So far, we have spent every Sunday at a different church in Nairobi. We are trying to find a church with diversity, good teaching and hopefully, some sweet worship music. Also, we would like to have a community of people around the same age as us, particularly young men, which seem scarce in churches here.

We visited New City Fellowship this Sunday. It was a small church with a mix of Kenyans, Indians and European/Americans. We sang songs in English, Swahili and an Indian language (I am not sure which one). We even sang “I will make you fishers of men” in English and Swahili- and i actually semi-understood the Swahili, with Sam’s assistance of course. I don’t really know what the Indian songs “Bolo Yesu” and “Yesu alalela” mean, but I’m gonna take a wild guess and say Yesu means God. How cool is it to worship God in three languages!!

The pastor was not there, so an elder preached, who is actually the father of one of my 8th grade students! I think he really spoke to our hearts. He spoke about God calling us to leave and cleave, referencing the story of the man who asked to bury his father before following Jesus. Jesus replied, “Follow me and leave the dead to bury the dead.” I think He asks most people to leave something behind  at some point in our lives when we choose to follow Him, and it is not always a sinful practice! It can be something that we really never thought we needed to sacrifice, but we let go to cling to Him more.  It made me think about my struggle to finally give up ballet. I knew God was asking me to leave ballet behind, but I didn’t really understand why. It didn’t seem fair. I loved it so much, and I was really blind to God’s plan. He had to practically hit me over the head with my own pointe shoes to  get me to quit. Now, I see so clearly that God had soooo much more planned for me. I learned so much at BG about God and community and friendship. And, I found the love of my life.

I guess God really does know better than we do.

Anyways, we are hopeful that New City Fellowship could become our church home. Please pray for us as we seek God’s will.

Also, pray for safe travels for Sam. Tomorrow he is traveling out to Olipolos where he worked during his last trip to Kenya. He is very excited to meet back up with his dear friends, and I am preping myself to battle the evil cockroaches alone while he is gone!

FINALLY!…. Pictures from the Luo wedding we talked about in this post.

Another quick story…

So Amanda’s been teaching away, and my school doesn’t start until September10. This has given way too much free time, which I’ve been desperately trying to fill with something worthwhile. I’ve been taking some Swahili lessons - which has been challenging, for sure - but that only fills up 6 hours a week. I’ve been getting to know the guards at our apartment complex pretty well. They each work 12 hours a day, every single day! I mean it - they only get 4 days of leave a month! Anyway, one of the guards, Omunyo, invited me to his place. So I went with him on Tuesday.

Omunyo lives in one of the nicer slums in Nairobi, near my University. This was my first experience with a slum. It blew my mind, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it yet. I drove back through some mud streets lined with trash and waste, where cars rarely go. The mud was jet black, the streams of people were dense, and the smell of waste was choking. People were friendly for the most part; I didn’t feel uncomfortable being there. In fact, everywhere I went, kids ran to see the “mzungu”- a rare sight around this place - and sang to me in unison, “how are YOU?! how are YOU?!”

Omunyo and his family live in a four story dilapidated cement apartment building, next to a huge landfill. As soon as I walked into the building I was confronted by the smell of the building’s shared “toilet”. His apartment was on the 3rd floor. It was one room, maybe 8 feet by 10 feet, with a small window. Most of the room was taken up by the single-sized bed that was shared by the whole family (him, his wife, a 12-yr-old daughter, and an infant daughter - his other three children live with their grandparents in western Kenya), separated from the rest of the room by a hanging sheet. There was some furniture on the other side of the room: a few wooden chairs, a little wooden table. At the end of the bed was the kitchen: a little cabinent with a charcoal stove on top. And thats about it. There was one lightbulb hanging by wires from the ceiling, but he hadn’t been able to pay the bills, so it didn’t work.

Its crazy how hospitable people in Kenya can be, though! This people would have given me all they had! He let me read his favorite book while he left for a while - a Jehovah’s Witness Bible Encyclopedia. Apparently he had gone to find a boy to wash my car! They served me the local porridge and some chapatis (whick is like a tortilla bread). I ate as much as I could, but the porridge was really filling. The smoke and the general smell were making my eyes water.

He showed me around his neighborhood, which was fascinating. All the paths were lined with little micro-businesses: shoe repairs, fish vendors, etc. I got a haircut for 20 shillings (about $0.30). He introduced me to a lot of his friends, which was great, but at times a little awkward. At times it felt like I was being trophied, like a was a prized rich white friend with a car. It didn’t help that he kept asking me for money - a 1500/- loan to help buy a phone, sponsoring his son to go to America, etc. But can I blame him?! He’s a great guy, hopefully we can move past all that.

What I can’t get over is that this guy works 84 hours a week at my apartment complex. I’ve seen the slums from a distance, and II’ve always assumed they’re filled with the unemployed masses of Nairobi. But Omunyo has a job, a steady job! As much as I can gather he makes minimum wage, which is about 6000/- a month ($90 a month). That comes down to about $0.28 an hour. His apartment is about $23 a month. Transportation to and from work alone could cost him over 2000/- a month! It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Everyone in our apartment building is paying way over his monthly income in rent, so why are these guys being paid so little?? I guess economically, if a company paid higher wages, they wouldn’t be able to hire as many employees. And thats a problem when over 25% of Nairobi is unemployed. All this certainly helps Kenya’s endemic corruption problem make more sense to me.

