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