Preparations are underway!

So far so good in Nairobi! I really like Nairobi more than I thought I would. It’s very British and very African at the same time so it’s a fun mix. I'm staying at a guest house until Thursday, then fly to South Sudan.

The rest of this is about food. So Becky, I dedicate this post to you! J

Nairobi has a KFC now, AND a Yogurt Planet. WIN! I met up with Ester, Emily and their crew for yogurt for lunch and had KFC for dinner tonight. I would never think KFC is that good in the US but I’m thinking that by the time I come back from months in Sudan I’ll think it’s the best food ever!

I’ve gotten a lot of shopping done in preparation for Sudan. The other day I got out some of the food I’d brought from the US and combined it with some of the food I got here, just to see what I had. A lot of food is what I have!

All the fresh stuff had to be peeled, chopped, sliced, parboiled, cooled, bagged, and frozen before it goes into the cooler on the plane. Now my freezer looks like this:

Trying to plan in advance like this is super challenging so hopefully I’ll have a better idea of what to get when we come out again in January. Right now I have pineapple, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, red and green bell pepper and probably something else I forgot. Plus 6 double chicken breasts and 1 kg of beef are underneath all the produce.

One thing I’ve noticed with all the food shopping that I’ve done is that all the nutrition labels have kilojoules listed instead of kilocalories like in the US.  I’m currently snacking on these really good ginger cookies that were meant for Sudan but honestly, I’m probably going to finish the whole package tonight (since I haven’t bothered to convert to calories to know how much I’m eating) so I’ll have to just get more tomorrow. Darn...

In Kenya

I'm here!

I got to Nairobi, Kenya with zero problems. No flight problems, short lines, and good food. God really blessed my travel because I was slightly terrified nervous about missing my connection in London or having to deal with the hassle of missing baggage.

Nairobi is home for the next week and I'm spending most of the time stocking up on supplies and recovering from jet lag before leaving for Sudan. I had a homemade pizza dinner with a family here in Nairobi and I'm currently trying to sort through what I've got and what I still need to buy at the stores here. My FPO friends Ester and Emily live here so it's really nice to already know people!

Fun facts about Nairobi (from now on referred to as NBO, the airport code)
- Gmail's default language switches to Swahili. After a few wrong attempts, I figured out how to change it to English.
- There is an Apple store, and a KFC. I have a feeling that I will like KFC a lot more after a few months in Sudan!
- People drive on the left. This means I will not choose to drive unless absolutely necessary. No need in risking that many lives this early in the game.

State Fair

So I'm supposed to be packing. Not happening. I have stuff everywhere on the floors upstairs and literally nothing in any suitcases. Uh oh.

 While I was in Lubbock I got to see some of my former co-workers. I really miss these ladies and they sure made work a lot more fun!

I'm trying to cram in all my "favorites" during my last few days in the US. The State Fair of Texas opened in Dallas this weekend and I made sure I got to go! My mom and I both love the fair and I made Melody, one of my best friends from college, go with us. Yes, I am a dietitian and eat pretty healthy 99% of the time...but when it comes to deep-fried fair food I feel like you need to go hard or go home. So we went hard.

First up, deep fried bubblegum. It's actually a bubblegum-flavored marshmallow that's battered and deep-fried, then squirted with blue frosting. I think the little colored pieces are bubble gum pieces. You can judge for yourself whether or not you think this was an enjoyable experience.

 It was sick.

Me and Melody. Love her.

 Mom, me and Big Tex.

Next up was deep fried salsa. The best we could figure out it was salsa inside a cornmeal ball that was rolled in crushed tortilla chips. It was really good! WAY better than the bubblegum.

The deep-fried pop-tart was my favorite. Normally I don't even like pop-tarts that much but let's be serious, this thing was awesome.

Anyone want to pack all my stuff for me??

This last week and a half has flown by and I have a feeling that the next week and a half are going to go by even faster! We wrapped up our training time in Virginia with a really nice commissioning service. I appreciated the send-off celebration more than I thought I would! A lot of people had their families there and it felt a little bit like graduation. I've been out of college for a few years but I still love it when parents come in town and take everyone out to dinner!

Next came the Great Road Trip of 2011. I got to see a bunch of people on my way from Virginia to Texas so it broke up the 1500 miles of boredom. Thomas and Leslie are some of my favorite people ever and I'm pretty sure their son Judah is the cutest 15 month old I know. I got to see several other people that went to Senegal this past summer, plus Nathan and Lauren who are two of my really good friends from college.

After 2.5 days of driving I got to Dallas and have been spending as much money as possible at Target/Wal-Mart/everywhere getting stuff that I'll need before I leave next week. My bedroom currently looks like a tornado went through it since I'm not at the packing stage yet. I'm still in "accumulation mode" and I'm just praying that I can get really good at playing tetris as I try to put all of this stuff into a minimal amount of suitcases.

For those of you who are praying for my travel and logistics, the current schedule you can pray about is:
Tuesday-Saturday: Lubbock
Saturday-Wednesday: Dallas
Wednesday, October 5th at 6:05pm: fly from Dallas to Nairobi, Kenya

Thank you for praying for me. It's very humbling to have so many people (some who I have never even met) committed to praying for me, for my team, and for the Toposa people.

