In Kitale!!

Well, it is 2:00 am here and I am wide-awake. No better time than now to write about how things are going.

First, thanks for praying. We are convinced that it is not only important but also effective with regards to the Lord’s will being accomplished in and through us.
We all arrived safely and in good spirits – even if relatively tired. Yesterday was the first full day here for the entire team. Several of us started the day off with a 6:30 a.m. run – and felt the thinner air burning our lungs. Zach did a great job of leading us out though. It was humbling to see some young (about 5 or 6 years-old) Kenyan boys running barefoot right past us with incredible ease. But the smile on their faces was one of joy and not arrogance.

Right after breakfast we spent about 2.5 hours playing with the approximate 70 kids who are aged 2 weeks to 4 years old. Before we started we knew we had to ditch about 90% of our plans for a VBS-type week with these kids. They are too young, too many, and do not know enough English yet. So we simply sang some songs, played some games, did some coloring, and then played. By 10:30 (a.m. lol) most of us were fairly tired.

Starting at 10:30, I got to be the water dispenser. Each day from 9:00-12:00 the orphanage gives out free water to the community. This is a huge ministry here and they give out over 100,000 liters per day. I was reminded of Jesus’ teaching about the sheep and goats – and the righteous wondering when they gave Jesus some water...
After lunch and some rest, we went with the gardener and 2 other workers and dug potatoes for about 2 hours. By the time we were through, we were tired. Zach, Josh, and Caleb played soccer with the older kids while we dug potatoes. But the gardeners wanted to teach these 3 young men how to swing a “jimbay” - which is like a cross between a hoe and a shovel. So the gardeners had them help plow up some land for a new garden. Watching these men work we understood how they could consume about 3,000 calories a day and still be incredibly lean.

There are so many stories to tell you. Like Cindy’s story, who had severe burns on her head from an oil lamp that fell on her. She had to have skin grafts, but since her head keeps growing the grafts keep splitting. So, she will have to have more grafts. Currently the orphanage has only temporary custody of her so they were supposed to have a court hearing about gaining permanent custody, but the judge did not show up. Next week they guess…

I helped Jeff later in the afternoon repair a dehydrator box. This a “natural” dehydrator – i.e. the sun provides the energy – that they use to dehydrate a lot of vegetables. James, a kid with mental and physical handicaps, also helped us. He is quite a joy. Plus he has great rhythm and loves to dance and sing.

Tomorrow we will try to do some Truth-telling with the older kids, play a lot with the younger ones, and work on some small projects (re-screening to infant play area and start building a wash-room). One thing I said yesterday was that if you we ever to really need a hug, this is a great place to be because the kids just line up to be held. It would be easy to get 1,000 hugs a day!

Please pray for our physical energy. I know the enemy will try using our tiredness against us. Also, please pray for us to abide in Jesus. As we do, we know we will treat each other with more kindness and be more in tune with what the Father is doing here.

Blessings,
Mark

P.S. It took me 20 minutes to type/write this and 45 minutes to upload it. So...there will be only a few:)