I don't know if I mentioned IN one of the blogs about a Bro from Kenya who lives n the USA who is dating a Sis from my hall? Well he came to visit her for a month.
I had spoken to him over the phone before he came, he mentioned that he wanted to do a surprise engagement party for her. So the plan was the 4 of us were gonna go to the coast in Mombasa, and he would pop the question there on the beach and then have a party at home to celebrate.

Well, that was going to be toward the end of his stay, and course, he wanted to do this early in his visit so that they could be engaged for the majority of time.

So on Wednesday, we were all hanging out and I asked him how soon does he want this party to be? He says "How about on sunday?"
I was like what!!!! So I called a Sis right away and asked if we could do it at her house. We managed to make Evites and organized everyone to bring something.

The friends on the guest list already knew that we were planning it but we just didn't know the date.

All of her friends contributed to making it a surprise! We even had lunch plans right after the meeting since they wouldn't be able to meet us later that night because they had "been invited for dinner already" ;D

So we all arrived at the house. Was small and intimate with a few friends.

When they arrived, we all stood by a corner and heard them come in. They actually lingered for a bit by the door, and as soon as she turned around we yelled "Surprise"

She was absolutely caught off guard! Really, only the photos of her reaction could explain how she felt.

As she was saying hi to everyone, we kept saying that this party was to welcome him home and celebrate him being there with her. Kinda like the picnic I threw for kyran when he visited me in TX ;D

So it happened as she was in the middle of it all he started saying a few words and then said that he brought a gift with him. And he opened the box and showed the ring! Again! You should have seen her reaction!!!! She became weak in her knees!

Out came the yummy black forest cake! And then the party started.

It was such a nice evening. We teased them that this was a practice of cutting of the cake. U noticed that as they cut the cake, they started slicing a bunch of pieces on one plate!

It was funny actually, I don't know if you remember I once wrote about a wedding that I attended in April?

Well I learned then that the custom here when serving the cake at a wedding is that they have one huge cake, and the Bride and Groom cut and pile a bunch of tiny slices on one plate and go around serving ONE BITE per person!

So as these two cut the cake, I remembered about that. So we told them that there was enough cake and plates for each to have his and her own big slice! Everyone loved it!

As the night went on, we played a game, it was one where the men are blind folded, and the sisters are lined up with the palm of their hand out flat.
The husband has to figure out which hand is his wife! It was so funny to watch!

There was only 3 there who were single so they had fun with it too, even the brothers put there hand out too!!

I was proud of KY, as soon as he felt my hand he said "yes definitely her!" aww

The funniest part was that when it was time for the engaged Bro to find his Fiances hand. Not only did he struggle to figure out which one it was, but when he got to her, he said "no for sure not her!" haha, he kept trying and trying and every time he got to her said the same!

So the moral of the story was, Hold your wife's hand more often! :)

After a while we ended up telling stories about how we all met and started dating our mates. It just hapend that all of the couples there had been married no longer that 2 years.

Speaking of being married, that was just a week before me and Kyran celebrated our 1st year anniversary!

I'll write about that in the next blog!

Take care all!

Love Drea and KY KY!
]]> Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=174515 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667 Ah so hows everyone doing??

Lately I have been so busy! But with good things so cant complain.Just trying to get ahead on my time :)

First of all wanna send shout-outs to the only person in Kenya who i think reads my blog!!! :) You know who you are chica :) HAha so funny, now i have to watch what i say bout Nairobi!!!! :) jk

So for the first time since Ky Ky came back from London,he had to wk overnight :(
Just so happend that a sis in my hall was alone for the weekend too. Poor us :(
NOT!!!! we had a sleeepovverrr!!!!

It was really fun. She invited a few sisters over and we really had a goodtime! It was my first "slumber party" since Iv been married! Took some pix but sorry, cant post them :)!!!!

But distance really does make the heart grow fonder :D

Kyran has been busy at wk ever since he got back. But it has been worth it. He will be checked out soon. Im very proud of him!!

So..Last week i went with a sister to a town called Machakos. It is close to Lukenya, where we did seldom worked territory.

The service was amazing!!! You know, we spent about 7 hours out there and only had 3 studies and 2 Rv's!!! It was great, got to use a bit of Swahili. And i learned 'Mweka' which is a greeting out there.

If i say Mweka, you say EEhh. But i kept saying AAHH :) or is it the other way around?? Ill just stick to learning Swahili for now. :)

While we were walking, we saw a big tree, I had a 90's moment and i climbed it!!

So that has been a good experience for me! Man i got dark! we must be closer to te sun im tellin you! HA, when i sent some recent pix on snapfish, a bro in Dallas said, "you look like a cute african now'!!!!

Me and Mr. Sun are not friends right now. But i cant really run away from it.
Oh speaking of darkness, did i tell yal ran into some Mexicans?? ;D

Yeah, i was walkin in sevice one day. And i told the sis i was that i bet they were from MEX. As we passed them, i heard them speaking spanish!!

So recently, i was walking home, and i saw them, so i just stopped them and asked them "hola, como estas?" And they responded in spanish!!
We had a good convsation, and got all their info

Im just gonna copy some Mags from our Official website. i think that would be the fastest way. I joke that one day that there will be a spanish group one day here in Kenya!!! So far we would have 6! (Me Lily A sis from Argentina and our hubbys!!!) Well See well see...

What else?? Oh, i found HOTWING Sauce the other day!!!! IM SOOOO HAPPY!! Crazy thing is that a bro is coming to visit from the States to see his girlfriend who lives here, and we had asked him to bring some Franks Hot Wing Sauce. And now they sell it here!!! Along with Jalapenos, Skittles, Twix and M&M's, all of which I had Kyran and some friends bring me only to find that they carry them here...Maybe I should request some corn tortillas and Jarritos de Narangja so they will ship it in!!!

I didnt find Buffalo Wings But chicken works just fine!!!!

You know, we always read about how religions are always very ununited, but i have seen it first hand for myself.

In TX the easiest ones to talk to, Catholics, are actually very diferent here. Yeah, It really helps me appreciate how United and consistant Jehovahs People really are.

Well thats all folks, Oh, well i got food poisoning for the 3rd time..:( im over it now but tis last one was bad,i got poisoning on Wed, and as soon as i was over it, i ate something bad on sunday!!! :(O
NO more eating at random places!!!

One of our friends from Nanyuki will be getting Married in Dec. Im so excited to go back to "shaggs" (Hometown) :D
Havent been there in almost a year!!!! Will be great to see everyone again!!

Alright Yall!! Ima close for now.

Thanks for all the e-mails!

Love and miss you alll!! GO RANGERS!!! Bout Dang Time :)

Drea & Kyran]]> Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=162382 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667 Anyway I came to get it sewn together at this fundi on the side of the road. He also fixes shoes.

The reson why I'm writing this is because you will never believe what he uses to shine shoes with! Its a broken end of a paint brush! Haha! As in he just broke the handles off and cut the bristles short so that its tighter, and he has a bunch of them to shine shoes!

So african>>

So whats new?? Oh, well I went back to Lukenya for Seldom Worked. I got in touch with one of my return visits and made new ones!!

I will send yal pix very soon. It was a bit larger group than last time. The weather was amazing!

