Cory In The Making

DMV Drama

2009-12-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

Not sure if you are familiar with the DMV... Don't get familiarized with them.

So I am trying to sell my car. And I didnt realize but the registration expired when I was in Africa. And obviously I didnt pay it so now I have a "Suspended Registration" Which means I have penalty charges and what not. So I want to take the easy way out and sell it to a dealer. Took it to CarMax and they said they would give me 1200. I'll take it. But they need me to register it before they buy it. NOW I cant get it registered until get it insured AND get it smoged. Not so easy with a car that isnt in great condition. Anyways today I went to the DMV to get a partial registration. When I got there an hour and 15 minutes before open, there was already about 30 people in line. Luckily after about 45 minutes someone told me "You cant register here if your car has a "Suspended Registration" So I have to call some company in San Francisco and pay them to clear the suspension. I never knew it would be so hard to sell it.

Well in line at the DMV there was a guy in front of me who just complained about EVERYTHING! he would say stuff like "They start work at 7... Why arent they opening till 9!!?" and "I guess this the help Obama gives us." He was mad at the world I could tell.

I am not sure where I am going to be working for the time being. Maybe CVS. I want to work at Cafe Primo where I worked before I left. But I dont think they need any help. Once I sell my car I should have some cash to find a studio and record some more songs. I'll keep you posted.

I just realized this BLOG is a lot more boring when I'm in America. Hah SORRRRYYYY.

Peace&Love....SPREAD IT!!

Back in the U.S.ofA.

2009-12-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Well after 44 total hours of traveling I landed back in LA. VERY TIRED. But you know what I say, "Never to tired for "Red Robbin" Thats a restaurant that we always went to growing up.

So a little bit about my traveling. It started out at 8AM when I met the shuttle in Swaziland and drove to the JoBurg airport. It was kinda a bummer because my flight didnt leave till 8:20 and I got there at about 12:30. So I had a long layover before I was even on a plane. I walked around the aiport a lot and spent the last of my rand. The good thing was Swiss Airways had an "Early Check-in" so I was able to check in at like 4! Before that I had to lug all my bags around. So I got in with no money and I really wanted a coffee. So after nervous self debating I decided to whip my Guitar out and try to make some money. It was not promising for the first 30 minutes. I threw in a One Dollar bill and people got the idea. So they threw in some Rand some Euro's. Not much. Just tons of change. But I had just enough for a big coffee right before my flight. And that was good because I was planning on catching up on movies in the plane. And OHHHH did I. Pretty sure I watched 5 on the first plane. My favorite was "Time Travelers Wife" OH and there was this CRAZY lady that sat next to me! Before we even left the ground I knew her whole life story. One of those people that you meet and think "I should just keep quiet and not ask questions"

So I landed in Switzerland at about 6AM. Couldnt see any mountains which was a bummer. I had a 7 hour Layover in Zurich so I went into town. What I didnt consider was how cold it would be. Coming from a hot day in South Africa to a cold day in Switzerland is tough. And I was wearing sandals. So I found some plane sox in my backpack and threw them on. I must have looked like a ninja... or a fool. It was a VERY nice city. Lots of cool architecture. The first thing that caught my eye was "STARBUCKS"! So I went over thinking "I'll get a really good, sweet, chick Coffee. But I saw that the "Toffee Nut Latte" was about $9.50!... I'll take a small black coffee please. Even that was 4 bucks! I soon realized that EVERYTHING was expensive in this city. At the grocery store they wanted me to pay two bucks for a cart! I couldn't even find a free public bathroom (they wanted a dollar to use it!!). I was going to pee on a tree but I found McDonalds. Only problem was they had a keypad next to the bathroom door and they only give the code to customers. But luckily the girls bathroom door was broken. After returning to that ladies room 3 times I thought I should buy something. So I got a Croissant and it was actually REALLY good. I tried hard to find an Internet Cafe with computers but that wasnt promising. Most people these days have their own laptops. I also soon realized that Zurich was FULL of beautiful girls! Except they all wore high heels and smoked. NOT COOOOOL. I mean really I understand the smoking but HIGH HEELS??!! :-) My favorite part was seeing men in there 40's and 50's riding "Razor" scooters all over town. Most of the people I met were actually pretty snobby. Maybe its because I'm American. I think I heard people don't really like us. Very advanced city though. They had sensors on the escalators so they only came on when you stepped on it. I thought that was cool.

Well after my second long flight I landed and met my mom. Then we met my grandma at the restaurant. That was nice. Got home and my step dad had a hot bath waiting for me. That was nice too. I'm a blessed guy. I tried to get online but fell asleep w/ the laptop on my lap. So far today I am pretty awake. No jet lag. I'm cool like that.

Well now that I'm back I wont update my blog as often but you can check back here and there. I'll still update it. When I get my Music Site finished I'll use that blog instead.

Once again thank you guys so much for taking part in this amazing journey with me. It's been so amazing and I am so lucky to have people in my life that would support me to do it. Your words have always brought me joy. I hope you have enjoyed this blog. Please keep the kids in your prayers.

And if you havent seen my last batch of pictures please CLICK HERE to check em out.

Peace&Love... Keep Spreading It!!!

OK this is tough.

2009-12-03T03:07:00.000-08:00

So Im in Zurich and I just got back from town. i had a long layover so i decided to leave. now that im back i was debating paying 15 bucks for internet. everything is expensive here. ill explain later. sooooo i fanally crack down and pay it. now i am on and it the i realize the keyboard layout is different. not good for someone who types fast. one example is the "Z" and the "y" key are switched. do you know how many times ive used y and z already in this post. EVERY TIME IV TYPED THE WRONG LETTER AND HAVE TO BACKSPACE. one of those things that gets on zour nerves. I am sick of backspacing and mz time is alreadz running out. so iäm not going to backspace I am just going to tzpe like I was on a regular kezboard and it turns out how it turns out. not to mention i had to waste time bz googleing "how to find the at szmbol on a swiss kezboard" i coulnt even sign in because the at szmbol was soooo hard to find.

but reallz i have three minutes left. no goofin off. iäll give zou all a full uplate when i get back to a normal kezboard at mz moms. one more 12 hour flight.

WOW. Last Post from Swaziland!

2009-12-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back from a great dinner with the Van Wyk's. A family that I've grown very fond of since I've been here. They took me to pizza. I didnt even know there was a Pizza Restaurant here. But it was good. And I have leftovers for my LOOOOONG Shuttle drive to the Airport tomorrow.

I still can't believe that this is my Last Night in Swaziland. Tomorrow night I'll be sleeping on a plane. Or staying up all night watching movies. I love plane movies. I wish I could use my 5 hours at the Joe Burg airport to write this post. Or my 7 Hour layover at the Zurich airport to write this. But I have no clue if they will have computers with Internet for me to use. So I'll write it now. Plus Im not really tired.

Today I got to go to New Hope and get some of the used shirts from the kids. Some genius in San Diego is going to cut up the old shirts and patch them onto new shirts and sell them. I KNOW! Its a great idea. So for every shirt we got we gave money for the kids to go pick out a new shirt. So the Kids give an old shirt and get a new shirt. Then you buy a new shirt with the kids old shirt patched on. EVERYONE WINS. At least I think thats how it works. So I went and did that and then went with a friend to the border to pay some fee. When I got back the kids were all outside playing. This was my first time going back to New Hope since I got back from Kenya. It was good but also hard. One of the young girls (Jamima) kept pulling my arm when I was trying to leave and saying "noooo cory!! Your not leaving!!!" I seriously wanted to cry. Those kids are so amazing. I know I say that a lot but its hard to get it unless you see it. I mean these kids who have always felt unwanted. These kids who would do ANYTHING to have a REAL mother or REAL father who loves and cares for them. I mean we can pretend to be their parents or their brother but there is something about REALL Blood relatives. I know any of those kids would do anything to have their real mother or father show them love.

The more I think about the kids the less I get excited about leaving tomorrow. Its like a emotional roller coaster! One second I am happy to come home and the next I think or Judith's laugh. Or I think of Chloe's smile. Or the way Tabatha always has to have a hand touching mine when i'm close. I honestly hate the fact that I get to leave and go home to my comfortable lifestyle and they have to stay in the same place.

Oh and Marianne thank you so much for your words. Its so good to see that God is touching people through my words. But dont EVER stop following. My whole life is an adventure. So I will be continuing this BLOG after I get back. It will be especially good if I get to take my RV tour.

Although this part of my life story is coming to a close, my story goes on.

Do you guys realize that God is doing something HUGE? Everyone knows it. Just ask around. Young people are getting fired up. They are being challenged. They are realizing that God isn't just an addition to our boring life but a transforming life ingredient. Do you WANT to see God? Because He wants to show himself to you! Go out on a limb. Dont just give a homeless guy money but invite him to lunch, or better yet bring him into YOUR HOME for lunch. You know that person you always see at the coffee shop or library or school that always looks like they could use a encouraging word? ENCOURAGE THEM! Shine Gods Love On The World At All Costs.

I am so excited to see what God has next for me.

If you havent signed up for my Mailing List then go to WWW.CoryWay.FanBridge.com

Well thats it for today. If Internet is accessible I will maybe write whats on my mind.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

P.S. I LOVE Kaitlin Weaver!

Pictures!

2009-11-30T04:15:00.000-08:00

I posted about 50 New photos on Facebook!

CLICK HERE!!

Hope you enjoy.

Few More Days in The Mother Land.

2009-11-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

So yesterday (Saturday) we went back up to the Children's home for a half day of painting and then a half day of playing with the kids.

It was a great day. We got our goal dont RIGHT at 11:55. Just enough time to have lunch. Packed Lunch is so good when your out on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. So after lunch we went to the playground and hung out with the Toddlers. I wish I could capture these kids on Camera. I mean as you can see their faces are beautiful. But its like a scenery shot, you can NEVER capture that beauty in a picture. No matter how hard you try. I am going to post some other pictures soon on Facebook so I will set up a link for your viewing pleasure soon.

After playing w/ the Toddlers we found that most of the older kids were down at the field playing Football. So we hiked down and watched the game. On both sides of the field the mountain just drops off. And the wind just whips through there! Sometimes the kids will kick a ball and it will come right back at them. But I KNOW God plays a part in the game because whenever the ball starts rolling off the mountain the wind will blow it right into one of the 4 rocks in sight. It was a great game.

So at the end of the day I had to say goodbye. The kids have said goodbye to me about 3 times in the past 6 months. So I think they are starting to assume I'm never REALLY leaving. It kind of makes it easier. I and I think its better for them. And me. When the kids cry I Cry. So we said our goodbyes and head down the mountain and back to the Hotel for our last Stir Fry dinner.

One thing that is a bummer is that the road going to the Emmanuel Home is REALLY bad. Shirley say's there is no way I can make it up. And thats where my girl Nondumiso is. :-( So it sux that I wont be able to see her before I go. If you dont know the story of my Girl Nondumiso than CLICK HERE and you can read it. It's amazing.

Well today we had to be up a little early to get Jeff and Connor to the airport. They are heading to Cape Town for a few days and then back to Georgia. They are a great Family. From the two I've met at least. I told Jeff that I was planning on making another CD and before he we dropped them off he gave me $25 and said "Send me a CD when its done" Soooo Looks like I got my first CD sale. Before its even DONE. Soooo what do you say? Anyone else wanna buy a CD before its done?!? hah But really I am thinking about doing a Pre-sale when I get closer to recording. Its a good way to pay for the CD. Then when I'm done I'll ship them to the first people who bought one. But Jeff was the first person to buy my second CD. Thanks Jeff. I'll let you know when Pre-Sale starts.

We made good time today. about 9 hours total there and back. But some tell me they can make it to the Airport and back in 7 hours. I was thinking on the way back that this will be the last time this year that I will make the trek back to Swaziland. Its Sad. I'm gonna miss Shirley too. And Charles and Cindy and Joshua and the other Joshua and Caroline and Antony and Rachael and and Denis and Kaleli... The list goes on and this is JUST SWAZILAND. Not to mention all the children. Its hard now that my heart is in both Swaziland and Kenya. Who knows what the future holds. Well I know someone does. And I'm glad he wont let me in on it. No fun in that.

The next couple days I'll be layin low. Wont be much to BLOG about. Well actually you never know around here. But I will give you a Link to the new Pics as soon as they are uploaded.

Thanks Peeps,

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

More To Come...

2009-11-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hello Peeps.

Wednesday:

Today we went to the Hlane Game Park. It’s the same one I went to with the group in August but this time it was cooler because there were only three of us. This time we got to get out of the jeep at one point and walk down a path to a little pond. Inside and around the pond was about 7 Rhino’s. When we first cleared the bushes and they saw us a couple of them jumped up like they were about to charge. The tour guide didn’t budge so I felt pretty safe. I thought a tour guide running was just about as bad as a doctor saying “ohhhhh I’ve never seen this before.” But he didn’t run. We saw tons of other stuff like Giraffes and Impala and Warthogs (with about 5 little babies) and even a Dung Beetle. The best was the Lion though. We had to drive for about 30 minutes to find one but when we did it was well worth it. He was sitting in the shade under a tree. And the driver drove off the road to get us close enough to take good pictures. When we were close I said “I’m gonna go pet him k?” and the driver said “It’s ok, watch” he then opened his door like he was going to get out. And as soon as he stuck a leg out the lion perked up and his eyes got big. It was so funny. Then we went to the market. I HATE going there w/o buying anything. All of the ladies say “Please support me!... I haven’t eaten any food all day and I am hungry” Its all part of the game but its soooo hard not to just give them money. One lady said “Who is going to help me if you wont?” and I said “God helps all of us doesn’t He?” and she agreed. Most of the ladies that own the shops are Christian. But still I felt like the guys in the Bible that say “Oh you are naked and poor? I’m sorry! I will pray for you!” and don’t feed them or give them clothes. Its hard. :-(

Thursday:

So today we went to El Shaddai and painted some more. Its kind of difficult because some of the walls got bad water damage from the rain. So the concrete is just rolling right off as we are trying to roll paint on. But we got a lot done. I think this was our first FULL day’s work and it went by very quick. Also the guy Mark who is staying at El Shaddai asked us to stay for a Thanksgiving Dinner. As soon as he told me there would be Turkey I was on bored. Jeff and Connor were excited too. So we stayed and played soccer with the kids after work to kill some time. Well I mostly hung out with Gift. She is a child who is very chicky. Is that a word we use in America? I learned it in Kenya. But Gift is full of life and is soooo fun to hang out with. So she took me on a tour of El Shaddai (even though I had seen it many times) and she insisted she be on my shoulders for the duration of the tour. It was fun. For dinner Mark had Frank and Jane (couple who is working at the bottom half of El Shaddai), Sean and Alison (worship leaders for Marks church), Jeff and Connor, and Me. The food was amazing! A serious Thanksgiving Feast. Two Turkeys, Mash Potatoes & Gravy, Sweet Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli Casserole (yeah mom I ate it and it was GREAT), Stuffing, Corn, Jell-O mixed with fruit, and Coleslaw(I’m sure I’m missing something. Oh and to finish it all off… Pumpkin Pie, Apple Crunch, and Ice Cream! I Love you Mark! So later in the night I found out that I know Frank and Jane’s Daughter. She went on my first trip to Kenya with her boyfriend who now she is married too. It was cool to make the connection.

Well after the great dinner we got home By Gods Grace. The roads had more fog on them than I had ever seen! It was so scary to drive. You never know when a GIANT Cow will pop up in front of you in the middle of the road. And on top of that I forgot to get gas on the was to El Shaddai. And when we got there I saw we were on Empty. I seriously doubted that we would get to the closest Gas station that was FAR away. But we made it. Now I’m home and I see Shirley has turned the Internet off. I think she found out I’ve been sneaking on to check e-mails and update my blog. Hah. I have fallen in love with Shirley. She is the greatest lady ever. I’m gonna miss her. She will miss me to although she probably wont admit it.

Today(Friday):

Well we went back to El Shaddai today to paint. I thought we were gonna get a lot done but the second coat is white as well and its not covering. So we might have to do a third coat. IF we can make it there. Today the Fog was still bad on our way up. And then at lunch time when we went to eat (leftover Turkey!) the fog got WAY worse. And we started to paint more and the storm came hard. Thunder and Lightning everywhere. We realized we needed to get down the mountain soon. Once in gets bad the roads are like slip and slides. When I was cleaning the brushes and rollers in the pouring rain I started to see lightning all around me. I started to think It wasn’t a good Idea to be on top of a HUGE mountain in the middle of a HUGE rain cloud with HUGE lightning bolts all around. But God kept us from danger once again. It was sad seeing all the kids walking in the rain with no umbrellas. So if the rain continued than we wont be able to make it up the mountain tomorrow. Sooooo we will have to see.

Also I had a cool idea today. I think when I get home I will put on a Christmas Concert at Café Primo to raise money for another CD. I REALLY need to get these songs down on a CD. I’m working on one right now that’s got some potential.

I Love You All,

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!!

Canaan Update W/ PICTURES!

2009-11-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Yes people you heard me right. WITH PICTURES!

Real fast shout out. HI SAMANTHA MARSCHALL.

But those will come later. First let me tell you something I recently learned.

When I spent some time with the Kenyan's they told me I was lucky to be alive (I just keep finding more reasons to thanks God that my Run-In-With-A-Thief wasn't worse). I guess the Red Eye bus that goes between Mombasa and Nairobi is a very dangerous ride. Kaleli was surprised that no one informed me. Just about every one of them had a story about someone getting jacked from that bus. You see the road is long and dark with no town for miles at a time. Kaleli said he has heard many case's where people will buy a bus ticket and board the bus like a regular people. Then when they are at the "planned meeting spot" they will pull out guns and put one on the driver and some on the passengers and tell the driver to drive into the bush. They will take you out far from the road and make everyone get out of the bus and remove ALL their clothing and place it in a bag along with Cell phones, wallets, passports. EVERYTHING. Then they will take the keys to the bus and their friend will show up in a car to load all the goods and they will leave. He even said sometimes they would make people do stuff that I don't want to repeat. So I guess you can say God really protected me on that trip. They couldn't believe I actually went on that bus!

So on a lighter note. The food at the Hotel has been great. And spending time with Jeff and Connor has been great as well. They are a great family. Connor is in that age where he asks TONS of questions. Even if he knows the answer. He will always ask his dad a question and I will just wait with a smile on my face to hear Jeff's response. They really love it hear. Yesterday we went to El Shaddai to do some painting. We got a tour from Mark and got to eat lunch on the Prayer Rock. Mark showed us a new building put up for guests to stay. He opened the door and their was a fake snake wrapped around the end of the bunk bed. I was thinking "DANG that looks real!" as I approached. It then jumped to the ground. I seriously screamed like a little girl about to sit on Santa's Lap! No just kidding. I caught bare handed Bear Grill style and we cooked it for lunch (Then I woke up). The kids are just finishing up the year so a lot of them were outside playing. It was soooo good to see some familiar faces. All the girls running from me before I even got to say hello. Oh and Sharla I told Ndumiso "Sharla said your football shoes will be here soon." and he said "How soon?" hah I can tell he is excited. Jeff and Connor had a blast running around and playing with the kids. Although Connor got mad because he said when he went to go pee the kids all stared at him. We tried to tell him it was because he is like a celebrity but he didn't go for it. So that was yesterday.

And today we went to Project Canaan. Mark (who works at El Shaddai) joined us. He's a great guy. So he followed us up in the morning and we met Kaleli at the building. Mark made the connection later that Kaleli was Charles Mulli's son and got very excited. If you haven't read Charles Mulli's book you should read it. It will change your life! Its called Father to the Fatherless. Kaleli took us in the 4Wheel drive Land Rover to see more of the land. We went up pretty high before the Truck started sliding of the mountain and we had to throw it in park and hike. We were pretty far up taking pictures when all of a sudden Kaleli says "Shhhh!!! quit!! There is something in that bush!" We had to quietly sneak down the trail. He looked scares so I was scared. I guess he heard something really big breathing really hard in the bushes next to us. He took us down to the lower dam. HOLY COW! OK here is where the pictures come in. This dam was seriously not even 1/3 full on Friday when I left Canaan. And now it was OVER FLOWING!

This is the upper BIG Dam. Honestly when I was there on Thursday I was walking around at the bottom of this Dam. I remember thinking "this dam is NEVER gonna fill" I wish I had some numbers for you but these two Dam's are HUGE.

The best part about this is that ALL of this water wasn't being used before this. It was just running off into huge rivers that took it to bigger rivers that eventually took it out to the sea! And this is good stuff. Not nasty water but fresh spring water. Brought straight from Gods creation. The other day I put a post on Facebook that said "I thank God for Rain. It brings Life to Life" But without the soon to follow sun the rain would ruin everything. So I also thank God for the BURNING sun that we had today. Because of it the Maize was looking great. Here is some snaps of the Maize.

Well what a great day. We were supposed to work on a gate but we never even started. We took a tour till about 1 and then Jeff and Kaleli talked a lot about smart people stuff. I nodded my head a lot. Really though I could tell Jeff was loving it. Sometimes I feel bad if we don't get work done but then I realize that these trips are meant for bigger things. I mean yeah we need this stuff done but the knowledge Jeff got from today he will go back with. And he might tell a co-worker who tells his wife who tells her sister. And her sister might come on a trip and donate some big time bucks. Or better yet maybe she's not saved and she see's what God is doing here and has but no choice to accept Him! These are the things God gets to enjoy on a daily basis. The connections we don't always see. But I know one day in Heaven we will be able to connect the dots. And we WILL meet people who are there because of us. Even if we've never seen them before. WOW. God is good. And his Mercies endure forever.

