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

Who knew Germany was so close to Kenya?

We departed on Monday morning for our 5 day trip to Thika. Monday is always a prayer and fast day so we were engaging in prayer and fasting as usual. As my parents and close friends know, my stomach has never been the strongest, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I wasn’t feeling well in the van on the way out. We got to Thika around noon and joined the pastor’s fellowship of eight local pastors. Their discussion that morning was about revelation and discerning what would happen in the end times. While some of our views differed from the pastors, but it was an awesome discussion because they were seeking different opinions. It was a very interesting conversation. After the discussion wrapped up around one, we met and played with the kids in the church nursery school. We all had fun chasing and picking up and tickling the kids. I managed to find the quietest two girls at the school though and spent time with them. I picked up one of them, Winifred, and just held her on my hip. She was so precious. She leaned her head forward and touched her forehead and nose to mine and just smiled. It wasn’t until after I put her down that I realized my shirt was damp with urine. It was totally worth it though. Around three we returned to the Catholic guest house we’re staying in. We found it rather funny that the building we are staying in is called Germany. The building directly next to us is Austria and Kenya is two buildings over. (Real porcelain toilets, although seatless, and actual showers were amenities that we have greatly enjoyed!) We broke our fast around 4pm with hot cocoa and muffins. After hanging out for a while we walked with Keziah, our host, to her house a fair distance away to get her clothes for the week. On our walk we gathered quite the entourage of children walking home from school. Zach gathered a nice gaggle of girls and Evie had some of the other older girls teaching her Swahili. I decided it would be fun to play soccer with the younger boys while we were walking. The dirt road had ditches on the sides that went into tall grass so when one of the boys passed me the ball that was a little ahead of me I ran to keep it from going off the road and ended up full blown wiping out. I’m pretty sure the kids thought that I was seriously injured. It hurt pretty bad but with the help of my team, we laughed it off pretty well. After gathering her clothes we took a matatu back to our guest house, ate dinner, which was delicious, and retired to our rooms. I know we all enjoyed our warm showers to wash off the dust we were caked in.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we woke up and ate breakfast which was also awesome. Yum pancakes. Then we took a matatu to a church a little ways off and played with a nursery school of children ages 3-6. We taught them several songs as well as how to play duck duck goose and red light green light (which turned into a game of go stop go stop go stop go). After playing with those kids for around two hours we walked to another local church and started playing with the kids there. We were doing the exact same round of songs and games when the kids from the other church showed up….they followed us. So we still followed through with the same songs and games but just had double the kids. We left the church around 1:15 and got back to the guest house just in time for all of us to take a midafternoon nap. My nap lasted three hours while everyone else’s lasted around one and then they played Frisbee ( we have yet to find anyone here who knows what a Frisbee is or how to throw it…Bailey included). I woke up just in time to get dinner and play a few rounds of nerts. We all went back to our rooms at a relatively early time but I stayed up reading until after midnight. The plot thickens. Once I put down my book (aka Evie’s Kindle) I was still unable to fall asleep until around 2:30am.
After a night of very restless sleep I woke up at 7am and immediately bolted to the bathroom. Round two of travelers bug. After puking and emptying my entire system of anything that it may contain I went back to bed in hopes of sleeping off the illness. Evie, Jacob and Keziah then came into my room and informed me that Gus and Dr. Emily wanted me to go get checked out at a hospital. So I dragged myself out of bed and off we went. Mt. Sinai hospital is not like the hospitals in the US. After a short wait we went in to have a consultation with the doctor who ordered lab work. I should mention that Evie is actively filling the role of my mother and was so helpful at the hospital. We went into the lab room and the nurse tied a latex glove around my arm to serve as a tourniquet. Sketchy. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve never been able to give blood because my veins are smaller than most needles. So when they said they needed to draw blood I knew we would have problems. The nurse stuck me in my left arm and I kept my eyes closed hoping she would finish quickly. Unfortunately after about 15 seconds I opened my eyes and looked down to see her wiggling the needle around IN my arm. Just to make sure she hadn’t hit a vein she unsuccessfully tried to suck blood out of my arm. OUCH. I may have been a bit rude in telling her to take out the needle and in making Evie go get Jacob. Fortunately, Jacob is very good at his paramedic job, and stuck me in my wrist and drew blood on his first try. I’m very grateful he drew it from my wrist and not my neck…as he joked…semiseriously. We then waited for my lab work to come back. No worries I don’t have typhoid, probably just a bug. They gave me some medicine (also sketchy…dispensed in a brown bag with directions hand written on the bag). We returned to the guest house in time to eat a little bit of lunch and for me to go back to bed for another four or five hours. I unfortunately ruined all the plans for today with my hospital trip. We were supposed to go see a local waterfall, Fourteen Falls, but we’re going tomorrow instead. While my day was mostly sleep, puke, hospital, sleep, eat, sleep a few other team members had a relatively successful day. Zach managed to clean all 52 of his playing cards…individually. Bailey practiced her Frisbee throwing. Jacob got to stick me and Evie was just an all star mom. I’m proud to report that our team is closer than ever. We all enjoy lots of laughs with the help of cheesy soap operas and Zach’s jokes. He loves to quote the soap opera “Love Spell.” His all time favorite quote is: “Did you come here to get badly beaten up?” Response “No I didn’t come here for a fight.” While we enjoy making fun of these soaps we do not request to watch them…they are on every where including the dining room and the hospital. Hopefully I’ll feel a little better tomorrow and we’ll get to do a little bit more than we did today.

