For Girls Only!

When Tuesday came, I was really nervous about this camp. I had this idea on my heart for almost 3 months, we had done a ton of planning for it, and we had done all the shopping for it. Of course, the devil loves to discourage, place doubt and fears in our hearts and minds, and take away our zeal when something good is going to happen. 

It took a lot to get me out of the house. We had been having these pretty intense riots in town. There were tons of rumours flying around about what was happening. At one point, the caretaker for our apartment told us to get inside, lock our doors, and don't go out because the angry mob of rioters were coming up the street. Shops were closing and traffic was turning around. So I went into my house, locked all my doors and waited. I waited 10, 20, 30 minutes and nothing happened. I decided to go see what was happening. I went out and everything was normal. It was just a bunch of rumours! 

I finally left. The streets were pretty dead but really calm. I made it to Kongowea safely. I thought I would be late but I was the first on there again confirming my fears that no one would show up. The first person didn't show up until 2:30 (it was suppose to start at 2).  By 3, we had a good number of girls and started. From that time on, it went smoothly and confirmation consumed my fears that what we were doing was right. 

Here are some pics of the 3 days of crazy fun. 

 We had a good mix of Christian and Muslim girls. It was encouraging as a lot of the violence that was going on had some serious religious undertones.

 Balloons always make for a fun time!

I loved this little girl! She was such a joy. Her name was Damaris and she became my little sidekick. What really surprised me was that she was SO well behaved - something that, sadly, not a lot of kids have in this community. 

Bread-eating and soda-drinking contest!

 My favourite game was Lenga Lenga. It's kind of like reverse dodgeball. Two girls stand on either end and try to huck a ball at girls in the middle. Once you are hit, you have to leave. The last one standing, wins. As you can see above, I was the last one standing! I realized how much I really love to play!

 Lots of girly shoes

I know, I know. This is suppose to be a bridal shower game but when we were planning to camp, this was one of the first games that was mentioned for us to play. Once the small girls caught on, the creative juices really started to flow and we got some pretty awesome designs. I realized half way through that most of these girls, the muslim ones, will never wear a traditional wedding dress. They have a very different attire when they get married. They obviously still knew how wedding dresses look.

 A craft I was planning fell through because the supplies I needed were in town and town was in complete chaos. So I summoned Kelvin to come run some games for us. He is great when it comes to this stuff. We laughed really hard! 

 We had the most dysfunctional game of  soccer I have ever seen. They were having a hard time scoring so one of my girls made every hand ball a penalty kick. Thats how they scored their goals and they were really excited about that. 

 After day 2, we were debriefing about the day when, somehow, we broke out into a full on balloon battle. It got pretty heated. My cheeks were sore from smiling so much. 

We did our version of a fashion show, dancing competition, and american idol. It was a huge hit. Look at this girl strut her stuff!

The winners were presented prizes! (This little girl was actually my flower girl!)

The 3 days were a blast. A crazy, messy, chaotic blast. I was so proud of my ladies who ran the program so well (in fact, I barely did anything). I was happy to be able to connect and build relationships with some of the younger girls in the community. My prayer was that they felt loved, accepted and cared for. I think they left feeling that way. 

Vipingo kids camps

We travelled north about 40km to a small village called Vipingo this weekend. A local ministry team had invited Kelvin to be the preacher at their youth camp. For me, it was a blessing to be out of the busy city and go to a rural community for a few days. I really love the simplicity of small villages. I find it so peaceful. 

The camp was wonderful. The children were deliciously delightful. The environment was nourishing. Loved it. 

One of the most out going little children at the camp. Just before I took this picture, she was dancing up and down the aisles as the worship team prepared. Precious.

It was also nice to connect with our friends who were running the camp. They are a young group who just decided to start a ministry to reach out for Christ. We had an opportunity to really give them so guidance and encouragement in their ministry. 

Kelvin's sermon on Sunday was amazing. He really gave a challenge to the people in the community to keep God's commandments straight. Often in these small communities, the people will become Christians yet still hold on to their cultural ways which go against Christ's commands. One of the hardest things to see is parents giving their girls to young men to sleep with or to see single moms having 5 children from 5 different men. Many of them are Christians yet still give into the ways of the world around them. It was a powerful message.