So what’s the solution?! Poverty in Nairobi has a completely different face that it did in Olepolos. And its shocking, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. This slum was hardly the worst in Kenya. In Kibera slum, there are supposedly over a million people living in 2 square miles. There are no 4-story buildings, only endless unorganized rows of tin-roofed shacks.

Well, if that whole experience has done anything, its gotten me charged up to study development here. Bring on the classes! Its also gotten me charged up to pray. I have an all-powerful God, what else can I do?! I’ve also been trying to find a way to volunteer my time these last couple of weeks before school starts. I’ve tried World Vision and World Corncern, but no luck yet. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Thats all for now, folks! Sorry for the lengthy post, thanks for reading!

Hello everyone, some people have been asking us for our address and contact info, which is great! I would love to communicate with you all more! Just so you know, mail can be kind of expensive to Kenya. Just a flat letter is pretty cheap, less than a dollar. Boxes can be pricey, and weight matters, too. So, if you still really want to send a package, than I would suggest those padded envelopes (they come in lots of sizes)

Here is our address:

Sam and Amanda Parks

PO BOX 1333- 00502

Karen, Kenya

Here is my phone number:

254-073-711-4562

I also had a few questions about how to support us through prayers or support. For prayers, keep checking the blog! You can also send us an e-mail with your e-mail address, so we can communicate directly.

Sam’s e-mail: spparks@gmail.com

Amanda’s e-mail: ajhoops@gmail.com

Financial support for us goes through the Network of International Christian School. If you would like to join our team, just send a note with your name and address along with your financial gift to:

Network of International Christian School

    PO Box 1260

Southaven, MS 38671

 For tax purposes, please do not put our name on the check. Just make it to NICS and put our member number in the memo line: 001945

Thanks guys! If anyone has questions, just ask.

I have survived a week of teaching. Actually, I have more than survived, I am really enjoying teaching so far. Those kids just have sucked me in. On the 2nd day of school, I had all my classes write a “My history” essay. It was absolutely incredible to read their stories. They were hilarious, poignant, tragic, intriguing, etc. Some of these kids and their families are amazing. They have moved around so much serving the Lord, but the kids just seem so resilient and joyful. I forgot what it was like to be in middle school and high school. It’s like 90 % awkward being a 7th grader- bless their little hilarious souls!

I am finally getting used to my last name. I hear it about 200 times a day. “Mrs. Parks, can I go to my locker? Mrs. Parks do we have to turn this in? Mrs.Parks, how old are you? Mrs. Parks, why did you get married so young?” and the saddest one- “Mrs.Parks, how long are you going to stay and teach us?”

That made my heart just sink. These kids get mostly new teachers every two years. I feel like they were wondering how important they were to me and how close they could get to me. Heartstrings. Tugging.

I’ll leave you all with a few excerpts from some anonymous kids:

“I was born in South Africa. In Mozambique (I think) when I was about 2 years old our compound was stuck in a war between rebels and the government. The rebels were going to each house and threatening to kill people if they didn’t pay money. Our neighbors door was blown off by a missile launcher. My dad was out shopping. When he came back the rebels took him and forced him to money. All he had was 5 dollars. He gave it to them and they seemed satisfied. Then my mom and dad prayed. Finally the rebels left and our house was the only one not touched. ”

“I was born in Korea. My dad came to Kenya when I was in 1st grade, so i lived with my mom for 3 years and came to kenya to live here. I wasn’t a Christian before I came to Kenya, but when I came to Kenya my family and I started going to church and now we’re Christians. I love Korea and Kenya. This is my history.”

“I went to WNS as a second grader. I made great friends at WNS. I learned about Christ more than I could imagine. If I was in Korea I would have never learnt about Christ in school, and I would not have great friends like this.”

Thanks so much to everyone for your prayers, blog comment posts, emails, etc. You all are great to us! As of this weekend, we’re back to 100%. We’ll just say its been a rough week, but thank God for good health, eh?! Seriously guys…. hearing from all you at home was real good for us.

Just a quick story to tell… We had been invited to our Kenyan friend’s wedding yesterday. Of course, we were excited to go. Let me just say that anyone who was able to be at our wedding should be a thankful for our 40 minute service! This service happened to be a mass wedding, for no fewer than 8 couples. The wedding was supposed to start at 8 am (”ehh… 8 or 9,” our driver said when he arrive an hour late.) It actually started closer to ten. It was cool! It was a Luo church and wedding, so each bride was surrounded and ushered into the church by a luo chior and dancers. Its was a real interesting experience for us, but after a couple hours or so, the wonder of it all is bound to wear off. The reception and everything was supposed to be over at 3. Ha! The wedding itself wasn’t over till 2:30! can you imagine sitting at a wedding for 5 and a half hours?!! Some of the people with us had to leave, which provided a nice way for us to escape at 3. All in all, it was a cool experience, but I don’t know if we could ever survive another one. (pictures to come…)

So West Nairobi School is officially in session tomorrow. Amanda is amazing; she been able to catch up for the most part, and seems pretty confident and ready for the hoardes of children. Please pray for her tomorrow!

Brian is with us for only a few more days. Its been a real cool blessing to have him around! (Too bad we’ve been sick!) We went to a rugby game together this weekend, and we’ve got a couple more adventures planned. Brian head back to America on Friday. We wish him the best! (check out his blog he’s kept in East Africa over the past few months: journeysinafrica.blogspot.com)