Lots of love.
The Mi2 team
Robin

The Week of Firsts…

Hello to all of you

This week has been a week of firsts for us…

The first time we:

- went to the Nairobi Java House

- went by ourselves grocery shopping

- joined LIA for Monday prayers

- learned in detail about the many programs LIA has

- made chili (with LOTS of chili powder – HOT!)

- had a blackout

- ate raw cake batter (out of the same bowl but with separate spoons)

- met the Post Team from Southeast Christian

- learned how to play the card game nerts (will be played a lot…)

- Zach and Robin learned how to appropriately to shuffle cards

- left Zach alone in the apartment with music and a computer… (check out facebook to see the results)

- went to Junction Mall (saw a movie and had yummy candy)

We are all doing well and are ready for the rain to be over – its been raining a lot!

We leave for Thika on Monday for a week. We are excited to join in with the work that God is doing there and can’t wait to see what God will be showing us.

Have a wonderful Sunday…

Evie

Maasai Land

Jambo! We hope that each and every one of you are doing well.

Grab a cup of coffee and get into a comfy chair, because this is going to be another long post…

We left on Sunday for Kajiado. We drove for about two hours and then stopped at a children’s’ home where we were able to join in a meal and play some with the children. Once we left, we headed down a long dirt road. We were amazed that the van we have been traveling in was able to make the hour long trek… After seeing zebras, wildebeests and Thompson gazelles, we arrived at our final destination, Pastor Josiah’s house. The boys were shown to the tent that they would be sharing for the week, while the girls saw the room that they would share. Pastor Josiah is a Maasai and so we were staying at a real Maasai’s home!

On Monday we visited the local primary school. We were able to interact with two classes, and even try our hands at teaching. The children’s English was masterful compared to our Swahili, but communicating math principles was a challenge nonetheless. They laughed at our attempts to pronounce some of their names, which was ok because we did too. Perhaps the best part of visiting was recess. We all went outside and weren’t exactly sure what to do when the school master waved as he drove off on his motorbike. A quick ratio for you… 80 elementary students to 5 college students. No worries though, because with soccer, Frisbee (a real novelty), and duck-duck-goose, everyone had a great time. The children were so full of joy, all the Mi2s left the school treasuring every minute of the experience.

Tuesday provided a huge lesson in Maasai culture for us all. We visited some of Pastor Josiah’s family members. They welcomed us into a Maasai hut—a small but extremely practical residence built entirely by hand. After some tea (because it is unthinkable to go more than five hours in Kenya without Chai) the elders taught us how to throw Maasai spears. Some of us were better than others (kudos to Zach and Robin for their natural talent) but we all had a great time trying. In addition, our spear-throwing failures greatly entertained the elders who offered suggestions between fits of laughter—hey, we do what we can. The day ended with some unique goat encounters, but I will let everyone give their own accounts about those experiences.

