Mathare Valley & Sweet 16 Birthday Parties

Krystal, one of my best friends from ACU, moved to Nairobi this summer. She is an amazing woman of God, and an inspiration to me by the way she is serving children in Kenya! Even though we are both working here in Nairobi with similar jobs, we live very different lives, and minister to very different people groups. She is working for an organization called Missions Of Hope International in a slum called Mathare Valley.

Houses walking through Mathare

Kids working hard in school

Last Monday I had the opportunity to go to work with Krystal and see how God is using this organization to impact the community in Mathare Valley for His Kingdom in incredible ways. I got to meet all the kids that Krystal is showing Christ's love to each day as she goes to the school! It brought joy to my heart to see how all the children love Krystal so much- It is because they are drawn to her because Christ is so evident in her life!

"No dumping" - walking through the Valley opened up my eyes, once again, to the harsh living conditions and realities facing so many children and families in Nairobi.

My new friend Esther sells bananas and fruit each day next to the school.

While Krystal's primary responsibility is focusing on Social Work in Mathare Valley, she also finds time to love on and minister to 6 of the high school girls from the school. Many of the girls have been sexually abused, physically abused, and have grown up in the streets, among drugs, pain, hunger, suffering, and just trying to make it through. Yet, God is providing hope and redeeming his children through Missions of Hope International, and through Krystal. It was such a blessing to get to go and love on these children for the day! We got to eat lunch with them, play games and talk with them at lunch, and go to a couple of the classrooms and even do a home visit with one of the students!

Fun games at recess!

I am always amazed at the joy of the children, and the Kenyans here.

God is the ONLY sustainer and satisfaction for our souls.

While I am not working with students who live in the slums, I am privileged to serve and love on high school students who are in desperate need of God's love as well. Two weekends ago, I was invited to a friend's Sweet 16th Birthday Party! It was a blast- we danced, played hide-n-go-seek in the dark with glow sticks, had birthday cake and dinner, there was even a station to decorate your own cupcake, paint your nails, play darts, and play card games! (This was very very different from the students I met in Mathare...)

God has taught me in a new way through these very different experiences of walking through the slums of Nairobi, and going to a birthday party of a 16 year old girl, that everyone needs Christ. No matter who you are, where you come from, what your socioeconomic status is- we ALL are in a desperate state and need of a savior.

Paul's words to the church in Ephesus resonate with me loudly after processing these two experiences:

"The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities." (Ephesians 3: 6-8)

A day in the life...

Every day here has been different and has it's own exciting moments. Today I went downtown to the immigration office and to a soccer and basketball game to watch some of my high school friends. Nothing too out of the ordinary... However, yesterday was extremely eventful...My roommate Michelle and I have decided we want to try to train for the 1/2 marathon here in Nairobi... Yes, with all the Kenyan world class runners. We are going to probably come in last place (considering who we are up against) but it will be an adventure. So yesterday morning we ran 3 miles.

I got home from my run to find one of my roommates with a flat tire... after trying to help her, and baking brownies for my friend Anita's sweet 16th birthday, I went back to pick up Michelle. We proceeded to go for the first time ever to Hillcrest High School in Nairobi, where Anita goes! God is so sweet and gracious in allowing us to get there safely, find Anita quickly (she was the first student we saw on campus), and I even got to reunite with two of my campers from last summer- I didn't even know they all went to school together! We ate lunch with Anita, got a tour of her school, met all her friends, and even saw some monkeys trying to steal student's lunches in the field. Only in Kenya! The brownies were a hit, and we met tons of new kids & invited them to our BlueSky event this weekend. God is good!

On the way home from lunch we decided to go on a little escapade... to find a candle store. Yes. There is a local Kenyan man makes candles in his home, and since I just moved here, and the power has gone out in our house a few times already, I through it be wise to invest in some candles. We got directions from our roommate Kim who has lived here for 10 years and has been to the candle shop man times. Upon following the directions... well, there are not really street names in Kenya so directions are difficult... we drove for about an hour looking for the "dirt road on your right, go through the gate and the candle shop is inside his house"...

It sounded kinda sketch. But we were willing to go out on a limb (:

Soon Michelle and I stumbled upon a gate with an intercom...I told them we were looking for the candle shop and to our surprise, the gate opened magically! At the end of the bumpy dirt road, there were a herd of beautiful horses on our left, and through the green thick forest there was a cute little house at the end of the road! But this was not the candle store. We instead met a new friend, a lady named Georgina, in her bikini, getting ready to lay out on her whimsical and enchanting Hansel and Gretel-Like porch with candles and lamps galore! Haha however, this was not the candle shop. But, Georgina knew exactly where the the candle shop was! Yay, we were on our way again. Michelle and I went exploring following Georgina's directions: "Make a left after the set of 3 speed bumps, then immediately following take another left, then you will see a sign with a sail boat on it. Turn right onto the dirt road and Mr. Stewart's house will be at the end of the road." Again, a little sketch.