Tomorrow we go to a Game Park. I'll try to get some more pictures. Thank you all for reading. Nancy if you want to get some Stats from Wayne and post them in a comment that would be cool. Maybe telling us how big the Dam's are.

That's all for tonight. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

South Africa & Back

2009-11-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back at Shirley's house after an exciting trip to JoeBurg and back.

We left late in the morning because the Burglar broke the gate and we had to call some guy to come look at it. But we finally got on the road and head to the Hotel in Johannesburg to check in. We had planned to get their with ample time to relax before the flight came in but ended up getting lost looking for the Town Lodge. We finally found with barely enough time to check in and head to the airport. We got to the airport and after waiting a while they walked out of Terminal A. Jeff and his nine year old son Conner. We drove back to the Town Lodge to drop their bags and then went to the Rawhide Restaurant next door. I saw "Kingklip" fish on the menu and said "Does the fish come without bones" and she said "sometimes" hah. It was good though. Went back to the Hotel and slept. I didnt get any rest the night before so it was good to sleep.

GOOOOOD NEWWWWSSSS I get to eat at the Hotel! So I WILL gain back all the weight I lost in time to see all your pretty faces. I figure I need to put on my winter coat before coming home.

Jeff and Conner are pretty cool. I'm excited to spend some time w/ them this next week. Jeff works for Verizon and he has the new DROID phone. So that makes him even cooler. I'm still not sure what we will be doing up at the Children's Home this week. I just know were painting something.

Ok Sharla you can be my Southern Sister. As long as your a Sister that makes good biscuits.

Mom for dinner lets do Grandma's famous Chicken Tortilla Casserole. mmmm. But dont worry Ill be eating good this week.

Thats all for now. OH WAIT!! The sun was out ALLLL Day today! God is Gooooood. I can just feel the Maize up at Canaan soaking up the sun. Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Please Pray!!

2009-11-20T18:25:00.001-08:00

So since I left to Kenya Shirley has had some problems with people breaking in. Just before I left Wayne had found money missing from his wallet two times. Since we weren't possative that someone had stolen it when he was in the house we didnt mention it to Shirley. But when I was in Kenya it happened again to Wayne AND Kaleli the same night. Turns out someone had stolen a house key and was sneaking into the house late and night to steal money from people wallets!! So they changed all the locks and took some more security measures. Well After staying up till 2AM I just got abruptly woken up at 4:15 and it turns our shirley woke up to someone trying to break into her bedroom window!! Shirley called the police and when the guy saw the lights he ran.... Leaving the gate open. So on top of stealing the house key he stole a Gate Clicker too. Anyways Now I am wide awake because I'm freaked out. I assume he was waiting for me to go to sleep. I had a weird feeling last night. Like right before I went to bed I noticed a break in the curtains and I felt like someone was watching me and I was scared to look outside. So I just went closed the curtains all the way. But anyways poor Shirley!! She must be terrified! Anyways I hope we scared him off for good. But really we need to pray for Shirley and the safety of the house because when I'm not here its just her alone in this big house!

Well Its now 4:45 and I'm up for the day going on 2 hours of sleep.

GoodMorning World.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Warm Shower=Heaven!

2009-11-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well I am finally back at Shirley's house and I cant tell you how nice it feels to be in a warm house with dry clean clothes and clean sheets.

Still not a steady Internet connection though. She has been having trouble w/ her phone line so it goes in and out. Which is a bummer cause I really wanted to Skype some people. Up at Canaan the rain was coming down hard. It was different from Kenya rain because it never stopped. In Kenya it would pour really hard for about 30 minutes than stop but here keeps going like the energizer bunny. And in Kenya when it rains you usually find shelter till it stops but here if you did that you would never get back to work! So we just work in the rain. I keep leaving stuff behind wherever I go. Like in Kenya I left a couple pairs of shoes and my work jeans. So my only pair of shoes now are soaked. I forget what I told you in my last post so forgive me if I repeat myself. We use a generator for power a few hours a day but it get overpowered easily. So for dinner when they are using the stove to cook dinner we cant boil water for tea or coffee or a hot bath. Sometimes I would sneak over and test it just in case and all the sudden all the lights would go out and everyone would say "CORYYYY!!!" hah.

I never knew that eating some of my moms bad food growing up was a test for my future. Not that it happened that often. Last night one of the guys made dinner and I honestly had to hold myself from gagging. The worst part was the spinach dripping with vegetable oil and salt. But the guy who made it was such a good friend that I had to finish my whole plate.

Most of the work I had to do was harvesting. Not the normal harvesting of potatoes but of grass. Yeah Grass. You see here in Africa you dont go buy grass in a roll or even buy seeds to plant. You go out and find grass. But not any grass. We had to find the stuff that didnt grow tall and kept snakes away. It was a muddy job. But seriously Canaan is looking amazing. I wanted to take pictures by it was rainy so I'm hoping to get some when I take the Father and Son up on Tue. The Maze is starting to grow and it looks like a legit farm! Nice long rows. We have been getting a little more rain than needed (Seriously Melba... you gotta stop praying for rain!) so maybe if you all could pray for some sunshine. Kaleli said with a couple days of sunshine the maze will grow big fast. So tomorrow we wake up and head to JoeBurg to pick up the Father and son then spend the night at the "Town Lodge" and drive back to Swazi on Sunday.

So funny story. Kaleli bought a NetBook (which is a small laptop like the one I HAD) and I was talking to him about it and he was like "Yeah I really like it but they are so hard to find bag's for!" I happened to leave my back here when I went to Kenya cause it was to bulky to bring. So I said "I got a bag you can have!" and then he thanked me and later on in the conversation he said "Yeah the ONLY bad thing about this computer though is that it doesnt have a disk drive. So I cant install any programs or watch movies on it" and I happened to buy a disk drive for that very reason. And I KNOW my next computer will have a disk drive so I said "I have a DVD Reader/Burner Disk drive you can have too!" hah Really I had no need for either one of those things now. So I'm glad he can use them. THEN he said pulled out this point and shoot waterproof camera (which is what I've had my eye on for my next camera) and I asked if he would sell it for cheap.... But he said it was his only camera. DANG. haha. Its ok though. Really it just felt good to have two things he said he was looking for.

I am getting so excited. These next couple weeks are going to fly by and I know that I will enjoy them.

Holy Cow! I just saw something that looked like a spider behind the nightstand next to my bed. So I went to move the nightstand and the spider jumped out of site! I'm scared now.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Back To The Bush...Kind Of.

2009-11-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hellloooo everybodyyyy!!!

I am spending a couple days up at Project Canaan. We got up here last night and I couldn’t see anything but when I woke up this morning I was AMAZED. Soooo much green! A fire ripped through these hills a while ago so usually I am used to seeing a lot of dead brown trees. But with all the rain they have gotten I can’t see one dead tree in site.

No electricity up here yet so we are using a Generator. Although we keep overloading it, and I’m using a laptop from 1973, so when I was replying to Doug’s e-mail the computer died two times! They have about 12 hectors of Maze planted. ALL BY HAND. Don’t as me how many acres that is. Ask Google. He is smarter than me. But I play guitar better than him. Only bummer part about staying here is NO hot water. Cold Showers it issssss. Anyways I am here till Friday and then heading back to Shirley’s. HFA had a trip planned for next week that got cancelled but a father and son still want to come. So I will be in charge of leading our 3 man painting team. We will be going up to El Shiddai for most of the time and coming back up here to Canaan for a day. Usually when we have groups I get to go to the hotel for dinner. Although since it’s a small group I’m not sure if I’m going to be able sneak in. If I DO get to eat there I will easily gain back all the weight I lost in Kenya in one week. I’ll keep you up to date.

Today at about I was walking back to the building to get my jacket when suddenly I got a major head ache. I sat on my bed for a second then got a major stomach ache! Stomach aches I’m used to now but I NEVER get head aches. I mean unless I get hit in the head or kicked in the jaw. It was weird. But I found some Tylenol and it seemed to help only after I got some rest. The four people living out here on the land are Kenyan’s. Which is cool cause I still get to practice my Swahili. But they cook Ugali. My least favorite Kenya dish. And there are no kids in close proximity that I can give my leftovers too.

So I don’t want to have to deal with this computer shutting down on me anymore so I’m gonna wait till Friday to update again. Sound good…. GOOD.

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!!

Back in the Swazi's Land

2009-11-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. It is nice to be writing to you from the comfort of Shirley's once again.

The first thing I did was take a shower and use the toilet. ohhhhh yessss. A real toilet WITH a toilet seat.

Anyways before I go on I want to say that my time in Mombasa was AMAZING. The beaches were unbelievable with white sand and clear water. And a lot of people offering me Ganja. (Thats Marijuana mom.)

My carry on luggage was very light on the way here :-( but it was actually nice to feel like I had nothing of real value in my backpack. It looks like I'll be going to stay up at Project Canaan on Monday for a week or so. Which I am very excited for because I hear the progress has been amazing. I have a lot of e-mails to reply to so sorry this is so short. Shirley said I can only use her Mac for a limited time since she has to pay money if she goes over her Internet usage.

Love and miss you all

Wish I had pictures to post for you. But I don't. So I'll take one.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT

The Bright Side

2009-11-13T00:11:00.000-08:00

Donna you are amazing. Mom, Sharla is my Southern Mom and Melba is my Southern Grandma, and Donna is my Georgian Mom. They are all amazing and I'm trying to talk Donna into bringing her hubby to Idyllwild. I love how all you commented on this. Donna your words brought reason to my problem. I HAVE to buy a new laptop. But the Camera and iPod and glass' can wait. sooooooo ahhhhh mommmmmmmm. :-) You know I'd never ask you to buy me a laptop so maybe if you havent already gotten me a present you can just get me an Apple.com gift certificate. And a little more bad news. I got these sweet wooden elephants with our last name (WAY) carved in them. That was part of my present to my brothers but he took them. And for my Moms present I collected a rock from the Mountains of Kenya, from the Desert of Kenya, and dried reef from the ocean of Kenya.... The Desert and Ocean rocks were in my backpack... and he took them. SERIOUSLY!!! He took rocks but left my passport. Oh yes the Bright Side. I've been trying to find the good in all this and here is a list I came up with.

The Bright Side:

1. I got robbed without being in danger.
2. I luckily put my wallet with my debit and credit card in my pocket when we got on the bus.
3. My Passport WAS in my backpack and he left it!! Thank God because I leave tomorrow morning.
4. It was my less expensive point and shoot camera. (Although I used it on most of this trip so ALLL my Swazi/Kenya/Mombasa pictures are on it.
5. My iPod was about 3 years old.
6. My laptop only costs me $350 and most can be up above $1000. AND I backed it up before I came to Africa. But also allllll my pictures from my last 5 months were in it :-(
7. My Blackberry was also about 3 years old.

Sooo there is a good side to all of this. And really if I was smart I would have kept my backpack under my legs the whole time. Live and Learn.

So I'm staying at ANOTHER orphanage in Niarobi and yesterday when I was Big Time Bummin a little girl (Doreen) who I think has a mental disability came up to me and said "Hi... I'm Doreen.... Jesus Loves You and so do I because you came to visit us" At that moment I felt like my night turned around. She is adorable. Its interesting that after this happened I read all of your comments about what REAL blessings are. From my Last Kenya Post. It was a good reassurance that all the stuff I had is replaceable and aren't as important as all the time I spent here or the memories I have from it.

I Love You All.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT.

Bummmmmin Day

2009-11-12T01:35:00.000-08:00

Well I was supposed to get to Nairobi today and post the TONS I wrote about my Mombassa trip. But that wont happen because my Laptop got stolen. On the bus ride back to Nairobi our bus had trouble so we had to unload everything and wait for another bus. When the bus came it had tons of people on it already so I put my backpack up above on the shelf and went to find a seat. I should have just held my backpack but I was half asleep and didnt realise what we were doing. So turns out when I put my backpack on the bus it was heavy. Then when we got back to Nairobi and I woke up half the bus had already gotten off at the past few stops. So I went to get my backpack and found it a lot lighter. I checked and EVERYTHING of value was gone. Laptop, Blackberry, Ipod, Camera, and Sun glass'. So I'm really bummed today. We tried to talk to the manager and he said he would look into it. But I leave in two days and really doubt anything will turn up. He went through EVERY pocket. It sux because I wrote so much good stuff about Mombassa and I'm not ready to rewrite all of that. Please pray that my stuff turns up. I forgot to look but I think he stole my brothers and my moms Christmas presents. :-(

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Last Update From Kenya. :-(

2009-11-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday:

Naivasha was also very cold and rainy. I never thought about bringing a umbrella here. But a lot of people sell them. I don’t really mind the cold weather and rain its just it makes me want to sit by the fire and drink hot cocoa. Hah David has a fire place in his house but covered with a blanket. And I asked “you don’t have fires?” and he said “no way what if it starts other stuff on fire and burns the house down?” he says now that he has a kitchen he thinks the fire should stay there. But I found a review online for “Naivasha” and they said the best place to eat was Jims Corner. So I found it and it turns out they were out of Simosa’s and chips as well. I felt bad but everything else on the menu wasn’t appetizing so I just left. They probably think I’m a snobby American. It sucks being picky. But I’ve eaten a lot more on this trip than I normally would of. Tonight was cool. Two of the children snuck into my room and we watched Africa videos from the past years and I showed them our Lake Havasu trip video. When it showed a girl in a bathing suit one said “ that’s how girls dress in America?!” hah Good times. Goodnight.

Sunday:

Hey. Today was nice. Got to sleep in a little then go to church. At church this guy came up in front of the church and said he wanted to accept Christ. It was awesome cause he said “I’m a school teacher in town and since I moved here I felt like I wasn’t giving these kids everything I could. Now I realize that I wasn’t teaching them about the most important lesson on earth.” So after the service I asked him if he had a bible and he said no. I asked him if he wanted mine and he got very excited.. Although it was the bible that Simba (the little rat dog in Swaziland) ate part of. I figure its better than nothing. So we walked back to Tumaini and helped plan a soccer tournament for the kids. David K. was on one team and of course his team won. Course… or Coarse.? Microsoft Word tells me its “Course”. I was in my room and wrote a pretty sweet chorus. We will see if it turns into a song. Then right before dinner the electricity went out and its still out. Everyone went to bed really early. Also the kids have their first (of three) exams tomorrow. So pray for them. Well You’ll read this on Saturday. So pray for their second exam next Monday. And their third and final exam the following Monday. Mombasa might be next Sunday.

Monday:

It just hit me how fast my time here has flown by. Its already been almost two months! And then to think that I started this adventure 5 months ago blows my mind. Today I was baking and Ann (the lady in charge of baking) asked me a question that I had no answer to. Shocking huh? Not. There a lot of questions that I don’t have an answer to but this one was different because I thought about it all day and STILL don’t have an answer. Her exact words were “How come you Americans are so much more blessed than us?” And I said “what do you mean” and she said “It seems you all have jobs and are rich (considering almost half the world’s population, over three billion people, live on less than $2.50 a Day, I would say 99.9% of the people reading this are rich). I stumbled over some words before finally saying “I actually don’t know... that’s a deep question.” I was going to go into how from a spiritual sense I would say they are more blessed, but I knew she was talking about earthly blessings. I mean you could say it’s because of the “Christian” founders of America but there are a ton of Christians here and they don’t have the earthly blessings we have. You could say its because of the hard work and smart choices of our government but I KNOW they work hard here and I think there government plays the cards they are dealt. Or maybe we just have the opportunities that they don’t have. But its safe to say that God’s Blessings transcend Lack of Opportunity. Then I started thinking “who’s to say these are blessings from God and not just a simple product of smart people and good Choices?” Though I do think God has played a part in every Americans life. Man this hurts my head. Its questions like these that keep life from getting boring. And make my walk with God so interesting. Later in the day I had guitar lessons that went very well. George is going to take over where I’m leaving off so that’s good to know. That’s all for now. PLEASE if you have any input on this question put it in a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts. GNight.

Tuesday:

I killed a puppy today. :-( It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. When I woke up this morning I saw her sitting in the rain shivering so I tried to get her to move under a covering but she wouldn’t move. David told me she had some kind of virus so I shouldn’t touch her and she would probably die today. So we got some sticks and put her under the covering. When I came back at lunch she was making whimpering noises and breathing really hard. I felt so bad so I asked someone “Should we put her out of her misery?” But they all said “no way we can’t kill it.” All the kids started coming and poking it with sticks and the school Head Master got really mad and said “go dig a hole and we will bury it.” Barry the dog. But It was still alive! I knew the right thing to do was put her out of her misery but I asked every grown man here and they all said “that’s so mean!” So I waited as they dug and dug and finally the hole was deep enough. They were about to pick the bag and drop him in (still whimpering and breathing!) I finally said “ok wait” I went and got an ax. I know sounds brutal but I thought if I could get one good hit in the neck it would be over fast. I thought about a big stick but that would take to long. Turns out the ax wasn’t sharp. It still took 4 hits. It wasn’t bloody or gross it was just sad. I ate about two bites of lunch and passed it to the kids. I was seriously depressed the rest of the day. I had to pretend to be interested in teaching the kids a song tonight. I taught them “Amazing Grace.” Most of the day I worked in the Shamba planting Potatoes. Don’t forget to reply to my deep question from yesterday. Love You All.

Wednesday:

I was haunted last night with what I did to that poor dog! And then people today were like “did you seriously kill it?!” I know I did the right think but it still was hard. I’m not one of those people who go to all these measures to protect animals. Although I once saw a movie about how they treat the cows and chickens and went vegetarian for a week. In fact I get irritated when people make a huge deal out of the treatment of animals and then they don’t know anything about the PEOPLE suffering in our world. Like the 25,000 children that die EVERY DAY due to poverty. Its cool if you have a passion to protect animals but please go beyond that and support an organization that protects people. God’s final and greatest creation was us. And everything else he created was for us to enjoy. Other than that haunting memory today was good. I checked some prices and decided to take George to Mombasa. Travel to Mombasa is gonna cost us about $50 round trip. Which is ok because I was going to have to pay David half that to take me to Nairobi for my flight. So now I’ll be coming back to Nairobi from Mombasa instead of all the way back to Tumaini. And we found a hotel for about $13 a night. Cheapest one in town. Maybe that’s a bad thing. Only downside to going is I have to say goodbye to the kids this Sunday. I told the kids tonight at fellowship and they got very sad. Girls who usually run from me (for fun) came up to me saying “Don’t go home… who’s gonna call us beautiful?” It seriously broke my heart. I started this thing w/ some of the girls who seem to be left out a lot. I say “Who’s beautiful?” and they say “I am” hah sounds cheesy but most of the stuff you do in Africa is cheesy. That’s how life is here. Plus once the girls caught on they began to love it. Anyways tonight was difficult. My Naivasha trip this Saturday is going to be fast. I’m only going because I want to buy the kids biscuits and juice for my last night. I suddenly feel bad for going to Mombasa. Although I know that leaving this weekend or next would still be just as difficult. Electricity went out again right before dinner. Usually it makes the dinner good but I REALLY don’t like Ugali. So it tasted the same. Hah. Everyone says Travis LOVED Ugali. Well I’ll try to be happy on my last few days w/ the kids. That’s enough for tonight.

Thursday:

I just realized how lucky you guys are being able to read the whole week at once. Its like for me my life is one of those addicting show’s on TV. And I have to wait for the exciting and not so exciting stuff to happen… next week. But you just get to read the next paragraph. Like when you read this my next few days would have already happened. Although I guess in some ways its bad because I update on SaturDAY and I’m saying bye to the kids on Saturday night. So you wont get to know about the Goodbye night till WAY after it happens. Just kidding I’m sure I’ll find internet in Mombasa to update. Anyways today I baked bread with Ann and went to town to develop pictures. She told me about a month ago that she wanted to make Queen Cakes with me once since I had never had them. Then last week she said she was going to buy the ingredients to make them. Well I kinda forgot but she showed up today with Butter, Eggs, Milk, Sugar, and Flour. I asked her how much all of it cost and she said 200 shillings! This is the woman who told me she only makes 100 Shillings a day and only works two day a week. So she spent a full weeks worth of money on the ingredients. While we were making the Queen Cakes (which turned out delicious) she told me about how God always provides. She said yesterday she was praying to God because she didn’t have enough money to buy the ingredients then later in the day someone called her out of the blue (who she hasn’t heard from in years) to ask her if she had some time to do some work for money. I was so amazed at her determination to deliver what she promised and how much she sacrificed to do so. I was able to develop a picture of us and write her a note on the back. She only comes Monday and Thursday so I had to say goodbye to her today. It was sad. Tomorrow I’m hiking up a mountain that David said I shouldn’t because of wild animals in the area. But Alice and Charles are accompanying me. I’m excited. Oh yes and tonight I shaved my head and of course Benson collected all my hair off the ground. He has my hair from the last 2 times I shaved my head here as well. Weird I know. But I cant just refuse him my hair. I like the feel of a fresh shaved head. Tomorrow…We Hike.

