Prayer Requests

Well, it is our last week in Kenya and it has been such a fruitful time this summer. Over the past three months we have visited five different areas that LIA has programs currently going on in. These five regions are: Kisumu, Makueni, Thika, Mathare Valley slum, and Kibera slum. During our visits to each of these regions we have collected the areas greatest prayer needs. So since our time is nearing an end here in Kenya we would like to share these requests with all of you all back in the States.

Before we share the individual area prayer requests we would like to lift up the nation of Kenya in the coming days. For those of you who have not heard, the nation of Kenya will be voting on a new constitution this Wednesday, August 4th. In the past elections there has been some post-election violence following the announcement of the results. There was some violence at the beginning of July due to the upcoming election. As a team we will be setting aside a period of time on Wednesday to pray for this nation and for peacefulness amidst this very controversial time and we would like to invite each of you to do the same. If you would like to read more information about the upcoming election you can check out Life in Abundance’s blog at blog.liaint.org.

Now, the requests for the various areas:

Kisumu…

• Currently there is a street children program to help rehabilitate teenagers that are living on the street
• Ten people were saved while we were in this community – please pray for continued growth in Christ

Makueni…

• There is currently a silo project going on in this community – please pray for guidance on the future of this project

Thika…

• Right now LIA will be phasing out of the current churches – please pray for guidance on the future in this community and for the current churches to continue the wholistic ministry throughout their communities

Mathare Valley…

• Over the next several weeks there will be TOT trainings in this community – please pray for these people to come with open minds and willingness to learn how to reach out to their communities

Kibera…
• As of right now there are two economic projects going on in this community to help people develop their own businesses – please pray for the resources to be provided and the practicals to go well in the coming weeks


Well, that covers each of the areas that we have worked in these past three months. Please realize that we only mentioned their greatest prayer need at this time but there are many more that have not been listed. Each one of these regions has a special place in each of our hearts and the work that God is doing through LIA is truly amazing!

Our time is slowly coming to an end here in Kenya and we cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by! Speaking on behalf of the group I can say we are all looking forward to seeing each of you back home and sharing about the work that God is doing here in Kenya.


Much love from Africa,
Mi2 team
Jacob

With Love from Kisumu

Hey Everybody!

This post has been long over due but it's finally here!!

This last week was spent in Kisumu, Kenya; the place were I came last year with the Post College mission team, the place where I first experienced the love that God has for this place and the people of Kenya and the place that I met the 2009 Mi2 team and felt the burning desire that God lit inside me to come back as an Mi2 the next summer. So needless to say I was really excited to come back here. This last week held so many fun and amazing experiences for our entire team. We worked with James Oke, Ephantis, Mary and Moses of the Kisumu LIA Team and the five churches that LIA partners with.

Our week started on Monday with the bus trip out to Kisumu but besides that not much really happened.

Tuesday we went to New Hope Evangelical Ministries to meet some of the pastors and their TOT’s (Trainer of Trainers) from the different churches. After the greet and overview session we had some lunch and then our team went into the village to do four home visits. The home visits that we did today as well as all the others from the week were to visit and encourage widows who through hard times or struggles were taking care of their children and sometime children that they had taken in. On the third home visit we talked with and lady named Margaret and through a series of questions found out that she wasn’t saved and after talking to her for a few more minutes she told us that she wanted to become born again! Robin was leading the conversation but turned it over to Ephantis for the prayer and helping her accept Chirst’s love. After the home visit we all felt that we needed a bit of a refresher on how to lead someone to Christ through evangelism, and scheduled a mock training session for the next morning with Oke and Ephantis.

Wednesday we woke up and had our breakfast and met Oke and Ephantis in the living room of the guesthouse for our evangelism session. Through this session we watched Oke get saved by Ephantis and then Oke turned around and save Ephantis. The ball then rolled to us to do some role play evangelizing, Jacob saved Oke, and Bailey save Robin…to think they had been waiting to be lead to the Lord all this time! We left the guest house with our new training and headed to meet the next church group at Revival Church. After a very short meet with the pastor, TOT’s and the bishop we left to go on our next set of four home visits. After the morning set we had our lunch and then headed back to the church to get back in our group and go out to do some door-to-door evangelism. During one of the visits Evie had the privilege to help lead a woman named Janet to Christ and join the family! The last part of the day was a bit of Boda-Boda evangelism, which involved getting on the boda-bodas (bicycle taxis) and riding down to one end of the street and talking to them about their lives and then telling them about Jesus Christ and the immense love that He has for them. This was a really fun experience and lead to three of the dozen or so drivers joining in to the family of Christ!

