Blessings from Kayaba

Today we went to Pastor Paul’s church in South B. This church is really special to the Kenya Team and to Lighthouse, although I think that most people from Lighthouse don’t know exactly how special! Pastor Paul used to be the caretaker for the building that Mike put a dental office, and Mike actually mentored Pastor Paul. When the Kenya Team of 2008 came, they used their ministry money to help Pastor Paul acquire enough funds to rent a small area for the church. The Kayaba Free Baptist Church used to be a tiny tiny room with walls of corrugated metal and a dirt floor. The following Kenya Teams used their ministry money to help Pastor Paul acquire more space, knock down walls to join rooms, put in a concrete floor, build a few stone walls, and provide plastic chairs for the congregation. Now, the Kayaba Free Baptist Church looks so great, and its appearance reflects the explosion of growing faith of the church members so well! Pastor Paul is such a joy, he calls us his brothers and sisters and continually thanks Lighthouse for being something like a planter of his church. Mike and Trenton actually got to baptize six people, and it was their church's first baptism ever!

We also did a food outreach with rice and beans we bought, but this year we got to go around the slums and invite people to come. This “inviting” turned into praying for the people whose houses we visited, but it was such a great experience and blessing. It was so funny, being put on the spot and asked to pray for these people, but I think all of us, even though we were surprised, were glad to do it. The people didn’t speak much English, but we had a translator. What interested me the most was these people’s prayer requests. Some of them weren’t saved by Jesus yet, but when asked what they wanted prayer for, almost all of them wanted us to pray for their children, and one woman asked us to pray for their education. Education is so important, especially for Kenyans in the slums who really have no other way of making it out. And today we all realized that a lot of Kenyans who do have jobs end up living in the slums anyway because the rent is so high everywhere else.

In fact, to rent a home in the slums cost about 2,500 shillings a month, which comes out to about $28. It’s crazy to think that even in these tiny homes that are dark, stuffy, and dirty, millions of people can’t afford anything better, and many struggle to make their monthly bill.

But going around to these houses and sharing the love of Jesus just filled me with fire. I think that is how I always envisioned mission trips: visiting others in their homes and simply speaking to them, praying for them, and sharing the gospel. I don’t know if we necessarily got through to them, but who knows – we might be the planters, the Free Baptist Church might water our plants, and only God can tell if those plants will grow – we are satisfied to simply play our role and fulfill our purpose in God’s will. And if we do that, God shows up in amazing ways. One lady, Lucy, accepted Jesus for the first time in her life and was saved after the alter call!

On another super cool note, I got to see my friends again! There were four ladies who I spent time with last year, and they remembered my name: “Kristine Fu! I remember you!” Which was just so heart-warming to hear. Monica and Cynthia and a name I just can never seem to pronounce were still there, but Agnes was sick. And baby Quincey looked healthy and wonderful. I sat in there house for a little and told them that I was praying for them and would continue to do so, and I hope that their confusing family (I think they were saying that the four women raised that one baby?) continues to do well and be blessed by the Free Baptist Church.

Sorry everything is out of order in this!

This is Chayla, from the Nest Orphanage which we visited on Saturday. She was soo cute, and she held my hand a lot. She was very shy at first, but then I would smile at her, and I could see her smile too and look down. When I was taking a video, I would see her light up whenever I pointed it at her. Even when I was looking away, I could see her looking at me from the corner of my eye, so I tried to get to know her a little better. As you spend more time with each kid, they become more attached to you, even if it's only a few minutes. Because there's so many kids, they don't get the same attention as if they were with their own family. The kids crave and love it when you just smile or wave at them. This makes their day, which just amazes me.

Saying goodbye to all the children at the Nest Orphanage. They sang us songs and it made me smile a lot.

This is from the Kwa-Njenga slum. As I was walking along the path, I was trying to avoid all of the muddy spots, and trying not to fall into the stream of poop-sludge. Even though I already knew it, I was thinking about how sad it was so dirty everywhere and that people have to live in all this filth all the time. As I'm thinking about the dirt, I turn the corner just to find this boy SITTING IN IT. And I guess I saw this often, but it didn't really hit me until I saw him just sitting there, playing with these small sticks. He was just sticking them upright in the mud, making a rectangular shape. This honestly doesn't sound very fun to me, but this is his life. The people don't really have toys like we do in America, or things to entertain them in the ways we imagine. Seeing this boy playing with the sticks just made a lot of things in America to seem really extravagant, and kind of flamboyant.

Outside of the school some kids were dancing which was really cute!

This is Lillian. She didn't belong to the Comido school, but she was very very sweet and loved getting her picture taken. She was really shy at first but then opened up.

Okay so this was kind of awkward. We were watching a kind of rewards ceremony at the Comido school since it was their last day, and this little girl came up to us and would sit in our lap. She was very very cute, but then she went back to her mom and when she came back, she started making this face at us. I laughed, but it kind of made of feel awkward since I didn't know what to do...
As we were walking out of the slum I saw this little kid. A lot of the kids have this expression on their face, and I don't really know how to describe it quite yet.


