RockTheDesert

Friday

We picked Ashley up from the hospital. She has been at Mayo for 10 days for some testing. Nothing was conclusive. She has a new anti-seizure drug to try. She is staying with us until July 4. Then she'll head back to Orange County. We brought Ashley home where she proceeded to take a shower and wash her hair. Sounds easy, right? Well, they glued the electrodes to her head with this impossible to remove glue. She washed her hair repeatedly and added tons of conditioner. The end result was a giant rat's nest on top of her head. The problem is that all the ends of her hair are stuck in the middle of the glob of hair and glue. She couldn't comb it out. I couldn't comb it out. So I stuck a baseball cap on her head and we headed out to dinner.

We met Joshua and Alyssa at Joshua's new favorite restaurant. OK. This is not a joke. There is a restaurant in Phoenix at 19th Avenue & Greenway. It's called "Chino Bandido Takee Outee. This place has REALLY good food. It's a mixture of Chinese and Mexican. We didn't know how to order. But that was no problem because they have a pre-ordering tasting counter. We sampled the Jade Red Chicken (my favorite), the Emerald Chicken (Dan's favorite), the Jerk Fried Rice, the black beans (fantastic), and the pork carnitas. Everything was really fresh and flavorful. Each entree was a little bit spicy - a really good spicy. Even Ashley, one of the pickiest eaters EVER, loved the food. Instead of a fortune cookie for dessert, they gave us fresh, homemade, fantastic snickerdoodles.

We headed to A & J's house to try to work on combing out the rat's nest again. This time we added a large amount of Goo Gone to Ashley's hair to try to dissolve the glue. It did nothing. We stuck the baseball cap back on her head and took her home. Today we are seriously considering taking her to Sharon's studio for a haircut. This means her hair will be SHORT on top. I'm not sure what else we can try.

World of Coca Cola

Michael loves Coca Cola. He loves to drink it. Loves to collect trivia and memorabilia. Painted his bedroom Coca Cola red. Dan and I visited the Coca Cola museum a couple of years ago when we were in Atlanta. It was very cool. Well, I just found out today that they have built a brand new World of Coca Cola in Atlanta down the street from the old one. It sounds like it is bigger and better than the old one. They've added a 4-D ride along with a lot more Coke artifacts. They still have the tasting room where you can sample Coca Cola products from around the world. It has one of the stickiest floors you'll ever walk on, but it's kinda fun to go from fountain to fountain and sip the different sodas.

While in Kenya, we took photos of various Coca Cola signs, thinking we'd print them and frame them for Michael. 1st photo = village of Ruai, Sarah (translator) and John (national). 2nd photo = The Great Rift Valley viewpoint. The GRV was absolutely beautiful. Very green and serene. 3rd photo = A cool mural Dan found while traveling through the Eldoret region of Kenya. 4th photo - we shopped at a mall in Nairobi that had a Coca Cola room - glass walls with stained glass Coke bottles, red furniture, and a TV which played non-stop Coca Cola commercials.

An Amazing Letter

This letter is from Kory Lewis, a fellow campaigner who went to Kenya with us. He's in high school and lives in Franklin, TN with his family. He joined the trip at the urging of my father-in-law (long story). I was so encouraged by his words and inspired by the depth of his commitment to Christ and to sharing the Gospel.

Kory is standing on the far right.

Dear Friends,

First, I would like to say how blessed I was to serve with each of you in Nairobi, Kenya. I hope you have fully recovered physically, but I hope you are forever changed spiritually. God was glorified through our work in Kenya. Chris, Julianne, Tina, Lisa, Lucas, Shelley, and Connor: I absolutely loved serving our Lord alongside you guys in Njuno. I love your servant hearts, warm smiles, and encouraging words. Thank you.

