africandre
Howdy yall!!
Although this is a travel blog this may be a permanent stay in Kenya!
I will update it when something exciting happens. Yes, i stole this idea from lil lisa's trip to...

Mother& Daughter- In-Law Adventures Part One
Mombasa, Kenya
Today we left Nairobi @6am. I'm not really a morning person but I managed.
The drive was beautiful, we passed Tsavo and had mountains on the East and West side of the road. We even saw some zebras and camels on the side of the road.
The day was so sunny and clear that we could see MT Kiliminjaro in the distance. That's in Tanzania which is roughly 100 Kilomiters away.
We got to Mombasa around 2pm. On the way we stopped a few times to eat. Oh, and I have to say, Its been such a long time since I had to "USE" the side of the road! But were in Africa in the bush so there is not much choice as to toilets!
When we arrived in Mombasa Sandra took us to a special place. It was a nice beach area. So beautiful! Can't even describe it so I won't :) we stayed a bit to unwind. Then dropped off the couple that came with us at a brothers House.
On the side of the road you notice lots of shop stands. And one man was selling Casava chips. Its interesting that every culture has similarities. In Mexico and TX they sell the pig skins with hot sauce in a bag for 1 dollar. Here its Casava chips with pili pili as they call hot sauce.
After we left the friends at the brothers House in Nyali, we drove about 40min to Kilifi which is where Granny Pot lives :) On the way there are many Baobab Trees. In Swahilli they are called Mbuyu. Do you remember there was and article in the AWAKE! Magazine about them? So that was cool to see so many!
When we arrived in Kilifi it was raining. Spent time with grandma and made ourselves comfy in the guest House. Its really nice that she lives about one quarter away from the beach. Its within walking distance and I must say its is SOOO beautiful!
That was today and now I'm off to bed!
Take care and we miss yal!
Love Drea
written by  africandre on July 31, 2010 from Mombasa, Kenya
from the travel blog: Mombasa Kenya

Service
Nanyuki, Kenya
Well friday was my first meeting in swahlli. It was nice to meet the friends. Most of them speak English.
Kyran was really worried that i would get bored because i dont know much of the language, but i told him that after being in the Lao group for a while that this was alot easier to pay attention to! Actually, i know and understand more than he thought. I felt like a child pointing out all the words i knew :)
We had to miss the sunday mtg because of the fire. But cant wait for service again tomorrow. The group here only meets on Sunday's, Tuesday's & Thursday's. Still trying to figure out why. I know on saturday's is market day so everyone is out shopping. I told them that sat is the day most of us go out because everyone is home!!
We Invited a husband and wife to go out with us last saturday anyway :)
the territory was so different than what im use to. We did an hour of service before we even got to te terrritory, which by the way, we walk to not drive.
We have to cross a river, thankfully it was low. You can see it on the pictures i put up. Sometimes they said, its too high to cross.
We found a few people home. I was able to find people who speak English, but the sister i was working with had to fill in a few words for me. Everyone we talked to invited us in, no one was in a rush. I Started a bible study with this one young girl, and made plans to rv on another lady. Kyran and the bro he was working with found alot of interest aswell.
We are hoping to help start saturday service up again. Even if its just street witnessing. We plan on meeting with the group during the week and making our bible study appointments on the days that no one goes out.
Anyways, just having breakfast now, waiting for Ky Ky to come back from his early flight. Poor baby, Was feeling sick after breathing in all that smoke :(
Till next time!! Kwaheri!!
Love Dre
written by  africandre on November 29, 2009 from Nanyuki, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nanyuki Kenya

Jalapenos
Nanyuki, Kenya
I miss jalapeno's!!! I know it sounds so silly but i do. Tabasco pepper sauce has become new best friend.
They do grow fresh jalapenos, so i can still make pico de gallo. Matter of fact i am gonna make my dad's special salsa and sell it to Barney's, the local restaurant :)
But its not the same without the canned jalapenos..
We were at the bank today and a bunch of kids, came up to me asking for money. You feel sorry for them but after a while it gets old. Kid's and adults hang around the atm's waiting to sell you stuff. So i fianlly learned the trick, i just start speaking spanish!! They dont understand me and cant ask me! It's wicked i know. ;)
That's where im at today.
Till next time!!!
Love drea
written by  africandre on December 1, 2009 from Nanyuki, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nanyuki Kenya

International convention Nairobi
Nairobi, Kenya
Habari!
Let's see if i can remember the last four days.
Well first off, we had the international convention! It was such a blessing to attend it again. Met many new friends and i got to see the old ones i met last year when i was here.
Nairobi is an hr flight from where we live, thankfully the company Kyran works for has a taxi plane. Its really cute and soooo tiny! Its a 2 seater. one that most people learn how to fly in. Its pretty old too. It actually has hand break!!!!! yes, a hand break. We were flying at 80 to 100 mph. It felt like we were driving my Volvo in the sky :) Kyran said that if the plane stalled that it would just glide down and we could land anywhere since its so small! Thankfully that didnt happen.
We got to Nairobi and we first went to the doctor because Ky was still feeling sick from the fire..gave him a bunch of med's as you will notice in one of the pictures. We just hung around the city till we met the friends we stayed with for the weekend.
Of course the convention was great. What i found interesting were the illustrations they used, so appropriate for this country. For example one was:
" If you were walking from the market carrying a bag of potato's on your head , and a truck stopped and offerd you a ride, would you not accept it? Or would you continue struggling, carrying this heavy load all by yourself?"
I was like wow, carrying a bag of potatos on my head, we wouldnt use that in the states.
A brother gave his expressions on one of the symposium's "They will build houses and plant vinyards". He said that he owns land, and its not uncommon to have lions and elephants and buffalo intruding and sometimes eating up the crops. So in paradise he looks forward to having his own land free of disturbance!!!
One experience was that of a Tour guide, He told the friends "You guy's get more excited seeing a Kingdom Hall than you do a lion!" He was given an invitation to the convention but wasnt able to make it because of work.
Later on some friends met a woman and her 3 kids and invited her to attend, she had been looking for the convention. Turns out she was the wife of the Tour guide! Arrangements were made for that famiy to have a study.
Those were just a few of the things i enjoyed. The drive to and from the convention should only have taken 30min's but with this CRAZY Kenyan traffic it took 2 hours. One night oh my goodness we got lost and it was dark. We ended up in an industrial area which isnt a place you want to be in at night.
I actually took my rings off because if we were gonna get robbed they were not taking my rings!!!!
We had some friends from Dallas who were assigned to attened the convention, The Dominguez', We got to spend some time together on their free day. We did get lost again for a n hour. But it was fine, got to see different parts of kenya.
Well now im sick, had fever the last two nights. Hopefully it wont last.
I had more to say but now im feeling sleepy. I'll continue my story tomorrow. We are driving back up to Nairobi again in the afternoon, Im sure i will have a car problem to write about!! LOL
Till next time..
love drea
written by  africandre on December 8, 2009 from Nairobi, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nairobi

My first few days
Nanyuki, Kenya
Howdy yall!!!
So far all is good.The flight from Dallas went by quick actually. I decided to start a journal, My tales from Africa!!! lol
We landed in Nairobi Sunday night and stayed @ the Serna hotel just for the night. Spent some time with kyrans parents.
It was nice the next day, had breakfast then back to the room and had tea on the patio. It was so differnt. Im not use to just being relaxed with nothing to do.
We got here to Nanyuki which is 1 hour or less in flight from the city. I got to see my new home. Its really pretty. We sit on 2 acres of land. There are lots of pretty colorful trees and flowers in our garden. We have a veggie garden and avocado tree.. Straight up country girl now.
Our house is a good decent size. PLENTY of room for visitors!!!! hint hint
The past few days we have just been settling in. We dont have much furniture yet, i want to paint the house first.
Yesterday we were having lunch with one of kyrans friends from middle school. They have kept in touch and now wk together. It was nice hearing all the things they did when they were kids.
Well, as some of you know we live at the foot of mt Kenya, so after lunch Kyran has this bright idea to drive up the mountain. So we took off driving, didnt really know how to get there so we just kept driving.. Mid way there we realize how NOT prepared we were.1st of all i was wearing flip flops and summer clothes. This mountain is freezing and has snow on it. 2nd we had no water or matches. So we stopped by a shop and get some snacks. They forgot the water there and forgot to buy matches..
Finally we find the exit to the Park entrance. We drive up several miles, it was really pretty. There were alot of farm workers. Your typical concept of what Africa looks like.
Well.. we keep driving and wouldnt you know it..car trouble. The land rover starts over heating. Like its in the red. So we pulled over and try to see what the problem was, well..i stayed in the car while they figured it out. Mean time a bunch a little kids come out of no where through the corn fields and observe. I was giving them candy and chips.They were so amazed to see people not of thier color. Things are so differrent here.
Anyways, we let the car cool down and keep driving, there was plenty of water oil and fuel in the car so they couldnt figure out what the prob was.. we kept driving and fianlly just gave out.. Great! here we were i the middle of no where, now we couldnt even get back. so we tried to turn the car around by pushing it but we couldnt. This may have not seemed so bad anyother time but it was already 4pm. And if anyone was gonna come get us it would be late. So we are sitting there, guys trying to figure out what the prob was, then i hear noises in the trees. i was convinced we were about to get eaten!!!
It was just people cutting down trees..
The guys figured out what it was. something with the fuel cap and air getting in or not getting in??
That was our attempt to climb Mt kenya.. So on the way back we pass a sign that says Assembly hall of Jehovah's Witnesses!! so we turned into the street andd look for it.
We drive about 10min through the HUGE pot holes and still dont find it.
We asked someone if they knew where it was and they pointed us to the western hill. So we go up it. the fields we went through look like real country un assigned territory. Its no mans land. We kept driving and driving asking everyone if they knew where the hall was at. And after awhile we realized they no one knew. they just kept telling us to keep going. We are 1 hour away from the main road now..at this point weare just driving enjoying the views. we were heading west so we saw plenty of land and Abadare mountains...
We turned around, passed by cattle crossing the road, and again, little kids standing on the side of the road waving at us.
we found a bridge and water so we stopped and took some pictures. We drive an hour back, close to main road and felt we should ask one more person if they knew where it was, we kept telling eachother that surely it has to be easier to find than this. So we ask a Lady this time :)
and wouldnt you know it, Just 5 min from where we 1st saw the sign!!
Atlast!!! so we drive up this impossible driveway to get to it. There we met the 2 bros who take care of the place. I said, "so this is where our donations go".
It was really differnt from our assembly hall in Denton. Very run down, They said that they are waiting for the letter for the building crew to come in to go through and get approved. Hopefully i can help with that!!!! I could sneak my way into thr International Construction!!!
It was nice meeting those brothers. I know they enjoyed some company.Look forwad to seeing them at the conventinon nxt week.
Well that was that day, fun and an adventure. Today is friday. We have meeting. The 1st one for me to attend, it will be interesting. I will practice my comment in swahilli. I'll let you know what i say if i do get to comment. I cant wait to meet the friends!!!!!
Any chance i get i will check my mail and keep in touch.
Till next time!!! miss you
Love Drea.
written by  africandre on November 27, 2009 from Nanyuki, Kenya
from the travel blog: Eldoret kenya

Out Door Salon
Since i'v been here i have been doing pretty good with work. Word got around fast that there was a new hair dresser in town. Everyone here usually goes to Nairobi to get there hair done but now i save them a trip.
The airline community is tight so i happened to do the right persons hair and now word has spread. Unfortunatlly i dont have a shop yet so i have been going to the peoples home to do there hair. Which of course i was use to doing that back home in the states.
Yesterday the client i did lived about 30 min away. We passed through Miles and Miles of Field's, muddy roads and space to get there. She lived on plot with other people, there was no electricity so we did the highlights outside on her veranda. Real country.
There was a fence around the House and she said that there are cheetas elephants zebras and chimp's that live there. YES! I was outside doing hair with wild animals near by. Straight up Africa!
Im getting used to it here, I actually prefer living here now than to Nairobi.
Every year here they have this fund raiser for charity, and the town puts on a show. It is the highlight of the year and the whole town shows up. This years show was last night. And all of Nanyuki was there. It was cute. The theme was Cinderella but with a big twist. Kyrans boss and co workers were all in it. Was pretty funny.
One act they even had a couple dancing Salsa, it was nice, I wish the guys back home could have seen it. I totally forgot to take my camera, sorry guys, i let you down.
I have been getting e -mails from the friends who have attended the internationals recently. One went to Hawaii and this is what he said :
"During the kingdom melodies they display the words on the screen, so basically you are at the largest karaoke party ever."
I thought that was hilarious :)
Alrighty then Hasta Next time!
love drea
written by  africandre on December 12, 2009 from Nanyuki, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nanyuki Kenya