After 30 more minutes of driving, instead of finding the candle shop or Mr. Stewart's house, we found a car mechanic shop, a random person's house with a cute little baby crawling outside in the garden, and finally found... The Nairobi Giraffe Center! We were utterly lost, but pleasantly surprised by a pack of 5 beautiful giraffes!!! (And a sign on the side of the road that said "Giraffe Crossing"... WAY different than in Texas where you see walkway signs or signs for a"Deer Crossing.")

Michelle had never seen a giraffe up close before, so I told her she should get out and try to touch it! haha I pulled over next to the rocky ditch, then the ground plateaus out a little just before the gate where the giraffes are sticking their long necks over- curious as to what we were doing. Right as Michelle walked up to try to get close to the fence, one of the giraffes stuck its head over the fence. In a panic, Michelle took a step backwards and down into the ditch performing a back flip roll! She amazingly landed on her back with her feet behind her head. haha...it was hilarious!! We were laughing and laughing... we couldn't stop because we were then not only thinking about how funny it was that she just fell, but also this whole experience we had just gone through of trying to locate a random candle shop. We finally composed ourselves, fed and petted the giraffes for a minute, then were back on our merry way home! It was quite the day!

Overall, I'm VERY thankful for God's provision: good friends and roommates, Birthdays, Brownies, good directions, hilarious moments, and Michelle Peteet and her gracefulness.

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Colossians 4:2-6

In other news... Tomorrow morning I am going to the International School of Kenya to make an announcement at their weekly assembly for the BlueSky Middle School Event this Sunday afternoon. Please be praying for this opportunity, and that the Middle School and High School events would go smoothly, that students would see Jesus through our team, and these times we get to spend together would further the Kingdom.

BlueSky Kick-Off!

(@ the Kick-Off!)

-Loulou, Sandi, and Me-

(Loulou was in my cabin 3rd session, & Sandi was a Junior Counselor! They are awesome!)

This weekend was the High School BlueSky Kick-Off!!

God is so good. He brought about 50 students from 7 different schools to the event. We grilled hamburgers, had a rock-climbing wall in the back yard, played on a slack line, and a big game of volleyball! It was a blast getting to meet new students and hang out with ones that we already knew. During the month of September we are hosting different events each week while we are waiting for the Rock Climbing Gym to be built. Once the gym is complete, we will have the BlueSky weekly meetings (similar to Young Life Club) at the Rock Gym in Diamond Plaza. Please continue to pray for our team as we reach out to students students in Nairobi!

"The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining" 1 John 2:8

"At the Third Beating the Women Wept"

In his book Let the Nations Be Glad!, John Piper retells the compelling and incredible story of a Maasai Warrior named Joseph. This story especially hits home to me, since I am living in East Africa and recently spent time with the Maasai people.

"One day, Joseph, who was walking along one of these hot, dirty African roads, met someone who shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The power of the spirit began transforming his life; he was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and share that same Good News with the members of his local tribe.

Joseph began going from door-to door, telling everyone he met about the Cross of Jesus and the salvation if offered, expecting to see their faces light up in the way his had. To his amazement the villagers not only didn’t care, they became violent. The men of the village seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village and left to die alone in the bush.

Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a waterhole, and there, after days of passing in and out of consciousness, found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from people he had known all his life. He decided he must have left something out or told the story of Jesus incorrectly. After rehearsing the message he had first heard, he decided to go back and share his faith once more.

Joseph limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. “He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the Living God,” he pleaded. Again he was grabbed by the men of the village and held while the women beat him, reopening wounds that had just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die.

To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised, scarred—and determined to go back.

He returned to the small village and this time, they attacked him before he had a chance to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably the last time, he again spoke to them of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him began to weep.

This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life and nurse him back to health. The entire village had come to Christ."

This story of Joseph reminds me of Paul, forsaking all that he had for the sake of the Gospel.

We see in this story how Joseph, like Paul, rejoiced in his sufferings, and had compassion toward all people by wanting them desperately to know the hope and salvation found in Christ.

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints." Colossians 1:24-26

"Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." -Ephesians 5:1-2

May we daily be people who are walking in love, carrying our cross each day as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.