As you probably know, I did not fly out of the Nairobi airport with you on June 8th. Instead, I joined up with my Dad and another e3 team to work in Mwanza, Tanzania. Mwanza lies on the shores of Lake Victoria and is a beautiful city. There were large, Granite rock outcroppings scattered throughout the town and outlying areas. The driving was much more laid back in Tanzania, and the economy seemed to be a few decades behind that of Nairobi.

My dad and I worked with another man and his daughter, Steve and Jessica Coffman, in Mayolwa, a small village about 45 minutes outside of Mwanza. The village consisted of about 125 families (about 500 people). A church had been planted in this village back in the year 2000 but had dissolved in 2004 for no apparent reason. It started back up in 2006 but still was not very well established. The church currently meets in a school but has the land and most of the materials to build their own church building because the school is not cooperating very well. The church only had a few regular attenders and had never really reached out to the community, which was spiritually lost.

By the end of the week, we had at least 120 new brothers and sisters in Christ and a well established church. We had about 75 adults and a countless number of kids at the discipleship meeting on the last day. After the discipleship meeting, we played a soccer game next to the school. We bought a soccer ball in town to give to the church on this last day and had invited everyone we came into contact with to come play with us after attending the discipleship meeting. Many of them had never played with a real soccer ball before. We played soccer for about 45 minutes until we Americans had to go. By the time the game ended, there were 200 plus people at the field where we were playing soccer. Just before we left, my dad took the opportunity to speak to them for about 5 minutes. I was astonished to see 13 dollars bring so much joy to an entire village of people and provide such an amazing opportunity to encourage their faith and spread the Gospel.

Over the course of this week, I had the privilege of pointing an 86 year old man to the Lord and leading him in prayer to accept Christ. He had no shirt, only a tattered sport coat, and he said that he could not go to church without a shirt. It really touched me to see the respect he had for the church even though he had never heard the Gospel or even what the church was all about. I was able to give him a shirt the next day and see him raise both hands at the discipleship meeting that day when the pastor asked new believers to raise their hand.

The most exciting story of our week in Tanzania was the transformation of a witch doctor to a Christ follower. Steve and his daughter led a witch doctor to the Lord on the first day. The man said that God had been working on his heart for some time and that now he was ready to make a decision. He prayed to receive Christ with them. My dad and I met with him on the road the third and final day in the village. We started talking to him and discipling him. One of the questions he asked us was: "I have five wives and I know that, Biblically, I should only have one, what do I do?" He also asked, "I am known by all the villages around here as the witch doctor, how do I tell them what I have done?" We talked with him on the road for about an hour and fifteen minutes counseling him helping him see what the Bible says. Just before we left him he said that he was ready to go do the things that we told him to do and that he was ready to go tell everyone he saw about this new life he now has in Christ. He said that some day he wants to be a pastor. We gave him an evangecube and a Bible and encouraged him to share this good news with the world. He came to the discipleship meeting that afternoon and sat on the front row. He had his Bible open and was answering as many questions as he could. Praise the Lord!

God is good. Christianity is not a passive faith. God has called us to serve, to have principle, to build character, and to run toward the roar. So, find your calling and exercise your calling. That way you will have the greatest impact on advancing the Kindom of God and stimulating others to further love and good deeds. Furthermore, you will receive the blessings and heavenly rewards God has for you.

May God bless you for your service. Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)

Steadfast,

Kory Lewis

Purse Issues

I'll admit it - I have purse issues. My current purse looks, sounds, and feels like a diaper bag. Could be because it's 100% vinyl. I got it at Target - I needed a tote bag for towels and flipflops last week when we went floating down the river. So I found this bag and lo and behold it was on sale - 1/2 off in fact. And it had a bonus larger tote bag that came with it. So I bought it. And loaded it up with what I consider the essentials from my other purse - phone, keys, wallet, etc. And then I added the towels and the flipflops. It was pretty full. Then we floated. And the bag alternated between sitting on top of the ice chest and floating in the river. It pretty much filled up with water, soaking the towels and the other contents, including my phone. Oh, but I thought ahead and put my phone in a plastic bag for protection from the elements. Um, yeah. The bag leaked. My phone worked just long enough for me to write down all my contacts then it died. When we got home, I never took the time to transfer all my things back to my real purse. So, for exactly 1 week, I've been carrying the "diaper bag." And of course, I've still got the big plastic bag in there, full of all my valuables.

