October Update

Philippians 2:12-13 “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his purpose.”

Today I had the privilege to spend the afternoon with the Meredith family. Bob and Patty have been missionaries in Africa for over twenty years. They have three children, Emily and Wes both attend University of Nebraska and Ian is an eighth grader at WNS. Emily has taken a semester to study in Africa and has been a huge help to our athletic department by helping to coach basketball. Ian is also a big help to the sports as he is our starting forward on the soccer team. Bob and Patty have both been teachers but now work with Navigator’s Africa, training and disciplining Kenyans. They would really appreciate your prayers as Emily graduates from college soon. Also Patty has struggled with health issues recently and is really seeking God’s strength to continue doing His will.

It was such a blessing to get to spend the day with them, not only because they made us delicious pizza and sent us home with a cake. But I was refreshed by seeing God at work in and through them. I wanted to take some time to share with you some of the things that they blessed me with. Before we (my roommates and I) drove home tonight Bob asked if he could pray with us. He read Philippians 2:12-13 and then prayed. His reading blessed me because, as he pointed out, these verses remind us that we are working out who we are in Christ. I am in the process of using the gifts and abilities that God has specifically given to me for His glory. It is not something that I have achieved but something that I am working on, and will continue to work on. I know that I am supposed to be in Nairobi working at West Nairobi School but I am still working on all the details that includes. Recently God has put a burden on my heart for the middle school girls. I would like to start a bible study of some sort with them. Right now I am overwhelmed by the details of finding time, choosing the girls, and making the commitment. I know that God has given me this passion for a reason and I am excited to see how it is all going to play out. Please pray for me as God continues to show me how he wants to use me here. I just want you to know how thankful I am for the part that you are playing in the whole big picture. If it were not for each one of you, it would not be possible for me to be where I am.

At school it is almost the end of our first quarter, which is hard to believe. The end of the quarter brings report card due dates and parent-teacher conferences. As much as that intimidates me I am excited to get to talk with more of the parents personally. Every time I talk to or spend time around these families I feel I have so much to learn from their example. The sport’s teams continue to do well. The kids and parents are still so excited about this new opportunity and I love being a part of seeing their dreams come true. Recently some of the middle school students put together little book for me about how thankful they were for having sports teams this year. It was so fun to see the things that they get excited about, like nets on the soccer goals, new soccer balls, and lines on the field. Little things that it is easy to take for granted in the US they truly are so thankful for. It was a good reminder to me as I find myself often wishing for a bigger field or a gym. I love all that I can learn from these kids.

Once again I just want to Thank You so much for all of your prayer and support for this adventure that I am on! I know that God is going to bless you for your faithfulness!
Serving our King in Kenya,
Kayla Carraway


Prayer Requests
· Health & Safety
· Finances for our car
· Wisdom about the small group

good times on the bus... :)

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Boys' Football Team (Soccer)

On Monday we traveled down the road to the Nairobi Japanese School. It is also a pretty young school trying to establish a sports program. We knew it wasn't going to be very strong competition so I decided to give the B teams a chance to play in at least one game. It was really fun to watch them play so hard. They have been practicing as much as the A team but have not had a chance to play yet. It was so cool to also see how many parents showed up for the game. The boys ended up winning 1-0 and lets just saying it was good learning opportunity for the girls. They just weren't really sure what to do when the Japan girls started to play man on man. Tomorrow the Boys' A team will play against a school from Kibera. Kibera is the second largest slum in Kenya. I am excited about this opportunity for our boys to be a good witness. They have done really well about their attitudes so far (as well as can be expected from 13 year old boys that is). I am just hoping the ref actually shows up this time. If he doesn't then I guess it will be my opportunity to perfecting my reffing skills but this time in soccer. Lets hope not!

Today we had a very Kenyan experience. Although we had told our Land Lady to send us our electricity bill apparantly she did not think it was a priority. So...today was a result our electricity was turned off. So, tonight we decided to go to Java House (a restaurant) to hang out and grade papers and such because we have no light. We are told it will be turned on again tomorrow but I don't know if I believe them. We definately live one day at a time here. We didn't have water for about two weeks because of the trade fair in town. They needed all the city water for that. So, they just took ours. I am definately learning to adjust to a different culture...go with the flow! I am so glad that I grew up in PNG I can really tell that it helps me a lot, just being used to things not turning out as you always plan.

A fun thing that did happen today was that on our way to pay the bill Alison and I saw 4 camels on the side of the road. I wish I had my camera because I was like two feet away from them. It was really cool to see them so close. Two of them were eating off of this really pretty bush with flowers on it. It would have been such a cool picture. OH WELL!

Well, I think that is about it for now. Continue to pray! Next week is the end of our first quarter. It is hard to believe that our school year is 1/4 done already. WOW! Report cards are due and we have parent teacher conferences. Pray for the stress level in our house! Miss you all please keep in touch!

