Language Training

We are now in our second week of language training here in Colorado!! It has been such a blast meeting other cross-cultural workers who are going all around the world to share the love of Jesus.  It has also been encouraging to be around people who are in the same phase of life as us.  That in part being, selling everything and moving to another country.

Our days have been spent learning so many new things including phonetics, where we sit in a group and practice saying "aka, aka, apa, apa, obo obo, nga nga." It's real fun.  We have made our mouths become slaves to us and have forced them to make sounds and do things they are not use to.  By the end of the day our jaw, mouth, throat, and tongue are at times exhausted and a little sore.  I (Kenzi) tried to talk Mark into making a video of us practicing all the sounds so you all can see how cool we look, but he didn't jump on board with that one :)

We will be learning Swahili once we get to Kenya.  Before coming to this training I will be honest and say that I was nervous about learning Swahili.  It intimidated me and since Mark already knows a little, I felt like he would always correct me which would make me not want to speak it.  But through this training I have learned that I can learn the language and I will.  God has given me the ability to learn it, I just have to retrain my brain and force my mouth and tongue to do sounds they are not used to....yet.

We have learned that we are the owners of our language learning 'business' and if we are going to learn it, we will have to make the plans, implement them, then do them.  We have been encouraged to come into language learning as a child and to spend more time listening at first, then speaking and learning grammar. If you think about it, children spend the first six or so months of their life just listening to their parents.  The language is being input into their brain and they are trying to figure it out.  After a while they begin to comprehend and then babble.  This is my favorite stage as it comes with much grace from your language helper, spouse, and local friends.  The biggest thing after the babble stage is to learn proper pronunciation.  Grammar follows towards the end when enough information has been inputted into your brain.

 My mind is just blown away by the way God made us and our brains to be able to learn a language and our mouths be able to make these sounds. It's just incredible! God is so creative! I mean, WOW GOD! I could go on and on about all the tools we have acquired to help us learn Swahili. This training has been a HUGE blessing to us and I know it will help us especially when we are on the field learning the language and building relationships. We are so thankful to all of our supporters for helping us get here and for being apart of the journey with us.  The Family of God is at work all over the world.  It is incredibly beautiful when you really think about it. God is so cool!

Tiny Pant's Academy

We have been having so much fun spending time with Emma these past couple months.  She is at such a fun age (she will be 15 months old on the 17th!) and loves exploring and trying new things.  We have started a little tot school with her that we have appropriately named Tiny Pant's Academy. We have been soaking in every minute with her.  She is growing so fast!

Tot School lasts about 30 mins in the mornings with reading, singing songs, learning fun rhymes, and lots of dancing. 

The afternoons are our activity times.  We will paint, color, play with rice, water, bubbles, play at the park, play kickball or soccer, etc

She had lots of fun playing with the rice! I think we were out here for a couple hours. And lets be honest, Mark and I enjoyed it too.  For some reason, it's super relaxing.

To say Emma loves painting is an understatement. She could sit there for hours and paint on her paper, belly, hair, and face. 

 It was a blast having Emma help us with pizza night.  She made her own pizza and helped Mark roll out the dough for the other pizzas.  

"Hi, mom!"

We decided to live life on the edge and let her spread the sauce on her pizza!  

{Note: It was a little messy and we all took showers that night, but it was totally worth it even if we got a little sauce on the clothes, in the hair, on the floor....oops!}

Since pizza night she has helped make pumpkin pancakes and banana bread.  Who knows, maybe we have a little chef on our hands!  Bon appetit!

Ahhh....Colorado

We have about a week and a half until we leave for Colorado for our final training!! I cannot believe it's almost here.  I (Kenzi) have never been to Colorado before, so it makes this trip extra special.

Ahhh....Colorado.  I can already feel the cool breeze, hear the wind blowing in the trees, and see more than my eyes can take in.  I can't think of a better place for our last training. I mean, I have never been there, but just thinking about all we will be learning and then getting to hike and play on the mountains in God's awesome creation to have a little adult recess.  Our own giant playground.  It's going to be fun!

I thought it would be fun to share some fun info I found about Colorado.

1. Colorado means "colored red" and is known as the 'Centennial State.'

2. In Fruita, the town folk celebrate "Mike the Headless Chicken Day." Seems that a farmer names L.A. Olsen cut off Mike's head on Sept. 10, 1945 in anticipation of a chicken dinner.  Mike lived for another 4 years without a head. {Whether this is true or not, who knows, but its funny!}

3.  Colorado host the worlds largest elk heard in the wild.

4.  Katherine Lee Bates wrote the song "America the Beautiful" after being inspired by the views from Pikes Peak.

5.  Colorado is the only U.S. state that's ever turned down a chance to host the Olympics.  Denver originally won the bid for the 1976 Winter Olympics but the state's voters later rejected it due to infrastructure costs and environmental concerns.  Innsbruck, Austria, ended up hosting the Winter Olympics in 1976.

6. The world's largest flat-top mountain is the 'Grand Mesa' in Western Colorado.

7.  Denver, lays claim to the invention of the cheeseburger. Denver resident Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In names his sandwich the cheeseburger. The trademark for the name Cheeseburger was awarded to Ballast in 1935.

8.  Dove Creek is the 'Pinto Bean' capital of the world.

9.  Colorado has 222 state wildlife areas.

10.  At 14,110 feet above sea level over 400,000 ascend Pikes Peak each year.

****While we are about to leave for our final training, we are still in need of MONTHLY pledge partners.  We are hoping to leave for Kenya in Nov. which only leaves us with a couple months! We are asking 26 people to join us with a monthly pledge of $100 {or other amount if you feel led}.  If you would like to partner with us please click on our GIVE tab for all the information. THANK YOU!!!!!****