I really just despise purses. I've tried every kind. Clutches, shoulder bags, hand bags, little backpacks, string wallets, straw tote bags -- really, everything. They all have let me down. There's just not the right features in any one bag. Which is why for a while a few years back I was carrying two purses - one on each shoulder or one in my hand and one on my shoulder. That worked pretty well, until my good friend Sharon had a purse intervention. She stated firmly, but lovingly, that under no circumstances should I ever leave the house with 2 purses unless 1 of them was CLEARLY an attache case. I got the message.

So now, I buy a purse based on price and convenience (if it's located near the checkstand, sort of near all the flashlights, nail clippers, beef jerky then it's a strong consideration). Or, I rely on various totes and messenger bags that I get as gifts at conferences. I don't mind advertising for Saddleback or WorshipTogether as long as my bag is functioning well. Of course, when I visit my sisters, they quietly whisper among themselves then manage to somehow whisk me away to TJ Maxx or Ross and insist on buying me a purse -- they are all talented at spying the perfect bag. I saw a great purse today at the shop (Pacific Eyes & Tees) where I was buying Steven some shirts - he mumbled something about me walking down the street with the purse and those in the know who are cool enough to own the purse would see me with the purse and would never carry that purse again - evidently I have the power to single-handedly change the course of purse fashion. I'm OK with that. But I didn't buy the bag.

Don't forget to check out the 40 Day Fast.

Amazing Grace

Discovered this arrangement of Amazing Grace on my Mark Roach "Every Reason Why" CD. Pick this one up if you can - he's a brand new Word artist. First album in a long time where I've found more than 1 song that I really like - I think we've used at least 4 of the songs in worship at church so far and will definitely use more! The song sounds pretty typical until you hit the new chorus Mark wrote - then the song starts to take on a different personality - changes from statements ABOUT God to declarations of praise TO God.

Download 06_amazing.m4a

Ballroom Dancing

Tonight at church, we cleared the tables & chairs and had ballroom dancing lessons. We had an instructor from Eurodance in Scottsdale. Hilary had us doing the foxtrot, the rumba, and the swing before the end of our hour lesson. Michael was my (unwilling) partner. Even he had to admit that it was fun. I'm sure we weren't "poetry in motion" but we managed to get the steps right eventually and Michael even perfected the "twirl" section in the rumba. I think he rather enjoyed being the leader and having me be the follower.

Randy asked me (this morning) to talk a little about dance and how it relates to worship. So I had Amy read one of my favorite Bible passages - 1 Chronicles 29:10-13. We memorized this one in our Crown class. It pretty much perfectly describes worship. When we worship, we acknowledge that God has ultimate Lordship over our lives. He is center stage, we are not. Worship is about HIM and for HIM. But worship is necessary for us as well - it reminds us that we are not the main event. We are here to honor, love, serve and worship HIM. It's like when you were a kid and your parents announced that you were going to Disneyland or to McDonalds's or to your favorite cousins' house -- didn't you need a way to express the intensely overwhelming joy you felt in that moment? I think that God gave us the gift of Dance so that we can express joy, utter abandon, freedom, and worship. I mean, c'mon, aren't we supposed to worship God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? Doesn't dance fit all those criteria? Throughout the Bible, people danced as an act of celebration & worship & victory. So, let's start dancing. Not to call attention to ourselves, but to give glory to God. After all, He is the Lord of the Dance!

Don't forget to check out The 40 Day Fast.