This is Clinton who has been at the Farm for about 7 months. He was in my small group when we were talking and he was very easy going and sweet. I thought he only looked about 14 but he's actually 17. I noticed that pretty much all the kids look a lot younger than they are, and I asked Erika why that was, and she said it was because of malnutrition. That just made me really sad. To think how they would look so young and be smaller because of the food they didn't have. And all of them have stories. I didn't get to hear as many as I would've liked, but I'm glad for the ones I did. They tell their stories with such a calm voice like they were just telling something from a story book. But their stories are almost unbelievable. And you just wonder how so much could have so much happen to them in such a short span of years. And how could they be treated like that by their own parents? It is a culture I don't think I will ever understand, but I'm just so glad for the kids who are at the Farm, and I just pray that none of them will run away. It's difficult to imagine that someone would run away from the Farm after such a hard life, but the street life can be so imprinted and comfortable in their minds that they just have to go back. This breaks my heart, because all of them have such potential and potential blessings. Even though we only knew them for about a day and half, I would consider these kids my friends who I care for, worry about and love.



This is Fatima. She is really really sweet and she gave me a head massage.

This is a lot of people's favorite, named Frank. He's about 12 and is really good with cameras! He's really friendly and brave.

This is Ian! He liked Kaili's camera a lot.

Sorry this will be out of order again, but here is a picture from the Mcedo school in the Mathare slum. They were so welcoming and loving and it was just so nice to be there. Even though it is a pretty dangerous slum and it's "worse" I still really felt good about being there. It was amazing to see all these kids absolutely joyful to be there in school. I know a lot of people who hate school and think it's a waste of their time, but these kids love it. It is a privaledge in which they don't take for granted. Even though they have to carry desks up stairs everyday and everything is cramped, they are there to learn. They have so much responsibility as a student in their daily schedule but they always smile and respect their teachers. We were greeted with dances and songs, and I guess it was just like "Wow, they're doing all this just for visitors?" They have so little for themselves, yet so much inside their hearts.


The school provides a meal for all their students! I was looking at the food, and I will admit that it didn't look the most appetizing but the kids here just ate it up. There was so much of it too! They eat about twice as much as I do in a meal, and they eat till the very last bite.

This is a boy in the Kwa-Njenge slum. He didn't go to the school, but he saw us walking and just followed us all the way there. He was really cute, but didn't smile when I took pictures of him. (Sorry this belongs at the top, but it's hard to organize your photos and words on this blog thing).

God is showing me a lot of things this trip. And I know He's working in all of us.

Etchings

I don’t know why I have never thought about this before, but I only really realized today that the kids at the Nest Orphanage are most likely going to be orphans the rest of their lives, and that especially makes my heart hurt. The slums affect me less, a combination of having been well-traveled in numerous poor areas thanks to my parents and the knowledge that at least the children in the slums have parents and families to go back to when it gets dark.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about family, especially since the beginning of this summer. My grandparents on my dad's side died right around when I was born, so I never got to know them. My grandma on my mom’s side died when I was ten, and I only met her three times, and my grandpa I haven’t really ever talked to. For reasons only God knows, I have never really been bothered by the fact that I have never really had grandparents as a huge part of my life because I had such great parents already.

But listening to stories of Amah (on my dad's side) this summer just brought be to tears and I kept having these strong sensations where I felt like I really missed her even though I never knew her. At my cousin Kat’s wedding they played her favorite song “What a Friend I Have in Jesus” and I was absolutely in tears.

I was jealous of my cousins who had the chance to know her, and I was jealous of my friends who grandparents. My dad always does this thing where he talks about what will happen when he dies, but I can’t accept it – I’m pretty sure he’s just going to live forever. I begin to think for a second about what would happen if either of my parents died, but I can’t go further because I am paralyzed with intense grief that I simply cannot allow myself to think further.

And from all this, I am so bothered at the knowledge of the reality of the kids at the Nest. They are mostly the children of mothers in prison or are orphans or their parents have abandoned them. The fathers definitely won’t come for them, and at their toddler age, they are rapidly becoming too old for adoption. It just breaks my heart that most of those smiling kids will struggle with a sense of loss and perhaps bitterness as I have with my grandmother. Their struggle will be so much more painful and acute than mine because they also must deal with rejection, and at such a young age. Some kids may have parents and will be abused by them, and some of them have already been abused and raped by their fathers, even when they were just babies.

I want to say that I can find comfort in the fact that Jesus looks out especially for these children, “the least of these,” and that their inheritance after the earth has passed away will be so much greater, but it is a small comfort and doesn’t stop my heart from aching. After our craft, about five of the children asked me to draw Jesus on their arms and write is name. I can only pray that these marks will not fade fast from their skin, and that those marks of Jesus’ name will be etched indelibly on their hearts.

Just Checking In

Jesse here. Just wanted to say that, yes, I am alive and in Kenya with the rest of the team. In case you couldn't tell from the other posts. It's been quite the adventure so far, and I wouldn't trade it in for anything. It's Sunday morning over here and we're all getting dressed up for a baptism, followed by church service with Pastor Paul, followed by a food outreach along side "The Passion of the Christ". So, here's one blog post out of the three I promised Mom and Dad. I'll see if I can squeeze in a few more between now and next Saturday.

P.S. Note to self: keep camera in view at all times. Any local kids who get their hands on it are likely to take about 100 pictures and then delete yours so that they can take more.

A name, A face, A smile, A laugh

I’m a little behind on my blogging, and I still haven’t blogged about Mcedo school and Comedo school but I really feel the need to blog about something different today.