On Wednesday we tried our hands at manual labor. The community is building a cistern that can hold 150,000 L of water. They are doing it all by hand and we were all amazed at their work ethic. We did our best to jump in where needed, so the guys pushed wheelbarrows of rocks, Evie broke rocks with a mallet (talk about muscles) and Robin and Bailey helped sort rocks out of the quarry. More than anything, I think we were all humbled by the daily effort of the community members. They worked so hard and without complaint, setting an awesome example we could all learn from.

Thursday was our last full day in Maasai land. Robin, Evie, Zach, and Jacob walked to the local church and painted the inside (Bailey was sick). Wasps’ nests proved not to be an obstacle…until later in the day when the wasps returned and were slightly irritated that their homes were gone. Anyway, all five Mi2s returned to finish the second coat after lunch and caught the tail-end of a goat birthing. Some of us were glad to witness the miracle of life; others of us were just grossed-out.

Here are some individual reflections on our week in Maasai country:

Evie: This week was a wonderful week for me. I finally feel like I am in Africa… I think seeing zebras and giraffes on the sides of the road helped… I felt truly blessed to be allowed to see into the Maasai culture – and to see Maasai who have become believers was really amazing. The people whom I encountered had such a joy about them and truly wanted us to understand about their culture… The warriors even allowed us girls to throw a true Maasai spear, which is traditionally thrown only by men! It took me a few tries, but I somewhat got the hang of it.

I enjoyed trying to teach long division to the children at the school in class 4 (like our grade 4). It was a little challenging as though they use the same English numbers we do, they say the numbers with a different accent - that made it a little harder, but I know that I had fun…

I was really challenged on Wednesday as we helped in the water cistern construction. Those women and men were such hard workers – and most had big smiles on their faces as they worked. They knew that the hard work now would pay off during the dry season when they would have no water if these cisterns were not built. What an example to me about being joyful and being prepared… On a side note – The woman I helped crush rocks had a little girl who was about a year and a half. When the little girl saw me, she broke down into tears and was scared of me– she thought I had been skinned!

Jacob: This past week was an awesome week for me. I must admit that when Sunday rolled around and we were on our way to Kajiado I was initially skeptical but was looking forward to what God was going to do in the coming week. When we were at the children’s home in Kajiado they made us feel so welcome. Zach and I got to play “football,” aka soccer with some of the boys which was a blast! After an adventurous van ride we finally arrived at Pastor Josiah’s home. We were introduced to some of Pastor Josiah’s family and were led on a little tour around the property. Kokan, Pastor Josiah’s son, took us up to the local church where we sang a song. For some reason I had this sense of peace just sitting there in the church, singing and praying. It was definitely my favorite place in Maasai land.

Monday I got the opportunity to teach addition and subtraction to a group of fifteen 1^st graders. I am not one to just get up and start teaching but it was such a privilege to be able to participate in teaching these children. I don’t have much more to add to the list of things we got to do this week besides the fact that I drank goats blood. It was not a part of any ritual or ceremony just simply something that the Maasai warriors do, so Zach and I decided to join in the fun. An interesting, once in a lifetime experience!

One of the things that hit me this week was how much worldly things can distract you from truly listening to God. Being in Maasai land where there was no internet, facebook, iPhone, etc really allowed me to listen to God and not get distracted with these other things. That is all from me for now but cannot wait to share more experiences as the summer continues.

Robin: I thoroughly enjoyed this week! The children never cease to amaze me in Kenya. They love to touch our skin and our hair. We are entertainment simply by standing still because they just like to rub our arms J I don’t have much to add as far as content of the week. I am with Jacob in that the church was easily my favorite place in Maasai land. There really is just an indescribable peace in that structure. I think I enjoyed relationship building the most this week though. Pastor Josiah has five children one of whom is an 18 year old girl named Zawadi. She just graduated from their version of high school, and was staying at home so she did a lot of the cooking and cleaning for us. I took an immediate liking to Zawadi and over the week was able to become close friends with her. She reminded me so much of my sister Anna and it was great to just talk to her. It was also awesome to watch Pastor Josiah and his wife, Sarah, interact. They’re so funny and clearly have a great marriage. If nothing else this week gave me great insight into how awesome relationship building can be.