FIRE
When i said i'll wait till something exciting happens i didn't expect it to be so soon.
When we first got to kenya it took us 3 days or so to catch up on sleep and not wake up every hour.
Last night (saturday) i woke up at 215 am ish, i thought it was 5 am or so, I tried staying in bed but i couldn't. So i decided i would get up and do some things around the house to get myself tired. I was up about 30 min and still not sleepy. Then i wrote for a bit in my journal saying how i just dont understand why i wasnt sleepy. I was a lil hungry because it smelt like BBQ. Earlier in the day the Gardener was burning compostheap (old organic cut offs from gargen)which is part of every gardeners job here..
So i peeked out my window and saw the smoke from the ashes. No big deal. I sat in bed did my text, then looked again out the window because i kept smelling smoke.
I had the light on and just woke Kyran up and said i saw smoke. He said it was fine.
Ok so i finally lay down and read a book. Then i hear crackeling. And thought, 'this doesnt sound right'. I got out of bed again, and HOLY SMOKES!!!!!! There is a fire and flames behind the staff's Quarters!!!!!!! I woke Kyran up and said 'this cant be right, something is wrong'.
Sure enough, we got dressed and went out. I was so ready to pack up the car. He grabbed 3 buckets and started filling them with water. Mean time i said, " call the fire dept". i could just see his thought bubble.."She has no clue".
He said there was no fire dept. Everyman fights there own fire here. GREAT!!!!!!! THIS IS NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR!!!!!!!
No, the thought of panicking passed my mind for a sec, maybe 2. But i told myself and Kyran that Jehovah woke us up, so he can help us too. I knew then, why i couldnt sleep, and Jah didnt let me fall asleep. I just kept thanking him for waking me up. No one can convince me that he didnt.
Anyways, you can get an idea of how big the fire was by looking at the pictures i put up. All we had were 3 buckets, and a fire extinguisher, which i found doesnt do much good for an outdoor fire. Our Night guard helped us out alot. It took us 4 hours to put it out. It was just under being uncontrollable.
Well.. there you have it. I promise it was more intense than it sounds. On top of that i didnt get a picture of how big it was, maybe 10x10 foot of ground. Oh and i forgot to mention that it spread to the neighbors yard... Geeze..
Always an adventure with me and Kyran..WHY US!!!!
till next time,
Love dre n ky
written by  africandre on November 29, 2009 from Nanyuki, Kenya
from the travel blog: Eldoret kenya

No Where To Run
It's a new saying we have started here. As of today we have only made one meeting at the Kingdom hall since we had the convention. So our only friends really in this town are eachother ;)
So if we are a lil upset we have no one to talk to but eachother,which of course is a good thing!! We cant be mad at eachother because we have no one or where to run to but eachother!! We are closer now than ever before! :)
Another thing im having to remember is when im refering to the congregation, i cant say 'the congo' like im use to because people think im talking about the country of Congo. And when people say they are going to visit SA i forget they mean South Africa and not San Antonio! lol
Thats all today folks!
Love drea
written by  africandre on December 9, 2009 from Nanyuki, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nairobi

Mother & Daughter-In -Law Adventures Part3
Mombasa, Kenya
We woke up early yesterday morning and went straight to the beach!
Spent the entire day on the sand. We walked up and down picking shells. I found a beautiful piece of white coral that I will put up in the restroom as a decoration. Sandra has made mirrors with sea shells and drift wood and I want to make one too. So now I have everything I need.
Today we went to the city of Malindi, that's about 45 min from Kilifi. We met up with some of Sandra's friends. They use to be missionaries and now serve as special pioneers. We had some lunch at this Italian place and had such a good time with them even though it was only for an hour or so. They love to talk and tell stories and it was nice hearing their stories of Kyran and his brothers when they we're young.
Talking to the Brother was refreshing. It was like talking to brother E. Raymond! Lol well that's who he reminded me of :)
He said it was hard to imagine the boys married because he remembers them during their teens! Hmmm...... ;)
After we left them we went shopping. Malindi has lot unique crafts mens. So there is stuff here that you can't really find anywhere else.
There are many Italians in this city and so it has lots of flavor.
Oh, and I even found my favorite cheap Italian red wine! :) haven't been able to find it in Nairobi!
Time was running out and so we had to leave. We are going back on Tue.
Back at grandmas, me and Sandra prepared lunch for tomorrow. We are going to Tsavo national park.
On a different note Grandmas brother who lives in South Africa came today!!
Everyone says he looks like Kyran, but he is in his 70s so I can't really tell. He does have colored eyes just like KY KY. He is such a nice fellow very down to earth and likes to tell stories, sounds like Kyran :)
Speaking of stories BBC did a documentary on his past work. He used to wk for the government before Kenya got its freedom. Ever heard of the Mau Mau? Look it up :) interesting and sad story.
Anyway since it was a special occasion we had crab and lobster. Fresh from the sea I might add!
Later on we left brother and sister to catch up one the 'good ol' days'.
That was today! I'm exhausted.
Night yal!
Love drea.
written by  africandre on July 31, 2010 from Mombasa, Kenya
from the travel blog: Mombasa Kenya

Mother & Daughter-In-Law Adventures part 4
Mombasa, Kenya
The last few days have been great.
On wed morning I woke up early and gave Eric, grandmas brother, a hair cut. Then we packed up the land rover and headed out to Tsavo national park. It was a 3hour drive.
This park covers about 21.000 kilometers of land. We went to Tsavo East on wednesday. Drove around the first animal we saw was an elephant, actually a bunch of elephants.
The last time I went on safari the only animals I hadn't seen were elephants, Cheetah leopard and Hippo. This safari I saw all of them! But it was definitely an elephant safari. We even saw wild dogs. Apparently they are very rare and hardly ever seen.
The friends I was with were more excited to see the dogs than they were any other animal!
On our first day there we stayed in tent. I thought it was gonna be one of those small camping tents that you can buy at WAL- Mart. But it wasn't, these were huge tents that fit 3 beds in it. Had plenty of walking space and a shower and toilet. I must say I was very pleased and happy.
In front of our tent was a water hole so we could see when animals went for a drink. It was nice waking up early and lying in bed listening to the sounds of nature :)
The camp site served the 3main meals to us. It was all out doors of course and in the evening they had a camp fire. It was nice having dinner under the stars. So different than the city. This is real bush living.
The fallowing morning we woke up @6 to have an early morning game drive. We took lots of photos. It was a clear sunny morning and we got to see a lot of animals.
After that we went back for breakfast. They packed a lunch for us to take since we were not coming back to that place. I could have stayed another night in a tent. I really really enjoyed it. Except for the cold shower!
The rest of the day we spent driving around. We found a bunch of elephants playing around so we decided to stop there and have our lunch. We stayed in the car and watched them. In East Tsavo the land is flat with the mountains surrounding it.
After lunch we drove around more. Then we went to Tsavo West. Which they say is better but I preferred East because its green and lush where as west was a lot of bush and dried out land.
The brothers we were with were excellent tour guides. They knew all the back roads and even the names of all the birds. They took us through some really deserted paths right along the river. The car kept getting scratched by thorn bushes and we had lots of taxi flies fallowing us. That was because taxi flies are attracted to blue and the car was blue! Crazy huh, I kept wondering why we couldn't get rid of them.
That's the area where we saw a leopard and hippo.
Anyway we eventually got to our new lodge, Ngulia. It was one that a brother in our hall designed and built. It was very very nice. The dining area was outdoors also. But it was more like a covered patio deck. It over looked the vast valley that we drove in.
It also overlooked two water holes so as we ate we could watch the elephants and buffalo drinking. It was gorgeous!
Our rooms were big and all the floors were made of mazaris stone. It had three walls and the the 4th one was a huge tent net and so we could overlook the same view as the dining area. The breeze at night was great. And we had a patio that you could sit on and watch the sun come up!
Yes it was a paradise for sure. The next day we went for a mountain climb. I will write about it in the next blog :)
Till then Kwaheri!
Love drea!
written by  africandre on August 6, 2010 from Mombasa, Kenya
from the travel blog: Mombasa Kenya

Guess Who Is Movin Back to Nairobi!
Nairobi, Kenya
Yes after just over a month of living Pollution and Mosquito Free!!! We are moving to Nairobi.
Ky Ky's job with Tropic Air just did not work out. So yesterday (sunday) we went to our last meeting in Nanyuki Kusini. :(
The friends were sad to see us leave, as were we to say goodbye. You dont know how attached you've become to people till you have to leave them. The C/O and his wife thanked us for supporting the the congo and also gave us encouragement.
Of course, i took some group pictures. The friends love taking photos!! Oh, and it was nice singing the new songs at the hall. The cd player didnt wk so we had to sing with no music.. Check out the picure of the actual CD player, its a walkman!!!!!
As we were leaving the hall i told kyran that i had no regrets in leaving, as in, i felt good because from the moment we had arrived to the cong, we were in service almost everyday, I had plenty of RV's, and studies. I knew everyone in the cong, spent lot's of time with the friends in and outside of service. I knew where alot of the friends lived and worked because we had visited them after long days in the ministry.
I think i would have felt a lil guilty had i not been so involved. But now we definately have a place to go back in visit!!
Im not really sad to leave that city, just the friends.. I was prepared to stay there a year. But anything longer would have been a bit much. Of course unless Jah wanted us to stay thats different. I think im just disappointed that i wont get my sheep after all :(
Its ok, in paradise we will have our Beautiful House again fresh air no mosquitos and our pet sheep!! :) One thing i did take back from Nanyuki was food Poisoning!!!! Yeah i ate a bad burger..Been having stomach cramps for 5 days!!! Anyways..was bound to happen.
On our drive back to Nairobi the sights were amazing!! So pretty. We were listening to the I-pod and jamming to Toto! We were sticking our heads out of the window singing "I'V CAST THE RAINS DOWN IN AAAAFFFRRIICCAA!!!" LOL
Ok we didnt stick heads out of the window but definatly jamming to that song!
Im glad to be back In a Large city again :) I get to see my old friends from Woodly cong which is gonna be nice! They have 17 pioneers and service attendance is good! It reminds me so much of GP WEST!!!! I will take pictures soon. Our first meeting back will be tomorrow.
Ok gotta go get my grubb on!!!
love ya all
Drea
written by  africandre on January 4, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya
from the travel blog: Nairobi

DADA Kyran
"Dada Kyran"
Thats what the brother called me from the platform, it means "Sister Kyran!!" (no kyran is not a daddy!!! haha)
My comment was: "Hubiri neno..Kwa bidii" which means, "preach the word, be at it urgently" and it sounds just the way it is written. I was happy i got the first comment in swahilli out of the way. A brother in our hall gave me an english swahilli dictionary. It is helping.
Man i havent written in a while so im behind, but you havent missed much, there isnt a whole lot going on in Nanyuki :)
Been cutting lots of hair and Going in service. A sister in my hall ,Nancy has been taking me for lots of walks, i know the town better than kyran now. I always stop and buy sugar cane and passion fruits!!!I got to see where all the friends work. One sis makes dresses so just for the fun of it i got measured for an African dress!!! lol ky ky doesnt know about it yet :)
I love going in service here, the people invite us in and listen. Last week i conducted a study with an entire family, Dad Mom kids and grand babies On the first visit. We took long so the friends came looking for us. Then the Man of the house got to meet kyran and we stayed a while longer after they invited him in for tea.. I tell ya, we could be in the ministry for 5 hours and only speak with 3 people because they all listen.
Im use to putting in long days in service but here i get tired quick because we walk EVERYWHERE! as in everywhere. plus im getting use to the altitude. Yesterday we were out in the fields and we saw some Masi's and zebra. Ill post the pictures. It was so cool.
On a different note, I was bored one day so i decided to play with kyrans hair, it was fun. first he had yellow because we didnt leave it on long enough, then he looked like vanilla ice!!
Other than that not much else is new. I am falling in love with this place more and more. The friends, service fresh air and beautiful back drops of Mt kenya as i walk home is more than i can ask for. I wish the photos could capture the beauty..Oh well i guess you will all have to come see it for yourself!!!!
Did i ever mention that the people here call me Mzungu? That means white person :) Thats what they call everyone who isnt black. Even a mixed person is called mzungu.
A sister just got a kitten, i asked her if she named it and she said she calls it Andrea, she said she named it after me because it is a BROWN kitten!! LOL LOL too funny.
Thats it for now friends. Till next time!!!!
from the travel blog: Eldoret kenya

This Past Week
Nairobi, Kenya
Wednesday was our 1st meeting back at Woodly Cong. in Nairobi. Its Kyrans old hall and the one his parents attend. It was soooo great to see my friends again!! When i raised my hand to give a comment the brother smiled and said "Sister Potgieter". It was actually cool because it was the first time i heard it!! I'v been "Dada Kyran" this whole time :)
Thursday went to visit a friend in bethel, was good seeing her, i even got to do a color on her hair. She speaks spanish so she loves it when there is someone around who can carry on on a conversation in spanish! Actually at the meeting the night before there was a bro visiting from Spain and that was nice for us, he didnt speak any English or Swahili.
Yesterday Kyran and Peter were out and me and Sandra were home really bored. We ate went shopping and ate some more and still bored. Then she had this sudden urge to build something. She had some wood that she had brought back from the coast in Mombasa. So she got the sawing table and tools out and we made a picture frame. Its not quite done yet.
I thought i had skills being part of the RBC for several years, but here, man seems like im starting all over again. Im use to using nail guns, power drills, electric saws and so on..but they dont use Power Tools here. Everything is manual labor. If you want a 2x4 well, go cut your piece of wood and have it made first!! Even having been on the Mason crew i never had to CHOOSE a certain type of mud or dirt to mix, we just went to Home Depot or Lowes and bought it!!!
It's all such good experience!!
Tomorrow we have the Zone visit, i didnt know what that was at first. The Zone overseer is in charge of looking after the Bethel Homes and Missionaries. They had a special vist just for them today and tomorrow will have a special discourse for the public. It will be held at the same facility they use for Assemblys.
So, today we had the privilage to help clean the place. It was fun of course. Its nice doing spiritual activities like that with Kyran, im use to going with my sisters and friends from the hall but now we get to do things like that together :)AWW i know :)
Oh and speaking of manual labor, when the brothers were cutting the grass, they didnt use lawn mowers or weed eaters, but instead used these long knives with a curve at the end and went hacking away! They said they were just playing golf, but with grass! i will post the picture but its kind of blurred and from a far.
Later on i met up with a sister who iv kept in touch with, she had moved from Nairobi to another city a few hours away and was in town for the visit. Was really nice, we had lunch and then went over to another sisters house and stayed till 6ish. It was great catching up.
Anyways..that was my week. Next on the list, Apt Hunting!
Still enjoying my salsa n chips:)
Will write to you soon,
Drea
written by  africandre on January 9, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

