As cool as the Jo Bros

What a week! [... I think I start off every blog entry like that...]

Monday: New Life

Oh the babies. I just love the babies. I love loving the babies. I love that I know many of the babies names and personalities. Next Monday I'll try to take some pictures of the babies so you all can know how adorable the babies are :)

And Praise God- little baby Aaron that I talked about last week is in the adoption process... he'll get to grow up with a loving family :) I'm so happy for him!

Tuesday: C & C

Emotional day from start to finish.

One of our patients, George, passed away Monday night, so we started off on Tuesday with his family. The mourning process here is so different than in the U.S. When we got to the house, there were many family members gathered, but no one was crying. In fact, no one even seemed sad. That really confused me and sent my emotions on a roller coaster ride. Sitting with the wife, praying with her, reading her Psalm 23... my heart was heavy with sorrow for the widow, and for the children... but the atmosphere just didn't align with the emotions of sorrow and sadness.

But as we've learned in the Kenya society, people rarely open up. People don't share their emotions. Ask anyone how they are, and they are always "fine." It's just not in the culture for people to share their struggles, their sorrows, their burdens... very unlike America.

Throughout the day we saw a lot of patients that were doing better than last week: Marilyn is looking well, Claudie is doing very well, and Samson was discharged from Christ's Hope services. And a couple patients who are still very down: Arthur underwent his first chemo round on Wednesday, and he could barely sit up to ride the Piki... pray for his treatment and his health, and Evelyn is pregnant but still malnurished, and Irene is a new patient who says she's 30 years old, but barely looks 16 years old. But we ended the day in a bittersweet way with a new patient... whose name is, can you guess it? George. He was very down and barely walking. So we took him to Masseno hospital. It turns out that he has thrush and TB. Praise God that we found him when we did and were able to get him the help he needed. But please continue to pray for George and his lovely wife Maureen as they continue to battle out the health crises that come their way, and pray that they will seek God and recognize His hand in their lives.

Wednesday: Ramba & Mount Carmel

Back to the kiddos.

Ramba is always a breath of fresh air. The small children always greet us and swarm the Tuk-Tuk. They LOVE being taught about God's word. They LOVE learning who Jesus was and is. They LOVE memorizing the Bible verses we give them. And they LOVE coloring and playing games with us. Even though communication isn't great, and more often then not I feel like I'm at a zoo as they stare at me, put their hands on my arms [and feet... sorta gross and I don't understand the fascination with my feet?], and play with my Mzungu hair... these children are just too precious for words and I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with them every week.

Mount Carmel is fun. I really can't describe it any other way. We sing with them, and this week they sang to us. The girls sang and did some dances, and the boys recited a poem. It was very sweet. What struck me this week was the amount of kids who swarm the outside of the building to see what's going on, to hear the lesson, to sing the songs, and to check out the crazy Mzungus.

It reminds me of the verse in Matthew 9:37 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." There are so many children who are eager for the gospel, but people power is needed. We see this over and over again here, the needs are so great but the amount of volunteers are so small. With prayer and people power, Christ's Hope would be able to expand VBS programming and add more ministry care points while still developing the existing ones. Pray for workers for the plentiful harvest.

Thursday: Rock & Pandi

We're connecting with people. We're making friends. At the Rock Bible Study with the teenagers, we all had a chance to share our testimony and why/how we first trusted the Lord and made Jesus our savior. The moment we ended this time- they all seemed to open up a lot more. And they even held me accountable to singing for them... which I promised them the first time we met... not only that, and I don't remember how exactly it happened... but they also convinced me to play guitar. Ok- so I am learning guitar, but I only know how to play a couple songs, and it's really bad... and I couldn't remember like any of the chords when I had the guitar in my lap anyway. I don't think they were that impressed... And now this week, they want Jessica and Anne to sing for them... so we're going to write a rap song for them :) I'm soooo looking forward to it!!! One of the girls, Whitney, joined our group this week, and man, can that girl sing! She also knows so many Christian artists and bands, her knowledge boggles my mind... and now we really have something in common which is a great place to start a good friendship. All the kids at Rock are so amazing and I can't wait to spend more and more time with them.

Pandi Pieri is just across the street (or opposite) from Christ's Hope. It's a HUGE school. When we walked in the gate, already in a joyful mood because of coming straight from Rock, I heard in the distance, "Mary!" Such a warm welcome! Kids line the halls to shake our hands and give us a high five. It's so much fun. And as I walked into the corridor our classroom is in, a group of girls grabbed my arms and led me the rest of the way.

The lesson was good- but the music was fabulous!!! These kids praise God with all their hearts and use their voices so LOUDLY. I'm pretty sure if you listen closely, you'll be able to hear them in California or New York or wherever you're at. Now, at some of the primary schools, the kids enjoy shouting more than singing- but these older kids SING. I get chills every time and it sets the mood for the rest of the week and I look forward to hearing them so much leading up to Thursday afternoon. Also- like Mt. Carmel, a crowd of students hangs outside the door to the classroom and outside the window. I love it.

So just as we were leaving the class- we got swarmed. I don't mean people hanging on to my arms... it became a mob. Am I Elvis? Since when did we become as cool as the Jonas Brothers? [is it ok to make an Elvis reference and Jo Bros reference in the same example?] It was crazy. People were pulling me in all directions and hanging on me and screaming and saying my name and eventually I made it out of the mob but oh man, I have no desire to ever become famous if this is what they have to go through.

I took some video of the group singing- and I'll post it as soon as I can find my camera chord... pray that I find it?

Friday: Nanga Primary

Not the most exciting day today- but satisfying none the less. Jessica, Lillian, and I went to Nanga Primary school at the crack of dawn, well, 8:00 this morning to do the lesson. It was nice and a great way to energetically begin the day. When we got back, I got to make banana bread- my first baking experience in Africa and it's another adventure entirely to figure out how the oven works and how to cook the food evenly in it. Right now, I'm off to buy some food for tomorrow's MCP at Nyahera... and then later tonight the rumor is that we're going to Simba Club for some amazing Indian food!


Thank you all for following and reading these blogs. It's so encouraging for us to read the comments and know that people are joining in prayer for our patients, the children, and us.

and tomorrow is the full day of Ministry Care Points in Nyahera and Manyatta. Pray that the children are spiritually (and literally) fed, and that we'll be able to recognize the needs of each child and have wisdom of how best to meet those needs. We also have 4 guys from the Netherlands here on holiday joining us tomorrow--- I'm sure it'll be something to write about within the next couple days :)

Kwa heri,
Mary