Trip to Lake Naivasha

This weekend I had the privelage to go to Lake Naivasha with some friends. We went in search of animals and were able to see some but not a ton. It was so nice to get out of the city and be with friends. Nairobi is a very nice place to live but sometiems you just need to get out. As you can see it is so beautiful around here! We were walking around a resort place and saw a monkey inside a bird bath. Of course when I tried to take its picture it ran away. But then I looked and there were like 8 monkeys. I got really excited about that!

I created a Slide Show! Check it out!

Daylan's Birthday Party

One of my roommates had her birthday yesterday. We bought some balloons. party hats, and streamers and had a fun time. It is always fun when we get a bunch of the teachers and others that we have met all together. We hope to someday soon, actually decorate our house but for now the balloons and streamers are a nice addition to our ugly white walls.

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Party at Miss Carraway's House

We win again!!!

Well, after a really fun weekend with the girls it is back to school. I ended up having nine girls stay the night at our house on Friday night. We ate spaghetti, played games, watched movies, looked at magazines and dreamed about going shopping again some day. It was really fun to get to know the girls on a different level. God has really given me a passion for the middle school girls. I am thinking about starting a small group with some of them but I have a lot of questions about it right now. Please pray that God will give me wisdom about that. Just who I should do it with or when would be a good time or even what I should talk to them about. Lots of ideas but I am just not sure how to put it all together right now, especially because time is limited. So yea, if you think about it just pray that God would give me wisdom in that area.
Our teams continue to do well. We had our first home games yesterday. Despite it being really hot, limited space, and the refs not showing up we were able to play the games and they both won. I made my big debut as a basketball referee...HA! But it all turned out ok! The kids continue to just be happy to get to play but winning is always nice. We start playing against the other American schools next week so we will see how competition changes for those. They are the big rival schools...so big expecations for those! :)
The weather is starting to get really hot right now. We have still had a little rain but we are fianlly coming out of winter..ha! Weird thought! I think that this weekend we are going to go and hike a dormant volcanoe. I am looking forward to getting out of the city again. Well, hope all is well! Thanks for all the prayers!

VICTORY!!!!

You would have thought it was the National Championship the way the crowd clapped and screamed for our little WNS middle school girls’ basketball team on Monday. It was their very first game…and it was intense. Although there were not many shots made, each one was met with parents and fans screaming and clapping like it was the scoring basket in the last second. The girls could hardly believe their eyes when the time ran out and the score board read home 7 away 10. They had won their very first game. I heard a couple moms say that they were holding back tears of joy and excitement for their girls. It was so cute I could not even handle it! Then the girls ran down the hill to watch the end of the boy’s game. They jumped and screamed and threatened to take out the other team when they took out Ian Meredith (our big star). It was one of those days that I was so proud to be a teacher at WNS. I would not have wanted to be anywhere else in the world. As the time ran out on the boys game they too exploded as they won 1-0. It was victory for the underdogs. We had gone to play against the International School of Kenya, which is more than three times our size. Needless to say we were all a little shocked but so very proud. One of the boys walked up to me after the games and said, “Hey Miss Carraway we have a perfect season.” I love their excitement and optimism J Who knows how the rest of the season will go but we made it through our first game despite the minor issues of not having enough jerseys, not having enough space on the bus, no clean water, and who knows what else we forget….but it was all ok in the end. WE WON!!! The girls next game is a tournament on Saturday. They are all coming over to my house for a sleep over on Friday night and then we will go to the game together. Hopefully we will be able to get some sleep before the games. It will be fun no matter what. God has really placed a burden on my heart for the middle school girls. I really want to start a small group of some sort with them but right now it seems like there is so little time. If you think about it I would love your prayers about wisdom with that situation. Well, enjoy the pictures (we are dark blue) and hope to hear from you soon!

the rain begins....

So, today was supposed to be West Nairobi Schools' first competitive sport games in about 8 years...but then it rained. The kids were so disappointed. I really hated being the person who had to make the decision on what to do, because that would mean that they were all upset with me. Because of course they don't consider the rain...thunder...lightening and all that. We have been practicing for about three weeks at this point so they were very ready for their first game. Now our first game will be an away game next week against a very difficult team. I am kind of glad about that though because there is A LOT less for me to plan at away games. This morning when I got to work I had a huge long list of things that I had to make sure got done. Today was definately a day that I felt like the Athletic Director. When you are a kid you don't realize who has to make certain decisions like how to put lines on the field, who puts the first aid kit together, and who has to make the final decision on if a game is cancelled or not. Well, I found out today that those are all part of my job including much more It really is a lot of fun, even if I do sound overwhelmed! :)
My roommates and I got our car (I will add a picture soon). It is so nice to finally have a little bit more freedom. We are still learning how to drive on the left side, around pot holes and people and goats and who knows what else. The public transportation here is called a Mutatu. The thing about these vans is that they think (or should I say they do) rule the road. The pull off when they want to, wherever they want to and enter the road whenever as well. So you never know when they will pull out in front of you. Right now Jen and Alison are practicing driving everywhere because Daylan and I don't have our international driver's licenses. They are getting better. The first time out with Jen she said, "This isn't that hard." To which I responded, "Jen, you just need to drive on the left side of the road instead of the right." We got a good laugh out of that.
Well, I guess that about sums it up for now. If you are not recieving my updates emails and would like to please let me know at kaylacarraway@gmail.com I will add more pictures soon!

in case you haven't seen enough....

