GOD ANSWERS PRAYER by darlene

  Last week the whole Team of Made in the Streets sat and talked about their feelings and questions regarding the land problem.  Some had fear because of a man who brought thugs near the property, some were confused.  At the end, Irene Akinyi suggested that the best thing we could do was to ask God for help, and Jackton wondered aloud, "What extraordinary thing can we or can God do that will help us with relationships with community people?"  We all dedicated ourselves to pray for God to show us something extraordinary that will lead the community to love what we do for street kids, instead of hearing rumors.  

  Two days later some women from the church, who did not know that the Team was praying, dedicated themselves to pray and to talk with their neighbors.  And a week later, the member of Parliament who led the group in the invasion of MITS land came to visit, to see what we do and to talk.  The picture is a group of women who meet and pray together after worship on Sunday.

  God is at work!  We can't wait to see what the end of it will be.

Making Kids Happy

   Each time we return to Nairobi after a stay in the States, we have great joy in seeing the growth of the street kids who are in our program.  It is especially gratifying to see our young mothers who came from the streets and are learning to enjoy their babies and toddlers.  This time our grandchildren, who pray for street kids every day and especially for these little ones, bought gifts to send with us for the kids at the Eastleigh Center.  Here they are packing their gifts in our crates before we left the States.  

   

                                                         Darlene spent time with the young mothers and gave the

 gifts to the kids, who are Mna and Larry (their mom is Maria, the 15 year old), Mutua (his mom is Catherine, 17) and Brian (his mom is Millie, 16).  In this pic the kids are enjoying their treasures.  The other pic is Mna, who got the most wonderful little African-American baby doll.  You garage sale lovers might look for a soft vinyl African-American baby doll for us, since one of our teenage girls, a new one named Florence, who hardly ever speaks up, said wistfully to Darlene, "That is beautiful.  I have never had a doll."  Make you wanna cry!   

Of Things Missing, Fleas and Dying Engines

It only takes 30 minutes for disaster, or something close to it, to occur.  We needed to deliver empty crates to the boys' dorm leaders because some of the boys had no place to put clothes, we needed to deliver new mattresses we will use for visitors to the girls' compound (all the girls were there taking karate lessons from the Pepperdine University visitors), and we had other things we needed to take to the Learning Center.  The Team was there doing Team-building exercises with the Pepperdine University group.  So we decided to drive it all down.

We rounded the corner at the Learning Center to drive to the shops for the crates, and the ground we usually drove over was all plowed.  And Darlene said, "where's our container?"  I looked and couldn't believe it -- someone has stolen our container!!! -- John Wambu and I own a piece of land near the Learning Center and I have a container parked on it.  But it was gone, and the fence was gone, and it was all plowed.  Now there has been a dispute over this piece of land because a neighbor behind it wants highway frontage property, and we are there on the very valuable piece of land.  When we drove through the Learning Center property to get to the shops, we found the container.  It had been moved down by the Learning Center on the frontage road, and there were the fence posts.  That's the first step.

We went on to the shops and went in the auto mechanics area to get the crates.  We noticed that our dog Beauty was missing also.  Then as I went back to get the flashlight -- did I mention the electricity was out? -- Darlene noticed something stinging on her legs.  When I went into the container there, she ran back out to the light to find little black seeds all over her legs.  When they didn't brush off, she then concluded they were fleas.  By the time I put some things in the container and got the crates out, I could feel stuff crawling around on me too.  When I got outside, I found little black fleas all over my shirt, and pants, and shoes.  So...we delivered the crates to the team and said, "Did no one see the container moving around?"  Of course they did, and you can read about it in the MITS blog at  www.madeinthestreets.blogspot.com  

We got back in the car and drove home, with Darlene opening the gate and motioning me to go on and get my fleas taken care of.  When I turned the corner to head for the house, the car died.  And it wouldn't go any further.  Maybe it didn't like us getting fleas in the car, maybe it's tired, maybe the fuel pump went out -- I don't know yet.  

We ran in the garage and got our clothes off and got the bug spray and whammied the fleas and picked all of them off ourselves.  We wanted to take a shower, but did I mention that the electricity was off.  Did I mention that we didn't have water in the afternoon either because someone digging at the boys' place had busted a water main from our well and so they had to turn the water off?  A little later the electricity came back, and we had water, and we got the shower and felt much much better.  We feel really grateful to be here facing the little struggles of life while we work on the really great things of life with street kids. 

The evening ended really wonderful, even though the day is filled with plenty of trouble of its own.  Go to that MITS blog and read about it.  I feel pretty sure that we will all feel better tomorrow morning too.

Touching the Important in Bible Study

I love it when something brings my heart back to what is important.  I am teaching a Sunday morning Bible class, currently on Ephesians, and we are in chapter 5.  So I prepared a worksheet on Ephesians 5:19-33, a passage where the relationship of husband and wife is compared to that of Christ and the church.  I took a look at the Greek text as well as several English and Swahili translations, and it always amazes me how much the translations lose by using logical and meaning-filled words instead of staying with the graphic and image-producing Biblical language.

