baseball

so about a year and a half ago i decided to quit baseball for two main reasons. i wanted to put as much time as possible into my relationships at school during my last year, and i wanted to come to africa.

nothing that has happened in the time since that decision has done anything but confirm that it was the best possible decision i could have made. the list of things i have done which i would not have done otherwise is too long to even think that i know all the contents of said list.

but one thing i made sure of at the time of my retirement was that i left the door to baseball cracked open. if upon my return from africa i still had any desire to play again, then i could conceivably do that.

now i am less than a month from returning which means i had better decide what i will do. while i wont say 100% right now, its at least north of 80%.

so after a week or so to recover from jet lag, assimilate back into american culture, and eat a very unhealthy amount of food; ill start trying to transform my body back into something that can throw a baseball ha. im the smallest iv been since freshman year of high school right now so iv got a lot of work to do...

Q: how many mzungus have spent the night in kibera...

...that you know?

A: 2 (or possibly just 1 if you dont know sarah)

i kinda feel like i should have something really amazing to say about how different, or scary, or weird it was...but i dont.

i have spent enough days in kibera, and i have left kibera after dark a couple times so that just being there wasnt a big deal

we spent most of the time at nicks place. we were constantly given tea, mandazi, and lots of food for dinner and breakfast. we painted a bed frame at his workshop last night. i still have some of that paint on my hands 2 days later.

it was a bit sobering while walking out of kibera at 8am to see so many kids just squating along the edge of a little hill going to the bathroom.

oh yea, and i get/have to preach on sunday. managed to make it 22 years without ever preaching to even a youth group. now i get a pentecostal african church

global leadership summit

the last two days sarah and i have attended the global leadership summit at nairobi pentacostal church with grace, nick, and sylvia. the gls is put on by willow creek church in chicago and has satellite showings in over 200 cities and 54 countries around the world.

the speakers were very good, but since there were about 10 that is just way too much info to try to mention at all. but just very good overall. it was very good for us to see how christianity can be done well in america again. we have been over here for long enough that it is hard to remember exactly what the american perspective is.

pickpocket

it took quite a while for sarah or me to have an attempted pickpocket, but weve had a couple in the last two weeks.

the pickpockets get onto the matatu with a poster board wrapped in a plastic bag normally. it gives them something big to lay over your bag or pocket as they go in for the steal.

on the first ride this happened sarah noticed her bag was unzipped and scared the guy off, while i felt something im pretty sure was fingers trying to get into my pocket. it was a crowded matatu (the only kind really) so i couldnt tell where it came from. but nothing taken

then a few days ago some guys made another attempt, it was at least two or three working together. they created a distraction, something about everybody putting on seatbelts, but sarah was wise to them from the start so she pulled my bag out of their reach. however, just before the matatu stopped, i noticed a guy in front of me handing back a cell phone held between his poster board to the guy next to me, who tried to grab it between his poster board. they dropped the cell phone and the owner noticed his phone was gone. then everybody was getting off, and i looked on the floor and grabbed the phone, and gave it back to the owner. we need to learn how to call out the thieves in swahili.

so...never try to put on a seatbelt just cause everybody else starts doing it, and look out large flat objects as the only thing somebody is carrying. just in case your ever on a matatu...