A couple of us on the team have been dealing with some spiritual warfare on this trip. The whole team definitely sees it in all the struggles that we have gone through and just the fact that literally nothing we’ve planned has gone according to our plans.. for the most part at least. At Comedo school we only got to stay for about 2 hours maximum and we didn’t get to do anything with the kids. I was pretty upset about that and I was really just thinking that so far during this trip, I feel like we haven’t done “enough” ministry. All we’ve been doing is playing with and taking pictures of the little kids, which I really enjoy, I just didn’t feel like we were actually making an impact. But then today during our first session of debriefing (we ended up having two), Mike made the comment that us just loving the kids and smiling at them and making them feel special can make a HUGE impact that we may never get to see, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. If we show God’s love, then these kids will be given hope and joy that could spark something and you never know how big of a fire that little spark could start.

Anyways, about the spiritual warfare.. specifically for me I’ve been having pretty graphic and demonic images mostly in the last day. Also, two nights ago I was having a dream and it felt like something scratched the side of my head and I knew it was a dream but when I felt it in my dream it felt wet like it was bleeding. I still thought that “no, this is just a dream” but then it felt like the blood was dripping down my face, so I woke up and felt it and there was nothing there but when I looked at the door I felt like there was a tall dark figure standing there. So I prayed and eventually fell asleep. One of the weirdest things to me is that two other people experienced the same presence the same night. So tonight night me and Sydney went to talk to Trenton and Erika about it because it made us feel really uneasy. The talk really helped and just gave me strength and confidence in God. I know that I don’t have to be afraid of anything and the only reason that these things are happening to us is because we are doing something great for the kingdom of God which is incredibly encouraging. Maybe our relationships are making a difference, or will in the future (: Anyways, we brought the rest of the team in and basically had another debrief session. We talked about a lot of things, but during this debrief I got emotional for the first time. I was thinking about how people always jokingly say “don’t throw that food away, there’s starving kids in Africa” and they don’t (and honestly never will) understand the truth of those words until they’ve actually seen it for themselves. When you put a name and a face and a smile and a laugh to the phrase “kids in Africa” you could never say anything like that in a joking way.

There was this specific boy that I noticed in Kwa-Njenga that came into the Comido school while we were there. He wasn’t even a student, he was just sitting off to the side with a group of “wanna be” students, but for some reason his face stood out to me. I think it was just the fact that his face looked so gentle and so.. I don’t even know how to explain it. I smiled to him though and he turned around to see who it was behind him that I might be smiling at. When he turned back around I smile and pointed at him, he smiled a little. It really amazes me how much the kids appreciate and love it when you acknowledge them. Which makes me sad though, because its as if no one else smiles at them. But anyways, after all the school kids left and went home, a lot of the non-school kids stuck around so I went up to him and started talking to him but I couldn’t understand what his name was and it was hard for me to talk to him with the whole language barrier. That was a little bit frustrating but even though his face remained to be pretty emotionless for the most part, it seemed like I was able to make a little connection because he stuck around the school and waited for us while we were getting a tour of the school. I was really happy to see him still there as we were exiting the school, but it was also really difficult to walk away from all the kids as we were leaving.

Today during our debrief his face came up in my mind and it made me really upset to think that he’s still at Kwa-Njenga sleeping in a little metal hut. And I remember him having this “toy” that he played with, but all it was was a little metal circle that he pushed around with a metal rod. I don’t even really know how to explain how I feel right now.. kind of frustrated I suppose. I just picture his face while him and some other kids were standing there watching us leave. I want to go back

Some kids at Kwa-Njenga dancing with Lucas and Trisha

Two little boys in Kwa-Njenga with the cutest smiles

The view of the slum from the roof of one of the school buildings

Sydney trying roasted maize from Kwa-Njenga

Oh and I took my Airborn just for you Aunty Marlene.. ehe (:

The Lord watches over your coming and going, both now and forevermore

Psalm 121:8
Sorry I haven't really posted much on what I've experienced so far really, and I've left out a lot of the places we went. I will really try to cover them later, but at this moment I felt that I should just share about what's on my mind.
I guess it's been pretty evident that Satan has been trying to put bumps in our mission trip already, with the delayed flights, things getting stolen, bags not arriving, etc. But it's been much more evident these past few days. Every night I wake up and it's probably still because of jet lag, except these past few nights have been different. I usually wake up because I feel like I have to go to the bathroom, except two nights ago, something didn't feel right after I went back to bed. I was lying there and started thinking about all the children at the Mathare slum, and it was really hard to sleep after that. But then I felt something strange, like I knew it was lurking in our room. It was something really bad feeling, and I knew it wasn't a spirit from God so I just prayed until I fell asleep. The next morning I heard that Kaili had felt the same thing that night, and possibly even saw it, and Lucas had been seeing things and couldn't sleep. So I knew that Satan was trying to pry his way into our minds and hearts so that we would be distracted. It definitely bothered me, but not too much. I went to sleep again last night, except this time I woke up again. I didn't have to go to the bathroom that badly, but instantly I knew there was something lurking over or around me. Even though I couldn't see it, I knew it was there, kind of just waiting for me to be scared so that it could attack me. I kept praying and praying and trying to think of good things to help me fall asleep, but I must have been doing that for 2 hours because I couldn't close my eyes. I would see things I didn't want to see and I knew they weren't real, but it didn't make them any less frightening. I tried singing a song in my head, but I was still really uneasy until my body was just too tired to stay awake anymore and I fell asleep. Nobody else had had anything happen that night so I was wondering why I was just seeing and feeling these things and I'll admit that it was distracting throughout today. I thought I would just leave it, but then during the closing prayer during dinner just awful images were cascading through my mind. The kids I had spent time with and loved seeing were flashing in my mind except bad things kept happening to them, to their faces or I would just see these red eyes and teeth trying to eat me and I couldn't concentrate which really made me sad. I really like prayer because it is a time for me to be in clear communication with God, but not when you have to open your eyes to stop bad things from flooding your mind.
I was kind of really worried, but didn't want to worry anyone until Kaili said she saw things too, and then we both realized how uncomfortable we felt. We both knew even as we were going to our room that there was something there, so we went to talk to Trenton and Erika. After a while of discussing with them what had been happening and how we felt, they gave us advice and shared their own experiences with spiritual warfare and dealing with it. It really really helped calm my heart and I guess I just felt safer. I am very very thankful they are in my life so they can offer advice and their words of wisdom on the subject. We had the whole team come back together and we discussed more about demons and how when you are doing something good for God's kingdom, Satan will do anything to scare you or prevent you from giving your all. It helped a lot in that the team was there and we all prayed together, and through some of the prayer the images tried to come back, but just repeating the prayer or saying to myself over and over that Jesus is Lord made them halt. Right now I feel more affirmed and confident than I did earlier, and more prepared for when he tries to attack me or my friends/family. Even though this may seem like a bad thing, in a way I can see this as a good thing. Because the enemy is trying to get to us means that we are succeeding in something good, which is God. That God is working through us and transforming us which makes Satan unhappy. I know there will be more attempts to attack us, but this means we are fighting for Jesus and His love for us, and we cannot be touched because Jesus covers us in his sacrifice.
I don't mean to worry anyone by posting this, I just felt like this is what I am supposed to write about at the moment. Thank you for all your prayers and support everyone, it truly means a lot. Please continue to pray for us in this. God is good, and we already know He will win the fight, I just have to keep trusting Him.