  Just one small example -- the language used to describe Christians' relationship to one another and that of wife to husband.  The Biblical image is that of arranging things where they belong, putting that which is highly regarded in the prominent place.  It's like stacking papers, putting the most important document on top.  Or like God's creation, where he puts everything in order in the universe and sets one of his creatures on top. Or like putting fruits and vegetables in a bowl, where you put the tomatoes on top so they won't get mashed.  We do that for one another, and wives do that for their husbands.  That is so much richer than "submit" or the Swahili "stahi" (which almost no one uses in normal speech).  And it puts wives in charge of their relationship, where they ought to be, since marriage is a voluntary involvement.  

  My study led me to 1 Peter 3:1-8, where I found what I think is the most wonderful statement of the marriage relationship.  Peter, who traveled with his wife on his mission journeys, says that a husband is to treat his wife with HONOR as she shares with him in the inheritance of LIFE!  That is just great!  Another rich graphic image is that he says to treat her as the "weaker vessel."  We often dislike both of those words -- "Am I weak?", she asks as she arm wrestles him into submission.  "Am I just a vessel, like a tool?"  But if we see his image as he states it, it is rich and good.  Husband and wife are both vessels, and she is the fragile beauty.  It's like having a stainless steel kettle for heating water on one hand and a slender glass tea steeper on the other, or a pottery plate up beside the fine china.  Which one do you take most care with, which one do you protect most, which one do you cherish and put in a special place?  That is the task of the husband, to make a place for the beauty he has found and won with love. 

  And so I went into the kitchen and found Darlene and hugged her for a long time and told her I have remembered why I love her so much.  

musings from Darlene

I'm reading Charles' blog (over coffee at Java), and I ask him, "Can I write something on your blog? He's so gracious, he even gives me half of his latte also!  A few days ago I was remembering that when I was in jr. hi, I delighted in finding games and having the teens over to our house.  I even went to the library to find games, and I loved it.  Here I am, many many years later, finding new games and leading teens in fun, and I love it still!  Like Charles told the students and Team yesterday, God can give you your heart's desire, even in small things.

It's so good to be back, to sit in Laurent's living room and hear him say, "This is the right thing.  I like it here so much.  This is where I started, and I want to teach other kids they can succeed."  He and Eliza have jumped in and are busy helping in the ministry with joy.  And now we have a Pepperdine group here to teach baking, build ovens, and share skills.  The girls were ecstatic when Shannon arrived -- she'll probably not have a minute to herself!

It's also good to sit in Millie and Jackton's living room and hold that precious baby.  He can hold up his head and his eyes follow a toy and follow his mama walking around.  I'm so thankful!  And Jackton shared with us how he felt when he first saw Kehl, but he has seen this is a true blessing from God.  They are finding others in the community with special kids and they are drawing even closer to God.  And Kehl is a delight; he and Jeremy are passed around by the students. The students love babies and they are learning nurturing and loving.  

I love babies too!  Our ministry team has changed -- now we have toddlers and babies of Team members, and two Team members are seriously in love... (Robin and Irene A).  We miss our family back in the States, but God gives joy here too.

Thank you for loving this street ministry.  Kids really are changing and the Team loves them and give themselves away for this ministry.  When we first started in street ministry, Charles and I asked God to lead us to people who would love street kids.  And He has!  It's amazing -- we have found wonderful friends in the USA and here as well.  

As the kids say in chapel, "My encouragement today is to" ----  Ask God for your heart's desire in serving.  He will provide!

The Reality of Who We Are

Every day brings a new adventure and a new twist in life.  We are struggling with regaining control of a piece of land that belongs to Made in the Streets but has been invaded.  The people, who call themselves the "Kamulu Residents Committee" and pretend to look out for the welfare of the whole community, but who are really a small group of men who gained the help of a politician for what they wanted, have built a building on our property with government money and bought a pickup and added to their houses.  

And the American Embassy has refused to help us in this issue.  They made one suggestion at the beginning, but have recently told us they don't want to do any more.  We had hoped for some influence from them, but we are little fish and don't matter much in the world.  I really mean that.  While I know that God loves me fully and I rejoice in His guidance and power and love, I know that what I am trying to do is small in the eyes of most of the world.  I am grateful that many of you who read my blog like me and believe that what we do for street kids is important.  

But we should not live with illusions.  When we talk with middle-class or more wealthy Kenyans and they ask what we are doing in Kenya, we talk about the street kids.  And they almost always respond with something like, "Can they really learn?"  or "The police really should round them up and put them in remand somewhere." or something like that.  Back home even unbelievers will say "That's nice" when they hear of street ministry.  

I am grateful that followers of Jesus count street kids as important as they are and believe that to raise them up to a new life is a really good thing!  I have found street ministry and the care of these homeless kids to be the fulfillment of my life, to be what I was born for, to be what God has always intended for me.  So it does not matter what people think who do not value these kids, nor does it matter whether anyone thinks we or what we do is important or not.  What matters is that these kids come to know God and have a new life.  

And I am certain that the end result of the land problem will be good for us, whether we win or lose.  It isn't winning that is important, but what our lives become, what we are.  So let us be glad for today and rejoice in it. 

peace and joy, charles