After we were asked if we were going to Nairobi, Brazil...

JAMBO!! We finally made it to Africa, after a very nice layover in Dubai, which I might say is a beautiful place! What a shock to go from an extremely advanced city, to a not so advanced...Africa. As soon as we stepped off the plane I leaned over to Traci and asked "Whoa! What is that smell?" She replied, "That's Africa. Get used to it." Haha I am glad to say I have got used to the smell! We arrived at Made in the Streets pretty late and went straight to sleep. We woke at 5 to some African tunes blaring through the thin walls and masses of teenage girls cleaning, chatting and doing their morning chores. We jumped straight into their routine, helping teach some Bible classes and then eating some awesome African food (which has been amazing, we were prepared for the worst). Saturday was a very relaxed day, we woke up and preceeded to join the dance party that was occuring outside our door, I definetely don't have moves, so I was the object of their laughter. We painted nails and helped the girls cook chipati's (oily tortillas) for dinner later that night. There are a ton of little kids running around, some of which belong to the girls staying here and others belong to the staff. Their feet probably never touch the ground, they are constantly passed from person to person! Yesterday it rained a lot, so all the African dirt turned into a very sticky glue-like African mud. Walking place to place was an adventure, by the time we got to our destination, our shoes probably weighed ten pounds! Me and a few of the other girls decided to try out the African look and had a mud fight. We were quite a spectacle to the other people who live in Kimulu (the area MITS is at) a bunch of wazungu's (white people) rolling around in their streets throwing mud! Walking back to our apartment, you could hardly tell what color we were! We have been cooking dinner most nights, with the guys who are on our trip, last night we made a very american meal of spagetti and grean beans. The boys have definetely gotten the bad end of the deal, they have not had water since we have been here and dinner was not so appetizing sitting beside them!! All in all, Africa is everything and nothing I expected. It is dirty and loud, a few mosquitos have found a home on my face every night, and we are constantly covered in mud, there is a constant giggle of girls outside our door. This I expected, but the kids are so smart, and sweet, and coming straight from the streets, this is not at all what I expected. I did't expect some of them to be so smart they ask questions I don't know the answer to! I know dynamics may change and there will definetely be conflict at some points, but right now, Africa is all that you would expect it to be and more. Church in Africa is so amazing and exciting, it has only reaffirmed that God is the God of the U.S. and of Africa and I can't wait to see what else He will do here!

Away We Go

We leave in a few hours for Dubai, a 15 hour flight, and then after a long layover we're on our way to Kenya!! I can't really describe the mixture of emotions I am experiencing right now I can't decide if I'm excited or just scared out of my mind! The last few weeks we have been going on retreats and really trying to prepare our hearts and minds for all that we will experience in Africa. On the first retreat we went on, we went to Leb Shomea, near Corpus Christi. Leb Shomea is an international house of prayer, it is an area where silence and solitude is practiced year round in order to practice the disciplines of simplicity and solitude. I will admit I was pretty nervous about not being able to talk for 2 days but once we got there and got into the rhthym, the silence was extremely refreshing. I never really realized how accustomed we are to noise ALL the time. The area was beautiful with a ton of wildlife and scenery, there were also a lot of trails to walk down and just time to be able to wrap your mind around all that is God and all that is His creation. Needless to say, I recommend anyone who finds themselves getting to caught up and consumed in the duties of daily life to take a trip there. When we went to Leb Shomea, I was put in the house of Jeremiah as my dwelling. Now I don't know about you, but whenever I open the Bible, I never know where to start. So when I opened my Bible, I immediatly turned to Jeremiah. I started to pray to God about what He wanted from me, just in the next 6 months and life in general, who He wanted me to be, and where I fit in to this whole mess. I've just kind of been trying to figure out who I am and where my role is a lot lately. I've also been anxious about my abilities to reach people while I'm in Africa-seeing as I've never been someone who is a big talker. When I began to read Jeremiah, I wasn't expecting my prayers to be replied to so quickly as I read Jeremiah 1:5, which said "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." Before I was even formed-He KNEW me. I don't even know me. But none of that matters, because even if I don't know where I fit in or who I'm suppose to be, God knows, and only by intimately knowing God, will everything else fall into place. God knows that I am not an eloquent speaker, or very confident when it comes to things like that, He knows my fears and concerns, He knows who I am and who He made me to be. Lastly, God gave me this- "Do not say I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you o and say whatever I command you." Jeremiah 1:7 Please keep me, Kristin and the rest of the team in your prayers!

My email- shaleynikkai@hotmail.com
My address-
 Made in the Streets
P. O. Box 77826
Nairobi 00622, Kenya