We're Back!!!!!!

Sorry for the lack of posting, just a lot on the mind and really tired. I think everyone has covered pretty extensively the challenges we have faced and continue to pray through. We covet your prayers for our team as we trust Him with every aspect of the trip.

Well, we are back again. Not much has changed in the past three years (this being our third team in addition to our family trip in May). The smells are the same, the conditions are atrocious, God is still at work and my heart is broken every time. It is different though to walk into places where they know you and are so happy, ecstatic really to see you again.

Alex...who we met on our first trip. Now the coach of the younger team and captain of the older one. He is working with computers and doing well.

At the Farm we did manual labor, parents you would be proud. They jumped right in, digging with machetes and hoes and planting what amounts to be crab grass. For three hours we dug rows and rows in the red dirt and then buried long pieces of weed looking grass. The hope is that it will grow and then fill in the empty spaces. It is a bonding and connecting experience to work alongside the kids at the Farm as well as our team. I am glad we were able to contribute to their work there and bless them.

It was exciting to see some of the kids we have known for three years, some still as students, others that have moved on to working with MITS. Since we stayed there for overnight I was able to train with their soccer teams for an hour and a half. They have gotten much better and now play on an organized team. Alex, who some of you know is the coach for the younger team (14-16) and the captain for the older team (16-18). They seem to have gotten a lot faster too...while I have gotten a lot slower. I never tire of seeing lives transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go to the Made-in-the-streets.org website and take a look at some of the kids we spent time with.

Mathare is still the toughest place for me to go in and out of. It is the second largest slum and the worst conditions by far of any we will visit. As we drove in a number of kids were squatting in the trash piles next to the road going to the bathroom. When we drove out there was a girl who was completely naked yelling the same as others, “how are you”? One of the more disturbing incidents for me was that as we walked into the slum a bike careened off my side and hit a little girl about 2 years old square in the stomach. It knocked her about 5 feet onto her back. An adult just stood her up, didn’t comfort her and she wandered off, crying and alone. When we returned to the same area, she tried running up to us, slipped and fell into the sludge stream with her feet. Again she was just picked up and left there crying. I was struck with the harshness of life, especially for the young ones. I also looked for Dennis, the boy who loves to dance, but didn’t find him. We sang songs, a capella since we couldn’t find the CD. The kids loved it and were so enthusiastic, just another reminder that if we give whatever we have, God will bless it and use it for good.

The kids at Mcedo school with their craft. We told a story about being who God made you to be and not trying to be someone else. The story was written by our very own Lucas Petrin. We have them make animals afterward to keep as a reminder that God created them just the way they are and he doesn't make mistakes.

A smiling face looks up at a Muzungu. One of the many children who looked like they just wander around and play in the filth. 

 As we were walking through Mathare I saw this kid just hanging around.

 You probably remember this cutie from last year. Erika and I saw her again in May. I would always ask her name, but she is so quiet. I finally asked the teacher and her name is Faith. I called to her in her classroom and she sheepishly smiled back. 

Sydney is wiping the tears from the eyes of a little boy. She never found out why he was crying. But to see God comfort the life of a little one by bringing someone all the way around the world says to me that He cares for him more than he knows.

When I think about God's love and the fact that he loves us even if we don't love Him, I am struck by the depth of His care and the extent to which God has gone to restore our relationship with Him. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! It is a privilege to share that truth with those that have been forgotten. My hope is that the world know the love of God in Christ. 

Just the Same

On Thursday we went to the Mcedo School in Mathare! Mathare slum is well-known for their brewing of illegal moonshine along the river. To give a picture of the atmosphere of this slum, a couple of years ago the brewers threw rocks at our van when they saw us taking pictures. As we drove in, the kids ran after our van yelling “howareyou!!!” at us, smiling and laughing and it was so good to hear that familiar greeting once more.