Mother & Daughter-In-Law Adventures Part 5
So I mentioned that we went mountain climbing, its actually a hill. But it was still at the same altitude as Nairobi.
The reason why we wanted to climb it was because Grandma Pot told us that back in her day she climbed it to the top! So Sandra said if mother -in- law did it then she had to. And of course if my mother -in -law can do it I have to as well! So it was a Good thing we did it together, I went as far as she did. That's 3 generations of Pot girls that climbed the same hill! Cool isn't it! :)
Anyway we hired a KWS (kenya wildlife services) lady and her huge gun to go up with us. It is leopard territory so we needed her. Well the guys went to pick her up and found out she was new at her job and never climbed that hill before! You could tell she was nervous.
The owner of the lodge we stayed at was worried for us so he gave us one of his Maasai men! A bit of history on Maasai's is that before you can become a Maasai, you have to kill a lion all by your self. 3 other men go with him to witness the kill. Then they get tattoos of different things to prove they killed a lion.
So in reality we felt completely safer with him than with the KWS lady. Even though she had a gun and The Maasai had only a knife and a long spear.
It was great that he went with us. This was the hardest climb any of us had ever done, we were in the real bush. We had to climb rocks without ropes, and literally cut our way through the bush. At times we found paths cut out by animals which helped but it was a tough one.
You know usually when you have 2 tour guides one stands in the front and one in the back, well,as I mentioned the girl was new, so she was scared. So she walked right behind the Maasai man! And we were all in the back of the trail!!
We never saw any animals thank goodness!. But did find a few leopard dens.
We got to the top and relaxed. The sister got to witness to the Maasai and KWS lady. Matter of fact almost everyone in these rural areas never get a witness so we made sure to leave mags with everyone we met.
The trek down was really hard. It always is. Managed to not break any bones!
Later on that evening after dinner we went for a sun downer. The brother took us to Leopards Rock, we had a aerial view of the entire park and beyond! That hill had some benches so we took out our watermelon, wine, cheese, crackers and chocolate!
On that hill was a huge rock that gave us a 360 view. On one side of the valley was the red African sun going down. And the other side was the dark land and full moon. It was definitely a highlight of this trip.
Now it was getting dark. And your not supposed to be out after dark so we rushed back to our lodge and played a game of Baldadash!! (I HIGHLY recommend that game to anyone)
On day 4 of our safari we saw the sun rise on Poachers View. Then they packed us a lunch to take with us and we started driving back to Mombasa! We needed that vacation! And it was the best safari yet. Even Sandra said it was the best time she had ever had.
After we dropped everyone off we went to grandmas unpacked and went straight to the beach and relaxed.
This is the life no? :)
Ok more stories in the next blog!
Love Drea
written by  africandre on August 6, 2010 from Mombasa, Kenya

Pot Beans and Fish
Kyran always says: i miss Ana Bean and Jelly Fish and i say i miss Jerry Pot and Amie Pot! So Now we call them our Pot Beans and Fish!!!!!! :) Miss our dear siblings
This week we have the visit of our Circuit overseer and his wife. This is their first cong to serve in Kiswahilli. They have been serving in the Kikuyu service.
Very humble people.
Yesterday we met for service as a cong at a brothers house. There were twenty people crammed in the tiny living room. I was wondering why we didnt meet at the hall and they told me it's because everyone walks, so it closer to meet by the territory..makes sense.
The C/O conducted the service meeting in english JUST FOR ME!! Even on the reg days we meet they will conduct it half and half. SOO thoughtful and considerate of me and i never even asked. :)
On sunday after the meeting we were invited to a Bros house. There we sang 25 songs from the new song book, I had left mine at home so was singing in swahilli. There were about 9 of us. We had tea of course and bread with blue band, which i dont eat because i hear its one "something" away from being plastic!! :O
They love singing the melodies. When we are in service the friends will sing random songs, im so amazed of how many they have memorized. I thought i was doing great having memorized 3 and a half songs! But now i see why, they get together and practice. New for me but i like it.
Yesterday we were in service working in the slums..i didnt realize where we were till about half way through. It's exactly what you see on tv. No electricity no clean water nothing. Yet this is all they know. Very sad conditions. But i tell ya, they love listening to the bible and thats what matters the most.
A Muslim lady stopped two of the sisters she was pointing to my superlong skirt. She had told them that all the sisters should be wearing skirts that long. Of course they were all dressed modest anyways, but we just took it a compliment.
I took a couple of pictures you might like to see. One is of a Hotel in the slums. Another is of a lil sister in our hall who is always out in service with us. She loves to preach.
And finally we were crossing the river on the tree trunk. Very fun!
Today i babysat a couple of cuties.I did their hair, walked in the garden and picked flowers, learned ABC's and even had to change a Pamper! Ehh
Thats been my week..Kyran has taken up the sport of Golf :) He just joined a golf club..BORING!!! (sorry brother Snider ;))
Oh and havent got my sheep yet. The lady we are going to get it from is out of town. Tryin to think of some names for them. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know! One will be black and one white, Baby lambs that will need bottle feeding:)
Ok take care, Miss all You Americanos!!!! And Aussie's and Germans!! :)
Love Drea

Mother & Daughter-In-Law Adventures Part 6
So on Sunday we had lunch with grandma on the beach boat yard. Its nice having a good meal and fruit drink whilst your toes in the sand!
We got ready for meeting and headed 40min to the Mtwapa kingdom hall. Soon as we arrived we found out that the English meeting was @ 9 am. This was Swahilli! Anyway me and Sandra just left. We called up some friends and went to their house for tea.
We agreed to do the watchtower together. Turns out that the English had the visit of CO. The exact talk we heard last sunday in Nyali. So this would have been our 3rd time hearing that talk :)
On monday we went again to the beautiful Kalifi beach. Then we met up with Sandras good friend for lunch. I had the best sea food! There was a patio just by the boat decks and we sat under the palm trees and ate.. Kyran took me there the 1st time I went to Kenya.
After that we went to Sandras spiritual moms house for tea and cake. Chatted a bit with her and the family. Her husband and sons own a Deep Fishing Company. They live just off the ocean creek. Her son took us on a wonderful boat ride.
So refreshing to watch the glassy sea and have the wind and breeze in your face. He took us up by the house where Kyran use to live when he was younger. The house was big and had such a nice view of the creek.
Its tempting to say that if this isn't paradise what is? I have already reserved the boat for anyone who comes to visit :)
After that lovely ride we came and chatted some more. The father had some books that talked about the last Kenyan Regiment. So we looked for grandmas brother. The one I mentioned before. And sure enough his story was there :)
Later on that evening we went to Nyali because a couple had invited us for dinner. It was a privilege that they invited us to stay the night with them. It was my first time to spend the night in a missionary home. The house is huge and beautiful. Next door is a Mosque and a Pentecostal house, so its quite a noisy area.
The sister Cooked a large meal and an amazing apple sponge cake! They also had the new magazines up to Oct Nov. So I had a sneak peak! Lol, one article was titled " Surviving the first year of marriage" :) can't wait to read.
In the morning we had breakfast and did the text together. Then we were off.
We went to this construction site that a brother has. He is building Apts and really wanted our suggestions . So we gave him some pointers and ideas. Then we took off and went to Malindi to go shopping!
That was a hour and a half drive. We found some good deals and souvenirs. For lunch we met up with the special pioneers I told yal about earlier on in one of the previous blog post.
After a few hours we drove back to Kalifi to say bye to granny Pot. She got to meet the friends that came with us from Nairobi. And we got to take them to the beach. The tide was really high so we didn't get to pick sea shells.
Anyway that was the last swim! Then we went to Nyali and dropped the friends off at the brothers house. Me and Sandra stayed and her spiritual moms guest house that night so that we could leave early and head back to Nairobi.
As I mentioned the sisters house looks over the water. So it was my last peak of the ocean. The moon was full! Just try to even imagine the beautiful moonlight over the water! It was gorgeousness!!!!!! Reminded me exactly of That special night in Miami :) For those of you who know that story ;)
Anyway today we are on the road back to Nairobi. We just stopped on the side of the road to have lunch under a tree. As we drove off we saw that we JUST missed the baboons!
So here we are at the and of the Mother & Daughter- in - law adventures......
To be continued in on our next Mountain adventure. The Maasai Mara....
Love Drea Pot :)
written by  africandre on August 6, 2010 from Mombasa, Kenya

I Found Jalapenos!
I was planning on making dinner tonight so i was looking through the kitchen and guess what i found!! Thats right!
In May i had sent Kyran back to Kenya with a few cans of jalapenos for his dad since he loves them. My eyes lit up and i felt happiness inside! I decided to make Mexican food!
I went to the store and bought all the stuff to make my dad's addicting Salsa!
It was so good.
Other than that nothing exciting has happened. I just wanted to let ya know im good. Had my jalapeno fix!!
Going out in service tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Kyran has his interview tomorrow!
Talk to ya soon!
Oh and i put up a picture of kyran when he was a lil boy! He makes this EXACT same face when he is upset. I can never get mad at him because i always think of this picture!! Not fair!
See Ya!
Love Dre
written by  africandre on January 5, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

Onions & Hot Dogs
Yesterday was an interesting day. I went in service with one of the sisters. Had some good studies. I wish i could have taken some pictures of some of the places we went in. Like almost in the slums of Kibera, which is the worlds largest slum. You dont wanna take a camera in there.
There was one picture i would have liked to take of us witnessing to 3 girls who were chilling outside on the grass under the clothes line. We joined them and placed two books. I got to use the "Picture Presentation" which proved to be very effective. :)
The sister I was working with had dropped her car off to get worked on so we had to take a matatu (small bus) to some of the Rv's. On our way back, the poor sister was robbed in the bus. A thief was sitting next to her, and when she looked down she saw his hand coming out of her purse. We told the driver but when he pulled over the man had gotten off before we had time to report it to the police. It wasnt until later that she realized the man stole one of her phones :(
Anyway that was a downer..Later on we went to pick up her car, but it wasnt ready. We called her big brother to pick us up. Mean time we went to a gas station and had a hot dog. Well i had a few, dont know why, its not healthy at all!!! Me and Ky have been craving them alot recently. We even bought 2 packs the other day to make at home! (gross i know)
I started telling her about Quick Trip in TX and how it was and probably still is THE stop. We meet at the hall for service @7 and shortly after everyone is there for coffe!!
Then i was telling her that when we were living in Nanyuki me and Kyran would go to this one gas staion, (one out of three staions in the small town) and would have like 3 hot dogs each!!! (no worries, we are still skinny people) The girls who worked there knew us by name, we would witness to them alot and chat. Small town huh??!!
Finally the sisters Brother showed up and he looked at me and said "I have seen you before". And i told him we just moved in from Nanyuki. And he told me that he was there a few weeks ago and he was driving and saw me walking and thought to himself "That must be a sister",because of the way i was dressed. :)
So later he asked one his friends who he was visiting, if there was if there was a Mzungu (light skinned person) ;) attending the hall. And they told him that a pilot and his wife had just moved in. "They had good things to say about you two" he told me. He said the sisters told him " That gal Andrea! She eats the food and drinks the water!" In other words i fit right in!!! :) That was nice to hear from a person i just met, who already knew all about us :)
Later on that day we went to a restaurant called "The Rusted Nail". Yummy place! They actually had Sweet Iced Tea!!! ICE!!! Hard to come by here. I told them how I missed my 54oz sweet tea from QT and Chicken Express!!!!
Well that was my day, had meeting later which is always refreshing.
Today was kinda boring, except for service of course :) The past few days i have been quite bored. Kyran was like " You never complained about being bored when we were living in Nanyuki, where there is NOTHING to do and NO WHERE to go , but we get to the city and now you are bored :) ?!?""... Hmm... Good point :)
Other than that all is good. Kyran says HHIIII to everyone!!! He figured out how to unlock I-Phones!!! All thanks to YOUTUBE!
Dont know why, but i was researching the Nutritional value of Onions today. LOL I know. But its interesting to me!! Been doing that lately with fruits and veggies :) Im still a health nut.... who eats hot dogs :)?
We may be going to the coast in Mombasa in a week or two! Its such a beautiful place!!!!
I will write to you soon!!! Take care!
Love Drea!

