Feeling Good and Bad

These days I mostly feel good.  We know that what we are doing is something that God wants done, for He himself visits the garbage dump to find the needy and lift them up and seat them among the great ones of his people (Psalm 113).  And we have such good kids; we have never known a teen group that thrills us like this one does.  This morning I taught my adult Bible class (to whom several of the teenagers come) at Kamulu -- actually I let a film do the teaching called "Peter and Paul".  Darlene and I left before 10 AM with 4 of our kids -- Ken Wabungu, Francis Wahome, Mercy Wanja and Jackie Njoki -- to visit the Kayole Church of Christ.  They invited the kids to sing two songs and me to preach.  It was a great visit. 

But I seem to always have something to feel bad about. And there were two things today.  Just before they served the Lord's Supper, the worship leader mentioned the Supper and the collection, and I thought, "Oh, no, I have no money."  I hate it when I don't have anything to give, so I had to apologize to the church and promise to get it to them later.  

Then I gave myself something else to feel bad about.  I had prepared a sermon on the book of Hosea, and I wanted to present it not as an analysis but as the book itself is written.  And I wanted to make some practical application.  I forgot that I would need to have a translator -- I didn't trust myself to do the Swahili on some of the passages.  But translating means that it takes longer -- so I ended up preaching for 45 minutes, which is also something to make me feel bad.  I didn't apologize for that, except to the 4 kids and Darlene on the way home.  

This is the nature of life -- that we live in the midst of the good and the bad.  It is, I suppose, a product of Eden, of eating the fruit that is forbidden to the pure in heart.  So our hearts, or at least mine, can never be fully clean and pure, without blemish.  

It makes Romans 7 a really important word for life.  "Who can save me from this dilemma, where I want to do good but find myself doing bad?"  And the answer lies in Jesus!  So the slogan some people laughter at (what is the question? ha-ha) really has truth in it:  Jesus is the Answer! 

By the way, I think our kids are starting to think that Darlene is strange.   Of course, lots of our "mzungu" (foreigner) ways are strange to them.  Today we had the two girls come to our house for lunch since we were late (after the preacher talked too long) and the girls did not save them any food.  We sat down to make sandwiches, then we found out that neither of them had ever eaten a sandwich!  I showed them what I do -- I put mustard and Miracle Whip on bread, then got a slice of ham, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, put it all together and cut it.  They were looking at my work strangely, so Darlene said to them, "Would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," to which they both quickly said, "Yes."  I think they thought the meat was raw, and they never eat raw veggies, unless it's a carrot.  Anyway, they enjoyed the peanut butter, and the orange soda, and each took an apple and went off to their Sunday afternoon Bible class.

  But the reason they think Darlene is strange is that she goes around wearing a chameleon; she even carried one around while she was videotaping the wedding.  Abdi Isaac catches them and gives them to her, but most people think they are poisonous and are a lot like snakes!  Here is is with her little pet, which she set free in the back yard, and it disappeared.

                                                           

Learning New Things

Each day I seem to learn something new.  Today it is about RICE.  I'm trying to figure out how our kids can eat at the wedding of Laurent and Eliza Saturday.  Most weddings in Kenya cost $4,000 or more, and we're trying to do this one on only a little more than $1,000.  So...I told the kids this morning, that after the wedding ceremony, they would need to go to their dorms and prepare their lunch there instead of eating at the Learning Center, since it would be for the wedding.  Of course they were disappointed.  

I found out that Laurent (who is a chef himself, so he has planned the menu for the wedding) plans to have rice and beef stew and some other things.  So I sat down with Milly and asked her what they had planned to eat on Saturday, and she said, "rice and beans."  That sounded good, so I asked if we could use the rice she had, then I could add some meat and something else and we could ask Laurent if the kids could join us.  And Milly said, "I don't know; they may not work.  We are using Pakistani rice."  I looked kind of blank, so she explained that when people pilau, they usually use Pishori rice, since the Pakistani gets kind of sticky and the Pishori gets fluffier and is a larger volume.  Wow!  There are so many things I don't know anything about.

Laurent and Eliza came later in the day to plan the wedding, and I asked about the rice.  Laurent said they had Pishori rice (of course!).  When I mentioned the kids, he said, "We couldn't leave them out.  We have 25 kilo of rice, so we have enough for everyone."  I could have just stayed out of the picture and said nothing to the kids, but of course then I would not have learned anything about rice.  Anyway, now the kids are happy.  

