Welcome Back to the East Bay!

We are back! Come join us this Sunday at Fremont Community Church to hear some stories and see some photos. Hope to see you at 9am or 11am.

What an Adventure We have had!

We were able to see a wide variety of the tapestry that is Kenya. The best and the worst.
Full of color, music, dance, smells, tastes and lots of Chai tea!
On our last day of serving, we went to an amazing orphanage called "Mission In Action"
what a wonderful place to be; the kids are so happy and so loving. We received lots of hugs everywhere we went from these sweet and adorable children.
Actually everywhere we went in Kenya the kids were pretty amazing from those we met that
had been rescued from tragic situations to the ones we met still literally in the mess at a place that no one would think to call home the city dump of Nakuru which is ironically called the Hilton. Weird huh? Eugene and I met two women both grandmothers who have little to nothing in very limited and rough conditions, but so grateful to God to have somewhere to be. They were both healthy, beautiful and so hospitable to welcome us into their homes. We were there to bless them with a bucket of love...we took maize flour, sugar, cooking oil, soap, chai tea, and a few more stable items to get them by. We heard about their stories and then prayed for them.
They both made these colorful hand baskets that look like they have been crocheted, but they
were made from recycled colored plastic grocery bags. I bought a green/clear one... this is a way that they make an income.
On our last night we we visited with Kate, Johnny and all there kids and had spaghetti, meat
balls and fresh made individual french bread rolls and then watched a movie. They have a
great family and it's was so fun spending time with them.

We are now in Dubai waiting for our flight to be announced. Looking forward to being home
and sharing stories about our trip!

take care,

Leilani

Last day...

So after my last blog... It turns out the days got mixed up so Friday we all wen't to Mission In Action a really cool orphanage. All the kids are so loving!! Spent a few hours there just talking with the lady who owns it and after that we went to town got our last supplies and went to the "dump"... It's exactly what I thought it would look like and would smell like... I won't be eating any pork for a good time.
That was our Friday... We came home early because Leilani, Eugene and I set out for Safari really early this morning hoping to find some cats. No luck. We saw lots of other really cool animals. Like.... Rhinos which by the way look really cool behind a big fence at a zoo but really intimidating when spitting distance in a safari car.... Loads of zebras and water buffalo's! It was a lot of fun! That took up most of our morning and then after we met with Kate and Johnny at a really cool spot for lunch near ROHI... We had Doug an intern from Corner Stone Church with us on Safari and we dropped him off at ROHI when finished... it was awesome seeing those smiling faces again!... nothing beats smiling faces and lovely "how are yooooou" coming down the streets.
We got some gifts for loved ones at home at the Curio shops, it started raining pretty hard so we called it quits and came back to the house to get ready for diner... We had one last amazing diner at Kate and Johnny's as well as a movie! I'm really going to miss that big family! Their really the coolest people ever!
Leaving Africa... I feel...I feel like we accomplished something... Tho it may not have been much it was a lot to the families we helped and now that this trip is almost to a closer I can honestly say my heart has planted a seed and I can't wait to come back and visit. God is so good! He's been funny on this trip having us go through some good and bad times...He pushed us to the limit but God will never give you more than you can handle and at times it seemed like He pushed me off a cliff, He lifted me up higher than I was.I can't wait to come home and share all my stories and photos!!!
Kwaheri Nakuru... I will be back.
Asante Sana for everyone who helped send me out here as well as prayer... I couldn't have done this without you
Nakupenda!

I have seen what I have seen, I have felt what I felt and...cried

My heart has been in Africa for many years. My toes have been dusty from the red dirt many times. My eyes have seen countless injustices. But today is first for me. Today I got word a sweet child was lost today.

AIDS is all over this place I call home but yet I have never felt the loss of a life to it until today. Friends of mine have a home for kids here and they lost a little girl. Their hearts are sad and I to find my heart sad because this is a little girl I knew. I hugged her, cooked her spaghetti, and kissed goodnight. Yes I knew her for a short time but I knew her and NEVER on the FCC Kenya team has a child we ministered to died while we were in country.