Friday:

What an amazing day. We went to the Shamba for a little bit and then hiked a pretty big mountain that since day one I said I wanted to hike. David said I shouldn’t because there are wild animals that they had to put an electric gate around to keep them from getting into the community. On the way to the base of the mountain we came across a boysenberry bush (and I got really excited cause I LOVE them) but most of the berries were picked. But when me and Charles and Alice started walking we prayed that God would give us a way to get past the gate and get to the top and back safe. Well we went to the opening in the gate where there is “Always” a police officer and the little shack he was supposed to be in was empty so we walked right in. The hike up the mountain was amazing. At some points the bush was so think that we had to get on hands and knees to get through. We would sometimes be lucky enough to find a path but then it would disappear 5 minutes later. At first I thought the paths were good but then we came across a couple of big tracks and a place where is looked like a big animal had slept for the night. Then I wanted to stay off the tracks because they probably belonged to animals. We finally got to the top and had an AMAZING view. And the best part. TONS of wild Boysenberries! Never been picked HUGE berries. I was in heaven. We enjoyed them and I busted out a few sandwiches I brought. The hike down was a lot easier cause we found a more open area. Then we finally got back to Tumaini and I was beat. We walked about 4 KM (Not sure what the conversion is.. Google is leslie) to the base of the mountain then Hike up and after walked 4KM back home. LONG day but so worth it. God answered all of our prayers. To get us to the top, to get us their safe, and to get us down. And He even through in a prize at the top. And I saw tons of amazing birds. Sorry mom didn’t find any feathers. I tried. I’m sleeping well tonight. Up at 6 to catch the bus to town.

So Yes. This is my last update from Kenya. Next Saturday I will be back in Swaziland. It will be nice to have hot water pressure and a toilet. But I’m dreading saying goodbye to the kids tonight. :-(

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!

Update...again.

2009-10-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday:
I woke up early to take the Moto into town. After updating my BLOG I went to a photo store and printed out some pictures of the kids here who I have bonded with. I’m going to write a little message on the back of each picture and give them the pictures on Tuesday before I leave. I asked Mama Jon what the kids would want as a treat on the night before I leave. I expected her to say chocolate or a Lolly Pop but she said “Bread and Juice!” hah. So I’m going with her on Monday to pick it up from the store. Today I found out that I’ve been calling a girl (whom I bonded with a lot in July and this week) the wrong name. And she NEVER corrected me. I thought her name was Jean and I even said stuff like “I had a Grandma Jean! She made the best Gravy!!” Then today she took me to her class and we were looking at names on the wall and I said “I don’t see your name anywhere” and she said “Yeah, look right here!” and I was like “JANE?!” haha. And tonight I must have killed 15 Mosquitoes in my room. The problem is on two opposite walls there are missing windows. And the wind blows really hard here. Its like a wind tunnel through my room in the middle of the night. And I realized today that if a mosquito was just cruzin my by room it would get sucked in. And that’s why I’ve been waking up with tons of bites. Hah WOW God is funny. My 50 cent mosquito candle that I bought in town just burned out. Turns out the wick only goes about halfway down the wax. SWEEET. Better get under my net. GNIGHT

Sunday:
Wow. Don’t ever complain about a hour and a half church service. Try 4 HOURS!!! And halfway through they decided to switch buildings. It was good though. I got to teach the kids a chorus and they sung with me. I love little kids voices. So after church it was dinner time. Just kidding. We had some rise mixture for a late lunch that was great (after the chili sauce). Then I walked with Patrick down to a little store. Patrick is the guy who cooks and he is 27 and pretty much the coolest guy I’ve met. After the walk I played a little football (soccer) and danced for the kids. For some reason they wanted me to dance. And for some reason they thought it was hilarious. Then before dinner during fellowship two of the children shared their testimony. WOW. Sometimes you forget that these kids have been through so much. One girl who is 16 said that she was kicked out of her home after her father died when she was 9 years old. So she went on the streets and from the help of a older lady got hired as a maid in a mans house. After being abused many times she ran away from this house. Then when back to the streets and was going to try to go back home but didn’t know the way. So she met another young girl who said “I’ll show you the way in the morning you can stay with me tonight” Then later that night she said she was walking with the girl and the girl went into a bar and brought out two older men with her…. She couldn’t finish the story. She started crying and covered her face. She is 16! I really need to pray hard tonight. One more day here then back to Tumaini. I’m gonna miss these kids so much. I don’t want to say goodbye. :-(

Monday:
I went to town today to get bread and juice for the kids. So since I was in town I decided to find a good place to get some food. The first place I went looked good. I went inside and ordered a Coke (in the glass bottle…only way to drink Coke) and when the server brought it I said “do you have samosas?” and he said “no… just meat” and I said “OK… So do you have Chicken?” and he said “…JUST MEAT” to which I replied “Do you have a menu?” and he walked away. I assumed to get the menu. 15 minutes later I saw him chatting with some local. So then I went to another place and before ordering a drink said “Do you have a menu?” and they did. And it looked good. So when he came to take my order I saw a sign on the wall that said “Fresh Passion Juice.” So I asked for some but he said they didn’t have any today. Water it is. Then for food I pointed to Samosa” on the menu and said “I’ll take two” “ohhhh sorry no Samosa’s today” Then I said “Ok… what is on the ‘Kebab’” and he said “ahhh no Kebab’s today either…But we do have chicen” SCORE. Chicken it is. The price said “170 sh.” But he said “also the price is different today… 200 sh” I said “Is that because its Monday or because I’m a Mazungu?” but he ignored my question. Anyways after lunch I bought the 35 loafs of bread and 5 liters of juice concentrate. Then my motorcycle driver shows up with 3 bags of produce for himself. I thought there was no way to get all of this and both of us on this motorcycle, but we did. We must have looked so funny. Then we came to the hard part in the journey home. The part that where I always pray for safe passage. The running water with no bridge…on a motorcycle. Two grown men, 3 giant bags of bread, 1 (5 Liter) juice container, and 3 bags of produce are about to cross a river. We had crossed before but not with so much stuff. As we reached the middle of the river we hit a hole and tipped. All of it… right in the water. Hah. PSYCH!!! No tipping. We made it across. Thank God! AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION it POURED rain today! And God even kept it off until I got back from town. Although it only lasted about an hour (a hour?). I felt all the crops and trees taking in the food. The kids LOVED their bread. Some of the younger children had never eaten bread before. They don’t have a bread oven and can’t afford buying it. What an amazing day. The kids know I’m leaving tomorrow and some of them wont look at me in the eyes. :-( NOT looking forward to tomorrow.

Tuesday:
I woke up early today so I could see the kids before school. David was picking me up at 9AM so I knew I wouldn’t be around for their 10AM break. Compared to past experience this goodbye wasn’t that hard. The kids are very disciplined so as soon as the bell rang they started walking to their class’. Last night I wrote on the pictures that I had gotten developed. I gave a picture (with a personal message on the back) to Amina, Jane, Ndanu, Moses, Jackson, Leaky, Brian, Ann, and Patrick. A few of them gave me hugs before going to class. Since the generator was still broken the water truck came to deliver 5000 Liters of water, which costs 2500 Shillings. I gave them 5000 Shillings to stay there for the week and Mama Jon said that would all go towards water. That was cool to find out. So since the road was bad I caught a ride with the water truck back to town to meet David. But just before we left I though “man I have to say bye one more time” So I ran to each class and stuck my head in to say bye. And I’m sooo glad I did. three of the children gave me letters! Jane, Ndanu and Amina. I’m going to wait to get home to read them. Man I already miss those kids so much. One thing that made the day a little better was the girl who has been scared of me this whole time. Right before going to class I saw her from about 15 feet away and said “Sa Sa?! (How are you)” and she VERY quietly said “Poa (Good).” It was amazing. I’ve been trying and week and she usually just cries. So David picked me up and we went to through Nairobi for pizza. I was waiting line and I hear “Cory Way?!” It was Abby. I met her in Uganda but she lives In Nairobi. It was funny and random to see someone I knew. Now I’m back at Tumaini with electricity so I can charge my computer and phone. What a great week. Only a couple more then back to Swaziland. GNight everybody.

Wednesday:
I just realized how much I’m writing… Sorrrrry. But I hope you don’t get bored. Anyways today at Tumaini was great. When I was going to Merciful Redeemer I prayed “ok God I’m here for another few weeks so I mine as well stop counting days and enjoy it.” I think that prayer played a part in my wonderful time at M.R. and I think it is carrying over to Tumaini as well. It was soo good to see all the kids again and laugh and play. And guitar lessons were a lot better too. I told the kids “ok well really I’m not that good at Guitar…I just know the basics very well…that’s all. So at this point I’ve taught you all I can and our practice will consist of jamming and practicing…Deal?” They agreed and practice turned into a funny worship session with random sounds coming from all directions. But it was the best lesson yet. Also I have a new roommate. George who used to help out Merciful Redeemer is staying at Tumaini and he plays guitar so we are having fun sharing songs w/ eachother. Well I’ll keep it Short and Sweet. See you tomorrow.

Thursday:
It was good to be back in the kitchen today. Baking bread and cutting cabbages and peeling potatoes. Also one of the computers crashed so I spend some time trying to fix it. So as of now instead of 4 computers for 32 kids they have 3. It rained sooo hard today! I love the rain and especially when it rains hard. I told my roommate George that I was hoping to go to the Kenyan Coast sometime this year but it didn’t look like it was going to happen. But he told me that he’s been there a few times and its very cheap to take public transportation. He also told me he would accompany me to Mombasa if I would like to go there on my last weekend here. So I’m gonna check some prices online on Saturday and see if its reasonable. Although I think when he says “accompany” he means to have me pay for him. At first I thought NO WAY! But he is going through some hard times and I feel like it would be a good gift for him. And don’t worry I wouldn’t spend my Missions Money. I’d use my savings. And thats IF it works out. I’ll keep you up to date. Although if I end up going my next BLOG post will be the day I’m going. For lunch today we had Rice and for dinner we had Githedi, which are my two favorites. So I am going to sleep VERY full tonight. Till Next Time…

Friday:
Today I went to the Shamba. It’s been raining like crazy here so the ground was super muddy. I got back to Tumaini at about 3 to do some more guitar lessons but the guitars got locked in Davids office. Bummer. Other than that it was a pretty good day. It was good getting to work on the Shamba again. The older ladies I work with (who work way harder than me) are always fun to laugh with. I’ll post tomorrow.

2009-10-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday:
Today I went into town to reply to some e-mails and update the BLOG. I also got to go to the place we stayed in July and eat Chicken and Chips…. SOOOOO good. The problem with most food here is that it lacks Spices. For dinner at Merciful Redeemer we usually have some mixture of Beans, Cow Peas (IDK what these are), Rice, and greens. Last night when I was eating it I realized it would taste real good with some spicy sauce, so I bought some in town to day and I was right. So far I’ve counted about 8 Skeeter Bites. It keeps me praying. Tonight the sky was so clear. Lake Havasu clear. And I was marveling at how amazing God is. I mean the fact that when I’m looking at the moon, I’m looking at the reflection of the sun, the same sun that’s up above all of you right now. CRAZY. Well tomorrow I help dig trenches for a green house. I’m actually excited. I haven’t don’t any hard labor for a couple days. Love U All.

Friday:
Today I spent most of my time digging in some harrrrd soil. Merciful Redeemer is in the middle of one of the drought areas. Usually at Tumaini we would get rain at least once a day. And so far while I’ve been here it hasn’t rained once. On my way to town on Thursday we drove by 3 dead cows that died because of the drought. And now that the generator to get water out of the bore hole is busted they are really praying for a miracle here. Although it didn’t rain today God did bless us with great work weather…once again. It was cloudy and started to sprinkle like 4 times. The kind of sprinkle that usually leads to a downpour but it never came. The first day I got here there was a little girl who was walking around the water tank and when she saw me she turned to go the other way. Since most girls here are just shy around me (but like when I chase them) I decided to go around the tank and meet her face on. When I met her I said “AHHHH” and she screamed and started crying really loud. I felt bad. Ever since then she is the only one who is scared of me. Whenever I walk into a room she just starts to ball. Hah. Poor girl. So we are digging for another green house where they are going to grow strawberries! MMMMM. Oh and today I saw them cut a chickens head off!!! It was awesome and I got it on video so I’ll post it for you later. Juuuuust kiddddding. Today someone told me that Obama bought the President of Kenya a Hummer. Doubt it. Well another post coming next week! Aren’t you proud of my Coffee Fast? Although the other day at Bishop David’s house his wife said “would you like some coffee?” And I said “heck yes!” After all I just did this Fast to make it so I’m not depending on coffee to wake up. Then she brought it and it was weak. I could see through it to the bottom of my mug. More like coffee flavored tea. GNight.

Today the driver took a shortcut through the trash dump. It’s crazy how much trash there was and how man people were digging through it trying to find anything to salvage. At one point as far as I could see was littered with trash. And there are these HUGE birds that are all over digging through the trash as well! My battery is gonna die soon on my computer so I’ll ttyl.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

Merciful Redeemer

2009-10-22T00:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday:

Getting to Naivasha today was a little more difficult than usual. When I got to the Matatu Station they didn’t have any available so they said I would have to take the bus. In the Matatu’s you can only cram so many people and when your crammed to the max they won’t pick any more people up. But in the Bus (I soon found out) there is no maximum occupancy. So we made a lot of stops and took a very long time. Then when we were about a 10 minute drive from Naivasha the bus broke down. So I walked for 15 minutes before finally getting a Matatu. The usual hour and a half trip took about 3 hours. It’s cool though. Something fun to look back on. Oh yeah I hope none of you looked up pictures of Ringworm. Hah. Mine doesn’t look half as bad as the pictures I saw today. In fact none of the kids with it here look close to that bad. Nice day of relaxing with no little girls putting spit on me. Has Obama hooked me up w/ some healthcare yet? I’ve been healthcare free for too long now.

Sunday:

Slept in a little then walked to church. I found out it takes 36 minutes to get there. I timed it so I got there right when it started which was a bad idea because the first half hour you stand. And after the walk it’s hard. So next time I’ll give myself 45 minutes. Also I moved into my new room which is up stairs in the boy’s dorm. I like it better so far cause I can hang out late with the kids. Tonight James and Benson came over to look at past Africa photos. I’m not gonna lie it is a little difficult thinking that I’ll be leaving these kids in less than a month. I’ll miss them more than anything. In the hard times I try to think about them. How for me leaving Africa is so easy, but for them it’s not an option. Not yet at least. They are what keep me going on this journey. One more day till Merciful Redeemer. Another unknown adventure lies ahead, and I’m excited. GNight World.

Monday:

Well the first night in my new room was FREEEEZING. I’m not sure if it was just colder outside or if this room is colder but when I get back I’ll have to find another blanket. Today we (me and Ann) baked bread again. Ann is a mom from the community who comes two days a week to bake. She told me today that she makes 100 Shillings a day. That’s about $1.30. And she works from 8AM to about 2PM. That’s just under 22 cents an hour. Holy Cow! We truly are blessed. Its hard to figure our ratio though. Cause like I said a loaf of bread costs 40 cents, and a coke costs 30 cents. And I know a house is nowhere near what you’d pay in San Diego. I still know that if you figured out ratio’s we’d be living way better off than them. Well Merciful Redeemer tomorrow. Lookin forward to seeing the tree’s we planted. Check Ya Later.

Tuesday:

Didn’t get to Merciful Redeemer till about 5 today. We had to run around Nairobi to get some errands done. I got to go into this store called Uchumi’s and it felt like I was in America. Well I cant take too long writing these blog’s cause there is no electricity here and I only have so much battery. But so far I love it here. I wrote in my journal beside a lantern! Also before dinner during fellowship time the kids sang and it was wonderful. This place is SOO much different from Tumaini. Tumaini has tons of mountains and is very green, here it’s very flat and the only green is in the few gardens. Also I woke up at 3AM to the sound of singing! It turns out 5 girls here wake up at 3AM every morning to pray for an hour and worship! Amazing. That’s all for now. Lay-Trow.

Wednesday:

Today was awesome. I love this place. The weather is way different then Tumaini as well. Most of the day I helped out with Physical Education… that means playing soccer. Scored a goal too! Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that yesterday I went to a Chemist to get tablets for my ringworm and it was the shadiest thing I’ve ever done. I felt like I was doing a drug deal. The guy just took out an unmarked container and dumped some in my hand. Hah. They are probably just Sugar Pills. And today I met a woman who is 128 years old! Or at least that’s what her daughter claims. The generator for the Bore Hole broke so the kids have to go fetch water (about 2 miles away) every day after school. That was an adventure in itself! A guy who lives by the well, who claims he owns it, was drunk and was trying to stop us from getting water after walking 2 miles! Well tomorrow I’m taking a motorcycle into the closest town to update my blog and hopefully find some hot sauce. Oh one more thing. Today one of the guys who works here boiled me some hot water so I could take a shower! It was amazing. Also my first shower from a bucket. I don’t know why but I seriously love this place.

Thursday:

Woke up this morning to a cup of tea w/ milk that I had milked from the Cow last night!

Another update on Saturday.

Yet Another.

2009-10-17T02:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday:
Well it was another good Saturday. I told David its my Sabbath day cause on Sunday I have to go to church and give Guitar Lessons. Sadly church here is Kind of a chore. Never thought I’d say it but it’s too loud. I know I sound like an old man. I think the problem is Africans got used to preaching w/o a microphone. So they preach LOUD. Although now they have a microphone and they still scream. But it is better than nothing. I bought stuff to make Kezzia and David an American dinner. Tomorrow night is Cheese Burgers, Corn, and Green beans. Just like my dad likes. Also I ate meat today for the first time in 3 weeks. I found a place that has Samosas. They were actually REALLY good. So far since I’ve been here one of Kezzia’s uncles has died and one of David’s cousins has died. It’s sad. I wonder if it’s always like that. Next Saturday I’ll be over the peak of my stay. GNight.

Sunday:
Got to sleep in a little today. Pretty slow day. I went to church and then came back and watched a movie with Kezzia. Also tonight I made dinner for her and David. I cooked burgers in a skillet and some Sweet Baby Corn and some green beans(Chinese style with Soy Sauce). I learned that one from Brandon. Turned out pretty good but David said the burgers were to spicy. I thought they were good. Well that's it for today. Till Tomorrow....Stay Classy San Diego (and wherever you are)

Monday:
I think my favorite part of these days are the computer class. It's nice to know a lot about something. Any question the kids ask I can usually give a good answer. Maybe I'll take some Jr College class's. In High School I never wanted to learn but lately its been so appealing. After I travel in my RV of coarse. Also I got invited to go to Nairobi with the kids on Friday! I think were going to some Animal place. I'm excited to get away. I got some kind of spider bite on my hand and its lookin weird. It left a mark the size of a dime with white dots all around it. Maybe I should get it checked out. Lets see if it clears up this week. GNight.

Tuesday:
Today was tough. Walked to the Shamba and harvested more Potatoes and prepared some soil to be planted. I got to walk alone this time which was actually really cool. Being able to take my time and admire Gods creation. Got some pretty cool pictures. These days really are flying by. Tomorrows already Wednesday. Also I got some good news today! Mama Jon wants me to spend a week at Merciful Redeemer. Which is a Children's Home in Nairobi we worked at in July. It will be good to see those kids again. So I'll be going there some time next week. Tonight I got to teach the kids another song. Your Grace Is Enough. I LOVE hearing these kids sing. That's it. PeacEasy.

Wednesday:
mmmmm I just got done eating Chicken Peri-Peri Pizza! It was good. Not like Pizza Port or BJ's Good. But good nonetheless. Today was good. Mostly helping in Computer Class and a little in the Kitchen. Kezzia went to stay in Nairobi for a little while. So I told her we have to meet up when I'm there before my flight. Crazy to think that in a month I'll be on my way to Swaziland. Thats All Folks. Night.

Thursday:
Baked bread and taught the kids in Computer Class. Today the teacher had to leave so he left me hangin! But it worked out. The kids are pretty good when your teaching but as soon as you set them free to work it gets out of hand. Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you that the other day a Cow actually let me pet her! Most cows are scared of me. I think its cause I'm white. But anyone else will walk us and pat it on the back then as soon as I approach it runs. But the other day one little naive White and Brown one didnt know to be scared of white people. It was so funny cause I was slowly approaching it head on and she kind of looked at me and froze. Then as soon as I was about to scratch her head another older black cow from the other side of the fence who was looking right at us went "MOOOOOOOOOOO." It was funny cause it sounded like someone in slow motion saying "NOOOOOOO!!!" But the little cow didnt listen. I scratched her head and she loved it. I swear i saw her back leg come up to scratch like a Dog. I've pet her twice since then. Were friends. But she wont tell the other Cows not to be scared of me. Ok thats all. I'm stoked for tomorrow. Field Trip to Nairobi!!!

Friday:
Today I woke up at 4:30 and got on a school bus with a bunch of kids for a field trip to Nairobi. Overall it was a good day. We went to a Museum and got to see a lot of history about Kenya, to the Parliament building (but couldn't go in cause it was too crowded), to a place where they did Kenyan performances like Dance and music, and to an animal orphanage. The best part was a toss up between the music and the orphanage. At the orphanage they had tons of animals that had stuff wrong so they couldn't be released into the wild. I saw tons of Lions, and monkeys up close! The worst part of the day was the little girl who sat next to be on the bus. At first I thought a made a good choice with my seat partner. She was 6, her name was Nelly, she endless amounts of food in her backpack. But that good choice turned bad about halfway through the day. She was nice and shy at first but as soon as she got to know me she turned evil. Started stealing my camera and pinching my arm and blowing
REALLY hard in my ear. At one point i saw her spitting something into her hand and I thought it was sunflower seeds or something. Nope. Turned out it was just spit and she wiped it on my head. I KNOW! I was soooo mad. She doesn't live at Tumaini she just goes to the school. But I changed buses after the spit incident. Like I said overall it was a good day.

Wrap it Up:
Well this next week will be different. I will be going to Merciful Redeemer on Tuesday for a week. They dont have electricity or clean water.... soooo Cold showers it is. I'm excited for something different though. Also please pray that I am safe from sickness. As you know I didnt bring Malaria pills and Merciful redeemer is in a Malaria prone area. God will protect me. Oh yeah and that spider bite... turns out its not a spider bite. I think its ringworm. GROSSSS. it itches like CRAZY. And I think I got it from that freakin cow I pet! No More Touching Cows. Well looking forward to hearing from you next Saturday.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Hellllooo

2009-10-10T04:44:00.000-07:00

Well I’ve decided I’m going to be adding a little to my BLOG each night then I will post it all over the weekend.