Darlene came home from the ladies' Bible study while I was talking to Laurent and Eliza, and then 6 of the girls stopped by because they want to help with the wedding cakes, which Darlene is preparing.  The best price Laurent could find for a wedding cake was about $400 -- a small one.  So Darlene has borrowed and bought circular pans.  The girls were thrilled to look at the dress and to know they would eat at the wedding. 

Laurent and Eliza left because they have to catch public transport back to their apartment, and they need to get home before dark.  I walked out with them and we met John Wambu, who was supervising men who are digging out the black cotton (Louisiana gumbo type) soil for our driveway, and a group of women had come over to look at the house Francis and Maureen are building nearby (I have given house plots to team members who intend to stay with Made in the Streets for a long time), so we saw lots of people on the way.  

The girls stayed and swept and mopped our floor, while some of them mixed cakes with Darlene.  They had a good time.  It's great to have a house where the teenagers can come and spend time with us.  

And it's good to know about rice!

Christmas is Coming - Happy Thanksgiving

We are only thinking about Thanksgiving because we are thinking about people who will read the blog.  If you mention Thanksgiving in Kenya, you get a blank look.  But I can tell that Christmas is coming.  For one thing, Darlene has her mind on it.  There is a stocking hanging close to my desk, and a small Christmas tree set up in the living room.  And I can tell out on the highway too, that it is near the end of the month and that Christmas is coming.  In the newspaper today is a short article noting that passengers in public transport are unhappy that there are 8 police checks in a 10 kilometer stretch on the Mombasa highway.  And driving into town this week we went through 3 checks in about 3 miles.  

If you have a little extra money as you go out to buy Christmas presents, you could send it to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN, 37027, so we can give a very merry Christmas to our street kids at Eastleigh and Kamulu.  Thanks!  

We are very busy at Made in the Streets -- building the new "First Steps" building for nursery school kids, finishing renovation at the girls' center, getting ready to open the cooking school in our skills training (the Connor Brown building at the 20 acres), preparing school uniforms in our tailoring and opening the new shop to sell uniforms, planning for the December time with our students at Kamulu, getting end of year taxes and land rates paid, searching for new street kids to admit to the Kamulu program, helping several students exit from MITS into jobs and housing in Nairobi, and the daily life of English, Bible and Math classes, building up the farm and learning how to relate to one another and prepare for a successful life.  

And it is all good -- what a blessing to have these young people in our lives and to encourage them to grow and become strong and beautiful and confident in the Lord. 

Open House

Yesterday was a happy day at the Coulston's new house.  We own 4 acres of land about 400 yards from the girls' center at Kamulu.  From 2002 until last month we lived in our apartment at the girls' center, but now we are in our new place on one of our acres.  And we had open house, inviting all the team and students at MITS and everyone at church to come over.  After morning worship we started preparing food -- Charles popped 13 batches of popcorn and Darlene cooked 6 pounds of "bitings" -- small pieces of beef skewered on toothpicks.  We put out several pounds of cookies, made 6 gallons of punch, set out 124 sodas - and Darlene baked 5 cakes.  

More than 100 people came and spent the afternoon with us -- the students went up on the garage roof (our rooftop patio where we can watch sunsets and stars) where there were popcorn and sodas.  They went through all the popcorn in about 5 minutes.  The adults and little kids stayed in the living room (the kitchen, dining and living rooms are all one big room, built without trusses).  For the first time since we started working with street kids, we had food left over -- maybe a quarter pound of bitings and 2 gallons of juice.  

We feel good at having a home where we can have people come in to visit.  It's also good having two extra bedrooms so people can stay with us -- already we had Bill Smith and Bob Brannon stay and after them Fielden and Janet Allison.  

We have planted lots of stuff inside and outside the fence -- bananas, mango and avocado trees, mulberry, roses, cannas, hibiscus, passion fruit and other climbers.  Plus Kikuyu grass in the yard.  So we have good things to look forward to.  

We especially look forward to seeing some of you on our next visit to the USA -- we will be available January through March -- so please invite us to visit your congregation and talk more about street ministry and the future of MITS.  As always, we will need to raise funds -- we continue to have more kids on the streets and will be doing another intake this year. 

peace and joy, charles and darlene