As I looked at the photos of her I cried...I could not help but cry. I was crying for her mom and dad left to tell other kids but I was also crying because this is the hard cold reality of AFRICA. There are countless of families, couples, and individuals that answer the call to come, love, work, and live in Africa. They see and face this day in and day out. It hurts so bad to think I am not the only one with a broken hart right now. People never forget "first" and I can say I will not forget this feeling. Also it is a feeling I know I will feel over and over........because I to have heard the call to Africa. I just pray that God gives me what I need each and every time I feel this way. Also I pray with all my heart that He is glorified through it all because it is not always pretty and fun but I know God is loving and full of grace. So I hold on to Him and His word because I have seen what I have seen, I have felt what I have felt, and I have cried.

So i havent blogged in a while

Sorry to all the people wanting to hear my thoughts on this trip. Typing is not a fun thing for me i type like one word a min. lol, but any who. Let me tell you whats going on in my head since my last blog. I am very grateful to be here I thank God he called me on this trip. I have seen it all from people dying at a "Hospital" and i put hospital in quotations because it was more like a mortuary then a hospital. Soon as you walk in you could smell death in the air. There were babies burnt from head to toe and had not been really treated for 5 or 6 days. There were people dying from Aids..Even little kids dying from Aids ... See More because out here 1 out of every 4 girls get raped by the age of 10 years old. This building looked horrible. Walls broken, windows broken. Rats, bugs, flies all over. There where 8 beds per room and the room was the size of about 2 American hospital rooms maybe smaller. There where no real doctors only kids who just got out of High school and they are just training and practicing on the dying patients like lab rats. If they cant pay they don't get treated or they get kicked out. There where kids being abandon because the parents couldn't afford the hospital. There was a girl who life or death hung in the balance because she couldn't afford to the surgery which was only $20 US dollars. And i can name about 20-30 stories like that. Thank God we where able to pay for her and others but there were so many and you cant save everyone. It was horrible. And this was the biggest hospital in this big city called Nakuru, Kenya. We went to the Bush Bush, which means went went to stay basically in a remote part of Sub-Saharan Africa in a place called East Pokot where there in no running water and you gotta use the bathroom in a hole in the floor and people like in real mud huts n their major "Town" is like 5 stores that are 10x worst then the worst convenient store u know but it was life changing and i ...felt so bad 4 the girls out there who get forced into marriage and forced 2 do female circumcisions. Then we went and visited 2 orphanages with some orphans who are beginning to put their life back together because some missionaries who moved to Africa doing God's work takes care of all the kids. Its great to see their joy now that they are in a safe place. Then we went to the dump and saw people suffering from Aid's who don't even have enough money to get to the "hospital" and get treated. Its a horrible feeling to see a mother dying, cant even get off her bed which is just a metal rod with a thin blanket on it. She cant get up to use the bathroom so she goes right on her bed. She has nobody to take care of her and her six kids. Her white blood cell count is at 14 when the normal person should be at about 1200. Her 6 kids sleep on chairs in a house as big as a bedroom and when we walked in they were eating popcorn seeds off the floor. It looks like soon their mom will pass and they will be left as orphans to fin for themselves by the way the oldest is 8 yrs old taking care of them all from3-8 yrs old. Its just sad but I thank God for allowing me to witness this so i can come back to the states and not just sit on the sidelines but help out by starting a non profit organization which will be called The Black Diamond Foundation and we are going to help orphanages and Schools and in the long run will build orphanages and schools and hospitals. So i will do my best to do what i can to make Kenya a better place. I have been touched threw this experience and i hope you now are touched by my words giving you a short picture of what it is like out here and hopefully you will partner with me to make Kenya a better place for those who live there. Please Contact me if you want to be apart of the Movement!!!

Red Toes

So today was a day that God had planned! It was clear because I had mixed up the days the team and I would be going to MIA and the dump ministry......all because God had something for us to finish up with Kate and Johnny's girls. We had great morning finishing up the sewing project and then headed to town to get some supplies for tomorrow and have lunch. While we were in town we ran into Molly and Joe who just got a new girl at SOHK. This little one is one they were working on getting when we worked with them last week. She is ONLY 7 years old, has been living on the streets with her "mom" and has been sexually assaulted. As hard as it was to hear her story it was a joy to see her in Joe's arms after knowing how they prayed and worked on getting her into SOHK to be safe and loved! It was like reading the last few pages of the last chapter in a GREAT book.

