Lacey's End of Day 7 Journal - 2011

February 20, 2011                        TMSC, Kenya - Day 7 – Sunday

I can’t believe that the last day of our ‘A Dollar A Day Challenge’ is already here. In some ways it feels like this week has flown by but in others is feels like it has been the longest week of my life.

I woke up pretty early this morning (before the sun) to a crinkling sound on the floor. It sounded like someone was crinkling a Nakumatt bag. Thinking Amanda was stirring around, I said, ‘Amanda is that you?’…When she sleepily responded, ‘No…it’s not you?’ we knew we had a problem! There was something in our room and we had NO WAY of knowing what it was! Our lanterns were on the floor and we had NO idea where the matches were! Luckily, we were in our mosquito nets. Then we heard what sounded like purring from the other side of the room. We came to the conclusion that the purring was our snoring rooster on the other side of the mud wall. But still we have no idea who our mystery visitor in the Nakumatt bag was :/ I’m not sure that I really want to find out!

Rewind- It was hard for us to fall asleep last night so we decided to sing! We’ve been without music all week and we both miss it a lot. We started out just goofing around and then it turned into us sitting up in our beds praising God. We had a full on worship service under our mosquito nets! Bwana Asifiwe! I have such a sweet friend in Amanda and I will forever be thankful for her!

Fast Forward- Natasha woke us up at about 9 o’clock this morning. We did our video blog just in time to have some tea and head to Sunday school. The kids sang loud and so beautifully this morning that it made my heart smile. They are such a blessing to me and I love each of them dearly. This morning’s message was about how God is our Shepherd and our Protector. Praise God for that! Amanda and I had a special offering this morning. Our tithe for this week was 56ksh. That’s 10% of our daily income. We also gave an extra 6ks each as our love offering. Our regular tithe belongs to God…we kept it all week but knew that it wasn’t ours to spend. That extra 6ksh was a love offering to God. It could have bought us another mango, but we chose to give it back to Him. It was amazing to give every last cent that we had. Thank you Father for being our Provider!

Since today is the Sabbath, we chose to rest today. We wanted to rest and enjoy all of God’s creation today. We journaled some and just enjoyed each other’s company. We were invited to a surprise dinner at Rose’s house (the guest house)! In Kenyan culture it’s considered rude to turn down an offer like this, so we graciously accepted! We weren’t going to have our first meal until tomorrow (Monday) morning, but that has changed! This afternoon we helped prepare the meal. As I peeled vegetables and Amanda rolled out chapati, my hunger overwhelmed me. I was so hungry at this point that I would eat anything that was put in front of me! About an hour later the meal was served. Rose prayed for us and it melted my heart. As she prayed, she thanked God for us and for what we are doing – she gets it. I’m so thankful that what we’re doing is translating – even here. God you are SO GOOD! As we feasted on our meal of chapati, chicken, and potatoes, the fellowship was awesome. It was so good to be surrounded by these people again. We laughed and smiled for a long time – then it was back to poverty…one more night. I can’t believe that this Challenge is over…but I guess it’s not really over. I am taking so much back with me into my ‘real life’ that I could have never imagined. This week has challenged me. Poverty has changed me. I am forever changed. Praise be to God!!

Day 7 Complete

Prayers By Candlelight

Lord Jesus,

Thank you for the blessings of this day.  I praise you for all that you provide for us and I praise you when you allow us to go without.  What a blessings it’s been to rely fully on you this week Lord.  I’ve never been more challenged and I’ve never been more thankful than now.  There were times during this past week where I wanted to give up but I’m thankful for the will to persevere.  Lord I am amazed at how rich I am compared to most of the world and I confess that most of my life I’ve taken that for granted.  Forgive me for not being a good steward in the past and teach me to be more mindful in the future.  Lord, I’ll never be entirely sure why there’s such a huge difference between the way the rich and the poor view life, other than the fact that you’ve always taught the greatest lessons using the ‘least of these’ as the greatest in the kingdom.  I’ll never fully understand the necessity of the pain and suffering that accompanies poverty other than the idea that in their weakness is where they find your strength.  I know nothing about this is fair, but I know you are just.  It breaks my heart that tomorrow I will be allowed at the table with plenty to eat while others in this community continue to go without.  Lord teach me to be a blessings to them, since you have chosen to bless me abundantly.  Lord I lift up to you all those who did not get invited to dinner tonight, all those who will go to bed hungry.  Lord sustain their hearts, souls, minds, and bellies.  Help them to set their minds on things above instead of earthly things and provide for their every need.  I lift up this prayer to you Lord and I thank you for the new meaning it has in my heart. 

