Church Relocation Project - Take 2

Just when we thought yesterday was a "fun" day the Lord surprised us. As I had forgotten to mention, we had taken the dismantled tent home and had made arrangements to drive it up to Maasai land (an hour plus away). All was in motion until the next morning when Robbie let us sleep in uncharacteristically late. At one point I actually refrained from leaving our room and using the restroom lest I remind him that he had two fully capable young men in his house as free labor, lol. When I finally mustered the courage to leave the room I heard voices other than Robbie's resonating from the front porch. Wearing my "jammies" and wanting to avoid social interaction of any kind in the morning I rushed to the restroom and darted back into our room. About an hour later Robbie bursts into the room belting with a classic song of extreme volume to wake us up. This is a customary morning for us out here. I didn't know it until after breakfast but Robbie had a surprise visit from Pastor Duncan of U-Turn for Christ (the ministry I have been teaching at) and his father. It turns out they had come by to ask if they could borrow the giant church tent. The crazy irony was that they didn't actually know we had already torn it down, had it in our possession that very moment, and had plans to drive it up to Maasai land over an hour away. This proposition then saved us a long and arduous trip! There are simply no words for how things just miraculously work out. Yet another amazing, Spirit-led "coincidence" I suppose, lol. Man our God is just so good! So instead of driving it out to Maasai land, we drove only about 30 minutes away to U-Turn and dropped it off with the men there. What a relief! Then from there we traveled to the church grounds to assess the chicken coop situation. Pastor Robbie originally came up with the idea to take the existing chicken coop as is and literally "tie" it down to the top of the roofless land cruiser. It would be secured onto the steel cargo cage on top near the rear of the car. It seemed "plausible" but Nathan and I had our doubts. We shared them with Pastor Robbie but to no avail. "Let's at least try guys" he told us, and we agreed it was worth the effort.

Once we arrived to the scene and took a better look at the coop our minds were quickly made up. It became abundantly clear that there was NO WAY that thing was going on top of the car. It was way too big in all directions and even if by some miracle we lifted it above out heads and got it up there, it would have never stayed atop the car for long. So we were back to square one. Instead Nathan came up with the idea of laying a tarp down on the ground and back seat of the car, and putting the chickens on that for transport; basically bare minimum transport. His idea was logical, cheap, and doable, so we agreed to try it. But first we had to catch them and bind their feet. This was a long and tedious process, and once you factor in that we are a couple of city-dwelling, So-Cal boys, it multiplied the strain a few times over... Unfortunately Nathan had to catch the chickens by himself, first because there was only one pair of gloves and second because somebody had to tie the chicken's feet after Nate caught them, Robbie cut the string used for tieing, and Rumpei (our own personal Maasai warrior) filmed, lol. I was personally ecstatic that we filmed some of it cause it was downright hilarious watching Nate try to corner whole flocks of chickens and lunging at them with his hands. We eventually caught them all, loaded them into the car, and began our long journey to Maasai land with Nathan and I scrunched in the front seat with Robbie. I had to practically hang my torso out the window to create breathing room--a position that gave me quite the killer neck ache and left-sided rib bruising, lol. All and all the chickens were transported safely and I rode on the back tray home admiring the awe-inspiring moonlight. We arrived home beat up, bruised, talon-cut, covered in chicken poo, pee, and feathers and were ready to call it a day. And so we did. Yet another day of accomplishment. What an adventure!

Church Relocation Project - Take 1

As you know from Nathan's last post, the Spirit has led Pastor Robbie to move Living Water Christian Fellowship. We have begun the large task of changing locations to the nearby Nairobi Youth Hostel. It had been a previous location of Living Water years ago and because of a movement of the Lord, the owner's heart was overjoyed to receive the church back in spite of their fairly new "no church" policy. The location is prime, the rent substantially lower, the resources limitless, and yet all of these blessings and more may never have fallen into place had not the church been robbed and the emotions and events which followed. Is not our Lord amazing?! Since being out here I have been speechless over the Word of God coming alive before my eyes, specifically the verse, "For all things work out for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Our preparations have included so much, but much of it began with our need to dismantle the tent our church service was held under. As you saw from one of Nathan's pictures it was quite the task and required nearly the entire congregation. Once it was down we loaded it into the car. Most of the poles felt nearly 85 pounds, some even more! Needless to say Pastor Robbie's large and durable land cruiser felt slightly lower once all of them were tightly loaded. We crammed the car with a few other remnant articles "barely" and to top it off tossed the baptismal pool as the pinnacle. It looked like the ultimate reject top-hat, lol. Because we had nothing to tie it down with Nathan and I had to hold onto it for the entire car ride.