Heading back to Kate and Johnny's after town we got some supplies to paint all the girls nails. Yes, it is a girly but they are girls. They are also some pretty amazing girls with a Future and a Hope because of Kate and Johnny. That short time we had painting toes may seem so small to many but...for girls who come from places that make your heart break....it means so much. It shows love to girls that early in life did not know what that was. So as I sat on the concrete and Sarah painted my toes, red, I looked around. Yes I was a home in Kenya but I saw more!

I saw a family that gave up so much to love girls that had nothing. I saw a family with white kids and black kids who are colorblind and call each other sister and brother. I saw a mom and a dad that love EACH of their kids biological or not. I saw kids growing in truth and love. I saw a family that places Christ in the center. I saw a kind of family the world could use more of! I saw all of this with red toes.

The Slums of Rhonda..

These last few days we've been visiting Kate and Johnny a few missionaries who have adopted 8 children on top of her 5 children... As you can imagine... they needed some help with organizing and cleaning... One thing the kids really needed was new nets, so Leilani put her sewing skills together and has been making new nets for everyone... Yesterday Leilani and Cassandra stayed behind to help make new nets while Eugene and I went to Rhonda, It's a small town also known as the slums.
Him and I visited 3 "homes" the 1st was a man named William who has HIV/AIDS a 3 month old baby a wife who every morning leaves trying to find work so William can go to the "hospital"... His wish these last 5 days have been just to make it to the hospital... Eugene and I prayed over William and after Eugene gave him a few dollars to make it to the hospital and get an x-ray which totaled out to be about 10 dollars, the medicine here is free.
The 2nd "house" was a women named Constalita, She has a white blood cell count of 2, has 6 children all under 8 and by looking at her you would never suspect she's ever had kids she was so skinny. She slept on a metal bench, all her kids had a wooden chair to sleep on. There was no food. No chai. No one around to help her. I'm sure if we didn't open her door that day, no one would have... Her only wish was that she got a blanket, the man who took us, Ben, Kate and Johnny's helper all he wished for was some Pampers because she can't move.... After we left her we got her a blanket like she wished and this morning Ben will drop it off....
The last house, gave us hope. 3 women all dying of aids earlier this year, some having 0 white blood cells recovering 100% now married.... We bought a few neckalaces from them... Their mission behind makind jewlery is to never forget where they've come from... to always give the Glory to God....
It was hard going from chillin these last few days to getting hit back with what our mission was in the 1st place...
Today we visit the dump. I'm happy I saw the slums yesterday to prepare for today... I pray for the rest of my team...
Asante Sana for all the prayers thus far... we'll be home soon!!

East Pokot Mancala

East Pokot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2UFDDITEi8
Check out the video of some of our time in Pokot.

sweat, heat, a bus, and a lap full of three kids

This past three days we went out of Nakuru in to what our Masai calls the Bush Bush. No running water, out-house, and the REAL Africa. When I asked the Masai if he thought we could make it out there he said "I believe". If he did not think we could make it he would have told us.....so we left on a good note of feeling we can.

6 hours later dripping wet from sweat we arrive in East Pokot. Those 6 hours were something else. The first few hours were just a "normal" Kenyan bus ride but once we hit the half way point we were in for a rude awaking of what the bus is really like! More people got on then got off. Seats full, people standing in the ails, and kids sitting on Grace's and I's laps. All the windows were wide open but we all felt like we were going to suffocate. People talking, sweating, holding things, and trying not to fall as the matau was bouncing on the unpaved 46km ride to East Pokot.