This mango tree became my haven of peace for the weekend. It was gigantic! In the cool mornings, I would come outside and sit on the wooden benches that surrounded the trunk to meet with God. I would watch the sun rise and roosters crow. I was in awe of God's creation and so thankful that I was able to experience it!

Kid's Camps

One of Word of Life's biggest ministries is youth camps. Every holiday season they hold numerous weeks of camps where kids come, learn about Jesus, and just play! Camps are extremely exhausting for those running them but incredibly rewarding. One of my favourite camps is when we actually leave the property and go to kids who would not be able to attend our camps because they could not afford it. We go to the 'slums' and 'ghettos' of Kenya and we meet the greatest characters. These kids have probably seen and experienced more than we ever will in their young age so it is so amazing to treat them to a fun day. Here are just a few of my fav moments of camps this year. 

Kids love to dance. We bring along the latest gospel music and have great DJ's that play the kid's favourite hits. Mini dance sessions are a must.

Kids in the ghetto dance much differently (a little on the provocative side) than those in the village. We saw some..uh..interesting moves. But it's all the know. They see it in their older siblings and the latest, coolest celebs. 

A dear friend Chao is a talented dude. He has an album and has played this song numerous times at camps to the point where all the kids know the words. So cool. 

World Cup Fever hit Kenya hard. I am pretty sure that every kid, whether they could even talk or not, knew all the words to K'naan's "wavin flag" and Shakira's "this time for africa". 

Counselors Retreat!

This weekend was such a blast. It was exactly what I needed. I got the news of my Deda right before the retreat started and I was so blessed to have people around me praying and encouraging me. Plus, the craziness of it helped keep my mind off of things. 

We had about 40 counselors come for a weekend retreat here at Word of Life. We arranged for them to stay in some of our nicest cottages, eat some amazing food, and just have a great time getting to know each other better and preparing themselves for camps. 

On friday evenings, we have a fellowship group in town where we train these counselors. Each week we have some train us in counselling youth. We have covered topics such as anger, grief, conflict, self-esteem and many others. This weekend we had some more sessions on ethics and communication. So it was a good mixture of fun and learning. 

Here are our counselors during on of their sessions. This is our main hall where we do pretty much everything. The roof is made of 'makuti' which is essentially grass. It always cracks me up to think I live under a grass roof. During one of our sessions, it started to rain. Our roof is a bit old and is needing repair. So when it started to rain, it started leaking on pretty much everyone. We had to all find spots where water wasn't dripping from the roof. 

This weekend also gave me a chance to see a lot of my friends for the last time since I will be leaving tomorrow. This is Jacky (left) and Betty (right). They are quite the pair. They will chat your ears off and make you laugh till your belly hurts. I will miss these two.

This is Issac or, as we like to call him, Izo. He's another great friend. 

Did I mention we had amazing food?! On Saturday night, we had Coast night. The culture on the coast of Kenya is much different than the rest of Kenya. It has it's own style of dressing, own yummy food, and its own lifestyle. So we cooked a traditional coastal meal. It was delicious. Here is Rahab making chapattis. She is an amazing chef! 

On our last night, we set up a movie screen and watched a movie outside. It was so nice sitting by the ocean, feeling the cool breeze, and watching a nice movie. Although I didn't stay for long. I was pooped and hit the sack.

Good friends. I will miss these peeps. 

Tonight, is my last night at Word of Life. I have pretty much everything packed up. I have shook out all my clothes and found enough cockroaches to make me scream. I just hope I don't bring any home with me. Ha. We are having a little farewell party at my directors house tonight. Then I am outta here in the morning. I am both sad and excited. One great season over, and another one just beginning. 

Ramble ramble ramble...

I keep telling myself that I need to sit down and blog more often but sometimes I just can't think of anything to say. Sometimes my days aren't as exciting as one may assume that someone living in Africa would have.

 Lately work has been more administrative type stuff which is the unfortunate part about living in and working with organizations here. It's unavoidable. I find my eyes glued to the computer most of the day typing up schedules, budgets, plans, letters, etc. And if I am not staring at my computer typing lots of stuff, I am in a meeting talking about what to type on my computer. I am sure glad my computer is so cute and fun to hang out with.

We are planning for a busy next two months. Starting October 29th, our weeks will be filled to the brim. We will be having 6 week long youth camps. These camps are exhausting, a lot of hard work, yet incredibly fun and rewarding. We get youth from all over the country to come for a week of crazy fun, lots of Jesus, and a life changing experience. Our camps really are wonderful.