There were definitely a few turns and abrupt traffic-induced stops that nearly lost it for us. I eventually had to stand up in the car and constantly hold the back rim while facing backwards thus having the joyous privilege of staring at passer-byes and drivers behind us. I must say, out of the many weird things Kenyans have seen on the road, a Mzungo (foreigner/non-African, aka WHITE) standing backwards in a roofless land cruiser, gripping a giant, bucket-like tub was definitely a first. We got home with no problems aside from sore arms and fingers that felt like they were ripping from the joints and we then prepared for babysitting at Jonathan's (Pastor Robbie's Assistant Pastor). Jonathan had planned a special "date night" with his wife Adrian so we got to have fun hanging out with his two sons Josiah age 4 and Christopher age 2. I had completely forgotten how exhausting watching two kids of that age all night is. I would swear children run on nuclear power cells sometimes, lol. Not to mention our church tear-down earlier that day, so we were WIPED. That night I don't think I slept. I'm pretty sure I was more or less in a coma. It would have take a cataclysmic event beyond reckoning to wake me up that night--that or too much water before bed. All in a hard days work. Little did we know what would come next.

Last Service

Church in a Car

Tearing Down Church

Worship

Service

The Body

Servanthood

With every single day that comes and goes it has been so amazing to see God breaking us down and molding and shaping us into the men He wants us to be. It seems the longer we our out here the more filled out our schedule is becoming, but we are still getting so much time in the Word as well as awesome devotions and conversations with Robbie.

This week has been very action packed as we have been assisting Robbie with re-locating the church. We have been doing things such as cleaning the church as well as disassembling furniture and any other odd-end jobs Robbie has for us. Oh and for the record, I am never again gonna complain about moving a box at home and finding silverfish, because the critters around here.......wow. It has been hard labor but it has been such a indescribable blessing to help out the church. The body here is awesome without exaggeration before church every single member of the congregation greets one another...with out the pastors prompting. Rainier and I have also been touched on just their effort and dedication as well. This past Sunday was the last service as their current facility and almost every member stayed a least a little while afterword to help with the final tear down of the church. Also a great majority of them do not have cars and rely on public transportation (which is terrible) and walking. It was an all day tiring effort--oh and towards the end of the day Rainier and I were tasked with emptying the baptismal which consisted of taking these small toy buckets and carrying the water back into the main tank. I believe we had about three solid trips back and forth before somehow I was at the bottom of the baptismal with Rainier towering over me. The church got a kick out of it and are slowly but surely starting to understand me and Rainier's humor. We have both been trying to truly do everything we do here to the best of our ability and as unto God.

This next week we are going to continue to assist Robbie with his needs and the needs of the church. We are also going to be going to Maasai land to build chicken coops and bring them chickens as well as continuing to help at the U-turn for Christ ministry. Please keep up the prayers. Lord Bless!!

A Heart of Gold

A few days ago we drove all the way out into Maasai territory. The drive alone was something spectacular. To see the vast, rolling green hills wrapped in a perfect blue sky was nothing less than breathtaking. The sky was filled with cotton-ball clouds as far as the eye could see. Lifting your eyes from the land to the heavens was like taking in a giant painting with flawless brush strokes. There's a saying that the Lord spends His days painting the sky for His children. Here in Kenya, it's absolutely true. We finally arrived at our destination about an hour or so away "up country" and once again it was like entering a alien world. Living in the states all my life I rarely see certain scenes: carts pulled by donkeys, men shepherding herds of cow, sheep, or goats along the open road, elderly women carrying bundles of sticks and twigs too heavy for a normal man to lift over miles of distance, or almost running into a giant bull in the middle of the road to name just a "few". Yet another reminder that I'm not in Kansas anymore : / . We arrive at the plot of land that Pastor Robbie's ministry owns and he begins to survey the land. We began preparations for building a chicken coop out there for the Maasai women they minister too. Much of these preparations must be accomplished quickly as our schedule is ever changing. After measuring off certain areas and doing some scratch-work math in our heads concerning amount of chicken wire and wood planks we would need we headed back the way we came. I was going to be teaching the study at U-Turn that day and having been on the road nearly all day I did not feel completely prepared. Though I had spent a week working on the sermon, I tend to always feel a level of nervousness right before an oral "presentation," especially if that day wasn't spent reading or praying in preparation.

