Part 1
Here is the long awaited catch up on some of the things that happened in Siaya, Kenya.
I don't know if I told you, but we were staying with the most gracious hosts anyone could ever want. Pastor Joseph Osindwa and his wife Nellyne opened their doors and allowed us to stay with them even though their house is not large and they have four children plus a nephew who is staying with them. So when Lucas and Sarah were staying with us we had 16 people living there.
I couldn't help but think that only Jesus could make such cramped living quarters draw us closer together instead of creating disruptions in our friendships.
One day Nellyne came to me as I was reading on the couch and began to tell me about her nephew Maxwell who lives with them. He seemed to be a normal rambuntious five year old, but she said his mother didn't want him and had tried to poison him. And that's why this family had taken him in.
He only speaks his tribal language and so it was hard for us to comunicate with him since we only speak English and a little Swahili. And yet it was not been hard at all. He enjoyed goofing off with us and I think he can tell he's loved. His big eyes and wide grin told us better than words how much he likes it when someone gives him attention.
Nellyne asked that I remember to pray for him as well as the rest of the family when we left. And she told me how she had also taken care of one of her husband's nephews a couple years ago.
Nellyne has a heart for boys since she has three of her own and she loves caring for any boy who needs her love.
Please pray for this amazing woman of God and the sweet ministry she has to her family and her church.
We had a crazy last day of the VBS! Every day for a week we tought kids ages 1 to 14 about the fruit of the Spirit. It was a bit difficult since not all the kids understood English and we didn't usually have an interpretor. And by the last day we had about 80 kids there all excited about singing to Jesus, playing with the muzungus, and learning the fruit of the spirit.
On the last day, we brought them cookies and juice and let them play with balloons. It was a huge party! Our team was pretty exhasted by the end of it, but the kids seemed like they could just keep going for hours!
On our walk home, some children yelled across a field at us like they usually do. But instead of the typical "How are you?" They were singing one of the songs we had taught at the church!
As we neared home, a little girl poked here head through some bushes to sing another song from this week.
It made me smile to know we made some kind of positive impact on these kids.
On Sunday we went in at our usual time to get there at 8am and stay there until 1pm. Yes, it's a bit long, but this morning was made more interesting by the fact some little girls who recognized me from the children's ministry. They played with my watch and my hands the whole service. I had to keep taking my hands back when it was time to clap! But it was fun to just be with them.
And Pastor Ezekiel preached. He was one of our translators when we did the door to door ministry a couple weeks ago. So I was able to hear some of his story as we walked from place to place.
We went home for a big lunch, and rested for a bit while it rained and then we took off for a friend's house for supper.
The roads were extremely muddy and a stream flowed down the middle of each path and trail. All our shoes were soaked by the time we reached our destination.
As we were walking back home from visiting a friend, two young men fell in step beside us and soon one of them was asking me how he could be saved. I was surprised by the questions and strongly suspected that he just wanted to talk to a white girl. But there was me, my team mates Kayla and Andrea, as well as our friends Jane Favor, Eugene, and little Jack. I felt there was strength in numbers and so I felt safe enough to try to answer this young man's questions honestly in case he was serious.
We walked for quite a while and soon we were aproaching home. The others conveyed to me that they didn't like this man or his silent friend, and I was beginning to dislike the situation too.
"Hey, Sabrina," said Andrea. "We're going to go this way." And she pointed to the left of an intersection that we usually go straight on.
"Why?" I said. But Kayla gave me a look and I turned my attention back to the young man. I hoped he didn't notice my confusion because I agreed with the others; I did not want these men to see where we were staying. They were giving me an incressingly bad feeling.
So when we had turned the corner I asked them which way they lived. They said they lived farther down in the direction we were now walking. So I stopped by a wall with a huge blue door as the gate and said it had been nice to meet them and goodbye.
They prolonged things by asking everyone's names, and admitting that they were muslims and didn't really think they could believe in Jesus.
Finally, though, we all said goodbye, and they walked away.
Imediately Jane Favor turned towards the blue gate and said "Wellp! Now we're home!"
And everyone joined in to say things like "Yes! It's a good thing we're home!" and "Home sweet home!" Being sure to be loud enough for the departing men to hear every word.
I understood they wanted the men to think this was where we were staying so they wouldn't come looking for us later. I laughed at how convincing everyone was trying to be because they were now saying things like, "Do you have the key?"
"No, I thought you had the key."
"Oh! I think I must have dropped it!"
"Let's look over here!"
"Yes, I think I dropped it over here!"
It was all quite comical. I'm sure it wouldn't have convinced a small child, but at least the men didn't know where we actually lived.
Just then, my team mate Drew and our friend Victor came into view.
Since we could still see the other men still walking away we all ran to Drew saying "Oh! Drew has the key!"
Drew and Victor looked at us like we were crazy. But we all just laughed with relief because the possible danger had been averted.
Later, Victor and Jane Favor said they thought those two men were "hoodlums," which made me all the more glad we went to all that trouble to not show them where we lived.
I promise I will post a blog with lots of pictures just as soon as I can.
Now I have reached Runkungirir, Uganda. It took about 13 hours of sitting on a bus to get here from
Jinja. We had a good time in Jinja with the rest of the squad. It was so good to see all of them again.
But now I'm so excited about being here! One of the things we're doing this month is working with some of the kids sponsored by Compassion International. I think I'm already falling in love with all of them!
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Thank you for your prayers. I can feel them from here!
