The Bridge: What Day is it?

Bwana Asifewe!

Julie and Kay here. We finally took posession of the computer to send an update. Well, Gary's taking a nap. It's 2:15pm as we begin to write. Obviously the power has returned. It returned during the night that it went out. I guess Gary and Shad were just too worn out from all the activities yesterday to post something.

And we're sorry that there won't be any pictures with this update because we don't really know how to do that :)

On Saturday, we were able to enjoy God's amazing creation as we had a 'day away' where they took us up a mountain to a view point that overlooks part of the Great Rift Valley. We realize that the previous sentince doesn't even do justice to what we saw, but we promise to show you pictures when we return. As we traveled up and down the mountain we were able to witness more of the Kenyan lifestyle, too. To say this is a beautiful country would be an understatement.

We stopped in Eldoret at an outdoor garden/restaurant place and had ice cream!

On to Sunday
Sunday School begins at 8:30am for an hour. It's for preschool-highschool. They're divided into 4 groups. Mick, I suggest we do this at The Bridge :) So we divided up amonst the groups and each got to share about ourselves and a Bible story. Then church started at 10am. WOW!! It was an amazing experience. All of the different age groups took turns singing in front of church, which is the dining hall at the training center. I believe Gary has talked about their singing in a past blog. It's something that is hard to describe, but I would compare it to what the angels sound like in heaven. It's pure, genuine worship. There was a time of testimonies. Anyone was welcome to come up and share what God had done in their lives.

Dorcas, a house parent and the choir director, lead her choir in some more amazing worship that was proceded by prayer. During their prayer time, everyone prays at the same time. Some literally cry out to God while others sit quietly in their seats. The children were also involved in this. The level of noise was almost deafening, but beautiful. We were then asked to introduce ourselves and give a short testimony of our lives. We followed this with some worship music and John preaching!

In the afternoon, we visited one of the house parents. Their youngest son, Emmanuel is sick. Please pray for him. He's 4 months old. They brought him to the hospital and saw signs of malaria. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the children playing kick-ball. Julie and I were cheer leading coaches. They thought we were crazy! They eventually joined in. Devotions followed where Gary gave his testimony and encouraged the children to grow in wisdom.
After dinner a few of us returned to the Children's Home to read stories and visit with the children. They're so precious!

On to today (though it's only 1/2 way done...)
Has Gary mentioned how much chai we consume in one day? It's probably an average of 5 cups a day per person! So we were schooled in how to make chai today! We'll make it for church some time.

We joined the whole ELI team for staff devotions. We again had the opportunity to share who we were, a bit about ourselves and words of encouragement. We appreciate that they constantly take time to share words of encouragement with one other as it builds each other up. We have not heard one complaint out of anyone's mouth. There are a lot of struggles, yet they choose to praise God (Bwana asifiwe!) It's sad that it's so unlike our culture. But don't worry. Julie and I are coming home to change that!

Work continued on the imfamous WALL. If you're thinking of constructing one out of bricks and concrete then talk to John, Julie and Charlene. It was a tough day of work because they felt they were more a hinderance than a help. So, our work on the wall is completed. The wall is not completed, but our work is. :) Shadrach and I were not given a 'wall job', so we went to the garden to help Lorence weed the onions. His garden is work of art. He told us that if you enter someone's garden that it's rude not to leave with some food. So he gave us each a passion fruit! YUM. And Gary . . . um. . . we're not sure where he was. Just kidding. He was working on a pamphlet about goats. Or as we like to call them, "The poor man's cow", which I will be milking in 3 hours!

Well, we're off to play with the children. This will be our last time with them as we leave the training center at 7 tomorrow morning. They're having 'closing ceremonies' for us. It'll be a night filled with lots of tears, but we know they have great parents to take care of them.
Thank you for your continued prayer. It plays a big role in what is being accomplished here at the center.