Another revelation of mine this week was that I am the wimp of this group. While I may be able to throw a mean Maasai spear, I lack the stomach to watch multiple goat castrations, a goat slaughtering…and you couldn’t get me within a hundred feed of the goat blood the boys drank. NO THANKS. We also got our first taste of public transport in Kenya, which was a cultural experience in itself. Lets just say the roads in America are safer without the Mutatus that blaze the streets here. While we all had a blast in Maasai land I think all of us, or at least I am, are glad to be back in Nairobi for an extended period of time. We’re learning how to cook without some of the “American essentials” like cooking spray. I love you all and can’t wait to hear from you! Love always!

Zach: Well, as you might have already guessed this week was a very interesting and new week, full of many different experiences and fun things to “try.” The warm and friendly welcome that we received from Pastor Josiah and his family was so much more then I expected coming into this week. We felt as thought we were family before the end of our first day. As you have already read, we were on a farm out in the middle of Maasai land, which made our stay feel like more of a camping trip then a visit to a city. One of my absolute favorite things about being more then three hours outside of the touch of the city lights was seeing the millions of stars; I’ve never seen more stars in my entire life! It was such a humbling thing to look up and see the millions lights shimmering in the sky and think about how there is a God who has such a great love for me as a small little human on a planet called Earth!.

Any-hoo enough about the sappy stuff, this week, I experienced and heard about all the things that make the Maasai…well the Maasai! On a visit to one of Pastor Josiah’s brothers’ village, we learned how to throw spears. Another day we shot a Bow with Poison tipped arrows and then of course had many different experiences with the goats, everything from castration to watching birth (eww). The main event came with the slaughtering of a goat. Jacob and I took part in the drinking of the blood along with the others who were present (I did not drink this to partake in any rituals, but merely to take part in a probably once in a lifetime event, get some pictures and a story. And thanks to Robin I am now aware of the verses that speak against it lol).

Another thing that was really awesome to see was the water purification system that the Maasai are building. The system consists of a dam that the Mi2 2009 team helped to build last summer, which pipes that bring filtered water into a large 250,000-liter cistern and will eventually fill a second and third tank that we were helping to make. We helped to break rocks and carry them to piles that will be used for the construction of the second cistern. The thing that floored me was the quality and efficiency that these items have been and are being built with, as well as the dedication to the project that everyone had. Everyone in the surrounding areas were out helping to build these tanks. The dedication to everyone in the community is touching and truly amazing to see. There were many other events and fun things that happened this past week but these were some of the ones that stuck out to me that I thought I’d share with everyone.

Bailey: Each day in Maasai land was so different, and yet they all were so simple and peaceful. I felt I received some awesome lessons in culture and hospitality from the Maasai people. I loved the time we spent with the local kids—I don’t think I have ever had so many little hands playing with my hair at once. Additionally, I got to try things I never would have attempted elsewhere, such as throwing the spear, shooting a bow and arrow, and crushing rocks. I surely was not good at any of the previously mentioned activities, but I was also surprised at how fun failure can be. More than anything, I believe this week proved to me how important relationships are. The Maasai are wonderful teachers of how to build relationships with anybody, even five American strangers.

After such an awesome week, we were all incredibly thankful to have experienced the Maasai people and their way of life. Pastor Josiah and his wife Sara were wonderful hosts, and we cannot thank them enough for being so welcoming. We were all amazed at the beautiful landscape, but more so with the hearts of the local people. They showed us what a true community looks like, and they also made sure to teach us about their awesome culture. We consider ourselves so blessed. We hope everyone at home is doing well and we appreciate all your prayers!

Makueni

Hello to everyone! Sorry this is the first blog in a while, but we were out in the bush with no internet for a few days this week…

Anyway, we (Both us and the vision team) left Monday for Makueni. After about a three hour drive with a lunch stop, we arrived at our destination. The Vision team stayed in one place (called Lau Lodgings) and we stayed in a place called Lodgings. This place was unlike anything we had seen before! There were squatty potties and buckets for us to use when bathing… We had mosquito netting and bottled water to use when washing our faces and brushing our teeth. After dinner at the LIA office in Makueni we headed for bed.

The next morning came early as Sleeping in new surroundings can be difficult. We had a yummy breakfast and then headed out to our first village. We arrived at the church after driving on some interesting dirt roads for about half an hour. We were greeted by the Pastor and other members of the church who then led us in a time of prayer and then introduced us to the work that they are doing in the community. We were treated to some Kenyan tea, which is a milky sweet hot tea like drink. Zach went to help with the construction on the church while the rest of us were split into two teams and taken on house visits. After the house visits, we had a very late lunch and a few minutes of rest before the evening activities commenced. That evening we were able to participate in a showing of the Jesus Film in an area where it had never been shown before. It was amazing to say the least – 40 to 50 people accepted Christ that night! After a time of worship, we headed back to the lodgings and crashed for the night.

