The Street Children of Kawangware

We go into the slum of Kawangware doing evangelism every Tuesday. Kawangware is the second largest slum in Nairobi, with an estimated 700,000 people living within the slum. Some Tuesdays we will see the homeless street children that are considered, by society's standards, to be the lowest of the low. They all continuously get high on glue and steal to survive. Even the people that live in the slums will not pay any attention to them. Chris, along with the staff we work with in the slum, thought it would be great to reach out to them, so today was our first attempt.
Some of the children were as young as around 7 to 8 years of age. As I shared with them on the love of God for them and on His promise of Him being a Father to the fatherless, most of them were so high that they couldn't even listen.

However, there were 10 who gave their lives to Christ. Even though this was somewhat of a hard beginning, we are not discouraged. God has given us His heart for them. We just really need wisdom on the best way to go forward to minister to these boys. After sharing with them on the love of God for them, we then invited all 46 of them to come back to the center where the bible school is for chai (Kenyan tea) and mendazis (Kenyan pastry/food). Chris, and the rest of us, are talking about ways to do different types of outreach to them every other week.

The arm of the Lord is not too short to save!!! The story of all of our lives, as believers, is that He lifts the beggar up from the ash heap to set him among princes. God gives us beauty/dignity for our ashes and these wondrous, glorious truths are just as much for them as they are for the rest of us! Please pray for these children!!!

Family in Kasarani

We were able to spend the day in Kasarani where I go and evangelize on Wednesdays. Vitalis, who is part of Only Servants and teaches at Berith Bible College, has his church and lives in Kasarani. Every Wednesday when we are out evangelizing, he asks me to come preach at his church. Also, I will meet some of his church members on Wednesdays and they are always asking when Shauna and I are going to come, so we finally were able to visit with them and have a service together. The picture above is a picture of us with his church board members.
He translated my message for me into swahili. There are many amazing Kenyans I have met since being here and work with on a weekly basis, but Vitalis and I enjoy a great working relationship and friendship as well. It is an honor and joy to labor alongside him in doing our Father's work.
They love us and are so good to us that after the message, his church surpised us with our first "wedding cake." They said that since they are not going to be able to be with us in the U.S. for our wedding, they wanted to at least have a wedding cake for us. Shauna and I proceeded to feed each other the cake in front of the whole church. What love they showed us!!

After service they had a big meal for us with traditional Kenyan foods of chipatis, rice, and two different types of stew. Though they may not possess much in material possessions, they are some of the richest people we have ever met!!

Shauna Says:
Going to Kasarani was a wonderful experience. Vitalis and his wife Joyce showed us great hospitality. When we arrived they gave us chai (tea) and mendazis. They were so happy that we came to spend the day and to worship the Lord with them. Even though their church meets in a school, and they don't have all of the high tech material possesions, they were so happy and you could feel the Spirit of God there.

Rich did an amazing job preaching. The people there were very attentive and I think that they gained much out of his message. It was my first time seeing him preach and it was amazing to watch him speak to people and see their response.

After chruch we had the opportunity to meet the church members and get to know them over lunch. They were so sweet. The women were very nice and they invited me to be part of the wives club. They told me that all I had to do was eat, I think I can handle that. They also told me that they would teach me to cook. Rich really likes their food so I will take them up on that offer.

Overall the day was filled with so much love. We really enjoyed ourselves while we were there. We will be going back soon!

A Day in Kasarani

Chris, Vitalis, and I had a great day evangelizing on Wednesday. Typically every Wednesday, Vitalis and I will do evangelism in the streets giving the ones who give their life to Christ new believers material and inviting them to his church if they don't have a church they attend. This Wednesday God opened a door for us and in addition to still evangelizing on the street, we were also able to speak to children at a primary school (elementary) and at a secondary school (high school). Chris was able to come and we had a great time.

I only have a side shot of the kids here at the primary school. There are 300 children at this school. Vitalis played guitar and had them involved in a worship song and it was absolutely breath taking to hear these beautiful little children singing a song praising God. Chris gave them an exhortation and they really welcomed us.
This was me speaking to the high school kids and there were around 80 kids at this school that is about a mile away from the primary school. The first minute or two they were distracted and some were talking in the back, but about two minutes into my talking everyone got quiet and at the end 40 of them prayed to receive Jesus and received the discipleship material that we had for them.

One more thing, we are asking you all to pray with us for a girl named Esther. The schools here require the students to pay school fees, even public schools. The fees vary depending on the school. We see children in the streets everyday that aren't in school because their parents can't afford the fees. The school year just began here and she is the equivalent of a senior. She has a very bad home life and she doesn't know where she is going to eat sometimes much less have the money for school fees. Some "westerners" promised to sponsor her and pay her fees for her last year of school, but they are now ignoring her and not paying her fees. She owes the school and if she can't pay, she can't return next term; therefore she can't graduate. We believe God is going to work a way so that she doesn't have to leave. Please pray.

Field Trip

On Thursday March 12 I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with my 6th grade class. We went to Dagaretti Children's Home in the afternoon. The kids were really excited to go and play with the kids who live at this home. They go evey year so most of the kids had been there before; it was my first time. The home is really nice. They have many different buildings for school and rooms for the kids to sleep in. I was very impressed with how well it was kept up and how friendly everyone was. My 6th grade class did a wonderful job playing with the kids. Some of the kids who live there have disabilities. This did not bother the 6th graders, they still played with them. We spilt the kids into three groups, one played games, another colored, and the last one read story books. It was really neat to watch how well they all interacted together.

Giraffe Park

Shauna and I had alot of fun yesterday. There is a girl named Lisa who just came to Kenya from our church. We took her out yesterday, along with a guy named Tim who is from Australia. Both Lisa and Tim are serving the children and Mama Zipporah at Huruma. We wanted to take them to see a little of the city and one thing we did was go to the Giraffe Park. This is a park that is about five miles from the house. We learned there are three different types of giraffes in Kenya and this park has 8 of the one group that they say is endangered.
This is a picture of Shauna and Lisa feeding the giraffe. I think they said this guys name is Allen. I was hoping I had a picture of all four of us, but we didn't have our camera out until the end of the day.
I tried to capture this at the exact moment it happened, but couldn't. Yes, right after this picture Shauna kissed/was kissed by a giraffe with that purple tongue! She had a piece of food in her mouth for the guy. I just couldn't get there myself!

Staff Gathering

Over the past weekend we had a staff gathering at the house. The people who are a part of the ministry team that go with us in the three different slums, teach at the bible colleges, their wives, children, and the staff who are at the house with their families all got together. This was a really special treat for them and I thought it was a really great gesture on Chris and Lindy's part. An act like this really shows them that we love them and it made them feel really special. You could see the look in their eyes and how excited they all were. I didn't take many pictures and was never around Shauna so I didn't even have any of her.

These are two of the most amazing men I have met since being here. Their hearts for God and the people they live amongst is incredible. The man on my left is Vitalis and he has a church in Kasarani where I go doing evangelism on Wednesdays. He also teaches at Berith Bible College with the man on my right who is pastor Indiazi. Pastor Indiazi has a church and lives in Kibera where we go do evangelism on Thursdays.

This is Brian and he is the son of a woman who works at Pastor Indiazi's house. He is a really amazing young man. Before Chris and Lindy came, he and his family were living in very bad conditions and his mother had a very low paying job. As God has worked, their family is much better off today and continuing to get better. I am totally "cheezing" in this picture but I wanted to include one of him.