40 Day Fast

I found this whole idea on a blog called "The Secret Life of Kat." If we harness the power of the blogosphere, this could be a really BIG idea that has really BIG results. Read the details below and pray about how you could be involved in fighting poverty and injustice in the world through active prayer and participation in this current fast. I would love to host a similar 40 Day Fast through this blog. I haven't thought through all the details yet, but if you or anyone you know feels compelled to be a part of fasting and praying for the cause of Christ, for compassion, for poverty, or for injustice, please leave a comment on this blog or email me at [email protected].  Also, I encourage you to click on the link in the right sidebar to find out more details of the Fast that actually started today.

The Details

First of all, this is the photo that inspired the fast...

Who:
40 bloggers who will each fast for 1 day.

What:
They will blog about the experience as well as an area of need in the world (either a cause or a country) and an organization that strives to meet that need.
They will also link to the blogger who is fasting on each day of the fast and encourage their readers to join the fast on the 40th day.

Why:
The purpose behind it is to give people an opportunity to:
1. Experience a bit of need
2. Learn about the need in the world
3. Do something about it

When:
The fast starts on June 22, 2007 and ends on July 31, 2007

Where:
The blogosphere.

5 hrs on the kitchen floor

Today I sat on the kitchen floor of Alyssa & Joshua's new house for 5 hours. I was the only one available to babysit the carpet-layer. I read 1-1/2 short stories. Part of a book on how to plan events, a Walk In The Word devotional book. I inspected the carpet-laying job every once in a while. Took pictures of the cracks in the concrete floor with my camera phone. Watered the trees & plants in the backyard. Then finally Alyssa brought me a Fiji Water & a pink cupcake from Barnes & Noble. 

The carpet is wonderful. And the paint colors they chose are beautiful. All in all a very cute little patio home to move into.

Michael & Steven and I helped Joshua load our truck with everything from their kitchen. We then drove to the new house and unloaded the boxes. Had a late dinner at a Chinese restaurant near their new house -- called The Flamingo Palace. Gaudiness in all the right places. Fish tank in the lobby. Fantastic sweet & sour pork. Dan called just as we started eating. He was probably eating breakfast (tomorrow) at the time. He called to wish me a Happy Anniversary. 21 years. Amazing. He talked to everyone at the table. Made us all laugh.

Tomorrow I will visit Ashley in the hospital (Mayo) and take her some chocolate. Ashley is Dan's cousin who is at Mayo in Phoenix for some testing. She is 20, almost 21. A sweet girl. Spent the last 6 months in Germany at Bible School. Now she's focusing on her health which has included various seizures over the years. She's had an interesting life so far. And hopefully she will be able to find some answers and closure and treatment. Something to pray about. Discernment for the doctors. Healing and wholeness for Ashley.

Mary Poppins Sighting

So, today the boys and I joined the FNC group and went on a 4-hr float trip down the Salt River. If you were there today, you probably saw me...black shorts, black shirt, white baseball cap, giant red & white striped golf umbrella. Yes, I was called Mary Poppins by more than one person (total strangers) floating down the river with us. I didn't want to get sunburned. I didn't want to be in the full sun (doctor's orders), and I thought we could use the umbrella as a sail when the current slowed down (actually that thought occurred to me while in one of the still times and I'd like to think that my maniuplation of the umbrella actually redirected our tubes in a positive manner).

The water was icy and refreshing. The kids had a lot of fun swimming beside the tubes and riding out the rapids. David Mitchell filled ice chests with water, sodas, strawberries, chocolate, fried chicken, apples, cupcakes, and sunflower seeds. A wonderful feast for a lazy day on the river. We really did hit some "big" rapids a couple of times - - big enough to submerge the ice chest at least once - - big enough to completely submerge me at least twice. Having my nose and mouth filled with river water has never been part of my life plan. So that was really the only marginal part of the experience. Besides the part where the float ends and you have to get beat up on the rocks as you struggle to exit your tube gracefully (impossible) and get to the shore without slipping on the algae covered rocks (painful) all while grabbing your beach bag and umbrella with one hand and grabbing onto two big strong men with the other hand (mortifying) and holding all the beach towels with the other hand all while being either strangled or cut in half with the ropes tying all the tubes together (hilarious).