The next morning was somewhat similar, except we went to a very different village down another long dirt road. When we arrived, the combined congregations of many churches were singing praise songs and we were privileged to be a part of that. After introductions to the many pastors that had come, we were able to hear the testimonies of some of the pastors and hear how God has been working in their lives. We had another late lunch with the pastors and were able to ask them questions and vice versa. We were split into four teams (three people each) for the house visits this time, and each team only visited one house. Once all the teams had arrived back at the church we went back to the LIA office where we had dinner and were able to debrief with the leader of the Vision Team, JJ.

After an interesting night of sleep, ask Bailey about that, we woke up the next morning ready to visit an AIDS support group meeting. We were able to meet with some people from the surrounding areas who have AIDS and had formed a community in which they provide encouragement spiritually, physically and emotionally. It was wonderful to be able to meet with these people and to mutually encourage one another. After that meeting ended we shared a meal with them and were presented with some gifts which included: maize, a basket, a melon, and a live duck (which is at Gus’ house right now…). We left for Nairobi late in the afternoon. Once we arrived in Nairobi we had pizza for dinner at a yummy place! After another time of debriefing with JJ, we showered (very thankful to have a shower) and went to bed.

The next day was declared a Rest Day for us (the Mi2 team) and we took that very seriously and did some sleeping in and lots of laundry. Jacob and Evie went to Nakumat (a Kenyan Wal-mart) with Gus for some groceries and experienced a Kenyan taxi, a mutatu. That evening we said goodbye to the Vision team over dinner. That was rather hard as we had truly become one team during the few days we were together. We have been greatly blessed by the Vision team and truly feel like their being here has made our transition into this internship much easier. Vision team – we miss you all already!

Evie’s thoughts on the week: Wow. Where to begin? I have been so humbled this week by what I have seen God do. It is truly amazing to me that God would allow me to join Him in His work… I think the most amazing thing for me was on the second day in Makueni. When we went to the church, I was expecting one congregation, maybe two. Not so. There were over eight congregations working together to meet the needs of the community physically so that their spiritual needs could also be met. These eight congregations were all different denominations getting along and working towards one goal… There was no I belong to this church or that church – it was the body of Christ in this village working together to spread the WORD of God. How amazing is that?! And yet that is how the body of Christ is to be all over the world. This week has not been the easiest of weeks for me. I missed home and almost everything I was used to was not there. But God was there. And I saw Him at work in the lives of people in Kenya. And it was incredible!

Zach’s thoughts on the week: Well where to start? This Last week was one that both stretched and taught us a great amount. God is so amazing in that He provided a team from CA to go with us and experience Makueni with us. On Tuesday our team did multiple house visits, but I volunteered to stay behind and help the workers finish work on the church that they were building. This was a really fun because I got help to put in two windows and three doors…while wearing my Koch Corp shirt (yes mom, I did get pictures). The day was really hot and really hard work but it was such a cool experience because it was work that was physically building the Church for Christ. That night we showed the Jesus Film to the people who lived around the church. It was amazing to see the response and attention to the story of which has been told to me so many times that I needed this to almost remind me that it truly is the greatest story ever told!

Wednesday held a lot of the same experiences but was at a different church. In the morning we got to meet the church fellowship with 40 members who showed up, we were able to meet a lot of the people and sit amongst the church members. This was one of my highlights of my week because after meeting several men in the church they tapped my shoulder and told me that since we are now family you need to have an African name. I was floored by this and was really excited so I asked him what my name was and James (that was his name) that they picked out “Mutiso” for me, I asked them what it meant and they told me it means “the light one” or “Lightning.” I suspect it might have something to do with my skin tone, but hey that’s just me.