Our first order of business was to tour through the slum with Pastor Benedict and other workers at Mcedo School, and we made it through without anyone stepping into the dirty stream this time! Having walked through Mathare twice before, I thought I would be more prepared for the sight, but I found that I was still powerfully moved and shocked. The streets were just as narrow as before – just wide enough for maybe two people. They were just as dirty as ever – dark, grey, and muddy with a bumpy pathway littered with plastic bags, the remnants of flying toilets. And the homes of the Kenyans were just as dark – rooms of corrugated metal housing families of five, when our team could barely fit in the room as it was. All these things were the same, but the sadness of these peoples’ reality has not changed either, and that is where it hurts me the most. I just cannot seem to get over the fact that despite all of God's work, so little seems to have changed regarding these peoples' circumstances.

At Mcedo, I hold my breath when I use the bathroom because I know I will gag at the smell. The bathroom consists of a nice porcelain hole in the ground in a small, dark stall, which is high class by Mathare standards. The locals must use the public bathroom, which requires a small fee and is filthy even by slum standards, or they must simply go in little trash bags and fling them on the streets or into the river – hence the flying toilets.

Still, hope is in Mathare as long as Jesus’ presence is there. The Mcedo school is such a blessing to the community. The kids are simply charming and filled with the youthful joy that sadly is not found in many adults, nor is it often found even among older children. As I walk through Mathare, I can’t help but notice that there are so few adults, and almost no elderly people, and yet there are so many children. Where do these children go? Are they simply away at school, or do many of them not live long enough to survive to adulthood? Yet Paul advises us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I find that for me personally, I have difficulty with praying continually, but as I put myself in the shoes of the Mathare Kenyans, my struggle would be to give thanks in all circumstances. My mind and heart cannot comprehend the injustice of the difference of our two lifestyles.

At the school, I search among the bright faces looking for Ellen, my favorite girl from last year, but I can’t find her anywhere. I can only pray that she is still the beautiful, shy girl as she was with a future and hope for further education because of Mcedo. They sang and danced for us, as is usual for Africans when they greet visitors, and then it’s our turn. We do our Zebra skit for the kids – the premise of the hadithi is that God made perfect in His eyes – everything from our skin color to our hair color to our voices and faces was fearfully and wonderfully made, and we don’t have to try to be someone else or try to be anyone else but who He has made us to be. The kids loved it when the snake appeared and Derek threw the toy into the crowd of screaming school children.

After that we did an animal craft with them, which was simply silly because we didn’t know what the animals were supposed to look like and we were stuck with plastic bags full of foam pieces that needed to be glued together. While the kids made their animals, I noticed a boy with a bloody nose just sitting in the corner of the room. He looked so sad and it seemed like everyone had forgotten him, so I helped him make his tiger and hung out with him for a bit. His name was Dennis and I spoke to him in Swahili for a bit. It was so sad, his nose had stopped bleeding but he wouldn’t go back with the other children, and it was as if he felt like he should be punished and separated just because he got a bloody nose. I think my heart went out to him, the boy who was left out and forgotten in the corner.

After that we sang songs with the kids, and they knew all the words, even though the last time we shared the songs with them was at least three months ago with Trerika, and the last time before that was last August. Too bad it was also about 100 degrees in the room because the sun came out and there were like 60 kids crammed into a little room and we were jumping up and down singing about Jesus. I thought I was going to die from heat exhaustion, but God miraculously saved all of us from the heat so that we could sing with the kids.

All together, the trip to Mcedo was just as familiar as it ever was. The sameness is great - that we can connect and share with bright students - but that same sameness is the sad reality - that little seems to have gotten better. As we continue to build our relationships with the Mcedo School, we pray that the school continues to bless the slum, that their education will be founded in Christ, and that each and every child will faithfully follow God’s will for them: to be joyful, in constant prayer, and thankful for every circumstance.

Frank, the boy wonder

At The Farm we let...well actually the kids kinda took our cameras. They would ask nicely, but would take them out of our hands before we really could answer. At first I was a little skeptical about it, but Erika said we don't need to worry about them stealing from us so it was all good ;D We ended up not getting our cameras back until the kids were heading off for bed that night, and on everybody's camera we found literally hundreds of pictures and many videos. Those kids sure do love the cameras! A lot of the pictures were pretty funny, and some surprisingly good! The kids took pictures of their friends doing different poses, and filmed each other doing things from catwalks to rapping about their beds (...seriously, one kid rapped about his bed).

The name of the kid who has my camera in this video is Frank, and he seems to be a favorite among us all. He wandered off with my camera and later I found a 20 minute long video he took. Here is a part of it =] (click the link, the file was too large to upload)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfwMUpv9jis&feature=channel_video_title

The Farm

I think I'm going to have to do three different post about the last two days! There's just so much to say and so many pictures to post (:

This post will be about The Farm. Going into the farm I was a bit nervous to be honest. I wasn't sure what to expect of the kids and I was also really nervous to sleep over. I didn't know if there was really anything that we would be able to talk about with the kids at The Farm and I thought it might be a little bit awkward and unconformable.. this whole trip has been like that though haha Once we actually got to The Farm though, all the kids came up to us and introduced themselves to us. They were so nice and friendly! We split into small groups and in mine and Blake's group we got to hear a couple of their stories. Some were really sad, a boy talked about how his group of friends and another group got into a fight and that one of his friends died, but when he told us he seemed to have no emotion. It makes me sad that they can talk about it so casually and so emotionless. The way they talk about it makes me feel like it's not real, or something like that. When I look back and think about their stories though, all the things they've had to live through are really sad and some of them are only 12 years old. It makes me really appreciate organizations like Made in the Streets though. The kids at The Farm are SO different from the kids we see at the slums. I could never imagine The Farm kids being the kids that looks so tough and sad on the streets. The kids at The Farm sang with us and danced with us and we had a bonfire and had marshmallows and hotdogs! It was so funny because all the kids had never seen a marshmallow before and they stole them from each other or ate them right away and would come back to us and would say "I need another one, I lost mine."
There was a girl named Lydia who was in my small group who was really sweet and she was really shy too. Later on though she got more comfortable and she started to follow me around and talk with me. She saw me putting on sunscreeen and was really intrigued by it, she wanted one of my bottles because she thought that if she used it she would get "light" skin like mine. It made me upset to hear that.