As we were walking and talking, i was telling one of the sisters that "This" is what i have only ever imagined i would be doing! I wanted to serve in a country with a great need, and what better place than AFRICA!! I need new Goals!!!

There i was, walikng in the open middle of No-where, preaching to the people in there Shambas & shaggs, or farms and country homes. There is literally nothing to do in a place like that other than the regular household duties.

You often see locals sitting in small groups juat relaxing and talking. When you come up to them they will listen with no problem.

When someone like me a Mzungu (a white person) passes by you will no doubt here the little kids calling out ' How Arrre You? How Arrre You?" over and over :)

After we finished the morning we had a nice lunch. Everyone brought their own food. And we found a huge flat rock and thankfully it was cloudy just in time for us not to roast on that rock!

We saw a bit of willife, like Giraffe and Zebra. I still cant belive im in Africa sometimes.

That was our day, we continued in service for a few more hours after that and then headed home..

So honestly not much new has happened. Kyran is Aux pionnering So we have just been helping eachother alot in service. WE LOVE the ministry here!

The business territory is just BOOMING here!

Kenyans are such hard workers, many work 10 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week!! Not even joking! So its very hard to find them at home. There are a few places that up to 5 people are studying the bible in just one shop! Its wonderful.

Im just so happy that one of Jah's Students who im helping, went to the meeting this Sunday and took her whole family! She loved it and plans to go this weekend too.

Well this past week Nairobi Had a Agriculture Trade Show. Its a big deal here, kinda like the State Fair in Tx. All the schools get free tickets. Anyways, a few of the friends when i asked if they wanted to go hesitated a bit but didnt tell me why they didnt want to...

On Saturday one sister said she would like to go and of course i wanted to also, just to say i did, also, i heard it was nice and plus it was something different to do.

Well we tried to catch a matatu or a bus but they were all full!! Finally after waiting for 10 min we said we would just ask one of the drivers to takes us and we just tip him extra, Which worked :)

He took us through the backway. ( the slums of kibera) It was so dusty. We had asked another sister to join us, she really didnt want to go but was a good sport an went with us!

The show wasnt that great. It was nice to see the veggies, coffe, bean stocks and live stock in its natural habitat but overall it wasnt much to see. The place was really dirty with trash, so sad.

There were a group of African dancers, all older women or Mama's like they say. It was neat to watch them. They move there hips and back side like nothing i have seen!!

I was craving a Flechers Corny Dog and a Funnel Cake but they dont exsist in Kenya!!

Anyway it was getting late so we decided to catch a bus from the front entrance. The lines were so long so we decided to take a Boda Boda, Motor bike, to the main Rd. I actually saw the guy who use to take me to and from the main road and work.

As i was asking him how much he would charge us, all of a sudden the 50plus other motor bikes that were there started scrambling all over the place. Thank goodness i was in front of a car so if i needed to i would have jumped on top of the hood.!!

The reason for all the confusion and panic was that there was policemen on top of horse trying to skat them away!! They police were literaly whipping and chasing them without control! It was really scary!

So me and my friend were ok, she got the back of her sandal, not foot, ran over. And the poor sister who didnt even want to go in the first place actually got her foot ran over by one of the wheels :(but she is ok, nothing broken.

We were like soooo shocked! we just decided to walk the rest of the way. That was worth our 5$ to enter!!

As we were walking we heard a roar of bikes again!!! Like idiots sometimes do, the Motor Bike guys who had went back after being chased away, were being chased and whipped by these cops on horses again!!! So we ran off the raod, and just took the long way around.

That was an eventfull day!!!!!! Now i know why no one wanted to go. Even Kyran had said he wouldnt be found in a public festival with a huge crowd. Its not uncommon for a panic, Here in kenya that is, to break out. You would think the police are the ones incharge of keeping the peace, but here, they are usually the cause of it. Very sad

Okey yal thats all the stories i got for now.

Oh one more,

Never in my life did i think i would be able to read and understand this:

Wale wadudu wadogo wengi waliengia chumbani, kwasababu haku funga milango!!!

That means; Those small bugs came into the room because you didnt close the door!!!!

Like most languages it sounds funny when translated word for word, for example:

Over there bugs many small they went in room because you didnt close door!! haha, Swahilli is fun!!

Dudu is a Bug :)

Take care! love yal!

Drea]]> Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=156450 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667 Well kyran is an Aux Pioneer for this month so that's good news! He has really enjoyed early service and letter writing too. I have amazing bible studies.

There is one business territory that has never been worked before and now it seems all the Potgieter girls have a monopoly on it! We are having such great response, everyone there knows us and is either studying or a mag route. Now kyran and peter have some good RV's there now!

We really feel like the statement in the bible "Beg the master for more workers" we can't do it alone and there is never enough time to get all done.

This cong is wonderful and is like GP in that there is always someone out in service! And before I used to have to get with certain people so that I could put in a long day. But now I have my own calls to keep me out 8hours. Its just great!

And its so nice that we all know eachothers studies and calls. Its one of those "it takes a village to raise a child" situations. Some of us have calls and studies in the same shops, so there is like 3or 4 in one store that study with different people. The business territory is amazing!

What else? We had 2 girls and a Bro visiting from Italy. Me and kyran had a good time spending time with them. Unfortunately they were sick for a whole week :( so they didn't do much Here, but we did get to know them as friends better just by spending time at home. Oh, and we ate some good Italian food!

It was funny that the girls couldnt pronounce Potgieter, They kept saying "Pock-Jacket" LOL

I'm way behind in sending pix but no worries! Kyran got me such sweet gifts while he was in London and one of them was a camera! At last!

One evening one of my good friends form Eldoret, the Sis we went to visit a few months ago, was visiting us. So on her last day like 10of her close girl friends got together at a local cafe. We stayed 5hours just chatting away till they kicked us out. :)

Going back to Kyrans vacation, well not so much a vacation rather his training, it was fine. Same old airplane talk. Don't understand much. But he does enjoy learning so I know he had a good time.

But his highlight was getting to meet up with his buddy Tristan from Irland! Before Kyran came to TX he was living with his bros and Tristan's family. They are just like brothers and so it was so good for him to meet up with him and his wife Ashley.

They live a few hours not too far from where Kyrans hotel was. They were really good to him and when me and KY would talk he kept going on how happy he was to be with his 'Boet' that means Bro I think? That's what they call eachother

Well now I'm glad my KY KY is back! Its like honeymoon all over again! :D

Today Was pretty fun, I was interviewed by Passion magazine. They are doing a story on celeb hair dressers. And they wanted to interview a few of us here in Nairobi.

So we did a photo shoot at a local salon, it was a cute modern one. Its too bad that they only use one for the mag :( But i will get all the photos and use them for my Portfoilio :)

That was may day :) I will let yal know what i think of the final outcome of the story :)

Anyway love yal! I'll write a blog entry next week after our next "Macedonia" trip.

Take care & send our love!

Drea and Kyran.
]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=152891 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667 There was 15 of us who went.
A sister who owns a school van loaned it to us.

That was during the time kyran was still in London. So I went alone with the friends. It was fun. I wasn't the oldest person at all but we kept joking that I was the example because everyone else was single! Even my elders who went I said to them that I'm gonna chaperone you all!!

So we got to the area and immediately we began preaching. We had a few boxes of books and other literature in English and Swahilli.