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy

will be done in earth, 
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
But deliver us from evil. 
For Yours is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, I am forever changed, and to you I give ALL the glory.

In the precious wonderful name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

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Precious Father, 

As I sit her on the last evening of this Challenge, I praise you for your faithfulness. Lord, thank  you for carrying me through this week - I know that I couldn't have done it alone. I have never felt you closer and I thank you for hearing my cries. Thank you for teaching me this week that I don't need 'things; to be rich...I only need you. You are all that I need and all that I want. Rich or poor, you are God. Rich or poor, you're mercy endures. Rich or poor, you love me the same. You are ALL that I need. Father, I think you for giving me this glimpse into poverty. I thank you for my greater understanding of life in another's place. You are the God of all and no matter my situation I WILL praise you! I pray that you will use this week to bring Glory to your name! 

Thank you for your mercy and grace. 

It's in the precious name of Jesus that I pray, 

Amen.

God's Provision

Thank you Lord for your hand in our lives. We thank you for being Jehovah Jireh - our Provider!!

Lacey's End of Day 6 Journal - 2011

February 19, 2011                        TMSC, Kenya - Day 6 – Saturday

I woke up this morning and needed to pee so badly! Luckily, Amanda did, too. By the position of the moon we figured it to be about 6am. We were really mad bc we wanted to sleep in! there were 3 reasons that we wanted that sleep…1- it was Saturday, 2- sleep is the only thing that makes the hunger ‘go away,’ and 3- the later we slept in, the shorter our hunger filled day would be! We laid back down and woke back up at about 10am. We thought that by sleeping in that the day would go by faster…boy were we wrong! The day dragged on and on! We had our breakfast tea and then I pressed on with the reading program. It was only a few hours until lunch – our only solid meal. I felt every minute until it was lunchtime. The feeling of hunger is now mixed with nausea. I’m so hungry that I feel sick – all the time. The ugali, yet again, was just something temporary to stop the pangs. I almost feel worse after eating bc my body just wants more. It’s really frustrating. During ‘lunch’ we decided that we needed another bath. Every time we lift our arms we almost pass out :/ it’s pretty bad. We set some water outside to let it warm in the sun. we ran out of kerosene again so we decided to go get it before we bathed. We went to the shack up the road, first – no one was there. Then we went to another place and they were closed. We ended up having to go all the way to the corner to get our kerosene. For whatever reason, I decided to bring all of our money for the week…I’m glad I did! We ended up buying 2 mangos while we were there!

As we were buying the mangos, a well dressed man approached us. He asked us where our shoes were! Our reply was, ‘You see those kids over there without shoes? If they don’t have them, why should we?’ He looked STUNNED and then offered to buy US shoes! We told him that if he really wanted to do that for us, that he should just buy them for the children instead. It was a pretty powerful moment.

Later down the road we met another man. He approached us and inquired about our lamps. He said he had never seen one before. He was also a very well dressed man. He asked us what they were for and how they worked. It was a big moment for us bc we really got to be the ‘poor’ people. It was exciting, even if just for a moment, to get to share our new world with someone else. At that moment, we truly were ‘the least of these’ to this man!

The walk home was a lot harder than the walk there. The sun was SO hot and today it made the ground extra hot! My feet felt like they were walking over hot coals. Now, they feel extremely sunburned on the bottoms :/ It’s not a good feeling when you have ¾ of a mile left to walk! When we arrived back at Tumaini we were told that we were going to get water. That’s not exactly what I wanted to do, but we had to. We carried as well as motivated the kids today. They weren’t really feeling it either…but they are so strong and so beautiful!