Saturday:

So I woke up at 6:00 today to catch the school bus to the Matatu station. The Matatu I caught was actually REALLLY nice. It had a flat screen in it and they were playing Kenyan worship songs. I took it into Navasha where I used the internet then bought some groceries for lunch. Thank you for all of your encouraging E-mails. I spent a couple of hours on line then went to the store. It’s pretty crazy how cheap everything is here. A liter of water is about 70cents and a loaf of bread is about 80cents. I bought 2 loafs of bread, a bag of carrots, 5 apples, and a bottle of water for $4. I also was able to write out a sheet of Guitar Chords and find a page online explaining how to read chords and make copies of them to give the kids for lessons. At least now I feel prepared…some what. I start Lessons tomorrow at 3:30. So the Matatu home was hilarious. I counted the amount of seats…13. Then at I counted the amount of people…27. Hah. We doubled occupancy. I wish I could have reached my camera to take a picture. Other than that I relaxed. It was a good day.

Sunday:

I woke up and walked to church. I’m not sure how far it is but its far. They have a storm coming in called El Nino. Sound familiar? Well it started today. During the church service it started to come down hard. After church it was still coming down and everyone was waiting for it to slow before they started the trek home, but I got impatient after about 15 minutes and got back to Tumaini dripping wet. After that I got the guitars tuned up and got the class started. It was hard. First of all I didn’t realize usually when you give lessons you teach something small and say “Ok go home and practice and I’ll see you next week.” But I can’t do that cause they only have 4 working guitars. Also like I thought when I tried to talk to one kid about form or pressure the other kids would start strumming away so I couldn’t hear anything. I have to talk to David about changing some stuff around. Bit of a difficult day. Tomorrow I bake bread, help in the kitchen and teach another Guitar Lesson.

Monday:

Well today was pretty slow. After baking bread I just hung out with the kids and helped out a little in the kitchen. I had some down time today and I just finished a book so I went to look at David’s collection. Not much. I ended up settling on “The Five Love Languages, How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate” hah. So far it’s pretty good. Tomorrow I walk to Kwambekenya, the shamba that’s about an hour and a half walk from here. I’m ready. Busy hard days go by faster than days like today.

Tuesday:

Today did go faster. We went to the shamba and sprayed more insecticide. I was surprised they use it here. When I stopped to eat lunch one of the schools got out and I started hearing all this little kids wisper “MAZUNGU MAZUNGU!!” hah. Then one would be bold enough to come shake my hand and run off laughing. I haven’t shaved since I’ve been here so you can imagine how HUGE my beard is. Tomorrow I’m gonna help out teaching Computer Class then another Guitar lesson.

Wednesday:

Good Day. I got to sleep in a little then help with Computer Class. It’s fun but a little crazy. Like most stuff around here. We had a class of about 33 and 4 computers. In a tiny room. FUNNNN hah. Also I’ve decided that when I’m here for lunch I’ll eat lunch with the kids instead of dinner. Lunch changes. So today I got Potatoes, Cabbage, and beans!! Then I made my Sandwich for dinner with some carrots and crackers. I think this is the first night I’m going to sleep full. Very Nice. Oh and I shaved today. GNight World.

Thursday:

Baked Bread then helped more with computer class. I enjoy baking bread. Well tomorrow I go to the Shamba again then eat dinner with the kids. David told me he is going to Nairobi on Sat and they have a really good Pizza place. Not sure what “really good pizza” is here but I think I’m gonna have him pick one up for me. Well that’s it TTYL.

Friday:

Did a lot of harvesting today but God blessed us with amazing Work Weather. It was overcast but dry. It sprinkled for about 10 minutes. Perfect. Its easier to work when the sun isn’t beating on me. Also tonight the electricity went out so we had to serve dinner in the dark. It was actually really fun. Also we had Gidethi for dinner which is Maze, Potatoes, Cabbage, and Beans. It was good. And I think it even tasted better than normal cause I couldn’t see it. Well tomorrow I go to Navasha to Post this and hopefully have more exciting e-mails from all of you.

Overall this week went very fast. I feel like yesterday I was at church thinking “ok another week!!” Its sad but I always buy something that reminds me of home on Saturdays. Last week it was a Red Bull. Hah. I wrote a pretty sweet song about my Grandpa. Also I’m in the midst of writing a song about a girl. She’s not real. Just in my head. I’lllll beeeee Hommmmeeee for Chriiiiisssssttttmaaaaasssssss…… If only in my dreams. But actually in the flesh.

Ha I’m at the Internet Café replying to e-mails when suddenly the power cuts. So now I’m hoping it will come on later so I can post this.

Another Update.

2009-10-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hellllloooooo

Well another week gone by. Really fast actually. I’ve realized that if I focus on the distance from now until I come home it goes by slow. But if I look at it one week at a time it goes by very fast.

I’m writing this on Friday Night and I’m waking up tomorrow morning at 6:00 to catch the bus into town where I can use the internet to post it on my Blog. But what’s weird is my Saturday Morning is your Friday Night. So I’m kinda writing this the same time you’ll be reading it. Does that Blow Your Mind?!

I have a pretty steady schedule now. I work in the kitchen on Mon and Thur and I work in the shamba (farm) Tue Thur and Fri. I’m also starting Guitar Lessons with the kids on 4 days a week. My first group will be Sunday, and I’m kind of scared. I remember when we brought the guitars in 2007 me and Brandon tried to give lessons and it was out of control. Kids wouldn’t focus and kept strumming like it was going out of style. It would be easier if I got to work one on one but that’s not working out. So I got about 4 kids to a class.

Also they want me to teach all of the kids some worship songs, which has been amazing. Probably the best part of my whole trip so far. One worship song every week. This week it was “Lord I Give You My Heart” and the kids loved it. It’s crazy how much I miss worship. Leading it and just being a part of it. Most of the songs we sing here are in Kikewu so I don’t understand any of it.

I bought my ticket home. I’ll be landing in LA on Thursday December 3rd at 4:45PM. Mom you down to pick me up? We could go to dinner on our way home! Ohhhh mannnnn. The hardest part about being here is missing my family but coming in close second is the food. I haven’t had meat since I’ve been here. I talked them into letting me make my own lunch so that’s been nice. Every day this is my food: Breakfast- One slice of bread with peanut butter, Lunch- PB&Honey sandwich with 2 carrots and 5 crackers, Dinner- Cabbage and Ugali. I usually take about 4 bites of the dinner then pass it on to the kids to split. Because of this I’ve lost a lot of weight in the past week. I’m sure I’ll gain it all back as soon as I get home. I’d give my left arm for a Double Double. So Mom let me know about pickin me up. We can spend a couple nights at the cabin then go to the Family Christmas party on Saturday.

Well I guess that’s it. Sorry that I havent been able to put up any pictures. I will when I get back to Swaziland. Well I Love and Miss you all.

P.S. My mom has a prayer Garden and she looks out her kitchen window every morning and prays. This is what she put up for Anton.

I seriously have the greatest mom ever.

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!

Updates From Kenya.

2009-09-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family.

Before I get into the deep stuff I’ll tell you a good story. Last weekend I met Wilfred. He lives on the other side of the road and kind of works for Tumaini. He invited me to eat dinner with him and I had a BLAST. By far the best night of my trip so far. So I went into his kitchen (wood shack about the size of your bathroom) and he had a fire on the dirt floor cooking a Kenyan dish. As soon as I opened the door the smoke poured out. It was like he was hot boxin. (Mom that’s when people smoke inside of a small area so they get really high). I was like “Wooooow lets leave the door open” and he said “noooo too cold outside” so I stepped into the smoke filled kitchen and for some reason the next thing I know I was laughing and having a great time. He is SOOO funny. He told me about how he is living here and sending money back to his family. He went on to tell me house much he loved Michael Jackson. I had to break the bad news about Michael passing away. Then we talked about how he wanted to be a preacher and make all of Kenya into Christians. He has one of those laughs that just makes you laugh. When I stumbled out of the kitchen on my way to bed he said “Hey I’d really like it if you could find a way to bring down your Michael Jackson music so we can just listen” That’s my plan for this weekend.

Lets see…. A few more quick updates… No one believes me that Dogs come in the houses in America, David ran over a dog, Wilfred told me the cat couldn’t come in the Kitchen cause it would “SH**” in the corner, I tried to sneak up behind some girls tonight and fell in a hole full of mud, David watches Jerry Springer all the time, and the kids all make fun of Michael Welsh’s walk.

Well this last week has been very interesting. It all started on Monday. I ate a banana for breakfast and then at about 10 I took some porridge with the kids. The porridge actually isn’t that bad. It tastes a lot like Malt-O-Meal which is what we had a lot growing up. But about an hour after I drank it I started feeling sick. And it got worse…. And worse. I’m just starting to feel better now (Fri Night). I’m not sure if the porridge made me sick or something else but until Monday I was pretty much eating w/e they gave me and drank water straight from the tap. Part of the reason is cause FREAKIN Travis Robinson, who stayed here for a month in July, is a Mountain Man. Everyone always says “Travis used to do it” or “Travis drank the tap water” Tough shoes to fill. I’ve given up on that. Now I’m boiling water and am to scared to drink Porridge or Milk. The milk comes from the cows nipple in the morning and then is boiled and served….Not my usual Non-Fat.

Here’s a story that was horrible at the time but funny now. On Tuesday I had to go with a couple people to the store (about an hour and a half away) to pick out some groceries. When we were done shopping we pulled up to this butchery. I was already about to puke because of the roads. And I’m like “What are we pickin up here?” and they said “No, this is whats for lunch”. It was horrible. Two skinned cows and 3 skinned sheep hanging from hooks in the window. I didn’t eat but they ordered something in Swahili and the butcher went over and cut off part of the Cow (which by the way had flies ALL OVER it) and slapped it on the grill. This was my second day of sickness. I told everyone I’d go to the clinic if I didn’t get better by today but I’m feeling better.

But yes its been a difficult week. A couple nights I’ve been up till 2AM. While I was hurting in Bed I was praying a lot, and thinking a lot. You see so far these 2 weeks have been… hard. The hardest part is how much I miss home. And by home I mean being able to call a friend late and night just to talk, and walking through town and seeing 15 people I know, and being a 5 minute drive from getting a Six Pack of Corona, AND Jammin with my friends. I’ve always known deep inside that I’m a homebody. But I’ve always been attracted to adventure and old school living. But I’m starting to realize by being out here that I can have adventure ANYWHERE. Everyone keeps asking me “is this something you can see yourself doing full time in the future” and I usually say “Maybe if I brought a family with me.” So last night I was also up till 2AM but this time is was because I was wrestling with a decision. And today I decided on an answer… I’m coming home early. I’m cutting my trip short. COP OUT I know. It’s just at first I thought Swaziland would be a good stepping stone to Kenya because Swaziland is a lot further advanced. But it ended up being the other way around. In Swaziland at least I had a little contact with my home town. I could Skype my Bro’s, or E-mail my mom, or even chat with friends. But here I got NONE of that. This was a very hard decision for me to make because people donated to this trip and I said “I’ll be here till I run out of money.” Now two weeks into my supposed to be 5 months is Kenya I’m depressed and alone. I just can’t handle 5 months here. I’m sorry. I even thought about making up a lie. Something like “OMG someone mugged me and I had just taken out $1000 from my bank account”, but I need to be honest. That’s about how much I’ll have left. I am going to put it into an account for my, hopeful, trip next year with my bro’s. If anybody wants any money refunded that they donated I might be able to work that out. So I’ve decided I’m going to come home in December. Yes Alissa…December!! You called it. I figure what better time to be home with family and friends than Christmas.

So I’m not sure what else to say. It looks like I have about 2 months here and then a couple weeks in Swaziland then Home SWEEEEET Home.

You guys are amazing. Pray for the rest of my time here.

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!!

Kenya At Last.

2009-09-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hey. I should have written a post saying I arrived safe but I forgot sorry.

I Got Here Safe!!! So far its been…interesting. At first they put me in a house down the road. A scary, dark, cold, lonely house. I guess usually they have room in the boys dorm for the guests but they have some kids whose parents are paying for them to stay here. So David asked me if I wanted to stay in the extra room in his house. Thank the Lord. Also there is a girl who is in charge of my meals. I can either eat what she makes me down in the lonely house. Or I can eat with the kids if I eat what they eat. Which sometimes is OK, but sometimes is different. I also ate with David and Kezzia once. They put a plate in front of me that seemed to have about 30 tiny fish mixed with Gravy. Whole fish. Head, Eyes, Scales… all that good stuff. I said it was good but I think they knew I was lying because I gagged a couple times.

Plus they feed me more food in one meal then I eat in a day. Although everyone who can get food eats a lot. Even the kids have a HUGE pile of food on their plate. And you have to get used to being called fat. When they make me eat a lot I used to say “Your gonna make me fat!!” Untill I heard “your already fat” a few times. Its ok. I think I’ll drop some LB’s from being here.

Today was my first day of REAL work. We had to walk to a garden and harvest some oats. I didn’t realize the garden was going to be MILES from Tumaini. I forgot water AND sunscreen. I’m hurting bad right now. Sun burned AND sore. It was cool though cause we had to carry these HUGE bundles of Oats from all over the farm to the corner where the truck could pick them up. And after the first bundle I was DYING. I’m so out of shape. So I was praying “Ok God you have got to help me out here…I cant do this all day” Then I seemed to be fine. Sounds cheesy I know but I never rested and prayed for about 5 minutes then for the whole day I didn’t get as tired as I was on the first bundle. God is Good.

I’m seriously praying about taking an adventure into the bush of Kenya. More info later.

Also I’m sorry to say I wont be able to update my blog as much as I used to. I have to pay David by the minute so I just have to write my blog on Word and then copy and past it online. Don’t forget to check every weekend.

Wow 5 Months. It’s not going to be easy. Pray for me Please.

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!

In Transit To Kenya.

2009-09-14T00:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

I just boarded the plane from Manzini, Swaziland to JoBurg, South Africa. Aahhhhh sick!! Some sticky thing just fell from the ceiling onto my leg. Gotta love this small plane. This flight is about 35 minutes so we pretty much take off then land. Then I have about an hour in JoeBurg and I will be on the way to Kenya. One thing I forgot to mention was I didn’t buy any Malaria pills, Or Travelers insurance. I figured I could stay longer that way. My friend paid $800 for 3 months of travelers insurance!

Ok this next thing is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted. I’m giving up coffee. I KNOW!!! And yes I AM crazy. I at least wanna go a couple months. I’m sick of relying on it. Its like I cant wake up in the morning without it. So I left my Coffee Press at Shirley’s. She miss’s me already I can tell.

Mmmm Chicken or Tuna sandwich? After the mysterious sticky thing I’m not that hungry. I cant wait to see how much has been done at Canaan when I get back.

One more thing in the works. I talked to my bro Austin and he really wants to come to Africa next year!! How amazing would it be for all four of the Way bro’s to be on a missions trip?!? So I started looking at funds and seeing about just staying here till July and flying home with them. Didn’t look promising. The flight home was REALLLY expensive. So I have a flight coming back to Swaziland in Feb. I was thinking about heading home soon thereafter and putting my left over cash into an account for the trip in July. Austin has such a big place in his heart for kids and I KNOW spending time with the kids here would be a HUGE blessing on both sides. It would only be a few hundred that I would be able to put towards next year but its better than nothing. Since I’m just getting home I’m not sure who is going to be willing to donate again. Its like “HEY I’m HOME!!! Now give me more money to leave again!” But WOW I cant tell you how amazing it would be to step foot on African soil with ALL of the Way Boys. That’s the selfish side of me speakin.

Did I ever tell you about when I got kicked in the jaw at a church function? Now when I blow my nose air comes out of my right ear. And when I fly on planes my right ear never has to pop. BUT on long flights it KILLLS when I land. I wonder if there will be planes in heaven? With pools inside.

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!!

P.S. I just got to the JoBurg airport and found out they now have Vanilla Latte’s…..Maybe ONE MORE coffee… :-)

2009-09-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wellll what a day.

I just got back from hanging out with Joshua all day. It's kinda hard to explain but this planting of Corn is going to save there home. The home that Joshua wants to move into someday isn't being occupied right now. Its the house he grew up in and when his parents split up his mom went to live with her father and his dad moved in with his new wife. So the house was just sitting there. And the community was trying to sell the property and split the money. BUT NOW!!! Since they are planting there Joshua's brother agreed to stay at the home and take care of the harvest!!! It didn't click till today but Joshua called me a few weeks back saying "Please pray for my home. They are trying to sell it!" HOLY COW! We thought we were just buying them some seed and it turns out we were saving Joshua's house from being SOLD! I LOVE how God asks us to do something little and once we agree to do it He's like "OK NOW you'll see what I REALLY wanted to do all along"

So we started out by going to the "abandoned" house and planting the Tree's. Two Orange and Two Mango. Though I didn't get to plow (thank the Lord!!) and plant Corn I got to put tree's in the ground and get a picture of Joshua next to it.

Next we got to meet his two brothers in town and I was able to buy them all Lunch. Later I found out that one of his brothers had walked miles into town to try to get his cell phone fixed. (yeah they all have them here). But he didn't have any money for food or any money to pay for his cell phone. He didn't even ask for me to buy him lunch even though he hadn't eaten all day.

After lunch we went to Joshua's Mothers home and I got to give her the cash left over from donations. After buying 10KG's of Top Dressing and 15KG's of Fertilizer and 1KG of Seed I had about 500 Rand left over. So I gave it to her along with a Letter and Picture from her Spiritual Sponsor Family AND a picture of the church that agreed to pray for them. She was so happy and immediately grabbed my hands and started praying. Giving thanks to God for everyone who helped. THEN guess what she prayed for?!?! OUR PROSPERITY!!! I was blown away. I don't even want to get started but in my head I was thinking "does she even KNOW how blessed we are with 'stuff' already?"

So we finished the day off by going to New Hope Centre and hangin with the kids. Those kids are amazing. It was hard to say goodbye. Although the fact that I will be back in Feb. helps. Fact. Hmmmm. Interesting words. What's a "Fact" anyways? "A truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true" Say's Dictionary.Com. So if that's the case there is nothing Factual about the Future. I like the way that sounds.

Well Tomorrow is Church. Then packing so I can FLY to Kenya!!! I'll probably update up the plane or at JoeBurg airport. I know that place WAY to well now.

And how and I finishing my day? A Skype with my Bro Austin Way. I cant tell you how happy I am for my brother Austin. I hope he doesn't care that I mentioning this. He is SO on fire for God right now and its settin me on fire as well. This is a guy who used to use ANY excuse in the book not to come to FLOOD with me. I would call him and be like "Hey what are you doing tonight?" and he'd say "Nothin planned" and I'd say "Wanna FLOOD it up?!" and he'd say "ahhhh ohhhh mannn I totally forgot I gotta do some homework" hahah RIIIIIGHT!! Anyways this same guy is going to FLOOD EVERY week now and he loves it. I thank God for what he's doing in Austins life. I also thank God for Nelson. If it wasn't for Nelson, Austin would pretty much be flyin solo right now.

hah Look at this picture I found of when Kayla cut my Dredz off.

Signing out from a great day.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Sorry So Long!

2009-09-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

Sorry I know Its been a long time. Our Internet has been Gone for a few days. But maybe you should get used to it. I'm not REALLY sure what Internet will be like at Tumaini in Kenya.

First of all thank you so much for your words of encouragement about Anton. After the first day of straight depression I woke up the next day a little better. Then the next day God gave me an amazing peace about the whole thing. You guys helped a lot. And not to mention my Mom's comment about putting Anton in the Peace Garden gave me the biggest smile ever. I LOVE my Mom. Honestly Mom. I know I didn't get to participate in your 50th (yeah she's old huh?) But I want you to know that the Love you show, EVERYONE you come across, is the closest thing I've seen to God.

WOW some girl has a really annoying laugh. And she's sitting right behind me. And I'm pretty sure she's drunk. Bless Her Heat. A lady I met from Hawaii told me that I can say any gossip I want about any person I wont as long as I follow my comment with "Bless His/Her Heart" hah

Ok another Update. GOTTA WEB SITE!!! Oh yeah. I'm pretty pumped. Its EASY!!! Spread the word. Although right now its pretty basic. www.CoryWayMusic.com Spread the word. Take some Spray paint and put it all over man made stuff. Not Tree's. Not Cliff's. But a house is ok. You might be wondering about a Log Cabin.... Yeah that's OK. (Sorry Mom)

So It turns out Orbitz.com isn't being Very nice to me. They are saying that to change my return flight from Oct. to April they would charge me 1700. OUCH. So I found a whole new ticket for about 1,000 dollars. And a good friend of mine from Atlanta is going to pay for it! I Love nice people. (Although she's not nice enough to move me up to First Class!)

I'm full of Smart Ass(tric) comments tonight.

One last thing. KENYA NEEDS PRAYER! I'm not sure if you've heard anything on the News but Kenya hasn't had rain in a LONG time. And the stuff we planted NEEEED the water.
CLICK HERE to read more. Lets join in prayer. We KNOW God can do this. Huh Melba? :-) We prayed for rain in Swaziland and woke up to. Amazing God we serve.