Wow the territory was great!
By noon time me and my partner had only spoken to 4 householders! They were all so interested!

I asked at one door "if Jesus was here on earth and there was one Miracle you could ask him to perform what would it be?" and she said finding out how to draw closer to God.

Well it just so happened that this was a week before our convention! Yes, her very question was right on the cover of the invitation!

She was so happy and let us in. We ended up studying for 30min. It was getting late so we had to go. But since then we still keep in touch!

We are going back to the territory on the 25th, both me and Kyran. Can't wait! And we'll get to take another group picture! :)

Don't worry I'll send pix soon!

So the next few days there was lots of preparation for the convention. I went one day to clean. Its amazing how far behind it is here. We were cleaning the seats with DIRTY water! Yes! The water was so NOT clear.

And the mops! Goodness, not a new clean one in sight! Anyway I'm a bit over the shock since I have seen how filthy our Assembly hall is. That's just the way it is :(

The next day I went to help with the setting up. The stage was super easy. It was fun unloading the books and new releases.

Since kyran was away I took advantage of volunteering. For the first time I was in First Aid. So I say right next to the speakers. I also got to hand out the new releases which I never did before.

I was just thankful that they didn't put me in Toilets! I would have just died I'm sure. Because these aren't like non witnesses toilets in the states, this is AFRICA! Lol anyway I'll be put in that assignment next year now just for saying it! :(

So the peak attendance on sunday was just under 5 thousand. Doesn't seem like much, but that is a lot for here. There is only one district in English and 3 for Swahilli.

Its kinda nice though because you get to meet and see a lot of the same people. During lunch a group of us sisters would bring a bunch of different things and all share. Was nice!

On the last day 2 couples invited me for dinner out. Its not like the down town FT worth where you see the streets full of badges. They said this was the 1st year that they went out after convention. Usually everyone just goes home!

Things like that make me miss home. I miss how everyone just loved to do things together.

Anyway that was a good weekend.

I'll write another blog to say what the latest news is.
Love you all!

Take care Drea

]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=152888 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667
We got ready for meeting and headed 40min to the Mtwapa kingdom hall. Soon as we arrived we found out that the English meeting was @ 9 am. This was Swahilli! Anyway me and Sandra just left. We called up some friends and went to their house for tea.

We agreed to do the watchtower together. Turns out that the English had the visit of CO. The exact talk we heard last sunday in Nyali. So this would have been our 3rd time hearing that talk :)

On monday we went again to the beautiful Kalifi beach. Then we met up with Sandras good friend for lunch. I had the best sea food! There was a patio just by the boat decks and we sat under the palm trees and ate.. Kyran took me there the 1st time I went to Kenya.

After that we went to Sandras spiritual moms house for tea and cake. Chatted a bit with her and the family. Her husband and sons own a Deep Fishing Company. They live just off the ocean creek. Her son took us on a wonderful boat ride.

So refreshing to watch the glassy sea and have the wind and breeze in your face. He took us up by the house where Kyran use to live when he was younger. The house was big and had such a nice view of the creek.

Its tempting to say that if this isn't paradise what is? I have already reserved the boat for anyone who comes to visit :)

After that lovely ride we came and chatted some more. The father had some books that talked about the last Kenyan Regiment. So we looked for grandmas brother. The one I mentioned before. And sure enough his story was there :)

Later on that evening we went to Nyali because a couple had invited us for dinner. It was a privilege that they invited us to stay the night with them. It was my first time to spend the night in a missionary home. The house is huge and beautiful. Next door is a Mosque and a Pentecostal house, so its quite a noisy area.

The sister Cooked a large meal and an amazing apple sponge cake! They also had the new magazines up to Oct Nov. So I had a sneak peak! Lol, one article was titled " Surviving the first year of marriage" :) can't wait to read.

In the morning we had breakfast and did the text together. Then we were off.

We went to this construction site that a brother has. He is building Apts and really wanted our suggestions . So we gave him some pointers and ideas. Then we took off and went to Malindi to go shopping!

That was a hour and a half drive. We found some good deals and souvenirs. For lunch we met up with the special pioneers I told yal about earlier on in one of the previous blog post.

After a few hours we drove back to Kalifi to say bye to granny Pot. She got to meet the friends that came with us from Nairobi. And we got to take them to the beach. The tide was really high so we didn't get to pick sea shells.

Anyway that was the last swim! Then we went to Nyali and dropped the friends off at the brothers house. Me and Sandra stayed and her spiritual moms guest house that night so that we could leave early and head back to Nairobi.

As I mentioned the sisters house looks over the water. So it was my last peak of the ocean. The moon was full! Just try to even imagine the beautiful moonlight over the water! It was gorgeousness!!!!!! Reminded me exactly of That special night in Miami :) For those of you who know that story ;)

Anyway today we are on the road back to Nairobi. We just stopped on the side of the road to have lunch under a tree. As we drove off we saw that we JUST missed the baboons!

So here we are at the and of the Mother & Daughter- in - law adventures......
To be continued in on our next Mountain adventure. The Maasai Mara....

Love Drea Pot :)]]> Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=16514 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=136930 0 -4.05 39.6666667 The reason why we wanted to climb it was because Grandma Pot told us that back in her day she climbed it to the top! So Sandra said if mother -in- law did it then she had to. And of course if my mother -in -law can do it I have to as well! So it was a Good thing we did it together, I went as far as she did. That's 3 generations of Pot girls that climbed the same hill! Cool isn't it! :)

Anyway we hired a KWS (kenya wildlife services) lady and her huge gun to go up with us. It is leopard territory so we needed her. Well the guys went to pick her up and found out she was new at her job and never climbed that hill before! You could tell she was nervous.

The owner of the lodge we stayed at was worried for us so he gave us one of his Maasai men! A bit of history on Maasai's is that before you can become a Maasai, you have to kill a lion all by your self. 3 other men go with him to witness the kill. Then they get tattoos of different things to prove they killed a lion.

So in reality we felt completely safer with him than with the KWS lady. Even though she had a gun and The Maasai had only a knife and a long spear.

It was great that he went with us. This was the hardest climb any of us had ever done, we were in the real bush. We had to climb rocks without ropes, and literally cut our way through the bush. At times we found paths cut out by animals which helped but it was a tough one.

You know usually when you have 2 tour guides one stands in the front and one in the back, well,as I mentioned the girl was new, so she was scared. So she walked right behind the Maasai man! And we were all in the back of the trail!!

We never saw any animals thank goodness!. But did find a few leopard dens.

We got to the top and relaxed. The sister got to witness to the Maasai and KWS lady. Matter of fact almost everyone in these rural areas never get a witness so we made sure to leave mags with everyone we met.

The trek down was really hard. It always is. Managed to not break any bones!

Later on that evening after dinner we went for a sun downer. The brother took us to Leopards Rock, we had a aerial view of the entire park and beyond! That hill had some benches so we took out our watermelon, wine, cheese, crackers and chocolate!

On that hill was a huge rock that gave us a 360 view. On one side of the valley was the red African sun going down. And the other side was the dark land and full moon. It was definitely a highlight of this trip.