When we got back it was way past bath time and we were GROSS! The water wasn’t quite warm enough, but it felt so good after being so hot. As soon as we were clean it was back to work on the books until dinner time. I love the tea here….even after a week of nothing but tea and ugali…I still love it. It’s soothing to my hungry belly and it tastes really good, too. But, the love affair doesn’t last long :/ About an hour after drinking it I’m hungry again. I’m getting pretty tired of going to be hungry….but who am I to complain? It’s only been 6 days.

Devo time with the girls tonight was great. We talked about how God can turn our trials into good things that will glorify Him. This Challenge is a prime example of that. Our trials this week will be turned into awareness that WILL glorify Him! I know that our pains of this week will be used. I thank God for our trials and for what He will use them for! He is so much bigger than anything we can imagine and I know that He is in control! Praise God! Bwana Asifiwe!

Day 6 Complete

Amanda's End of Day 6 Journal - 2011

Saturday, February 19, 2011

2011 A-Dollar-A-Day-Challenge

I woke up at dawn this morning, as the full moon was still low near the horizon.  I had to pee.  I debated getting an early start on laundry but the thought of sleeping a bit longer to make the hunger go away was way too appealing.  I slept till 10 am.  Unfortunately my growling stomach would not let me forget about its need for some nutrients… nutrients that I couldn’t afford to give it.  Morning tea would have to do.  It was all we had.  The good news was it was late and it would only be a few hours until lunch.  The bad news was that the small portion of ugali would neither satisfy the palette or the belly.  It was a lose- lose situation for me.  My only hope was that it would at least provide enough calories for enough energy to complete today’s tasks.  After tea and before lunch I continued sewing school uniforms and tried to focus on the task at hand.  It was so difficult and I noticed how my hands were far less coordinated than the days before.  I think they must have been hungry too.  When lunchtime came around I wanted to be excited but I wasn’t. It’s hard to get excited about food.   This food is not for pleasure, it’s for survival.  I could barely finish my portion and only did so because I knew I needed every calorie I could get to make the 1 ½ mile round trip venture to the corner for some kerosene.  I was right.  As we set out on our journey in the hot afternoon sun, I prayed asking God to help me make the journey without complaining.  It was tough.  My feet didn’t hurt as much from the pebbles today, but the dirt road was hot from the searing sun.  I had to walk quickly to keep them from burning.  Step by step it got hotter and hotter and when we reached the tarmac road I realized the only way to reach the mangos was to cross the black tar surface in our bare feet.  OUCH!!! And it would be hours until dinner when we would discover if our trek across the tarmac would pay off. There was always the chance the fruit was bad.  As we were buying the mangos a nicely dressed man wearing Nike’s approached us and inquired as to why we were not wearing shoes.  We replied that we didn’t want to wear shoes while children in the community were without shoes.  He kinda laughed and then offered to buy us a pair of shoes.  As good as it sounded at the time, we suggested he buy a pair of shoes for one of the kids standing in the distance instead.  He again laughed and shook his head no, but it’s my prayer that our example at least made him think through his proposal.  After purchasing the mangos we walked back across the road to buy the kerosene for our lamps.  