Robbie dropped us off a few hours before the study was scheduled to take place so Nathan and I spent some time with our new friend Obadiah. Obadiah went through the U-Turn for Christ program himself and since then has led a clean and sober life. He is apart of the leadership now and is a personal encouragement to Nathan and I. The intense love and adoration of His Savior is like nothing I have seen in the longest time. Almost everything he says is form of praise to the Lord, or personal gratitude and encouragement to us for coming all the way from the states to minister to men like him. Many times during my personal talks with him I have left inspired and moved by--not only his, but many Kenyan's passion and zeal for the Lord. Many of them were born and still live in the lowest of the low conditions, yet are happier and my joyful than most Americans I know. It blows me away! At one point Obadiah was excited to show us his "apartment" attached to the men's barracks, which in actuality was a sheet-metal attachment to a shack. It was no larger than 12 by 8 feet (his entire apartment) yet he himself was overly ecstatic to have us sit on his bed and merely fellowship with him. And as I sat there on his itchy bed, looking around the thin metallic walls, at spider web in the upper left corner, the musty clothes he was hang-drying in the walkway to his bed, the picture of his nephew nestled in-between two calendars that seemed to be picked up from the ground, and his few pairs of shoes set neatly before his mattress, and then I looked over to him as he sat there laughing with Nathan. His smile was so genuine. His laugh so deep. He spirit so joyous. I looked hard and earnestly, and realized that he--possessing so little--had more life in him than countless others I had met back at home. Obadiah just seemed to emanate a peace and thankfulness that I as an American could not even hold a flickering light to. It was a that point I really saw how spoiled I was. I saw how much I take for granted. I saw how little I am thankful for. I looked deep into my heart and realized that living in his conditions I could never see myself (as a proud U.S. citizen) living in those conditions, and yet here he was, was content--No, more than that--he was happy. I need that. I need that "thankfulness in all things" as the Bible tells us, and it was beyond words to see it so alive in Obadiah. I taught that night and the Spirit moved. The Lord blessed me with a powerful sermon that left many to come and thank me. I shook their hands like many do after teaching a sermon awkwardly knowing that I had nothing to do with that study, and that if not for the Lord it would have been a train-wreck. Many people approached me to tell me how encouraged and moved they were to have Nathan and I minister to them, but as Obadiah approached me from the rear of the men I knew in my heart that I was learning much more from them then they could ever know. That it is their example to me that was far more valuable than a simple "good" or "powerful" or "moving" sermon. I shook their hand genuinely thanking them in my heart. And once Obadiah made it to me, I embraced him in a deep hug. The Lord is showing me so much more than the stadium seating, spotlight stage and podium-performance ministry that I have seen all my life in the states. And I couldn't be more thankful. Praise our Lord Jesus Christ.

hhhhuuuunnnnnggggrrrryyyyy

i miss soup plantation, chipotle, taco bell, and red robin.....alot

When Satan Attacks

It has been a hard first three weeks--joyous, adventurous, and spirit-led--but still hard. About a week ago, during a casual and routine check on the church Pastor Robbie noticed there was something very wrong. We arrived at the gate and the tenant/groundskeeper didn't come to the gate. We honked and called but no reply. Robbie asked me to scout the premises so I climbed the wall and slipped through the electric wiring, which was thankfully off at the time (praise the Father, lol), and continued to walk about the premises. I had only been to church a couple times prior and did not know what to look for, and yet I too began to feel that something was different. Robbie asked me to check certain doors and peer through specific windows and I could never see any movement. I called out for the groundskeeper a few times but heard nothing. "What happened here?" I thought to myself. Robbie then asked me to check if the refrigerator was still there. I looked through the window he instructed me to look through but because of the angle and my unfamiliarity of the room, it was very hard for me to give a clear answer. The chickens were there, certain key things were still around, but there was still something very eerie about the environment. I began to check ALL the doors and windows one more time when I came upon a door that was open. It was the tenants living quarters. With a quick jolt the door came open and with it the smell of musty water and mud. Like something out of a crime investigation TV show I slowly opened the door and peered around every corner. I stepped in very cautiously, not knowing what I might find. It was dark and dank. I instantly noticed a smell, but could hardly pin-point anything particular. Between an unflushed toilet, unwashed dishes, and muddy footsteps leading into the room, it was impossible to figure out. The desk was musty and unkempt. The shelves and drawers messy, with seemingly random belongings tossed haphazardly within them. The mattress Robbie asked me to look for was missing, leaving a wooden skeleton behind. I reached for the pillow laying on the bare wood and it was soddy and old in texture. There was such an intense eeriness about the room as I imagined the tenant laying his head on that pillow and working on the cluttered desk. But as I stepped back to view it all, with the few mosquitoes and flies wizzing about, I thought to myself, "How can someone live like this..."

