LBF:Greetings from Michele

It is Tuesday morning and we are all amazed and how full each day is! Although we have only been here a few days, it feels as if we have lived many more in this little ELI village. We began our day with a walk “around the block.” Let me tell you, it is the most amazing block I have ever seen! We were blessed to see children walking to school down long dirt roads, bordered with corn fields and mud huts. The children all looked at us with wide-eyed amazement. They are friendly and greet us in English with “how are you?” Each child wants a handshake or a hug.
The team worked on so many different things! The men worked on fencing and digging holes all afternoon. They kept waiting to have the promised Kenyan lifestyle of relationships over work! The women taught at the local school, organized a craft for the orphanage, sorted the paper project, and attended a women’s prayer meeting. At the end of the day, we lead the children’s evening devotionals.

I (Michele) was blessed with the chance to meet with the orphanage parents. They shared with me some of the difficulties the children are having with school. I met with some of the children individually and was able to identify some of their developmental problems. In America, these children would be diagnosed with developmental disabilities and coming to see me in my clinic. Here, they are just identified as “slow” and struggle through school doing the best they can. So it was a blessing to be able to meet them and work with them. My Swahili, however, is not quite as good as my English! Afterwards, I was invited into one of the parent’s homes (which is a mud hut with a grass roof) for Chai tea. I remembered that in Kenya, people prefer to talk about their lives and families before business. So I spent some time talking with them about marriages and children and then we were able to discuss some of the problems with the children. What a blessing! What I have learned from the Kenyan people is that the knowledge of God is much better than any learning or education we can get in the world. And that the power of God is much more powerful than our own abilities or talents. The Africans live in God more than I have ever seen. Every conversation is seasoned with the love of God.

Each evening after dinner (which, by the way, the food here is awesome! I always eat second helpings!), we have a meeting where we meet a few of the Kenyan staff, they share their stories, and we share our stories. Last night, Russ shared his harrowing story of how he finally made it to Kenya. It turns out Russ is quite the story teller! The Kenyans love him. We are all glad he has joined the team.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I know you have been praying for Owen and I have a good report: He slept the entire night! He was so happy this morning and just a lot of fun to watch. I am working hard at getting him to say “Michele” and he is talking so much! He is learning a new word almost every day and his balance is getting much better with all of the mud and rocks and challenges. He is also allowing the Kenyan children to carry him around! So blessings from God are all around!

Thank you so much for your notes on the blog! We are really enjoying them!

Prayer Requests:
Continue to pray for Owen to sleep and eat well. I am praying that this trip will be huge blessing for him, Amy and Russ.

Pray that God would continue to open up our eyes to His power, His grace, and His love for us and the Kenyan people.

Pray for Sara’s voice- she has had a head cold for the entire trip and is not able to lead us in singing as she had planned

Pray for the Kip Karen orphanage parents- the orphanage in that village is opening soon and the parents have been training in Uganda. They are graduating and the directors of the Ilula orphanage have traveled out for the ceremony. Pray for the ceremony, the travels, and the parents.
Pray for the Kenya Anti Alcohol ministry- they are traveling to high schools and doing educations ministry