It always cracks me up when they want to sell us more than we have money to buy.  They actually laugh when we tell them we have 10 shillings for kerosene.  After putting the kerosene in our lamps we realized we had 4 extra shillings between us.  We decided to add it to our tithe for tomorrow.  As we spent the last of our 140 shillings spending allotment for the week (which is a little less than $2) I was overwhelmed with the thought of how far that money go us… at least on the survival scale.  Throughout the week we had purchased enough kerosene to keep our lamps burning, enough fruit to satisfy our craving for a bit of flavor, and ½ kg of sugar to give us energy.  I would say it was money well spent.  A seventh of our income, all we had to spend, did not go to guilty pleasures, although if you had seen us devouring our mangos and bananas you might consider it such.  Instead it went toward items we needed to survive.  You better believe the next time I reach into my pocket for a dollar I will definitely consider the value of what I chose to purchase with it.  It was a long walk back to Tumaini with our ½ full kerosene lamps.  No, they weren’t heavy, but the sun was hot and our feet were on fire. When we arrived back at Tumaini, the kids and Hesbon had just prepared Toto the donkey for fetching water.  We were hot and tired but we knew we had to go.  We quickly put away our lamps and mangos, grabbed our water cans and headed for the stream.  As I was walking I noticed a few Tumaini school kids walking along the road so I walked with them a while and asked them where they were headed.  One girl, Ruth, had a scrawny chicken tucked under her arm.  She was headed to the corner to drop off the chicken for an elderly neighbor lady.  As we walked along I looked down and noticed one of the little girls without shoes.  I asked her, “Where are your shoes? “ And she replied, “at home”.  Then she turned and asked, “Teacha, where are yours?”  I looked at her an smiled and said, “mine are at home too.”  In that moment, we continued to walk side by side as equals.  You see, she had 1 pair of shoes at home, probably for school and she didn’t want to take a chance on wearing them out on a Saturday.  That pair of shoes may have to last her years before her parents could afford another pair.  And even when she out grows them, she will be cramming those little feet into the status symbol of the little black Mary Jane’s.  We arrived at the stream and the girls continued to the corner with the chicken.  We found the Tumani kids hard at work carrying water that weighed as much as they did, up the hill to the cart.  I found Sophie struggling and whining about having to carry a 20 liter can (which I don’t entirely blame her).  Those things are heavy, even for a grown woman.  Anyway, Lacey told her that she would share the load and help her carry it up the steep hill.  After a bit of encouragement from us, she finally made it, but she didn’t like it.  On the walk back I talked with her about not always liking something, but still making an effort to give our best.  It was a sweet moment. When we arrived back at Tumaini I worked on a few more uniforms until bath time.  The water was a bit chilly but it was so nice to be clean.  Really nice!  For dinner we had tea and our mangos. Well really we had to share 1 ½ mangos because one had a very big bad spot.  I told Lacey that she had to take the seed, because I had taken one earlier in the week.  At dinner we prayed for all those less fortunate than us and then talked for a while about our day.  We had managed to survive another one.  We went to bed singing praise and worship songs in the dark.  In that moment we could not see our own poverty… we might as well have been the richest women in the world. 