I'm glad I went. Would I go again? I think I'll let Dan handle the next trip by himself.

msgs from dan

Dan is a man of few words. So it only makes sense that he would have a knack for text messaging. His new phone has coverage in Africa but the calls are really expensive. Texting is only about 50 cents per text.

Some recent messages:

"moving day. new room is dirty and dusty. no bathroom in room. still love you."  "Al has arrived. I've a new roomate."  "Conference in burundi, 300+ pastors attended, 1200+ presentations, 300+ conversions in 1hr practice." "had stale crackers & old cheese from my bag for lunch. it was so good." "ouch, that was $100 phone call. but you're worth it." "thank you for the water. did you eat all the tuna." "when is jeff, kelly, and tribe coming to africa with us?"

So, you can tell that Dan is having a fantastic time in Africa, but misses his family and friends. Also, he hid the old hickory farms gift box (at least 2yrs old) instead of throwing it away (my request) and then packed it in his suitcase for a rainy day.

We are counting down the days til he arrives in AZ. Life is not in HD unless Dan is around.

 

Does Anyone Recognize This Couple?

My parents went to a '60's birthday party on Saturday night. They didn't mean to dress up, but the hosts thought of everything so they handed out Lennon glasses and headbands and peace necklaces at the door. Sounds like they had an awesome time.

I vaguely remember the '60's, having been a mere infant during that time. My parents are picture-takers - they have albums and slide shows full of pics of us. And so when I visit them, I can step back in time to the '60's, '70's, & '80's and really feel the clothes, hair, cars, homes, etc. The first 10 years (or more) of my life I always had a book in front of my face, (usually Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden) so my true memories are rather blurry but thanks to the photos, I can remember so many more of the details. Keep on snapping those photos - I can't even remember what I wore yesterday most of the time!

Africa Connections

I have some friends who left for Kenya today. Not on an evangelistic campaign, but on a fact-finding mission. They are visiting the Africa Hope Center which is an orphanage for kids whose parents died of hiv/aids and also for kids with hiv/aids. They are taking a team with them to assess the current needs and project future needs. The founder, Pastor Joseph, has been able to secure a plot of land on which they plan to build an orphanage which will house 100 children. They currently have 23 children living in three different apartments with full-time caregivers. Check out their website at www.africahopecenter.org.

I was talking to Patty today. She went on the Kenya trip with us. She and her family have decided to sponsor 2 children who live in the slum in Nairobi. They are sponsoring them through Compassion International.

I know from past experience that Food For The Hungry has an excellent outreach program to children with hiv/aids in all parts of the world, including Kenya.

Sponsoring a child would be a great Father's Day gift, don't you think? 

Back on Schedule

This whole week we've struggled to get back on our regular schedule. It's actually been nice to have very little structure to our days. We've all been waking up at 4:30am. It's difficult to go back to sleep so we get up, eat breakfast, do a few chores, then at about 6am, we crawl back into bed for a short nap. By 8pm we're tired so we go to bed early and of course get up at 4:30am again. Friday was the first day I actually slept until 6am. That was wonderful.

I talked to Dan today. He is doing well. Anxious for the next team to arrrive so the next campaign can begin. He had a chance to go on a 1-day safari. He absolutely loved it. Saw lions and tigers and elephants among other creatures. I'm glad he's getting to see more of Kenya. He said it's been cold and raining quite a bit.

I'm anxious to post pictures of Kenya, but I had to leave our camera behind for Dan to use on the next campaign. So, unfortunately, I'll just have to beg, borrow and steal photos from others to post here this next week. Also, I hope to have regular posts from the Kenya team members starting next week. I think we're all just finally able to process our experience. Now we can maybe verbalize the impact and effect of the trip. So, again, stay tuned and thanks for your patience.

