0 Street Boys Home and The Farm

Reuben, my host and friend, brought me and others to a facility that is being renovated to become a home for boys from the city streets.  They need it to be far from the easy influences folks can have when still in the cities and the hope is that it will be a working farm so the kids will learn practical skills while going to school also.

The boys come out of four different circumstances and it is their hope that they can treat each individually:

Boys come because they are orphans, are in dire poverty, are suffering abuse or are runaways.

(Seen here w/ Reuben, Sam (the director of the street kids ministry) and a veterinarian who are all considering how to turn the property into a working farm.

0 Creation Coaxed to Communion

Jesus, the one whom we tried to shove out of the world on a cross, shall reign.

He shall gather every living creature unto himself calling all to the table.  The living united with the dead, the lost found, everybody in the end home.  And then you'll know you weren't fated with separation, loneliness, exile and autonomy in a cold, dark cosmos.

You were made for meeting; creation coaxed to communion.  Just as He was you shall be, raised for reunion.

- Bishop William Willimon

0 The Baby Center

My host Reuben was a big part in starting an orphanage where we stayed during our time in that region.

I asked him where the babies came from and he responded in this way:

"The police bring them to us; they were abandoned.  Girls sometimes leave them at the gate."

I did get to spend some time with the kids on two days, but they ask for privacy and legal reasons that you not photograph them.

One very happy statistic they shared was that no child that has entered their facility has had to be moved to a facility for older kids because every child so far has been adopted!

0 The Rift Valley Presents Itself

Reuben and I were behind a row of trucks as we rounded a bend.  Soon the sky appeared to open up.

As we continued forward soon I saw it: the Rift Valley.  It looked straight out of the Lion King and unexpectedly viewing it from the car (and later a platform) I found myself emotionally moved just seeing God's creation.  It was beautiful.

(click on either picture to see a bigger version.)

0 Visions From Nairobi

I met "Bones" (pictured below with his daughter) at an Africa Gospel Church location in Nairobi, Kenya.  We talked about church in America and in Kenya which was interesting enough.

Then I asked him about how the Holy Spirit speaks to him:

He shared that he'd had a dream one night that a future service he was going to preach would be so packed that they'd have to set up speakers outside for the folks who would be attending.  At that time he was preaching to anywhere near that many people.

Not long after he is guest preaching at a church and there is news that the President will be visiting the church.  People flock to the church hoping to see him and, as in his dream, they set up speakers outside for all the people.  The president is late and he gives his whole sermon uninterrupted to those gathered.

I also met a pastor named Ken who in answer to the same question shared this unique response.  He hears God most clearly following seizures he has.  Another time, non-seizure relatated, he was awoken in the middle of the night by God who told him to wake a struggling family and tell them their mother would soon have a job.  In a country with VERY hight unemployment she was hired two days later.

(This is the first in a series of posts where I will go through much of my experience from over two weeks in Kenya this Christmas.  I will spread these posts over 1-2 weeks time.  I hope they bless you.)

2 Gone To Kenya; See You Next Month

I am overjoyed to be able to join friends I've made from Kenya in their home cities over the next three weeks.  To help you see where I'll be I've written this short post.

First, check out this image which shows where the population is concentrated in Kenya and several city names.  (3 of the five named are important for our purposes.)

image by WorldMapper.org

I will fly out of New Orleans on the 27th and land in Nairobi (see bottom center of map) about a day later.  I will be there until about the New Year.

I will then travel to Nakuru (seen in the center of this map) to be with my friend Reuben.  We will travel some west of there, but I will be near there and/or with him until roughly the 10th of January.

Then I will travel to Eldoret (seen toward the top of this map) to be with my friend Paul and his family for 4-5 days.  From there I will return to Nairobi to fly back returning on the 14th of January.

I appreciate your prayers and look forward to telling you all about it when I return.   (I will likely have little communication before then.)