We Have a Place Prepared for You, Down on the Farm, the Open Arms Choir, and other Assorted Events in Eldoret

We have spent the last two weeks working at the office and spending time at the village helping to get things running with the school and the farm. Of course sometimes things don't always go as planned down on the farm. Last week we found out that one of the milking cows was not pregnant but just old (that's why she had stopped producing milk) and so she was sent off to the butcher. This week we were at the village playing with the children during a school break and one of the young calves broke her right front leg while playing with the other calf in the field. The verdict is still out if the young calf will wind up being veal, but we are hoping for a longer life for this little calf. In the mean time, one of the sheep broke its hind leg and so the village has been eating mutton for a few weeks. Such is life down on the farm.

The chickens are doing fine laying eggs, but we have also been raising broiler chickens, but they don't seem to be getting bigger so I guess we'll have to change the feed. At least the children at the village are getting fed plenty of eggs, lots of "ugale" for the maize we raised last year, and some milk (much more milk in the future due to two generous donors who are going to buy two milking cows for us). We honestly didn't think we would be quite this involved with farming when we got here, but it is all part of running a village.

Of course we can't have a decent blog without an obligatory photo of Baby Esther and Baby Belle having a little play time.

The school is doing well, but we had to have two interview sessions in the past two weeks to hire new teachers. We are still a young school, but we are starting to find our groove as teachers are helping the children learn and grow. It has been a learning experience getting the school started but we will have completed our first term of Open Arms Academy at the end of next week, and some of our children are already advancing one year ahead in school (some of them need to because they have lost so many years of school already, and others are bright and learning so quickly).

Sundays at the village have always been a joy spending time with the children and having church at the village. The Open Arms choir at the village keeps on growing, and we are definitely looking forward to a great celebration with the children and the staff on Easter Sunday. We have already had some funds donated for musical instruments at the village so some of the children are learning how to play an electric keyboard. Hopefully I'll be able to buy a guitar in town in the near future so that I can teach some of the children how to play the guitar. Soon we'll not only have an Open Arms Choir but also an Open Arms Band.

One of our first long-term guests at the village, Elliott Berry, will be going back home to England after a three month stay in one of the homes. He has been an excellent house-guest, helping on the farm, helping to teach the children English in the school, and spending a lot of time playing with the children during their free time. We have also been spending some time getting the guest rooms in each orphanage home furnished over the past few months so future guests won't have to live in quite the spartan manner that Elliott has grown accustomed to. In fact, we have put new beds, wardrobes, carpets, and curtains in the rooms in the past month. In addition, we hope to have a permanent electricity supply installed at the village sometime in the next two months, and internet service won't be too far after that.

We are also completing our visitor cottages in the next two months so larger teams from the US and the UK won't have to stay at a hotel in Eldoret, when they can stay at our village, just a short five minute drive from the airport. Fortunately, it looks like we'll hopefully be ready just in time for our summer teams in June, July, and August. The roofs are up on all three cottages; plastering is completed on all the walls in the first two homes; and tile work, plumbing, and electical installations will commence in the next week or two. Finally, we can say we have prepared a place for you when you come to visit us at our Open Arms Village.

Even better yet, when electricity and internet service our installed at the village, we can also move the Open Arms Office in Eldoret, and ourselves, to the Open Arms Village in Mlango. We are looking forward to that day. Maybe you can come out and visit us this summer, join one of the summer teams, or become another long term guest like Elliott Berry. We hope to see you soon.

Pie Day, Future Cheer Leaders, and other Kenyan News

Just saying hi again from beautiful Eldoret, Kenya. We have had a great week in Kenya with beautiful sunny weather, a high of about 78 degrees during the day, and a low of about 55 degrees at night. While the rest of you are adjusting to Daylight Savings Time, there is none here. Not really a need for one. The sun rises and sets at the same time every day of the year: about 6:30 in the morning and 6:30 in the evening.

This weekend was a great weekend for food and a little play time with the babies. Diana dressed up like a little cheerleader and a future cheerleader for Open Arms Academy. I will have to forgive whoever gave her the miniature Ohio State cheerleading outfit, but it did look cute on her.

On Saturday evening we were preparing dinner and quite by chance realized that everything we ate was a form of a pie. Cheryl and Renee made some Shepherd's pie, and Rachel and Renee made peach pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. In addition, Elliott ordered pizza pie since he is a 19 year old teenager who doesn't like much else other than pizza. The irony of eating all this pie is that I suddenly realized it was already "pi day" in Tokyo (get it - pi day - 3/14 - March 14). The student ministry I used to lead would always celebrate "pi day" by gathering together and making and eating as many different types of pie as possible. Here we are in Kenya once again, accidentally, celebrating that wonderful tradition.