Well that's it for now. I got to Kenya in 3 days!! OH YEAH. I got all the Corn AND fertilizer AND Top Dressing for Joshua's family and on Saturday I'm picking him up then picking up 2 Mango Trees and 2 Orange trees and going to his house to plant!! I'm soo pumped. thank you all for the donations and I will put pictures up Saturday night.

The Picture is from Kenya. its Joseph and Joseph who recently lived on the streets with Isaac and I will be staying at Tumaini with them!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

Morning of Mourning

2009-09-06T23:18:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning and went to check my e-mail. One of my friends told me that another friend Anton Viktor Jungenberg had committed suicide. Here are my thoughts.

Why? Why couldn't I have done anything. Why did he do it? Why wasn't anyone with him yesterday? Who gave him the sleeping pills. Who was the last to see him?

I didn't know Anton as well as I would have liked to. I remember him in youth group in high school and I remember hanging out with him at the Coffee shop a few times. We would watch funny video's online or look at his latest artwork. I really loved him. I have maybe said some bad things about a lot of people but not once about Anton. He had an amazing heart. He seemed to try very hard to make others laugh and be happy. He always made me laugh. I never put him down or made fun of him or laughed AT him. But there's also one other thing I never did. Care. I might have acted like it. I might have asked him questions about his future and been sincerely interested but if I really cared about Anton I would have hung out with him more. I would have invited him to my house. I would have gone to visit him in San Diego after he went to college. But I didn't. I was to caught up in MY life.

The thing that hurts the most is that I really did like Anton. It wasn't like it would have been a burden to hang out with him its just deep inside of me there is a selfish being that doesn't do stuff if it doesn't benefit himself. Anton WAS loved. He might not have felt loved but he was. People might not of known they loved him but now they do. Regret is all around. I can feel it. From across the world I feel the Fallbrook air is quiet and still and dark.

When I heard the news this morning I went into my room and prayed... or tried. Mostly stared at the ceiling thinking. Thinking about stuff like what I could have done to stop this. I later found out that in the world someone commits suicide every 40 Seconds. Who else was sitting in their bed starring at the ceiling? I thought about how sad God must be. Every time one of his children give up.

I don't know if me being on the other side of the world makes this easier or harder to handle. I hate this feeling. This feeling that doesn't have a word. I hate when I get this way because I usually pretend like everything is OK. But everything isn't OK. And there comes a time when you can be selfish. And the selfish side of me says "NO I'm not OK! and I DON'T want to talk about it!"

Where are you Anton? I will never see your face again. Not on earth anyway. Pictures are lifeless... fleshless. And now so are you. I'd do anything to have yesterday back. To write you a note about how important you are. How much I enjoyed the laughs we had. How amazing your art was. But its to late.

Anton had posted a series of comments on Facebook before he passed. They were angry. They were REAL. Stuff like "F*** THIS S***! I LIVE FOR THE THINGS THAT LEAVE ME HOLLOW!" Anton was usually a soft spoken person. But not yesterday. He continued to post comments. That was his first one at 2:47 AM. And his last was at 2:59 AM it said "Anton Viktor Jungenbert is finally going to be free. Lets find out if there really is a hell!" Anton was a Christian and I truly believe he had a relationship with God. I pray that he is looking down on us now. If so he MUST KNOW now that he was loved.

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ANTON. AND I'M SORRY.

Sunday.

2009-09-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hello,

So today was church. We went to the Potter's Wheel, which always has great worship AND a great message. Not as good as Flood. But nothing really is. I miss that church. Potter's Wheel is the church that had the Blind guy that I made fun of.

So anyways the guy in charge of building on the Canaan land is Marcus Gama. He also pastors a church and asked us to come to it today. So we rushed their after out first service. It was WAY different than the Potter's Wheel. We pretty much went from a HUGE church to a little tiny shack of a church. Here are a couple pictures.

Well I dont have much to share. Wayne and Nancy are going to Kruger park in South Africa so it looks like I will be layin low for the next little while.

OH YEAH. Update on Joshua. I am going to buy stuff with him on Saturday. We have enough money to buy 4 fruit tree's, all the seed they need, and fertilizer. I can't wait. I also have a Church who sent me a picture of their congregation who has committed to pray for them AND a family who has sent me a letter and a Family picture to bring them. They are going to be SOOO excited. I will post pictures as they come.

Thats it for now.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

Gooood Mornin. (or Goodnight for most of you)

2009-09-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well today we are Headin over to New Hope Centre where Joshua works. Wayne's Company wants to get a child from one of the Children's homes to draw a picture of what they think Christmas looks like. Then the company will pick one picture, with the child's picture, print a card, and send it to their thousands of employees. So Today we get to go bring the kids drawing supplies and help them. I've grown very close to the kids at New Hope.

I might have to say bye for a little while today. And Emmanuel. And El Shiddai. Man its like every time I come they are so happy to see me and me the same. Its hard cause when you come for a week they know when your leaving. But this time they dont know when I'm leaving. It will be a sad goodbye whenever it happens.

One thing I've been thinking I'll need prayer for is FOOOOOD at Tumaini. It will be the first time I am AT the home LIVING with the children. I will eat what they eat. Which isnt the greatest. And also I'm pretty picky so I might have to change that. Well I go to Kenya in 10 days...AND COUNTING.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Update.

2009-09-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Wow. So before I came to Africa I called around to find the best/cheapest way to buy a plane ticket if I wasnt sure about the address. When I talked to a rep at Orbitz.com he told me "The best way is to book a ticket with an estimated return date and pay the 300 to change the return flight" So I call last night to change Oct. 27th return flight and they say "Sorry Mr. Way It looks like your ticket is non-changeable, non-transferable, non-refundable, and non-anythingable" Turns out the guy lied to me. SO after staying up till 2AM talking to the supervisor she agreed to call the airline and try to get them to pull some strings. SO as of now I have no return flight home. EXCITING!

Ok so sorry to do this but I found a better way to keep track of my FanMail. Please Use the box at the top to join my music mailing list.

FYI Spellcheck doesnt work. I do it every time and I still get all of you complaining about my bad spelling! hah

Joshua called me today and I told him how I told his story on line and he started to cry over the phone. So did I. He is going to talk to his family tonight about what they want us to buy. I would LOVE to buy some fruit trees and plant them on the property. Dont worry pictures will be taken. Also I still need a family to Spiritually Sponsor them! Any takers?

We got to take food to Emmanuel today and I got to see My Girl. Good day. Here's a pic.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Kenya Bound.

2009-08-31T11:43:00.001-07:00

Wow!

T-Minus 2 weeks till I fly to Kenya. I am SOOOO excited right now. I just talked to David on the phone and he said I can stay as long as I would like. So I booked my ticket. I fly out of Manzini, Swaziland at 8:15AM on Sept. 14th. and I Land back in Manzini at 3:10 PM on Feb 16th!

Man. God is Good. I am so excited to live WITH the kids AT their home!

Ok real quick some of you have already donated some money to Joshua's family! Thank you. Is there ANY Family that would want to Spiritually Sponsor Joshua's Family? No money involved if you dont want but just being able to bring them a picture of your family and assure them that you are praying for them. Trust me this is an amazing opportunity and when you see Joshua AND his family in Heaven it will be an amazing day. ALSO if you want to donate to his family you must do it BEFORE Sept. 11th. I would like to bring them everything donated on that day.

Also I put up some links. PLEASE join my mailing list from the top of the screen and feel free to share my music. The music is on the right side of the screen and you can download it for free.

Thank you all so much. The opportunities are endless. Join Me!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Big News Tomorrow!

2009-08-30T12:07:00.001-07:00

Well hello Family and Friends,

I just got finished watching the 10:30 CTK service at 7:30 PM. First of all thank you Andre for promoting my Blog. It brings me great joy that you would take time out of your day to come read about my travels. The service was amazing. It was good to watch. Felt like I was home again. Who was drumming? and Who's the Keyboard player?! Sounded great.

If your new to this whole Blog thing you can CLICK HERE to learn how to follow it. Or you can just bookmark the page. Also if your new please scroll down and read the story about Joshua.

So...Plans change fast. I found out from HFA that the building on the Emmanuel property (that I would stay in) will not be completed till the end of September at the EARLIEST. So I'm going to Kenya. I LOVE Shirley's but I've been here for almost 3 months now and I haven't spent one full day with the kids. So I called David to see about going to Tumaini. And he says chances are high but he's going to talk to Bishop on tomorrow and get back to me. So if God wills I will buy a ticket to Kenya tomorrow. I calculated my money and it looks like I can stay in Africa roughly till FEB. So I will be buying the ticket from Sept. 14th to Jan. 14th. AHHHHH sooo exciting. Four Months in Kenya! Tomorrow I will find out and let you all know.

Reminder that you can Donate money to my trip at any time. There are two ways:
1. You can donate through PayPal. Just CLICK HERE and my account name is FIGCWW1434@gmail.com If you use this option you CAN NOT get a tax deduction but I WILL be able to use the money any were I see fit. For example what I got to do for Joshua and his family.

2. You can CLICK HERE to donate through Heart For Africa (Tax deductible). My Participant Code is 7001451. But the thing is I can ONLY use this money to stay at Shirley's House. I cant use it to stay at an orphanage in Swaziland or Kenya.

It seems Joshua's Story has touched a lot of hearts and if you feel God calling you to donate money to this family you can. Donate THROUGH PAYPAL and I will get the money to them. You can even send me a family Photo that I can give to them with a letter. Joshua has access to e-mail at work. I think this family would LOVE a family from the states who could pray for them, and them for you. They mentioned that they are gettin ready to plant Corn again for this coming season and they don't have seed yet. If you decide to do this go ahead and E-Mail me at FIGCWW1434@yahoo.com so I know to designate your money for this purpose. Or shoot me an E-Mail if you have any other Questions.

I will update you as soon as I hear from David about the Kenya trip.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Priceless.

2009-08-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

--Jesus Was Fed Today--

So I'm not sure if I told you about Joshua. He is a 22 year old kid who works at New Hope Centre. When I was in charge of the "New Hope Group" on the last trip I got to know Joshua very well because we worked a lot together. One of the days we were talking about his family and I mentioned I would love to meet them. So we made plans and today those plans were fulfilled.

First I went to pick Joshua up at New Hope. There happened to be a group of people from all over Swaziland there who were finishing up a week long training camp. Rachel (who works at new hope) said "I'll be leaving in about an hour, so if anyone wants a ride down to the main road let me know" And I was like "Yeah and I got a truck so I can take a bunch of you too." Then they found out we were going to Manzini (where Joshua's family lived) and decided they would just stay in the back all the way there. I was praying the whole time. Africa is already scary enough without 6 ladies in the back of my truck. We had to go through crazy congested intersections and on the freeway. God protected us.

So we get to Joshua's house and I got to meet his Mom (Janet), 2 out of 7 brothers and his Grandfather, Alfred. Janet told me that Alfred was getting very sick and she would like me to pray with him. When he came out with his cane he had the biggest smile on his face. He is 72 and has pain in his knees and back. I think he's the oldest man I've met in Swaziland. He told me stuff like "I got married at 23 and my oldest grandson is 27 and still doesn't have a girlfriend!!" We shared so many laughs. After out time was through Janet brought out a avocado that was far from ripe. She said "we don't have much but we want you to have this.... you must sit it in the sun for a while before you can eat it." She had tears in her eyes as she thanked me so much for what I had done. All I had done was come to there house. They must have said sorry 3 times for not being able to offer me food. Then me and Joshua went into town to get lunch. He told me that the corn that they harvested last year has just finished and they were praying for food. I suddenly knew why God called me to this family's house.

So after lunch I told Joshua I wanted to buy some food for his family. We went and bought:

10KG of rice......................63Rand
1 bag of onions...................11Rand
1 Gallon of Milk.................25Rand
7KG Bag Of Potatoes........42Rand
1Bag of Frozen Chicken....36Rand
Total...................................177Rand ($22.12)

We went back to the house and Janet couldn't believe her eyes. She brought me inside and showed me what they were planning for dinner. She had picked some leaves of the Avocado tree and was boiling them. They were going to eat leaves for dinner and they didn't even ASK me for ANYTHING. I'm not sure what they are planning to eat for the next week, month, or year. But I know that God Provided for the next couple days.

Today was one of the most rewarding days of my life.

Anyone who donated to my trip played a part in this. You fed Jesus today.

$22 is what today cost. And what I got in return was a Joy you can put a price tag on.

Peace&Love...WERE SPREAD TODAY!

From Left to Right:
Benjamin, Joshua, Alfred, Janet, Simbosiso, Me.

2009-08-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys, Kristen McGraw is in the hospital with a stomach infection. I talked to her on the phone tonight and it seems she is doing well just VERY tired. I am getting up early tomorrow morning to go visit her and I will give you all an update as soon as I can,
Please Join me In Prayer For Her Healing,
And Her Family.

UPDATE!!
I got to go see Kristen this morning and she is doing a lot better. She said it hurt to laugh. And you know me. So it was better to leave and let her get some rest. Charmain is going to call me as soon as some new info is available. Keep praying. And let us not forget God IS Good.

UPDATE 2!!
Kristen is OUT. She is back in her bed at her Swazi home relaxing and thanking God for His Love. Thank you so much for your prayers. The Doctor said she could continue to take her Antibiotics and resting at home.

God IS Good....ALL THE TIME.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Snails.

2009-08-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

Yep. I ate them. Wayne took us to the fancy restaurant. And he got a plate of Snails and i tried one. Wasn't bad. But I'd never eat one again.

So yesterday I took Nancy to the market. I love going there. I never buy anything so its hard cause all the ladies say "Come on.... I need to feed my children.... I'm starving" but I'm pretty good at making them laugh. Usually at me. It was amazing yesterday though. I met one lady who's name was Nonshlanshla. Don't try to pronounce it or you'll feel stupid. But in English it means "Fortunate" I got to talk with her a while then I asked her if she needed prayer and she told me about her family struggles. Much like our own actually. We got to pray together and she was so joyful after. I also met a girl Temsile. She was only 23 and I guess I was flirting with her. She was very beautiful. But after I walked out of her shop the older ladies started saying it would cost 20 cows to marry her. Hah. and a Cow costs about $240.... I'm glad I said no. But its amazing how many of them are believers. You start talking about God and they say "God is sooo good to us... he always provides." Meanwhile I'm thinking "Didn't they just say they were starving". That's all part of the show though. Its amazing that what these people consider providing is much different then what we consider it to be. By God providing they mean they get enough money to buy food for their family. For us it means we get an iPhone.

My favorite verse has always been Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself....Each day carries enough troubles of its own" Its hard for me to follow that with my own life while I have $3000 in a savings account waiting for me to go back to. But these people don't. I gave them 50 Rand to split ($6) and they couldn't believe I was just giving it to them and not wanted any jewelry in return. $6!!! It's amazing what God can do with $6. I think I'm gonna spend more time with those ladies. They say they have bible study every day at 12. I'd love to join them.

So I talked to the lady in charge of Emmanuel and its already drama. HFA has put in a new building that they were going to use as a classroom and a mothers dorm but because of conflicts between the home and HFA we stopped paused working on it. All we need to finish it is hook up electricity and water. So the lady said there is no room in the home but I can stay right outside in the building IF HFA will agree to finish it. hah she's a smart one. So when I get more Info I'll let you know.

That's it for now.

P.S. I'm planning on driving an RV around and playing music when I get home. But gas is crazy expensive so I'm planning on buying one of the 4 cylinder ones. Their mostly made in the 80's and early 90's. So if anyone has one they want to sell PLEASE have them e-mail me. FIGCWW1434@yahoo.com

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

Canaan Water

2009-08-25T05:33:00.000-07:00

Well Church on Sunday was cool. We had a time to serve the community kids food after the service. So i took some pictures.

Ok its been like 3 days and I ha vent gotten ONE comment on my blog. Lame. Well Just wanted to give you all a quick update. I just got the "OK" from Janine and Ian to stay at Emmanuel!! Now I gotta call John who lives there and get the Go Ahead from him.

Shirley seems to think I walking into the Lions Den. She says there is a lot of spiritual warfare so I need to be ready. I'm sure she's exaggerating but she usually knows what she is talking about. So I will let you all know when that is going to be. I'll be here at Shirley's at least till Sept. 10th.

Yesterday we got to go to the Canaan property and see the progress. Its coming along very quick. We also got the first water form the Canaan Bore Hole!!! So here is a picture of me filling my water bottle with it. It tasted very good and after I drank half of it Wayne said "you know we ha vent tested that water yet... You could be pooping worms for weeks." I'm scared. Pray for me.

That's it for now.

Peace&Love..SPREAD IT!!!

Great Day.

2009-08-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today was very productive. I dont know if I ever told you about Shirley's garage but it is INSANE! Just tons of stuff. Its not at all Junk its just stuff people have left and is in the midst of being dispersed. Also a lot of tools that never get used unless a group is here. But today we got to tackle that.

By we I mean "I". But thats ok. Sometimes I like workin on my own.

OMG I forgot to tell you about 2 things. First Micheal my old roommate went home! It was very sudden so I never got to tell him how much i appreciated his help. i guess he has stuff he has to take care of back in Canada.

Also the last day the group was here we got to take shoes to the children's homes. But the shoes were ALLL adult sizes. So at new hope we called and got the sizes of all the staff, all 23 of them. So we get all 23 pairs of shoes together and head to the home at about 11:30 AM. We get there and start trying to fit shoes but we have a problem. First of all most of the people here have wide feet. Our shoes arent wide. Then we found that when they told us "Size 8" they only fit into a size "10". So turns out swazi sizes are 2 sizes smaller than US sizes. In the middle of this dilemma I had to go help one of the staff jump a car and when i got there her jumper cables were broken. So we do our best and get the sizes (in US) of the 15 people that didnt get shoes and went back to the hotel to get the right shoes. But 4 of them had a size 11 shoe and we dont have size 11. only 10. So me and my new friend Robin decide to go to the store and just buy 4 pairs of size 11 shoes. They were actually cheap like 9 dollars a pair. so we finally have it right...Right?... Wrong. we get there and one of the guys will size 11 comes in and says "These are WAY too big!!!" So we forgot that if it says size "11" on the shoe than its really size "13" in US. The guys were size "11" U.S. and size "9" Swazi. So we went BACK to the store and exchanged the shoes. I finally got done at 3:30. 4 hours to fit 23 people with shoes. Ouch. Not a productive day. But today...Today was!!

We have tons of stuff that people left here for Project Canaan. So today we got to transfer all the stuff from Shirley's to the container that we are going to take to the property. It was amazing to free up the space in Shirley's garage. Wayne also took me out to lunch to thank me. I got a Thai Chicken salad with no dressing. When I asked she pointed to the bottle of "Italian" on the table... Last time I get Thai in Africa. I think Wayne knows I'm short on cash cause he keeps paying for stuff. And he also wants to take me Golfing cause he knows I love Golfing.

OMG I'M FAMOUS... Go and Google my name.... Go on.... Do it..... Top if the list. "Cory Way's Facebook." Man it feels good to be a Gangsta!

Is there NO good news? the top story is "Casual Friday at the NYSE"

Hows Obama doing? Living up to his promises? I need some comments from you people!! I'll ask some more questions. Whats your favorite thing to eat with Nutella? What the best movie you saw recently? Why does Chinese food make me poop so fast?

Ok now... COMMENT!!!

P.S. Hey I'm making a "MyBand" profile on my Facebook so I can share my music. I need pictures for the page. If you have any cool pictures of me playing music let me know. Or just E-mail them to me FIGCWW1434@yahoo.com Thanks

Peace&Love(Yes I do "LOVE", Robbin!!!)....SPREAD IT!!!

IDK.

2009-08-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

What Sap nin?

Well the group left yesterday and it feels great. At the same time Sad. I think its the last group I will be here with. HFA has a small group coming in Nov. and also one coming in Dec. But I will most likely be back in Fallbrook or in Kenya at that time. It has been such a blessing to have these groups coming in.

One thing that has really been on my mind lately is going to Emmanuel. Shirley has mentioned time and time again that the spiritual warfare going on there is very extreme and I shouldn't go unless I KNOW I have been called. I am trying hard to listen to Gods voice but its hard when I LOUD voice inside of me yearning for risk and adventure. Part of me wants to just go regardless but I know satan has a grip on the flesh realm and I know he can cause a lot of stuff to happen that could ruin my trip. But not without Gods permission. Some of you might say I'm thinking into this too much but spiritual warfare is just so in real on in your face here. So please pray with me about this. I have talked to Ian Maxwell about it and he and Janine are praying and will get back to me. Although in the long run it isnt Heart For Africa's decision to be made but I will follow there advise.

The picture above is when Robin Dudasik bought KFC for all the kids at New Hope Cenre.

Like I said Wayne Clark is here and he is an amazing biblical scholar. He has been feeding me some spiritual meat. So i will be here helping with whatever he needs until about mid September then it is either off to Emmanuel or off to Kenya.

Well thats it for now. Just a short update.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Yellllo!

2009-08-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well here I am at 1:15AM worrying about funds!!!

First of all good stuff....
This trip has been great like I expected. The people I met on this trip are amazing. So fun to be around and so many loving hearts. I got to play some music for everyone tonight and it was amazing. Whenever I play my songs for people they always say "You REAAALLY need to record this stuff!! I'd buy it in a heart beat" but I always think they say that cause they have gotten to know me. Like If they stumbled upon me on the side of the road would they think the same? I dont know. But one thing I do know is I love sharing my music with others. So the group leaves tomorrow and I will be running around with Wayne Clark (Canaan Project Manager) helping him get stuff finished up before he heads home in Sep. I am gonna miss this group like all the others.

I hate to put all this on you but I finally got the costs from HFA of what the Kenya trip costs and I decided to add up what I had spent this last 3 months. Turns out its WAYYYYY over what I had planned for!!

