Brian & Megan Coulter 2007 Kenyan Adventure

Brian & Megan Coulter are spending the summer in Kenya. Brian is doing a 10 week Pastoral Internship in Thika, Kenya. Megan is working at a nearby school. Here are some of Brian's e-mails.

May 29-
Greetings from the Moo-Kune-Goo (sp? ... it means white person) in Kenya!!!
Well, I left the US one week ago today. It's been quite an experience... WOW is about all I can say! I finally got my second bag yesterday from the airport. And a helpful hint for all of you, make sure you pack underwear in both bags whenever you take a trip just in case ... just trust me on this. Meg is joining me in 5 days and I can't wait! Let's all hope and pray for her baggage.
The scenery and countryside in Kenya is beautiful!!! I've gotten to ride around a lot so far and seen beautiful fields, mountains, and plantations. I also go to see some zebras and baboons on the side of the road! As pretty as that all was, the cities are not quite as visually pleasant. There is trash everywhere and the smell is not
always the greatest.
The manse that I'm staying in is right in the middle of Thika. Meg and I have a guest wing to it and it's actually quite nice considering. We have a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. More than adequate for what we need. We have electricity (now that I found a US adaptor) and running water. The water in the shower is cold and we can't drink it, but we at least have water since we're in the middle of the city.
The guy I'm working with is Joseph Wairi and he is the "Pastor" for the Mokongeni Parish in Thika. He studied for 7 years at Columbia for his MDiv and DMin. He is a great person and I've already learned so much from him. His experience in America also makes him semi-American. He wears shorts and sometimes drinks "cold" water (his congregation teases him about these things). We are working with 8 congregations within that parish and I've already been to two of them. I preached a Pentecost sermon to a packed (and literally I mean packed ... they were standing around the edges and outside to hear) church that normally would only hold around 500. I also have already given a devotional at the Presbytery meeting, a speech at the Mokongeni Women's Guild meeting. Joseph took me yesterday to the PCEA headquarters and I meet more people than I can remember including their current moderator.
It's interesting though, because sometimes I feel as though I am being paraded around. I feel as though I am that oddity that everyone wants to look at and talk to. Culture shock definitely hit me the first couple of days, but it seems to be getting better. The worst this is trying to plan something. They don't seem to really care about being on time or staying on schedule. One day I rode in the car for four hours to a meeting. When I got there, Joseph told me that I didn't need to sit in on it and then I hung out with our driver for three hours. Then I rode four hours back home. They just don't think about those things and the thing that frustrated me the most was that it was when we got home that Joseph told me I was giving a speech the next day and a sermon the next. So I was ready for bed, but had to prepare for the next few days after an extremely long and tiring day. I'm learning to ask more questions and that seems to help us get on the same page, but it's those kind of differences I've having trouble with.
Meg's school is right next to the building that my office is in. She'll be working in a three room school house for kids ranging from 3 to 8 years old. There are probably around 80 kids and I think 5 other teachers. It's a newer school only started up within the past year (I think), but they seem to have a good program going for them.
I'm learning some Swahili and Kikuyu words. Their national language is Swahili, the tribe (including Joseph and just about everyone I've met so far) around here speaks Kikuyu to each other normally, but they are taught in English. So they speak 3 languages, but their English has a very thick accent. It's frustrating saying and hearing "what" every time I try to talk with someone!!! But we can talk okay with each other most of the time.
E-mailing is a lot harder than I had thought it would be. It took me over 10 minutes just to log in to my account this time and then it takes forever every time I open up an e-mail, but I'm still trying. I see no way of uploading pictures or videos on these computers and on this Internet connection. I hope you all get this and that you are all doing well. Keep me and Meg in your prayers during her LONG travel and our stay here in Kenya. With love ...
-Brian

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June 4 -
Well, I'm still alive and still in Kenya! Things have been going a lot better this week so far. I have hot water in my shower, more than one pair of underwear, and a wife!!! Megan got in just fine two days ago with both of her bags. We had yesterday off and just relaxed and rested. We also got groceries so that we can start eating meals on our own. It will be nice just having more alone time apart from everyone in the evenings so that we can relax more.

We found out that we are going to be able to go on a safari. Towards the very end of July we will spend two nights in Masai Mara (sp?) and get to go on a couple of game drives. We are going with a group of Americans from some partner presbytery with Thika. Joseph didn't remember the name off hand, but he set up the plans for them while they are going to be here and included us in some of them. So we are really excited about going on that to see more of the scenery and animals. I've already seen a lot more zebras, baboons, monkeys, and a couple of hippos (just their noses and eyes).