Harambee

Our whole group (all 200 of us) went to Washington, DC for the day. Our goal was to be intentional with sharing Jesus in a cross-cultural setting. We had all been given a checklist of things to do to help achieve this goal so we were supposed to do things like ride the Metro, observe parenting skills of families from a different culture, identify different languages, eat at an "ethnic" restaurant, prayerwalk, and be intentional about having spiritual conversations with people. Our little group ate at an Ethiopian restaurant called Awash in the Adams Morgan area. We were told there were lots of markets around there but it ended up being mostly restaurants. Fine by me!

 I don't even know the names of the foods. I ordered the "lunch combo" and it seemed to be injera with mounds of collard greens, yellow peas, lentils and a potato/carrot/cabbage dish. Whatever it was, I liked it!

Emily and I split off from our group after lunch so we could to go our embassies. First stop, Kenya. The men that worked there were awesome! They were so glad we were going to Africa and loved the fact that I had already been before. When they asked why we were going we briefly explained our jobs but said that mainly it was because the Lord had led us to go. One guy was especially wonderful, quoted Scripture, and told us that he didn't know why we were still in the US since God had told us to go to Africa!

Harambee is used to describe unity and literally means "all pull together" in Swahili. Emily and I took our picture by the coat of arms out in front of the embassy.

The Republic of South Sudan actually has an embassy now! It's no longer "just" a mission! For some reason I totally forgot to take any pictures while we were there but even if I had it would have been really underwhelming. It's literally an office suite on the 6th floor of a random office building. The suite next door is a college prep testing center. But even though it wasn't a cool-looking established building with a coat of arms and black SUVs with tinted windows out front, it was MY embassy and I was excited to be there! We talked to the Protocol and Public Relations Officer for almost an hour. He is a believer named Enoch. He wasn't quite as outgoing and animated as the Kenyans but he was patient with my millions of questions.

I was a little discouraged during part of the afternoon because I felt like I didn't have any chances to participate in spiritual conversations with people, but God reminded me that the point of today (and every day) was to be intentional in how I act and what I say...not to check things off of a list that someone gives me. I do feel like I was intentional with the opportunities that God gave me, even though they weren't with the people that I was hoping for. DC was oddly vacant today, or maybe it was just the places that I went to, but in the end I got to meet believers from east Africa and get even more excited about going to South Sudan. I would say that is a success!

Week Eight

I didn't kill anything this week so don't worry, no bloody chicken pictures this time! We actually had a pretty tame week last week. I guess anything is tame after chicken killing, security training, earthquakes and hurricanes all right in a row!

Last week was affinity week here at training, which basically means that instead of ALL of us being together, we did more specific sessions within our affinity group. Our group of 27 going to Sub-Saharan Africa is great, and I enjoy spending time with everyone. A lot of what our group focused on this week was spiritual warfare and the importance of prayer while working among people groups entrenched in spirit worship and demon possession. The topics were heavy, sometimes a little scary and overwhelming, but it is a good reminder of why I am going and how Jesus is more powerful than anything I might be faced with.

If you are reading this blog and know Jesus, would you commit to pray for me? Prayer is how you can be a part of what God is doing in South Sudan and I will do my best to use this blog as a way to update you on specific things to pray for. Maybe God will use those times while you pray for me to show you how you can be even more involved in sharing the good news of Jesus with people who don't know Him.

I have exactly 9 more days until I drive back to Texas. Whoa. I'll leave Virginia on the 21st, spend some time in Dallas and Lubbock, then leave on October 5th and fly from Dallas to Nairobi, Kenya. After a week or so in Nairobi to stock up on supplies and recover from jet-lag I will fly to South Sudan...yessss!

Please pray for:
-smooth travel. I have ridiculous luck with flights being delayed/cancelled and I'm having a minor panic attack when I think about how important it is that I make my layover in London on time and that all my bags actually get to Kenya with me.

-good goodbyes. I'm blessed with great friends and an awesome supportive family so it will be hard to say goodbye so many times in just a few days.

Warning: Not For the Faint of Heart

I'll just go ahead and tell you that if you're not into pictures of bloody, headless chickens then you shouldn't read this post.

If you're not sure whether or not you're into pictures of bloody, headless chickens...go ahead and read it. You know you want to!

Our Sub-Saharan Africa leaders are awesome and have come up with so many creative ways to help us learn "extra-curricular" things about living in Africa. I've blogged before about having dinner at their house African-style, making bread in a pot on the stove, and drying meat. Today was chicken killing 101. Here we go.

Step one: cutting board.

Step two: gather all your friends, make a fire, pass out the utensils and don't forget your box of live chickens.

Step three: say hello to my little fren'

Step four: after watching teammate cut their chicken through the brain you and your partner discuss the pros and cons of just whacking the head off and letting it run around for a while.

Step five: hold headless chicken after it has run around on the grass and debate how much you're regretting the decision to participate in the first place.

Step six: admire bloody chicken head on previously mentioned cutting board. Resolve to never use that cutting board again.

Step seven: after dunking the chicken in boiling water, pluck all the feathers off, channel your inner butcher and try to remember that you still enjoy Chick Fil A.

Step eight: place chicken in trash bag and put in quad-mate's fridge for them to enjoy later.