I returned to Robbie and Nathan who remained at the gate. I told him of my findings and it clearly irked him. During all this time Robbie had left and returned with someone to hammer away at the lock we had on the gate. Once Robbie was in we opened as many doors as we could and more evidence arose. The main room where we have our Inductive Bible Study class was almost empty. A thin mattress that once covered a futon-like couch was now gone. A few chairs and mini-tables, and even the clock on the wall was gone. Down the middle of the room was a distinct trail of muddy footprints leading to a door. It was the kitchen. There was an emotion of reluctance to even open it, but once we did it only took a moment to realize the expensive refrigerator was gone, as well as a number of nice dishes, cutlery and various other kitchen utensils used for ministry. We continued our examination to the back of the church where the chickens were. Pastor Robbie took a look around and instantly noticed a problem. Some of the chicken were missing. And of the 30+ eggs, there were now only a handful. We returned back to the front of the church and opened a large storage unit attached to the groundskeeper's room. Robbie stepped in and put his hands on his hips in disappointment. A number of the churches congregational seating chairs were gone. Only a few of the large quantity remained. After weighing all the evidence it became clear. As painful as it was to accept, the tenant (a trusted and well-loved brother of the church for over 2 years) must of had something to do with it... There was no breaking and entering. Everything was closed and locked up nicely when we first arrived (aside from his room), even the water had been turned off and on top of everything missing, the tenant was one of them... We were hit hard that day.

I was so powerfully moved by Pastor Robbie's maturity and cool-headed persona. It was more than clear that we was bothered, but not infuriated or even angry for that matter. If anything, it was clear he was harboring a broken heart. As expressed to us himself, it had so little to do with what taken. It was the heart of the matter, the person who "might" (as he so often was careful and loving to say) have been involved that hurt him the most. A friend and congregant. A beloved brother. It was clear here that Satan's most painful attacks come from within, from amongst the body. He has learned that oppression doesn't work. He has seen in history time and time again that attempting to "destroy" the church from outside forces only strengthens and sharpens the brethren... but a Judas within the ranks. What a sharp stab that can be... Please pray for the Holy Spirit's leading and guardianship of the church. Pray for loving-kindness and forgiveness to flourish among the church members towards our fallen brother. Pray for repentance, restoration, and redemption of the tenant. Pray for our Father's guidance and leading of the events to come. Pray for strength and endurance for our Pastor Robbie during such a trying endeavor. Please pray for everything.

As a short praise report--being as this is not completely up-to-date and happened about a week ago--the Lord has already begun to move within the church for drastic change. Our Father in His goodness has put it upon Pastor Robbie to make certain variations and has given him complete peace about them. Though it was a painful blow the church is quickly recovering over the temporal materials stolen. Please continue to pray for everything above, along with the praise and worship of our Lord for His quick and speedy work within the body concerning healing and regrowth. Thanks again everybody!

Random Non-chronological Memories Thus Far

1: Our very first night with Pastor Robbie Gordon, we stepped out onto his front porch and using his 5 million candle-light powered spotlight we shined out its rays into the dark abyss and saw two hyenas out in the game park. We could see the gold reflection of their eyes as they approahced closer and closer. Nathan and I had never seen such dangerous animals aside from National Geographic or zoos, and to be so physically close sent chills down my spine. Eventually we lost them in the darkness and Nathan and I became increasingly happy for the high-powered electric fence separating them from us...

