Monday, August 30, 2010
August 30th, 2010
Jambo, rafikis! Habari? (Hello, friends! How are you?)
Yea, I’m almost fluent in Swahili now… Ok that’s not true in the least. Honestly, I’m taking Swahili lessons because I have been putting off learning. I would be embarrassed to live here for a whole year and not learn the language. Besides, my soccer team has complete control to tell jokes and give me incorrect meaning for words just for a laugh. That’s enough reasons for me to motivate myself to learn. My plan is to learn, and then pretend to not know so that I can eaves drop on conversations without them knowing. Ehh huh, yea, no more m’zungu (white boy) jokes without consequences! I’m gonna drop the hammer! Plus… I guess it will be good to know a 2nd language…. I dropped out of Spanish in high school and a foreign language wasn’t a requirement for my degree.
So it’s August 30th, 2010 and all is well here in Central East Africa. Kenya voted in a new constitution this month which in the past has caused clashes and violence. We beefed up security on the compound with an additional armed guard and I didn’t feed Megan, (German Sheppard security dog) for a week in preparation of the volatile time… In the end it all blew over without a problem.
Since my Swahili is so ”stellar”, I decided to hire an evangelist to run our Bible studies with the LM soccer team. Benjamin is the man for the job and can carry on the meetings after I am gone. I can already tell a difference in how the guys are responding with Benjamin speaking to them in Swahili. We meet once a week before practice to strengthen the spirituality of the players that are interested. We had about 15 guys last week.
I will be attaching our new LMFC (Love Mercy Football Club) Newsletter to this email and it would be great to get some feedback on it. Apollo Eriks, a professional living here in Kitale asked if he could write the newsletter to aid the team. How do you say no to a request like that? It’s exciting when God gets involved and breathes on an idea because people just want to jump in and be part of it.
I’m very excited my mom and dad, Noel and Mieke Alexander will be here in early September for a few weeks. My dad travels to Kitale a few times a year to check on projects, preach etc. Ryan Shumacher, the LM director will also be returning to Kitale around the same time. September is going to be great having Ryan and my parents around. Everywhere I go out here when people find out that I’m Noel’s son they tell me that I’m their brother or sister because my dad is their father also. He has touched so many lives here they call him there spiritual father. I believe this is going to be a special time for me just to learn from my mom and dad in this unique setting.
Thank you for your ongoing support through thoughts, prayers and finances! What a great year this has been! Be blessed!
Sincerely,
Sam Alexander
Yea, I’m almost fluent in Swahili now… Ok that’s not true in the least. Honestly, I’m taking Swahili lessons because I have been putting off learning. I would be embarrassed to live here for a whole year and not learn the language. Besides, my soccer team has complete control to tell jokes and give me incorrect meaning for words just for a laugh. That’s enough reasons for me to motivate myself to learn. My plan is to learn, and then pretend to not know so that I can eaves drop on conversations without them knowing. Ehh huh, yea, no more m’zungu (white boy) jokes without consequences! I’m gonna drop the hammer! Plus… I guess it will be good to know a 2nd language…. I dropped out of Spanish in high school and a foreign language wasn’t a requirement for my degree.
So it’s August 30th, 2010 and all is well here in Central East Africa. Kenya voted in a new constitution this month which in the past has caused clashes and violence. We beefed up security on the compound with an additional armed guard and I didn’t feed Megan, (German Sheppard security dog) for a week in preparation of the volatile time… In the end it all blew over without a problem.
Since my Swahili is so ”stellar”, I decided to hire an evangelist to run our Bible studies with the LM soccer team. Benjamin is the man for the job and can carry on the meetings after I am gone. I can already tell a difference in how the guys are responding with Benjamin speaking to them in Swahili. We meet once a week before practice to strengthen the spirituality of the players that are interested. We had about 15 guys last week.
I will be attaching our new LMFC (Love Mercy Football Club) Newsletter to this email and it would be great to get some feedback on it. Apollo Eriks, a professional living here in Kitale asked if he could write the newsletter to aid the team. How do you say no to a request like that? It’s exciting when God gets involved and breathes on an idea because people just want to jump in and be part of it.
I’m very excited my mom and dad, Noel and Mieke Alexander will be here in early September for a few weeks. My dad travels to Kitale a few times a year to check on projects, preach etc. Ryan Shumacher, the LM director will also be returning to Kitale around the same time. September is going to be great having Ryan and my parents around. Everywhere I go out here when people find out that I’m Noel’s son they tell me that I’m their brother or sister because my dad is their father also. He has touched so many lives here they call him there spiritual father. I believe this is going to be a special time for me just to learn from my mom and dad in this unique setting.
Thank you for your ongoing support through thoughts, prayers and finances! What a great year this has been! Be blessed!
Sincerely,
Sam Alexander
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