Good Cookin'
Nairobi West, Kenya
The other day me and Kyran were going up the elevators and this man who lives in the same apt building came up with us, i forgot the comment he made and i asked him where he was from, He said TX! I was like "Me tooo!" Turns out he was from Arlington. I asked him what brought him to Kenya, and he said he was a pastor with a church and is training missionaries. As he said that it was time for us to exit the elevator but just before the door closed he said in a loud country voice " I Prayed and prayed but them Cowboys didnt make it to the Super Bowl!!" LOL too funny!!
Yesterday we had our meeting, and during the watchtower we noticed the accents of some of the visitors. Here you can always tell when there is another fellow American visiting :)
The Brother came up to me and Kyran and introduced himself. He asked me where i was from and i said "TEXAS! Dallas area and you?" He said Austin!! That was cool. i stayed talking to him and his wife the entire afternoon.
They told me they are serving as International Servants in Sudan. I remebered them from the International Convention back in December. I told them it was their experiences that encouraged me the most! And that is the truth. Hearing about the conditions they lived in when they first moved there had helped me appreciate how good we had it living in Nanyuki :)
Later on i went in service for a bit with one of the sisters while Kyran went home to cook :)
He made Pasta and Meat! Me and 2 sisters came home to find 4 boys layed out on the couches waching TV..So we ate and went for ice cream :)
Its nice just being relaxed with nothing to do, boring, but nice. Today im making BBQ chicken, steamed asparagus with other veggies, and baked potato with all the trimmings. Im gonna have to make the 'bacon bits' from scratch since they dont sell them already made.
Thanks to "All Recipes.com" I'v been trying out new things. I know everyone in the world knows how to make Deviled Eggs, but i had never tried to before. So i decided to boil 24 eggs and make them!! They turned out great with salad :)
Im gonna make something new everyday till i get tired.
I learned how to make BBQ sauce!!!! Its really good if i can say so my self. I got a lil too excited to cook and started making dinner around 1pm. Its now 245 and dinner is pretty much done..hmmm what to do?...
Im gonna prepare for meeting now so i will talk soon!!
Love always< Drea
written by  africandre on February 1, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Earrings!!!
Nairobi West, Kenya
On Sunday after the special talk me and kyran went to the Masi Market, which I's pretty much the same as a flea Market but smaller. It's the place every tourist wants to go shopping for all the African goods. So we were just looking around and I saw some nice earrings for myself;). I asked the vendor how much they were and he told me 1,500 shillings which is about $20! I told him "Onaninonga!!" which means " your killing me man! Or your choking me!" i was smiling the whole time and said "IM not a tourist so IM not paying that price sorry ". It would have been 3,000 shillings for the two pairs I wanted. He asked me where I was from, I told him " Nanyuki"!! And then he said: " You people from Nanyuki love to bargin"! Then I said: " yeah plus IM Mexican and we love to bargin even more!!":) I then told him that I grew up on the market ( traders village), and that my dad was there every weekend! So i know all about it :) Then he asked where I originally came from I said "Texas". Then another man said " Texas Rangers!!" I said yeah and Dallas Cowboys!!! Then the man said "ahh good game last night". We all started laughing, I told him that my sister Ana went to that game and that i was jealous!! In the end all was cool and we had a good chat. I talked him down to 100 shillings for each pair of earrings, which is like $1.50 each!!! Ah yes! Kyran was glad for me but then he felt bad that he was ripped off big time buying an over priced kikoy :) oh well good times good times!!! Ok we shall talk soon, IM actually writing all this from kyrans I phone because we forgot to bring the computer from his parents place. So sorry if the sentences all run together!! Till next time! Love Drea :)
written by  africandre on January 13, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Small World
Nairobi West, Kenya
Howdy!
Well alot has been going on here. Poor ky has been a lol sick. Can't go into details on open Internet But he is better now!!
Seems like Satan is trying his best to challenge us on our 1st few months of being married, first The moving , losing our job then our house and now this. But it's really ok. Jah has never failed me or him so we are completely happy dispite our trials.
We have been keeping busy in service and studying. I love my new hall!! The friends are wonderful and always check on us!
Even the friends back in Nanyuki call often to see how we are doing. :)
IM really building up my service and quality of it. Finding many interested ones. We did business territory the other day and that was good. It had been a while since I wkd business'. I just told the ones I met that I was leaving these with them because perhaps their clients might enjoy reading some of the articles in the awake mag. And for them to look over them and if he or she wanted, I could bring them monthly. It seemed to wk because when we went back they were sitting on the tables in the lobby!!
I find here that so many like Reading the bible. There are missionaries and churches from so many different countries. So it is easy to strike up a conversation with someone. Matter of fact there is a lady sitting next to me reading her bible.
Well I am realizing how small this world really is. One of my friends, Omar, is from tx and a couple of years ago he told me that he wanted to join the chinese group and help them. Well he did and eventually made it his goal to move for a yr to Tiawan to become a need greater and improve on the language. Well seems like yesterday I was at his going away party. He went back to tx and is now in Tiawan again.
Mean time I got married and move to Kenya and meet a sister who has known kyran for a while. She told me that she was moving to tiawan to learn and improve her Chinese to help the group in our hall. I told her that my friend was living there and if she runs into him say hhhiiiii!!
So before she left I e mailed Omar and told him she was going there and that I gave her his info incase she needed. Anyways he wrote me yesterday and said that he went to meeting the other day and met a sister and she told him she was from Kenya. He said he asked her if she knew Andrea and she said yes! He realized she was the one I was telling him about.
So yeah small world! It's great being international! It's part of the beauty of being in Jah's family;)
Well that's all I got for ya now, hope all is good for you guys!
Take care and love from us!!
P.s. Something is wrong with my camera!! Ever since the construction last week it hasn't wked;( so i won't be posting pictures till I get a new one:(
written by  africandre on February 4, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

New Mason Crew
Hi friends!
Well it has been some time since my last blog entry, not much new has happend really.
Been chilling here mostly.
I will tell you about service in the city. Its funny how things are just a little different, for example, when we work the territory we hardly ever knock on doors because every home has a gate guard. So the majority of the people we talk to are men at work. Unless its street work or market service. Usually all the calls have to be turned over to the brothers.
Also, when we write RV's usually we just put the st. and house # right??
Well..I was looking through my RV' book and its funny some of the things you write down to remember. One of my calls says " Mud House with the Tin door" also "House with 100 chickens for sale" and "House next to the Chicken place". Another "House in the middle of no where on the way to the zebras". Its very hard to find #'s for the homes sometimes :)
Anyways.. there is an on going reconstruction of the Langata Assembly hall. They have been working on it forever it seems. Last yr i got to help when they were painting it and now they are doing stone work.
Like i mentioned before, I was on the RBC back in TX and worked on Decking, Sheet-Rock and Dry wall, and had been doing that for a few years. However for some reason last year they put me on the Mason crew, and i was a lil sad at first because i really wanted to be on the roof or inside putting up sheet rock..You know, wearing a tool belt and using power tools!!! But of course I enjoyed working with the bro's and sisters on the Mason crew!!
Well..little did i know how much skill and perfection is involved. And boy am i glad i was paying attention to the instruction! Jah always does think ahead and see's the bigger picture that sometimes we dont see right away. I came all the way to Kenya and found out that i would be needing those very skills!! They are putting up stone around the entire assembly hall. And there are on average about 10 people working at a time.
Sandra (kp's mom) Is the only one who has all the tools for everything pretty much. So if she doesnt go usually no one shows up, its kinda sad.
She is a good worker and together we wk pretty fast. On friday we put stones up on a section of the wall by ourselves and the friends worked behind us grouting and cleanig the stone. I was very proud of the wk!!
I remeber back in 1999 learning how to do stone wk for the first time on the GP Kingdom Hall. I couldnt help but think of the friends who taught me, and how they are still doing the same wk for jah till this day. Those friendships and memories are very special to me!!
I will post some photos of the work we did. (notice them grouting with SPOONS!!)
Oh I forgot to mention, when I showed up to the assembly hall in the morning it had been my first time back in over a year, yet one of the brothers shouted "ANDREA, Is that you!!"
It was so nice to see him. Also the the A overseer's wife came up to me and said "We need SODA" i was like huh?? She said "Yes to celebrate your marriage and that you are back!". Thats their way of celebrating :) awe
Yes it was great to be back. Everyone remembered me and I couldnt help but to feel loved :) For lunch we didnt have the huge trailer of cook's lined up to serve us, rather all 10 of us sat in a circle around a small table outside, behind the Overseers house and had tea, bread and some salad that Sandra made. Oh yes and cake too :)
They have a blackberry tree so i was picking those and eating them,YUUMM
Alrighty folks thats it for now,, Till later
Kwaheri!!
Love drea
P.S.
When doing stone wk, some of the stones were too big, and we dont have the proper tools to cut them, so we had to chisel some of them the old fashioned way! I kept telling myself, "if the Isrealites did it, so can I!!" :)
written by  africandre on January 24, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Where Do I Start?
Hello everyone!!
Long time since I last wrote. IM telling you now I regret it because I don't know where I left off ;(
Well first of all good news, Ky Ky got the job! So that's great news! All thanks goes to Jah for that;) I can't wait to take advantage of the flights!! Ill be coming home soon to visit I hope!!
So we have been enjoying the service alot. Kp n I are having good results in the ministry . Oh and I gave my first part on the school last week ;) everyone said it went well, I was actually a lil nervous??
I have made such good friends here. And they help keep me busy.
A sister in our hall will be getting married soon, guess who they put in charge of games and food!!?? That will be fun. Or nice time like they say here;)
On Saturday there was two sisters from the states visiting and I was working with one of them in service, I told her she got jipped because when she visited bethel the sister who gave her the tour was from Cali ;) and I am from Texas, so she didn't get to work with the Africans ;) But I did get to use my Swahili more. Which by the way IM picking up the language fast. And I know just about the same amount of kikuyu too.
I was telling some of you that I learned how to say a funny version of Michael Jacksons "Dont Stop Till you Get Enough" it goes like this " Cha, Chaza kwa stepu, usimuka nyage mwenzio" lol you have to say it fast like the song and it's pronouced the way it is written ;) it literally means "watch out when you dance , don't step on your companion" lol or something like that ;)
The other night we had some friends around for dinner. If course I made Mexican food. They now sell Old El Paso food so we have salsa tacos tortilla enchiladas and even re fried beans!! I feel at home now ;)
Well last night we went out for "Soul Night" dancing. That was fun. Kp says he wants to go salsa dancing again which makes me happy!!!
As for me working IM still doing good. Been keeping busy doing hair! Changing lives!! Lol just messing;)
There was a sister visiting from Russia for a few weeks. We spent alot of time together. She was staying with her unbeliving relatives which I got to meet. IM hoping to start a study with the daughter soon ;)
Switching subjects, every Tuesday night they show last seasons Show " so you think you can dance" I love it!!!! A bit behind but it's ok, it's ok ;)
I have been going for walks just about everyday. It's so nice! And I usually end up at a friends house ;) today I walked to Toy Market. (traders village) and took one of my dresses with me that is too big. I was just going to see if someone like a vendor would by it off me, didn't expect anyone would but just wanted to give it a try! Well I found a man who sells dresses and instead of buying it he traded it with a newer one;) so I got a new dress !! Free too ;)
Kyran has been keeping himself busy with wood work. He re did a table for his mom. It's coming out really nice! My lil builder!! And he has been helping out alot at the construction site ;)
well I have more stories but it's getting late so I will close for now. I will write again SOON this time ;)
Till then yal take care!
written by  africandre on March 22, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Memorial/Weekend
Habari!
Una Furahia Kingereza au Swahilli??
"Do you prefer English or swahilli?" that's a phrase IM using quite often in service. We had such a good time passing out the memorial invites. :) our Congo took advantage of letter writing. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, we always talk to the guard. This time jah really blessed our efforts. A few people actually let us in to wk door to door ;)and those who wouldn't let us in agreed to hand out letters to the tenants if we left them with the envelopes!! A couple of times we got kicked out.
We had 150 at the memorial. We expected more but because it rained I think it prevented alot from coming. Most folks here really can't drive in rain!!
We arrived at the facility where it was held and there was no electricity so it was completely dark !!! Brothers scrambled to get the generator working. They managed to get a light on so that the brother giving the talk could see ;) so we all sat in the dark, it was an interesting experiance!! I managed to get in 2 pix of me n kyran so il post them on snapfish soon ;)
Last weekend there was a wedding shower for a sister in our hall. I didn't get to stay long because we had made plans with a family in our hall that same evening. But the shower turned out nice, I got to be in charge of games even though I wasn't there :)
The family took all the Pot's out bowling ;) I was surprised that the ally was nice, it reminded me of main event! After a game they invited us to dinner at this really good Indian restaurant. Ky had told me that you know it's good Indian if you smell like it after.. Let's just say it was good lol!! Gross I know
The family had said they took us out to welcome us girls in to the new congregation. So sweet!!!!
Other than that all else is good. Sorry been slacking on keeping up with this blog!!
My beautiful friends in Nanyuki still call often just to say they love n miss us! IM really missing my old hood!!! ;) I hope we can visit them soon.
Kyran and I are enjoying this month of April, because he starts working in may and I know he will be busy!!So just enjoying it while we can.
Ok I have another small story but i will put it in the next blog post so this won't be too long to read;)
We miss jelly ana jerry n amie!!! And all you friends!!!
written by  africandre on April 5, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Live From Kenya
I hate when I write something, an entire entry and erase it by mistake!!! Ahhh!!!
IM watching the history channel about space. It's very interesting. I now know the difference between dark energy and dark matter and somewhat how it works:)
Last Thursday me and kyran were invited for lunch at bethel. We had fish greens and ugali ( I think that's how it is spelled) a traditional african dish. It was really good!! After lunch the sister gave me a peak of what work she does. Pasting pictures in the magazines, appropriate for different parts of africa. It was really neat.
I haven't written much in a while because not alot is going on. I been working with different friends in the hall getting to know everyone. I worked last week with a sister in the Chinese group. I placed one tract ;) my presentation went something like this:
" Woe jao Andrea, woe sung gay ni" which translated means: "my name is andrea, I have something to give you" ;)
Well we won't be joining the group anytime soon but I don't mind working the territory every now and then. After all, I was in the Lao group before so we are practically kin folks!! ;)
Oh good news, IM officially part of the Congo !! They welcomed me last night at the meeting. Took 3 months but it was nice! One sister told me: " so now you are Kenyan ! What tribe do you wanna be from?" then jokingly I said "Kikuyu!! Mwega jitagua, Nigwede te munu!!!!" which translated from kikuyu means" how are you? I love you too much" ;) i just said the few words I knew ;)
This past weekend I went with a few sisters into town as they say. A Couple of them are in an up coming wedding so we went to see the dresses! It was fun. I told them it reminded me of planning my wedding and how if I could do it again I would!! ;)
Later on we went to this Ethiopian restaurant. And man was it yyyyuuuu mmmeee!! It was nice hanging with the sisters out side of the meeting and service. This cong isn't known for having many "get to gethers" so that was a good day :)
Speaking of get togethers me and another sister are throwing one in a couple of weeks. She and I came up with the idea when we were in service. I told her I had some clothes I wanted to get rid of and if she knew anyone who could use them. Then I was like, why don't we have a "clothes swapping party" for the sisters??!
Everyone thinks it's a good idea, also since some of the sisters in our hall live in bethel, it works out so that no money has to be spent. I think most sisters like to give and receive clothes so everyone is excited about it. I already made the invites. I'll let ya know how it turns out!! ;)
One last thing, last week before the in -laws went to the states, me and sandra were out and she told me " Andrea, I want you to hear this song! I love the beat it's so cool"!!
And this is what came on: sssssnnnnnooooooooooppp! Drop it like it's hot drop it like it's hot!!!
Lol I nearly fell out the car laughing ! Too cute and funny!!
Ahh ok well IM about to watch a movie with my sis in-law.
Till next time!!
Love and miss you all
Drea
written by  africandre on February 17, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

