a quick note before heading out

I do not have much to say now except that I am grateful for all of your support. The experience here in Nairobi is currently a bit much for me and I am anxious to leave tommorow morning. I found out today that we are travelling with a couple other trucks up north. This has its ups and downs. Please pray for a safe journey. It will be a two day trek.
I am currenty being confronted with a lot of hypothetical violent situations and the question of pacifism. My commitment is to bring peace, as much as possible in as many situations as possible. what that looks like exactly...I am working on.

I am continually inspired by Gandhi and his words: "be the change you wish to see in the world"

peace like a river.



Dina and Kristy: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I miss you and the family very much during this time (as I am sure you know) so thanks for saying it now. Tell everyone happy thanksgiving for me. much love. Oh, and Dina, my camera is continually thankful for its (so far) indestructible plastic case.

J$: you are straight money. there is no question. I hope all is well with you my friend, and that your studies/reading/writing/praying/living are full of peace and joy.

Kelly: upon reviewing my last comment to you I am not sure if I was clear. what I meant was that it is hard for me (obviously) to know or feel prayers, but (and more importantly) I am grateful for them. I believe they are changing/helping my experience here.

Timm has a blog

Timm's blog address is:

http://timmpaszalek.blogspot.com

notes from africa, chapter 3

Today is wed. I am now in Nairobi. I will leave with Timm, Jon, and the Russells for "the north" friday morning. Tommorow is a fairly important day as Timm and I attempt to connect (yet again) with some of our connections in Sudan and the like. We will visit some administrative offices here in Nairobi and make some more phone calls. It would be swell if we could make some solid connections tommorow as we will not have access to phone/email/...anything for the next three weeks. Please pray for that.

In more important and exciting news: thank you so much for your commments. I cannot tell you how encouraging it is to hear from some of you. I spoke to about 50 kenyan bible students yesterday. I think it very well as they invited Timm and I to come back and teach anytime (they are definitly in need of teachers). I spoke on a passage out of James, and Timm spoke today on a passage out of 2peter. I enjoyed my time in Narok (where we were teaching/organizing a library i.e. moving around a ton of boxes in our own categories)however it is good to be out of Narok, the rallies for the upcoming Constituion vote (on monday) were getting a bit out of hand.

I am learning a lot now. I am now being confronted with many of my fears. I cannot wait to go out into the bush (up north) and camp/i'mnotsurewhat. I hope that it will be a very progressive time for my thoughts to mesh with my emotions.

It is funny.. coming here has been such a dream of mine that now that I am here the dream is gone, it is reality. I am now free to dream about what more I want to do here/do with my life. Yesterday, I began to dream for the first time "african dreams". I am now beginning to dream like I am here. It is freeing and a bit scary to see what my real convictions are about...well, alot I guess.

Take care.

Brother: yes, I asked the Russells and you may send something. I will be back in Nairobi in about three weeks and will be able to recieve it.

Scotland: Thank God for you. When I think of you in ole' Michigan I begin to laugh and cry at the same time. I miss you and am glad to hear from you. Thank you for the encouragement.

Kelly: It is hard for me to say if I feel your prayers, but thank you. I need them. I am encouarged by your words, and love to hear what you are feeling.

Deja: Thank you for the quote. Timm's brother Jon and I have been stretching (he is a balarina..for real) and it has been good. I hope all is well.

Dad: thank you for hoppin' on the blog Pops. It is good to hear from you. Mom sounded good on the phone, I hope all is well with you. Please tell the family I love them and miss them.

Kate and Jared: Kate, I am attempting to take some pictures for the board; however, I have not felt it appropriate to take any pictures of people yet, but I have lots of animal photos. I will keep trying.
Jared, I have, and will continue to, read one "dream" before I go to bed each night. The book is quickly becoming precious to me as well. What is time..? but Tim with an "e".

a quick note

Hahnny: you bring me great joy.
Nathan: I am glad that you are enjoying the music. It sounds as if you are doing well. To clear the confusion no I am not affiliated with AIM; however, the missionaries I am currently working with (the russells) have been AIM missionaries for ten years.
Bitter Buffalo: I am not really clear on who you are but you are more than welcome to join the ride and keep posted on what is happening on this journey. And in response to your quote I would say that I know the feeling; it is among a slew of feelings of which I have not yet figured out what to do with (but I am hoping for transformation in my life as I am here). The other day I sat in what was a archetypical compassion international commercial. I sat among all the children caring for the other children, with flies all over them. I do not know what to do yet with my compassion/lack of compassion for these children. I wrote a message today for the equality of women and will (hopefully) speak tomorrow afternoon. I hope it will help changeforthebetter the situation I sat in the other day.

notes from africa, chapter 2

hello all!
Welp. I am now in a small shanty town called Narok. After staying at the Russells place at the gate of the Mara (game reserve) we went to Nairobi for one night. The drive takes about 4 or 5 hours. We saw the Russells daughter at her school in Kijabe (1 hour outside of Nairobi) and then stayed the night in tents in Nairobi. This morning we drove out to Narok, which is in between the Mara and Nairobi. We will be here for the next three days. Timm are I organizing a library and teaching at the chapel services at a small school here. After our time here we will travel up to north Kenya(lake turconna {sp?}). I think we will be there for about two weeks. After that I am not sure where we will be yet.