The Water Heater

The appliances in our houses are one by one starting to let us down. Fatally. Before we left town we had to replace our stove/oven. Our refrigerator has a constant stream of water leaking into it from the freezer. This we will deal with when Dan gets home. Yesterday, our water heater started leaking. A lot. Like a stream running out of the laundry room and puddling up in the driveway last night. I took a late night trip to Sears. And they came through for me. I bought the water heater. Paid them to install it. And they were here by 10am today.

In the meantime, I had to take a bucket shower. Oh yes, it's as pleasant as you might imagine. I heated up two huge pots full of water on the stove. carried them into the bathroom with me. Stood in the shower. Poured one entire pan of water over my head. It was a little too hot. Washed my hair. Gave up trying to use soap. Not enough water for lather. Then I dumped the entire other pot of water over my head, trying to get out all the shampoo. No water left for conditioner. Oh well. That's what all the fancy leave-in products are for, right?

Michael's Kenya Photos

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Message from Mike: "I had a fun time there. I was sad that there were millions of people living in the slums. The kids were all really cute. I told my parents that we could adopt one. I liked that people would always smile and wave to us as we drove by. On Monday when we were sharing the Gospel with a woman in the village, she said that she wanted to receive Christ as her Savior. We prayed with her. Later in  the week she came to the victory celebration and gave her testimony. She said that she had been injured when she was younger and her parents took her to a witch doctor. The witch doctor gave her a turban to wear on her head at night. When she wore the turban she would be tormented by demons. The demons would try to molest her and tried to kill her. When she prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior, she felt completely free from the demons. She was really happy and joyful. Someday I hope that I can go back to Africa. I'm really glad that we got to be there as a family. "

A Quiet Day

Got a text message from Alyssa at 4:30am. "Are you awake? I miss dad. Josh is hungry." I wasn't really awake, but the fact that I even heard the single beep from the phone meant I wasn't really asleep. So I got up. Got dressed. Called Alyssa. We met at 5 & Diner for breakfast as soon as they opened at 6 am. Sat there for 2 hours. Pretty much had the place to ourselves. Dan called just as we were leaving the restaurant. He's still in Bujumbura, Burundi until tomorrow evening. Then he'll head back to Kenya where he'll rest & re-group until next week when the other Kenya team arrives.

Our day was purposely uneventful. Bought some groceries. Washed some clothes. Short nap. Made Steven his favorite pasta for dinner.

Watched TV with the boys. They went to bed at 8:30. I've been thinking a lot about the Kenya trip. There's so much to distill before I can adequately express my thoughts in writing.

This was an Epic trip, meaning it was targeted toward a teen/college age participant. All of the kids from Fellowship North had at least 1 parent with them. Nearly all of the kids from Chase Valley (Alabama church) had at least 1 parent with them. So the dynamic was totally different from any trip I've yet experienced. It was interesting to watch all the kids interact with each other and then form lifelong bonds of friendship by the end of the 2nd day. This trip brought many families closer together. Definitely brought each group closer together and the entire group was totally united in goal & purpose. Very cool to see it unfold.

The two travel days were pretty brutal. We had a 12-hr layover in London. We decided to leave the airport and see the city. This was not as easy as we thought it might be. Took us 2 hours to get out of the airport and onto the correct train. Then we had no plan or directions for seeing the city. We wandered from landmark to landmark, took pictures, ate lunch, then headed back to the train. If I ever go back to London, I plan to secure a comfy seat on the top level of a double-decker bus and have a narrated, touristy-as-can-be tour of the city. I don't know if I thought I'd run into Mary Poppins & Bert in the park, but I definitely thought I'd find at least 1 grimy street vendor selling fish & chips wrapped in newspaper. That never happened. My memory of that day is fading pretty fast. If I close my eyes, I recall lots of people. Lots of trees. Parks. Pigeons. Lots of buildings very close together. Buckingham Palace. Westminster Abbey. Big Ben. "Pay" public restrooms. Starbucks (of course).