Thursday was the day that Robin was out sick and had to stay back at the guest house while the rest of us went out for the days adventure. We meet at New Wine Fellowship church and meet the Pastor and TOT’s of the church and then head out for four mor home visits. The houses we visited were out in the more rural, farmland parts of Kisumu. God allowed us to work up some conversations with two of the people we visited that lead to them wanting to be born again! The day was a half-day with the afternoon for rest. We went back to have lunch and pick up robin who as feeling a bit better now and went to Hippo point on Lake Victoria in the evening to watch the sun set and then when out to eat at a restaurant that we later found our also served as the areas local Karaoke bar when 30+ Europeans came in and took the stage to “I will survive.”

Friday was the day that Evie was out sick. We went to spend the morning with the Street Child which was one of the things I have been looking forward to the most about coming back. Last year when I came with the Post we took part in LIA’s launching of the street children program in Kisumu that helps 50 teen and young men get back on their feet and work them selves out of the streets and into a new life. The teens that we saw today were almost completely different then those that I saw last year. The morning was spent playing with a soccer ball, some cards and talking to the boys. The morning also held one other fun surprise… we found RoboChicken 2.0 (refer to "Gus time' does not equal 'Bus time” blog post) whose “robotic" update from the 1.0 version was an improvement to his legs which now work normally. We also found a large white fat Rooster that was immediately named Disco Chicken due to the white fethers that went down his legs forming “leg Chaps.” Jacob and I thought it would be fun to get pictures and with the help of the boys we cornered both chickens and caught them for some photo shoots…don’t tell the US embassy, they don’t like knowing that we touched live stoke haha. The afternoon was filled with four more home visits and the joining of a new member to our family! In the evening we were able to sit down and hear the amazing testimony of Ephantis and his life growing up in Nairobi and being selected to be a Compassion Child and being supported by a man from England when he was 11 years old and how the experience eventually changed his family.

Saturday Evie was unfortunately still feeling under the weather. We went to Pentecostal Deliverance Church to meet the pastors and help them with a Children program. We found out that the widow’s ministry was going to be there instead and that the children program would be pushed back to the afternoon. We had to split up to do the four home visits because of the limited time between the programs, so Bailey and Robin went with one group while Jacob and I went in the second group. We met a lady named Cypros who remembered me and the large camera that I was carrying last year when we came for a home visit, Jacob and I talked with her and to our amazement she wanted to become born again. This was amazing to me because she didn’t want to the last time that I came with the Post team came. God truly works in wondrous ways! The children program started in the mid afternoon after a quick lunch. I told the story of David and Goliath and we all taught the children the song “Father Abraham” and then played the most successful game of “duck duck goose” we have ever played here all summer! In the evening we got to hear Oke’s story of how he met, proposed and married his wife!

Sunday we split into two groups consisting of Jacob and Bailey going with Ephantis and Moses to Emmanuel Deliverance Church and Robin, Evie, Oke, Mary and I going to Pentecostal Deliverance Church. Robin and I spoke and Evie lead a song for the congregation. The afternoon held a “youth” rally I use quotation marks because the “youth” were in their 20s. We thought that the attendance was going to be children so Evie had prepared to tell the story of Jonah and the Whale and have the children act it out…so since we had prepared it that's exactly what happened! Evie told the story while Oke translated and then over half of the attendants were picked to be in the story. The whole group of pastors, TOTs and Youth really got into the story and laughed and had a lot of fun acting like children again. The evening was rather sad though because it hit us that this was the last place we would be going for the week in Kisumu but it was also the last night of the last place we would be going for the summer, say for going to Methare in Nairobi in the coming week. Lots of hugs and goodbyes were given to the pastors and the many friends that we had met over the week.