2: Yet another night as we were coming back from the city of Nairobi we stopped at a butcher shop to buy some meat for Robbie's dog, Spicy. At first we remained in the car but Robbie called out to us, so we went to him. Upon entering the shop we instantly noticed the giant side of skinned cow hanging on a hook by one of its hind hooves a foot away from the open door. All manner of insects and flies were buzzing around its uncovered flesh. We went to silently look at each other with mutual disgust when just as I turned my head I saw the BIGGEST MOTH I had ever laid eyes upon sitting on the wall just next to Nathan! With no exaggeration, it was maybe centimeters smaller than my entire hand! And that was with its wings folded! I motioned for Nathan to look at the wall and as he turned the look of shock on his face was photograph worthy to saw the least. He stared at it for a good 20 seconds completely wide-eyed. But nothing could have prepared us for what we would witness next. We took a few steps closer to Robbie as we watched the butcher chop the slabs of meat. Just below the butcher was a glass-windowed show piece shelf with a plate of meat in it. Robbie pointed at it and as we leaned in we saw all kinds of flies, mosquitoes, and moths flying around the plate. Some of which even dead. But what really caught our eye was a giant wasp-like fly that was walking all about the meat. At first it simply caught our eye because we have never seen anything quite like it before. We then became horrified as with every few centimeters it would take its big butt and jab it into the flesh! Again and again it paced the meat as it wiggled its abdomen and injected what looked like larva into to the meat! For coping mechanisms I can't fully explain, I began to chuckle at the grossness of it all, but didn't explode with laughter until I saw the look of aghast horror plastered on Nathan's now pale face. It truly was the MOST DISGUSTING thing I have ever witnessed... We have hence named this creature the "Meat Injecting Butt Fly"

3: One Sunday service, I was listening to Pastor Robbie teach the sermon while Nathan was helping with the kids. We have agreed upon a system in which we switch off every week. That way, we both get to be spiritually fed as well as both get to serve. This time is was my turn to enjoy the study. I had checked on Nathan once or twice because I noticed a large influx of kids that Sunday and had offered to help, but he encouraged me that it was fine and that I could enjoy the study. I accepted his offer and returned to the study. At one point in the sermon I heard what seemed like a child yelling or screaming on the backside of the church. I had noticed a little African boy running around the grounds unattended earlier and wanted to make sure it was not him, so I left my seat to see what the commotion was about. I made it around the corner and to my surprise I found Nathan chasing around a loose chicken that had escaped from the coop. It was quite a hilarious sight. It took us at least 20 minutes chasing around this chicken and we finally cornered it and I grabbed it from under the cone Nathan dropped on it, lol. We had a great laugh over the intense effort and planning it took to catch such a harmless, but troublesome bird.

4: Robbie, Nathan and I were invited and attended an African wedding just recently. We entered the big sanctuary of a large pentecostal church and quickly found our seats. It took only moments for Nathan and I to notice that we were among the extremely few Mzungus in the service. And among us foreigners, Nathan was among 1 of three other fully Caucasian men, lol. We weren't necessarily surprised at all, but it was yet another powerful reminder that we most certainly stand out. And no matter how dark I tan, I can never blend in here. The wedding was beautiful. Though among more modern Kenyans their weddings are not much different from ours in the States, we definitely noticed and enjoyed the extra amount of joyous and loud celebration in a Kenyan Pentecostal wedding. Even their reception is notably more upbeat simply because the tiny contrasts. Instead of a few people dancing or singing, often nearly all of the attendees are dancing in the middle of the giant room or singing enthusiastically on the side. When leaving the reception we made plans to leave in spurts, even though there were only three of us. There is nothing more noticeable in an all-black, African wedding then for the only three "white" guys leaving at the same time, haha. We stealthy exited and while approaching the car Nathan chuckled and said, "Well, 80 percent of the white people are gone..." We all laughed and headed home.