Staying at Shirley's had costs me 1200 (400 a month for three months) and the Kenya trip had put me back about 2000. Plus little odd buys here and there have taken me way over what I had expected to spend in the first three months.

I know that what I always said was "I'll come home when I run out of money" and I will. But I estimated it would be at least 6 months!! And its looking like now that if I decide to go back to stay at Tumaini in Kenya I might not even be able to make it to that! Since the plane cost is more than I expected as well. Maybe this is where that whole "Faith That God Will Provide" thing comes into place. I WAS in fact able to save up about $3000 separate from this trip that I was going to use to maybe drive around the states and play music when I get back, but its looking like I might dig into that fund.

So there ya go. Thats why i am up at 1:30AM. Crunching numbers trying to figure how long I can stay here with how much I have, and figuring out how much I spent w/o the Kenya trip. Although I would have never taken that trip away. I Loved every minute of the time I got to spend with all of you that came, and my brothers.

So I would like to ask you to consider making a small donation. You can make it tax deductible to my HFA account. just CLICK HERE!!!! to do that. And my Participant Code is 7001451 still. Or you can go to www.HeartForAfrica.Org and click "Donations" then "Trip Donations"

And also for those of you who have mentioned a monthly donation and have forgotten to make it (MOM!!!... hah its ok I know you dont have the greatest memory) feel free to do that now.

I hate this post. Asking for money. But its more of a reminder for those you that reallllly wanted to donate but maybe forgot to... :)

Keep me in your prayers. And please E-Mail me at FIGCWW1434@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

What's Next?

2009-08-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well this is post number 40!! That means I've averaged one post every other day. Pretty good if you ask me!!

So I found out my mom got a Facebook today. And I am excited. I'm not sure if she figured out how to make an account or someone helped her. None the less I'm proud of her. Most people say "I cant believe my MOM got a facebook!!!" But I'm glad.

So yesterday I got to join the group on the Safari. Pretty cool. We got to see an Elephant VERY close. Almost to close. Close enough to jump on his back if I wanted too. And we saw a Male Lion pretty close. I love hanging out with the people on this trip. They are amazing people. Everything from Hula dancers from Hawaii to Comedians from LA. They did a stand up comedy show (without practice) last night and I was rolling. Check them out online. www.FunnyRon.com Although the videos I've seen online of them arent nearly as funny as they were last night. Yesterday they told me they've been to fallbrook because then went to visit there friend Torry Spelling when they had the TV show out there. Its still hard to believe that that happened in Fallbrook.

Then today we got to go back to the church that we went to with the last group. Great Church! Then got to go back out to Project Canaan and Wayne Clark (Project Manager) got to tell everyone about the land. The first building is just about to get a roof. Its amazing to see it come together.

I forget what I've told you so I might repeat myself.

So the end of my 3 month commitment with HFA is coming to a close. Ian and Janine have mentioned that this has kind of been a testing period to see if I "fit" and they said I did great and want to talk to me about my plans. Not sure what that means. But I'll keep you up to date. I would LOVE to stay at Emmanuel, where my girl Nondumiso is. But because of problems HFA has had with the people running the home, it might not work out. If God closes that door than I'm ok with it. I mean I REALLY want to stay there but its kind of out of my hands. So I'll also keep you up to date on that.

Well your prayers for health are being heard because I've only gotten sick once and it was a small head cold and I prayed for it to leave and the next morning it did. So Thank you so much.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Hot Hot Hot!!!

2009-08-13T08:43:00.001-07:00

Well I had a present surprise for dinner last night!!! HOT TAMALES!!

I Love people sometimes. Someone on the last trip overheard me saying that I missed Hot Tamales and she sent two boxes with her husband!

So our dogs name is Simba right? And in Kenya Simba means "Lion" well we found out today that is Swaziland Simba means "Poop" haha So our dogs name is poop.

I cant wait to call my dad tonight! I dont know why I am writing a post. Nothing much to say.

Oh yeah I talked to Jabulani last night and he was telling me about a conference he went to in Swaziland. It was so cool to hear about the culture. He told me that the gathering was to talk about 3 things. What is getting worse in Swaziland. Why its getting worse in Swaziland. And what are they gonna do to fix it. They talked about everything from not having enough food to why AIDS is so widespread. Its nice to know people in Swaziland ARE working to make things better. AND the King himself was there to open the meeting and stayed there ALL DAY and the next day to close the meeting. Its also nice to know the King is helping.

Well thats all for now.

Peace&L0v3...SPREAD IT!!!

Group Is Here!!!

2009-08-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

Well.... Here we go again.

The group of 20 arrived today...With One Young Heart. So I guess were not doin the Young Hearts. Which is ok. I'll just hang out with him after dinner. Chris. From Escondido I think. So I found a Coffee Press today!!! I've been looking everywhere for one. I am the kind of guy that likes to simplify my life. And now I can. I dont need electricity to make Coffee anymore.

I wish I had a picture for this blog. Let me check it out.

Oh yeah there we go. Janine Maxwell needs a New picture for the cover of her new book. So thats the one I sent. I think with some Photoshop you can make the tittle on the brick wall look pretty sweet. (Leslie...Get on it!) If she picks it I'm going to get a check for 1 million dollars in the mail...(Right Janine?)

But anyways it looks like I'll be working at New Hope Center this next trip. Only 3 people going there so I'll be helping them out. I think we are painting. Mom, who is the boy you support there? What is his name?

Well Brandon flew back to South Africa yesterday and Shirley wasted no time getting me back into the swing of things. So far the days have been full of stuff for me to do. I didnt have time to wash the Truck today. She said we got it dirty on our excursion through Mlilwane Game Park. Its good being busy though. Better than being bored.

I had the pleasure of being woken up by my Mom today. I told her to call at 1030PM her time which is 730AM my time. She thought I said 830 her time. So she called at 530AM my time. Also Dani Norwood told me she was getting a calling card for her birthday to call me. She ended up calling me the other morning and after five minutes of talking I said "So I see you got your card?" and she said "No....I just dialed and it worked" ooooppps. Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Norwood. Your gonna get an expensive bill this month.

Good News!!!

HFA sent over a phone that we hook up through the Internet and you can call us on an Atlanta number!! and Vise Versa. So the number is....

1-770-884-1673

But this is HFA's line so you cant call me on it all the time...DANI!!! In fact lets try not to give this number to Dani. Sorry Dani. Its just we have had some problems of you calling me too much in the past.

So the phone isnt hooked up yet. I'll try to get it hooked up this week. The first person I'm calling....MY DAD. I miss that Man.

Well keep Brandon And I And P Mark in your prayers as we serve God in a foreign land. Well this place isnt to foreign to me but you know what I mean.

I Love You All!!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

New Photo's!!

2009-08-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

hey Everyone!!!! Just thought I'd Share the link for some new photo's.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123079&id=593677518&l=e7ecef09a6

Let me know what you think.

Great Day

2009-08-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

So.... I took a shuttle from the JoBurg airport to Swaziland cause it was half the price of an airplane ticket. But it was a bad Idea. The guy decided to make some money on the side. So we picked up about 15 hitch hikers periodically and he went off course to take them home. A drive that should have taken 3 and a half hours took 5 and a half hours. The flight only takes an hour. So from now on I'll take the flight.

So that was Friday. I met up with Brandon at Shirley's house and Anita made us some chicken. It was very gooood. Then we woke up on Saturday and got to go up to Project Canaan and New Hope Center. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. We got home and Anita made us some Spaghetti. I like this Anita character.

So today was by far the best day.

We woke up and got started at 6:30. We drove to execution rock (where they threw people off when they committed a crime "worthy" of death) and climbed up to the peak. AMAZING! Wait let me rewind.

So the rock is in a Mlilwane Game Park. You can drive your own car in so we paid about $3 a person to drive as far as we could to the rock before having to hike. Were on this crazy dirt road and there are TONS of animals. We had to pretty much push the warthog and Antelope out of the road with the truck. Then we come around this bend and BAM 5 Zebra's RIGHT by the road. I was tellin Brandon this was better than expensive safari's.

So we park and hiked up the rock. Its so beautiful. I keep thinking how much my mom would LO VE this place. Everywhere you look there is a breath taking view.

Brandon isgonna loose in Uno after I update this.

So we headed back down after taking a bunch of pictures. and we see a lake that says "Crocodiles" I was thinkin no way. So we pull over and were looking left and right and we dont see anything. Then all of a sudden I see one RIGHT BY ME! I freaked and jumped about 10 feet in the air. Ok maybe it wasnt RIGHT by me. but no further than 15 feet away. and it was HUGE. From the corner of my eye it looked closer. But it looked fake. So even though all the signs said "do not disturb animals" we threw a stick at it. After 3 sticks Brandon hit it and it snapped it jaws and jumped in the water. Next we saw a water Monitor. Like those huge man eating lizzards. But smaller. We did all of this before 9:30AM!

Then we hit the road to head to El Shiddai for church. Amazing like always. I shaved my head and one of the girls said "What is your name?" but I new she knew my name so I said "Jeffery" and she said "Are you Cory's brother?" and I said "NO ITS ME!" and she couldnt believe it.

Next was a trip to Emmanuel the home that needs a lot of help. And the home that my girl Nondumiso is at. it was good introducing her to Brandon. She is still so little its hard to communicate with her. I cant Wait till she learns a little more English.

Well now were home. It was a great day. And on the schedule for tomorrow?... Golf. Yeah Golf. Dont worry its cheap. And they told us that if we want its cheaper to hire a Caddie (guy who follows you around and carries your clubs) than it is to rent a cart. I guess it shows how much people get paid.

Well I hope this post finds you all in a great Place in Life. Enjoy nature.

P.S. I know I've been lagging on pictures so I'm gonna try to put some up on facebook here soon. I'll put a link on when I do.

Peace&Love....SPREAD IT!!!

Wa Sap Nin?

2009-08-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

So today I got to go the the Watoto Baby home that Evie works at. It was crazy! I spent about 2 hours there and when I first arrived I was thinking "Man I could do this all day every day" Then by the time I left I thought "OMG I could never do this" There are about 100 kids there from Premature to about 2 N a half years. It was cool when I was playing with them but when it was time to feed and change diapers I had had enough.

So Its about 8:08 PM and I'm leaving here at 3 AM to make my flight at 5AM. Then I'm heading back to JoeBurg. I'm excited to get back to a bed I'm used to. And hang out with Brandon. I land in JoeBurg at 11 then take a 5 hours shuttle to Swaziland. I think me and Brandon are going to spend some time going to the 3 orphanages and up to Project Canaan.

So What do think of Uganda?

Its not as scary as every told me it would be. Everyone kept saying "OMG dont look people in the eyes" hah. I've gotten pretty good at catching Boda's. It is just as Beautiful as Kenya. More people walking around with Guns though. Like business's that hire security will have a guy sitting out front with an AK-47. Or a Shot Gun. Today I saw a guy dressed in Camo on the back of a Boda with a bazooka. But really its not that scary. We didnt end up going to drive Quads cause it was too expensive. I didnt really have any expectations for this wing of my trip. Good thing. Most of it has been me laying around reading. I'm gonna get some pictures of some people that work here at the Adonai house and post them. Everyone who works here is sooo amazing. They all just love to talk and see how you are and what your all about.

One of the girls here visiting is from Kenya. Abigale. She is here because her doctor said she has been working to hard and needed a break. She told me that the only way she can take time off without getting fired is by getting a doctors note. We dont realize how lucky we are when it comes to work. Even though people are loosing Jobs its not anywhere near as bad as it is here. Abigale works Monday through Saturday. She wakes up at 5 and gets to work at 6. Works straight till 3 with no lunch break (she eats at her desk), Gets home and sleeps, then back to work from 6PM till 1AM. THATS A 16 HOUR DAY!!! 6 days a week. No wonder she needs a break. I didnt ask her how much she made but she told me it costs $375 to fly here and thats about what she makes in 4 months. Thank God for your Job. No matter what it is.

Well I'm hogging the computer and I think others want to use it.

So.. Till Next Time...

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Boda.

2009-08-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

So we checked out downtown Kampala today. It was crazy. We used Boda's to get around. Pretty much a 2 person motor cycle with 3 people on it. And they dont follow any traffic signs or stop lights or stay on the road. But it made it that much more fun.

I snuck down to some Internet cafe to check my e-mail and give you another update. I feel like I need to post as many as I can since I havent in so long. I had an amazing Iced Coffee today. Best I've had in Africa so far. Also I feel rich because the exchange rate is 2000 to 1. So for example Internet here costs 1500 an hour. But thats only like 75 cents. Cheap.

I am going to lay low tomorrow. Catch up on some reading and writing then go meet up with Evie at some market. Although I hate markets when I dont buy anything cause I feel like people try to bargain with me for nothing. Anyways Keep me in your prayers.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

UPDATE!!

2009-08-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

Where do I start?!

This trip to Kenya couldn’t have been better… Well maybe if I didn’t have to leave. I am currently on another plane to Uganda. Excited to see a new land but it was so hard to leave my boys at Tumaini. I usually only have a REALLY hard time leaving three of them, Big Benson, Little Benson, and Francis. But this time two more were added to the list. Well 4 more, Isaac, James, Joseph and Joseph. If you haven’t seen the story of Isaac you should go to HeartForAfrica.org and check it out. He was the first to get rescued in that group of kids and now 4 of them are at Tumaini. For some reason this year Isaac and James grew on me. When I was leaving today I had to explain that I was leaving early but the rest of the group would be there till Thursday. James told me he didn’t want me to go. And Isaac who is usually full of energy just sat and didn’t say anything. I cant explain why it is so hard to leave these kids. Maybe because I can just go and continue my life of adventure while they are stuck there. But I think its more. I think these kids give themselves to us. They trust us. REALLLY trust us. Which I assume is harder than we know. They have naturally put trust in their Mothers who have abandoned them, In their Fathers who have beat them, and in their Aunts and Uncles who don’t want them. Yet they trust us. And there is something wonderful that happens when someone trusts you. When someone says “Hey I am putting myself on the line here… I am taking a risk to get to know you… I am in a way putting my hurt and pain aside for the chance that YOU might accept me… Me… A boy no one else accepted… A Girl no one else would call beautiful” something in our soul is satisfied. And maybe its cause we also feel accepted. As who we are. We don’t pretend to be anything special. We aren’t famous, we aren’t movie starts, but they look up to us like were kings. And the least we can do is return the favor.

So many memories. First off me and Josh filmed a commercial for Kenyan Tea, (Probably won’t air but it was fun to be a part of it) Got to see Zebras and Impala and Hippos… RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR DOOR! Well more like a 5 minute walk but seriously it was amazing. And I’ll tell you what, the best memories I had were with my Bro’s. Me, Josh, and Brandon. It was good hangin with them outside of family events and crazy schedules. I love my Bro’s. Next year I hope Austin gets to join us. Other than that it was amazing to hang out with Kaitlin, Cliff, Alan, Jake, Travis, Lauren, Kristen, Doug, and so many others. I really love the family I have all over the world.

Next is Uganda where I will be able to see some other Children’s homes and enjoy some down time before heading back to Swazi for another group to come. I am getting a stuffy nose, please pray. I would hate to get sick right now. I am seriously praying about my plans for the rest of my trip. My commitment to HFA will be over at the end of August. I might go stay with my girl Nondumiso for a month or so. I miss her. Then I would LOVE to go spend a couple months at Tumaini with David. OMG! David and Kezia had their baby girl today!!! She is beautiful! Lorrain. I got some pictures I’ll try to put on line for you all to see. Well I am sorry its been so long since I posted but I havent had much time. So I should be able to post this as soon as I find internet in Uganda.

Ok we are starting our decent. Quick flight. Oh I didn’t get to say bye to Josh and Nicole!! Sorry Miss Miller!... J I Love you all.

Peace&Love….SPREAD IT!!!!

Kenya!!!

2009-07-28T11:46:00.001-07:00

Wellllll first of all I haven’t been able to get internet so I Just posted my Plane Blog. I will try to make this one short so you don’t have tons to read.

So I flew in on Saturday night and surprised the group. It was good. I thought we would have fire works going off and music start to play but that didn’t happen.

Sunday we went to Church at Merciful Redeemer. AMAZING. The worship was about 100 kids singing acipela. I LOVED it! After the service we went and played with the kids. I met this one girl Ndanu and she just stuck with me. Pretty short day but it was a good one. Came back to the hotel and hung out.

Monday we went back to Merciful Redeemer and planted TONS of trees. It was amazing to think that there are NO trees anywhere near the Home. And one day we will get to see those trees flourishing. The school let the kids out so they could help us out. It ended up being distracting. But we still got TONS of work done. We ended up planting about 270 trees. Then we hung out with the kids again. So that night I didn’t get much Sleep. Got to bed at about 130, and got bit by a bunch of Skeeeters. Pray for me. I’m not taking Malaria pills.

Ok now today its Tuesday. So today We went back to the Home to finish planting trees and plant Kale and Tomatoes. We got done at about 2 and were able to play Football (Soccer) with the kids. Brandon scored 2 goals. I forgot to put sunscreen on my arms. Bad news.

So in case I cant talk to you in the recent days here is the plan.

Tomorrow more people arrive and we go see the kids at Merciful Redeemer again and have to say goodbye. Then we get to go to the market and buy stuff. Not me though. I don’t need nuthin. Then we go stay at a church and take off for Tumaini in the morning. I am so excited to go see my boys again.

Well that’s all for now. I’ll Be Prayin for you all.

Peace&Love….SPREAD IT!!!

On A Plane

2009-07-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

(Written on Saturday July 25th)

I Love this place

Hey Fellow Humans!!!

I’m on a plane right now. Going to KENYA!!!! “ahhhhhhhhh Kennnnnyyyyaaaaa..... badamoooosssiiiiccaaaaaa……hmmmmmmmm” (Lion King theme song)

I’m not online but I’m writing in word then gonna send it when I got a connection. I caught up on some sleep on the bus ride to the airport. Now I’m wide awake on the plane. Pray for the people on the Swaziland trip. They all fly home today. To US, to Canada, AND to Taiwan.

So one guy I want to touch on is Glen. Remember I mentioned he would be on the trip? The Canadian Musician? Well I want to thank God for bringing him on this trip. This guy was amazing. He rocked the guitar, wrote amazing songs, and had such an amazing spirit to him. He is such an inspiration. He could make anyone laugh. He told me I can I’ll have a place to stay in Canada if I ever want to come visit. Man God was right when he said life was all about relationships. The people are this trip have lifted me to a higher place. A place where love is all around. A place where people REALLY care. A place were when someone asks “How are you?” they REALLY mean it. I love this place.

Hmmmmm. Beef Or Fish? Gotta love plane food. I chose Beef. Lori from Carlsbad brought me Beef Jerky from Costco. Is it weird that I miss Costco? More than my mom?.... HAH Just kidding mom!!! I miss you a little more. J Hey mom Lori brought you a note from me with a present for your 50th (Yeah I know that’s old huh?) But She is also going to give you some pictures of me and Nondumiso. Pray for her. She is part of our family now.

Well my food is gonna get cold. I better go. In 4 hours I should be walking into the hotel to surprise the CTK group in Kenya!

I Love you all.

Peace&Love….SPREAD IT!!!!

Wow.

2009-07-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

You know in the scripture when God tells Aberham to kill his some Issac? Well that happened to me. Not the killing part. But the testing part. You know how I said I was going to "Test" God? Well I found out he was doing a little testing of his own!!. And I guess I passed. Here is the AMAZING news.

Last night at dinner I shared my experience with Nondumiso and I was sobbing tears of joy trying to get the words out. I guess it really moved someone. I dont know who. But as soon as I was done talking someone handed me Nondumiso's sponsor papers and I filled them out. I found out this morning that someone came and said "I would like to pay for Cory to sponsor his girl for a year". WHAT?!?! I was blown away as Lori told me this this morning. At first I was taken back. Not sure what to think. I mean I was SOOOO ready to test God! But this person must have felt the same way. I dont know who this person is but they want to sponsor Nondumiso under my name. So they wont get any credit. This is amazing. Like God did with Abraham. As soon as God saw Abraham willing to sacrifice his son he said "Ok... NOW I know you mean it..... So dont do it" Well I am amazed. GOD IS GOOOOOOOD!

So Litsemba was great. So many kids. Sooooo excited to Praise God with their voices and dance moves. I got some amazing pictures but Its 11:30PM right now and I leave for Kenya at 5:30AM!.... Oh and I havent packed yet.

I just had to tell you about what happened.

Please Pray for my safety as I travel these next couple weeks.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

I was In Heaven Today.

2009-07-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start. We just had our last Young Hearts meeting and it went great. Ended up staying up with a bunch of people singing worship and laughing and sharing stories. I'm not even sure when the last time was that I wrote. It feels like forever ago but I havent had time!! I'm sorry. I mean right now its 115 in the morning and I just got back to Shirley's!! I'm forcing myself to write for two reasons... One is a secret. But I'll tell you. But ONLY if you promise not to tell anyone!!

1) If I dont write now I'll forget to tell you all this stuff.
2) I have to write now because I'm going to Kenya AND Uganda and might not be able to write for a couple weeks.

SO If you are in contact with the Kenya group. PLEASE dont tell them! its a surprise. And IF you happen to be ON the Kenya trip and somehow are reading this PLEEEEEAAAASE Keep it to yourself. Dont spoil this!

I've prayed about it and God had given me his blessing to go serve along side the CTK group. And I am SOOOO glad. Then I am going to Uganda for 5 days to work alongside Evie. Remember her? From the JoBurg Airport? So I wont be back in Swazi till like the 7th of August!!

