it. we didn't really have much chance to talk, since the other guys with me all spoke swahili, and senye knew this guy from primary school. i had to opportunity to meet Flora's mom inside the house, since she was with a week old baby. i wasn't sure what to say to her because the interpreter wasn't allow inside with us, so i kept telling her that she has beautiful babies. got some photos of her and the kiddos inside the house. after about 10 minutes inside, i went outside to spend more time with the dad. after taking some photos with the dad and the kids, i had the chance to meet flora's grandpa. got a good photo of flora and him.

then flora and her dad presented me with a live chicken. what a humbling gift to receive from the child whom i sponsor. and all those photos which flora has drawn for me of chickens have even greater meaning. being handing the chicken by flora was a real heart-felt experience. i can't even begin to express the gratitude/embarrassment/honor/humility i felt at that moment.

after they gave me the chicken we said our good-byes. Flora went back with us to her school, so we walked together to the monster. over the hills and thru the puddles we bounced back to the compound. when we arrived the kids were in the main building - the church - where they were singing and dancing their little hearts out. got a brief video on my camera of them. so fun! flora grabbed one of her friends and they offered their huge smiles to me for a picture!

again we were asked to come to their office, this time for lunch. they had made fried goat meat and spaghetti with cinnamon, which was very good. i think the staff was stalling, since they still did not have the required paperwork. after lunch, i hung out with some more of the kids. flora and gone to be with her friends, but there were many other kids around. some of them read me a story of goliath. i may have made the mistake of taking some more photos, because then about 50 kids compacting into a small room all to have their photo taken. i asked them to sing me a song before i took their photo. they sang, 'this is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made'. how fitting!

after that senye and asante worked it out that the paper would be delivered to boma ngombe - the small town near where i live - so i could be legal to see flora again. (all those policies!)

and with that news, we were free to leave. so flora came to me, i asked her if i could have a hug (which is uncommon her to give hugs), and she said yes. so i gave her a hug, took some more photos, then walked to the monster. i was so sad to be leaving. i wish that i could've stayed with her all day, and then walked home with here, but my heart was filled with gratitude and joy for the opportunity to meet her and her family.

so, as we drove away from the compound, with my live chicken in the back of the monster, i was humbled and overjoyed for the grace of Christ. He had ordained all the plans to meet with Flora - beginning with a simple conversation with Asante about Compassion to meeting her family. what a glorious experience! i wish there was a way i could better express what i was feeling during the experience, but words fall short. please know that my heart is happy.

i'll update tomorrow about what happened after meeting Flora, but for now i really need to go to bed. i will also update the photos, but right now it's 11.51 pm and i'm tired. sorry for lack of photos. thanks for your understanding.