I can grin and bare a lot but just before we got to our spot I thought I was not going to make it. There was sweat stinging in my eyes my feet swollen from the heat and sitting for so long and I thought it might be better if I get out and WALK the rest of the way. Thankful by God's funny timing the bus stopped and it was our STOP. We crawled over people, bags of corn and sugar, and even a chicken to get to the door. The only thing I felt was air at that moment. Outside was hot but not as hot as the matau. My feet hit the ground and I could feel the blood come back to each of my toes. All I wanted to do at that point was drink some water and do to bed...but God had other plans!

As we got our bags off the bus we were greeted by Nelly and all the girls from the rescue center we were going to working at. These girls came out of no where; but one by one they came greeted us and carried our bags. It is custom for them to carry the bags.....with a smiling face they picked up our many bags and walked us to the center. Slowly the pains of the matau ride were fading. Once we were at the house we had some tea and met with Pastor and his wife. We got to meet a few others as well while resting from the ride.......we met a few but felt all the eyes on us. So many little eyes were so excited to see us that in the dark you knew we were being watched.


After we ate and rested we walked a short way to girls rescue center.......short way lead by the sound of drumming and signing. All the rest of the pain, sweat, tiredness, and everything I was feeling was GONE as the girls called us to formally greet us! They sang and danced for us and soon we found ourselves dancing with them. We danced with the most sweetest girls who have gone through so much to get there they are today.

These girls (my eyes are filled with tears as I write) have been beaten, used, treated like animals, and almost sold off by their families. They have been through so much, some have walked for days eating ants to make it to Cana. Cana is the safe place for the girls. A place there they can grow, get an education, and NOT go through female genital mutilation! They are screaming for a chance to get an education and a chance to change what their lives could have been and for the girls to come.

I see hope in their eyes. There is a bright light that is ready to shine in the community of East Pokot. A light that can shine for the Lord to being about change in the area. Because of this light and the love of the team.....I know change will come, relationships will be mended, hearts born again, and the horror of FGM stopped!

I survived the bush...

This weekend was quite the experience... When in Kenya, do as Kenyans do... We started in town in Nakuru, found the right Mutatu (bus) waited awhile... for the cargo people to put all the goods on top of the mutatu, and knowing myself, my peripherals was everywhere but my fixed stare was on our luggage. The town is dangerous, you don't know...anyone/ everyone is brave enough to take your bag and run... After all our luggage was on the bus, and we're all about to die of carbon monoxide... the mutatu starts... Everyone n they mama's is on the bus trying to sell us something/ anything that can make them a shilling... Finally the bus is starting the move and some of the sellers start to get off, its still a full bus.. how you see it on tv, is exactly how it is, just worse... it gets hotter as you drive towards the equator. As we drive, we have a few "bus stops" it was more like a California stop..you know where you slow down and don't really ever come to a complete stop..yea well that kind of stop but for people to get off and on... As if the bus wasn't crowed enough we had one big stop half way. Usually an ok spot for people to get off and use the Cho (bathroom) but not that day. NOTE: DO NOT USE THE MATATU ON A FRIDAY....PERIOD!... No one got off but about 30people came on... pretty much by the time we left I had 2 children on my lap, i was giving some girl a piggy back ride with her butt on my back and to make is worse the guy standing in my small space bought some fish on the way to the bush! eek! it was an experience...but I never wish that upon anyone... and let me be very clear... its hard enough driving in a private car going to the bush, let alone in a bus! I don't even use public transportation at home... that may change...long story short... we made it to Cana Girls Rescue Home. Its a safe place young girls can come to, most of which ran away because their families were trying to either sell them into marriage, FGM (female genital mutilation aka: female circumcision), child labor, or child abuse... 1/2 of them... it was all the above. These girls were some of the most amazing girls I've ever met in my life! all soooo beautiful! Talented and fearless. While there at Cana, alot of things made me upset... Knowing how much American dollars can be stretched out in the bush... for instance.. for a young girl to go to school. Her monthly fee is 27 dollars, for pastor ChoChoi, the pastor who took in all these girls, it cost him 3 cows and 5 goats. That's alot of food all these girls are now missing out on all because he believes these girls can go far. Unacceptable! While there, Cass, Leilani and I came up with ways to help these girls in East Pakot. So when I get back if anyone has any questions on how you can help!... please ask. I know just how you can help.
All in all I learned how to pee in a hole in the ground. Took a shower with a bucket of water. Drank rain water. Slept in a "bunk bed" if you can call it that... Not as scared of insects as I was before... kinda.. It was an experience of a lifetime! I really experienced the true Africa and their African ways and along the way passed the equator.. I was in two places at once. It was awesome! I wish you were all their with me to experience it.
One more week and we're back home. Today we're relaxing...Please cont to pray for us! I miss you all!!

