Crazy Busy Week!

This week was crazy!
Sunday we shared in the teen class, went to church, participated in a skit for the children's ministry, tried a new restaurant (delicious) for lunch and spent the afternoon preparing for our teaching the next day.

Monday and Tuesday we trained the teen leaders in children's ministry foundations and prepared them for VBS. There are almost 30 teen and young adult leaders who teach the children on Sundays or are volunteering for VBS. They are so excited and respectful and willing to learn. They love the worship songs and the games! The leaders are doing a great job! Becky has trained them very well and they are already doing much of the things we are training them to do. Our job is very easy! Becky, the Children's Director invited us to her home after training for lunch and we had our first real salad - we have been craving fresh salad greens! They call it cow food here and most Kenyans don't eat fresh salad greens! We played volleyball and shared dinner and had a great time of fellowship!

Wednesday, we hit the ground running on the first day of VBS. It is also the day of voting on the referendum - the new draft constitution for Kenya. We have all been praying for a peaceful day with no violence or riots. God answered our prayers and Kenya now has a new constitution.

We gathered in the morning for prayer and worship then the VBS began at 9am with the games Lanae taught us. The children and leaders were in the church building, laughing and calling out as they played games with beach balls. As I walked through the room, I felt such a rush of joy and peace and gratitude. I feel that I am just exactly where God wants me to be. I remember the quote from the movie Chariots of Fire: When I run, I feel God's pleasure. I felt exactly the same way, I am doing what He created me to do. This morning, as I serve God in ministry, I feel his pleasure!

There were almost 100 children the first day and it went so smoothly! The leaders did an amazing job and the children were so adorable! Both Lanae and Ryana were amazing in their roles as worship leader and game leader and everything just flowed so well! We had lunch with the team and prepared for the next day of VBS.

We were invited to Bishop Kamau's home for dinner and his wife Ruth made a delicious Kenyan meal for us. Rice, chicken, potatoes, greens, chipate (delicious flour tortilla type of bread) - it was wonderful! They have an adorable 3 year old named Stephanie who was so sweet and cute during the evening.

Thursday the VBS also went incredibly smoothly and we had a few more children. Becky invited us over again for volleyball and fellowship. They took us to an amazing Ethiopian restaurant with delicious and amazing food. They bring it out on a huge platter with a giant tortilla type of bread and you eat it with the bread and your fingers. It was so much fun and so good! Everything I've eaten here has been delicious and wonderful and we haven't had any stomach problems at all - what a total blessing!

Friday was the final day of VBS with even more children attending. One of the components of this weeks VBS is Compassion. I taught that session and it began as a challenge to me personally because so many of these children are so incredibly poor compared to our standards. Will they understand or even care about other children who have even less. But God is so amazing! On Wednesday, as I shared with the children about God's love for us and how he wants us to share his love with others, they understood. I told them about children in Turkana in Nothern Kenya where the children are so poor that they run around naked until they are around 9 years old. I noticed that we all had clothes on so we are rich compared to those children. I also reminded them that our hearts are rich when we know Jesus. I told them about orphanages in the Kiberi slums very near VBS where the children didn't have any parents and very little food and medicine. We agreed to bring shillings, clothes, shoes or if they had no extra to spare, they would write a not to the children. And they agreed to tell their parents about the children and ask their parents before they brought anything from their homes to share.

Tuesday morning so many of the children ran up to me to show me the shillings and clothes and shoes and notes that they brought for the other children. They were so excited to share their offerings! My heart was so touched and again I felt such a wave of joy to be here. By the end of Friday, we had a huge pile of clothes and shoes, 2,075 shillings (our goal was 1,000) and several notes to the children who will receive our bounty. What an incredible gift. We prayed for God to multiply this offering just like he did the loaves and fishes and the children were so blessed to give.

I am completely humbled and totally blessed. These children and families who have so little, offered up such a huge gift to God in their compassion for other children. He is so good!

VBS ended much too soon! We ended the day by joining the angels in heaven celebrating the new decisions for Christ made by the children. The bubble gun and silly string was such a hit that the people in the office wondered what in the world was going on. I reminded the children how much we loved them because Jesus loves us first and that their leaders gave their entire week to love them. I asked them to tell their leaders thank you and give them a big hug. Ten minutes later our hearts were still being blessed with big hugs from so many children - it was amazing!