June 22, 2017- Day 5

This morning was tough with being sick. I cried. After staff chapel, Steve (one of my teammates) asked Joseph (the manager of Each1Feed1 in Tharaka) to pray, as well as another one of my teammates, for me. He quoted the Scripture that says where two or more are gathered, ask anything in Christ's Name and He'll do it. It was nice to be prayed for.

The verse/phrase that keeps coming back to me is "No weapon formed against me will prosper."

9:30 p.m.
Despite starting the day in tears, it ended with laughter. I still don't feel too well, but I'm pushing through. No weapon formed against me will prosper. It is my anthem. It's the song that came to me while stuck in customs in Nairobi upon arriving in Kenya. I will walk to this beat....

We have had a lizard in our room for a few days. I felt scared of it at first. Then, I named it Victor. Since naming it, I find myself looking for it, hoping to find it. Today as I looked for it, I thought to myself, "If you are scared of something, just give it a name; it takes the scary away." It's true, you know!

I had the chance to talk to Juliana tonight (missionary to Tharaka for two years). She shared that Baraka (meaning 'Gift from/of God') was abandoned in a forest. They think something must have happened to his mother. They also think she may have been 'special'/mentally ill. He was found with a bag of bras. In a few days, they will age Baraka by his teeth. Until then, we suspect he is around age 3. But you'd think he's not yet 2. He can't speak yet. When he arrived at EOFO (Each1Feed1), he couldn't sit up. He had hip dysplasia because (they think) his mother kept him on her back all the time. He also was malnourished. Knowing all of this, it's amazing to see how happy Baraka is and how much he can communicate, even without words. He's such a sweet boy.

In pre-K today, it was so fun to see the kids doing the Tap, Tap song after I was done teaching it to them. I also loved tickling Susan and Douglas and Antony and Faith and hearing them laugh and squeal and really belly laugh. It made my heart soar.

A hard part of today was watching as a hundred or more students pre-K to eighth grade started their walk home after school. Some come from very far away. There are dangers of being attacked by wild animals and other predators (human).

I missed the Kaguni (Benevolence) group when they came for food distribution yesterday, as I was serving in pre-K. I heard from my teammates that these AIDS stricken women walk 7 miles to get here to get 50 lbs of food that they then put on their backs to walk the 7 miles back home. And I think my life is hard?

Lord, do what you want to do in and through me here. Let me be used by you. Let me be your hands and feet. May I become less so you become greater....

Beginning the walk home after school

Precious Baraka

Baraka

Victor

Teammate Steve

Baraka

Pitchas (Pictures)

Pencils in the pre-K classroom

Laying the bricks around the running/walking track
the construction team built

Baraka. Means 'God's blessing.' What a story he has.

My precious Florinda

The lacing cards had no lace, so I put some
string on them so the kids could do lacing.

Purity wanted me to take a picture of her.

Then she wanted to take selfies. What a story
this young woman has. 

Purity's selfie

One of the house momma's and 'her' baby. 

Sweet Faith

Walking home after school

Furtune ('Fortune)

Center time

June 21, 2017- Day 4

Yesterday ended up being an awesome day despite being frustrated at lunch about being sick. I did get medicine from the clinic and hopefully that will help soon. I was given an antibiotic, zinc, vitamin C, and an oral pill version of an inhaler. All of that cost me only $2.75 in U.S. Dollars. The Kenyan cost? Two-hundred and seventy-five shillings.

It was cool to see Teacher Susan (the pre-K teacher) utilize my strategy of playing with the kids at centers and using the toys to do sorting (tanigrams). Also, the kids...I got them to sort of play together, passing a truck back and forth.

This morning, I did school chapel, teaching about the things that tether us, keeping us from the good things Jesus has for us. It went well.

In pre-K this morning, I taught the kids the Tap, Tap song. They loved it! I also did two finger plays.

During circle time, I noticed one of the kiddos got up. I think she went in the corner behind the teacher's desk and took off her underclothes. She carried them to the grass outside and laid them in the sun. I assume they were wet and needed to be dried.

It makes me sad to know that no one helps to care for her/the children in regards to when they have accidents. In America, when a child has an accident, the teacher helps them get changed and cleaned up, puts their soiled clothes in a bag with their name on it, and the child has extra clothes for such an occasion. Not here. The kids here probably mostly only have one set of clothes. After the little girl's underpants were dry, she put them back on. They didn't get rinsed out. Just dried in the sun. I could smell them as I walked by....

5:07 pm
Today is nearly done. All that's left is dinner and devotions with the kids.

Today was fantastic. I loved teaching chapel this morning. Being in pre-K was again great. Today at center time, compared to Monday, was so great! Monday was really quiet at center time. Today there was so much interaction and noise! I loved seeing Teacher Susan teach the kids the 5 Finger Play I taught them. I enjoyed seeing her do some of the things during activity/center time that I taught her.

After school, before the kids went home who don't live at Each1Feed1, I played a few games with them. 'Dog in the Middle', 'I lost a letter', and some of their African games. I didn't understand the words to them, but it was so much fun! One of their games is a letter game. If the first letter of your name is called, you dance towards the middle with the other kids whose names also start with that letter. It was a blast!

9:00 pm
After a delicious dinner, I headed to evening devotions with my team. I stood in the lit tent with around 39 Tharakan children and several of their house parents. We worshiped to "It Is Well" by Bethel. I can't describe the feeling of singing that song with one hand raised high to Heaven while the other held the hands of two Tharakan children, one of them leaning her head on my arm.

I am more convinced through things I've been hearing that my object lesson of the shadow is what I need to share in my testimony on Monday.

I'm still not feeling well. My ears hurt (probably from coughing so much and so deeply) and I'm hoping not to lose my voice. At times, my throat hurts (burns) and my lungs feel like they're on fire, like I've been running in the cold. I desperately need You, Lord, to sustain me and heal me.

Playing a Tharakan game

"Beautiful are the feet of those" who play games
in the red African dirt with children after school.
Did I say how much fun I had?

June 20, 2017- Day 3

I feel so frustrated about this cough....frustrated about being sick. Emotions...the reality that I really don't know these people I traveled here with.

Lord, I need you. Carry me. Sustain me. Heal me. Let your presence overwhelm me. I look to you, because really, there is none other to look to.

Another thing I noticed that is different about nap time here in Africa is that they don't play music for the kids or rub their backs.

Tomorrow, Jess and I teach school chapel. I think we'll talk about Galatians 5:1 and the cow I saw on the way here.

What kinds of things bind us? Sin. Doubt. Fear. Unbelief. These things keep us from getting to the good stuff: Life. Light. Joy. Peace. Freedom. Blessing. Protection. Favor. Forgiveness. I'll call up 4 kids to be 'tethered'. As I talk, Jess can tie their hands behind their back. Have boxes to represent the good stuff. Kids can't untie themselves. Talk about how only God can untie/untether us.

Carrying the carpet rug they rolled up

Our lizard friend. Named him Victor.
If you're scared of something, just name it.
Giving it a name takes the scary away.
Lesson learned in Africa.