When I say 'we' and 'our' I really mean 'they' and 'their' because I won't be around. I will be leaving Mombasa by November 2nd. Part of me is sad that I won't get to be with them after being such a big part of all the planning but part of me is really ok with not participating in the 6 week madness of camps. I will be back in Canada nestled in my beautiful home drinking coffee and watching the snow fall.

I didn't get to celebrate thanksgiving. I knew it was happening and I enjoyed the day but not in the way that I am used. No turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts, pumpkin pie, etc. No close family and no autumn colours. I actually went to visit some friends of mine whose brother just happens to live in Castlegar. Such a crazy connection but ever since I moved to Mombasa in November 2008, they have been so loving and welcoming. So I went to their house for lunch after church. They treated me to chicken curry, chapatti, vegetable rice, salad with salad dressing, and some indian pork dish. It was delicious. But the best part was dessert. They had just returned from a vacation to London and they brought back all sorts of yummy goodies. I had ice cream with strawberry and whopper (you know those little malt balls) flavoured chocolate sauce. I had nice moist cake (which is a nice change from Kenyans' dry, crumbly cake). I ate some sort of fruit and nut bars. Then they pulled out the terry's chocolate orange and my heart almost skipped a beat. YUM! I think I ate almost half of it after I had filled my belly with all this other great stuff. I could barely walk after that. I didn't eat anything till the next morning.

In about 10 minutes we are going to a school for ministry. We haven't been there in about 2 months so I am excited to see all the students again. They are very friendly, loving, welcoming, and talkative. We didn't know we were going until this morning. We got a call from the mwalimu (teacher) asking if we could come today. Surprise! I wake up every morning submitting the day entirely to God because I know that the plans that I have made for the day will most likely never happen and something completely different will come up. Just like today. But I am happy to get my eyes away from the computer screen and out of the office and actually interact with some people.

These are my random rambles for the day. More to come I am sure.

Up the mountains, down the valley...

My week away from Mombasa was absolutely fabulous. Although, I am now back at the beach but lying in bed thanks to a wonderful cold that has wiped me out. It was worth it though. I got to spend time in the nice cool weather of Nairobi. It felt like the beginning of fall. It was a lot of driving but this country is so beautiful that I enjoyed all the scenery. I think the coolest thing I saw was a huge heard of about 20 camels on the side of the road! I have only ever seen camels on the beach for the tourists but these ones were in the wild! 

On friday we journeyed to the great rift valley to a girls school with over 850 girls. It was a hoot. Wow, lots of girls all in one place and boy did they ever have energy. We had a weekend challenge with them which involved some preaching, presentations, question and answer time, group discussions, a rally, and just time to hang out with the girls. I encountered girls with ALOT of burning questions. I had a few come and tell me their heartbreaking life stories. I prayed with many concerning family, finances, school, friends, faith, and other things. It was such a blessing to be able to make myself available for these girls. I could see some of them just wanted to talk to someone they could trust and pour their hearts out to. I was happy to be that person for a few of them. 

Yes that is my buddy Peter! He was only 1 of 2 boys who accompanied us for the weekend. He and I were leading group discussion for all the form 1s (gr. 9). There were probably 200 girls involved. They had many questions that were so diverse. We talked about everything from music to boys to Muslims to prophets to family to friends to facebook. Ha. It was a blast. We were all late for lunch because the questions just kept coming. 

We also had a question and answer time with the whole school. Girls wrote down their questions anonymously and placed them into a basket. There were a lot of questions on boy/girl relationships as well as the christian faith. There were also some really funny questions like, "When I go swimming in the ocean, can I get pregnant from the sperm swimming around?" and "Does Deuteronmy 23:1 say that all men are going to hell?" (ha you have to look that up for yourself; it's hilarious). Then there were some heartbreaking ones like, "I was raped as a young girl. Am I still a virgin?" and "My parents are forcing me to marry when I finish school but I don't want to. What should I do?" So we tried to answer as many as we could with the little time we had. However, amongst all the questions, there was one girl who wrote this sweet note to us that really makes everything worth while. 