When we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, it was raining. Michael was really nauseous from the malaria medicine. Only Billy's bags didn't arrive with him. Other than that, we managed to find our way into the waiting vans. Went to the ACK Guest House which would be home base for the week. I don't think I've ever been so tired in my life. Our rooms weren't ready yet because we arrived pretty early in the morning. So the kitchen staff pulled together a breakfast buffet for us to eat. When we finally got our room, we were pleasantly surprised at our accommodations. Our room was large - a double bed & a single bed, private bathroom, big closet & armoire. Mosquito netting over the beds. I was willing to pay any amount of money to be able to sleep the rest of the day, but we had a lot of things planned. And so the rest of the week went. Not enough sleep. Not enough time to do everything we wanted to do. But we tried to do it all. And God was glorified.

Perspective

It is so good to be home. We arrived at 10pm on June 9. Took an AirBus from Chicago O'Hare to Phoenix. First thing I noticed was the extravagant amount of legroom. I mean, really, our legs were stretched fully out in front of us. This, of course, was in contrast to our crowded international flights. Also, the plane was icy-cold. This, of course, was in contrast to our warm, stuffy, jam-packed international flights. Then we walked into Terminal 2. The grungiest/oldest terminal at Sky Harbor. And it was beautiful, almost luxurious. Clean carpet. Wide-open hallways. Cold A/C. We had quite a welcoming committee - the husbands & kids who came to pick up moms & siblings. They were a wonderful sight to see!

We got our baggage fairly quickly. Then Michael noticed a suitcase that looked a lot like Joshua & Alyssa's suitcase. Then another one. Then 2 more.  Their flight had arrived probably 3 hours earlier than ours but evidently their bags didn't arrive with them. So, we loaded up their bags along with ours and headed toward home. It's pretty nice to live 10 minutes from airport!

I fired up the computer and started scrolling through 120 emails. Not too bad for 10 days away. Steven & Michael both took showers immediately. Steven came out of the bathroom. Huge grin on his face. Now, this is the same child who, before we left, commented that our home reminded him of a home in a third world country. And I must say, there are some similarities since it was built in the 50's and has had very few updates until we moved in a few months ago. Anyways. Steven announced to me that he could probably live in that bathroom, peeling wallpaper and all. It was so clean and HUGE. I have a feeling he and Michael will sleep pretty soundly in their own beds tonight.

Our Africa team will lead the entire worship service tomorrow. We'll sing songs in Swahili. And we'll share testimonies & stories & the Gospel. It will be a great day!! Randy collected photos from everyone so I'll be adding those to the photo album sometime this week. Also, I've asked everyone on the team to participate in writing their stories on this blog, so stay tuned for that!

OK, I'm off to do laundry & then to bed. Praise God! Amen! Praise God again! Amen!

Beautiful Feet

Although our feet are aching & covered in mud, they are beautiful in God's sight because they are carrying the Gospel to villages where people are in need of salvation!

Due to our daily schedule, the internet cafe has been closed in the evenings when we return from the field and there is a daily team leader's meeting in the morning right when the cafe opens then we eat breakfast and proceed out to our sites!! So, I apologize for -0- posts this week. Right now, the vans are ready to pull out of the parking lot and I'm upstairs in the cafe, waiting for the internet to come to life. And of course, their "hi-speed connection" is about the speed of dial-up. So, no pictures until we are back home.

All that to say, WE ARE HAVING A FANTASTIC & VERY FRUITFUL time of ministry here in Kenya. The people are beautiful and friendly. In certain areas they are more responsive to the Gospel than in others.

I'm not sure of the final numbers of 1st time professions of faith, but it's in the 100's!! Praise God.

Randy's team was able to speak at 2 schools where over 40 kids prayed to receive Christ after Elizabeth shared the Gospel!

Dan is in Burundi now, meeting with top leaders in the country to discuss evangelizing that nation. Very exciting times.

OK, I've got to run.

More maybe tomorrow - we are heading off to the Masai Tribe for outreach.