♫ Step-By-Step ♫

♫ Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You

I will seek You in the morning,
I will learn to walk in Your ways,
And Step-By-Step You lead me
And I will follow you ALL of my days. ♫

This was the song echoing in my mind for most of the bus ride home from this past week spent in Mwanza, Tanzania. Jessica, Marieke, Anne, and I all had to "relocate" out of Kisumu because of the potential violence associated with the recent Constitutional Referendum vote and count. Praise God that it was an overall peaceful vote and count.

Mwanza was beautiful and full of adventures, but we certainly missed our Kisumu home. Jessica and I tried to have the best time possible, but the best way I can describe it is that it felt like we were stuck in an airport on a very long layover. Our time here is quickly coming to an end, so since we left Kenya, we were suddenly in the mindset to go home, but we were still so very homesick for Kisumu. Thus, we were homesick for two places- while trying to adjust to a new culture.

BUT- Christ's Hope in Tanzania is a beautiful ministry, and I was grateful to get to check it out. The director, Assed, graciously allowed us "Referendum Refugees" to stay in the new office house that is in the process of being finished. Jos and Sylvia were also there doing the Choose to Wait training, so even though ministry during the week was not possible, we got to interact with the national volunteers who were all so welcoming and friendly to us. It was funny at times because unlike Kenyans who almost all speak English, most Tanzanians speak kswahili and very few speak English... which led to interesting communication situations, especially when trying to jump on a matatu to town, or buy simple necessities like water. At the end of the week, we got to do a hospital visit, and get to know some of the street boys that are housed by Christ Hope- and we for sure had a lot of fun singing, playing futbol, and eating delicious rice and beans :)


Now that we're back in Kisumu, we have just little less than a week left of our stay. So what does the ministry look like for the rest of this week?

-Thursday: A day spent with Rock Ministries... including taking them all swimming in the afternoon.
-Friday: The Raman Center children's prison
-Saturday: Nyahera kids are meeting up with Manyatta kids AND Mama Eunice's 65 orphans AND the Rock Ministries kids for a fun day of games, skits, and lunch. By combining all the Ministry Care Points and others, we hope that the children will feel a sense of community- that they are not alone in what they face daily.


Sunday and Monday will be our days to spend saying our goodbyes, finishing up last minute things, and of course packing.

And then Monday evening Jessica and I will jump on a plane to return to the US.




Where did this summer go???



Mungu Aku Bariki,
Mary