The Jr. Pot's
Today at the meeting Sandra and Me had the same comment in mind, so he 1st called on Potgieter Senior and then Potgieter JR :) Wait till Amie comes to visit, ther will be Jr, 2nd 3rd and Sienna makes 4th!!
Well lots has been going on. This new hall is so nice. Since we have been here we have been kindly invited to many of the friends houses for dinner. One family invited us to their retirement home which is about an hour away from Nairobi.
The place was really nice. They live here in the city but their house is in the country. They designed it and built it themselves. We ate so much. When we arrived they served us a huge plate of veggies, rice, githeri and lamb. Then out came a plate of fruit and they said " this is just the appitizer!! We were soo stuffed already!! The brother was outside grilling a lamb.
Mean time she brought us drinks while we sat in front of the fire place. That day was cold. They showed us around their land. They dont have to leave the house much. They have cows so milk is provided all the time. They grow potatos carrots and peas. We got to pick our own & came home with 10 pounds of carrots!!!!!
We are making a carrot cake tomorrow!!
Last saturday a couple invited us over. Ah the food was soooo good, it was chinese food. At first i thought we were going to eat raw food! Then as we all sat down they turned up these boiling pots that were in the middle of the table and they just started throwing in food!! We had shrimp crab and fish with all the trimmings. Its crazy how they boil everything. Even sea weed, melon and lettuce. Surprisingly enough it was really good. The association was good aswell. A couple who serve as C0's were there too. We had met them last yr when i was here so it was a good reunion!
Later we had some good blueberry ice cream, and flower tea. There was real flowers in the tea!
Then just a few days ago there was a bro visiting our hall from Germany bethel. He and Kyran hit it off good. We liked him alot and plan to visit him. Now we have 10 friends to visit in Germany!
So we have been doing lots of entertaining and getting to know the friends in our hall :)
This friday we went out with some friends to this nice hotel and there they had a live salsa band playing!! guess how happy i was!! I requested the song "sama rew" by Africando, its the same song that the wedding dancers performed at our wedding. It was so much fun!!
Kp is doing really good in his service. Says he plans to aux pioneer soon.
Well thats all for now. Its been raining alot!!!!!
OH OH OH I almost forgot, Kenya is moving up in the world. We went to Nakumat, which is THE grocery store and found they now have Old El Paso taco shells, soft tortillas, salsa, cheese dip and yes oh yes JALAPENOS! Alas They arrive! Now i can happily live comfortably in Kenya forever!! lol well not 4 ever but you know what i mean ;)
Hope you all are well. Miss you all much

Nyeri
So this past weekend we had a nice get a way.
There is a new bethel extention in the city of Nyeri. That's about 3 hours from here and 1 hour from "My shags" as they say, Nanyuki :)
Its a pretty large house that they are remodeling to use as a translation office. We were givin permission to go help this weekend. Me and Kyran went with a couple of friends. And some of our friends from nanyuki showed up to meet us there! That was a nice surprise.
I told some of you that it has been my dream to become an International servant, so to be able to help with this construction is like a dream come true! Now I need to set new goals :)
When we arrived they put me and another sister in charge of the painting. Then not too long after we were done, the brother kindly asked if we could help with lunch. I didn't mind but I thought it was funny because I always considered that to be ' a sisters job' :) but its all for jah so its ok!
After lunch I went outside and saw some sisters plowing the yard. Man! That is tough physical work! These mamas have some serious strength. They asked me and kp to try it and not too long after that we couldn't do it anymore. The older sisters showed us up big time!
After that intense labor, the brother asked if I wouldn't mind cooking dinner! That took forever! There was about 17 people to feed which isn't bad, but they were having problems with the electricity.
I ended up making the chicken which was a hit! Everyone loved it! And another sister made chips, (fries).
There was a few visitors from the Nairobi bethel along with their friends, so they helped too.
People here love dairy. They eat it and drink it. Even fermented milk and yogurt mixed with sugar! Gross! I can't do it but to everyone else its a delicacy.
Later on in the evening after dinner, the friends said they wanted to take us to this small joint. So I was imagining something small and ragged. But it was nice! They took us to this local hotel. And they had a huge screen outside showing the futbol game on the lawn and every table had its own pot of fire to keep them warm.
Its was really nice. Unlike the states we don't have sports bars to go to if we wanna watch a game. So the bros really really liked it! Matter of fact we are planning another small trip there in July, and we will bring more friends from my congo and have a bbq.
Well back at the home, me and kp had our own room away from the house. It was cute. Only thing I had to deal with was that there was no shower head, just a bath tub. Also there was only a little bit of hot water so we had to shower using a basin! Lol
I had never done that before, it was so funny. KY had to pour water on me, I told him ' it feels like I'm in a consentration camp.' I know, it sounds bad and probably isn't even like that, but it just was such a wired feeling. Always a 1st for everything !
They kept telling me that IM so american! That's they way the majority of kenya bathes!
Ahh, good times.
So, the plan for Sunday was to drive back to Nairobi for the late meeting. Well when we woke up no one was home! Only our car group was there. Everyone had went to their meetings. But they were so nice and had breakfast prepared for us sitting on the table! Pancakes !
We didn't want to leave while they were gone, so we decided to have our own meeting after breakfast. And atleast we did, because they don't have English meetings in Nyeri.
Then to say thank you, me and Sylvia made a cake! It turned out great except that we put the icing on too soon. I'll send the photos on snapfish, you will notice it all melted away!
But when everyone got back to the house they loved the cake! Kenyans don't bake lots of cake so its always a treat.
So later on we had to say our goodbyes, took lots of pictures of course. The city is so pretty ! Did I mention that already?
We drove on the bumpy roads all the way home. I miss paved roads that's all I gotta say.
When your driving you see quite a lot of interesting things. Like men trying to sell fish, huge fish on the side of the road. With no ice, lake or river within 100miles in sight! Lol!
The only picture I managed to get was of a donkey. We took a pic of it!
Anyways, that's the story for now!
I'll have more news next week, I'm going to eldoret on friday:)
Ok take care!
Mwa! Love yal!
Kwaheri , Drea
written by  africandre on June 22, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

In The Hood
That's where I was today!
Remember I had told you before about 'toy market' ? The place I get good deals and clothes for like$4.
Well some sisters had told me about this one place in town where all the vendors get their stuff from. Directly from the ships that come in from the UK and States. And so the clothes are super cheap. 2nd hand of course but still veRy good!
So me and Sandra were excited to join the friends who were going today. They told us to dress down not to bring our phones and not to wear jewelry.
When we arrived into that area of town it was such a drastic change of environment. It was unimaginable the kind of conditions these people live in. The roads were so dark and muddy and the buildings very run down. That area is where most of the refugees from Somalia all live.
We parked at the offices where one of the brothers works. He is a dentist, and apparently Somalians like the Chinese, and he is so he has one of his offices right smack dab in the middle of that place.
He had one of his workers take us around. When we were walking it was such an interesting experience. You probably have seen on tv the markets in china Thai land or India where there are bags and bags of spices on the streets for sale. It looked just like that but really run down. They had everything from henna to wood and even rocks for sale!
There was a man making brooms. It was just a really neat thing to see. It reminded me of when I was in Mexico, all the shops of clothes and material.
Well me and Sandra we're disappointed to find out that the shops we went to were actually whole sale vendors! All new stuff. Lol
It was a Lil funny because the local friends were there wanting to buy new stuff for 400 shillings for clothes which is a really good price, and here these 2 mzunguz Sandra and i were wanting to pay like 20 or 30shillings for used clothing!
We went to a different place!
But all in all it was a great experience! Way cheaper than the stores. Its just hard paying 800 shillings for a dress when I can bargan at toy market for 200!!!!
Well we had lost half of the group by the end of the day. Good thing the tour man was with us! He was telling us about the culture and giving us such a good tour. There was so much to see. Lots of nice perfume bottles form India. He said the local Somalian dish is rice and pasta.
Oh, here you see a wild man every now n then yelling in the streets some random bible text. Well there was this older man doing just that, and when Sandra passed by he said "you , woman every head of woman is man." then kept rambling on about how she should have a head covering. There all the women except the Africans had a head covering.
When we got back to our cars we stopped in to see the brother. He has just one room so we all sat inside. While we were waiting for the other friends to come back I was telling him that I was worried about my teeth because I haven't been able to find my retainer! Then he told me he would make me one! So I just got on the chair while everyone watched and he made impressions of my teeth. They will be done tomorrow ! Yay! Random huh?
Anyway that was a good and long day. I would love to take yal there just to get the experience. The brothers said that most of the people who live in kenya have never even seen that part of town.
On a different subject, the other day I went upstairs to introduce myself to our neighbors, do you remember I had told you I met a man from TX? Well I wanted to meet his wife and give her my card. I saw that she was cooking and I said , where did you get those fried onions!!!!!
Well they had just got back from visiting ft worth and brought back a bunch of food! She showed me all the corn tortillas in her freezer! I was so jealous cus I been craving flautas!
I told her that I been wanting to learn how to make them from scratch so she loaned me her tortilla maker thing. I went home and attempted to but it didn't work out too well. They don't have the yellow corn meal here. I made too much dough so I had no choice but to finish making these gross half corn half flour wanna be tortillas. :(
Then I thought to myself 'why don't I try making chips!' So I cut them all up and put them in the oven. I had just happen to make salsa verde the day before so I thought what the hec i may as well try it!
Mean time, since I had a mess everywhere I thought to make doughnuts! But like the old fashion ones. I mixed flour eggs a Lil water and sugar and made small doughnuts. I fried them like my grandma use to do, and then put sugar and cinnamon on them! The first batch wasn't cooked right in the middle but th 2nd ones came out good.
Then I remembered about the chips in the oven. I almost broke my teeth trying to bite one. Oh well... Thank goodness I'm the only one who eats that kind of stuff in this house. :)
Last night we forgot to buy bread, so like a wife in ancient times I went into the kitchen and made some myself! I mixed flour milk eggs and the left over sugar and cinnamon and made swirls. Then layed them on the tray and put sugar and butter. Everyone loved them!!!!! I'm so proud of myself!!!!!!! They really were good even the day after. :)
Those are some of the things I do to keep myself occupied.
Oh one more thing I found to be kinda funny, you know in TX you sometimes see the Mexican men standing around the corner waiting for job opportunitys?
Well here instead of men, you see a bunch of women with their apron on and scarf of the head sitting around waiting for someone who is looking for a house help. :)
Ok well I gotta rest now, have early service Kesho! Tomorrow!
Till next time!
Aka nyagothe! :)
(very common not so very pretty kikuyu name I was given by an African Sis who I now call. Josefina Petra Maria!!)
written by  africandre on April 5, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

