Peter, Amanda, Alyssa

Peter at Vipingo Feeding Center, Amanda at New Life Feeding Center, and Alyssa also at Vipingo sharing her "style".

Pictures taken at Vipingo Feeding Center

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!

Greetings from Tiwi Youth Camp!!

I can't believe I actually have internet signal out here!! We are currently WAYYYY out in the middle of nowhere at the youth camp we have been preparing for. It is day two and so far I am please to annouce all leaders are running strong... Saturday might be a different story! We have 126 people on campus and the Huruma team has joined up with leaders from Crossroads Fellowship to facilitate and run the camp this week. Please be praying for the team as they learn to lead in a different culture and language. And pray for the kids at camp that the Lord would work in their hearts this week. I'll try to continue posting pictures- Rose wasn't kidding about the internet being slow here.... but have no fear, between her and I we've got about 5,000 pictures of your kids to bring back with us!!

The Provision of the Lord

To read more details about the last week, read Angela's post below, but I just wanted to praise God publically. We have seen His provision in many ways, but a few stick out. A couple weeks ago, we were on our way to church (some of us were playing and singing before church) and our bus stopped working. We decided to pray while our driver was looking at the bus. All that was said was "Lord Jesus..." and the bus started up again....before we had even really prayed anything specific. Then we were out one day painting one of the feeding centers. We were close to being done and had worked hard all day. Dark clouds began to come our way and Tina said it most definitely was going to rain. We decided to pray and simply asked God to move... and He did. Almost immediately, we literally saw the clouds begin to move another direction. Then today, our bus broke down quite a way from where we were going. We prayed again and simply asked God to provide. About 20 minutes later, an empty matatu (van) pulled up and we were able to get where we needed to be. For the time of day, it was very unusual to see an empty matatu, let alone that we were in the middle of close to no where and its not like there's a public transportation schedule. God is providing for us right before our eyes. Praise Him with us and when you go to pray, know that God is big enough to move mountains... and deliver matatus. :)
- Rose

Most Interesting Day Yet

I am officially writing this after our most “exciting” day so far this trip. After a 3 hour drive to the last feeding center we will visit, we arrived to find a lack of children. The teacher had canceled today of school because they hadn’t gotten the message we would be there. But we got the opportunity to wander around the surrounding villages. This feeding center was by far the poorest of them all. They had two smaller sized buildings, one made of mud and rock. The villages were full of children clothed in clothes literally falling apart and families with so many kids and not enough to feed them. The more I see of these places the more and more I completely admire the pastors who are working in these places. Well, onto the day…on the way home our bus broke down. After twenty minutes a matatu (van they use as public transportation) pulls up. We cram 20, yes 20, people into a van with a limit of 14 for a two hour ride. We then took the ferry back across and met our new driver with a van. The Lord was good to us JYesterday (Wednesday) the girls had an adventure getting our hair done – be ready for a surprise when I get home (or look forward to pictures…haha) And that evening we had dinner with the missionary pastor and Bruce O’Neil, the director of Manna international (they group that helps set up feeding centers). It was a really great evening of hearing how God works. Tuesday we went to another feeding center called Tiwi. It was absolutely incredible. The Pastor started it with him teaching 5 kids in preschool and has blossomed into 8 grades up to our 6th grade equivalent with 230 kids! The facility is really great, and in fact it is where we will be having our youth camp. I had the opportunity to meet several 15 and 16 year olds who will be at camp and I am pretty excited to be able to minister to them and get to know them even more. Monday was a day full of culture. We went to an Akamba (a tribe that has set up this system for wood carving and selling their goods) we also went to an area of stores (tin shacks) for soapstone. Bartering with the shop owners got to be really fun. Sunday half the group went to Duruma (bush land) for church where several of them killed chickens for dinner and were even given a live chicken as a parting gift. We went to church and heard the director of Manna International speak. We also got free time in the afternoon that was much needed. Thank the Lord I am feeling better, and thanks for all your prayers for that. You can keep several things in your prayers – tomorrow we head to an AIDS orphanage and that will be really hard, so just pray that we are sensitive to the needs and affected in a positive way. Also, for camp, it starts on Monday, so this may be my last post. Just pray that the kids are open and that we say the right things.
- Angela

A couple more...

It's almost 12:30 now - yes, that is indeed how slow the connection can be - and it was pretty fast tonight. I need to get up at 6am to be ready for tomorrow. Soooo, more pictures later - I have pictures of every individual on the team - the goal is to get everyone up soon. I apologize for not getting more up - I would keep trying, but I need rest in order to continue leading and ministering and learning. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!!!

More Pictures!!!