Me and Lydia

All in all, I really enjoyed The Farm. I felt like we actually got to connect with the kids. The Farm is by far my favorite place so far and I really miss all the kids there! I think we get to go back on friday to drop off some backpacks though so I'm really looking forward to that (:

All the kids LOVED the cameras and they took them the entire day and had photoshoots and took pictures and videos of everything. They're really fun to look at (:

Ian was the one who took my camera and enjoyed taking a bunch pictures of himself. He's very photogenic!

Frank! One of our favorites, he was really outgoing and talkative. He wants to be a photographer

Simon showing Sydney all the great pictures and videos he took on her camera

Watermelon, Stars and Dots

Our day at The Farm started like it did last year, small groups and get to know you games.  Trenton and my group played Watermelon, they loved it!  Silly games are any easy way to get kids relaxed and chatting.  I truly enjoy our time at The Farm, the deeper relationships with old friends, the blessing of new ones, and the joy in seeing them embrace Jesus "with all that they have." 

Of course I also love to engage our team in some manual labor that is not part of their normal routine back home!  Getting dirty for Jesus, blessing the children's center and girl's dormitory with some new plantings of grass.  When my family landscaped our backyard in Cali, we just laid out sod, but in Kenya you plant grass much differently! :)

All The Hyodos joined in too!

Here is the entire team that planted at The Children's Centre

Kaili and Sydney listening to Frank(12 yrs old) tell his story of how he came to The Farm.

Sydney, Kristine, Lucas, and Tia making Chipati with The Farm students.

One of the "stars."  At the end of the object lesson they out their stars and dots and burned them in the fire to signify that they get their worth from God, their maker.

It was an amazing time at The Farm and we were blessed that God orchestrated the day rather than us.  The Farm students are already asking us to stay longer next year!  As we were leaving, we prayed for George, one of the students who will graduate next month.  He was one of the first students Trenton met on our first trip to Africa.

Please continue to pray for our team-unity, strength, faith in the midst of struggles, and for us to be in tune with God's leading.

Struggles

This post may not really be what you were expecting to read, but the girls seem to have covered our activities pretty well so far, so I'd like to share this with you instead! You are probably aware of some of the struggles we have had during our trip. One struggle I personally had was that while we were in the airport a carry-on bag with several of my things was stolen! Luckily it didn't have anything major...unless you count malaria pills. Sadly, there were a couple ministry supplies in it as well. I was able to stay calm about that, reminding myself that they were only material possessions and praying that God will help me stay focused on Him and the mission trip. But I definitely wasn't ready for what was soon too happen.

As you may know, about 10 or so check-in bags didn't make it to Kenya with us, two of which included Jesse's personal bag, and mine. That was somewhat of a struggle for me because I am a very hygienic person, and I no longer had my toiletries! I ended up having to borrow clothes from Blake Hyodo, as well as his shoes (because mine were in the check-in), which were a size too small. This was all somewhat awkward, but I kept God at my focus and powered on through.

Today our check-in bags we finally delivered to Mike Hyodo's house, who kindly brought them to the Heart Lodge where we are staying. I was very excited to wear my own clothes, and put on some deodorant (3 days in Africa with no deodorant is not fun...). However, when I carried my bag up to my room I noticed it looked a little compressed, but I just assumed it got a little squished during its travel. I mean, there is no way someone could have got in my bag and taken stuff out, right? I even had a lock on it, which was still there, so everything must still be inside...right? Wrong. I open my bag, and the first thing I notice is that every has been moved around as if someone had been looking through it, and sure enough someone had.

My heart skipped a beat, and I began tearing through clothes to see what they took, and what I had dreaded was true. In my check-in I was storing a very expensive telephoto camera lens, and also an expensive camera flash unit (it mounts on top of the camera), both of which were no longer there. In addition to those two, they had also stolen a hoody, several shirts (my new v-neck): ), a pair of shorts, all my camera charging cords (so I can no longer take pictures once my batteries die...which is soon), my razor and shaving cream, shorts, MY ONLY PAIR OF SHOES =[, and other items.

For those of you who know me well, one of my biggest passions is photography. I explained to Trenton that, for me, going to Kenya and not being able to take pictures is like for him to break his leg and not be able to play in a really big soccer tournament. In addition, that equipment is technically my dad's...

So, why am I telling you all of this? For your pity? No. I have never had so much stolen from me before; literally hundreds of dollars worth of items and equipment just gone. I wanted to share this with you because this is probably one of the biggest tests I've had in my life so far. I am being tested in several areas that I largely struggle with in my faith. The first is materialism (clothing and camera equipment), and also vanity (clothes again, and...well my hair product was also stolen).