Monday morning was a bit slower paced compared to the rest of the week, Oke brought over his Motorcycle and we all got turns learning how to ride the bike up and down the road. We said our final goodbyes to Moses and Mary and then climbed into a tuk-tuk to go to the bus stop and head back. At the bus stop we were able to say bye to Ephantis and thank him for all the hard work, the fun and the amazing times that we had with him over the week and climbed on the bus with Oke back to Nairobi.

The week was an amazing end trip before our last few days in Kenya. We were able to see an awesome set of programs that came from both the Churches and LIA that have been and are continuing to be tremendously blessed by God. This week we will be working with Dr. Tom and his Medical team from Louisville, Kentucky in the Methare slum. We have a few more blogs to post before we head back to the states, along with some more amazing and great things to write about so keep an eye out for the next one in a few days!

We love you all and thank you so much for your continual prayers and support!

The Mi2’s

Zach

Mombasa

Well, a lot has happened since we last wrote…

On Sunday we gave a group sermon on the parable of the sower during the teen service at Nairobi Pentecostal Church… It was really neat to see God speaking throughout each of us in different ways. One thing we challenged the youth to do was to memorize scripture and to really hide it in their hearts. We decided that we should, as a group, take that challenge ourselves and are currently trying to memorize 1 Corinthians 13…

Sunday we also left for Mombasa at 10:30ish in the evening. After an eight hour bus ride – we finally arrived. This whole week has been spent as a week to rest and rejuvenate ourselves for the final stretch here in Kenya. We have used many means of transportation, like tuk-tuks1, boda-bodas2, matatus3, and ferries. Beth (a volunteer with LIA) has been our companion while on this trip, and has been a wealth of knowledge – especially in translating what people are saying about us in Swahili…A couple of days were spent at the beach where we rode camels, made a sand fort, buried Zach (well, almost all of him), and played in the Indian Ocean. One day we went to a neat ecological reserve, Haller Park, and saw crocodiles, turtles, monkey, and hippos among other various and assorted African animals.

Friday, as our last day, we decided to do something a little special – go see some caves. Beth made our reservations and the van was to pick up at 7:00 am. We woke up to the sounds of birds chirping, the ocean’s waves, breakfast – and Jacob vomiting. Thinking it would pass and that it might just be a flu, he stayed behind while the rest of us went to see the caves… except that on our way we found out that we would not be seeing caves. We were to go snorkeling on a coral reef (thank goodness we brought our swimsuits!). While on the boat ride (a very little tiny boat on a very long boat ride) we got a phone call that Jacob was going to the hospital with the lady who runs the guest house we are staying in. He was going to be tested for Malaria. The rest of us enjoyed our time snorkeling… the fish we saw were so colorful and plentiful – we did quickly find out that Beth is not a very avid swimmer – even with a life jacket on. Sometime later we got a call and from what we understood he had Malaria. So we then spent the rest of our time trying to figure out what the next step was and how this would affect the next couple of weeks. At one point during the afternoon, Zach started feeling achy and getting cold chills. To say the least, the girls were slightly concerned. Then when we got back we found out that Jacob did not have malaria. Somehow, the “I have been tested for malaria” turned into “I have malaria”… O’ the joys of communication in the fallen world ☺. He instead had a stomach bug and was on Tylenol and anti-nausea medicine. Friday evening was pretty low key – Zach was still feeling under the weather and so he and Jacob made it an early night.

This morning, Saturday, we left the guesthouse at 6:30ish for our bus ride back. Sunday will be a rest day for us and Monday we leave for Kisumu.

We hope that you all have had a week that was filled with Joy…

The Mi2 team
-Evie

1. Tuk-Tuk: like a carriage, except instead of horses there is a motor bike
2. Boda-Boda: Motorcycle with a spot for a passenger or two
3. Matatu: a van that is usually filled to the brim with people… seat belts? What are those?
*The picture was taken by Jacob and the person in it is Zach. We all helped to create the letters. The blob on top of the Frisbee is seaweed. This was also the day where Evie, Robin, and Bailey burned their backs… really bad.

Kibera and Asbury and Birthdays... Oh My!