David & Dolores
That's what some of the friends call us here. For Some its hard to pronounce kyrans name so they call him by his middle name David and when they found out my middle name is Dolores well then it became funny!
Ah anyways, this weekend was nice. A Sis in our hall got married yesterday. It was our 1st wedding to attend as a married couple. It was nice sitting in the audience together! The brother gave an excellent talk. I got to do the updo for one of my friends who was in the wedding :) yay 1st wedding updo here!
It was at the hall and pretty much done in the same manner as in the states. Except for that a lot of the friends got on stage as they were exchanging rings just to take a picture, that was rude, but no one seemed to mind ?? Oh well :)
The reception was in a big hall. Usually african receptions are done outside so for them it was really nice!
Our table was really fun. It was the newly wed table. There was no assigned seating but it happened that all 8 of us were the newly weds in our hall :) the oldest couple had been marred a year And the youngest was Marcus and Lily 6 weeks. So we had a good time just talking about everything. We all could relate to eachother :) one of the. Couples invite all for dinner on friday so it will be fun to hang out again :)
Well as for the reception things are done a bit different than what I'm use to. For example there is a reception and and evening party. @the reception you have the dinner speech a tiny!!! Tiny bite of cake if any and that's about it. The brother says a prayer and then people can make their way home.
It isn't untill the evening party where your told at the reception if your invited to That they have the 1st dance and music. Its held later in the night and there is where the party begins.
So I thought that was different. I would think it would be nice for everyone to dance but its just not the way its done here.
However it was cool in the beginning, as everyone waited for the bride n groom to come to the reception we had already started eating. And when they arrived we heard these african noises coming from outside. It was the family of the couple. They all parade inside together dancing with the couple walking on front. They were singing songs and dancing.
Later on one of the family members got up and sang a song in the native language. Then all the family from both sides started singing and dancing. It was a farewell song. Then we told the friends at our table that this is exactly what they show on tv to us in the states. And this is why we think that all Africans sing and dance around a fire! Lol it was a real African wedding.
So we only got to dance one song. They invited all the sisters to get up and dance. That was fun.
We didn't stay for the evening party because we were tired and had meeting for next day.
Old and married now huh? :)
Well that was my weekend,one of my friends was in town for the wedding so we spent time with some friends today and learned how to make custard!
KY says hi to you all! And hope your all doin good!
His mom told me that when he was 2 he couldn't pronounce his name so he use to call himself Kynanin! So now I call him Kynanin!!!! :)
That all for now guys! Take care
written by  africandre on April 12, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Eldoret
Eldoret, Kenya
So we opened the news paper today and we see Sandras house in the news paper!
A sister in one of the congregations is a journalists for a news paper. She does the home decor section and I had told her about sandras house. Its decorated seashore beach theme.
So she loved it! And she did a great job in her story. :) it even mentioned that her son (kyran) made the living room table :)
Moving along... Last weekend I went to Eldoret to visit my friend. Eldoret is north of the equator near the rift vally. Its a really beautiful town.
I went with some sisters in my hall who are also good friends of hers. The drive took5 hours but of course when you are in good company time flies.
It started raining once we passed Nakuru so their wasn't much to see. But it was kinda cool driving in the clouds up the mountains! I don't know how high we were but the equator is 9100feet so we were 2 hours higher :)
We reached Eldoret and parked the car at a shop. Soon as the sister turned off the car this man opens her door! He was a mentally challenging person begging for money. So we Locked the doors right away!
Later on we had good fun at the sisters house. For me it was a different experience than what I'm used to but a nice one.
I helped cook dinner but she had no stove or microwave. I had to use a tiny gas cooker. It takes longer to make dinner that way. But no complaints!
The next day we went to the view point by the rift valley. it was sooooo breath taking. You could see mountains in the distance for miles and miles! You know a camera never does it justice, especially mine! We spent a few hours there and took lots of photos. We even got to witness and share a scripture with some people on the mountain.
Later on we went to a coffee house to eat and watch the futbol game. It was Japan and new Zealand I think.
By the time we finished eating it was too late to go see the waterfalls!!!! I was soo sad! Thats all I wanted to see! And my friend of course :)
So we went home grabbed our watchtowers and went to a park and studied together.
Next day we went to the meeting and that was nice. The sign language group meets at their hall and the sister we visited is in that group. So we got to meet with them.
When it was time for watchtower the microphones we're not working so we had to make do.
As it is everywhere in the world, the friends were so sweet. I met one Bro and as soon as I saw him I was like "I know you!" turns out we know his brother who lives in bethel and just happened to be in Nyeri with us last weekend. Small world huh!
They wanted to take us out to eat but time was running out and we had to head home before dark.
The drive on the way back was soooo beautiful! We drove back a different way. Through Nivasha, if you look up" Hells Gate" you can see pictures. Mt Longonot is part of the scenery too! I had climbed that mountain or extinct volcano last time I was in kenya :) ah! It was so nice!
We had stopped in Nivasha and met my friends cousin. We had some dinner. That was good kwa sababu (because) we were starving! You know how it is when you travel you don't eat good. So that was a good, we needed it.
We were driving and reached 40 miles outside of Nairobi and the Sis who was driving said "the car isn't accelerating" so I told her to pull over right away! We ran out of gas!
The Gage was reading half full so we didn't bother. We even said earlier that we were surprised how good the car runs on fuel!
Anyways, it was getting dark so one of the girls made a quick decision to walk to the nearest gas station. Keep in mind that we are on a highway!
So we waited for her in the car, and said a prayer and soon as we finished the police arrived and set up their station about a hundred yards in front of us! They usually do that and pull over random cars. So it was definitely a blessing!
Kenya can be very dangerous at night!!!!!
Anyway the Sis came back and we didn't have a funnel so we used a note, money bill, to pour in the gas. I had a good flash light and that really came in handy but i didn't carry a knife, which we needed to cut a bottle.
Anyway it all wked out well!
I guess as many of you have read before, nothing ever goes perfect but its always an adventure and good for a story :) will send pictures soon! ;)
We calculated that we would have made it back to Nairobi had we not went to the view point in Eldoret. Which means, it only cost us 40bucks to fill the car about 35 liters! That's a 10hour drive to and from on one tank!
So we eventually made it home!
And that was that! Good fun!
Still doing swahill classes. its going good!
I been experimenting with chocolate, iv made chocolate covered peanuts, almonds and espresso beans! They taste just like the ones you get @ Starbucks! I even made chocolate coverd Fruit! I might start making them and selling them :)
Next story will be about our trip to Mombasa !
Till then, kwaherini!
Love, drea and ky ky
GO USA!!!! ...Mexico Argentina& Brazil!!!
written by  africandre on June 25, 2010 from Eldoret, Kenya

Mother & Daughter-In-Law Adventures Part2
Sunday was a wet rainy day. Its was perfect for sleeping in. However the meeting we wanted to attend was 40min away so didn't have much time to be lazy.
We went to the Bamburi Cong. It was the last cong that Kyran and his family attended before moving to Nairobi. Like I mentioned before Kyran couldn't come with us on this vacation because he has training in London. But it was really nice to meet the friends in his old Hall.
When the friends introduced themselves to me they asked me where I was from and asked why i was visiting. Then Sandra told them I was her daughter- in- law. They were so happy and shocked! They finally met Lil KY KY's wife! It felt like what i imagine an animal feels like when humans stare in amazement at it LOL!! The friends were so nice!!! They want to do a BBQ on the beach!
Oh so I mentioned it was raining hard! Well the roof of the hall is made out of tin. So we could hardly hear anything. They happened to have the CO visit and for his talk it wasn't too bad but he had to speak loudly.
For the watchtower study it wasn't so easy, we had to almost yell out into the microphones just to hear each other. The conductor told us to pause a few times for almost 10min at a time because it was pointless to comment when we couldn't even hear anything.
The roof leaked so that was interesting.
After the meeting was over, of course the rain stopped! To get out of the parking lot was a challenge. Part of the entrance was swept away. So the brothers kindly threw rocks in the water in attempt to make a path. Well we somehow missed the ramp to cross over and sort of sunk into the muddy water :(
I'll send photos later.
We were soaked. Sandra took me to this restaurant called Yul's. Its a nice place just off the coast. Reminded me of those seafood restaurants off the coast of Miami beach Galveston South Padre and places like that.
Its was wonderful except for the rain. I kept imagining that a Tsunami would come! The waves were big!
Anyway lunch was good, I ate the BEST hamburger that I have ever had in my entire life. In Dallas my dad use to take us to this amazing burger joint with the best fries. But now, this place tops it off by far! Ironically they named it TEXAS Rocker Cheese Burger!!!! Yeah ya!
After that nice lunch we went back to Kilifi and spent more time with grandma.
For dinner we made prawns and sauce. its all about food
Don't know which Meal was off but I had an upset tummy. Quickly took some Anti's and now i feel better!
Now off to study and lala (sleep)
Take care! Love drea
written by  africandre on July 31, 2010 from Mombasa, Kenya

To The Ends Of The Earth :)
Its time for a vacation. I like it here but I'm really missing the food! I want a star bucks iced vanilla latte with extra vanilla and whip easy on the ice! Mc Donalds #1. Hot wings from wing stop, flautas from Tejanos Mexican restaurant and mint chocolate chip ice cream on a REAL waffle cone!!
I'm not pregnant!! Lol but I do have my cravings! There are a few places here to get fast food but the variety is limited and in no way close to good as I'm use to :)
Speaking of fast food iv been having this desire to make a homemade pizza from scratch. I got all the ingredients I need. I was going to make it the other day but after a long day traveling to the ends of the earth in service I was too tired.
What was funny is that the couple I mentioned before that was having a bunch of us over for dinner made pizza for us! I even got to make one at her house. So that desire has been satisfied. Now I want to make a cheese stuffed crust this week. Yum!
Well service keeps getting Better and better. I love certain parts of the territory especially. I mentioned I went to the ends of the earth, that just happened to be close by. I went with a Sis on some calls. We took a few small buses to get there walked and walked for miles it seems in the mud and got rained on a bit. We climbed up and down a small slipery hill. As always its worth it. We stayed 2hours and waited about 30min after for the rain to stop. I'm having to get use to this mud!
I wish I had taken my camera. The view was nice. There were fields of veggies in the distance.
The sis who took me felt bad for having me go through all of that. Then i started telling her about ALL the crazy situations iv been in. Car breaking down, losing keys n the mountain @ midnight, being stranded with Kyran and Marcus with no place to sleep, getting stuck in the game park, on the mountain, the fire at 3am so on and so on.. She said she felt 100% better, this was nothing!!!!!!
Yesterday we worked a small part of kibera. That's the biggest slum in kenya by the way. Of course I never take my camera in there. That's another place I would take some of you just so you can say that you went into the deepest of kenya.
We found interest in there. 2 people said that they would like their own bible study.
We saw some kids that were standing on the shoulders of the the other and we were wondering what they we're doing. On the houses there are these tiny tiny air holes or squares. And in them are birds nests. So that's what they were looking for, taking the birds and the nests! I don't think they were gonna eat them, but I told them that now they have to find food for them. Poor birds. I took a couple of pix with my camera phone. I'll see if I can put them on the comp.
After service we went home to do some letter writing. Kyran was so sweet! He made tea and 2 pans of brownies for everyone and just waited on us replenishing the tea and water so we wouldn't have to disturb our service :)
Today some friends came by for some tea and cake. Man iv never had so much sweets in one weekend! A Sis is here visiting her fam from UK. She was supposed to leave friday but is delayed because of the ash in the air coming from the volcano in Iceland. Crazy stuff huh?
Anyways that was my weekend:)
So what do I say in service now? No invitations to hand out for the special talk. Its always sad when a campaign ends. :(
Well congrats to my Bro in law Jeremy ! Its Almost graduation day in may! ;)
Take care yal!
Hasta la next time!! Kwaheri ;D

Fashion Show
Friday night was pretty cool.
A sister in our hall works for a clothing store called Kaché by Angie.
And they were going to have a fashion show held at the house of the Spanish ambassador. So the sister managed to get us some tickets.
I wasn t sure what to expect really but I was definitely curious to find out! It was obviously going to be a formal event but wasn t sure how formal, I mean it is Africa after all :) I told kyran I was going to either be way over dressed or blend in ok :)
It was fun dressing up for the first time in 5months! Lol. I did my hair and Lilys too. We were saying how sad it was that this was a Big event we were looking forward too :)
But actually it turned out to be very nice. As you saw in the pictures we had a good time. We arrived and parked on the lawn which was huge! When we entered the house we were greeted with a red rose and a hand bag with a few things in it.
We walked straight into the back yard and there was lights and tents and people. We were escorted to a covered patio where they served drinks and a few snacks.
Then the show started, it didn t rain during the catwalk thank goodness. And it went by pretty fast. I told the sister I am totally signing up to model next show if they let me! Lol why not aye??!
That was pretty much it, they played Spanish music in the back round which was nice to hear for a change!
After that the group of us went out to eat. We were all dressed up so formal n fancy with our smart looking hubbys!
On Saturday me and kp just chilled, a couple stopped by to say hello. Peter came back from his training in south Africa and we caught up with him.
Oh and I m back into the drawing mode! I decided to start making a collection for our home. I hardly have any of my art work for myself since I always give them away or sell them. I am drawing the picture in the bible teach book of the angel guarding daniel. I ll be done with it tomorrow ! Then off to my next project :)
That s pretty  much it, yesterday the Pots got together to play a game of monopoly, I hadn t played it in years! I tell ya, its a game that emotions are involved. You get excited frustrated mad and competitive. I was very surprised that I actually won! Yay! But we played again today and me n kp were the last left in the game, he won :( oh well
That s all I got 4ya! Life here in the mother land is quite chilled.
Till next time! Love you all!