Update on Nondumiso. WOW! Ok so I've been working at El Shiddai most of the week while part of the group is at Emmanuel (where Nondumiso lives) So I got to go see her for a short time earlier in the week and she still wouldnt smile at me. I have always wanted to sponsor a Child and I felt God saying "ok Cory... You ready to listen?" I've prayed about it.... a lot... Then prayed again. And God said "DO IT!" Now HFA has different amounts you can sponsor a child with. Full sponsorship is $120 a month. Then they have partial all the way down to like $10 a month. Most of the kids have some sponsorship but not full. So I asked God again "ok Lord how much" and he said "however much more she needs" And I went and looked her up. Turns out she has no sponsor. NO ONE! and this is a big deal. The kids with sponsors always talk about them and get to feel like someone really cares. (Do you have tissue? Your gonna cry!) So I prayed again "Ok God... You must have the wrong guy. Did you forget I dont have a job or an Income?" Before I left fallbrook I was able to save about 3000 of my own money for when I came home. So I would have something to help me buy an RV and travel playing music (or something like that). This is the short version I promise. So I struggled with this amount God was calling me to. Then he reminded me about my favorite Verse. "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself" And I said "Ok but seriously!!! this is 3 times the cost of my phone bill... EVERY MONTH!" Yesterday I was flipping through the scripture before bed and came across Mal 3:10 and this is what it said...

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

WOW. Of course I happened to stumble across that verse. So I decided to do it. The whole thing. $120 US DOLLARS. Today was the last day to go to the Childrens homes and I asked Ian if I could go tell Nondumiso that I wanted to sponsor her. Maybe THIS would put a smile on her face. On the way up I was telling Lori Marshall (I know I spelled it wrong) and we both started crying on the bus. I dont know why. I guess cause we saw God moving in my life. Asking me to do stuff I would NEVER do. So I get there and Nondumiso is in class. So school breaks for lunch and all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see her running. Running with so much Joy on her face that it shocked me. The smile I remember from last year was plastered on her face. She jumped into my arms and hugged me so strong not letting go for anything. (I hadn't even told her about the sponsorship yet!) Lori was there. She was crying. I was Crying. Nondumiso probably thought we were crazy. But it was the most amazing feeling I've ever experienced. I dont know WHY she smiled at me today. I dont know if she was sick and became better. Or if God spoke to her and told her what I had decided to do. But she Smiled. And I didnt even no till today that she had lost a tooth. right in front. It makes her smile that much more beautiful. This was Nondumiso today.

I am so excited to Test God like He has asked us to do. I'm not sure how long I can Sponsor Nondumiso. Maybe a year. Maybe till you all meet her in heaven. But all I know is today I felt like a parent. As soon as I told her about the sponsorship and she lit up. She took me into her class to show me her pictures she drew. She took me to the playground to have me push her on the swings. Amazing. I was in Heaven today with this little girl. Someone printed up with picture of me and her and I'm going to give it to her tomorrow.

ahhhhhh. Welllll. Thats the highlight of my week. Tomorrow is Friday and we are putting on the "Celebrate Litsemba" show. I'm sure it will be amazing. Then I wake up at 5 Saturday and I'm off to serve in Kenya and Uganda. Keep checking I might be able to update at some point.

Thank you all for being on this journey.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!

WOW

2009-07-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ok today was amazing. I just got home and its 11:50! Well by home I mean Shirley's. So first off I had to be up very early to get sound equipment packed up. Like before the sun early. So got it packed up and went to the hotel to meet the group and had good breakfast. THEN we went to a church in Manzini. AMAZING. Totally what you would picture an African church being. Tons of clapping. EVERYONE singing and dancing. I'm sure I made a fool out of myself. But no one cares here. I don't at least. OK SO ON TO THE GOOD STUFF!!!

So right after worship before the pastor came up i snuck out to take a leak. No bathroom so i did my business right outside the side door. (Gimmie a break I had to get back into that church! Didnt have time to find a bush.... Plus like I said no one cares.) So I sneak back in the side door and the pastor was talking so I didnt want to squeeze between people to find a seat so I started sliding down the wall to sit on the ground. Then the pastor say's "You!! Stand up!!!" I was thinking "oh crap he saw me peeing!!" then all of a sudden he said "God spoke to me about you. Just now during worship!!" AHHHHHHHH I was out of my mind! I didnt know what to say so I just stared. ME! out of over 200 people!! I still dont know what to say. He went on to speak prophecy over me for what felt like a lifetime. He started saying stuff that God told him about me. I truly believe it was a word from Our Lord!!! I feel like if I tell you what he said you would all think I'm bragging... Well guess what? I DONT CARE!! So just to summarize he said stuff like "You Son! You have a tender heart for the lord! Tender! And you show love that's beyond this world. To everyone you come across! You don't cast judgment on others you meet! You see them as God does. Straight to the heart. AND my son God has told me you have the heart of a Preacher! Not that you will be a pastor but that you will PREACH! In way's beyond words. God says using actions you show Love to everyone you meet and you truly know that ONLY Gods love will heal this broken world! This Brother of ours... HE is an example for the Men of out generation!"

ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! ME? An example to the men? Ok like I said I know it sounds like I'm bragging but this is such a blessing. I was tempted not to tell you what he said but I feel God spoke to me today. And I wanted to share. I'm sure you all know that I'm ALL about love.

Next we went to show the group Project Canaan. Awesome!!! We struck water! Dug a bore hole and now the land is that much closer to flowing with Milk and Honey!!

Came back to the hotel had an amazing dinner and then Skype'd with all of you at CTK. AMAZING! its so good to hear your familiar laughs. Thank you all so much. Someone said to me after "Does it make you more homesick?" Actually it was the opposite!! I felt like I got to bring a little bit of home with me to Africa. I love you all!

So young hearts was amazing. The day was amazing. The weather was amazing! The CHURCH was amazing!! GOD IS AMAZING!

Tomorrow... WE WORK!

Till next time.

Peace&LOVE......SPREAD IT!!!

Pump Up The Volume!

2009-07-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

Well about 53 people arrived last night. They were supposed to be in at 4. Ended up getting to the hotel at about 8!!! The bus broke down a few times then ended up driving 30 minutes past the exit. But I told them this is all just part of the trip.

Anyways I am SOOO pumped for this trip! First of all there are tons of new faces. And I love new faces. And even better than new faces is familiar ones. The Carlsbad Group is coming with Lori Marshall and her family AND the McGraw family. Also this guy Glenn Marias from Canada is here. He's is an amazing musician and we will be working together on different stuff throughout the week. Google him, I'm sure he's on there.

Some stuff behind the scene's. One of the orphanages HFA works with (Emmanuel) has been running into some problems. The woman running the orphanage hasnt been very friendly to HFA and we are praying about if God wants us to continue working with them. It is so hard because we care so much about the kids but we arent agreeing with the way the home is being run. Shirley buys ALLL the food for the home. Every Monday we go to the store and buy a whole truckload of food for the kids. If HFA gets forced out of helping them then they will have no other source of food. Anyways without getting into to much detail I just wanted to ask for your Prayers. One of the girls there Nondimiso stole my heart last year. These two pictures you see are from last year. She had the most amazing smile. But this year there is something different. As soon as I saw her she ran up to me and hugged me but didn't smile. Last year she wouldn't stop smiling. This year I ha vent been able to make her smile in 3 weeks. She is such a beautiful girl and it breaks my heart to see her hurt. I don't know whats wrong and I asked the people working there but they say nothing is wrong. I know that's not true. I haven't taken a picture of her this year. Please Pray.

Well the other 90 people are on their way from the airport and we will see them soon. THANK YOU JESUS FOR FELLOWSHIP!

This is Nondimiso's smile. It brings tears to my eyes looking at this picture.

I'll post again as soon as something exciting happens. (now that the group is here it will most likely be soon.)

Peace&Love..SPREAD IT!!!

A Great Man.

2009-07-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

My Grandfather passed away this morning.

He was a great man and what I remember the most about him was his smile. Was. Crazy how a word suddenly carries so much weight when it involves death. Although I guess "is" is the correct word. Because I know my Grandfather is smiling more in this moment than he has in a long time. He was suddenly required to use a wheelchair that i'm sure he didn't like. Well there aren't any wheelchairs in heaven. He was recently in and out of the hospital.. Well there aren't any hospitals in heaven. He reacently had a lot of heart problems...But there arent heart problems in heaven either. What hurts the most is not being able to be at his funeral. I know he wont mind but it would be good to hear the stories of his amazing life. Please pray for my Dad, his brother, and his sister. And also my Grandmother Shirley.

We lost a great man today... But heaven will keep him busy till we see him again.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Short And Sweeeeeet

2009-07-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and safe.

I am gonna give you all some updates as SOOOON as some come. We've been mostly gettin stuff together for the group to come on Saturday.

Keep me in your prayers. I'm hoping Young Hearts will go better with this next group.

Simba wont learn to poop outside. We take him out all the time and all he does is pee. Then we come in and he poops.

Ok sorry this is so short. Dont forget I'll be Skypin you all at church this Sunday!!! BE THERE!!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Almost Got Eatin by a Spider.

2009-07-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we bought a Chain Saw..... it was BEAUTIFUL!!! We cut soo much good wood. And talk about feeling manly!!! All I needed was a flannel and my P-Burn and I'd be the Wolverine. Everyone tells me I look like him.

So first we cut one stump and tons of ants started coming out. so i busted out the axe and split the wood in half. OH My Gooooooodness!! No exaggeration probably thousands of ants!! the started chasing me up a tree. so I decided to go dig around the gate so it would open more smoothly instead of cut wood. And I ran into this 8 Legged Monster!!!

YEAH SERIOUSLY!!! I was telling Chloe "hey I bet there are tons of spiders in this Forrest" and BOOM! it jumped out. its hard to tell but this thing was the size of my hand. NO LIE. He/She was right were i was going to work so I had to move it. i found a 30 foot stick and it hopped right on and let me more it.

Today we ended up finishing one of the baskets. Pretty cool. Now I get to go to El Shiddai tomorrow and get the kids ready for the Litsemba Celebration. I don't know now long I will be there but I'll tell you as soon as I find out.

I forget what I tell you so sorry if i repeat myself.

SLEEP IN TOMORROW!!! SCORE!

Also In case you dont know if you know how to use Skype you can call my cell phone straight from it!! So.... Call me. 011-268-640-8541!!!

See you Sunday or I mean hear you.

Peace&Love....SPREAD IT!!!

Ok Ok!!!

2009-07-08T09:14:00.001-07:00

I've been getting a lot of people telling me I should Update my blog.... By a lot of people I mean Alissa Hansen.

I am sorry that I havent updated it in a few days but in my defense I havent been doing much. We are kinda in between trips and we arent very busy. So at the land we have a bridge and we need to put up some Gambian Baskets. Yeah I didnt know what they were either. Pretty much a BUNCH of rocks inside of a metal basket...By a bunch I mean thousands. So my days have consisted of picking up rocks and cutting wood.

The wood is fun. I feel manly. Axe in one hand beer in the other. Ok ok no beer. But the rocks on the other hand. Well lets just say I'd rather be giving blood. And this is coming from a guy who cried when he got shots for Africa. At least that's what Brandon says.

So I've been reading Joshua cause its my brothers name. Pretty crazy. Those guys were ruthless. Destroyed cities then went in a killed EVERYONE. Men, Women, Children, AND livestock. I also just read a book called "Love Walked In" anyone read it?!? Its good.

I'm going to be Skyping Christ The King first and second service on the 19th. You should all be there.

Thats All Folks.

Peace&Love....SPREAD IT!!!

Simba!!!!

2009-07-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

WE GOT A PUPPY!!!!!

His name is Simba. Actually Chloe Maxwell got him. But she is going to leave him here until we have someone living on Project Canaan. He is going to be our Farm Dog to catch snakes and stuff.

So I got the pleasure of talking to my mom last night!!!! It was wonderful. although she only bought 22 minutes!!! Just to let you all know you can leave me comments on this. Like Steve gave me a comment on how to ground my shower... Which was way over my head. I'll continue to get electrocuted. But it would be cool to hear some feedback from you all. I'll most likely respond to. Anyways here is a precious picture my friend Andrea took of me and Chloe at El Shiddai.

And ALSO. My mom was the first one to get a phone card and call me. The rest of you twenty something followers of mine haven't!! SO GET ON IT! I'd love to hear your voices.

So not many updates yet just wanted to say Hi to everyone.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!!

Drunk On The Spirit!

2009-07-01T01:44:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! Ok first of all sorry I havent posted any pictures on here lately. It makes my Blog looks less flashy. But I have put some new pictures on Facebook. CLICK HERE to check those out. Most of the new ones are on the second page.

Ok So GREAT NEWS!!! My Grampa is loooookin up!! Last I heard he was out of ICU and plannin on going home soon. (If anyone knows more you can let me know in the comment area) AND the other thing I was stressin about has turned out to be the GREATEST BLESSING since Sliced Bread!!! I still cant go into to much detail but lets just say a close friend who I had ALMOST given up on has come to Christ and I feel is going to GROW to a whole new level. PRAISE GOD!!!

I got electrocuted today.... And yesterday....And the day before. I dont know why but the handles in my shower do it whenever I touch them. Sometimes its small but today my whole arm froze up and my muscles tensed. I could barely pull my arm of. I tried to turn the shower off with the soap...didnt work. Tomorrow I'll try my tooth brush.

Lately we have been running errands for Shirley. Mostly down time. I have gotten to read a lot which I LOVE. Ian Maxwell comes back today so I'm sure he will find some hard work for us to do.

I cant tell you how Joyful I am right now. This morning I read James and this is what I saw.

James 4:2b-4
"You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. "

Isnt that AMAZING. Earlier in James is says that we could have wisdom if we would only ask for it!!! I never thought about asking for that.

Anyways my friend who is turning to Christ is going to struggle. Lets just call him "Joe". can you please pray for Joe. God knows who your praying for.

Thanks everybody. Your All Amazing

Peace&Love.....SPREAD IT!!!

Down N Out

2009-06-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

So I got some news today that my Granpa Ed got taken to ICU last night. They told my father that he'd better say goodbye because they didnt think he was going to make it through the night.

You dont realize how much you love someone untill reality strikes that they wont be with you much longer. My Granpa Ed is a wonderful Man. I Lost my Mom's father when I was pretty young so maybe thats why it didnt affect me as much. My grampa ended up making it through the night and I am very thankful for that. It brings tears to my eyes thinking that I might not be able to say goodbye to my Granpa Ed. At least not in person. My heart hurts for my Father. I cant imagine loosing someone who has been with you since you first came into this world. I am praying fervently that if God decides to Bring my Grampa home before I see him that I will be blessed with a dream. A dream where I get to see my wonderful Grandpa one more time.

I also got some other bad news that I am not allowed to share with you. But these two things have haunted my night so far. I want to rest in the fact that God has all things in his hands.

Please Pray for my Grandpa Ed. My Father Ed. and my Family.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Michael Jackson Tribute.

2009-06-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

My Tribute to Michael Jackson.

Well I had a good time at Charles' house. It was good to get away. He gave me some Jerky that was amazing. He killed it and dried it. I think it was Impala. Me and his two kids, Stephanie-11 and Andrew-7, took a ride in the back of the truck as the sun was going down. as we left I said "its gonna get cold you two should get a jacket" they said "nah its not bad". once the sun went behind the mountain it dropped and as soon as I started thanking God for my jacket a heard a small voice say "Cory... can I borrow your jacket" I froze to death. Now I know why parents bring the kids jackets. Its a selfish thing. Then I woke up this morning with a sore throat and stuffy nose.

So Today we woke up at 5 and had coffee and Tea. then went to church, but before I got there.

Something thats a little weird is a lot of people have Maids here. Its hard to get used to. Even Shirley had a maid that comes 3 days a week and does dishes and cleans the house and even does my laundry. My mom didnt even used to do my laundry!! hah just kidding love you Mom. But anyways I never know if I am allowed to help them. Like when we were leaving the farm there are gates that had to be opened and as we pulled up they told her to get out and open the gate and I just jumped out and said "Ill do it" then when I got back they said thanks but I wondered if they would rather me not open the gate, or clear the table, or help load the car. ok back to church today....

So we went to a church called "Potters wheel" I was hoping the pastor would be that Potter that came to our church but nope. So since I have lead worship for so long I am very in tune to the band ya know. Like I hear mistakes and whats to loud and who cant sing and who can. And I realized that the drummer stuck out. pretty bad. Like in quit times he would be to loud and he always played loud. No dynamics. So I finally get a look at him and he was wearing sun Glass's!!! INSIDE! I started thinking "Who is this tough guy? I'm gonna kick him off and teach him a lesson." So after the service I go to check out the drum set and I see him pull out what looks like 3 drum sticks then he folds them into a pole. Like a thick tent pole. And I see two guys help him of the stage. HE"S BLIND!! OH NO. I felt HORRRRIBLE!! Another smack in the face from God. So I guess I shouldn't be so quick to pick at people talents.

Anyways after church I came home and put some pictures on my computer and I'll upload them to facebook maybe tomorrow.

This boys name is Dumas.
He is amazing and followed me around
all day as I was at El Shiddai.
He is an orphan.
He mostly frowned and only smiled
when I took the camera out.
Please pray for this boy.
I dont know what his past holds but
I know it would most likely break our heart.

Thanks for readin.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Weekend Away.

2009-06-26T03:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

Just to let you know I forgot that if any of you want to donate money to my trip you can also donate straight through PayPal. My Paypal E-mail address is FIGCWW1434@gmail.com.

The group loaded up on the bus this morning on their way to the JoeBurg Airport. I miss them already. So many good people. It is nice to have an evening to lay low.

Anyways me and Michael just got invited back up to Charles' house (with the outdoor pooper) to relax a little bit. its been a pretty crazy week. So I'm gonna take that offer. I will be talking with El Shiddai this weekend and getting more information on my stay there. I will let you know as soon as I find out more information.

Keep Lookin Up....HE'S COMIN!!!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!

Only God Knows.

2009-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

This is the kinda stuff you find in an African Market.

This trip has been amazing so far. So since I last wrote Young Hearts has gotten a lot better. Someone mentions to the mom's that the kids were being a little out of control and they came and told me that they would take them out. Ever since we have had some GREAT conversations. And I even heard one of them singin last night!!

So anyways yesterday we got to go to the El Shiddai property (where Kristin and Lauren McGraw are staying) and I got to work with the Preschool kids. Tough job huh? El Shiddai is a Children's Home that has a school on the property. Well the room they use is the Sanctuary and our group was doing a clinic in there so we just had to take them outside. Suddenly it got VERY windy and CRAZY clouds were rolling in. They were supposed to stay until 12 but at 1130 the teacher (who spoke little English) said "It might rain. send kids home early" So they say a prayer and the kids just get up and go every direction. I get scared and wonder where their moms are and then I realize that they all just walked home!!! LITTLE KIDS! IN THE EYE OF A HUGE STORM!! On the way home we drove about 30 minutes and I saw one of the boys in our class run out to the road and wave. Who knows how long it took him to walk.

Anyways I'm glad to say they all made it safe. We got to meet with them again today INSIDE the room. It was much quieter and easier to keep track of them all. It was amazing. I got to play many songs with them including "Thumbs Up." The teachers had all this craft stuff that someone donated that she had never used. So we got to show her fun stuff to do with them. The cutest thing was how when you ask them to sit on the benches and you sit down they RUN to sit next to you. 3 were on my la p and two on each side holding my hands.

Anyways the El Shiddai mom, Charmain, told me that they had been prayin for a young man to come live with the boys in the Boys dorm. She told me to pray about it. I have been for two days now and I believe its what God wants me to do. At least for a month. I have to get more pictures of this place for you. Its honestly like Heaven On Earth. On the top of a Mountain peak. It WILL be different. I am not sure what the food will be like. There will be no Internet access. So I am sorry If I cant update my Blog as much as I have been. I will be writing a lot in my journal so I wont forget the stuff that happens. This isnt a done deal but its lookin like Gods pushin me that way. And thats what this trip is for. Please keep me in your prayers in this time.

One of the boys I would live with is Ndimiso. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about his story.

We have one more day working with the group and then they go home on Friday. Its been fun being busy all the time. I am giving David a ride to the airport on Friday and if God decides I will be seeing him again before I come home.

P.S. CLICK HERE to see some of El Shaddai. These pictures are old so it has changed a lot since then but you get an Idea for the view. or you can Google search "El Shaddai Swaziland" and see more pictures.

Thank you again for all you prayers and support.

Peace&Love....SPREAD IT!!!!

I Got Nuthin.

2009-06-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

Not feel so hot tonight.

Today was AMAZING. We had the Project Canaan land Dedicated to God and there was an amazing service. All three Children's home's got together and we had a blast kicking balls around and playing with those parachute things and throwing Frisbee's. We have been planning this thing since I have been here and I'm gonna get some good sleep tonight knowing its over.

So I've been having some trouble with the Young Hearts group. First of all worship is pretty much me singing songs with people looking at me. And the time that we have to share about our day is either silent or OUT OF CONTROL. And most of the time its out of control. I have seen two things that have led to this.

First of all this year HFA has put a top limit on the age of young hearts. They said "about" 21 and under. We have about 4 or 5 college students that arent able to come. (its not like they have asked but I get the feel that they dont think they would fit in with bunch of youngins.) You see in Kenya it was a more of what we called a "young AT heart" meeting. So most of the time we had more than a few adults who joined. Now I see why that was SOOO great. First of all the adults arent scared to sing. And when some people sing, most people sing. Second of all they usually start of the sharing and others feel more comfortable. THIRD of all when you have older people it makes most of the youngins not act up so much. And this works the opposite as well. When you have LITTTLE LITTLE kids it makes the others suddenly turn into little kids. Which leads me the the second reason.