I don't remember her name but she was cute. She had questions about Canada. She wants to study there along with half of the other girls once they found out I was from Canada. I think they were hoping I could get them a free ticket to Canada's universities. Sorry girls. I told them to search the internet and pray. 

We had a group of about 15 girls host us for the weekend. They did an amazing job of cooking for us, heating water for us to bathe and getting us anything else we needed. They escorted us home one evening and we invited them in for a chat. They know one of our work colleagues who also happens to be a singer. They love him and wanted to talk to him. So we called him on speaker phone so we could chat. The young girl, Maureen, came and sat right next to the phone convincing our friend that once she is finished school she is coming to be his girlfriend so he must tell his current girlfriend and then be ready for her to come to him in a few months. It was hilarious. We all laughed till we almost peed our pants. It was such a sweet moment with these sweet girls. 

"Higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, Jesus, higher" Kenyans have actions to most songs so here are all the girls singing, "cast your burdens  unto Jesus..." 

The highlight of my weekend was running into my sweet friend, Gabriel. He is one of the children from my 'home' in Ilula. He is in a boys boarding school just down the road and his school was invited for the Sunday service. It was such a surprise. I was taking pictures when all of a sudden I heard a voice say, "Nikole?" I turned around and saw this handsome young man that I have been able to watch grow up over the past 5 years. When I first met him, he fit under my armpit but now he is almost taller than me. We got to chat after the service about life. I am so proud him. 

On Sunday, we had 8 other schools join us for the service. It was so cool being surrounded by over 1000 students. It was such a wonderful weekend!!

No purpose of Yours can be withheld...

Things here at Word of life have been a bit slow lately. Schools have been closed since the beginning of August. We weren't able to have many camps as there were just no campers willing to register and the referendum slowed things down for us. We had a few opportunities to do some day camps, help out at some seminars, and speak in a few churches but to be completely honest, life has been a bit boring here for the past few weeks. 

It's hard to not do anything. You come here ready and willing to be used and to serve and then you find there is nothing to do. In July we were crazy busy with various ministries and now, a month later, we are twiddling our thumbs. I know I have been struggling with this a lot lately. I hate being here and not being useful. I hate spending my afternoons just in my room reading or playing on my computer when I know I could be doing something. Although, I am so thankful that I have a good community and friends around me that I can keep myself busy on weekends. Like this past weekend, I didn't even have a moment to rest with all the hustle and bustle with my friends. I love it. I count it as ministry too. 

I think one thing we often do, especially those in ministry, is we trick ourselves into thinking that the busier we are, the better ministry we are having. We must be busy to feel important or successful. 

So this morning the team came together to resume work as we usually do. We all sat in the office and stared at each other wondering what to do. Finally someone piped up and read a verse from Job. Then another piped up and talked about another part from Luke. We all started sharing what we had been learning in our quiet time and it was amazing that we were all on the same page. God had been speaking to all of us about the same things. It's not just me who has been struggling; so has everyone else. They have questioned what their purpose here at Word of Life is, they are frustrated with not doing anything, and they are starting to turn to God and question Him. But God is in the middle of all of this. We haven't chosen to have nothing to do. We are ready and willing to work but these are the circumstances. We tried to organize camps and other things but it just felt like we were hitting a wall. Then our director's brother died which put everything on halt for a week. Ultimately, we have to submit to God and all His purpose to take over. Who are we to question the God who created everything under heaven? Who knows all things? Who has a purpose for the silence at work?

After talking, we had a tender time just chatting with one another hearing what was on our hearts. Even our director joined in on our unofficial meeting and shared his heart and struggles. 

'I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.' Job 42:2

I found a few of these pics on my boss's computer that I loved and wanted to share. 

These are some of the kids we visited in the village a few weeks ago. 

I love having little kids surround me, touch me, giggle with me. It's so nourishing. Although, i love having a shower at the end of the day to wipe all the germs off my body from their grubby little hands. 

I was being silly. These are two boys we work with in various ministries. They are great characters. We had a break to drink Uji which is Kenyan porridge made with millet. 

Lord, I thank you for who You are. Thank you that Your ways are higher than my ways and Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I surrender my life to You. Amen. 

Giggles Galore!

We finished our 3 day camp today. It was an incredibly exhausting day but it was filled with giggles giggles giggles galore! My cheeks were hurting pretty bad at one point from smiling so much.

