Friday, February 16, 2007

New Song Update from Kenya!

I’ve been trying to reach the team for the past few days, but haven’t been able to reach them. Annie finally called me this morning with news from the team.

Everyone’s doing really, really well. They’re all getting over jet lag. Says Annie, “We’ve been having a good time. We’re enjoying the atmosphere at Kipkaren. The kids have especially been amazing! We’re falling in love with them. They’re stealing our hearts! We’ve been playing with them after school, singing and leading their evening devotions.”

According to Annie, it didn't take a lot to get used to the bathroom arrangements and such. Thanks for your prayers!

Their first two days (Monday and Tuesday) were spent with the 33 students who are currently in ELI’s 9-month bio-intensive agricultural training program. They conducted leadership training, did exercises in team building, and Dan and Myra presented a variety of talks.

Yesterday, Duke conducted a marriage seminar for all the couples who are serving as parents at the orphanage. Duke loved it and is doing really well, too!

While Duke, Dan and Myra were at the parents’ training day, Daren and Annie went to Edwin’s home with ELI staff Juli and Allison. The 12-year-old Edwin sadly passed away yesterday after years of heart problems and surgery. Allison and Juli have been friends with Edwin for several years, visiting him in the hospital, raising funds for his surgeries and more. Daren and Annie were touched to be able to be with Edwin’s family during this difficult time.

Yesterday was Daren’s birthday. The team had taken carrot cake mix, and after dinner at ELI Kipkaren Director David Tarus’ house, they had carrot cake and celebrated the big 4-0 with Daren.

Today, they've been busy doing a leadership seminar for ELI staff and were all still in the training when I got to speak with Annie.

They’ll call me again early next week with an update and will also try to send me photos at that time to upload.

Again, thank you for being part of this journey with Daren, Duke, Annie, Dan and Myra!

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