Karibu Kenya!

I ... am ... in ... Africa!! Can you believe it? I can't quite. I've been here for almost a week now, but it still doesn't sink in all the time. I stepped onto Africa soil just last Thursday morning, received a taxi ride from a funny man named Paul, and was welcomed to apartment 16 at Kolobot Gardens by Virginia, Lisa and her three-year-old daughter Bella.

Lisa lives in a lovely, green part of Nairobi, just down the street from the President's residence. We are also just up the street from University of Nairobi and the YMCA (which has good internet service, yay!)

It's only been 6 days, but I want to share with you what those days have contained. I have done a lot of walking ... :)

After that first Thursday of rest and a walk in the nearby Arboretum (just like Davis!) I visited a home for abandoned babies in Nairobi called New Life Charity Trust. The home houses about 45 babies at the moment, and most of them are taken for adoption - praise the Lord! Many of the babies enter the home severely malnourished or abused, some in need of surgery. Several are also HIV+. They have round the clock caretakers that look after the children, but they take drop-in volunteers all the time to hold and feed the infants and play with the toddlers out on the lawn. They are SO precious and beautiful. It's amazing to hold them and know that God's hand is working in their lives and, I pray, preparing a promising future for them.

I also visited Lisa's work at the Save the Children South Sudan office. Lisa actually works for S.T.C. USA, but uses the South Sudan division's office space.

The weekend was great, visiting Lisa's church called Mamlaka Hill Chapel, which is part of Nairobi Chapel. What's neat about this, is that the original pastor of Nairobi Chapel (Pastor Oscar) gave one of the most striking addresses at Urbana 2007 - one of those speeches that no one in the audience likely forgot! Church was amazingly good - super inspiring and uplifting worship and a teaching that I really needed to hear. I went back to New Life after church.

And this week I have had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Josphat, a man who works at Nairobi Chapel and has planted a church of his own in the Kibera slums. Yesterday and today I visited the Kibera church, which is called Word Fellowship Centre. They have asked my help in organizing a plan for them to fund raise for a new building. It would be difficult to describe the current building to you here. It is typical of all housing in Kibera ... mud and plaster walls, metal roofing, no real wiring, but they have one luxory - toilets! And by "toilets" I mean two deep holes in the ground and a bit of toilet paper. Many in Kibera do not have that luxory; they simply relieve themselves on the muddy road.

I could not imagine a filthier place. One million people live in Kibera, which is government-owned land. The largest slum in Africa, the people there are literally living in trash. I have only spent two blocks of time there, so I'm not qualified to say much more - but it is also there that I have met people with the most shining, extraordinary faith. People my age, who declare praises to God and cite scripture in their normal conversation.

Yesterday, a 13-year old girl named Maureen walked up to me in Kibera with a huge smile. She greeted me, and we chatted, and then she proceeded to share her favorite verse, John 3:16 with me. Wow, I was not so strong in my faith at just thirteen.

Now, if I were to unpack all my thought processes thus far in this blog entry, it would surely go on forever, and people might not want to go on reading. Perhaps I will get better at being concise as these entries continue!

I will share that I've had rough moments in the past 6 days. I've struggled with feeling very lonely and insecure and giving in to doubts. Notes from friends back home were super encouraging to me. I'm feeling much better now, but I need to continue to set my eyes on the beauty of God, which is far greater than my own deficiencies. In fact, those do not matter anymore but should draw me closer to Christ.

Prayer requests are as follows:
* For me to feel confident of who I am in Christ - that I would turn to Him alone for strength and affirmation.
* For safety, continued divine appointments, and for friends
* For the babies at New Life - that they would have abundant and hope-filled futures. (Some names are: Dwight, Harrison, Helen, Nakia, David, Kathleen, Andrew)
* That God would give me clarity about my role at the church in Kibera and bless my involvement there.
* That God would do great things during this time in Nairobi.
* For the financial support I need for my Word Made Flesh team to come in

Love you all!

Ph: (254) 726 767 537. I am 11 hours ahead of PST right now.