Good News(old story forgot to post)
So I have great news, Ky just started work with KQ!! We are so happy!
5months without a job seems like a long time, but we have kept so busy in the ministry that time has passed by sooo fast! Not everyone has a 5 month long honeymoon together without having to work!!! So we enjoyed it while it lasted
We had our 2 day assembly this past weekend. As I wrote to some of you already it was AMAZING!
The program was really nice. It was my first actual assembly here. It was also nice to see the work we had done on the building during construction. They have a new project coming up in june. They will be putting up new toilets in the womans section.
Have i mentioned to you before that when they first installed the restrooms that some people would steal the seat covers?!!!!!!!!! THATS SOOO GROSS!! They dont comprehend germs and bacteria they cant see!
Anyways, So i have been busy doing hair. I have met a lady who is a makeup artist here in kenya. She is considered one of the best. She has a great resume and she has created her own makeup brand that will be launched in Aug. She has been really kind and referred me to her clients. She does all the mag covers and makeup for those in the beauty section for various african mag’s. So she has already booked me in to help her do some shoots in june! Im so excited. She said she will probably train me to do makeup which im super happy to learn!
I will keep you posted on how that goes 
Speaking of learning, the district overseers wife has arranged and volunteered to give an informal class of kswahilli.We start next week. Im already learning so much on my own and im so eager to learn more!!!
Im trying to keep myself busy in as many spiritual activities as i possibly can. Helps fill in time and keep me focused..
Oh im obviously horrible in remembering what i wrote in the past and to lazy to go back and re read my last blogs  but what i have been doing on some of my free time is going in to the market of Toy, and since i know so many people there now, i have been able to wheel and deal!! For example, i took 3 blouses and tried to trade for different ones. It worked!! Thus far i have traded about 20 tops 5 skirts 2 dresses 2 pairs of shoes and 3pairs of earrings!! LOL
I can actually go in there with no cash and come with new things  its pretty fun. Some sisters ask me to go with them now since i seem to know the place better than them! LOL thats crazy, iv only been here since January! Whats even more interesting is that the vendors trust me so much that if i dont have money at that moment i can take the stuff anyways because they know i will come back to pay or trade!!
Good times good times
So yeah, i sent yal some pictures of when we went bowling last week. That was fun getting together with the friends. We are having a small get together over the weekend at this park i have never been to. Should be fun. Im enjoying spending time with the friends eve more now that Kyran is busy working.
Kp says hiiiii! He is busy studying for his ATPL (airline transport pilot licence) mean time going through training at wk. Busy man!
I often have to remind myself of how easy i have it not having to wk full time any more!!
Well i have a couple of small trips coming up soon. Kyran will have to go to the UK to do a couple weeks of training. I cant go with him  so im going with sandra and a couple from bethel to Mombasa, the coast off the indian ocean. Im also going to visit my friend in Eldoret. Look it up on the map and thats where im going
Nweza kukuonyesha andiko?? Thats means: “can i show you a scripture”
LOL i say that, take them to a text and thats as far as i am in my presentation!! I still need my partner to explain the text! Haha...baby steps
Thats all i got 4 ya folks!! Big Hugs and kisses!!
written by  africandre on May 20, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

A New Story
Yesterday I ressurrected my carpentry skills! I made a shelf for the restroom. Sandra had some wood so i used that. It was nice using a saw and electric sander again! You know how they sell those book shelfs at wall mart and target and all you have to do is put them together? well i actually cut all the pieces and sanded them and put them together myself. I put a base coat and just waiting on that that to dry.
It looks pretty sweet. Its 50 centimeters X60. I will take a photo of it when it is finished!
On sunday we had a good time after the meeting. A sister from our hall invited a bunch from the hall to her house. She hosted the C/O and she just happens to be a cater, so, the food was good!
Some other missionaries were there too which was nice because they will be heading to their new assignment next week. Sudan! I'll miss them. I met them last year when I came an we have kept in touch since then.
On sunday kyrans bible study came to the meeting for the 1st time! I was so happy! I had actually met him a long time ago, he is a barber so it was easy to witness to him. Kyran took over the study and now he is progressing so well!
Another study came too. Sandras bible study, she is one of those who all the friends know and have met before. So we were all so happy! She even brought 2 friends with her.
Well Thursday was my first day of work. :) its for a talk show.
Its fun I get to sit in the dressing room all day for 2 days a week. Waiting back stage and checking if I need to make touch ups on her hair while on the set.
I took the Boda Boda home! That's a motor bike :) I usually take a matatu, small 14 seater bus. But there is a long stretch from the building to the main road were there are no matatus and its not safe to walk.
Anyway I asked him to take me to the main road then I was like well why not to the bus stop, then I was like what the hec why not home we are almost there! So it was a 1st time for me. Least I can say I tried it!
This past week we have had the visit of our circuit overseer. I worked with his wife yesterday. The pioneer meeting went great!
As usual, he brought out something deep from the bible. The part we coverd was John chapter4. And it was neat how he had it read. He asked a brother to play the part of Jesus and a sister to read the part of the Smaratian woman.
So the narrative part was cut out.
So that was a good meeting needless to say.
Kyran has been enjoying his training! He is going to London next month for a simulator course. We have a couple of friends who live there so he will get in touch with them!
Since I can't go with him, I'll go to the coast in mombasa.
Oh, so remember I told ya that the district overseers wife is giving me swahilli lessons? Its funny because she is Canadian and there are4 of us she is teaching, one is from Ethiopia, Argentina and 2 Mexicans from America taking swahill lessons from a Canadian who lives in kenya!
Only jehovahs people ay!
We went over grammer and its been helpful already. Iv been able to pick up on what people are saying. Even today while we were in service i learned so much!
Oh so i almost forgot. I was in service and I noticed that there were alot of cops and security gaurds. Turns out that the vice president of US was in that car we just walked past! Ha! I wish i had my camera with me at that moment.
Thats all for now. take care!
Ok, nakwenda sasa!
written by  africandre on June 8, 2010 from Nairobi West, Kenya

Habari Zenu!
Nairobi Hill, Kenya
Hola!
So not very much has happened since last blog.
I'm really enjoying work. Get to meet lots of interesting people. I met a local singer named Jua Cali. He was interviewed on the show. Also a few others but I have forgotten their names.
Oh it was funny because they interviewed a country singer from Nashville named BigKen? Yeah ??
But it was a big deal to have a cowboy here in kenya! Lol also it was nice to hear the country accents and hearing them say "yal"
So today I was in service with a sis and we had such a nice time, I forgot to pack a lunch so by 2pm I was starving!we stopped at a place where they make sandwhiches so we ate there and I wanted to save the rest for later.
So as we are walking a young kid comes up to me and asked me for money. I told him I didn't have any and sorry. Then he asked for my sandwhich!! I said " you know where I come from it's very rude to ask someone to eat their food for them".
Not a min later another kid stops me and asked for money and I told him " if I give you this what am I going to eat?" then he asked for Money and I told him the same as the other kid that Its very rude to ask.
30 seconds later a MAN signals with his hands to his mouth that he wants my food! Ok keep in mind these are not people begging on the side of the road these are people walking around like us!
I said to him " come here, what is your name? So and so , how can you ask me for food when you see that it's mine?" then he mumbles that it's better to ask than to steal " I was like yes that's true but where I come from it's very very rude and disrespectful to ask someone to give them food . You think because Im a mzungu ( White person) that I am rich and have money to give away! What will I eat? You give me money and I will give you this sandwhich!!!"
I was so mad by then, I told that sister " someone else just please ask me again and il stick my hand out to them and say ' Miamoja na kumi'" that means : "100.10 shillings " ($1.50) that's how much it cost and wud show my recipt!! Lol aye yay ay!!! That sister was mad too
I must say, I'm having an adventure here. Its nice especially since I get bored fast and like keeping active!
Swahilli class is going well. Who would have thought that I could EVER read this :
'Wadudu wakali Hawa wanatafuta wanyama Wale.'
That means "these fierce bugs are looking for those animals" (as in to eat)
Or how about : Watoto wadogo wazuri wachache Hawa.
Which means "these few small children"
Yes! It is amazing. We are learning proper Kiswahilli
Kp is excited because he is going to London in 2weeks for his training! We have some friends there that will show him around and get in touch with bethel to help him locate the nearest kingdom hall.
Well that is it for now. Had a long day in service and need to rest up a bit!
Till next time! GO Spain!!!!!
written by  africandre on July 10, 2010 from Nairobi Hill, Kenya

Macedonia / Convention 2010
A few weeks ago our cong was assigned to seldom worked territory. Or like they call it here "Macedonia". We went to Macedonia about an hour outside of Nairobi.
There was 15 of us who went.
A sister who owns a school van loaned it to us.
That was during the time kyran was still in London. So I went alone with the friends. It was fun. I wasn't the oldest person at all but we kept joking that I was the example because everyone else was single! Even my elders who went I said to them that I'm gonna chaperone you all!!
So we got to the area and immediately we began preaching. We had a few boxes of books and other literature in English and Swahilli.
Wow the territory was great!
By noon time me and my partner had only spoken to 4 householders! They were all so interested!
I asked at one door "if Jesus was here on earth and there was one Miracle you could ask him to perform what would it be?" and she said finding out how to draw closer to God.
Well it just so happened that this was a week before our convention! Yes, her very question was right on the cover of the invitation!
She was so happy and let us in. We ended up studying for 30min. It was getting late so we had to go. But since then we still keep in touch!
We are going back to the territory on the 25th, both me and Kyran. Can't wait! And we'll get to take another group picture! :)
Don't worry I'll send pix soon!
So the next few days there was lots of preparation for the convention. I went one day to clean. Its amazing how far behind it is here. We were cleaning the seats with DIRTY water! Yes! The water was so NOT clear.
And the mops! Goodness, not a new clean one in sight! Anyway I'm a bit over the shock since I have seen how filthy our Assembly hall is. That's just the way it is :(
The next day I went to help with the setting up. The stage was super easy. It was fun unloading the books and new releases.
Since kyran was away I took advantage of volunteering. For the first time I was in First Aid. So I say right next to the speakers. I also got to hand out the new releases which I never did before.
I was just thankful that they didn't put me in Toilets! I would have just died I'm sure. Because these aren't like non witnesses toilets in the states, this is AFRICA! Lol anyway I'll be put in that assignment next year now just for saying it! :(
So the peak attendance on sunday was just under 5 thousand. Doesn't seem like much, but that is a lot for here. There is only one district in English and 3 for Swahilli.
Its kinda nice though because you get to meet and see a lot of the same people. During lunch a group of us sisters would bring a bunch of different things and all share. Was nice!
On the last day 2 couples invited me for dinner out. Its not like the down town FT worth where you see the streets full of badges. They said this was the 1st year that they went out after convention. Usually everyone just goes home!
Things like that make me miss home. I miss how everyone just loved to do things together.
Anyway that was a good weekend.
I'll write another blog to say what the latest news is.
Love you all!
Take care Drea
written by  africandre on September 20, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

