WOW is about all I can say right now! This internship has been such a blast and a huge blessing so far - I simply canNOT wait to see what else God has in store! It's only been a little over a week and I've already experienced soooo much!
The YS conference in LA went so good. The kids did an incredible job leading worship. Here's a link to a video clip of the kids leading: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=141485677871 God is using these kids in amazing ways to minister to people, especially to me! It was so refreshing to spend time with them in LA and simply share in the joy they have for life.
We were not able to see much of LA while we were there, however, we had TONS of fun. Besides the concert on Sunday morning, we enjoyed a really cool bounce/jump thing (you know the blow-up things) that had an obstacle course, slides, and a climbing wall inside of it. The kids had a blast playing in this and I must admit I did too!! We had fun playing with playdough and riding really cool three wheel bikes around in the back of the conference center. Being with the kids is almost like getting to re-live my childhood and at the same time become a mom. It's crazy! I'm getting to enjoy so much that I would have loved as a child but I'm also having to really take on a HUGE amount of responsibility. I love the challenge that this internship is presenting. It's been such a growing experience already. Okay, sorry for the side note, back to what we've been doing. On the night after our concert we enjoyed a 3 block stroll from our hotel to Denny's, which was a nice change from eating delivery on the floor of a hotel room. Don't get me wrong, those we're definitely fun times too - there's always memories to be made, no matter what we're doing. It took us almost 2 hours to finish dinner at Denny's! Haha :) Yesterday the choir was treated to "luxury rides in style" as we caravanned to the airport in a black limo and 3 black Suburbans. The kids were so excited, especially the boys who were in the limo! We flew out of LAX and came back to Atlanta where we met up with our host home. We enjoyed dinner at the Chic-fil-A Dwarf house near the airport and then made our journey "home." Our first host home of the trip has been a great, we are staying with a really sweet family!!
Today (Tues. 9/29) we spent the day at Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta. We got all of the merchandise for the store prepped, began the dentist appointments for the week, and everyone got a flu shot! All the children did really well with the shots and the dentists; I'm hoping tomorrow's dentist appointments will go just as smoothly. After a day of working hard at the church, we loaded up with our host homes and headed to Atlanta to eat at The Varsity. Let me just say that it was a BIG hit with the kids. They loved imitating the famous "What'll ya have" slogan and wearing the varsity hats. After dinner we headed out to enjoy the Braves game. We had tons of fun and even made it on TV. We also got the kids to start the wave and it actually made it around the WHOLE entire stadium, I was impressed. Oh, the tomahawk chop was fun too, the kids caught on pretty quickly.
Before I go I wanted to ask that you guys pray for a few things. First, due to all of the flooding last week in N. Ga, we no longer have a tour bus for Daraja. It was at a shop being worked on and this particular shop was under water during the flooding. Our bus was in about 8 feet of water. This is somewhat of a blessing because the bus has seen better days; however, we have no form of mass transportation now and desperately need something ASAP. Second, the other Kenyan adults will be flying in Thursday as well as our 23rd choir member, Moses, who has been sick with the chicken pox. Please pray for them to have a safe flight. Third, the 24th member of the choir, Violet, still has not been about to get her visa and has yet to be able to come on tour. Pray that this will go through soon and she will at least be able to join us for Fall tour even though she had to miss out on Summer tour. Fourth, continue to just pray for the tour and everyone on it - I feel your prayers, so keep it up! It's so encouraging to know that I have a team behind me! Good night for now! I love you all.
Swahili lesson of the day - Asanta Sana = Thank you!
Blessings,
Allison :)