So when you think of what might be the best day of our summer you wouldn’t think trash pick up, but Tuesday is a contender for the best day of the summer. We woke up to a call from Robert at 7am informing us that we needed to make not 30 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but over 110! Unfortunately we didn’t have enough jam to do the job right away so we went back to sleep until the supplies arrived and then went to work! Over a hundred sandwiches later we were ready to go and were picked up by Jacob who took us to join the Asbury team in Kibera. (They had gone ahead of us because the sandwiches delayed us in the morning) None of us were all too excited to spend the day cleaning but we arrived in a cloud of dust, threw on our face masks and gloves and set to work. Turns out the clean up was phenomenal. Getting to work with the Asbury team and the people of Kibera was amazing. The people of Kibera thanked us profusely and some even joined us in our efforts. It felt like we were literally participating in a movement. Indescribable. After we had cleaned the length of a street and out of the slum we went to Pastor George’s church for our lunch where we ate in fellowship with all of the people who participated. Everyone loved our PB & Js!! After the cleanup we went back to the guesthouse where the Asbury team was staying and then set out for the Maasai market (a few people had forgotten to get a few necessary gifts). Everyone had great luck and came out with some awesome treasures. When we got back we had to have training for the health evangelism. After training, we had pizza for dinner since it was “Terrific Tuesday” (pizza was buy one get one free). The pizza was delicious and the night was relaxing.

Wednesday was my birthday!!! Yay finally 20! Before I start explaining the greatness of this day I must preface by saying that my teammates were very unkind leading up to my birthday. They had told me over and over again that because the day was so busy we would just have to celebrate the 8th so I was fully expecting to be totally disappointed in the day. I had even searched their closets for cake mix but didn’t find any. Anyways, I woke up Wednesday morning to the smell of cake! I came out and found that they had decorated the entire apartment with balloons and streamers. They had gotten up around 6 to make sure my cake was baked by 8. Evie even used some of her white icing to write my name in the chocolate icing. It was amazing. We got picked up from the apartment around 9 to go to the guesthouse and sort medicine with the Asbury team. Us Mi2s popped iron pills out of their wrappings and packaged them in groups of 30 for around 2 hours! It was fun though because we turned on music and had good conversation with the Asbury members. After lunch we went to Nakumat (the Kenyan Walmart). We were totally out of groceries and also had to get the supplies to make a very large amount of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (to be accurate, we made 116 sandwiches). Once back we made dinner and cupcakes to be shared with everyone and were taken to Biblica where we had a small birthday celebration. Overall it was quite a successful birthday.

Thursday and Friday were the medical clinic days. They were amazing! There were five stations set up: the waiting tent, the registration tent, the physician and clinician tent, the pharmacy tent, and there was a place for voluntary AIDS counseling and testing. The Asbury team dispersed themselves; some going to the registration while others went to the physician tent and the pharmacy tent. Evie and Bailey helped in the pharmacy tent and although it made for a long day of counting pills and dispensing liquids, it was very much enjoyed. Jacob was in charge of taking pictures with the LIA camera and buy the sheer volume of pictures he took one could tell he was having fun. Zach was playing with the children the whole day… He met two children in particular who were his shadows: Jackie and Michael. I helped out with the wormer station – each person was to get a dose of anti parasite medicine (unless the were pregnant or breastfeeding). The look on some of the children’s faces as they swallowed the liquid was priceless. The days were tiring, but they were fulfilling. It was neat to be able to help with the physical needs of people and then to see their spiritual needs taken care of as well. On Thursday the clinic saw 200ish people. On Friday the count was over 400 people!

Friday evening, we went to the Nairobi Java House for dinner with the Asbury team. They have really good food there, and this time we all tried the burritos – they were heaven in my mouth! After dinner, it was back to the guesthouse for a good nights sleep.

Saturday was our rest day. We decided to be adventurous and go downtown by ourselves and go to the Saturday maasai market. After a slight mishap that occurred while trying to get off the bus (don’t worry no one got lost or hurt…) we made our way there and cleaned the market out. We have all gotten pretty good at haggling and enjoyed our time. Saturday afternoon was spent listening to a sermon and preparing for our sermon that would be given Sunday morning at the teen service. That evening we said goodbye to the Asbury team as they headed out and were able to pray with them before their flight left…

Tomorrow we not only preach a group sermon but we also leave for Mombassa with Beth from LIA. It should be an adventurous week!

We love you all and hope that you all are having a wonderful day!