Recent News On The Pock-Jackets
So this is what I get for not writing sooner. I can't remember anything interesting that has happened!
Well kyran is an Aux Pioneer for this month so that's good news! He has really enjoyed early service and letter writing too. I have amazing bible studies.
There is one business territory that has never been worked before and now it seems all the Potgieter girls have a monopoly on it! We are having such great response, everyone there knows us and is either studying or a mag route. Now kyran and peter have some good RV's there now!
We really feel like the statement in the bible "Beg the master for more workers" we can't do it alone and there is never enough time to get all done.
This cong is wonderful and is like GP in that there is always someone out in service! And before I used to have to get with certain people so that I could put in a long day. But now I have my own calls to keep me out 8hours. Its just great!
And its so nice that we all know eachothers studies and calls. Its one of those "it takes a village to raise a child" situations. Some of us have calls and studies in the same shops, so there is like 3or 4 in one store that study with different people. The business territory is amazing!
What else? We had 2 girls and a Bro visiting from Italy. Me and kyran had a good time spending time with them. Unfortunately they were sick for a whole week :( so they didn't do much Here, but we did get to know them as friends better just by spending time at home. Oh, and we ate some good Italian food!
It was funny that the girls couldnt pronounce Potgieter, They kept saying "Pock-Jacket" LOL
I'm way behind in sending pix but no worries! Kyran got me such sweet gifts while he was in London and one of them was a camera! At last!
One evening one of my good friends form Eldoret, the Sis we went to visit a few months ago, was visiting us. So on her last day like 10of her close girl friends got together at a local cafe. We stayed 5hours just chatting away till they kicked us out. :)
Going back to Kyrans vacation, well not so much a vacation rather his training, it was fine. Same old airplane talk. Don't understand much. But he does enjoy learning so I know he had a good time.
But his highlight was getting to meet up with his buddy Tristan from Irland! Before Kyran came to TX he was living with his bros and Tristan's family. They are just like brothers and so it was so good for him to meet up with him and his wife Ashley.
They live a few hours not too far from where Kyrans hotel was. They were really good to him and when me and KY would talk he kept going on how happy he was to be with his 'Boet' that means Bro I think? That's what they call eachother
Well now I'm glad my KY KY is back! Its like honeymoon all over again! :D
Today Was pretty fun, I was interviewed by Passion magazine. They are doing a story on celeb hair dressers. And they wanted to interview a few of us here in Nairobi.
So we did a photo shoot at a local salon, it was a cute modern one. Its too bad that they only use one for the mag :( But i will get all the photos and use them for my Portfoilio :)
That was may day :) I will let yal know what i think of the final outcome of the story :)
Anyway love yal! I'll write a blog entry next week after our next "Macedonia" trip.
Take care & send our love!
Drea and Kyran.
written by  africandre on September 20, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

Wadudu Wadogo
So I just got a new hand bag for service and then I guess I put too many books in it so now the strap broke :(
Anyway I came to get it sewn together at this fundi on the side of the road. He also fixes shoes.
The reson why I'm writing this is because you will never believe what he uses to shine shoes with! Its a broken end of a paint brush! Haha! As in he just broke the handles off and cut the bristles short so that its tighter, and he has a bunch of them to shine shoes!
So african>>
So whats new?? Oh, well I went back to Lukenya for Seldom Worked. I got in touch with one of my return visits and made new ones!!
I will send yal pix very soon. It was a bit larger group than last time. The weather was amazing!
As we were walking and talking, i was telling one of the sisters that "This" is what i have only ever imagined i would be doing! I wanted to serve in a country with a great need, and what better place than AFRICA!! I need new Goals!!!
There i was, walikng in the open middle of No-where, preaching to the people in there Shambas & shaggs, or farms and country homes. There is literally nothing to do in a place like that other than the regular household duties.
You often see locals sitting in small groups juat relaxing and talking. When you come up to them they will listen with no problem.
When someone like me a Mzungu (a white person) passes by you will no doubt here the little kids calling out ' How Arrre You? How Arrre You?" over and over :)
After we finished the morning we had a nice lunch. Everyone brought their own food. And we found a huge flat rock and thankfully it was cloudy just in time for us not to roast on that rock!
We saw a bit of willife, like Giraffe and Zebra. I still cant belive im in Africa sometimes.
That was our day, we continued in service for a few more hours after that and then headed home..
So honestly not much new has happened. Kyran is Aux pionnering So we have just been helping eachother alot in service. WE LOVE the ministry here!
The business territory is just BOOMING here!
Kenyans are such hard workers, many work 10 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week!! Not even joking! So its very hard to find them at home. There are a few places that up to 5 people are studying the bible in just one shop! Its wonderful.
Im just so happy that one of Jah's Students who im helping, went to the meeting this Sunday and took her whole family! She loved it and plans to go this weekend too.
Well this past week Nairobi Had a Agriculture Trade Show. Its a big deal here, kinda like the State Fair in Tx. All the schools get free tickets. Anyways, a few of the friends when i asked if they wanted to go hesitated a bit but didnt tell me why they didnt want to...
On Saturday one sister said she would like to go and of course i wanted to also, just to say i did, also, i heard it was nice and plus it was something different to do.
Well we tried to catch a matatu or a bus but they were all full!! Finally after waiting for 10 min we said we would just ask one of the drivers to takes us and we just tip him extra, Which worked :)
He took us through the backway. ( the slums of kibera) It was so dusty. We had asked another sister to join us, she really didnt want to go but was a good sport an went with us!
The show wasnt that great. It was nice to see the veggies, coffe, bean stocks and live stock in its natural habitat but overall it wasnt much to see. The place was really dirty with trash, so sad.
There were a group of African dancers, all older women or Mama's like they say. It was neat to watch them. They move there hips and back side like nothing i have seen!!
I was craving a Flechers Corny Dog and a Funnel Cake but they dont exsist in Kenya!!
Anyway it was getting late so we decided to catch a bus from the front entrance. The lines were so long so we decided to take a Boda Boda, Motor bike, to the main Rd. I actually saw the guy who use to take me to and from the main road and work.
As i was asking him how much he would charge us, all of a sudden the 50plus other motor bikes that were there started scrambling all over the place. Thank goodness i was in front of a car so if i needed to i would have jumped on top of the hood.!!
The reason for all the confusion and panic was that there was policemen on top of horse trying to skat them away!! They police were literaly whipping and chasing them without control! It was really scary!
So me and my friend were ok, she got the back of her sandal, not foot, ran over. And the poor sister who didnt even want to go in the first place actually got her foot ran over by one of the wheels :(but she is ok, nothing broken.
We were like soooo shocked! we just decided to walk the rest of the way. That was worth our 5$ to enter!!
As we were walking we heard a roar of bikes again!!! Like idiots sometimes do, the Motor Bike guys who had went back after being chased away, were being chased and whipped by these cops on horses again!!! So we ran off the raod, and just took the long way around.
That was an eventfull day!!!!!! Now i know why no one wanted to go. Even Kyran had said he wouldnt be found in a public festival with a huge crowd. Its not uncommon for a panic, Here in kenya that is, to break out. You would think the police are the ones incharge of keeping the peace, but here, they are usually the cause of it. Very sad
Okey yal thats all the stories i got for now.
Oh one more,
Never in my life did i think i would be able to read and understand this:
Wale wadudu wadogo wengi waliengia chumbani, kwasababu haku funga milango!!!
That means; Those small bugs came into the room because you didnt close the door!!!!
Like most languages it sounds funny when translated word for word, for example:
Over there bugs many small they went in room because you didnt close door!! haha, Swahilli is fun!!
Dudu is a Bug :)
Take care! love yal!
written by  africandre on October 6, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

Found Some Mexicans & Wing Sauce
HOWDY YALL!!
Ah so hows everyone doing??
Lately I have been so busy! But with good things so cant complain.Just trying to get ahead on my time :)
First of all wanna send shout-outs to the only person in Kenya who i think reads my blog!!! :) You know who you are chica :) HAha so funny, now i have to watch what i say bout Nairobi!!!! :) jk
So for the first time since Ky Ky came back from London,he had to wk overnight :(
Just so happend that a sis in my hall was alone for the weekend too. Poor us :(
NOT!!!! we had a sleeepovverrr!!!!
It was really fun. She invited a few sisters over and we really had a goodtime! It was my first "slumber party" since Iv been married! Took some pix but sorry, cant post them :)!!!!
But distance really does make the heart grow fonder :D
Kyran has been busy at wk ever since he got back. But it has been worth it. He will be checked out soon. Im very proud of him!!
So..Last week i went with a sister to a town called Machakos. It is close to Lukenya, where we did seldom worked territory.
The service was amazing!!! You know, we spent about 7 hours out there and only had 3 studies and 2 Rv's!!! It was great, got to use a bit of Swahili. And i learned 'Mweka' which is a greeting out there.
If i say Mweka, you say EEhh. But i kept saying AAHH :) or is it the other way around?? Ill just stick to learning Swahili for now. :)
While we were walking, we saw a big tree, I had a 90's moment and i climbed it!!
So that has been a good experience for me! Man i got dark! we must be closer to te sun im tellin you! HA, when i sent some recent pix on snapfish, a bro in Dallas said, "you look like a cute african now'!!!!
Me and Mr. Sun are not friends right now. But i cant really run away from it.
Oh speaking of darkness, did i tell yal ran into some Mexicans?? ;D
Yeah, i was walkin in sevice one day. And i told the sis i was that i bet they were from MEX. As we passed them, i heard them speaking spanish!!
So recently, i was walking home, and i saw them, so i just stopped them and asked them "hola, como estas?" And they responded in spanish!!
We had a good convsation, and got all their info
Im just gonna copy some Mags from our Official website. i think that would be the fastest way. I joke that one day that there will be a spanish group one day here in Kenya!!! So far we would have 6! (Me Lily A sis from Argentina and our hubbys!!!) Well See well see...
What else?? Oh, i found HOTWING Sauce the other day!!!! IM SOOOO HAPPY!! Crazy thing is that a bro is coming to visit from the States to see his girlfriend who lives here, and we had asked him to bring some Franks Hot Wing Sauce. And now they sell it here!!! Along with Jalapenos, Skittles, Twix and M&M's, all of which I had Kyran and some friends bring me only to find that they carry them here...Maybe I should request some corn tortillas and Jarritos de Narangja so they will ship it in!!!
I didnt find Buffalo Wings But chicken works just fine!!!!
You know, we always read about how religions are always very ununited, but i have seen it first hand for myself.
In TX the easiest ones to talk to, Catholics, are actually very diferent here. Yeah, It really helps me appreciate how United and consistant Jehovahs People really are.
Well thats all folks, Oh, well i got food poisoning for the 3rd time..:( im over it now but tis last one was bad,i got poisoning on Wed, and as soon as i was over it, i ate something bad on sunday!!! :(O
NO more eating at random places!!!
One of our friends from Nanyuki will be getting Married in Dec. Im so excited to go back to "shaggs" (Hometown) :D
Havent been there in almost a year!!!! Will be great to see everyone again!!
Alright Yall!! Ima close for now.
Thanks for all the e-mails!
Love and miss you alll!! GO RANGERS!!! Bout Dang Time :)
Drea & Kyran
written by  africandre on October 28, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya

Friends Engagement
Hola! Geeze long time since my last entry!
Let me just give you the highlights.
I don't know if I mentioned IN one of the blogs about a Bro from Kenya who lives n the USA who is dating a Sis from my hall? Well he came to visit her for a month.
I had spoken to him over the phone before he came, he mentioned that he wanted to do a surprise engagement party for her. So the plan was the 4 of us were gonna go to the coast in Mombasa, and he would pop the question there on the beach and then have a party at home to celebrate.
Well, that was going to be toward the end of his stay, and course, he wanted to do this early in his visit so that they could be engaged for the majority of time.
So on Wednesday, we were all hanging out and I asked him how soon does he want this party to be? He says "How about on sunday?"
I was like what!!!! So I called a Sis right away and asked if we could do it at her house. We managed to make Evites and organized everyone to bring something.
The friends on the guest list already knew that we were planning it but we just didn't know the date.
All of her friends contributed to making it a surprise! We even had lunch plans right after the meeting since they wouldn't be able to meet us later that night because they had "been invited for dinner already" ;D
So we all arrived at the house. Was small and intimate with a few friends.
When they arrived, we all stood by a corner and heard them come in. They actually lingered for a bit by the door, and as soon as she turned around we yelled "Surprise"
She was absolutely caught off guard! Really, only the photos of her reaction could explain how she felt.
As she was saying hi to everyone, we kept saying that this party was to welcome him home and celebrate him being there with her. Kinda like the picnic I threw for kyran when he visited me in TX ;D
So it happened as she was in the middle of it all he started saying a few words and then said that he brought a gift with him. And he opened the box and showed the ring! Again! You should have seen her reaction!!!! She became weak in her knees!
Out came the yummy black forest cake! And then the party started.
It was such a nice evening. We teased them that this was a practice of cutting of the cake. U noticed that as they cut the cake, they started slicing a bunch of pieces on one plate!
It was funny actually, I don't know if you remember I once wrote about a wedding that I attended in April?
Well I learned then that the custom here when serving the cake at a wedding is that they have one huge cake, and the Bride and Groom cut and pile a bunch of tiny slices on one plate and go around serving ONE BITE per person!
So as these two cut the cake, I remembered about that. So we told them that there was enough cake and plates for each to have his and her own big slice! Everyone loved it!
As the night went on, we played a game, it was one where the men are blind folded, and the sisters are lined up with the palm of their hand out flat.
The husband has to figure out which hand is his wife! It was so funny to watch!
There was only 3 there who were single so they had fun with it too, even the brothers put there hand out too!!
I was proud of KY, as soon as he felt my hand he said "yes definitely her!" aww
The funniest part was that when it was time for the engaged Bro to find his Fiances hand. Not only did he struggle to figure out which one it was, but when he got to her, he said "no for sure not her!" haha, he kept trying and trying and every time he got to her said the same!
So the moral of the story was, Hold your wife's hand more often! :)
After a while we ended up telling stories about how we all met and started dating our mates. It just hapend that all of the couples there had been married no longer that 2 years.
Speaking of being married, that was just a week before me and Kyran celebrated our 1st year anniversary!
I'll write about that in the next blog!
Take care all!
Love Drea and KY KY!
written by  africandre on December 13, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya