special moments...

Wow! Tomorrow is one month of my stay here in Kenya and I feel like there are still so many moments that I hold dear that I have yet to mention. Life for me has changed so much since the first week I was here. I feel it strongly pressed upon my heart that I will not be leaving Kenya. There may be an opening here in Tigoni/Limuru with one of the organizations in the office with ACTS. I've talked to everyone I know here and will be looking for jobs tomorrow with my dear friend Lydiah. I pray that His will be done. As much as I would like to stay here, I don't know what God has in store for me next and I want to be ready for anything!

Wednesday there was a hijacking just up the road we take daily. The hijacker are assumed to have been running from the police when they decided to swap vehicles...I praise God, that as frustrated as I was for running late that day, that we were late! Sifu Yesu! (praise jesus!) It's the first time in my life I've ever laid eyes on a man who'd been shot down and left laying dead in the road next to a toppled over vehicle. Honestly, I expected to see more of that here, but be assured this rarely happens and I am nearly always accompanied with a staff member or friends.

As far as those precious moments, well they are many! I've helped teach women English. Something that sounds much easier than it is because I'm not the only one teaching and NO ONE leaves behind any idication of what they have taught. So, it's all a shot in the dark, but the women are great to help one another out and let me know if there is any lagging behind or what they'd like to learn more of.

The children at LCC and LCC-K aee amazing! Just the other week and I may have told this story before, but when the other volunteers were here, we stood outside in a huge courtyard, having the largest tickle fight I have ever been in, I'm thinking at least 50 kids. The sky was perfect with big fluffy white clouds, I remember moving in circles, kids wrapped around my waits about three deep in every direction. Nothing but joy and laughter to fill the air... my only thoughts were: When is the last time that you have been THIS happy?!

Most of the kids here have needs for clothes and shoes (shoes are literally about 1200 shillings clear down to 150 shilings, equalling about $12/ea at most.) They are in great need for pencils. For some reason they just go through them like crazy and they also seem to be VERY expensive here. Pencils are almost a dollar a piece! Paper and sharpeners are very much needed here for the students to learn. Not only are school fees rather expensive, but the only way for children to get an education. Unlike how it is in the U.S., where we have free education, parents have to pay about three times a year in order for their children to go school. If a normal sized loaf of bread is about 35shilling (50 cents), and school fees per term are 800 shillings ($11)! It seems like nothing to us, but for these people that is SOO much. This doesn't include the couple hundred for uniforms, plus the hundreds spent for school supplies on top of that! It really adds up. If children don't get into a good preschool, they won't get into a primary school (grades 1-8). Which as you can see is a chain reaction for further education, which is really a huge part in their lack of advancement.

I wish that I could cut down on the length for you so I could fit in some more stories. But I think it will stop here. Please pray for those I encounter, for those I volunteer for. I don't know yet, who my presence has impacted or where God will take me from here, but I do pray that whatever my purpose here, that it's for His will, that it's for His glory, adn that it's fulfilled. Amen

Response to Tina: If the kids would like to send toys, I'm sure the children would LOVE it! I work with kids ranging from infant to 14yrs old. Just be careful, customs here does steal. Postage here is about a dollar a letter, but no worries on that. I'll have to ask if the kids are allowed to have pen pals. My only worry with that, is that a lot of people are very bold in asking for things and don't always know healthy boundaries in doing so. They think Mzungu (white person), they think $MONEY$ and I don't mean that in a rude, desensitized way.