Prayers for New Life

Francis Mbuvi sent the following short report about a time of repentance and forgiveness for young people, and prayer before baptism. Francis has been leading a Sunday morning Bible study on the Gospel of Mark and preaching each week on the same chapter studied in class.

"Last week on Sunday there was a prayer call of things that people needed to repent and give to Jesus. There were over 20 young men and women who came in request for prayer and among other things, 5 of them asked to give their lives to Jesus -- Alex Atemai, Mercy Mugure, Dennis Kamau, Zainabu Dotrine and Anastacia Njeri. This Friday after a Bible study, they all decided they were ready to put on Christ. We Thank God for them and rejoice with them as they undertake to walk with him. The picture is Ananstacia Njeri -- we were praying just before the baptism."

SUNDAY AND MONDAY AT MITS

FRANCIS MBUVI REPORTS:

We had a blast at Church yesterday. I had 32 in my morning class and the sharing was just nice. Lucy Wambui shared that sometimes she is like the seed that fell on the path because she hears the word and

knows it is right but a few minutes after church she will have forgotten. Others shared too and it was a blessed time. In Church we looked at Mark 4, and it was mostly focusing on how we should be attentive to God's word. BFTS and the girls and the praise team all sang for the church - very encouraging.

Titus Mutiso did a small talk and said for me to greet you.

This morning we were led in choruses and the whole chapel was on fire. I wished Darlene was there coz I know how much she loves those. Katera and Andrew are here from China and they are loving it.

We did have a wonderful time on Monday with the street mothers. They were 35 with their children. It started with games and they really like one that is called “Kabuti” - the leader will call a name and they all respond then all of a sudden will be asked to turn. If you are facing the wrong side then you’ll be asked to go out of

the game until we find the winner. We have been getting winners in all types of games and reward them with different kind of gifts such as toothpaste and soap.

This Monday’s lesson was about learning the names of God, with the introduction of God’s names in Hebrew. It’s exciting to say the names and pray to God with those names. We started with ADONAY which means Lord, Master. We read about Moses who was a servant of God and we too are his servants and we pray to him like Moses did. We also learned that we should fully trust him, and we saw how God asked Moses to go to Egypt and rescue his people and even as he calls him ADONAY he still did have doubts. God told him to use the rod he has in his hands, but Moses continued to say he did not know how to speak. So God gave him someone to speak for him.

We asked God for forgiveness for the times in our lives we call him ADONAY but still don’t trust that he is able and he is our LORD and MASTER.

One of the mothers came later and asked me to give her a Hebrew name of God as a healer so that she would go and pray for her son to the God of healing.

The mothers in this program are growing spiritually which is so encouraging as they are learning that God is great and they are putting their trust in Him.

Next week we’ll learn about another name.

MITS NEEDS YOUR HELP WITH PRACTICAL CURRICULA

  Yes, we need your help.  Unlike more formal schools, Made in the Streets from time to time changes its schedule, curricula and focus in order to best meet the needs of our students from the streets.  Since most of them were denied the opportunity to attend primary school, we have to help them have motivation to catch up fast, since they are usually in our literacy program no more than two years.  Then we have to focus on skills training for two years in order to get them ready for the job market, which is more difficult than ever in Kenya.  And this month we have 6 students turning 16, the age at which we start skills training.  This means that we now have most of our students in skills training (38) rather than literacy (14).  In this pic are the students who need business, ethics, counseling and accounting skills to prepare them for the future.

  So we have revamped our schedule, and we have added a 4:30 PM class daily that lasts 45 minutes.  We want to teach the students in 3 major areas that will help them be ready for whatever job they seek when they leave us.  The 3 areas are Business, Bible and Computers.  Bible will have 5 units, Business 4 units and Computers 4 units.  Each of the units will have 20 lessons and will last exactly one month.  WE WANT YOU TO WRITE CURRICULA FOR US -- simple lesson plans, each one focusing on a specific learning task, each one with suggested teaching methods, each one with an objective, each one with specific assignments that can be done overnight...if you teach, you know the routine.  And if you don't teach, but you know the material, give us all you can and let us fill in.  Here are the Units and our desired objectives.

Bible

Unit One:  Work ethics, morality in the marketplace, general morality -- in these 20 lesson plans we want a Scripture, an objective, and all the rest.  We want to begin with Scripture.

Unit Two:  Conflict resolution and relationships (good to have a basic Scripture here also)

Unit Three:  Using your job to serve -- all the elements from Ephesians 6, the service mentality in the workplace, practical lessons for different job types.

Unit Four:  Dating and Marriage -- the kids will meet people at work, near where they live, where they eat, etc.  They need Biblical guidance for finding the love of one's life, courting, preparing the heart, staying pure...

Unit Five:  Personal counseling -- how to take care of their own hearts, how to overcome struggle and past pain, Biblical guidance, how to seek out someone who can help...

Business

Unit One:  Resume writing, preparing documents that show what you can do, interviewing -- classes with role playing, writing exercises, 

Unit Two:  Job descriptions and how to fulfill what is required, including the attitude and motivation required, how to get and keep a job, dealing with conflict on the job...

Unit Three:  Accounting and budgeting -- this 20 lesson course should be done on paper -- learning double-entry and ledger work, keeping a cash book, setting up personal and business budget, cash transfer...

Unit Four:  Marketing, setting up a business, promoting products and services

Computers

Unit One:  Accounting for personal use using computer programs

Unit Two:  Accounting for a business on specific computer programs (or how to use Excel or OpenOffice Spreadsheet for this)

Unit Three:  Appropriate and effective, efficient use of Email, Facebook, how to find what you want to know, etc.

Unit Four:  English studied -- computer learning in more advanced English studies beyond grade 4 or 5.  

Please use our expertise and develop what you think is good without worrying about culture or what we will think of it or anything else -- just pitch in and send me whatever you come up with.  Please don't send high-level space-eating graphics, since our email is slow.  Send me what you can at  charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org   

And thanks -- we need all the help we can get -- we are not experts at anything, we just have a job to do on behalf of street kids.  and be blessed in your preparation - peace, charles

Church Life in Kamulu

It was Sunday morning, April 26. As Darlene and I walked to the morning Bible class, it started to rain.  Brian Ochieng, a responsible 16-year-old and one of our students, had already begun setting up the chairs outside for church, which meets in the patio of the Learning Center.  As we started class and our study of Ephesians 5:1-7, it began to rain hard.  Since they could hardly hear a discussion, I broke the 31 people up into small groups and gave them a topic to discuss.  

Brian hurriedly began to get the song books and chairs inside, and I went out to help him, along with another student who arrived.  We set up to have the church meet in the largest inside space we have available.  After class it continued to rain a little, and people dribbled in to worship.  After a few minutes of singing, there were so many people they couldn't fit in the room, so we decided to move outside, since the rain was stopping.  

The boys wanted to sweep all the water away, so the movement of chairs and people was a dance for a while.  Finally we all settled down; there were 104 present in the assembly. The communion leader gave us a challenge: "will you stand by the road and claim Jesus?  Or will you be afraid in this time of opposition to faith by many?"  The one who led the collections of money for the regular "sadaka" (offering) and for the building fund told a story about 3 men who were drinking in a bar, were given free rounds by someone they didn't know who left his briefcase, and whose motivations and greed led to great trouble for all 3.  Interesting!  

After worship, Robin told me his Sunday school class was "full of kids."  His room holds about 45 kids squeezed together on our small chairs.  It was fellowship Sunday, so everyone stayed around for a cup of tea and conversation.