Hello again. I know it has been a few days since I have posted anything but that is because I haven't done too much that would interest y'all. Until today. The boys and I spent about a week at the Tigoni Center getting to meet the monks there since we will be working at ministries that are extended from the priory at Tigoni. There is one monk that was exceptionally wonderful - Father Gabriel. He did his graduate studies at St. John's in Minnesota and immediately connected with us. His stories from his time in the States were so interesting and funny. He also took us into the city of Limuru to get a cell phone, Internet, and snacks. And yes, they do have Oreos - my saving grace. And yes, I do miss American food. I miss it a lot. Father Gabriel also took us to a bar called Hugz to have Tusker, the Kenyan beer, which wasn't bad. I got hit on by an African woman there - no big deal. 

Anyways, we left Tigoni on Thursday to move to the Amani Center, which is just outside Nairobi and will serve as our home for the rest of our stay. It is about a 3 minute walk to both Deborah (another missionary from Belmont) and a bar/butchery. You read that correctly - bar AND butchery. And it's pretty swank for Africa. We settled in a bit and then went to the bar with Deb to hear how her week went. 

Today, the guys and I went to Mathare slum, which is the second largest slum in Africa. It holds about 30,000 orphaned children in maybe a 3 km radius. It was dirty, reeked of garbage, and was just plain nasty. It is not something you would find, even in the worst parts of America. And of course, we got intense stares from practically everyone. The kids would shout "mzungu" and "how are you?" at us. Mzungu is translated as "white/brown person," though it is not a derogatory term. I actually found it endearing and I felt like a celebrity since all the kids were excited to see us and to shake our hand. In the slum, there is a school called St. Benedicts Children Centre that houses kids from 4-22 years old. Everyone was so friendly and joyful. I sat in a meeting with a group of people that live in Nairobi and clean the slums every week. These people are living saints. I am only here for 8 months to volunteer but these people live here and do so much more for the community than I could ever do or even imagine doing. I hope to work with them in the future. Hopefully, I will make it into Nairobi tomorrow to explore and grab some snacks. To be continued...

P.S. I just saw a monkey today. It was wonderful.