Thursday was a really fun day too. We visited the HIV/AIDS support group that was in the area and they were so encouraging to hear and talk with! The group was named, “Lift me and I will stand” They were so strong in both their faith and their encouragement for each other. I talked with two ladies who wanted to have a picture with me and when they saw my sunglasses one grabbed them and hilarity ensued as they took pictures with both pairs of my sunglasses on! The rest of the time this week was filled with traveling back to Nairobi and spending some more time with the Vision team who had become family to us. They truly were a complete God send! We love you all and miss you guys already! Thank you all for your continued support and prayer during the week! :D

Bailey’s thoughts on the week: It is so hard to sum up my feelings in just a paragraph, but know that our team experienced God in amazing ways this week. We met some amazing people during home-visits, and the day with the AIDS group is one I will never forget. We arrived not knowing exactly what to say or to expect. Gus quickly made everyone feel at ease when he announced we had not come to stare, but to hear their stories, to learn from them, and to encourage them. After talking to so many joyful people, I think it was the Americans that were most encouraged. One of the group members brought three of her children, and they kept all of us laughing. I do not think I will ever forget their smiles, nor that of their mother. The duck they gifted us was a surprise, especially when it relieved itself on JJ’s shoe. Fortunately, the duck was a good traveler and rode back to Nairobi with us like a champ. His ultimate fate has yet to be determined.

While we all grew accustomed to our sleeping arrangements, Evie and I had an interesting experience Wednesday night. Despite having a full-coverage mosquito net, I was awakened around 12:30 when a creature crawled its way across my face. I gasped, Evie screamed, she jumped out of bed quicker than I have ever seen her move, the lights came on, and we successfully woke up most of the compound. James (a pastor working with LIA and staying in the room next door) found our fear of creatures rather amusing, but humored us anyway and kindly searched the room. He assured us, “It was nothing but a lizard.” Yeah- thanks James. Nothing but a lizard. No big deal.

Jacob’s thoughts on the week: Wow, it is hard to describe my experience in our first full week of this internship. We got to spend some time with some truly amazing people who love the Lord with all their heart. My week started out kind of rough as I was still getting used to the culture and my surroundings but in those times I felt God really teaching me that I need to focus on Him. The highlight of our time in Makueni for me was seeing the response of people that came to see the Jesus Film and also the response of people who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior after the film. At that moment I was able to see the work that God is doing in this community. I really enjoyed the visit with the HIV/AIDS group on Thursday morning. I remember Gus telling the group that we did not come to just look at them but to talk to them and truly get to know each one of their stories. Each one of their faces had a huge smile on it after Gus told them that; absolutely amazing. That is all from me but cannot wait to share many more thoughts as the summer continues.

Robin’s thoughts on the week: This past week was so hard. The vision team was an absolute blessing though. Our first full day in Makueni I was so homesick and to make matters worse, I came down with the first travelers bug of the group. Fortunately I have an awesome team and an awesome God who helped me get through it all. Makueni was definitely a learning experience. House visits are so different from anything I’ve ever done before, but how excited the families are to meet us makes it worth it. I’m going to try to keep my section of this blog short since the blog in itself is HUGE. So my two high points of the week are what I’ll tell you about. On Tuesday, my worst day of the week, my day was brightened by the bare bottomed baby boy (whoa alliteration) I got to hold at a particular house. He was three months old and probably the most adorable child I’ve ever seen. Second high point: on the last day of our stay in Makueni we visited the AIDS support group and heard their stories. It was so encouraging to see these people with strong faith. On the flip side it was also heartbreaking. Two of the members of the group of infected people were three year old children. The little girl became my focus for the day. While we were watching the movie with the group she zeroed in on me (sensing that I would probably be the most likely to misbehave and play with her instead of paying attention). I did my best to behave but after the movie I ran at her, picked her up and started tickling her like crazy. She broke out into loud bursts of laughter, which I thought frustrated her mother, until she came and gave me a huge hug! I doubt many people play with her infected daughter. Other successes of my week include my being the first to successfully use our squatty potties, sleeping in a bed by myself while Bailey and Evie slept in the next room, and going out on house visits even when I was sick. This week was hard, but it has shown me that my only choice this summer will be to turn to God for strength and for that I am grateful. Please continue to pray. I love and miss everyone.

That brings us to today, another laundry day, and leads us into next week, where we will be in Kajiato. To everyone back home, we love you all and will hopefully update the blog when we get back (depending on the internet of course…) Have a wonderful day wherever you are!

NPC, Vision team and the Massai Market

Hey everyone!

