Babies, Kids, and Teens

This week has been a busy week with OVC. We started a few of our new schools this week and continued with some of our old ones.

AIC Ramba
   It was my third time returning to this nursery school. The ages range from about 3-7 years old. The teachers at Ramba are so happy to see us every time we come.  We teach them a bible story. This week was God is Merciful. We told the story of the Prodigal Son and taught them a memory verse. One of my favorite things about Ramba is that the teachers go over the material each Friday, so every time we come back the kids actually remember some things we taught them. I love that the teachers care that much.
    After the lesson we went out and played with the kids. All of the kids went over behind one of the buildings into a huddle. Another kid came over and told us what was going on. There was a snake. By the time we got over there one of the kids chopped its head of with a stick. TIA (This is Africa)
  
   While some of us were at Ramba another group was at Mount Carmel, one of our new schools. They are Jr High and speak English. I am excited to report how that goes next week.

Riatt
   After a 15 minute matatu ride and a 25 minute walk we finally made it to our next nursery school. We taught the same lesson at Ramba due to their age. The kids at Riatt are so well behaved. It is a nursery school that is owned by a Kenyan pastor and his German wife. They opened it because their were so many young children where they lived and they would have to walk a long way to go to school. It is one of the cutest schools I have seen and it is located in one of the most gorgeous places in Kenya. It is such a blessing to walk through the hills and see this school. And to travel all that way just to speak the word of God.
   When we were done and the school day was over we were walking with the kids. (about 3 kids holding each hand) What might we find? A monkey that was killed then hung. The monkeys eat the corn so they killed them. They hung in the tree to warn off the other monkeys. At least the kids seemed to get to kick out of it. TIA

The Rock
   The Rock is an orphanage as well as a school that focus on taking in street boys. We started a VBS with the younger children (while I was at Riatt) and we also started a Bible study with some of the older kids. We have 17 kids/teens ranging from 10-17 years old. Since it was our first day we just wanted to get to know them a little bit better. We did a name game as a large group then split up into our small groups. Mary and I have a group that we will be with the rest of the time we are here. Our group named us Team Jesus. One of the greatest things about spending time with these kids is that they speak English. It sounds silly but it is amazing. The first thing they did before they would converse was tell us that we are welcome and that they are happy that we are there to teach them the word of God. ALL of them are so eager to learn. Anne and I went to The Rock Monday for a minute and talked to one of the boys who was going to be in our study. He told us that he was so excited that we were coming because he wanted to learn and grow in Jesus. The boy is only about 15. All of the kids are total orphans and all of them are so happy and loving. Everyone has huge dreams for the future. It was so amazing to sit and get to know these kids. We will need huge prayers for their spiritual growth.

Pandipieri
   It is a large catholic school across the street from us that has a couple thousand children. It was our first time teaching there. We again got to speak to students who understand English. When we go to nursery school we always us a translator, but we were able to teach and ask questions all on our own. The kids were 12-15 years old. We told the story of the prodigal son and asked more challenging questions. It was awesome to be able to really jump into the Bible with the kids. Although I think that was the first time I have been in a classroom where at least half the class already knew the story. Praise God for Kenyans love of the Lord! Mary also taught them a fun song that they loved. At the end when we had to leave they were almost tackling us to shake our hands good bye. They definitely enjoyed it.

New Life Orphanage
   There is an orphanage here that Mary and I will be going to on Mondays, our "days off." We just love the babies. On Friday we went there to set everything up with the orphanage. We got to feed the babies, hold, and play with them. New Life takes in abandoned children, HIV Positive children, and they have an amazing special needs program. We talked to the people running it and they were so excited that we were going to help, due to the fact that they have so many kids/babies. One other thing they were happy about was the fact that we as westerners play with the babies. Kenyans don't really play with the babies so they were hoping that we would be a good influence. I guess I can handle playing with babies. :)

Holy is the Lord God Almighty

Jessica