We have about 3 kids on this trip that are like 7 years old. 2 girls and one boy. All three of them have come to young hearts all three nights. This has ruined every bit of silence and control that we finally get. Last night in the middle of the last slow worship song (right as the feel was getting good) the girl started flicking coasters together. So I said her name quietly and as soon as I closed me eyes she started again. The kids ended up leaving the room a MESS tons of trash on the ground so tonight I told them right off the bat that it was very disrespectful and to not leave trash to which the same girl responded by throwing her trash on the ground. When I asked her to pick it up she said "I will.... when I leave" and threw ANOTHER piece of trash down. I ended up getting very mad and having a serious talk which made the night very awkward for me. Like I was a bad person.

I am sorry to throw all this on you guys but Its just I remember young hearts being and AMAZING, emotional, deeep time. And this is far from that. Its a little late now to say "Ok, now young hearts is for all ages" or "Ok, now we dont allow little kids" I'm just hopping they will be ok with making some changes for next months trip. Sorry again I'm kinda venting and was hoping you could pray that I dont say anything I regret, and that I make the most of this time with the kids.

On a lighter note. Morning worship, before devotional, is awesome. The adults arent scared to sing and I even see people raising their hands and closing their eyes. Its very rewarding to see while leading worship.

Anyways I'd hate to complain and sorry if I put anyone down or gossiped.

Thats all. Tomorrow is a New Day.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT.

Bury Your Own Poop!!

2009-06-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

So looks like I've been pretty busy these last couple days and it wont change for another week or so.

Quick Recap.

Monday we went up to the Land and Dug Poop Holes. You see they have Porta-Potties here but they are different. These ones dont have a bottom. So my job was to dig holes that we would put the Porta-Pottie over. Exciting right?!?! As you can see in the picture they were pretty deep. about 2 and a half feet deep and a over a foot wide. We dug 5 holes and they want 9 toilets. So 4 to go right? Well We found out yesterday that they only needed 5!! Sweet. But there's a problem. Turns out that 4 of the toilets we dug are the ones they decided to remove. Yeah so we gotta fill those in a dig 4 more!... O well. TIA.

Tuesday we didnt have a car to get up to the Land so we stuck around the house and I got to get a frame put on the back of the sign so we could hang them. We ended up getting them put up and they look GREAT! See the picture above? its the little tiny one on the top Left. hah. I also found that I am in charge of all Media on this trip. For the Land Dedication this Sunday I must have speakers and music and all that Jazz. So I had to plug all the stuff in and make sure it works. I think it does. ALSO DAVID KARIOOKIE ARRIVED!! So we went to pick him up at the airport and he is stayin down the hall from me. Its good have have another familiar face around here. Makes it easier. I miss a lot of Fallbrook. People and the town itself.

ok so today we woke up and had to go unpack a container that Heart For Africa had shipped over from the States. It was FULL of stuff for the projects when the groups come and of stuff for the Children's Homes. Then we delivered some stuff to the New Hope and had a (Staff) meeting about the next couple weeks. Janine had to remind me that I'm staff when i got distracted and wasnt listening. hah I'm not so good in meetings. But I have a lot of stuff I have to do for this Sunday (The Project Canaan Dedication) and for the week that the group is here. I have to do morning worship and Young Hearts Worship. I am very excited to lead Worship again. I dont realize how fulfilling that is untill I dont do it.

Anyways Thurs. and Fri. we have to finish digging 4 more poop holes and gather fire wood for the BBQ on Sunday. Then Sat. i am going with the group up to one of the Orphanages to help them work. THEN sunday is the Land Dedication. I am sure a lot of this will change. But until then I'll try my hardest to keep you all informed.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Cottage Cheese

2009-06-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends and Family,

Its June 15th, at 3:40 PM. My Time. So 6:40AM your time. Most of you are most likely sleeping OH WEIRD! I just realized Church hasn't even started yet!!!

Anyways I just wanted to let you all know that my signs are finished!!! And I am so proud of them. It is nice being able to put my God Given Creativity into action. I put some before and after pictures up. It was going to be only two signs then Ian Maxwell came along and said we needed three... Turns out we only needed two. THANKS IAN! But it will get used. Anyways one mistake I made was thinking that I can wash Oil Based paint off of the brush like Latex Paint... NOT THE CASE!!! This is AFTER I scrubbed with soap for 20 minutes. Then I found Paint Thinner.

So remember that one time I told you about my awesome morning?!?! Today's wasn't as good. Firstly i woke up and realized my bread had gotten moldy. THEN I decided I would like some milk. I proceeded to the fridge where I pulled out the milk carton to take a swig (Yeah right out of milk carton!!! Just like my big bro's taught me) After the first gulp I felt a lump. I spit what hadn't gone down my throat into the sink only to see more lumps... My worst Nightmare had come true. COTTAGE CHEESE!!! I looked at the side of the carton and it said "Use By 07/06/09" ITS ONLY THE 15TH!! Then I looked at my roommates milk and it said "Use By 19/06/09"... Yeah. It seems like in Africa they put the Month after the Day. My milk was a week expired. Not a good start.

Later we went to a church in Down Town Mbabane. (capitol of Swaziland) Me and Micheal had gone there yesterday to check out the city life and walk around the Mall. I think this is the first time i have not wanted to buy ANYTHING. I can barely fit the clothes I brought in my backpack. I'm sure I'll end up leaving some. But I LOVED walking around the streets. Its SOOO hectic. Cumbie's (Cooooom-Bee's) are little VW Vans that drive people around like Taxi's. Every were you look there is someone yelling or someone almost getting hit by a car or children running in the streets. So many different people with so many different stories. Anyhow church was good. A little different then I would have expected. The pastor was some guy from Alaska. he was good. Nothin like Pastor Phil. We are going to check out a different church next weekend.

Well I am excited because me and David Kerry-OOKey are running the Young hearts part of the trip coming in this Friday. I guess there are about 65 people arriving. The July trip has 150 people!! Oh yes i'm just gonna put my other pictures on Facebook. If you want to see them just CLICK HERE!!! Some of the pictures you've seen. Some you havent.

I guess thats all for now. Enjoy ur Day/Night/Morning/Evening or whatever else it might be.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

Time for some spiritual "MEAT"

2009-06-13T00:03:00.001-07:00

Talk about a work of Art.

So one good thing about this trip is the free time I have to read the word and connect with God.

When I first came I remember praying, asking God to connect with me. It seems kinda selfish the way we look at this fuzzy feeling we call the "Holy Spirit" If you've felt this then you know exactly what I'm talking about. But it seems we make this feeling into a exchange. There have been many times I have been worshiping God and been let down cause I cant feel the Holy Spirit. I have to put myself in my place and realize that we worship God because he deserves it. Not because of what WE get out of it. Now I do believe that if you try a particular worship service for a continuous time and NEVER feel the Holy Spirit then you should SERIOUSLY pray about staying or going. We all enjoy different kinds of worship and if you cant draw into Rock Worship than obviously you wouldn't go to "The Rock" :-) (Great Church in San Diego) Anyways working at the church for the past ~4 years has made it very tough to feel the Holy Spirit at certain times. When your walk with God connects with your Job there is a Tug of war that happens inside. And its up to us to decide who is going to win.

For the past several months I have realized that I havent had a One On One moment with God in quite a while. I feel him move during a sermon or during worship but not just me and Him. So that was my prayer was to "Feel" God in the intimacy of two. And if He decided I didnt need than then that was ok by me.

Well I felt Him this morning. It wasn't a knock me on my butt kind of feeling. Just a subtle reminder that He's listening. To everything I ask. Everything I think. Everything that enters my mouth before it even gets there. I've been reading Ezekiel and at first it was pretty bland. A lot of God telling the people of Israel that a wrath is coming so WATCH UR BACK! But its very repetitive. Or so i thought. Till I started reading it as a Poem. I've always tried reading the Bible as a Novel or Story. I started to realize how beautiful the words and sentences became. I started to realize that every person I've met with creative ability was a Creation it itself. And if I admire Art, or Poetry, or Music, how much more I would admire the Creator of ALL OF THIS!!! HOLY CRAP!!! The spirit is flowin. Can you believe that God Created Creativity!!! Ezekiel has come to life! He talks many times about Falling on His face before God and I now realize why.

I pray that the scripture would come to life for all of you.

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace;
making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."
-Charlie Mingus

Peace&Love....SPREAD IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOOOOOVEE Glass's!!

2009-06-11T22:26:00.001-07:00

K I know its been a long time since my last post. I have two excuses...

Firstly, the Internet has been buggin out lately.

Secondly, there hasn't been that much going on. Well there has but nothing too exciting. I think I already told you about these Glass's right? Well people have brought them over the years and there are about 3000 pairs. And me and Micheal (My roommate) have a machine that reads them. We write the reading down on a card and stick the glass's in a zip lock back and move on.... This is what my past 3 days have consisted of!!! Although as you can see I found a pair that fit me very well.

Ian Maxwell arrived a couple days ago. I love that guy. So Shirley made us dinner last night. Some dish with Mash Potatoes, Cheese, Beef, MUSHROOMS, EGGPLANT, AND ZUCCHINI!!! and I ate it with a smile on my face. If you know me at all you know I'm picky. But it was actually pretty good. So anyways I guess I started complaining about how boring it is to do glass's all day. And Shirley shut me up real quick when she said "I hope you know that every pair of glass's you read are going to make someone VERY happy" She's right.

The weather here has been very odd for this time of year. Very Cloudy and Wet and COLD. I didn't think of packing for cold. Oh yeah we also got to work on a sign that were gonna put up at the "Project Canaan" land!!! well 2 of them actually. I will take some pictures as soon as were done. I'm pretty proud of those.

SOOOO I cooked my CHICKEN!!!! AND POTATOES!!! couple nights ago I realized the chicken was a day over expiring so I HAD to eat it. I cut it up and put it on the skillet (I realized we don't have any bakeing pan's) put some Seasoning on it and let that bad boy simmer. I might have cooked it to long cause I didn't want to see pink in the middle. But it turned out GREAT. Then the following night. MASHED POTATOES!! Kinda boring without Gravy though. I don't think my roommate trusts my cooking. So far he turned down my Chicken and Taters and The eggs i just made for breakfast.

(Ok bring it home cory...people are getting bored)

So to finish off I wanted to let you know that we have a group coming in one week from today. A LOT of people. I think a hundred or something. This following week i should be VERY busy getting everything ready for them and then while they are here I'll be running around a lot too. All that to say I will try my best to update my blog AMAP (as much as possible.....I just made that up) But the good thing is with all this going on I'll have a lot to tell you about.

Oh yeah CALLING MICHELLE ALONSO!!!! where did you get that Banana Bread recipe?? I have Banana's going bad. Thanks I miss you! and your whole family.

That's all folks. Until next time...Stay Classy San Diego.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

CELL PHONE!!!!!

2009-06-09T02:04:00.000-07:00

Sup.

Quick update. I got a cell phone!! I'm pretty sure I can call you all in the states on it but it would take a lot of my minutes. There are TONS of calling cards you can get to call me for pretty cheap. Here is a link to just one of the many sites you can purchase them at...

http://www.nobelcom.com/phone-cards/calling-Swaziland-from-United-States-1-265.html

Also I am pretty sure you can text me somehow. They do a lot of that around here for some reason. I dont know how you would do it. or if it would charge me. LETS FIND OUT!!! Google it for me Leslie and let me know=]

ok so here is my cell phone number

6408541 Easy Right?... not really.

In order to call you have to dial 011+268+my number

So here is my FULL number

011-268-640-8541

Anyways you dont need the phone card to call but I am sure you will get charged crazy money unless you have it.

Can someone pass this on to my Mom and Dad. They would love to chat I'm sure.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

South Africa for a day.

2009-06-08T02:13:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!!!!!!!!!

Cory here reporting from a small Internet Cafe in Nelspruit, South Africa I am sure I butchered the spelling of this place but it works.

Anyways since I last spoke to you a lot has happened. but I'm paying by the minute so I will have to be brief. I dont have any pictures yet but Hopefully when I get home I can put some up. The farm we stayed on was AMAZING.(house pictured above) not much electricity but the view was spectacular!!! WAY back in the mountains of Swaziland.

<<<

Let see Friday we woke up early and took down the carrel. VERY tough job. but that is were we are going to dedicate the land here pretty soon. We also helped clear the land where the first building is going to go. FULL day in the sun. OMG!!! I almost forgot. Sun Screen is hard to come by around here!!! I guess no one uses it. :-) So mom??? Lori?? wanna hook it up? also all they have is this Instant Coffee. Lori do you think you can find a small Coffee Press? like maybe a cup or two big? They have coffee grounds but I dont want to buy a whole coffee brewer.

Here is a picture of the view from the "pot"...Dont worry I wasnt using it at the time I took this picture =]

Ok, so Saturday the front end loader came by and pushed all the Cow Dung into a HUGE pile. then we had to unload it at a house. Not the best day of work. But the Shower overlooking the mountains made it worth it.

Then Sunday we drove back to our house got more clothes and came straight to South Africa. Now we dropped of the Land Rover to get serviced before the groups come. We spent a night here. very small room. Could only fit 2 beds inside and it was packed.

hmmmm I think thats all for now.

I love and miss you all.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!
cory way.

Long Long day.

2009-06-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

KFC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crazy huH?!?!? The was the first surprise of the trip. Today I slept in till about 9:30... and I went to sleep at about 8:30. It was beautiful. Today wasnt that eventful other than the KFC trip. We went up to the land of Project Cannan and I had to begin to break down a Carrall. I dont know if thats how you spell it. It was a lot harder than I expected it to be. We made a big dent in it though. We also brought the contractor up who is going to be putting the first building on.

For those of you who don't know, "Project Cannan" is a project that HFA (Heart for Africa) is workin on. Its a HUGE piece of land that they bought and are plannin on puttin an orphanage, a Dairy Farm, a lot of Gardens, and I'm sure other stuff. I am very excited because right now it is just land. I hope that when I leave we will have a lot done. It would be nice to see the fruits of my Labor.

I drove by a huge billboard that said "Broadband!!! THE NEW INTERNET!!!" I think they still have Dial up. Thats why it takes me 300 hours to upload a picture.

Anyways i will be staying up at the Farm for the weekend then on Sunday i will be taking the car into the shop in South Africa to get worked on. I most likely wont be able to update this blog till late Monday or Tuesday. So be patient.

I also think I am going to put my Photobucket on hold due to the lack of Broadband. Sorry. I will try to put as many pictures as I have time for on this Blog.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!!
cory way

NO CUP-O-NOODLES!??!

2009-06-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! I have finally arrived at my dwelling place in Swaziland, Africa!!!

I have no clue what the finale total travel time for me was but I feel like I ate way to much and DID way to little. Here is the thing that sux about LONG plane rides, ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND EAT!! (other than read and watch movies and play games but the whole time you do those things your sitting) I feel like the plane would take off and they would pass out a meal, then I'd do whatever I could to make time pass and next thing I know I have ANOTHER MEAL! Its as if I were to wake up at my house in the morning and to sit at the counter and eat breakfast, then sit there till lunch time. Enough of that.

It is 17:20 and I am beat... even though all I did the past 2 days was sit and eat.

So now I am writing you from the comfort of my SWEET cottage. It is way nicer than I expected! Another man is living here with me his name is Micheal. Seems pretty cool. I am going to take some pictures of this place tomorrow and post them. The flight I took from Joe Burg to Manzini was a little different from the others. I could barely fit through the aisle. THIS PLACE HAS A BATH!!! I cant tell you how excited I am for a bath tonight.

So the girl who lives in the main house is Shirley. She picked me up from the airport. As I we were driving away It started to hit me. This is my home for at least the next 6 months. The people, are my neighbors, The roads are my means of traveling, and the Local markets are my means of food. Shirley asked me "Are you going to buy a car"? and I said "ahhh I dont know" and she said "It would help... You could get a nice Rav 4 for cheap...only $6500" HAHA. I proceeded to tell her that if I bought that car I would most likely be broke by next month.

NEED HELP!!!
I was assuming Shirley would do all the cooking but she told me today that I was on my own with that. I've never been a cook. They dont have Top Romin... Or Cup-O-Noodles.... Or TV Dinners... Or even Microwave Corn Doggs!!! So I bought Potatoes... I dont know how to cook potatoes. I bought Pasta Noodles...I dont know how long to boil them. I bought chicken breast assuming there would be a BBQ... THERE ISNT!!! What now? The oven? So all you moms out there need to answer me those questions and let me in on some EASY secret recipes.

Thats all for now. This post turned out longer than i had planned. Sorry.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!
cory way

Joe Burg!!!

2009-06-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Cory Here. Reporting from Johannesburg. I landed here after a 11 hour flight from London.

Just bought a coffee... 2 Bucks.... Way better than London. The flight seemed a lot longer than my first flight. I finished my Book "This Side Of Heaven" and when I was going through security one of the African workers saw it and asked me about it. So I said "You want it?" and he got very excited and said he would pray for me. I love nice people like him. I also met a girl from Australia. Evie. Pronounced E.V. It was totally a God thing cause she is going to work at an orphanage in Uganda for 3 months and she has an 8 hour lay over here and I have a 6 hour one. She is very brave coming from home and planning on spending 8 hours alone. In an African air port. She is next to me trying to have a conversation and I'm ignoring her so I can type this to you. That's how committed I am to this Blog thing.

It sux that I am a 5 hour drive from Manzini but I have to wait 6 hours for a flight to take me there. I might just Hitch Hike.

So I don't want to take to much of my Laptop Battery cause I cant charge it till I get to Swaziland. Oh yeah new Info!!! I might to go Kenya for a weekend while the CTK group is there!!!! I have to figure out details but I'll let you know if its Finale.

I Love you all and miss you all.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

"You Sound Like Your From LONDON!!!!"

2009-06-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

Ok So I just landed in London and it seems I cant find free internet. I bought some online minutes at LAX and they were supposed to work here but I got no luck so far. SOOOO I am typing them out in Word and then I will paste them when I get internet again since the interenet wasn’t workin I decided to get some lunch or breakfast.. or dinner. I have no clue what time it is. So I went and got a Ceaser Salad and a Mocha….Yeah a Mocha. It was gross. But the salad was good. I went to pay my bill…… $25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap!!! If you ever visit london be sure to pack a lunch. So anyways the flight here went by very fast. I slept some, read some, and watched TV some. My watch says 9:49 AM. That’s Cali Time. I think hear it is like….17:49. Do the math. So far people are pretty nice. From here I fly to Johanesburg then have another 6 hour lay over. THEN my final flight to Manzini Swaziland. For now I gotta go find gate 50. Keep prayin I’m halfway there.

Peace&Love…SPREAD IT!!!

See Ya Later U.S.

2009-06-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sup My People!?!?

hmmm... Well first off even writing the title to this post makes my stomach hurt. I have so many people who love me in Fallbrook. I've always known it but this past week I have come in contact with so many people who would do almost ANYTHING for me. I am sure I look like a fool gettin teary eyed in the airport.

So back to my trip. Here I am in LAX. Its about 730 and the flight boards in about 30 minutes. I want to thank all of you so much for joining me in this Journey. I had a concert last night and raised about $800!! You are all amazing! Just the fact that you would give up a Sunday night to come hear me sing blows my mind. My mom and Leslie drove me down here today. We left CTK at 2:45... Supposed to leave at 2:00 But we didnt. Were "Way's" remember. But nonetheless I made it hear with time to spare. There were many people I didnt get to formally say goodbye to. I am sorry. I will try to document my 33 hour Travel to Africa as well as I can. I will also try to be short and sweet with my Blogs (despite what Kathy Ransbury told me) because I am sure you dont want to hear my ramble.

I will also be posting Pictures on my Photobucket. Click here to check it out. Bookmark it.(Sorry mom... I know you dont know how to do that :) Not any pictures yet. But there will be... give me time Alissa!!!

This is it. Here I go. My Chains Are Gone... For now.

I LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU!!!

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!

2 WEEKS AND COUNTING!!!

2009-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so I've been gettin a lot of you Peeps complaining that I'm not updating this enough.... I"M NOT EVEN GONE YET!!! In the words of the great Theologian Nelson Pierre-Paul "Chillax"

Well like I said I am 2 weeks away from leaving. I have been getting rid of a lot of my stuff. I don't want to come back to a bunch of junk. So I am taking this time to do some spring cleaning. I took 3 trash bags of clothes to the thrift store the other day and 3 more bags today. (Sorry mom I had to let go of a couple of your cheesy "I Love Jesus" shirts. It feels good. We don't realize how much stuff we have that we dont use. I am writing you from Cafe Primo on Monday May 19th at 6:30. This is my second to last day working hear. Kinda Sad. I really enjoy the Espresso Machine.

So someone came up to me today and said "Sometimes being a Christian is pretty hard huh?" And I started thinking. The Way of Christ is only hard because we don't "GET" it. If we truly understood how much He loves us, How much He would do for us, How much would give for us, Or how bout how much HE ACTUALLY GAVE for us, then it wouldn't be that hard. But It is hard.

I am taking this last two weeks to get close to God. I will be making sacrifices. Some you might notice, some you wont. Pray for me please. I need God to prepare my heart for the Journey ahead.

Well that's all for now. I might post a couple more times before I leave (June 1st), I might not.

Remember that I am doing a concert at the CTK Fellowship Hall the night before I leave. Just mostly to say goodbye. Try to make it. It should be kinda cool.

Peace&Love...SPREAD IT!!!
cory way