Well, today was our first Sunday in Kenya and as such we got to go to our new church home, Nairobi Pentecostal Church. We were picked up by Dr. Emily and arrived to the service on Africa time (which for those of you who have been reading the previous blogs is much like Gus time but it applies to everyone). Anyways, the NPC service was very fun with lively praise and worship and energetic preaching and prayer times. NPC is home to around 1,500 people with three services as-well-as a youth service.

After the morning service we met Dr. Emily's family and we all piled into her car and headed back to the guest house. We then went out to the Biblia Missions house to have lunch and meet Gus and the Vision Team, who are from California, they will be going with us to Makueni for the week starting tomorrow. After meeting the Vision team we took them to the Massai Market to do some trading and haggling for Souvenirs and trinkets. This served as a nice little team building exercise to help each team get to know the other team in preperation for a week together.

When we felt as though we had achieved our target buys at the market, we gathered together and discussed who got the good deals and who paid to much at the different "shop," (I believe I made it out of there pretty well using my past knowledge of last years trip with the Post team). We headed back to the Biblia Missions house to drop off the Vision team and then head back to our guest house for dinner and an early evening to rest up for our first week out of Nairobi.

This week we are going to Makueni to visit with the people there and we are told that we will be helping to roof some houses, which should be right up my ally :)

Well, that's about all that happened today, we thank you all for your continued prayer and support and now if you'll excuse me, it's time to go get some dinner!

We love you all!

Zach

Hello Friends! Jambo! Zach and Robin’s day started at 8am when they woke up to go for a run through Nairobi (well walk/run). It was completely eye opening to the reality of where in the world we were. The team was fully assembled, devotionals done, showered and ready at 9:45am when Gus arrived. He took us to the Kibera slum where we met the eight pastors of the area. They are such prayerful and faithful men. Their ministry is aimed at the children of the slums; their hope is that if they reach the children they will change a generation and reach the parents. Some background information: Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa. It “houses” approximately 1.5 million people and three quarters of the children on the streets are orphans. If the children are not orphans most children have parents who have AIDs. The houses are made of mud and tin and the sewage systems are the streams on the sides of the road. Sanitation and proper disposal of trash is non-existent. After we met the pastors our team of five was divided into four groups. Jacob and Robin went with two pastors to a church and Bailey, Evie, and Zach each went with separate pastors to the other three churches we were supposed to visit. The lengths of our walks varied but the longest were around three miles one-way. Once we got to the churches lots children greeted us. We passed many children on the walk as well. They love to say; “How are you?” They don’t know what they are asking but it is the English question that they know and they wanted to interact with us. Their word for white people is mizungu (check spelling). They love to yell it as we walk past so that more children can come to look at us. They also love to touch our skin. Each of us struggled to grasp what was happening around us. Bailey said that she looked around and couldn’t believe that these children were real until one took off his shoe, whapped his neighbor in the head with it and then proceeded to bicker...children are the same everywhere. At the church Jacob and Robin went to the children put on a show. They sang, recited scripture and one very special young girl even recited a poem. All of us helped to feed the children at the different churches. Each of our groups then walked back to the center where all the pastors met. They served us various soft drinks and some muffins. They asked us for words of encouragement for their ministry and all of us were so inspired by their actions that all we could tell them was that they were great men and how inspired we were. We then asked for their prayer requests, they are: new locations for their churches—no more rental buildings, for the faith and strengths of the pastors, for the temptations of the street kids including drugs, for the church projects such as preschools, education based on Christian principles, and for the general strength of the churches. We hope that you will join us in praying for their needs.

When we left Kibera we went back to the guest house and had a meeting with Gus and Pam. We reviewed the TENATIVE schedule for the summer and have learned that we will be very busy. We also looked over our budget and checked out the local grocery store where we bought and international calling card. As soon as we got home Robin asked to call her parents (all of us assuming it was an international card). We agreed that a 5-10 minute phone call per person would be reasonable. Needless to say (Mr. and Mrs. Clark you know you were cut off) no one but Robin got to call home and it was not an international card. The phone card ran out after approximately 5 minutes. Robin apologizes to the other parents profusely. The rest of the evening has been spent eating dinner, team building, and discussing the days events. Please continue to pray for us and in addition the pastors’ requests.

We love you all.

The Mi2ers