"Do you not realize I've had diarrhea since Easter?"

I hope all of you know what I'm quoting, because if you don't, that's kind of awkward... It's from one of the best movies ever made—Nacho Libre! Quotes and jokes have become a big part of the culture my team has created for ourselves. We love quoting movies and messing around with each other. The best is that there are these bushes with little yellow balls on them that we throw at each other. "It's the beeeesstttt!"

I think all of us are feeling more settled in, and things are becoming more of a natural routine. We had two more girls join our team last week, which is so fun!! There was just Desirae and me, and now we have four girls! Wahoo!! Ellia came late after staying in the States after training camp to go to a wedding, and then Alicia joined us from another team. It has been so fun having them here!

My favorite thing to do is go to church. I LOVE all the women and getting to know them more, and also playing with all the kids. They are my forever favorite—obviously. The worship is insane! The mics are so high that they're going to blow up the speakers any second now. Even though we don't know what they are saying, their worship is so genuine, and I sometimes feel like we are missing that at home. They are just so sold out on Jesus, it's awesome! They don't care if people are watching or what others might think. We'll get pulled up to dance with everyone. Usually, we'll make a big dance circle and walk around grabbing people to join. One of the ladies on the worship team is named Christina. She does Zumba or something, because man, I can't keep up with her—she's so bouncy. #goals

The food is still a big adjustment, and it's honestly really hard for me to eat the meat. I have never not loved meat, but the goat and scary chicken are intimidating. Besides the meat situation, we eat the same variation for lunch and dinner. We have rice or ugali, which is made from maize and water, stew, and cabbage. It's pretty good, but it's sometimes hard having the same flavors every day. I am also so, so thankful that our host cooks for us.

Every night during Team Time, everyone is asked, "What is the Lord showing or speaking to you today?" I've been sick on and off for the past two weeks, so this week I finally went to the doctor. I feel like I missed out on a lot this week because I wasn't feeling well, and because I was asleep for most of it. I just wasn't as present as I wanted to be, and it's been really hard missing out. FOMO was on full blast. But God was reminding me about the importance of giving myself grace, which allowed me to rest. I hate missing out, and I started getting grumpy that I needed to go slow and rest instead of keeping up. Sometimes the holiest thing you can do is take a nap. He's also showing me how to be present even when I don't feel good enough to or my mind is somewhere else. It is so important to be present where our feet are instead of dwelling in the past or future.

On our last door-to-door ministry day, we met a sweet old woman named Rose. Rose has been trying to get her home completed, but during three different times, the walls fell. Because of financial issues, Rose's house has stood half-built for months now. We cannot help Rose with the team's budget, but we can help through our personal fund. So, last night, we collected our money and went to the hardware store and ordered what she needs. Tomorrow, we start working on her house! Pastor Benson is also needed a new transmission for his car. He uses it to drive us everywhere we need to be, but we've had to push his car a couple of times. We are praying on how we can help, so let me know if you want to be a part of making that happen!

We were basic tourists last week—we went on a safari!! It was sooooo cool! It was a little different than I was expecting, but I was also thinking of one you would see on TV. It was a huge reserve in the middle of Nairobi. When you looked around, you could see the city buildings around it. We saw every animal that they have there, which typically doesn't happen! They came out for the white folks. It was crazy because the Jeeps had radios, and when someone announced that the lions had been spotted, everyone raced to get there. It's like Black Friday at Sears in the '90s. I have no idea if that's a comparison, but imagine it was chaotic and everyone was trying to get a view.

Anyways, I miss you all! TTFN (ta-ta for now)