Sunday in Kisumu

So our first full day in Kisumu was a Sunday! Ashley and I (Dave) decided to get a jump on the day and rose early to go to a Sunday service in downtown Kisumu held for street kids. In Kisumu there are many homeless children, generally orphans or outcasts from the age of 4 and up that steal to provide for themselves. Some of these children end up in the children's jail (which we are going to visit on Friday), but many are left wandering the streets. There is a fairly high incidence of glue sniffing (check the pics) as they look for answers.

We spent our time interacting with the kids. Some spoke English, but the predominant language is Luo - the tribal language in the area and Swahili. We tossed Frisbees and played jacks with the kids while the team we were with cleaned and bandaged wounds received by the kids during the week. The service was entirely in Swahili, so a little difficult to understand, so I spent the time praying for the kids, coming against the demons that plague them. We felt privileged to be able to share a little of God's love with them.

This boy is explaining why he needs glue.

The street team we went with has an orphanage where they have taken in many street children, as well as a ranch that they have kids at as well. Please pray for their efforts.

After the time with the street kids we returned to the house to pick up the rest of the team and walked to church.

Church was in a large green striped tent. The service was in English, so this one we could understand except for the occasional bursts of Swahili. Afterwards we met the pastor who is getting married in a couple of weeks - the day after we leave to return to the states! Everyone we met there is very welcoming and it seems that they all want us to come visit whatever it is they have going on. On Saturday we may go to a group-home type set-up that one of the church members runs out of his home.

Please continue to pray for us and the people of Kisumu. Tomorrow we start the Choose to Wait ministry in a school in an area of Kisumu called Dunga. We will be there twice this week. On Tuesday we'll also start with the Care and Compassion ministry. We expect God to move while we are doing this work, but mostly we want to be used by God, so please pray that we are sensitive to his movement and we can be witnesses for Him and His love to the people we will be meeting over the next week.

We are in Kisumu!!

It's taken a couple of days to get here, but here we are! Kisumu, Kenya.

Most of the team is asleep as I write this. This is Dan writing from Dave's user name, by the way. Here is an update on the happenings with the team. Wednesday night we drove to L.A. and spent the night with Sarah's parents and got up Thursday morning to depart for L.A.X. There we boarded a flight to San Francisco and from there we took off to London. Everything started off with great excitement and enthusiasm!



After a LONG time on the plane we arrived in London quite weary and ready to stretch our legs for a bit. Fortunately the flight from London to Nairobi was a much nicer experience, even though we got stuck on the runway due to a rainstorm in London.



After arriving in Nairobi after 26 hours of plane travel we were ready to get our bags and get out of the airport!

Little did Tom know it would be his bag that got left behind in London!



This morning, (Saturday) we got up and took a drive to Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi. There are about 1.4 million residents in the slum about 5 square miles large. The city's total population is only about 4 million, so over 25% of Nairobi lives in this village full of poverty. We met a pastor named Edward who has set up a kindergarten and vocational school in Kibera to help educate and train the people there and help improve the conditions. We went to the school and met about half of the children. We had a blast playing, singing and praying with them!













After leaving Kibera we ate lunch and took a drive around Nairobi and took in some of the sights.




After this we got our bags and got on another plane to come to Kisumu! This also gave us the opportunity to pick up Tom's bag that had arrived from London. As soon as we arrived we ate dinner, met as a team for a bit and most everyone is asleep now. We look forward to church in the morning and getting to see a little more of the city! We hope to post again soon but internet is slow here, so we will as we are able. Keep checking back for more updates and pictures. We don't have any pictures of Kisumu yet since we arrived at night, but here we are in front of the guest house we stayed in while in Nairobi.



Dan

Only in Kenya

where can you see lions?
only in kenya
come to kenya we've got lions
where can you see tigers?
only in kenya
got lions and tigers only in kenya
forget norway
kenyaaaaa
oh kenyaaaa
where the giraffes are
and the zebra
kenya kenya kenya kenyaaaaa
kenya we're going to kenya
can ya believe it

Here we go!!

7/19/07

Depart LAX 10:00 AM
Arrive at London/Heathrow 7:10 AM on 7/20
One stop and plane change in San Francisco

7/20/07

Depart London/Heathrow 10:20 AM
Arrive at Nairobi 8:50 PM
Non-Stop

8/3/07

Depart Nairobi 11:35 AM
Arrive at London/Heathrow 6:30 PM
Forced over-night in London

8/4/07

Deapart London/Heathrow 6:25 AM
Arrive at Frankfurt 8:55 AM
Depart Frankfurt 10:05 AM
Arrive LAX 12:35 PM

Here Am I

Isaiah 6:8

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

On the other side of the world
She stands on the ocean shore
Gazing at the heavens
She wonders, is there something more
Never been told the name of Jesus
She turns and walks away
What a shame

Just across the street in your hometown
Leaving from his nine-to-five
Gazing down the road
He wonders, is this all there is to life
Never been told the name of Jesus
He continues on his way
What a shame

Whom shall I send?
Who will go for me?
To the ends of the earth
Who will rise up for their King
Here am I, send me
Here am I, send me

Whether foreign land or neighbors
Everyone's the same
Searching for the answers
That lie within your name
I wanna proclaim the love of Jesus
In all I do and say, Unashamed

Whom shall I send?
Who will go for me?
To the ends of the earth
Who will rise up for their King
Here am I, send me
Here am I, send me

How beautiful are feet of those who bring good news
Proclaiming peace and your salvation

Whom shall I send
Who will go for me
To the ends of the earth
Who will rise up for their King
Here am I, send me
Here am I, send me
Here am I, send me

Vaccinations :(

If you haven't gotten yours - and you plan to use the county, get your appointment soon! I called today (5/8) and the first availability was June 7th! They said on the phone that they do not handle malaria Rx's, so you'll have to get that from your regular Dr.

Garage Sale Stuff!!!!

We need your help!!! We want to have the biggest, greatest, most stupendous garage sale ever - and the only way that will happen is if we have a bunch of stuff to sell! Search your houses, beg your neighbors, go dumpster diving (or maybe not)... Find us stuff to sell!!

Cameron is in charge - so let him know... we will work to find a place to keep stuff until the magic day, but we need all we can get!

Post a comment, or email Cameron if you want him to contact you for pick up!