We had split the campers into older and younger kids. The younger kids had a bible lesson and then played games and did crafts. The older kids had a more in depth group discussion time following their bible teaching. However, today we did things a little differently. Yesterday we got the youth to write some of their burning life questions on a piece a paper and hand them in. Today, we addressed each question, had people share their opinions, and then turned to the bible for a final authority. It was such a blast! The questions ranged from "Is it ok to have a girlfriend?" to "Is sex ok?" to "Should we watch action movies?" to "Why are you guys here doing this camp for us?" to "Did Judas really hang himself?"

It was awesome being able to listen to them and their views and ideas on these subjects. These are pressing issues in their cultures and lives right now and they need guidance. So we were able to tell them what we know to be true in the bible plus share in many laughs.

This is Sammy, one of the organizers of this camp

During break time, I was sitting on a log with a friend of mine who started chatting with some of the kids. They got such a kick out of what he was saying that we drew a big crowd around us. The kids burst into laughter at every comment he made. They giggled until their tummies hurt. I tried to take some pictures of these beautiful, giggly faces. 

This is the only picture of me that I got over the past two days and it was a complete fluke. I had taken a picture of a little kid and turned the camera to face him so he could see himself. I must have pressed the button and took a picture of myself. So this is what half my face looks like these days! 

The camp was a blast although near the end of the day I was fading big time. I was so exhausted and hungry! We didn't end up eating lunch till around 3ish. My tummy was a grumblin'. Tomorrow is a public holiday. It's the promulgation day for the constitution. Tomorrow it is officially signed over to be Kenya's constitution. Again, security is the number one priority tomorrow especially in Nairobi as the have shut down streets for two days and searched the park which it will be held for any suspicious items. They will also be doing body scanning and having metal detectors for anyone who wants to be apart of the ceremony. There are presidents from other nations coming to join the occasion. It will be a momentous day for Kenya! 

Viazi for 10 bob

Since the camps that we had originally planned for here at Word of Life this month have flopped, we have joined in to help out at another day camp that another organization called ECHO CHRIST is running. It's funny because ECHO CHRIST is made up of our counsellors. We are the ones who have trained them and equipped them over the past few years. They run the same program as we do and have the same tactics that we use. It's kind of neat to see how your own people have created their own ministries at their own initiative. They have partnered with Compassion International to hold a camp in one of the poorer parts of town. Today was the second day of camp and it was a blast. I just love these kiddies. Kids are so easy to love on and entertain. 

I watched from above at our staff meeting as the kids recited the Lord's prayer while closing their eyes. Too cute! 

 We played some sort of hand clappy game with the girls during break time.

Here is Mr. Joshua hanging out with kids being little gangstas! 

I think the best part of my day was being able to have a full conversation in swahili with a 3-year-old girl named Maria. She approached me and said, "nina pesa (I have money)". So we began to talk about the money she was clenching in her fist all day. I asked how much it was and she said that it was 10KES which is about 15cents. I asked what she was going to do with the money, she answered 'Nataka viazi (I want viazi)." Viazi  is a local snack which is basically pieces of potato dipped in a yummy batter then deep fried. Her plan was to go buy viazi  after camp finished. I saw her leave with the 10 bob still clenched in her tiny hands. 

Likoni Camp of endless obstacles

On friday and saturday we held day camps in a place called Likoni. Likoni is a difficult area. It's a poverty-stricken area where drugs and prostitution reign. It has a lot of traffic going through it as it is where the ferry docks to take people across to Mombasa. It is a very dangerous area. I have missionary friends who have been robbed, mugged, threatened many times just for living in the area. Let's just say it's not the easiest area to be in. 

We had no end of struggles facilitating this camp. As I mentioned in a previous post, the space that we had booked (and paid for) was given away to another group who came in with a bigger cheque. We started setting up two days before the camp when we were told that we could no longer use the space. So we sat and brainstormed on what to do. Across the street was a guesthouse that has a beautiful hall that would be perfect for our camp. So we went to check it out. We looked around and thought it was perfect. As we went to book it for the two days, they said, "Oops sorry it is already booked for these days." Thanks, alot. We resorted to pitching a tent on another property just hoping that it wouldn't rain. 

The night before camp, we got a phone call from the guesthouse saying that it had suddenly become available! That was a miracle! 