I'm trying to start some sort of project for myself. One of the problems here is just a lack of education for church leaders. The elders have little or no training and they are the ones relied upon to preach 80% of the time. I'm going to try to put together some outlines of the books of the Bible and highlight some of the main themes that I can remember from my classes. Then possibly have some sort of Overview session with whoever is interested. It's one of the ways I can actually see myself helping the church here outside of the going around and doing the meet-and-preach, so I'll keep you up to date on how that is going.

Other than that, not much new. All of the worries and frustrations I had are lessening. It's not getting any better, but I think I'm just getting more used to it. And I feel completely safe and comfortable driving or walking around in town now. It just takes a while to get used to EVERYONE'S stares. They really have no problems with just pausing their conversation and looking at you. They don't glare or leer ... just stare. I've learned if I say hello, most of the time they say something back and think it's funny and then go about their business. Most of them think the only way Americans greet them is by saying 'How are you?'. So I say 'hello', and they reply with 'fine'. But at least they're friendly and excited to talk with us.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, and sorry I don't have time to respond to all of your e-mails separately. The bulk e-mail is about all I have time to do on this computer. Stanley (an elder in the church and Joseph's friend who drives him around a lot) is taking Megan and I to Thompson's Falls now ... that's Kenya's largest waterfall! We'll take pictures and send them out when we get home. Take care and God bless all you Muzungus (I'm still not sure of the spelling ... but I'm pretty sure it's with a 'z' and not a 'k' ... and it's in a situation like this that I suddenly realize that everyone I'm sending this e-mail to is white ... Gareth I don't know if you count as a Muzungu though but you're still my favorite South African)!!!
-Brian

Brian and Megan at Thompson's Falls

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June 11 -
Greetings from Africa (it's still weird to think I'm in Africa)!!! Hope you all are doing great. Megan and I are getting along just fine. Today is our day off and we are in a new Cyber Cafe that is much better than the ones we have used in the past. It's about as quick as the connection in the US ... and it's cheaper!!!

There was a bombing in Nairobi today. I figured I would tell you about it and say we were fine so people wouldn't worry. Here is an article about it:
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1178106
But now they are saying that 6 died and over 30 are injured. It was an attack on a small hotel in downtown. No one really understands why right now, but a local gang is rumored to be behind it ... the Mungiki. They've been on the news every night that I've been here even before this. They are just a big "illegal sect" that is involved with a lot of corruption in government. If this was done by them, it would be their first act of "terrorism" in this fashion. Don't worry about Megan and me though (Mom), we are completely safe and have never had to worry about anything. Thika is a great place!

This last week Megan got started at the school, I started my project for the elder training, and I preached at a wedding on Saturday. The wedding was pretty different than it would be in the US ... hence I preached without having ever met the bride and groom. (But they did request a scripture passage for me to preach from ... Ephesians 5 ... a controversial one that is not read in the US very often ... but I think I did manage to proclaim the good news without compromising my message or scripture ... excuse me while I pat myself on the back)

The elder packet is going well. I wrote 10 pages over the historical books ... Matthew-Acts and it seems like it will be useful. I might get to teach a couple classes about it before I leave, so that they can have more than just a packet. Even if no one uses it, it's keeping me busy while sitting in the office on our "office days". I'm enjoying it and hopefully it will be helpful in some way. Megan is liking the school. It's very different than the US, she says it's more like the pioneer days school. But, she's finding a lot of ways to help out and is going to try to start working with some of the kids having trouble in certain areas ... something that the teachers there don't have time for. Their favorite/only toys on the church playground/parking lot are old tires. It's kind of funny seeing them play with them, they get very creative.

Hope all is well with you guys and gals. We're doing great and thank you all for your love, support, and prayers.
-Brian

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The Coulters with their host family

July 4 -
Jambo!

Kenya is still going strong and so are Megan and I. We only have about three weeks left before we leave. We are starting to make sure we've gotten to the places we've wanted to go as we are trying to make sure we get accomplished all the things we're trying to do here.

There is a group from Detroit Presbytery coming here on Wednesday. They are in a partnership (I'm still not fully sure what that means ... and I'm not sure anyone can fully explain it accurately) with Thika Presbytery and are coming to continue their relationship. They are excited about the trip and have been e-mailing me with questions and I have become their assistant tour guide. I have been told I will accompany them during those two weeks for most of what they do. They will be visiting and meeting the presbytery members, visiting churches, preaching, visiting homes, etc. I have a feeling it will a flexible schedule that will be catered to what they are interested in. Meg and I also should get to go with them to Masaai Mara (on a safari) right before they leave. After they go, we will only have 5 days left in Kenya!

We look forward to being back in the same country with you!
-Brian

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More Photos from Brian and Megan's Kenya experience

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