There are more pictures and videos on some of the

other teacher's sites if you are interested:

daylanarnold.blogspot.com

jenharvey.blogspot.com

steventso.com

girls will be girls :)

There is never a dull moment in a house full of girls!!!

picture is worth 1,000 words

I didn't want you all to be doubting that we really did chase the animals

and get really close to them so here is proof...I still get a smile on

my face just thinking about it! :)

(PS I am the one in yellow)

there they are....we did get closer I promise...cameras just can't capture it

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my new favorite hobby is chasing giraffes...

WOW...what a fun weekend we had. The staff at WNS went to Lukenya to a resort to have a little retreat. Normally I don't like waking up early in the morning but when the option came up to go out to look for animals at 6 am I knew I would be sad to pass it up. So all of the new students went out on a bus over the Kenyan countryside. We rode around a bit and didn't really see much...a couple zebras, a wilda beast, and some other random animals; but they were pretty far off. My roommates and I kept asking if we could get off the bus and walk/run and we did for most of them time. Then after about a hour we finally saw some giraffes but they were way off and the road did not go near them. So off we went "huffing it" as Trevor (the prinicpal says). We walked and walked and could not find them. Then when we almost gave up hope we finally saw them on the next hillside. So off we went again further into the "wild". We tried sneaking up but lets face it four girls looking for giraffes are not so quiet. Then finally we found them. We started taking pictures and they started running. We could see three of them at that point. So then we decided to follow them. Yea...long giraffe legs and short Kayla legs are very different. They are so cool when they run though, so graceful. So we just kept chasing them and would hind behind hills and stuff like that. Then we saw 8 giraffes and we got so excited...but they saw us and took off again. So off we went again....running and running...yea you get the point. Then they stopped so we tried to sneak up again so we went around this little hill and there were 13 giraffes of all sizes and ages. THEY WERE SO AMAZING. They were right buy a HUGe herd of zebra, wild a beast, and some monkeys too. The monkeys really didn't like us though they were like barking at us. I was scared of them! We got within probably 50 feet of all the animals. IT WAS SO AMAZING. Now I see why people chase animals on National Geographic and all. Later the whole staff went up this mountain and we hung out and some of then did repelling. I took pictures :) Then on our way back down we found another giraffe so of course we had to chase it. Daylan and I took off running at it and it just stood there looking at us. We got within 20 feet of it and it wasn't moving. We started screaming..."Why aren't you running! MOVE!!!" And then finally it turned and ran (gracefully of course). My friend Steve took video of us chasing it so I will try and get it from him. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! Jen and I also decided to jump rope with the repelling rope on the side of a huge cliff... enjoy the video of me falling. I thought I was going to die! A little more adrenaline for the fun day! :) So yea...overall it was such a fun weekend. I finally really felt like I was in Africa. Hope all is well! I love hearing from you all so please write when you can. If you have any question or want to see any other pictures just ask.

oops...ran out of gas...had to take a taxi :)

Busy weekend...

I had a lot of fun this weekend although it has invovled a ton of walking. On Friday night Jen, Daylan and I walked about 1 1/2 miles to a church where they had a praise and worship night. It was in a huge white tent but there were like 1,000 people there. It was so amazing. Some of the songs were in Swahili but most were in English. It was so fun to watch them sing and clap and dance. Yea I felt so white it isn't even funny. But it was really cool though. They have it once a month so I think that will definately be something that we go to. When we were walking there we passed this huge crowd of little boys who had just got done playing soccer. They were so funny and so excited to see white people. They were really cute though. Today we all went out for breakfast with some guys from Samaritan's Purse who work in Sudan, but are out just for a bit of rest and relaxation. Jen, Alison, and I walked back from there to our house like 2 miles away. On our way we stopped at "Toy Market" an outdoor thirft store basically. They had so much stuff it was crazy but of course they wanted to charge us way more than others so we didn't buy anything today. Later Megan, Daylan, Steven and I tried to go shopping somewhere else to look for soccer balls for the school. Although I did not find soccer balls we did run out of gas :( Yea that was an experience, which of course invovled MORE walking ;) When we finally got on the road again we were stopped for a bit because of traffic and this little Kenyan boy walked up to the window and asked for some money. We didn't really have anything to give him, plus once you give one anything they all come running...so anyways we had a bottle of water on the dash and so he was like please even some water. So Megan handed him the bottle of water and as soon as he held it he said. "That is hot I don't want that." And handed it back to her. It was so funny. We all just died laughing...it really is true that beggers can't be choosers. So yea, who knows what will happen next. It has been a fun weekend. Next weekend we are going on a retreat as the school staff so that should be fun. Enjoy the pictures and write me when you get a chance!