Now it was getting dark. And your not supposed to be out after dark so we rushed back to our lodge and played a game of Baldadash!! (I HIGHLY recommend that game to anyone)

On day 4 of our safari we saw the sun rise on Poachers View. Then they packed us a lunch to take with us and we started driving back to Mombasa! We needed that vacation! And it was the best safari yet. Even Sandra said it was the best time she had ever had.

After we dropped everyone off we went to grandmas unpacked and went straight to the beach and relaxed.

This is the life no? :)

Ok more stories in the next blog!

Love Drea]]> Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=16514 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=136929 0 -4.05 39.6666667 On wed morning I woke up early and gave Eric, grandmas brother, a hair cut. Then we packed up the land rover and headed out to Tsavo national park. It was a 3hour drive.

This park covers about 21.000 kilometers of land. We went to Tsavo East on wednesday. Drove around the first animal we saw was an elephant, actually a bunch of elephants.

The last time I went on safari the only animals I hadn't seen were elephants, Cheetah leopard and Hippo. This safari I saw all of them! But it was definitely an elephant safari. We even saw wild dogs. Apparently they are very rare and hardly ever seen.

The friends I was with were more excited to see the dogs than they were any other animal!

On our first day there we stayed in tent. I thought it was gonna be one of those small camping tents that you can buy at WAL- Mart. But it wasn't, these were huge tents that fit 3 beds in it. Had plenty of walking space and a shower and toilet. I must say I was very pleased and happy.

In front of our tent was a water hole so we could see when animals went for a drink. It was nice waking up early and lying in bed listening to the sounds of nature :)

The camp site served the 3main meals to us. It was all out doors of course and in the evening they had a camp fire. It was nice having dinner under the stars. So different than the city. This is real bush living.

The fallowing morning we woke up @6 to have an early morning game drive. We took lots of photos. It was a clear sunny morning and we got to see a lot of animals.

After that we went back for breakfast. They packed a lunch for us to take since we were not coming back to that place. I could have stayed another night in a tent. I really really enjoyed it. Except for the cold shower!

The rest of the day we spent driving around. We found a bunch of elephants playing around so we decided to stop there and have our lunch. We stayed in the car and watched them. In East Tsavo the land is flat with the mountains surrounding it.

After lunch we drove around more. Then we went to Tsavo West. Which they say is better but I preferred East because its green and lush where as west was a lot of bush and dried out land.

The brothers we were with were excellent tour guides. They knew all the back roads and even the names of all the birds. They took us through some really deserted paths right along the river. The car kept getting scratched by thorn bushes and we had lots of taxi flies fallowing us. That was because taxi flies are attracted to blue and the car was blue! Crazy huh, I kept wondering why we couldn't get rid of them.
That's the area where we saw a leopard and hippo.

Anyway we eventually got to our new lodge, Ngulia. It was one that a brother in our hall designed and built. It was very very nice. The dining area was outdoors also. But it was more like a covered patio deck. It over looked the vast valley that we drove in.

It also overlooked two water holes so as we ate we could watch the elephants and buffalo drinking. It was gorgeous!

Our rooms were big and all the floors were made of mazaris stone. It had three walls and the the 4th one was a huge tent net and so we could overlook the same view as the dining area. The breeze at night was great. And we had a patio that you could sit on and watch the sun come up!

Yes it was a paradise for sure. The next day we went for a mountain climb. I will write about it in the next blog :)

Till then Kwaheri!

Love drea!]]> Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=16514 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=136928 0 -4.05 39.6666667 Spent the entire day on the sand. We walked up and down picking shells. I found a beautiful piece of white coral that I will put up in the restroom as a decoration. Sandra has made mirrors with sea shells and drift wood and I want to make one too. So now I have everything I need.

Today we went to the city of Malindi, that's about 45 min from Kilifi. We met up with some of Sandra's friends. They use to be missionaries and now serve as special pioneers. We had some lunch at this Italian place and had such a good time with them even though it was only for an hour or so. They love to talk and tell stories and it was nice hearing their stories of Kyran and his brothers when they we're young.

Talking to the Brother was refreshing. It was like talking to brother E. Raymond! Lol well that's who he reminded me of :)

He said it was hard to imagine the boys married because he remembers them during their teens! Hmmm...... ;)

After we left them we went shopping. Malindi has lot unique crafts mens. So there is stuff here that you can't really find anywhere else.

There are many Italians in this city and so it has lots of flavor.
Oh, and I even found my favorite cheap Italian red wine! :) haven't been able to find it in Nairobi!

Time was running out and so we had to leave. We are going back on Tue.

Back at grandmas, me and Sandra prepared lunch for tomorrow. We are going to Tsavo national park.

On a different note Grandmas brother who lives in South Africa came today!!

Everyone says he looks like Kyran, but he is in his 70s so I can't really tell. He does have colored eyes just like KY KY. He is such a nice fellow very down to earth and likes to tell stories, sounds like Kyran :)

Speaking of stories BBC did a documentary on his past work. He used to wk for the government before Kenya got its freedom. Ever heard of the Mau Mau? Look it up :) interesting and sad story.

Anyway since it was a special occasion we had crab and lobster. Fresh from the sea I might add!

Later on we left brother and sister to catch up one the 'good ol' days'.

That was today! I'm exhausted.

Night yal!

Love drea.]]> Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=16514 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=136024 0 -4.05 39.6666667 We went to the Bamburi Cong. It was the last cong that Kyran and his family attended before moving to Nairobi. Like I mentioned before Kyran couldn't come with us on this vacation because he has training in London. But it was really nice to meet the friends in his old Hall.

When the friends introduced themselves to me they asked me where I was from and asked why i was visiting. Then Sandra told them I was her daughter- in- law. They were so happy and shocked! They finally met Lil KY KY's wife! It felt like what i imagine an animal feels like when humans stare in amazement at it LOL!! The friends were so nice!!! They want to do a BBQ on the beach!

Oh so I mentioned it was raining hard! Well the roof of the hall is made out of tin. So we could hardly hear anything. They happened to have the CO visit and for his talk it wasn't too bad but he had to speak loudly.

For the watchtower study it wasn't so easy, we had to almost yell out into the microphones just to hear each other. The conductor told us to pause a few times for almost 10min at a time because it was pointless to comment when we couldn't even hear anything.

The roof leaked so that was interesting.

After the meeting was over, of course the rain stopped! To get out of the parking lot was a challenge. Part of the entrance was swept away. So the brothers kindly threw rocks in the water in attempt to make a path. Well we somehow missed the ramp to cross over and sort of sunk into the muddy water :(
I'll send photos later.

We were soaked. Sandra took me to this restaurant called Yul's. Its a nice place just off the coast. Reminded me of those seafood restaurants off the coast of Miami beach Galveston South Padre and places like that.

Its was wonderful except for the rain. I kept imagining that a Tsunami would come! The waves were big!

Anyway lunch was good, I ate the BEST hamburger that I have ever had in my entire life. In Dallas my dad use to take us to this amazing burger joint with the best fries. But now, this place tops it off by far! Ironically they named it TEXAS Rocker Cheese Burger!!!! Yeah ya!

After that nice lunch we went back to Kilifi and spent more time with grandma.

For dinner we made prawns and sauce. its all about food

Don't know which Meal was off but I had an upset tummy. Quickly took some Anti's and now i feel better!

Now off to study and lala (sleep)

Take care! Love drea]]> Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=10855 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=136023 0 -4.05 39.6666667 Nairobi @6am. I'm not really a morning person but I managed.

The drive was beautiful, we passed Tsavo and had mountains on the East and West side of the road. We even saw some zebras and camels on the side of the road.

The day was so sunny and clear that we could see MT Kiliminjaro in the distance. That's in Tanzania which is roughly 100 Kilomiters away.

We got to Mombasa around 2pm. On the way we stopped a few times to eat. Oh, and I have to say, Its been such a long time since I had to "USE" the side of the road! But were in Africa in the bush so there is not much choice as to toilets!

When we arrived in Mombasa Sandra took us to a special place. It was a nice beach area. So beautiful! Can't even describe it so I won't :) we stayed a bit to unwind. Then dropped off the couple that came with us at a brothers House.

On the side of the road you notice lots of shop stands. And one man was selling Casava chips. Its interesting that every culture has similarities. In Mexico and TX they sell the pig skins with hot sauce in a bag for 1 dollar. Here its Casava chips with pili pili as they call hot sauce.

After we left the friends at the brothers House in Nyali, we drove about 40min to Kilifi which is where Granny Pot lives :) On the way there are many Baobab Trees. In Swahilli they are called Mbuyu. Do you remember there was and article in the AWAKE! Magazine about them? So that was cool to see so many!

When we arrived in Kilifi it was raining. Spent time with grandma and made ourselves comfy in the guest House. Its really nice that she lives about one quarter away from the beach. Its within walking distance and I must say its is SOOO beautiful!

That was today and now I'm off to bed!

Take care and we miss yal!

Love Drea]]> Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=16514 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=136010 0 -4.05 39.6666667 So not very much has happened since last blog.

I'm really enjoying work. Get to meet lots of interesting people. I met a local singer named Jua Cali. He was interviewed on the show. Also a few others but I have forgotten their names.

Oh it was funny because they interviewed a country singer from Nashville named BigKen? Yeah ??

But it was a big deal to have a cowboy here in kenya! Lol also it was nice to hear the country accents and hearing them say "yal"

So today I was in service with a sis and we had such a nice time, I forgot to pack a lunch so by 2pm I was starving!we stopped at a place where they make sandwhiches so we ate there and I wanted to save the rest for later.

So as we are walking a young kid comes up to me and asked me for money. I told him I didn't have any and sorry. Then he asked for my sandwhich!! I said " you know where I come from it's very rude to ask someone to eat their food for them".

Not a min later another kid stops me and asked for money and I told him " if I give you this what am I going to eat?" then he asked for Money and I told him the same as the other kid that Its very rude to ask.

30 seconds later a MAN signals with his hands to his mouth that he wants my food! Ok keep in mind these are not people begging on the side of the road these are people walking around like us!
I said to him " come here, what is your name? So and so , how can you ask me for food when you see that it's mine?" then he mumbles that it's better to ask than to steal " I was like yes that's true but where I come from it's very very rude and disrespectful to ask someone to give them food . You think because Im a mzungu ( White person) that I am rich and have money to give away! What will I eat? You give me money and I will give you this sandwhich!!!"

I was so mad by then, I told that sister " someone else just please ask me again and il stick my hand out to them and say ' Miamoja na kumi'" that means : "100.10 shillings " ($1.50) that's how much it cost and wud show my recipt!! Lol aye yay ay!!! That sister was mad too

I must say, I'm having an adventure here. Its nice especially since I get bored fast and like keeping active!

Swahilli class is going well. Who would have thought that I could EVER read this :

'Wadudu wakali Hawa wanatafuta wanyama Wale.'

That means "these fierce bugs are looking for those animals" (as in to eat)

Or how about : Watoto wadogo wazuri wachache Hawa.

Which means "these few small children"

Yes! It is amazing. We are learning proper Kiswahilli

Kp is excited because he is going to London in 2weeks for his training! We have some friends there that will show him around and get in touch with bethel to help him locate the nearest kingdom hall.

Well that is it for now. Had a long day in service and need to rest up a bit!

Till next time! GO Spain!!!!!

Love drea

]]> Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=132717 0 -1.3 36.8166667 A sister in one of the congregations is a journalists for a news paper. She does the home decor section and I had told her about sandras house. Its decorated seashore beach theme.

So she loved it! And she did a great job in her story. :) it even mentioned that her son (kyran) made the living room table :)

Moving along... Last weekend I went to Eldoret to visit my friend. Eldoret is north of the equator near the rift vally. Its a really beautiful town.

I went with some sisters in my hall who are also good friends of hers. The drive took5 hours but of course when you are in good company time flies.

It started raining once we passed Nakuru so their wasn't much to see. But it was kinda cool driving in the clouds up the mountains! I don't know how high we were but the equator is 9100feet so we were 2 hours higher :)

We reached Eldoret and parked the car at a shop. Soon as the sister turned off the car this man opens her door! He was a mentally challenging person begging for money. So we Locked the doors right away!

Later on we had good fun at the sisters house. For me it was a different experience than what I'm used to but a nice one.

I helped cook dinner but she had no stove or microwave. I had to use a tiny gas cooker. It takes longer to make dinner that way. But no complaints!

The next day we went to the view point by the rift valley. it was sooooo breath taking. You could see mountains in the distance for miles and miles! You know a camera never does it justice, especially mine! We spent a few hours there and took lots of photos. We even got to witness and share a scripture with some people on the mountain.

Later on we went to a coffee house to eat and watch the futbol game. It was Japan and new Zealand I think.

By the time we finished eating it was too late to go see the waterfalls!!!! I was soo sad! Thats all I wanted to see! And my friend of course :)

So we went home grabbed our watchtowers and went to a park and studied together.

Next day we went to the meeting and that was nice. The sign language group meets at their hall and the sister we visited is in that group. So we got to meet with them.

When it was time for watchtower the microphones we're not working so we had to make do.

As it is everywhere in the world, the friends were so sweet. I met one Bro and as soon as I saw him I was like "I know you!" turns out we know his brother who lives in bethel and just happened to be in Nyeri with us last weekend. Small world huh!

They wanted to take us out to eat but time was running out and we had to head home before dark.

The drive on the way back was soooo beautiful! We drove back a different way. Through Nivasha, if you look up" Hells Gate" you can see pictures. Mt Longonot is part of the scenery too! I had climbed that mountain or extinct volcano last time I was in kenya :) ah! It was so nice!

We had stopped in Nivasha and met my friends cousin. We had some dinner. That was good kwa sababu (because) we were starving! You know how it is when you travel you don't eat good. So that was a good, we needed it.

We were driving and reached 40 miles outside of Nairobi and the Sis who was driving said "the car isn't accelerating" so I told her to pull over right away! We ran out of gas!

The Gage was reading half full so we didn't bother. We even said earlier that we were surprised how good the car runs on fuel!

Anyways, it was getting dark so one of the girls made a quick decision to walk to the nearest gas station. Keep in mind that we are on a highway!

So we waited for her in the car, and said a prayer and soon as we finished the police arrived and set up their station about a hundred yards in front of us! They usually do that and pull over random cars. So it was definitely a blessing!

Kenya can be very dangerous at night!!!!!

Anyway the Sis came back and we didn't have a funnel so we used a note, money bill, to pour in the gas. I had a good flash light and that really came in handy but i didn't carry a knife, which we needed to cut a bottle.

Anyway it all wked out well!
I guess as many of you have read before, nothing ever goes perfect but its always an adventure and good for a story :) will send pictures soon! ;)
We calculated that we would have made it back to Nairobi had we not went to the view point in Eldoret. Which means, it only cost us 40bucks to fill the car about 35 liters! That's a 10hour drive to and from on one tank!

So we eventually made it home!

And that was that! Good fun!

Still doing swahill classes. its going good!

I been experimenting with chocolate, iv made chocolate covered peanuts, almonds and espresso beans! They taste just like the ones you get @ Starbucks! I even made chocolate coverd Fruit! I might start making them and selling them :)

Next story will be about our trip to Mombasa !

Till then, kwaherini!

Love, drea and ky ky

GO USA!!!! ...Mexico Argentina& Brazil!!!
]]> Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=10855 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=130587 0 0.5166667 35.2833333 There is a new bethel extention in the city of Nyeri. That's about 3 hours from here and 1 hour from "My shags" as they say, Nanyuki :)

Its a pretty large house that they are remodeling to use as a translation office. We were givin permission to go help this weekend. Me and Kyran went with a couple of friends. And some of our friends from nanyuki showed up to meet us there! That was a nice surprise.

I told some of you that it has been my dream to become an International servant, so to be able to help with this construction is like a dream come true! Now I need to set new goals :)

When we arrived they put me and another sister in charge of the painting. Then not too long after we were done, the brother kindly asked if we could help with lunch. I didn't mind but I thought it was funny because I always considered that to be ' a sisters job' :) but its all for jah so its ok!

After lunch I went outside and saw some sisters plowing the yard. Man! That is tough physical work! These mamas have some serious strength. They asked me and kp to try it and not too long after that we couldn't do it anymore. The older sisters showed us up big time!

After that intense labor, the brother asked if I wouldn't mind cooking dinner! That took forever! There was about 17 people to feed which isn't bad, but they were having problems with the electricity.

I ended up making the chicken which was a hit! Everyone loved it! And another sister made chips, (fries).

There was a few visitors from the Nairobi bethel along with their friends, so they helped too.

People here love dairy. They eat it and drink it. Even fermented milk and yogurt mixed with sugar! Gross! I can't do it but to everyone else its a delicacy.

Later on in the evening after dinner, the friends said they wanted to take us to this small joint. So I was imagining something small and ragged. But it was nice! They took us to this local hotel. And they had a huge screen outside showing the futbol game on the lawn and every table had its own pot of fire to keep them warm.

Its was really nice. Unlike the states we don't have sports bars to go to if we wanna watch a game. So the bros really really liked it! Matter of fact we are planning another small trip there in July, and we will bring more friends from my congo and have a bbq.

Well back at the home, me and kp had our own room away from the house. It was cute. Only thing I had to deal with was that there was no shower head, just a bath tub. Also there was only a little bit of hot water so we had to shower using a basin! Lol

I had never done that before, it was so funny. KY had to pour water on me, I told him ' it feels like I'm in a consentration camp.' I know, it sounds bad and probably isn't even like that, but it just was such a wired feeling. Always a 1st for everything !

They kept telling me that IM so american! That's they way the majority of kenya bathes!

Ahh, good times.

So, the plan for Sunday was to drive back to Nairobi for the late meeting. Well when we woke up no one was home! Only our car group was there. Everyone had went to their meetings. But they were so nice and had breakfast prepared for us sitting on the table! Pancakes !

We didn't want to leave while they were gone, so we decided to have our own meeting after breakfast. And atleast we did, because they don't have English meetings in Nyeri.

Then to say thank you, me and Sylvia made a cake! It turned out great except that we put the icing on too soon. I'll send the photos on snapfish, you will notice it all melted away!

But when everyone got back to the house they loved the cake! Kenyans don't bake lots of cake so its always a treat.

So later on we had to say our goodbyes, took lots of pictures of course. The city is so pretty ! Did I mention that already?

We drove on the bumpy roads all the way home. I miss paved roads that's all I gotta say.

When your driving you see quite a lot of interesting things. Like men trying to sell fish, huge fish on the side of the road. With no ice, lake or river within 100miles in sight! Lol!

The only picture I managed to get was of a donkey. We took a pic of it!

Anyways, that's the story for now!

I'll have more news next week, I'm going to eldoret on friday:)

Ok take care!

Mwa! Love yal!

Kwaheri , Drea

]]> Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=10855 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=130069 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667 It looks pretty sweet. Its 50 centimeters X60. I will take a photo of it when it is finished!

On sunday we had a good time after the meeting. A sister from our hall invited a bunch from the hall to her house. She hosted the C/O and she just happens to be a cater, so, the food was good!

Some other missionaries were there too which was nice because they will be heading to their new assignment next week. Sudan! I'll miss them. I met them last year when I came an we have kept in touch since then.

On sunday kyrans bible study came to the meeting for the 1st time! I was so happy! I had actually met him a long time ago, he is a barber so it was easy to witness to him. Kyran took over the study and now he is progressing so well!

Another study came too. Sandras bible study, she is one of those who all the friends know and have met before. So we were all so happy! She even brought 2 friends with her.

Well Thursday was my first day of work. :) its for a talk show.

Its fun I get to sit in the dressing room all day for 2 days a week. Waiting back stage and checking if I need to make touch ups on her hair while on the set.

I took the Boda Boda home! That's a motor bike :) I usually take a matatu, small 14 seater bus. But there is a long stretch from the building to the main road were there are no matatus and its not safe to walk.

Anyway I asked him to take me to the main road then I was like well why not to the bus stop, then I was like what the hec why not home we are almost there! So it was a 1st time for me. Least I can say I tried it!

This past week we have had the visit of our circuit overseer. I worked with his wife yesterday. The pioneer meeting went great!

As usual, he brought out something deep from the bible. The part we coverd was John chapter4. And it was neat how he had it read. He asked a brother to play the part of Jesus and a sister to read the part of the Smaratian woman.
So the narrative part was cut out.

So that was a good meeting needless to say.

Kyran has been enjoying his training! He is going to London next month for a simulator course. We have a couple of friends who live there so he will get in touch with them!

Since I can't go with him, I'll go to the coast in mombasa.

Oh, so remember I told ya that the district overseers wife is giving me swahilli lessons? Its funny because she is Canadian and there are4 of us she is teaching, one is from Ethiopia, Argentina and 2 Mexicans from America taking swahill lessons from a Canadian who lives in kenya!
Only jehovahs people ay!

We went over grammer and its been helpful already. Iv been able to pick up on what people are saying. Even today while we were in service i learned so much!

Oh so i almost forgot. I was in service and I noticed that there were alot of cops and security gaurds. Turns out that the vice president of US was in that car we just walked past! Ha! I wish i had my camera with me at that moment.

Thats all for now. take care!

Ok, nakwenda sasa!

Love drea

]]> Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=128291 0 -1.3 36.8166667 5months without a job seems like a long time, but we have kept so busy in the ministry that time has passed by sooo fast! Not everyone has a 5 month long honeymoon together without having to work!!! So we enjoyed it while it lasted
We had our 2 day assembly this past weekend. As I wrote to some of you already it was AMAZING!

The program was really nice. It was my first actual assembly here. It was also nice to see the work we had done on the building during construction. They have a new project coming up in june. They will be putting up new toilets in the womans section.
Have i mentioned to you before that when they first installed the restrooms that some people would steal the seat covers?!!!!!!!!! THATS SOOO GROSS!! They dont comprehend germs and bacteria they cant see!

Anyways, So i have been busy doing hair. I have met a lady who is a makeup artist here in kenya. She is considered one of the best. She has a great resume and she has created her own makeup brand that will be launched in Aug. She has been really kind and referred me to her clients. She does all the mag covers and makeup for those in the beauty section for various african mag’s. So she has already booked me in to help her do some shoots in june! Im so excited. She said she will probably train me to do makeup which im super happy to learn!

I will keep you posted on how that goes 

Speaking of learning, the district overseers wife has arranged and volunteered to give an informal class of kswahilli.We start next week. Im already learning so much on my own and im so eager to learn more!!!

Im trying to keep myself busy in as many spiritual activities as i possibly can. Helps fill in time and keep me focused..

Oh im obviously horrible in remembering what i wrote in the past and to lazy to go back and re read my last blogs  but what i have been doing on some of my free time is going in to the market of Toy, and since i know so many people there now, i have been able to wheel and deal!! For example, i took 3 blouses and tried to trade for different ones. It worked!! Thus far i have traded about 20 tops 5 skirts 2 dresses 2 pairs of shoes and 3pairs of earrings!! LOL

I can actually go in there with no cash and come with new things  its pretty fun. Some sisters ask me to go with them now since i seem to know the place better than them! LOL thats crazy, iv only been here since January! Whats even more interesting is that the vendors trust me so much that if i dont have money at that moment i can take the stuff anyways because they know i will come back to pay or trade!!

Good times good times

So yeah, i sent yal some pictures of when we went bowling last week. That was fun getting together with the friends. We are having a small get together over the weekend at this park i have never been to. Should be fun. Im enjoying spending time with the friends eve more now that Kyran is busy working.

Kp says hiiiii! He is busy studying for his ATPL (airline transport pilot licence) mean time going through training at wk. Busy man!

I often have to remind myself of how easy i have it not having to wk full time any more!!
Well i have a couple of small trips coming up soon. Kyran will have to go to the UK to do a couple weeks of training. I cant go with him  so im going with sandra and a couple from bethel to Mombasa, the coast off the indian ocean. Im also going to visit my friend in Eldoret. Look it up on the map and thats where im going

Nweza kukuonyesha andiko?? Thats means: “can i show you a scripture”
LOL i say that, take them to a text and thats as far as i am in my presentation!! I still need my partner to explain the text! Haha...baby steps

Thats all i got 4 ya folks!! Big Hugs and kisses!!
Love Drea
]]> Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=125333 0 -1.2833333 36.8166667 A sister in our hall works for a clothing store called Kaché by Angie.

And they were going to have a fashion show held at the house of the Spanish ambassador. So the sister managed to get us some tickets.

I wasn t sure what to expect really but I was definitely curious to find out! It was obviously going to be a formal event but wasn t sure how formal, I mean it is Africa after all :) I told kyran I was going to either be way over dressed or blend in ok :)

It was fun dressing up for the first time in 5months! Lol. I did my hair and Lilys too. We were saying how sad it was that this was a Big event we were looking forward too :)

But actually it turned out to be very nice. As you saw in the pictures we had a good time. We arrived and parked on the lawn which was huge! When we entered the house we were greeted with a red rose and a hand bag with a few things in it.

We walked straight into the back yard and there was lights and tents and people. We were escorted to a covered patio where they served drinks and a few snacks.

Then the show started, it didn t rain during the catwalk thank goodness. And it went by pretty fast. I told the sister I am totally signing up to model next show if they let me! Lol why not aye??!

That was pretty much it, they played Spanish music in the back round which was nice to hear for a change!

After that the group of us went out to eat. We were all dressed up so formal n fancy with our smart looking hubbys!

On Saturday me and kp just chilled, a couple stopped by to say hello. Peter came back from his training in south Africa and we caught up with him.

Oh and I m back into the drawing mode! I decided to start making a collection for our home. I hardly have any of my art work for myself since I always give them away or sell them. I am drawing the picture in the bible teach book of the angel guarding daniel. I ll be done with it tomorrow ! Then off to my next project :)

That s pretty  much it, yesterday the Pots got together to play a game of monopoly, I hadn t played it in years! I tell ya, its a game that emotions are involved. You get excited frustrated mad and competitive. I was very surprised that I actually won! Yay! But we played again today and me n kp were the last left in the game, he won :( oh well

That s all I got 4ya! Life here in the mother land is quite chilled.

Till next time! Love you all!

Drea]]> Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=121962 0 -1.3 36.8166667 I'm not pregnant!! Lol but I do have my cravings! There are a few places here to get fast food but the variety is limited and in no way close to good as I'm use to :)

Speaking of fast food iv been having this desire to make a homemade pizza from scratch. I got all the ingredients I need. I was going to make it the other day but after a long day traveling to the ends of the earth in service I was too tired.

What was funny is that the couple I mentioned before that was having a bunch of us over for dinner made pizza for us! I even got to make one at her house. So that desire has been satisfied. Now I want to make a cheese stuffed crust this week. Yum!

Well service keeps getting Better and better. I love certain parts of the territory especially. I mentioned I went to the ends of the earth, that just happened to be close by. I went with a Sis on some calls. We took a few small buses to get there walked and walked for miles it seems in the mud and got rained on a bit. We climbed up and down a small slipery hill. As always its worth it. We stayed 2hours and waited about 30min after for the rain to stop. I'm having to get use to this mud!

I wish I had taken my camera. The view was nice. There were fields of veggies in the distance.

The sis who took me felt bad for having me go through all of that. Then i started telling her about ALL the crazy situations iv been in. Car breaking down, losing keys n the mountain @ midnight, being stranded with Kyran and Marcus with no place to sleep, getting stuck in the game park, on the mountain, the fire at 3am so on and so on.. She said she felt 100% better, this was nothing!!!!!!

Yesterday we worked a small part of kibera. That's the biggest slum in kenya by the way. Of course I never take my camera in there. That's another place I would take some of you just so you can say that you went into the deepest of kenya.
We found interest in there. 2 people said that they would like their own bible study.

We saw some kids that were standing on the shoulders of the the other and we were wondering what they we're doing. On the houses there are these tiny tiny air holes or squares. And in them are birds nests. So that's what they were looking for, taking the birds and the nests! I don't think they were gonna eat them, but I told them that now they have to find food for them. Poor birds. I took a couple of pix with my camera phone. I'll see if I can put them on the comp.

After service we went home to do some letter writing. Kyran was so sweet! He made tea and 2 pans of brownies for everyone and just waited on us replenishing the tea and water so we wouldn't have to disturb our service :)

Today some friends came by for some tea and cake. Man iv never had so much sweets in one weekend! A Sis is here visiting her fam from UK. She was supposed to leave friday but is delayed because of the ash in the air coming from the volcano in Iceland. Crazy stuff huh?