I have just been asking, "why me? I have come to do good work for God, so why is this happening to me? I mean, I get robbed TWICE?! And ONLY ME?! I even had a lock on my check-in!" But as I was talking to Trenton and Erika they reminded me that God would never wish suffering upon me, but sometimes he allows suffering to occur in order to test us, and to help us grow in our faith. After all, we grow closer to God in our suffering. satan (no caps for satan...he's not worthy of such a privilege) is hitting me where it hurts right now. satan knows that I struggle with materialism and vanity, so that is where he is punching me...hard. He has been attacking the entire team actually. No Kenya team has ever had as many struggles as we have. But that just means satan is scared because he knows God has something amazing planned for us to do here, and satan is trying to stop us, but that's not going to happen ;)

Anyway, I'm definitely feeling better about the whole thing now that I've discussed my thoughts and whatnot with Trerika (Trenton + Erika = Trerika). So go ahead satan, take my stuff. I don't need it where I'm going, and where I'm going you can't follow. God is always with me; He is with us all!

I'm going to try to wrap this up now though, because otherwise I think I'll just keep typing away. I guess what I am trying to say is that you should really analyze events in your life, small or big. Remember what is truly important (God, duuuh!), keep God as the focus of your life at all times. If you have an area in your life that is holding you back from Jesus (or you are holding back from Jesus) then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Don't let the devil take advantage of that part of you. Share with your friends and ask for prayer, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ASKING FOR PRAYER FOR YOURSELF =] Pray for God to fill you ENTIRELY with the Holy Spirit; pray for the Holy Spirit to fill the cracks in your spiritual armor And offer yourself entirely to the Lord; ENTIRELY TO THE LORD. Please pray for me as well; pray that I'll be able to overcome these struggles. And lastly, PLEASE CONTINUE PRAYING FOR THE TEAM! :D

Much Love, and God Bless!

P.S. The babies at the Nest Orphanage are SO CUTE!

Farm-ing

The Farm

Always one of my favorite places, I was really excited to go to the Farm again. For those of you who don’t know, the Farm is a part of the organization called Made in the Streets. MITS is a ministry dedicated to helping street children get off the streets and giving them the opportunity to go to school and get jobs while teaching them about the love of Jesus. Many of the teens ran away from abusive homes to live in Eastleigh with other street people where they learn to survive on stealing and drugs. The Farm is something like a refinery before the finished product: MITS educates them to turn away from their street survival mindset and embrace an honest hard-working Christian life. The street children who are allowed to go to the Farm must be committed to getting better, promise not to run away back to the streets, and they must be drug free, which is actually surprisingly difficult. Having visited both the bases last year (where street kids group together for support) and the Farm, I have trouble understanding why anyone would choose a street life. The Farm is beautiful, like a Garden of Eden. The teens have houses, beds to sleep on, food to eat, and a community of caring guardians and peers. The streets of Eastleigh are as opposite as can be: dirty, trash everywhere, flies in every corner, no roof or beds, and a dog-eat-dog relationship with neighboring bases. However, some of these kids have not known any other life than the one on the streets, and their addiction to drugs or the temptations of stealing for personal gain are often much too powerful to overcome easily with just a few short years at the Farm.

It was definitely strange going to the Farm before going to Eastleigh. I think that I have learned to equate Eastleigh with hopelessness, and then the Farm with the miraculous change that only Jesus can bring about. Still, I definitely appreciate the Farm because I believe that we make the most lasing connections and relationships there simply because it’s easier to relate to teenagers than it is to little children who don’t speak much English. At the same time, it is extremely difficult to relate; my biggest stressors were whether I got an A on my last biology midterm, but their problems are whether they will survive to see the next day.

Still, we find a way. It was fun to get a chance to use some of my Swahili, although I was too embarrassed and un-confident to hold much of a conversation. It was actually pretty funny because I would ask a question in Swahili and they would answer back in English, and it reminded me of the conversations my parents and I have, me on the English side of course. It was so great to have the chance to spend the night with the girls. We didn’t actually get to sleep in the same rooms as them since we stayed with the girls from Harding University, but staying the night meant that we could spend all evening with them since we usually had to leave around 4 or 5 pm to go back to the Heart Lodge before it got dark.

The night before we carefully planned everything we wanted to do with the Farm kids, though we probably only got through half. We broke up into smaller groups and played name games, Ultimate Ninja, and acrobatics (these boys can do the most amazing flips off a rubber tire), and then asked deep questions in our groups (although by then, some of the older kids had wandered off, probably because they felt too cool for us). We asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, what their happiest day was, and what their saddest day was. The answers were amazing. The kids had big dreams: many wanted to be doctors and nurses, and one boy even wanted to be a pilot. Nearly all of their happiest moments were the time they accepted Christ as their savior. Their saddest moments left me wondering how I could possibly be sad with my privileged existence in America.

After that we intended to play group games, but we were told that lunch would be soon so we decided to put it off. We didn’t have lunch for another hour. Haha. But it gave us a chance to hang out with the kids and talk to some one-on-one, and we even got to sing some praise songs with some of the girls. It was at this point that most of us lost our cameras to kids who wanted to take pictures of their friends, and I know that most of us didn’t get them back until it was time for bed or until our batteries died out. I personally found 400+ new pictures on my own camera, all taken by one boy!

After lunch we “planted grass” for our work project. I’m not really sure how that’s going to turn out. The grass we planted seemed to be dead, and I’m not even sure the way we planted them was efficient or correct, but hopefully it grows through God’s blessing. We planted it at the Children’s House, where the children of street girls who come to the Farm are raised. They are adorable!

