Worship and Street Bases

This morning we drove in to Eastleigh to attend worship at the new church at our Center there. With us were Samuel Mburu, member at Kamulu and WBS student, who was on his way to Southwest Kenya with Larry Conway and Jerry Drennan (from Abilene) to officially open Sam's Place, an orphanage for deaf children sponsored by the church. Also our two former Aggies for Christ interns, Jessica and Laquita, and Phillip, our lead teacher at MITS who was to preach at Eastleigh. Traffic was already heavy with matatus and vans carrying people to church and to other Sunday activities. Dust on the roads and a really bumpy 2nd Avenue in Eastleigh.

As we came in, we were enthusiastically greeted by our guard Isaiah, and Larry Conway, whom we had not seen for two months. We were happily surprised to see not only quite a number of youth from the streets but also several families, including some refugees staying in Eastleigh. On the front row was Jane Njeri, one of our very first students at MITS in 1996, when we started at the Eastleigh Church, which is down the street from our current center. She lives in a small "village" of very poor people in Eastleigh.

Phillip had a great message. One of things he talked about was a visit he had made to a base a couple of weeks ago. The base was located not far from a police post, and recently the police had killed a few street youth at the base. There are women there with small children, and they are worried about their children, talking about how they could protect the kids and continue to care for them. Young women forced to sleep on the streets are as concerned about their kids as the rest of us.

And Phillip applied it to Jesus, as he prayed in John 17. He said that Jesus is like those women, that he cares for us, that he prays for us, that he will not leave us alone, that he will protect us and use even the troubles of our lives to bring blessing to us. And we can trust him and know him.

Now isn't that a good message for all of us today?

Multiple Assemblies at Kamulu

It's a peaceful and quiet rainy Sunday afternoon; I think I need a nap. After church we invited our MITS intern over for lunch, with burritos and raw veggies and apples with peanut butter. Then it started to rain again.

This morning when I went down to the MITS Learning Center to make coffee and set up my classroom, Brian Ochieng was already there setting up chairs and putting out song books for the worship. Later when it was time for class to begin, rain had come, so we undid Brian's work and put the chairs back in the Bible room. Then class met in the chapel room. We had a great class of 36 people, even 3 babies; with rain drumming on the roof, we had group discussions on 2 Timothy 2.

Often there are many in rural areas who stay home from church when it rains, and sometimes with us, especially since we meet outside. We kept our class and a few others in chapel, and Joel and others started worship in the Bible room. So, all of a sudden Kamulu had multiple services, and ours were simultaneous. Francis Wahome, one of our older students, led songs in the chapel room, while Joel Njue led in the Bible room. Francis Mbuvi preached his sermon after a couple of songs in the chapel room, while they sang in the Bible room. Then the children went out to Sunday school, and Jackton led the communion in the Bible room. After the

sermon, Francis went across the courtyard, and Jackton came to the chapel room for the Lord's Supper.

It worked out really well, so now we have a plan on rainy mornings. And we had 123 people, only about 10 fewer than usual. Besides that, we had 9 babies and 7 toddlers in church today. Since we have a single moms program, and our Team members have married and have children, 11 of them are our own. But that means 5 are from the community.

We honored one of our older students today for his service in the church. Francis Cugia has led in worship in prayer and the Lord's Supper for several years and has been a spiritual encouragement to younger kids. Here is his latest school picture. He is now in an internship in carpentry in the city.

Church at Kamulu

Francis Mbuvi's Recent Report

"We had such a good time in Church today. Joel and

Jackton were on leave, so they were not available to lead singing and translate. It gives opportunity for us to use other church members and the students. Titus translated for the Golf Course Road group of four that is here. I think that was nice and bold of him to do. Earlier Larry Conway had asked Evans, who works at the farm, to do it, and he said he was afraid.

Titus was nearby (the first pic is of Titus when he was still on the streets; he is in the middle with the big smile), and Larry told him to sit in between the visitors and translate what I said. Even though some of the Swahili words are hard, Titus did well. The visitors told me they enjoyed the sermon. What a great gift we have in the students.

The morning adult and teen class was nice too, and today it was extra full. I had to bring in some more extra seats. All the discussion questions were the same things I was to preach about -- things to remove or kill in our lives and those to put on (from Colossians 3). We were blessed.

This picture is a recent one of Titus with an Aggies for Christ visitor to Kamulu. They formed a special bond, as Alex has prayed for Titus since Titus was on the streets, and this year Titus was praying for Alex after he became ill with mono. Our ministry is truly mutual, and we believe that street kids have the ear of God.