Orphans, Oranges, and God's Creation

Hello everyone!! I know that I say this every time that I write, but I want to tell you all how much I love and miss you. It is unbelievably reassuring to know that people at home are praying for me. I can’t even explain the confidence that gives me. I can certainly feel the power of your prayers right now. God is hearing you, and He is moving! There is definitely spiritual warfare going on here, and I am praying for the lives of the sweet children.

Let’s move on to those sweet children. I can’t imagine that there could be a more precious and well-behaved group of kids than those here in Tumaini. If a teacher leaves the room for a few minutes, the children will sit in their seats quietly until the teacher returns. I have never seen anything like it. I love all of these kids so much, but the orphans do hold a special place in my heart. This is because (a) God calls us to look after them (James 1:27) and (b) I get to spend a lot more one-on-one time with them than the other students. Right now, all of the kids are in a special two weeks of school called tuition. School is from 8 AM until 1 PM, but when official school returns, it is from 8 AM until 4 PM. My schedule now is to teach during school hours, and then I either use the afternoon to visit the orphanage or to take care of things around my place. Next week there is no school, so I will be spending almost every day at the orphanage. School officially returns on September 8th. I have to use this upcoming week to spend a lot of my time with the orphans, because things will get busy at school after that.

There is not one huge thing to report, but there are several sweet stories. One day when I was at the orphanage, a boy named Samuel called me “papa” while we were sitting at the table. Another amazing boy named James has called me “dad” recently. This really saddens me that these boys and girls have no one else to call “mom” or “dad.” I try not to encourage the notion that I am their father. I always try and call them my brothers, sisters, and friends, because I do not want them to have a false hope that I will ever be their father. But it does give me joy that I am able to be a positive male figure in their lives for a couple of months. If I can even love on them for two and a half months, I feel like I have done everything that I came here to do. Also, earlier this week a volunteer from Australia bought oranges for the kids, and we went to the orphanage to deliver them. Their reaction amazed me. They sat in complete silence, intently waiting on the oranges. Once we gave them their two slices each, they devoured them. It broke me how excited they got over these oranges, while I take things like oranges completely for granted. Finally, I am most excited about what I am getting to do at Sunday School with all of the orphans and some of the other students. Each week, I teach a Bible story out of a children’s book, and then I almost always share the Gospel of Christ with them at the end. I love being there, because the kids sing songs for almost a half an hour, and they do it with such excitement in their faces and in their voices. Please pray that souls will be saved at Sunday School. Even though I said loving on the orphans is why I am here, it is my ultimate desire to see these children come to Christ!

One way God showed Himself to me this week was through His incredible creation. As I have mentioned before, the part of Kenya that I am in is breathtaking. I am in a secluded location that is filled with green land and mountainous terrain. Sometimes I have to catch myself and make sure that I am not worshipping the creation, but the Creator. Every night, and I mean every night, there is a gorgeous sunset that gives off some of the most beautiful colors in the sky. This reminds me of the beauty of God. Almost every day there is a powerful afternoon rainstorm. In fact, just a couple of days ago it hailed for a half an hour. This reminds me of God’s power and might. And every night as I brush my teeth, since there are no artificial lights around, I see a greater number of brilliant stars than I have ever seen. This reminds me of how huge God is, and how He is bigger than any of my problems or concerns. The creation here has directed me to stand in awe of our Creator. If you can, take a minute to appreciate God and His creation this week.

Since this is very long again (and I have given into the fact that these will be long for the first couple of months—sorry!!), I wanted to make this [almost] final paragraph a collection of a bunch of random things that happened in the last week. They will have very little, if any, explanation, so this paragraph is going to be all over the place. (1) My iPod broke for several days and then turned back on; this was nearly tragic. (2) A drunk man on a bike, that rode by us yelled, fell off his bike into a bush. It was hilarious. (3) Did you know that the Lion King uses the Swahili language (the language that is spoken here)? Simba means “lion” and Rafiki means “friend” in Swahili. (4) Hesbon and I sing the coolest (a bit of an exaggeration) rendition of “Lord, Prepare Me.” He sings it in Swahili while I harmonize in English. We do a lot of songs in Swahili and English: Swenglish. It is awesome. (5) I am teaching the kids how to hug. It is so cool to see how hugging is so foreign and to see some of them hug for possibly the first time. (6) Apparently, a lot of the people eat termites when they catch them. This week, I ate a live termite. It wasn’t too bad actually. (7) I was screamed at by a mentally insane person on a mutatu (public transportation around here; like a taxi but you are squeezed into a van with 30 other people). He evidently asked in Swahili why I was looking at him. I never remember looking at him. It wasn’t scary at all because a lot of the other Kenyan people were telling me not to worry about it. They had my back. It was definitely more comical than upsetting. (8) I just had basketball sign-ups at the school. The first week of school we will have tryouts and assemble a team. This week we are killing the grass so the court will be hard enough for the kids to dribble the balls. I am so excited!

Well, sorry again for the length of these! I am just so excited, and I am learning a lot. As I said, I just don’t have the computer/internet access to write much, so when I do I have to write a lot. Just read what you can, if any at all.

I just wanted to say that God is teaching me to look only to Him for all of my confirmation and satisfaction. I am praying that we will all put our confidence and trust solely in Him this week. He is more than able to handle our every need! I love you guys so much! I will talk to you soon!