On Sunday we had more leftover pie for breakfast, and leftover Shepherd's Pie for dinner, but in between we went to the village and celebrated our weekly worship service with the children at the village. The children at the village help lead the worship and also helped lead some skits during the service. Matt delivered his fourth sermon of the week at the village, a little higher than average. Matt also spoke at to the children at the village a week earlier, spoke to the Open Arms staff at the Open Arms office in Eldoret on Monday, and spoke to the construction workers at the Open Arms village on Wednesday.

Today seems to be a catch up day for everything we didn't get enough of this weekend. I think I'll go back to bed for awhile and sleep off some of the extra pie I ate this weekend, but not before I have another piece of peach pie!

Blessings,

Matt and Cheryl Tallman

Our time in Mozambique, and Back to Kenya

Sorry we have neglected our blog site for the past three weeks, but we promise to be more diligent in the future. Quite frankly, we were enjoying our time of rest and relaxation in Mozambique to be concerned about writing things down in a blog. While most of the United States was being blanketed with successive snow storms during much of February we spent February 16 to February 27 on a sunny, warm beach in Pemba, Mozambique getting a sun tan, and enjoying all the amenities of a beautiful view staying in a beautiful hotel. Sometimes it really pays off to be doing missionary work in Africa!

Just before we left for Pemba, we had one last Sunday at the Open Arms Village with the children. Rachel Gallagher came with her mom to the village and we got to hand out new school backpacks for the children that a generous donor provided. Two year old Beatrice helped lead worship on Sunday morning, and Matt gave a sermon on the story of Gideon in the Bible. We also viewed the farm at the village, and got to see the new broiler chicken project at the village with the addition of over 100 chickens who will provide many future chicken dinners for the children at the village.

After one of many busy weekends along with dozens of extremely busy weeks in Eldoret, we really needed the rest in Pemba. We got a great deal on a beautiful 5-Star resort in Pemba right on the beach. Just sitting by the pool all day was as relaxing as it appears in these photos. One day we went snorkeling, another day we went shopping in Pemba, one day we went sea kayaking, and one day we walked around old-town Pemba, but most of the time we spent time at the pool or taking long walks on the beach. (Don't you just want to join us in Africa right now). While snorkeling we saw all sorts of tropical fish, coral reefs, and dolphins. While sea kayaking, we mostly saw a lot of waves, as both of us capsized while trying to exit or enter the surf.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife in Pemba, mostly the largest snails we have ever seen, lots of crabs on the beach, and on one late night stroll along the beach, we saw dozens of eels trying to apparently spawn in the tidepools during a full moon. They splashed around quite a bit when we approached the tidepools, but it was quite a site. We also saw the largest baobab trees we have ever seen (they apparently grow quite well along the coast of Mozambique and Madagascar).

After 12 days in Mozambique, we were rested and relaxed and ready to go back to Kenya. We stayed two more days in Nairobi before we headed back to Eldoret. The last night we were in Nairobi, we went and watched a movie in a movie theater for the first time in six months (there are no movie theaters in Eldoret but Nairobi has several of the dozen or so movie theaters in East Africa). We decided to watch Avatar in a beautiful theather (unfortunately it wasn't in 3-D so we'll have to wait until we come back to the US to see it in 3-D), and after 3 hours of sensory overload in the theater (the special effects were amazing), Matt took Cheryl to the Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi for some gastronomical overload. Cheryl had never been to the Carnivore before but it is one of the most famous restaurants in East Africa for good reason. After they sat us down at the table, they began to pile roast beef, 3 types of chicken, 3 types of sausage, ostrich meat, crocodile meat, 3 types of pork, and probably a few other types of meat on our plate, until we finally said enough (not a place for vegetarians).

We arrived back in Eldoret on March 1, and we have been busy since then catching up on overseeing the Open Arms staff, hiring a new teacher at the school, a new staff employee at the office, overseeing construction at the village, selling eggs from the village, and introducting ourselves to the new children at the village. Before we left for Mozambique, the Open Arms Village had just brought Mary to the village and they had just hired a new set of house parents, Paul and Sarah Maswai. Now they have accepted four more children to the village: Desmond, Naomi, Rhoda, and Caleb. The number of children at the village is now at 31, with 3 babies at the home/office in Eldoret. With the new set of house parents, and a new orphanage home just completed (the Amani Home, which means "peace" in Kiswahili), the Open Arms Village will continue to grow rapidly over the next few months.

Other changes that occurred while we were in Mozambique included the addition of some furniture for the new orphanage homes. Rachel Gallagher and Renee Scobel purchased some carpets for the children's bedrooms and also some carpets, sofas, and chairs for the living rooms. In addition, washing machines, dining room tables, and other assorted items are helping to convert the Orphanage Houses into homes.

We wish all of you the best and we miss you, but right now we don't miss the cold, rainy weather back in Portland, and even more snow in other parts of the country. Come out and visit us this Spring or Summer. It stays warm (but not too warm) and sunny here in Eldoret year round.

Have a blessed week.

Matt and Cheryl Tallman