The Lord Is So Good!

The Lord is so good to us ! On this journey He has continued to show us His children through His eyes.
We have experienced the low & hard realities of the lives of people in places that are unfit for animals let alone human beings.
And then He has taken us to the high mountain top experiences of children being rescued and having save places to live and grow.
In America animals have better lives than people do here. We have partnered with many organizations to be of service and be a
blessing and the Lord has been so faithful to give us lovely surprises along the way as only He can.

Please pray that the Lord continue to protect and guide us and that He continues to let us be His hands and feet.

With a joyful heart !

Leilani

We are off to Pokot

We are heading off to Pokot for the next three days. We will be seeing and living in the real Africa. Public transport, bucket showers, and much more. The work we will be doing is........bringing some fabric for girls to make school uniforms, bring some food, and spending time with girls that were SOLD into marriage for the dowry. We will need your prayers and love!

Prayer Needs:
-travel mercies
-health
-time with the girls in Pokot
-the eyes of the team to be truly open
-hearts to be transformed
-lives to be changed for the better
-ENERGY!

Child Don't Fear

How was my day? Well it was unlike any other. I was greeted with the smell of dirt, blood, feeshies, sweat, and death. Now with this decription would this be a place you would take your sick family member let alone your child?

For so many this is the only option and they walk many miles to get to this place. And once they get their they have to front the cost of bed and any "medical" treatment they may need, sit two or three to a bed, feed themselves, change themselves, and beg for someone to come look at them. This is the setting where my heart was stolen. In the children's ward the second to last bed on the left there was a little one named Emmanuel. He was covered and alone. My friend Joe called me over and asked me to pray for this little one; he had been left and was ALL alone now.

As I placed my hand on his tinny head my heart was stolen. God touched me to give a word of declaration over him. The Lord said he would EVER be alone and would come out of this horrific situation and be loved. Not only be loved he would show love. My eyes were welling with tears and my voice was strained. This little love was facing deaths door steps and God used me to declare he would not. As I closed in prayer and asked for a covering over this child my heart was no longer stolen but broken.....my eyes fixed on his chart and it read "TB and Meningitis". This is a death sentence! All alone no one with him, no one to pay for the medical bills BEFORE treatment, and just another body in a bed to all around him.

There are no words...there have been no words from me after I left his side. My mind keeps going back to that awful place where he is.....where is his slowly dying ALONE! All that I can think of is the words to Shawn Mcdonald's song Child. Form this day forth I will never be the same and only the Lord knows why! I still do not know why but that is the beauty of God, we do not need to know because He does. He has it. He holds Emmanuel in His hands, He broke my heart and changed me for a reason, and I will leave it be until He tells me why. For those that read this and feel sadness welcome to the world of Africa for those that read this and feel nothing......I pray your heart is broken by God for our God knows why.
(the lyrics playing over and over in my head: Child don't fear....our God knows why. Child don't cry...our God knows why.)

Malaria pill, PMS, "Hospital"