A Backwards People

During one of our daily outings Pastor Robbie saw two younger girls and a young boy alongside of the dirt road. They spotted us and waved enthusiastically at the car. Robbie called out to them using some African tongue and they replied in suit. We pulled up to them and Robbie offered them a ride to their "Shamba" (home) which was nearby on an expansive dirt, mud, and grass compound. As the children approached the car I could more clearly see that they were dressed very differently from the average African I was becoming accustomed to. The girls in particular were wearing bright-colored and beautifully designed, tribal dresses of some kind. We put their things in the back and drove a distance onto the compound. The kids laughed joyously as the roofless land rover jumped and jolted along the bumpy terrain. It was obvious they rarely got the chance to ride in a car and they were having the time of their lives. We soon came upon a small village of Shambas and tin shacks. We let the children out and helped them with their things, and before we knew it people-- children and adults alike--seemed to pour out from all over the place and approach the vehicle. At this point Robbie smiled and explained this was a Maasai village. He told us that he knew the two girls and the boy we gave a ride to through his wife Elizabeth who had been ministering to them for the past 9+ years. The children instinctively ran to the window and began running the hands along the metallic car doors. One boy in particular walked right up to my window and with a giant smile asked me my name. "Rainier" I said, "But you can just call me Ray. What's your name?" He smiled again, reached into the open car window to shake my hand and told me his name was Samuel. Of all the children, he remained at my door and continued to talk to me asking me all sorts of questions. He seemed so powerfully interested in who I was, what I was doing, and what brought me to Kenya.

Though using broken English and sometimes straining to understand my replies, I truly enjoyed my conversation with Samuel. All the while countless men, women and other children approached the car from all sides to shake my hand and greet me with enormous smiles. Most of which spoke no English whatsoever, and so I strived to express my thankfulness and friendliness in my smile and body language. It was such a joy meeting so many tribal Kenyans at once. All of which were so friendly and warm-welcoming! Through all the excitement Samuel never left my side. Always with more questions, and his express desire to see us more "lots" he said, and to bring a "futbol" (soccer ball) to play with him. Almost the entire time Samuel's hand lay on my forearm resting on the open window ledge. He seemed fascinated by my skin which was so much lighter than his own. He even reached in further to grab my bicep and said "show me your big muscles, yeah?" I laughed and was reluctant at first but had the hardest time denying such a sweet face. I rolled up my sleeve and flexed for the him and he grabbed my tense arm with the widest smile. I had seen and noticed it often, but had forgotten that almost all Kenyan have a powerfully similar body type and structure. They are all quite thin and lean. Tight, but necessarily in a muscular way, and all have stereotypically thin arms. I had not fully realized that when seeing me, a pleasantly-plump and husky-thick Mzungo (white/foreigner) I stand out against the norm here in Kenya. I then playfully said "Come Samuel, show us your big muscles, yeah?" and he laughed and rolled up his tiny sleeve and flexed as hard as he could. I reached out and grabbed his arm and expressed the same amazed face he gave me and said, "Wow! Samuel! You are so strong! What do they feed you African boys out here!" He laughed, smiled big and expressed how happy and thankful he was for meeting us. At one point Samuel's hand moved from my arm and reached for my left ear and he said he liked us cause we were good people, "I can tell you good person." With that simple sentence alone I felt my heart melt in my chest. I smiled large back at him and said, "Jesus make me good person. Without Jesus I be bad person. Because Jesus live inside of me He change me. He make me good person." I reached out, put my hand on his head and said, "You good person too! Jesus inside of you too? You born-again?" He nodded his little head, "Yes, Jesus inside of me, I born-again." I praised God and yelled "Amen! High five!" We both smiled so enthusiastically and were now overjoyed to know we had a connection in Christ. At this point Robbie had approached the car and was finishing up a conversation with the Maasai village pastor who then invited us all to an upcoming Maasai wedding. He asked if we would be interested in going and we of course said yes. "Sounds great" Nathan said. I shared the news with Samuel and he was super stoked to know we would be returning at the end of the month, and I told him I would bring futbols, lol.

