Today was a great day! We began with a group devotional led by Ben. After that we made the journey out to the new primary school called Mbogoini. We got stuck again, it's something we have come to expect. :-) We worked in four groups today.
One group took over the classes and taught kids their letters and numbers. The crayons were a big hit as always. We have three teachers on this trip which has been a blessing to the school. The local teachers that are paid by the government have been on strike for nearly a month. This makes it hard on the remaining teachers that are still working.
Another group helped prepare lunch for the kids. Our abilities to keep the fire going were sub par at best. One team member said it was because we were too "city." :-)
A third group helped to build a restroom which consisted of stacking large bricks and mixing concrete. The fourth group helped paint the inside of two brand new class rooms that another group helped to build. It was a pretty busy morning!
In the afternoon we went to the primary school in Endana to help with the rejoice project. The rejoice project is a program by the 410 Bridge that teaches one biblical concept once a week for a month. This month's lesson is about honor. Our group taught Bible study, led in a craft and some games. When this was finished we spent some time playing so the kids. Soccer is really hard for this out of shape youth pastor! :-) to say it was a great day would be an understatement.
Our group is doing really well. We've had a few scrapes and scratches and some sickness but overall we are well. Our group times in the mornings and evening have been special. I'm really looking forward to seeing how God continues to work.
Tomorrow we will repeat what we did this morning and after lunch we will divide into groups to make home visits. We will spend an afternoon with a local family learning about what life is like here while trying to encourage them in their faith and pray for them. Pray for us to have both strength and wisdom as we venture into another day.
God Bless,
Chris Watson
Hi! its Kristin. It has been a busy day! This morning we started our time at Mbogoini Primary School. Our team split into four groups. One group worked with the children, one group worked in the kitchen, one group worked on building the "toilet" and one painted the classrooms. I had the privilege of working in the kitchen with a precious Kenyan lady named Virginia. When I say kitchen, I'm talking about a little 9' X 7' building with wired areas on two sides for ventilation and a door, with a little spot for a fire & a place to set a large pot over the fire. Every day the school children are fed a lunch of maize (corn) and beans. That seems to be the only "cafeteria food" in the schools in this area and is often the only meal the children will have that day.
Anyway, when we got there, Virginia already had the maize, beans & water boiling. Our job was to keep the fire stoked so the pot would continue to boil. And today is when I learned how very inexperienced I am & how dumb I am when it comes to fires. Virginia laughed at us (Carlette, Baylee, and me) many times but very patiently taught us how it was done. The food cooked for a couple of hours after we got there, and then it was time to serve the kids lunch. Each child has their own bowl that they are responsible for bringing to the kitchen & then cleaning it out afterward. All three of us took turns pouring just one coffee cup full of maize and beans in each child's bowl. It just amazes me to think that's probably all they will eat in a day. It was a fun experience, but the thing I loved the most was getting to know my new friend, Virginia. Relationships are really a big part of our trips here, and I am grateful to have another friend I can look forward to seeing on my next trip.
Today we had our first day on construction and we also got to participate in The Rejoice Project. Construction project has been awesome so far. Roman was a beast mason and totally got the hang of laying the bricks and packing the mortar. He did great. I got the greatest comment ever, I was told by a Kenya women that I was a hard worker!! As we worked alongside our Kenyan brothers we got to talk with them about if and where they went to church and really find out more about their families. It was great getting to know them and we are certainly looking forward to working with them again tomorrow. The Rejoice Project was also an amazing experience, getting to hang out with three groups of kids and talk about the importance of "honor" and the picture of honor that Christ showed to his disciples by washing their feet. It was cool to see how that related to them and how they would show honor to friends and family. My team for Rejoice was awesome, props to Roman, Laura, Caitlin, and Connor they were a great team. We got stuck three times today in the bus one time took about 30 minutes to get unstuck but with the help of some passerby Kenyan friends we were able to push it out. Throughout this trip God has provided in so many ways, getting stuck yesterday and today we were late getting to the community but both days the time difference didn't seem to bother us, both days we seemed to have more than adequate time in the community(though we still didn't want to leave). We are looking forward to going back tomorrow, and really don't want to leave in 4 days :-(
Ben
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