The Mi2 Team

-Robin

Dr. Seuss meets Kenya

an attempt at putting the last few days into rhyme...

Wednesday came the day bright and alive

We visited a place where children do thrive

New Life Home was the place to be

For children who were orphans, had AIDS, or special needs

A place was seen where love abounded

Where children could live lives so very well rounded

Thursday was a day that we would prepare

For the Asbury team would soon be there

Grocery shopping for things, sandwiches and gloves

Snickers bars were found, which all do love

Zach accepted a water challenge that day

Over six liters of water were consumed, too much he does say

Friday morning arrived with new people to meet

The team from Alabama four did greet

Poor Bailey was down, a stomach flu

The rest went to Mathare and Kibera too

In Mathare there is a school, which is a church as well

We heard about their AIDS support program, quite swell

In Kibera the schedule for the week we learned

Then back to our dwellings and beds we turned

Saturday was a day where pastors we did meet

So many of them we were privileged to greet

Hearing about the challenges the pastors do face

We all prayed they would be given lots of grace

Split up into five teams, we were

As we visited the homes of the Pastors we would serve

Poor Zach spent the day at the apartment, so sad

He was sick; he caught what Bailey had

Sunday came a day to Worship the Lord

Different churches were gone to, some with a dirt floor

The faith and the strength of the people we met

Left some of the team with cheeks so wet

Some were given a chance to teach

Others listened to what was preached

The Maasai Market was visited by most

Robin and Zach stayed home, their stomachs were toast

Monday was spent going to schools

Crafts were made; games were played – so cool

The children were so very polite

The teachers made sure they were learning what was right

Stories were taught and lessons were learned

And when we were done, to the vans we turned

Tomorrow is a new day and should be bright

We love you all; have a good night!

The Mi2 team

- Evie

"Gus Time" does not equal "Bus Time"

Friday was the beginning of an adventurous weekend. We managed to arrive at the church where the Namanga mission team was meeting promptly at 8:30 am. We had been told that everyone should arrive at 8:30, the bus would arrive at 9, and we would leave at exactly 9:30. “If you’re not on the bus by 9:31 you can start walking to Namanga and meet us there.” Thus, we were early. The bus didn’t arrive until 11. We have decided that there are several variations of timeliness in Kenya. There is Kenya time (approximately 15 minutes late), Gus time, and then there is bus time (approximately 1-6 hours late). Needless to say we were running late at this point. So we loaded the bus and were ready to set off…except the bus was making this funny wheezing sound. The sound prompted Robin to turn to Bailey and say, “What are the chances the bus breaks down on the way to Namanga?” Turns out the answer was 100%. The bus broke down approximately 10 minutes later in the middle of downtown Nairobi. So we lurched into a place to park the bus and waited. Another bus arrived around an hour later so we loaded that bus and were ready to set off until the leader of our group told us that we wouldn’t be taking that bus and to unload again. So we did. We then waited another two hours until around 3:15. Around that time we were all super hungry so with the help of Beth, our guide, we ventured into the city to find food. We had just arrived at a restaurant when our phone rang saying everyone was loaded on the bus and waiting for us. So we quickly grabbed our chicken and fries and ran back to the bus. It was so much fun being the only five people with food on a bus full of hungry people. Don’t worry moms, we shared.

Finally, around 4pm we left Nairobi (six and half hours late). After a grueling three and a half hour bus ride we arrived in Namanga to find that our large bus was not meant to fit through the small gate of the church compound. Evie almost lost her head to a large sharp bar threatening to bust through her window. After around 20 minutes of maneuvering we finally pulled through the gate, parked, and got off the bus. Once off the bus we gathered around a campfire to have butter and jam sandwiches, chai, and a wonderful foot washing. The purpose of our being in Namanga was to teach the Christians and the pastors of the area how to best minister to the Muslim population. We had our first teaching session that evening around 9pm, ate dinner around 10:30 and finally fell into our beds (one inch foam mattresses on concrete floors) around midnight. --I should clarify that the girls had the one-inch foam mattresses while the boys managed to commandeer some nicer 4 inch foam mattresses. Don’t worry though…they paid for them when they woke up with around 150 bed bug bites. We considered that they may have gotten small pox but the symptoms don’t match WebMD-- We all slept like rocks despite the not so cushy mattresses.