Constantly this trip the Lord is breaking me, literally taking my full glass of purified water and shattering it on the bumpy roads here in Kenya.
All day everyday my camera is glued to my hip but not today... Today the Lord was like NO Grace... Today is for your eyes only. No camera could explain and capture the feelings we felt today. Especially me. I haven't really broken down all this trip but today someone was saying "let it rain"... First off if no one has ever taken malaria pills.. well your lucky... it has some strange side effects, mine today was just tired plus PMS if your a girl you'll understand if your a guy...well... I don't wana explain myself, but all that then we visit the "clinic...No camera could capture the hurt these people were facing. One person that really sticks out and was my breaking point was this young girl. 22 years of age on her last string of life dying of aids, hadn't eatten the last 3 days she's been admitted, She hasn't even poked her head far out of her sweater to see her face the few hours we were there..I had prayed over her once I got to that side of the ward, and though it looked bad I wasn't expecting things to go where it had gone... When I was finished visiting at the womens aids ward, I walked outside, I felt pretty put together but Molly wanted to go back in and kinda hurry the rest of the crew.. I went in with her.
What I saw next I didn't expect.
Molly stayed towards the door but I walked to that 22 year old girl again because her mom seemed upset, I had Job our interp for the day come with me and ask her what was wrong. Her mom said... and I kid you not... "I give up! I'm tired of waiting!" walks to the front, hand the receptionist some money and leaves.
She left her daughter to die alone all because she gave up!...
Thank you family for being everything you've been to me. Everything you've been for me. At least 40% of the people at this "clinic" were abandoned because they were a burden to their family.
Needless to say... Today was a hard day...
Pray for me. Pray for us.

Day 4...

Day 4 is here. Today is our last day at ROHI. The team is fallen in love with ROHI, like all teams. The students and teachers have built relationships and will be sad to part. It will be good day blessing one more gardenias in Gligi. It is a pit of a drive but it will give the team the opportunity to see more of the beauty of Kenya. After driving and blessing we will head back to ROHI to say our goodbyes and have dinner with Mama and Papa Mathua. Ending our time with them will be the icing on the cake for our time at ROHI.

Prayer Needs,
-our last hours with our friends at ROHI
-the relationships the team has made with students and staff
-our time driving
-meeting with the family today in Gligi
-our dinner with Mama and Papa
-energy
-sour bodies from building yesterday

Hang me up to dry...

As I sit n the dinning room looking at the fog roll into the backyard I see Kantet hanging his' families washing. Some he just places on the line and pins and others he needs to ring out before he hangs them. The water falls onto the grass but before it does my eyes see the murky unclear water falling from the clothing.

My eyes are seeing something that is so normal (for 80% of the world) and it does not surprise me. But the Lord is funny in the way He gives us images.....because as I am seeing this my computer is playing the soundtrack to call and response, track number 2 Hang Me Up to Dry. The words take on a new meaning as I watch Kantet. He rings out the clothing and lets the dripping dirty water fall out of them....how many times does God do that to us?!

He sees the unclean filthily water in us and His heart breaks. He rings us out to make us clean the dry, but often we protest it and are blind to our own dirty water. We want to just be hung on the line to let the sun's warmth come dry us (I have the image of a person on the beach sun bathing). We want the warmth of the sun and its comfort without making sure we can really benefit from it. Without being rung out the clothes would be on the line longer and lose their shape and not fit any more. Without God ringing us out that polluted water in us changes our makeup and how God has made us to work. So why would we not want to be rung and then hung to dry? God has then best of intentions for us when He rings us out, we just need to be willing to suffer thought the ringing so the blessing of the drying comes after.


So my challenge for you today (your night my day) is that you welcome the chance for the Lord to ring you clean of polluted murky water. He will then will allow you to be reshaped and dried in the sun. Just as the clothing smells so sweet being lined dried, so will you; the sweet fragrance of the Lord.

Calloused..