We played a stars and spots game, putting red stars on some while putting black dots on others. The kids who had red stars got to eat dinner first and have seconds first, while the black dots had to be last. The black dots were upset and feeling mistreated, but their reaction tied in perfectly with Erika’s object lesson. She read the story “I Am Special,” to the kids and explained that we mustn’t care only about how others label or judge us, but realize that the only opinion that matters is our Creator’s opinion, and He says in Psalm 139 that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

After that we tried to do a bonfire, but I don’t think the kids have ever roasted marshmallows, and we saw a few of them just watching the marshmallow burning on the stick. At some point in the day we were supposed to worship with them and sing songs and I was supposed to share my testimony-ish, but somehow it was 9:30 pm already and time for bed.

Our experience at the Farm definitely is an example of one of our topics for our devotionals: open and willing hearts to improvise. In Luke 5:17-26, Jesus speaks to Pharisees and teachers while a number of men attempt to bring their paralytic friend for healing. When these men see that the room is too crowded, they lower him through the roof. Talk about determination and faith! We had so many things planned, but it all came down to just letting go of our plans and letting God lead each of us. We had so much time to just hang out that each of us got to know a different person very well and just spend time talking to each other about how similar or different our lives were. I spent a lot of time with Amina, a 15-year old girl who came out of the streets of Eastleigh seven months ago. And others in our group grew close to other kids from the Farm and all-in-all I’m glad that our jammed-packed schedule didn’t make it because we got to spend valuable time getting to know the kids and sharing our passion for Jesus.

A little bit of the "How Are You?"s

A few thoughts of millions

I'm not sure of his name, but he is certainly a very adorable child. This is one of the bajillions of kids we saw in the Mathare slum. Yesterday we spent time at the farm and slept over, and this morning we drove to the Mathare slum and visited the Mcedo school. I only have pictures/time to write a few thoughts about the Mathare slum though. I brought two flash drives with me and they're both filled up with pictures and videos so I hope I still have room for all the more pictures/videos this next week.
We drove into the Mathare slum and at first we saw these triangular shaped things made of rusted tin sheets and I was thinking to myself, "That is not a house..." but really those are considered upper class homes of the slum. We drove further in and I just saw trash with more trash and food trash and trampled trash and buried trash and everything was just dirty; yet in the midst of that you see laughing kids pointing at you, smiling as they go poop right in the middle of an open space, running along side of the van we're in. And then you hear it before you see it, the "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! RAHHHHHHHHHH!" and then all at once these 2-5 year olds were swarming along the road literally chanting together "HOW ARE YOU? HOW ARE YOU?" and they didn't expect an answer at all, but just kept saying How are you? I'm not sure why but it just made me want to cry as I heard all of these kids chanting and trying to catch your attention. I saw some of the adults outside their houses/"stores" and all of them had such tired expressions. It was like you could see the harsh life imprinted on their faces as you drove by in your van.
We walked around in the Mathare slum for a little while and it was hard to see everything as I was walking. Not only because of the things I was seeing, but because it was difficult to walk. In Seattle as I walk on the side walk I can just look around me and see things (people walking, the sky, what's next to me), but in the slum you're constantly watching out for this stream of poop/trash/sewage/dirt because you don't want to step in it. I tried to look up to see the houses and what people were doing in the slum, but it was hard to catch glimpses between watching where your foot landed.
I could say millions of other things just from these past two days, but at the same time there's things you can't just exactly blog about for it to express how you felt about the situation. I still need time to process everything. As we were leaving, all of the kids ran after our van with such determination and it was unbelievably cute. They were still screaming at you and chanting together "HOW ARE YOU? HOW ARE YOU?" in their Swahili accents. And again I wanted to cry. I don't know yet what about the sight and sound of those children in the slum made me feel such a weight on my heart. Could you ever imagine living your whole life in a slum or on the streets?

The thumbs up is a classic pose among everyone in Kenya.
This is the stream of sewage/poop/garbage/dirt that runs all throughout the slum. Everyone poops in the slum, but sometimes they put it in little black bags before they throw it somewhere. I had seen and heard all about this "little" stream but truly you cannot know until you see it for yourself. Even if you see through these pictures and imagine the smell of it, it's nothing like walking right next to it, hopping from side to side so you won't step in it.

WE'RE IN KENYAAAA!

Thank you for all your prayers and support! God was very gracious to us and we all got on the plane to London this past morning. About half of our luggage didn't arrive yet so Lucas and Jessie are without their personal bags and I think our ministry bags haven't arrived either.
I thought it was kind of funny when we were driving in the van from the airport to Heart Lodge because I had never experienced such crazy traffic and people just walking along side of the car to pass the street. We played sweet and sour with anyone who would look at us and it was really fun to get a thumbs up, a smile, or a wave back, and a little creepy to get the eye winks and raised eye brows. But so far I really like it in Kenya. I was thinking about how all the cars we see are fairly dirty; at home a lot of people will kind of say like "Look how dirty that car is" or something, but I mean here I don't think anyone washes their car because of water conservation. We must waste A LOT of water in America just to make our cars clean.
We went to the Nest Halfway House and held a lot of babies! THEY ARE SOOO CUTE! and they eat a lot! Tomorrow we sleep over at the Farm and we will go to Mcedo school in the morning.
Their eyes are really big!
Kaili playing with a super cute baby!
He never cried!
Lucas and Amos. He can eat a lot!

I LOVE BABIES!