5:40am came very quickly on Saturday morning. We all got out of bed before six, the boys at 5:15, and were in our not so glorious “Morning glory” church service by 6am. Breakfast was at 7 and the first session was at 8. The morning dragged on as we were all ready to fall asleep sitting up and the vast majority of the speaking was in Swahili. By midmorning tea we were all struggling. Most of us were dehydrated because we were trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid the grossest squatty potties we’ve seen in Kenya. It is never good news when 50 people are trying to use the same two “toilets” for an entire weekend. Most of Saturday is a blur. Robin and Jacob got sick. The afternoon was spent napping or resting despite the sessions that were supposed to take place. Evie and Zach went on a prayer walk into town and across the border to Tanzania. By the time Saturday night rolled around we were all ready to pass out. Unfortunately for Jacob and Zach, the Kenyans on our team wanted to watch the Ghana v. USA game in the sanctuary where the guys slept. They kept Jacob (who wasn’t feeling well) up through the entire game. Zach gave them a nice 20 minutes of gloat time, at which point it was 12:30am, before he sat up in his bed and exclaimed, “You do realize we have to be up in less than 5 hours!” After a few blank stares he exclaimed again, “FIVE hours! GO TO BED!”

On Sunday morning bustle began at 4:40am when a man named Charles had the brilliant idea to flick on the lights in the boys’ room and announce that it was 6am. We think that his hope was that if we all thought we were running late we would get ready faster. Unfortunately, he failed to remember that Americans were in the room and that we always have clocks on us. Zach and Jacob both promptly sat up in their beds and informed him, rather forcefully, that it was NOT 6 in the morning but that it was 4:40 and that he should immediately turn the lights off, get back in his bed, and wake them in 40 minutes. After a little bit more sleep our team got up for morning glory. We don’t think anyone that morning was feeling very glorious except for Charles because what would’ve been a morning church service turned into a karaoke session starring Charles and a guy on the keyboard. After their jam session, we all ate breakfast and waited for the children to arrive around 8:30. Our sole purpose of the weekend was to be in charge of the children’s Sunday school from 8:30-10. Evie did an amazing job of telling the story of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego. We have decided that she is the best Sunday school teacher ever. She even managed to get the kids to act out the story through a language barrier. Talk about impressive. After we wrapped up with our bible story we played games for the remainder of our time. At 10 the church service began. It was a little trying for us because all except for the sermon was spoken in Swahili. Zach says he had lots of fun time traveling…he would close his eyes and then open them and a new person would be talking or it would be 15 minutes later. He is now an expert time traveler though his learning was unintentional (keep in mind we were running on around 10 hours of sleep total for the entire weekend). Bailey simply fesses up to having slept a bit. The service was very lively and the singing and dancing was awesome! The service wrapped up around 1pm and we all gathered to have lunch before leaving Namanga. We set out from Namanga around 2pm. Robin caught a ride back in one of the small cars that drove separately while Evie, Bailey, Jacob and Zach rode the bus. We got back to Nairobi around 6:15 and enjoyed nice hot showers.

Over the weekend we learned to find laughs in little things. There was a chicken in Namanga who Zach and Bailey affectionately named RoboChicken because he walked really funny. RoboChicken was slightly pigeon toed; lacked feathers on the entirety of his neck and was clearly the outcast of the other chickens. He was a good source of entertainment for our team until we ate him on the last night. While a lot of what is written probably makes it sound like we had a terrible time, it is quite the opposite. There were 5 other mazungus (white people) there and they were an amazing inspiration. Thomas and Dorothy Renner are a missionary married couple who have been in the field for 11 years! They are the chaplains at Kijabe Hospital and were great to talk to about what being a long term missionary looks like. There was another woman there from Kijabe hospital named Stacy. She gave us a different perspective because she has been in the field for 3 years with her husband who is a surgeon at Kijabe hospital. She has her entire family here and we enjoyed talking to her about the American to Kenyan missionary perspective. She was a great encouragement to us and will hopefully be in Louisville in the fall for the Global Missions Health Conference with her family. The other two missionaries were Cara and Daniel. They have both been in the field for 2 years but Daniel (while German) was raised as a missionary’s child in Kenya. His total time here is 15 years! They are both doing work with Somalis. Cara is originally from Texas, thus she understands our American cravings and told us we could get brownies at the yaya shopping center (we had some last night after dinner). Daniel and Cara met here around a year ago and were married two months ago. They live in Nairobi so now we have friends who we can have over for dinner! You see this weekend was successful in an entirely different way than we expected! In Kenya you learn to take the hardships with the laughs and the good with the bad. Pretty typically we find that the good far outweighs the bad.

