1: Term two arrival day where over 500 students converge on the campus bringing renewed life. Our family more than doubles and our dorm becomes so active that we wonder if the front door should be replaced with a swinging door. 20: Days of supervising the titchie (elementary) dining room for lunch and/or dinner. This ensures that all the titchie students are getting adequate nutrition for their active bodies (and that there isn’t a great deal of food waste in a land where people outside our gates are hungry). 14: Doctor/dentist appointments.3: Birthday dinners. The guest of honor chooses his/her favorite meal and cake! This is a BIG celebration in Davis Dorm! 1: Praise God for only one sick boy in a term that has been known to lay the entire student body flat with so many illnesses being passed around (not so different than your winter in America). 12: Tuesday evening dorm dinners in which we all get to eat together. We often invite grade 5 or 6 friends or teachers to join us. Everyone helps prepare and clean up ~ like a big family! 20: Breakfasts served to an average of 13 people including dorm boys and their friends on Saturdays and Sundays. 3: Coke dates in which every titchie student has a grade 9-12 “big brother/big sister” who they LOVE to spend time with and who usually buys them a soda and candy. 124: Hours of Travis teaching Visual Communications, Graphic Design, and Yearbook. This doesn’t include the many other hours of picture taking for sports, seniors pictures, Jr./Sr. banquet, calendar, and then time spent at the printing press on lower station. 2: Outreach days where we spent one day playing with children at a local orphanage and another attending church at an IDP (Internally Displaced People: those driven from their homes during the tribal clashes after the presidential elections in 2007.) camp in the valley below us, feeding children who often go hungry each day. 1: Titchie Field Day including water games and activities that made the kids laugh and scream the whole day and fall into bed completely exhausted that night. This also included: 1 enormous water balloon fight where the dorm boys all prepared 100 water balloons and then lured Uncle Travis outside to “fix” Levi’s bike. The torrent of balloons ambushed Travis and GREAT water fun ensued! 1: Titchie Sunday in which the kids sing songs for everyone and the service is geared just for them! We want them to know how special they are and that they are not too young to change the world! 528: Dorm/room checks to make sure all 11 of our kids help keep the dorm looking (and smelling!) clean!       11: Weekly “Monday” folders containing the previous week’s worth of school work to examine so that we can be sure all of our kids are doing their best in the classroom. 46: Evenings of study hall from 6:45-7:45 pm where we make sure our dorm boys are getting homework and reading done. 3 1/2: Days of a brief mid-term break for all the students to go either with their parents or guardians and get away from school for the weekend. 58: Evenings of a really special time of devotions with our dorm guys and a sweet time of prayer together. 67: Dorm snacks served each night. Our guys mostly like Uncle Travis’ fruit smoothies, homemade fudgsicles, and an odd frozen yogurt sold here called Yogo Ice. Of course, ice cream is always a hit! 1: Dorm outing which involved all four titchie dorms (grades 3-6) going to a beautiful place called Crater Lake and camping for the night. We enjoyed singing around the fire at night, great food, an unforgettable hike, and amazing fellowship and fun! 2: Injuries our boys sustained while camping at the dorm outing. One was a mild burn from a roasting stick and the other was a severe burn from hot chai (tea with lots of sugar and milk). We praise God that he is healing nicely! Bless his heart. 51: Evenings of our grade 6 dorm boys practicing their instruments. With three trumpets, a clarinet, and a flute each playing its own song at the same time, the noise level can be interesting, to say the least. 1: Deafening crack of lightning that hit our computer classroom building which also contains our school network, leaving our IT guys scrambling for a few weeks to get us back up and running. 25: Days of watching all our kids (dorm boys included!) play tennis baseball and street hockey! This doesn’t even include the junior high and high school teams that we love to cheer on when time permits! 1: Dorm party based on a Survivor theme (Though we aren’t sure any of our guys even know what Survivor is!) with our dorm and the other grade 5 & 6 boys’ dorm being divided into two teams and competing in various types of crazy games. The night ended with a feast of chocolate fondue and was a HUGE hit! 9: Sunday evening soccer matches where the two boys’ dorms take on the one larger girls’ dorm. Our guys always look forward to this! 1: Skating party where the loud speakers and BBQs are pulled out for an evening of grilling a special meal for the titchies while they roller skate, roller blade, or use wave boards on the court while listening to great (loud!) music. 10: Nights each term that are called “Dorm Nights” where we have fun with our guys playing games like Capture the Flag, Sardines, Spoons, Dutch Blitz, Pictionary, Guesstures, Hot Potato, and other board games. 1: Junior high drama where we were able to enjoy budding grade 7 & 8 thespians as they performed Tales of the Kingdom. What a pleasant way to spend an evening! 44: Mornings that Patti spent up in the Administrative Office helping to ensure that everything ran smoothly. 1: Sunday evening band/choir concert that is our most favorite night of the term! Rift Valley Academy musicians are phenomenal and always such a pleasure to hear. It’s always a taste of heaven!82: Nights of tucking 11 kids into bed. It can take up to 40 minutes just to hear their stories and hug everyone. 1: Departure day where our guys head home to their parents for a much needed break.
Too numerous to count: Hugs, tears, laughter, days we wish there was more time to write, and moments of gratitude to our faithful supporters and the Lord, who have allowed us the privilege of serving in such an amazing place. We can’t wait for a new term to begin!

Innumerably yours,
Travis, Patti, Kylea, Joshua, Tia, and Levi Nielsen
travispatti.com

*We are considering the idea of sending out a shorter, more personal note every few weeks to those who are interested in hearing from us more frequently. Please respond to us at: tpnielsen@aimint.net if you would like to receive those updates.

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