The OCD - Origin Cross-Cultural Disciple

Monday, February 4, 2013

A Day in the Life of....

Today was quite and adventure in Kenya! We visited an orphanage called BCC (Baptist Children's Center). It was started by the IMB through some people in Texas! They have also had FBC Amarillo come and help. We got to tour the school there and the dorms. We also got to love on the kids! Enjoy the pictures!

The gorgeous view from the entrance!

We are here!

These are the 11 kids currently living in the orphanage. They live in the dorms behind the school that is on the compound.

Some of the kids playing at the school. They take ages 3 to 14 yrs. (up to grade 8). They take in certain at risk kids from the community.

CAN I BRING THEM ALL HOME?!!

This is Sarah-Bradley, 16, from South Carolina visiting and working with is for a week or two. She is a sweetie and a long lost sister! She is also a PK. :) She is staying with me and Kasey

Isn't she precious?!

She was dusting my jeans off from the red dirt. :)

Amy!

Kasey playing ring-around-the-rosie!

The girls dorm...

The boys dorm...

The Nairobi Four! This is taken at Nairobi University where we are meeting students and finding "People of Peace." Who are people we will pass on the ministry come May. Be praying that God will show us the people he wants to reach out to.

SHAWARMA!!! It was really good Indian food. At first it was a little overwhelming with about 10 Africans waving menus in our faces... We told them to go away until we decide. :)

Henna party!! Emily is doing her testimony on Sarah to practice.

Kasey's Henna of the Fall of Man...

Concentration...

My henna of the Demon Possessed Man... I am hoping I will get to share this with my university friends at KU.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Treeside!

This morning we went to a Special Needs school named Treeside. It was fun! We drove up and all the kids started running, screaming, screeching, all with smiles, toward us and tackled all of us in a huge group hug! It was overwhelming at first. There was probably about 25 -30 kids, ages 8-20. Their were some drooling, yelling, laughing, skipping, obvious they were full of joy that we were coming to visit them. They were really the sweetest things. :)
We played football (again, soccer. TIA-This Is Africa!), lots of racing games, Frisbee volleyball (with no net mind you..), and a game similar to Duck-duck-goose. After about an hour and a half, we walked up to the school and they sang and danced some hymns in Swahili which was such a blessing! We returned inside to a room with various tables with chair and some benches. We served them Chai (tea mixed with milk and sugar. yum!) and cookies (called biscuits here). They prayed, we prayed and we said goodbye.

Chris said that they will remember us from year to come. Personally, it was overwhelming. I enjoyed it, but I couldn't wait to get home. Jesus was working on me in a way I would have least expected...

I realized how much hope and freedom I have and joy when I look forward to the future. Those kids may be there for the rest of their life. They won't get to experience things like, relationships, seeing other cultures, other people, learn about the world and life, etc. They might not understand what God's love is and what he has done for them. It was breaking my heart. It was also a painful reminder of how blessed and "perfect" my life is.
However, if I/we can provide a few hours of joy every other Saturday, it is worth it. I will pray for them to see and understand that there is a God that loves them so much he gave EVERYTHING for them. Especially in the helpless state they seem to be in. We are ALL helpless just like them. Without Jesus, we are: helpless, hopeless about our future, and we don't know what we are missing. But Jesus provides hope, joy, peace a future!

He has plans for those kids, and maybe it is to teach me/ us a lesson. Are you listening? Am I listening?

Sema guys!

We are blessed to be able to partner up and work with these amazing men from Sema. They are a group of local pastors from all over Nairobi, who do leather work of all kinds (Bracelets, necklaces, belts, bookmarks, key chains, notebooks, Folders, coasters, etc..) and sell them to raise money for missions. They also do some community outreach on the weekends along with pastoring their churches, and providing for their families. They have such a heart for getting the gospel out to their community. This week we got to be a part of their outreach by providing water filters to some homes while sharing the Gospel to them and challenging them to make a difference in their homes and their friends lives.

These men have such devotion to God and are truly an encouragement to me and my team. The water filters are a great open door to story telling with the various villages. It is a basic 5 gallon bucket, a pottery type filter, and a blue lid. The water is poured into the "pottery type pot" and that filters out the bacteria, and leaves clean water that comes out of the spout.

The Sema guys! The blue thing is the water filter we help put together. Below is a friends little girl. She is a sweety!

We provided a water filter for Sylvia (the one holding it). She invited us into her very small house and her friends came over. She has accepted Christ and now reaching out to her friends. The one in the purple dress shirt is Big Patrick who pastors in that area. :)

The filters are made in Kenya and only cost anywhere from $11-$20 each. Sema (the shop) is struggling right now since they are supported over 50% by the BGR (Baptist Global Response). If you would like to buy anything from them, or donate for more water filters you can contact me and I will see what I can do. It is really cool to see how brothers and sisters from America can help support them!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Nairobi Life

This week has been hectic! We arrived in Nairobi last Wednesday, on the hottest day of the year they said. It is beautiful here! This week we have have:

Been to a Bonfire fellowship
Met a TON of new friends
Visited 3 campus'
Been swimming at the community pool
Settled into our home
explored the HUGE compound
Met our neighbors
Eaten some Awesome food!
Eaten ICE CREAM!!
Been to a BBQ (which has nothing to do with BBQ but it was still fun!)

God has been so good to me and my team! As the week progress you will get to hear about them many members of our team, our adventures, and the people we get to share with and who you can pray for.

Kasey slept most of the way from Jburg...