We arrived the next morning to set all our stuff up thanking God for opening up this hall for us to use since it was cold and rainy. Our camp was to start at 9am. However, 10am came around then 11am then 11:30am and still NO campers. Huh? Didn't they know that we were giving a FREE camp with FREE lunch???? We weren't responsible for marketing the camp. We had partnered with a local pastor to do that for us. As the pastor was making phone calls we realized a few things: 1.) Kids were still in school (that would make it hard for them to come) 2.) It wasn't explained well enough who Word of Life was so many people thought we were a new church trying to get members and pastors were advising their youth NOT to come. 3.) They thought they had to pay for our FREE camp. 4.) They wouldn't leave their houses since it was raining. 

After a few phone calls, we finally started our camp at 11:30am with 8 campers. The day turned out surprisingly well. We had few more arrive in the afternoon when we played touch rugby.

We debated whether or not to even continue the camp on Saturday since we were using so many resources. But by faith we continued on and to our surprise, we had 45 campers come on saturday! We had a full day of bible teaching, group discussions, games, music, dancing, food and, to top it off, we had a great bonfire in the evening where we drank chai, sang songs and listened to the Word of God. So after all the obstacles and many temptations to pull our hair out, it all worked out well. 

Alice, one of our counsellors, was helping a camper set up for a new game where we make an elevator of sorts with our ears and pull candy to our mouth. 

Two of my favs: Senior and Joshua. They are apart of my team here at Word of Life. Joshua is full of energy and is a great MC and Senior is our music and sound guy. They are two very talented dudes. 

We always have a session for group discussions where we discuss what we have learned that day. I sat in on one group discussion and loved listening to their thoughts, ideas, personal views, and what they had learnt. We had one character who didn't appreciate women at all and I couldn't help but giggling with everything he said. He pretty much blamed women for all the earth's problems saying, "The Eve's of this generation are bringing the Adam's down." The thing I loved about him was that he was passionate about God and doing what was right. I know his ideas concerning women will soften as he seeks God more. 

These were our youngest campers who presented a few songs for us. It was a hoot!

"And we know that ALL things work together for GOOD to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Snippets of my week

My GO GO GO has yet to STOP as I had anticipated. The past few days have been draining. It started on Tuesday evening when we didn't get back to the compound till 3am after picking up our visitors from the airport in town. Of course their plane was delayed and their luggage didn't arrive with them. Then we missed the last ferry so had to wait an hour for the next one. By the time we got them all settled in, it was 3am. Each day since then has been exhausting hosting them, planning for this crazy upcoming weekend, and just being available for anything that needs to be done. But I have stopped to take a few pictures of the places I've been and the people I have seen this last week.

On Sunday, Tsuma (one of my co-workers) and I went to a local high school to minister to them for their sunday church service. Tsuma spoke and I sang one (blacklightprophet) song to them. The picture above is of the feet of the worship team. They have no fancy instruments and are dressed in school uniform. All they had to lead worship was their hands for clapping and their voices for singing. 

Tsuma gave a message and we had a few students come to Christ! 

The rain paused for about 2 hours which was just enough time for a football game. I was invited to go watch two churches play against each other. It was fun, although I sort of lost interest after the first few minutes. I didn't even know the score at the end of the game. However, I was touched as at the end of the game, the two teams came together, put their arms around each other and bowed in a word of prayer. Then, as if on queue, the rain began to pour down again.

This is my love wall. The other night, I was missing my peeps back home. I had a small photo album of pictures I had taken before I left. I decided to pull them up and stick them on my wall so I can look at my wonderful friends and family back home. Tears strolled down my face as I went through each photo. I miss you good people. 

I have wonderful news!! My visa was to expire a week ago and typically this type of visa is not able to be renewed. Plus my work permit has yet to be processed. So I was in a sticky situation. I was told that I may have to leave the country within a few days and come back once my work permit comes through. It sort of excited me as I would have had an excuse to go visit my good friends in South Africa but it would have disrupted all my plans here and been an extra expense. However, my boss just happens to be good friends with the Chief Immigration Officer here in Mombasa. He set up a meeting with him and we went to explain our situation. The Officer was very compassionate and stamped my passport granting me permission to stay! It was a huge relief and such an answered prayer. Thank you all for praying!

So it's been a busy week full of awesome things. This upcoming week will be even busier so pray for energy and joy as I go about my days!!!