01/03/2010 What a Day!

What an interesting day we had. I think I needed a day like today to recover from yesterday. :) We started out with church this morning. I was a bit surprised by church. I guess in my mind, I pictured a bunch of words I couldn't understand, music I didn't know, drums and dancing. There was some dancing, which I found I really enjoyed. But the music was all the same music that we sing in the States. And everything was in English. We did enjoy it. I just expected a big cultural church experience difference. But it was very similar to what we would have at home. After church, we went to the Giraffe Park! What an experience that was! At first, I was a bit afraid that we paid extra money to look at Giraffes from afar. We couldn't get the giraffes to come up to the pavilion for anything. We went and listened to an informational talk about giraffes, and Chris and I both held a giraffe leg bone. Boy, was it heavy! Then we went back out to the pavilion and there were two giraffes standing there, waiting to eat. At first, we just hand fed them. And then we got brave...we put a pellet of food between our lips and the giraffe came at us with his tongue! We were kissed on the lips by a giraffe today...not an experience you can claim for every day. One of the guys in our group actually put the pellet on his tongue and "french kissed" the giraffe. That's where I draw the line. Gross. We had a quiet afternoon sorting medications for our clinic tomorrow. I took a little nap, we watched a bit of "Out of Africa" which was filmed right here where we are. We ate dinner at the Karen Blixen house tonight, which is who the movie is about. We actually saw the house that was in the movie tonight. Karen Blixen had a coffee plantation here years ago and was instrumental in preserving the land for the Kikuyu tribe. We are actually staying in the town of Karen at Karen Holiday Homes. We've seen the name "Karen" on nearly everything around here. She was obviously greatly appreciated and respected here. Dinner was very good. We had steak, broccoli and cauliflower with french fries, tomato soup and strawberry ice cream. I felt guilty eating such a nice meal. It seemed like I shouldn't be eating like that on a mission trip. I couldn't finish everything and all I could think about were those people a few miles away in the slums who probably didn't have dinner tonight. I'm sure they would have loved my ice cream. I think I'd be happier "roughing" it a bit more after seeing what I saw yesterday. We sure are a spoiled people group as Americans. I did enjoy our meal, though. We sat with a lady named Sue who was a missionary to a small tribe in Thailand for 26 years with her husband. She had so many amazing stories to share. I really enjoyed listening to her tonight. She was a great encouragement to me. Tomorrow morning we start our medical clinic. We're excited, but a bit nervous. Please be in prayer, especially for Chris, as he works with these people. Pray for miracles. Pray for healing. and pray for protection. Love you all. Miss you. Please check http://www.masonworley.com/ to see our pictures. Someone got a great one of me kissing the giraffe...I'll have to see if I can get it from her. :)