Kenya – August Team – Update 3

4-way Tug of War

OKAY!!! We’re back online and we’ve officially started camp. We went for a brief 2 day Safari out in the wild of Massimara. Let me just say that we had some very interesting adventures along the way, but,  we made it and we saw 4 of the big 5 animals in the African wild (the only one we didn’t see was the Rhinoceros). We were stunned by the community that can be found in creation. We watched as Zebras and Wildabeasts grazed together by the thousands. We saw a pack of Cheetah’s hunting and doing life together. We saw a pride of Lions eating a couple different times and we watched as vultures came in as the clean up crew. It was fascinating. The safari was a clear picture that life around us was created by God and in within all the living creatures created there is always some form of community and we saw that come alive in the wild. Absolutely breathtaking.

Camp Huruma is underway and the team has done an amazing job pulling it together. We’ve had to get very creative with resourcing the camp, but, it’s really coming together and the kids are loving it!

We kicked the morning off by welcoming the kids through a dance line of the Cornerstone team cheering/yelling/high fiving/etc.. and you should have seen their smiles. I’m pretty sure they felt like rockstars. Have I mentioned that the Kenyan people (specifically kids) have some of the most captivating smiles in all of the world? Well, it’s true and we all love to see their hearts come alive and their smiles bubble to their faces.

After welcoming them we had a couple skits, including Joel England coming out of the ‘The Incredible Enlarging Machine’. Hopefully we’ll get some video of this one for you. The jist of it is that you throw something in and it comes out bigger (i.e. toothpick goes in and comes out as a stick, a baby accidently goes in and out pops Joel in only a diaper). HAHAHAHA!!! The kids were belly laughing, it was great fun.

The Incredible Enlarging Machine (feat. Baby Joel England in machine)

Joel also spoke this morning and talked about the heart. He asked the kids to do a bit of inventory as it related to their relationship with God, trusting/obeying God and being humble. He did a great job and he could verse Linn Winters in the pulpit any day. 🙂 Great work Joel!

Some specific prayer needs:

1. Pray that God would use camp to spark fresh unity amongst the kids of and around Huruma.

2. Pray that God would use this team to be listening ears, encouraging spirits and chain breakers in the lives of these kids. Almost every kid in this camp has some sort of a horrific story that would bring tears to your eyes if you could hear them. Our prayer is that we would be able walk some of them one step further into the journey of restoration and transformation through Christ.

3. Pray for our team. We are at the leg in this journey where we’ve traveled a ton, worked really hard, slept little, eaten many meals out of our norm, held/hugged/loved on sick kids and given all that we have. We know that the last leg of this trip will have it’s best results as we depend on God. We need His life, His heart, His compassion, His grace, His unity, His comfort, His rest and His Spirit to carry us. Many of us our on the verge of getting sick. We’ve been kinda passing a cold type thing around and it’s just a deterrent in the aim of our goal. We recognize this and we ask you to join us in asking God to keep our bodies over these next few days. We’ve got the Zicam, Tea Tree Oil and Vitamin C flowing over here and it’s all good!

On behalf of the team…THANK you again to those of you that made it possible for us to be here. I just spoke with our head cook at Huruma and she just grinned with her Kenyan smile and said…’THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE. You have no idea what it means to these children who don’t have and it makes me smile knowing that I’m cooking for the ones who are reaching out to the needy!’

What else is there to say…God is certainly on the move. We miss all of you at home. but, we know that God will keep you as we anticipate our return home at the weeks end. Much love from the team at Huruma!

Kenya – August Team – Update 2

 

We are plugging away here in Kenya. We apologize that we have not had more updates on this blog. We aren’t quite sure what’s going on with the internet in Kenya, but, we’re really seeing the unavailibilty of the service as a way to keep our eyes focused on why we are here; to serve these beautiful people!

We’ve been at some long days and late nights here at Huruma. The team is holding up great and God is really using us to be a blessing to Mama Zipporah and the children. In the process we are getting blessed every time we turn around. We’re confident that God is using Cornerstone in MASSIVE ways here at Huruma and we get to be a small extension of that work.

We’ll be starting our camp for the kids ages 13-20 and these kids are incredibly excited. The kids have been trying to find phones from whoever they can to call other kids they know in the community to come and join us for the camp. Please be praying that God would use Pastor Chris Haidet and Joel England as they bring the word during our sessions. We know that there are some kids that just need to have their hearts opened up to seeing Jesus in a new way, to hanging on to the hope that He offer and trusting Him with their dreams.

These are some of the brightest, most innovative kids you’ve ever met. They’ll make a toy from a wire, rope, left over packaging…you name it they’ll use it. Today, Joel and I watched as the kids played marbles. We couldn’t believe it, but, they patiently played with and shared the 3 marbles the home owns.

Tonight, Joel and I had ‘Man Time’ with the older guys. We sat and talked with the guys about what it means to be a man. Obviously, the American vs. Kenyan definition of what it means to be a man is quite different. Joel and I got to share with these guys what God says it means to be a man. It was a great time. We also shared with them how proud we were of each of them. We got to tell them that we’re not just here to kick Soccer balls around the field, sing songs, etc… but we are here because we believe God can and will use them to be the future leaders of Kenya. I hope they know how genuine it was from our hearts! We asked them to share their dreams about their future and they did…each one. It was a powerful time and a moment where we watched the eyes of these young men light up with hope. We got to pray over them a prayer of blessing and belief!

A moment that we will never forget.

Right now, the team is in bed and we’re in a late night conversation in the guys room about the stern words of Jesus in His last sermon in the Gospels…Read Matthew 25 (sheeps and the goats) and join us as we pray and wrestle with how we live this out!

More updates coming…

Kenya – August Team – Update 1

The August team, 19 strong, arrived in Kenya and the trip is well underway. We’ve got plenty of work to do today, but, we just wanted to send a quick update to let you know that we’re here and about to have our lives forever changed.

Continue to pray for us today. Pray that we will continue to empty ourselves of expectations and our own desires. Pray that we will have the ability to remember names (this means the world to the kids). Pray that we will continue to have great team chemistry as we begin to work and love these children. So far this team has amazing chemistry. We’re an ecelectic group, but, we have great chemistry so far.

Here’s a quick video of our arrival to Kenya:

August team packing meeting

The second team to Kenya held their packing meeting Monday night. They leave Friday. There was all types of excitment as all of them know within a week they would be plugging into those amazing kids and be a part of what God is doing in Huruma. The team is being led by Joel England and Chris Haidet from Rock Eternal. Brian Wurzell will be joining as well to provide music. They will be joining Lisa Winters and the other three girls that are already there. Check back for updates from the team and keep them in prayer.