Day 9 Meryt

Monkeys, Safari Ants, and Bats- Oh My!!!

Yesterday was Day 8 of our stay at NMS but Day 1 without the kids :'( While we missed the NMS students so much, it was still an incredible day.

Yesterday we boarded the big NMS yellow school bus to take a day trip into the Kakamega Rainforest. We were escorted by James, the head teacher, and Madame Caroline, the social worker here at NMS. We woke up bright and early at 6 in order to be out of the house at 7:15. It was about a 2.5 hour drive each way, and while it was a very long road trip, there was never a second of boredom for me as I kept my eyes glued to the window the entire rides both there and back. Having never visited a country in the developing world, I had never seen anything like this before our drive from Kisumu into Nambale when we first arrived, and our drives yesterday. The closest thing I had ever seen to the towns that we drove through was the town in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It was interesting to see the buildings that stores were in, the buildings people lived in, and the way of life in these towns. It was also so beautiful to see the many rivers and nature we drove through and the city of Kakamega. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the farm animals freely roaming through the towns and roads. Once we finally arrived at the Kakamega Rainforest, we met our tour guide, Gabriel at the lodging area. The lodge area looked exactly like the Presidio in San Francisco where the Walt Disney Museum and the Lucasfilm studios are located. Gabriel did an excellent job of guiding us through the rainforest. Before embarking on our tour, Gabriel told us that the rainforest was the only one in all of Kenya, and what is left is only 10% or what was originally there, as 90% of it was destroyed due to human activity. We spent quite a bit of time walking through the rainforest and saw many different types of monkeys and butterflies. We had to be careful to skip over many colonies of safari ants, which are much larger than the ants at home and give very painful bites (this is where the story takes a bad turn). While running through a colony of safari ants, I took one for the team and slipped in the mud and fell flat onto my butt. I then struggled to get up for a few seconds, and when I finally did get up I began screaming and crying like a toddler as there were many, many ants crawling and biting all over me. Caroline, James, and Gabriel rushed over to help me and calm me down. It took a few minutes but eventually we picked all of the ants off of me. It is okay if reading this causes you to burst out laughing, dear readers, as even though it was terrifying in the moment it is absolutely hilarious now. Luckily, while the bites hurt, they are not poisonous or dangerous.

Soon after that unfortunate incident, we made it to the hill that we hiked up. The hill was covered in beautiful long, golden grass. After a few minutes of hiking, Mike and I discussed how pretty the hill was and how it reminded us of the beautiful Bishop's Ranch. I then stopped for a second to look back at the view and I was absolutely BREATH-TAKEN. The only thing I've ever seen that looked like that view was the views from Diamond Head in Honolulu, just without the city and beach parts. In San Francisco, our views are absolutely breathtaking as well, especially at night when we get to see the twinkling lights of the city. I rarely ever get to see nature views. The views got even more breathtaking as we made it closer to the top. Halfway up the hill, we stopped at a cave with bats in it. The majority of us went in, and some of us opted out before we saw the bats due to being afraid (I was one of those people). But some of us saw some bats! Matthew and Walter even claim that a bat flew right above their heads (I'm not 100% sure I believe them). After we finished our hike we returned to the lodge for a lovely lunch. While we were almost back though, Thorne nearly was killed as an extremely large branch fell almost directly onto him, but we are so grateful that he made it and was not hit. After lunch we soon headed back home. When we arrived back at the school, we settled into our nightly routine of reflection about our day and prayer. After prayer I was so exhausted that I had to tuck into bed early at 9 so I unfortunately missed mine, Charlotte, Thorne, Matthew, Walter, Katherine, and Anhai's nightly girl talk sessions, that we hold for anyone to join after prayer (I hadn't missed a single one until last night).

As someone who is notoriously known for being one of the biggest animal and nature lovers on earth, yesterday was incredibly moving and emotional for me as I marveled at the beauty and wonder of God's creation. Seeing the monkeys and butterflies in the rainforest didn't feel real. The closest things to a rainforest that I've ever experienced would be the rainforest dome at Cal Academy and the Rainforest Café. It still feels unreal that I'm actually in Kenya. It brings me to tears to think about how last year at the end of our mission trip we were riding the Jungle Cruise ride and and exploring the Temple of the Forbidden Eye on the Indiana Jones ride together at Disneyland, and this year we trekked through a real rainforest and are going on a safari together in Kenya! I'm so incredibly grateful to be here, and that Mike and Riley bent the rules and allowed me and Anhai to come as college students, as we were originally supposed to go on the Kenya trip in 2020. While I was devastated at the time when our trip was canceled back in 2020, I am grateful for it as now I feel that I can appreciate it more after having to wait three years and also being older and more mature than I was at 16 years old. Furthermore, having this trip to look forward to with some of my most favorite people on Earth helped me to get through some of the darkest and most challenging times of my first year of college. Being away at college and not being able to see Mike and Riley and some of my most closest friends regularly anymore has been incredibly hard on me this past year, and I'm grateful that I made it through and that I am here now.

This trip and meeting the children at NMS has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. My faith has grown so much from living and learning amongst them and from playing and praying with them. I have two really big takeaways that I've learned from these beautiful kids that I want to share. The first is that while life is incredibly difficult, one must remember that it is also sacred and beautiful, and that appreciating the joys of the small things in life are what get us through the darkest periods of our lives. The second is to remember to always to find the goodness and Jesus in everyone that we meet, even when people give us a very hard time. Going back to the empty school was the worst part of the day, but while we miss the kids so much, I am so grateful for our life-changing outing and the opportunity to kind more as an entire youth group.

After four years and four mission trips, this is Meryt signing off her last ever post onto this blog. I am so very saddened as I will miss these trips and the time spent in the places we visited and the communities we served so much. Thank you to Mike and Riley for everything that you do for us and for taking us on these life changing service trips, I love you too infinitely. 💗