Kenya 40 Day "Journey Into The Way" Team Update: Week 3

It’s been one week since Joe and I returned to the states and left the remaining four young adults of the Kenya40 Jourey Into The Way team in Nairobi. They continue to serve alongside of two churches. They participate in Fountain Of Life’s home visitation ministry three days a week in the informal settlements (“slums”.) On the other days they are teaching and interacting with the boys at Fountain Of Life’s home where 50 boys live. 

They have also had the opportunity to spend the night out with Fountain Of Life, Juja. This is another church home we partner with where 12 girls reside. It sounds like this has been one of the highlights of the trip for the ladies so far. This first 40 day “Journey Into The Way” team is going well and I will do my best to keep the updates coming. You can read Tanya's and Ben's latest blog post below. To view her blog and the other team members who are blogging, scroll down to the previous post. 

Tanya : http://odelysse.blogspot.com/2009/07/africa-3.htmlAfrica 3

So this week has been full of activity. We drove out to Juja and spent the night visiting an orphan home of 12 girls. The boys had to go sleep at the pastors house but Krystle and I spent the night at the home with the girls. It was so fun, they really are a family. They played with our hair and then we had story time. Different girls would take turns trying to tell stories and then the other would clap for them when they were done, they ate all their dinner then played games and made sure everyone got a turn without being reminded they just knew, then they prayed and we went to sleep. Each girl was so sweet and they sang all these different praise songs. I loved it. Needles to say Krystle and I are hoping to go back to Juja one more time.
Also Ryan and I went to visit a different slum this week. I got to pray for healing for a woman who is sick but doesn't know with what. (She also has HIV so getting sick with other random disease is bad.) She had a baby she was holding that she placed in my arms and she was so cute. I thought she was a few months old but turns out she is over a year old but not well fed. Her eyes were huge. I loved holding her though, I really wanted to take that one with me, like really. The whole rest of the day I kept thinking of her and how she probably is dying to ( I think she has HIV as well but I am not sure) and how I wish she could have a bit of life where she wasn't hungry. I kept thinking of the things I would want to show her, mainly I wished I had brought my bottle of bubbles to blow for her since that seemed like something she would enjoy that I actually could have done.
I know I can't take kids home with me so don't worry.
Also big Praise, the kids we are working with were maybe going to be homeless at the end of July but they got an extention until next March. PRAISE GOD!!!
The team is well, I got sick on Tuesday morning for a bit but felt better pretty soon after. Please keep us in your prayers!
Prayer request:
1. Health, with only a few weeks left none of us want to miss any time with the kids, so we hope to remain healthy.
2. Team unity, especially with having to split on slum days I don't want any division (there hasn't been any but hey let's just pray against it just in case)
3. Funding, were still lacking cash so prayers for that would be good.
4. Just prayer for our relationships with the boys, some of us have gotten to have really good conversations and other are always asked to play soccer or thumb war. I think we all want to have those deeper conversations so pray for that to come naturally.
5. Pray against home sickness. I'm emberassed to say it but that one is mainly for me. I am 26 and miss my mommy. I think its also because I was sick for a while and so I wanted mommy to take care of me.
Short internet time today sorry for the lack of editing. Love you guys. Keep the emails coming. Especially Megan Williems!

Ben: 

http://jeromesjourney.blogspot.com/2009/07/week-3.html

Week 3

This week has been pretty exciting. Last Friday we spent the night in Juja, just outside of Nairobi. We worked with the home of 12 girls. Friday night we just got to play with them. Ryan and I stayed at the pastor's house in the guest room. We found ourselves not able to serve, the family insisted on us just sitting around and letting them serve us. We've been finding it's a blessing to them just to have visitors (it's part of Kenyan culture). We definitely have a thing or two to learn about hospitality out of the little we have as opposed to abundance in the USA.
Saturday we spent much of the day with a team of local IT university students cleaning, washing, and cooking for the girls. I got to talk with some of the university students while chopping a bucket full of cabbage, carrots, and onions (Though I quickly found myself crying whereas they all seemed immune after doing it all their lives lol). We also had some time to play some games with the girls. I found myself answering a lot of questions about the church in the US and the US in general. I also got to learn some things about Kenyan universities and a few phrases in Swahili.
Krystle and I then went to a nearby slum. It wasn't as terrible as Madari where we went last week, there was much more space and the sewage conditions were much better. The conversations we had were a little less awkward with the experience of madari and I was just happy to be able to pray with them and learn more about their struggles. I was sad to learn that one lady could not keep her 6 children in school because she needed about $1.50 per child. Pastor Gideon is working with them in a program to help many families in the slums with such problems but his funds are limited. I'm happy to be working with him and the Fountain of Life orphan home. He definitely has a heart for the poor and orphaned.
The rest of the week has been spent teaching each day with the boys. They are preparing for their quarterly exams next week. We've been teaching them all subjects: Math, Science, English, etc. They also have CRE which is basically biblical teaching. The knowledge these kids have of God, the Bible, and prayer at such a young age is way beyond what I knew. Some of the college students put me to shame by how much they know (and they use it too).
In our evenings, our team has been working on spiritual development together. We pray and discuss some good readings we each have been given. Part of the focus of this trip is not to just keep serving and doing things, but to take time to step back and pray, listen to God, etc. I really value this team for pursuing this focus. It's easy to fall in love with God's mission and forget about falling in love with God.

One thing that we are looking forward to is getting closer to the boys. We are getting to know some of them better as they start to feel comfortable sharing with us their stories. Some of the kids here are not orphans at all but come from homes where they were unwanted or abused. It's amazing to see where they are now despite such circumstances and happy to be in a home with caring people. They all really do act like a big family of brothers. I know they are in great hands with the teachers they have here, Flora the social worker, and especially Pastor Gideon and Mama (Florence), along with some others that I don't know well yet (there is a really loving woman who works low wages to cook and be with the boys). FoL is really a great example of what it means to be the Church of God.

Well that's all I have time for. It's going great here. I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you all for your prayers! FoL got the extension they needed to for the boys to stay on the property till March of next year. Meanwhile FoL is still trying to get enough funds to build on their property. Some of it has come in, but not enough yet.

Thanks again everyone
Blessings