As we said our good byes and began to leave the compound all the children gathered in a large group and called out to us, waving us along as we drove away. Though possessing so litte, playing with little more tha stick, stones and trash, these little ones had more joy than any other children I had ever seen! And that's saying alot working for the Children's Ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. There was something special and blessed about these little backwater, tribal kids. Robbie began to tell us of the Maasai people, and that they are a warrior tribe. I thought back to the loving way we were greeted and asked if they are like that with all people. Robbie said that normally no regular person would be allowed to simply approach and enter a Maasai village like that, and that we were greeted so warmly because of the work of the Lord through Elizabeth and his ministry to them. They knew them very well and had earned their love and respect. We were accepted because of our connection to them (the Gordon family). At that point I felt so immensely privileged to be able to experience such warmth because God's love now moving through their tribe. Robbie also began to describe that many other Kenyans look down on the Maasai as a strange and backwards people. Compared to many other tribes or people groups living near and in the capitol of Nairobi, the Maasai stand out strange. All for remaining close to their cultural traditions. Even down to what they wear, eat, and do for a living, which is largely cow farming. They are a completely agrarian people. In fact, almost all of the land in and around Nairobi was and still is Maasai land. The word "Nairobi" (the name given to the capitol all Kenya) is a Maasai word to begin with. Much of the land was stolen or bought from the Maasai years ago. Much like the Indian people of America. Because of this, the Maasai are among the very few tribes (if not the only tribe) with certain special privileges. For example, to my current knowledge, only the Maasai are allowed to carry swords and "Rungu" (a special wooden, boomergan-like club) in public anywhere in Nairobi. Even amongst native Kenyans they stand out as an old-fashioned people. It made me think of the Amish community of the States. "What an amazing people" I thought to myself. And how blessed I was to meet them. If you think of it, please pray for the Lord's continuing ministry amongst the Maasai of Nairobi. They are a wonderful people that need Christ powerfully.

Nighttime Survival

Well, it has been a week plus a few days and Nathan and I have already begun our 2 and a half month war with the insects. Robbie, the Pastor of Calvary Chapel Living Water and the brother we have been staying with has given us a pointers for surviving the night without being eaten alive. One of which involves putting the fan on high and pointing it straight on us while we sleep. The theory is that mosquitoes can't land where they can't fly. Simply enough concept... When you have power... Lol, yeah, our power went out and our once "safe haven" of comfort was gone. It must have been seconds after the fan stopped that the endless buzzing began. With the first buzz by my ear I curled into a ball under my thick, quilt-like comforter, while Nathan, who had already pre-prepared to some degree by wearing pants and a sweater to sleep, laughed at me and expressed his thankfulness for thick long sleeves. Hours go by of silence as we both try to get some sleep but to no avail. I broke free from my barrier and walked to the restroom. Upon returning Nathan greeted me with the same tone and "awakeness" as if we had only stopped talking moments prior. It was clear at that point that neither one of us was going to get much, if any, sleep that night. After becoming lethargic on my own carbon dioxide, curled up under a burning hot blanket I yelled, "Forget this!" and I sprung from my bed and amidst the plethora of mosquitoes practically dove for my flashlight. "I NEED my mosquito net!" I thought. I have never moved so desperately at 2 in the morning in all my life, lol. It took a little "Macgyver-ing" but I finally got my net up and managed to lay there in exhaustion pretty darn impressed with myself. :) What a night. One to be remembered for sure...

Kenya Here We Come!

Tomorrow will officially mark our first week here in Kenya, and what a week it has been. Already it has felt like an eternity. We have seen things that have struck our hearts with sadness, and made us laugh with joy. There are so many people here living with nothing, yet a simple hand wave and hello always brings a large smile to there face. Staying here with Robbie Gordon has been a blast. He lives on the outskirts of Nairobi in the sticks, right alongside the "Game Park" filled with every kind of African wildlife you can think of. Just driving home every night is an adventure. When you roll down you window you are almost deafened by the symphony of hundreds of frogs and insects. Robbie's front yard directly overlooks the vast plains and hills of the Animal Reserve and with the naked eye you can see numerous species of animals. There is nothing like waking up for morning devotions, pouring a cup of cereal, and lifting your eyes to see a pack of gazelle in the distance--feet away from them a mother rhino and her baby--and a troop of baboon searching for food. It's amazing! The very first night we arrived we heard hyena calls in the night darkness. We stepped onto the porch and shined his 5 million candle-light powered spotlight and saw pairs of golden hyena-eye reflections in the distance. I had never been so happy for a thin electric fence in all my life, haha. The Lord is already doing mighty things within the calm of our hearts. The quiet times and personal prayer times are beyond words out here. Having the time to wake up when you want, spend one-on-one time with the creator of such a vast, beautiful, and dangerous world, and serve amongst a people who need Him so desperately is like nothing I have ever experienced. Please continue to pray for the indwelling and overflow of the Holy Spirit. We have been so amazed at his leading hand in such a short period of time. I love and miss you all so dearly.