We love and miss you all!

The Mi2 Kenya Team

Robin

Thika and our first trip to Mathare

Well, last week in Thika turned out to be an awesome week. Thursday we went to a church—which serves as a nursery school during the day—and we met up with the pastor. From there we went with him and the local Community Health Evangelist (CHE) to do two home visits. The first family we met was a lady and her husband who have five children of their own, and have also taken in two orphans. It is amazing to see the compassion from people who have just enough to provide for their own family yet also seek ways to help others. The next home that we visited was of a widow named Mary. Mary just lost her husband one month ago and was still having to find ways to provide for her two children. It was truly amazing to see that she was completely trusting in God through these difficult times.

After our home visits we became tourists for the afternoon. We took “boda boda’s” from the church to a local waterfall. We were quickly greeted at 14 Falls by a group of local men who were following us and trying to get us to let them take us on a tour. They finally figured out that Zach is the adventurous one and they were trying to get him to go cliff diving with them. Thanks to mom, Evie, there was no way Zach was going cliff diving at 14 Falls. After our time at the falls we settled in for the evening at our Catholic guesthouse.

Friday was the last day of our time in Thika, so we packed the LIA van and headed towards a local economic empowerment group. This particular group that we visited was a group of women who gather once a week and they each put in 25 Kenyan Shillings, which acts as a way for each of them to save money. Many of these women are saving this money to start up small businesses in their community and some save their money for their children’s school uniforms. For that particular meeting they had planned a home visit for a member in their group whose husband died a week prior. We got to spend some time with this widow in whom we were able to encourage and pray for about her current trials. After a brief visit with another economic empowerment group in Thika we headed back towards Nairobi.

This past weekend was a time of rest. Saturday we did some grocery shopping, watched The Truth Project, and relaxed. Sunday we went to church with Gus and Rose and did some more relaxing. This past weekend was very non-productive but it was a much-needed time of rest.

On Monday we joined the LIA-Kenya staff for a day of prayer. Each week we start the week in prayer and truly search for God’s guidance on the various programs that LIA is doing in the communities. It is also a time in which we seek the Lord’s guidance in each one of our lives. Starting this way truly makes the week better and provides clear direction for the goals of the coming days.

Today, we had our first visit to the Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi. Mathare is the smaller of the two slums in Nairobi but is still the home to approximately 800,000 Kenyans. We had the opportunity to go to visit one of the local churches, which also serves as a school during the week. We played with the children and got to be a part of their feeding program. Each one of us took a separate class and got to serve food to the children. It is amazing to see the work that the church is doing for this community. This particular church was a church that LIA partnered for several years. Last year LIA was able to withdraw themselves, as an organization, from this church and the church continued to provide wholistic ministry to their community in Mathare Valley. The children at this school were so wild. I don’t think there was a single minute that we were there that any of the five of us did not have at least two kids hanging onto us. It was such a great opportunity to be able to interact and show God’s love to these children. The second half of the day was spent at another school in Mathare Valley slum. This school recently had many people in the community donate supplies for them to build a new schoolhouse, and today was their first day in the new building. We each took a different level class and helped teach the children. Evie and I took the nursery/baby classes together and worked with them on the alphabet and numbers. I had an amazing time today working with the children in Mathare Valley.

Tonight we had most of the LIA-Kenya staff that is based here in Nairobi over for dinner. We decided to make them a good American meal and made two huge pots of chili. Although it was a little spicy, everything turned out well. The time of fellowship was great and we really had some time to get to know each other. I am looking forward to spending more time with all of them.

Well, it is officially midnight here and the kids wore me out today so I am headed to bed. Hope all is well for everyone and we thank you for all your continued prayer and support.

Love you all!

Mi2 Team

Jacob