We worked hard today... Woke up early like 4:50am wrapped up in my head phones... luckily it wasn't around my neck lol but it was funny... waking up in the middle of the night makes me feel home sick... I put on my head phones... Listened to some Black Keys and Incabus to help me calm down and slow down my heart. Finally 6am came around and everyone started getting up...I was able to hop onto the computer and talk a lil to my boyfriend Victor... it was very comforting... I can see why people/ missionaries out here hold on to every word people in America write... it means the world to me! It helps me remember why it is I am here! Every morning I see Kantet the helper!... Harbadi ya Asabudi! That's good morning in Swahili. He says Sawa Sawa (slang) for thank you, yes, etc... Next question is Chai?... EVERY Kenyan says it... it's their way of asking if I want tea... Chai tea... a gift from the English that they have 5ootimes a day it feels like and its cool but I swear there is something in the tea that makes you have to pee every second of the day but its not all peaches and cream since about 97% of places don't have restrooms, its either a whole in the ground or mayyyybe you'll be blessed with a toilet but no t.p. so it's very important to carry some paper of some sort! Today was a blessed day! we were able to help 2 families! The first was a young girl named Freeda she stays with her grandmother and grandfather. They don't have much but they have a Shamba, a garden and a small farm. We helped make a non grazing troft... pretty much something a cow can eat and drink out of.. they have two cows... The women while we're doing this are pealing potatoes, carrots and the other women are making us chipati. which is like a tortilla BUT wayyyyyyyyy better! Kenyan culture is much like Philippino culture... Luckily my boyfriend is filipino so I know a little about if your offered food... YOU EAT! especially in Kenya what an honor I swear for them to feed us... when they have nothing to be fed is an honor even if it's your 4th lunch, you eat! you must always have at least 2 glasses of Chai... it's like the 12th commandment.. the 11th is "tho shalt must serve chai with sugar!". It was a great time... something that touched me the most was this little girl Lucy.. She was found just a few days before us meeting her :(. When I asked a friend of Freeda's where was her mother, he replied, "shes a street woman!.. you want the baby? You can have her! Take her please!"...sad but its common to hear that... I was lucky to bless the gifts we were able to present the family with and present them to them!... My heart was happy as some would say...The next house was a...well... a bumpy road doesn't explain it quite as well.. but once we got there... The child's name who's family we blessed, her name is Helen. She is 17, bother parents have passed and her 21 year old brother took it upon himself to watch her... He cried hen presenting him with a driving school receipt so he can start to learn how to drive and gave him some staple foods like flour, sugar, salt, soap, animal fat.... It really touched my heart because I know if both my parents were to pass my brother would watch me... and would be very grateful if someone would come by from their heart and bring stapled food...I know he'd make the best of it too... So my prayer is Helen's brother will continue to take care of her and help keep a roof over her head, fresh water and chai :)... After all this we came home! I had a great surprise waiting... the helper Kantet dressed up like a Masai warrior and danced and chanted...a lil later our night guard Jalouson did the same... I was so happy!!!!
All in all today was a great day! Please cont to pray for not just us but the children who we have met, and the ones we're going to meet... Tomorrow sounds like an easy day So I pray I'm able to sleep. Asante Sana for all your prayers! Until next time
Buena Asafiwea

Day 3....

Habari? (how are you?) that is the most conman greeting my hears hear every day but the one that makes my heart melt and my checks hurt from smiling it the "how-are-youuuu?". The little ones on the side of the unpaved, pot-hole infested, muddy road wave and yell "how-are-youuuuu?" as we drive by.

That sound and sight is the one thing that just makes my eyes well up with tears of joy! There is something so sweet and pure about them, how they see the world, and image of God in my head. If I could I would record them...sound and sight. I would make them my alarm clock! I can think of no better way to wake up! Well the smell of chi and Kantet cooking in the kitchen down stairs......I NEVER want to wake up another way!

God knows us so well and gives us the desires of our hearts. My heart for many years and every morning there is no better feeling the the peace in my heart as my eye open to the sights and smells of AFRICA. There was a time a few years ago my heart was sad and my faith in the calling over my life to Africa was fading, but God is so good. He knew that 2007 was the right time for trip one and now it is time for trip three. Each day I see the leading and covering of the Lord over me and this team.

His blessings are so rich! Little things blow me out of the water! Just like yesterday I was able to walk around town knowing where I was, where I was going. I has been a while from the time I have been in town and the gift of a photographic memory was a blessing. In the states I know how to get to point A and point B but there is something different....not a "prompting" of where the next step is taken like it is here. That is something I am praying and asking the Lord for....each step walked in full faith and for-filing the way He wants me to live.

I must run now....there is more on heart and in my head but there is a sweet family at the house that I am dying to me! Kantet's wife and little one are here....they have lives apart for over a year! Yesterday Nancy moved here with the baby. WHAT A BLESSED morning!

Day 2 snap shots

Here are some snap shots of the day....