End of Day 6 Videos

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Banana Thief!!

Here's Amanda talking about our banana thief! If you have no idea what that means, check out the video and our journals from yesterday! Thanks for keep up with us...we LOVE you all!!

Amanda's End of Day 5 Journal - 2011

Friday, February 18, 2011

2011 A-Dollar-A-Day-Challenge

I retired early last night because I just couldn’t find the strength to continue writing.  For the first time since this challenge began, I can whole-heartedly say I went to bed hungry.  The hunger was up in my throat this time. The hunger pain hasn’t really gotten any worse in intensity; it’s just more frequent.  Now I am to the point of feeling hungry even while I’m eating or taking tea.  The only thing that makes the hunger go away is to go to sleep.  I couldn’t.  I was too hungry.  The rain began to fall on the tin roof and I was thankful until it got so loud that it was actually painful to my ears.  Lacey even shouted my name as the rain was coming down and I couldn’t even hear her.  Finally, the rain eased off and I fell fast asleep.  I woke up early this morning, freezing cold from the rain.  Anyone who thinks Africa is always hot is crazy.  I was cold and wet from the moisture in the air.  I didn’t want to move and I smelled horrible.  A bath was definitely on the agenda for the day.  I finally forced myself out of bed and Lacey and I walked to a small shop nearby for some sugar.  That sugar sure has been a lifesaver for us.  It gives us an energy boost, added taste to our diet, and quiet frankly a psychological boost.  Again it was worth every shilling.  After returning from the shop we had tea and then a bath.  By this point my armpits were so nasty and I smelled like a matatu.  I was wise this morning and put my basin of water out in the hot African sun to warm. It was nice to have at least lukewarm water.  After my bath I went to sewing.  It did help the time pass but at this point nothing cut through the hunger.  At lunch today I ate the ugali but I didn’t even want it.  It seemed like it took more energy to chew it than provided energy.  And there was no satisfaction in the taste.  I could no longer even pretend it was something else.  All it was… a few hundred calories keeping me alive… that’s it.  After lunch I returned to sewing and felt a sense of accomplishment for the day.  Lacey and I went to the room for our evening tea and found that someone had stolen our banana.  Now I’ve never been on to get upset over a missing piece of fruit, but this was serious business.  Someone had stolen from the poor… it was all we had.  Now I have been the victim of theft before, once when I was in the 8^th grade and someone broke into our house, and another time a few years back when someone broke into our rental van in Dallas, but both times the thieves stole my excess.  This was different.  First of all we worked hard to buy that banana worth about 1 cent and 2^nd of all, it was all we had.  We were so disappointed.  Then there’s the thought of stealing from the poor.  It was awful.  So we did all we could do… split our last mango.  It actually lead to an awesome meal together where we were able to pray and thank God for his provision. After dinner we read our devotion to the girls and then headed to bed.  It was the second night where the thought of hunger kept me awake for hours.  This time to ease the pain we sang of God’s faithfulness.  As I repeated the words of Rest in You, by Hillsong, over and over in my head, I thought this must be how they do it. Those in poverty have to cling to the only hope they have… that tomorrow holds the possibility that life can be better than today.  They do always seem to find rest in Him.  They greet you along the road with a smile and an extended hand, welcoming you into their home to treat you to the best they have to offer, even if it means they go hungry that night.  It seems as if they know that if they honor God in that way, then He will continue to provide for them.  I know He does and that’s why they find Rest in Him too!!!!

Lacey's End of Day 5 Journal - 2011

February 18, 2011                        TMSC, Kenya - Day 5 – Friday

Last night was really cold. We fell asleep and not long after, a nice rain on our tin roof awakened us. I love that sound…but it didn’t last for long. It was followed by one of the hardest rainstorms that I’ve ever heard. It was so loud that when I yelled Amanda’s name, she couldn’t hear me! She was only 5 feet away! I am not a huge fan of thunderstorms, so I wasn’t particularly fond of the loud, crashing on our tin roof. It was a good time of prayer for me, though. I thought about all of the people out there with little to no shelter from this storm. Those whose roofs leak and water gets in. Those who live on hillsides - where water may be rushing into their homes. It broke my heart. We are so fortunate to have what we do – even just on our $1 per day. As I sit now, I can’t help but think of 2 of our sweet kids here at Tumaini. Their parents were all killed in a mudslide a few years ago. That mudslide happened because of too much rain on a unstable hill. The line is so fine with rain. It can sometimes do harm, but without it, there is no life.

I had to go to the bathroom SO bad right smack in the middle of the storm. Normally, I would just walk down the hall and use the one that’s inside the house…not this week. Like most people in poverty, we don’t have indoor plumbing. Our ‘toilets’ are about 50 yards away from our house. There was NO WAY that I was going out in that weather! I decided that since it was raining so hard, that I would just go right outside the door J My thought was that it would be washed away by the flood…so what’s the harm?! After that, I made a bed in our room for our sweet puppy, Roxy. She was SO excited to be welcomed in. She was soaking wet and shaking from the cold. So she laid right down and fell asleep….sweet girl!

When morning came, Amanda set her bath water out to let it warm up in the sun. I, on the other hand, had to use my basin to wash the shirt that I let Roxy borrow as her blanket! We had run out of sugar the night before, so we decided that we wanted more. It has really helped by making us feel like we were getting ‘something’ other than milk and water. We took a short walk up to the shack where they sell the sugar in small amounts. We had to wait for a while bc the lady had stepped out. After some video interviews, she came and sold us our beloved sugar.  After arriving back at our house, we drank our breakfast of 2 cups of tea. My stomach has shrunk a lot, so the tea is pretty filling for about an hour.  After that, the hunger sets back in. It’s getting harder bc the hunger is a constant feeling now. It doesn’t go away and only gets worse over time. I can’t imagine a life like this. It’s miserable.