Anyways that was my weekend:)

So what do I say in service now? No invitations to hand out for the special talk. Its always sad when a campaign ends. :(

Well congrats to my Bro in law Jeremy ! Its Almost graduation day in may! ;)

Take care yal!

Hasta la next time!! Kwaheri ;D]]> Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=120577 0 -1.3 36.8166667 Ah anyways, this weekend was nice. A Sis in our hall got married yesterday. It was our 1st wedding to attend as a married couple. It was nice sitting in the audience together! The brother gave an excellent talk. I got to do the updo for one of my friends who was in the wedding :) yay 1st wedding updo here!

It was at the hall and pretty much done in the same manner as in the states. Except for that a lot of the friends got on stage as they were exchanging rings just to take a picture, that was rude, but no one seemed to mind ?? Oh well :)

The reception was in a big hall. Usually african receptions are done outside so for them it was really nice!

Our table was really fun. It was the newly wed table. There was no assigned seating but it happened that all 8 of us were the newly weds in our hall :) the oldest couple had been marred a year And the youngest was Marcus and Lily 6 weeks. So we had a good time just talking about everything. We all could relate to eachother :) one of the. Couples invite all for dinner on friday so it will be fun to hang out again :)

Well as for the reception things are done a bit different than what I'm use to. For example there is a reception and and evening party. @the reception you have the dinner speech a tiny!!! Tiny bite of cake if any and that's about it. The brother says a prayer and then people can make their way home.

It isn't untill the evening party where your told at the reception if your invited to That they have the 1st dance and music. Its held later in the night and there is where the party begins.

So I thought that was different. I would think it would be nice for everyone to dance but its just not the way its done here.

However it was cool in the beginning, as everyone waited for the bride n groom to come to the reception we had already started eating. And when they arrived we heard these african noises coming from outside. It was the family of the couple. They all parade inside together dancing with the couple walking on front. They were singing songs and dancing.

Later on one of the family members got up and sang a song in the native language. Then all the family from both sides started singing and dancing. It was a farewell song. Then we told the friends at our table that this is exactly what they show on tv to us in the states. And this is why we think that all Africans sing and dance around a fire! Lol it was a real African wedding.

So we only got to dance one song. They invited all the sisters to get up and dance. That was fun.

We didn't stay for the evening party because we were tired and had meeting for next day.

Old and married now huh? :)

Well that was my weekend,one of my friends was in town for the wedding so we spent time with some friends today and learned how to make custard!

KY says hi to you all! And hope your all doin good!

His mom told me that when he was 2 he couldn't pronounce his name so he use to call himself Kynanin! So now I call him Kynanin!!!! :)

That all for now guys! Take care

Love drea ]]> Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=119837 0 -1.3 36.8166667 Remember I had told you before about 'toy market' ? The place I get good deals and clothes for like$4.

Well some sisters had told me about this one place in town where all the vendors get their stuff from. Directly from the ships that come in from the UK and States. And so the clothes are super cheap. 2nd hand of course but still veRy good!

So me and Sandra were excited to join the friends who were going today. They told us to dress down not to bring our phones and not to wear jewelry.

When we arrived into that area of town it was such a drastic change of environment. It was unimaginable the kind of conditions these people live in. The roads were so dark and muddy and the buildings very run down. That area is where most of the refugees from Somalia all live.

We parked at the offices where one of the brothers works. He is a dentist, and apparently Somalians like the Chinese, and he is so he has one of his offices right smack dab in the middle of that place.

He had one of his workers take us around. When we were walking it was such an interesting experience. You probably have seen on tv the markets in china Thai land or India where there are bags and bags of spices on the streets for sale. It looked just like that but really run down. They had everything from henna to wood and even rocks for sale!

There was a man making brooms. It was just a really neat thing to see. It reminded me of when I was in Mexico, all the shops of clothes and material.

Well me and Sandra we're disappointed to find out that the shops we went to were actually whole sale vendors! All new stuff. Lol

It was a Lil funny because the local friends were there wanting to buy new stuff for 400 shillings for clothes which is a really good price, and here these 2 mzunguz Sandra and i were wanting to pay like 20 or 30shillings for used clothing!
We went to a different place!

But all in all it was a great experience! Way cheaper than the stores. Its just hard paying 800 shillings for a dress when I can bargan at toy market for 200!!!!

Well we had lost half of the group by the end of the day. Good thing the tour man was with us! He was telling us about the culture and giving us such a good tour. There was so much to see. Lots of nice perfume bottles form India. He said the local Somalian dish is rice and pasta.

Oh, here you see a wild man every now n then yelling in the streets some random bible text. Well there was this older man doing just that, and when Sandra passed by he said "you , woman every head of woman is man." then kept rambling on about how she should have a head covering. There all the women except the Africans had a head covering.

When we got back to our cars we stopped in to see the brother. He has just one room so we all sat inside. While we were waiting for the other friends to come back I was telling him that I was worried about my teeth because I haven't been able to find my retainer! Then he told me he would make me one! So I just got on the chair while everyone watched and he made impressions of my teeth. They will be done tomorrow ! Yay! Random huh?

Anyway that was a good and long day. I would love to take yal there just to get the experience. The brothers said that most of the people who live in kenya have never even seen that part of town.

On a different subject, the other day I went upstairs to introduce myself to our neighbors, do you remember I had told you I met a man from TX? Well I wanted to meet his wife and give her my card. I saw that she was cooking and I said , where did you get those fried onions!!!!!

Well they had just got back from visiting ft worth and brought back a bunch of food! She showed me all the corn tortillas in her freezer! I was so jealous cus I been craving flautas!

I told her that I been wanting to learn how to make them from scratch so she loaned me her tortilla maker thing. I went home and attempted to but it didn't work out too well. They don't have the yellow corn meal here. I made too much dough so I had no choice but to finish making these gross half corn half flour wanna be tortillas. :(

Then I thought to myself 'why don't I try making chips!' So I cut them all up and put them in the oven. I had just happen to make salsa verde the day before so I thought what the hec i may as well try it!

Mean time, since I had a mess everywhere I thought to make doughnuts! But like the old fashion ones. I mixed flour eggs a Lil water and sugar and made small doughnuts. I fried them like my grandma use to do, and then put sugar and cinnamon on them! The first batch wasn't cooked right in the middle but th 2nd ones came out good.

Then I remembered about the chips in the oven. I almost broke my teeth trying to bite one. Oh well... Thank goodness I'm the only one who eats that kind of stuff in this house. :)

Last night we forgot to buy bread, so like a wife in ancient times I went into the kitchen and made some myself! I mixed flour milk eggs and the left over sugar and cinnamon and made swirls. Then layed them on the tray and put sugar and butter. Everyone loved them!!!!! I'm so proud of myself!!!!!!! They really were good even the day after. :)

Those are some of the things I do to keep myself occupied.

Oh one more thing I found to be kinda funny, you know in TX you sometimes see the Mexican men standing around the corner waiting for job opportunitys?
Well here instead of men, you see a bunch of women with their apron on and scarf of the head sitting around waiting for someone who is looking for a house help. :)

Ok well I gotta rest now, have early service Kesho! Tomorrow!

Till next time!

Love drea
Aka nyagothe! :)
(very common not so very pretty kikuyu name I was given by an African Sis who I now call. Josefina Petra Maria!!)]]> Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=11063 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=118930 0 -1.3 36.8166667