So far the trip has been a lot of doing and a lot of learning (which is great). We did get that concrete slab poured for the Russells house (which turned out great), we taught a group of boys about some virtues for living (out of the book of Peter), we went on a game drive in the Mara and watched as six lions tore apart a wildabeast, chased Zebra's on 4wheeler's, and hung out with a ton of Maasai people. We have been having lunch everyday with three Maasai warriors and then after lunch throwing Rungus (small wooden sticks with one large end). Man can those guys throw.

Things have been well and busy, we are learning a ton and may even be helping some people. I am excited for the times to come.
Please help by praying.

Please pray:

that I could have some much needed processing time. I am in need of time to adjust. you know... think, read/write, pray and what not. I have not had much alone time and Africa is a lot to swallow for me.

for safety. We are going to be in some crowded areas in the next week and there is a lot of commotion about a proposed constitution change next week. Please pray for Timm, Jon, the Russells, and myself; and please pray for peace in Nairobi and Narok as things are becoming violent.

Thank God neither Timm nor myself have gotten sick (not even a little). Please pray for continued health.

that we would be effective speakers and workers. I am worried that I will not be relevant in my speaking to the people. Please pray that we would help in equipping the students/people here as they are very short on teachers.

that plans would work out for Sudan and that we could have communications with our contact (stephan) as we have not heard from him in some time.

that I would excel in my study of swahili. I have been trying diligently to learn, but the faster I can speak the better things will be. Almost everyone knows English, but they only speak it when they have to.



Thank you all so much for your prayers. I think that I will be able to get back to this cafe in the next couple days so please let me know what is going on in your lives. Just post a comment on this post. It would be great to here from you all.

much love.

Notes From Africa, Chapter 1

[Didymus here, standing in with a message from Brother Sweetaction. We got an e-mail - he wanted ya'll to know. . .]

I am in Africa. It is the most incredible, crazy, different, idontknowwhat place I have ever been. I love it. Things are well with me. I am down staying in just at the main gate to the Maasai Mara game reserve. I do not really have access to the internet here so this will be my only communication for a little while. The couple that Timm, myself, and Jon (Timm's brother) are staying with have a laptop computer, so when the rates go down tonight they will send this out. I am not actually able to go on the internet myself, so I cannot check or update "the blog," much to my disappointment [I will keep you all posted as the story unfolds - Didymus].

The trip here was fairly uneventful. Timm and I had a nice stay in London: you know, went to a pub, had some fish/chips and a pint, chilled very close to Victoria station. We walked down to the river and looked at Rodin again. I think I like the cast in D.C. better b/c you can "walk among them". [Didymus concurs]

When we got to Africa, there was already a slew of people waiting to meet us because we had packages and supplies from the states for all of them. Amid a sea chauffers and cabbies holding signs with people's names on them, we saw Timm's brother, Jon, holding up a sign that said, "ugly." It was great to see someone we knew - especially just getting done with customs and having to bribe the woman to let us into the country.

The past two days here have been phenomenal. Timm, Jon, and I all sleep in a little tin shack. We wake up around 6:30 and work until 5:00. We are building a home for the Russells (the missionaries that live here). The Russells have been here for ten years and are still living in a small structure they made of tin and a large frate container. They are truly amazing people. Timm, Jon, and I have been bending metal and setting up grids to lay more of the foundation for the house. We hope to pour a pretty big section come Thursday.

Last night after work, the three of us ran down into the little village and tossed the Frisbee with some kids. We then joined in the soccer (futbol) training and practiced with the team. It was fricken sweet. After soccer we had some dinner and then I stayed up listening to the hyenas. You can hear the hyenas howling just about every night. As I was listening to the hyenas I heard a Lion. Timm and Jon were with me as well and it was getting louder and louder. It sounded like it was just on the other side of the fence. Timm then climbed on top of the tractor to see if he could see it and it fell silent, which I guess means it sees you. After that we did not hear from it again. I think the Lion was around because we saw a Zebra just outside the compound (our fenced in yard) earlier, and some of the Maasai said that they saw a couple of elephants on top of the hill our house is built into.

Today I rode home from the worksite on the back of the 4 wheeler with a Maasai warrior.

This place blows me away. I love it. I hope to get some internet access of my own in two weeks when we travel through Nairobi on our way to north Kenya.

All is well and I am happy. I Miss you very much. Take care.