We took a much-needed bath today. It’s amazing the odor that your body can produce :/ Even bathing over the toilet, as gross as it was, made me feel like a new person! My bath was SPER cold though bc I didn’t set my water out in the sun. I learned that lesson quick! This afternoon I continued on with the books for the reading program. This program is so important bc it gets kids reading…kids who have never had books before. As soon as we walk in the door the kid’s faces light up. It is such a blessing to see their minds and imaginations grow with each turn of the page. Natasha, our sweet friend from the UK, is coming up with comprehension questions for each book. My job is to read the book and answer the questions. This way we can make sure that the questions are appropriate and also that the teachers can have an answer key for all of the books. Once we’re finished, our hope is that these kids will be able to read the books, but also understand what they’re reading. It’s going to be great!

Before lunch I helped fit some kids for their uniforms. A lady here, Dorothy, has been making uniforms for weeks! Today, we tried them on the kids to make sure that they fit. If they did, they could take them home. If not, they left them for minor alterations and can pick them up tomorrow. Their faces were filled with such joyful smiles! Some have never had a uniform before…and those that do are tattered and torn. It was an awesome sight. Then I went back inside for some more reading program work. It’s beginning to get tiring bc my mind is slowing down. The lack of energy from our lack of nutrition is taking it’s toll on me. My head is a big jumbled mess. It’s so hard to concentrate…so reading is quite a challenge of it’s own. Even if it takes me forever, I WILL press on!

Lunch today was awful.  I am so suck of ugali and if I never saw it again it would be too soon! Its almost worse to eat it bc it makes me even more hungry. Once I eat it my body gets excited for more…but there is no more. There is never more. Natasha told me today that our 4 cups of tea and handful of ugali is less than 600 calories. That’s 600 calories in 1 whole day. That explains why I feel so useless all the time. My body is beginning to feel sick bc of the lack of nutrition that we’re getting…it hurts. I can’t imagine how it feels to go more than a week like this…a month, a year, ten years, a lifetime for some…I don’t know why they even want to keep living…

As I continued reading the books and answering questions my sweet Doro walked by the door. Natasha brought her over bc she wanted to see me! I LOVE this little girl. She’s still not feeling well so I just held her for a little while. It was exactly what we both needed! Another AWESOME thing happened today…I received my package from my parents!! It’s my birthday box that I’ve been expecting! As soon as I got it I felt a tear run down my face. It’s been such a hard week and to even just see my mom’s handwriting made my heart smile. I miss my family and I am so thankful for their continued love and support. I’m not going to open the package until I can call them…only a few more days! This really gave me a boost to finish out this week ‘strong.’

Soon it was time for dinner and we were really excited bc we had bananas left over from yesterday! So we got our tea and headed to our house. When we got to our room, we found that someone had STOLEN OUR BANANA!! We were in shock that someone had come in our room and stolen our precious food. We have recently learned that in Kenya, they usually kill thieves…now we won’t go that far, but we would like to know who did it! This happens a lot to the poor, so we’ve learned. It breaks my heart bc these people have SO little, and it’s its taken from them, they have nothing. The good thing is that we still had 1 mango left from the other day. So we had our candlelight dinner and split the mango and our 1 remaining banana. It was really nice!

Our devo with the girls tonight was a really good one – we talked about how God has a perfect plan for each of us. We talked about how no matter what we’re going through now, God has a plan for us and HE will work everything out for good. It was exactly when I needed to hear tonight. Thank you, Lord, for your Word and for your action in my life!!

As I ger ready for bed I’m hungry – it just keeps getting worse. Lord, please help me to sleep tonight and be rested for another day. This hunger is not fun and it affects EVERY part of me. My emotions are high – frustrations are high – but my energy level is low. Hunger is real. Poverty is real.

Day 5 Complete

End of Day 5 Videos

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