Laugh Hard and Live Well

Gladis She is truly one of a kind. Three pictures up today. Giddy up

Where the Players Play

ROlympic Day

Play a good game and go home tired.

Week 12 Term 2 26/7/07

I have now finished my term. However this means the kids will have exams. This is not fun for anyone. The kids are tired from pouring out all their brain knowledge and on top of that have about zero free time. I will have no lessons and will patiently wait oh so patiently for the kids to be free. After school I am sure we will continue the soccer pick-up games.

As far as soccer goes I have still been scoring goals winning game. Now I have played a couple games at goalie and I am still frustrated I got scored on. It is a difficult position because if you get scored on you immediately start thinking about what you would have done differently. I should have come up on the ball, I should have stayed back. am on offense I just worry about becoming an animal and getting the ball. Best goal was today with the right foot against class 8. Giddy up.

Rohi Olympics was on Friday. Despite a couple of glitches it went really well. It was fun to watch these kids do incredible stuff but there is one problem with game. Some people (like me) hate to lose. Some of us can control ourselves while others cannot. I had to ref which I can assure you is the toughest job. You have to listen to complains and make sure the game goes well and fair. Really the day was fun but the mistakes are easier for me to pick out because I was part of the planning process.

Highlight

On Saturday I had my first day off and I stayed at the house and had some peace and quiet but also I learned some Masai. So now I now the greeting and I am this much closer to being a Masai warrior which is way better than being a thug.

Food for thought

I have been on several missions trips. In fact my past two summers and spring breaks I used the time to serve elsewhere. When participating on these trip the mindset tend to be different as compared with mindset in the rest of life. On a missions trip these is a sense of determination, approval, and selflessness. When I come home I may start with fire and passion but shortly it all becomes extinguished. One of the major components involves is the amount of time I think about myself. At home I think about myself a lot. However, I realized this year with an extended period of time I view ministry differently. The natural tendency is to desire results. We want to see the work of our hand in these people. We want to see that we have made a difference. First of all, who do you worship? And how do you worship Him? Honestly unless you can read a book and worship at the same time you will always be frustrated with your life. Unless you can worship God through exercise you will never be content. You don’t have to be a preacher or a missionary to accomplish this. You just have to be alive.

Finally a fortune cookie

holla back yall I got one picture up. These are my buddies from class 3. Meet at the field 2:40, play some futball.

Catch me if you can

Week 11 of the term

A top whirls frantically clinging to the axis it orbits. But as it spins the vigor wanes and the leg which so valiantly held tough now wavers and the saving face wanes. I am the top. Okay this might be an exaggeration. One of the children’s compositions inspired the pen to wire again. I am placing below a few examples of beautiful imagery. Any middle school teacher would frown on a student who pretends to use words larger than their vocabulary but as I continued to read this was his style not a fool flaunting his knowledge.

Tears of despondency cascaded down my muddy visage

tied us tenaciously

My heart beat erratically

My heart beat spasmodically as I vividly remembered that fateful day my uncle killed my brother.

when my uncle’s fury was as erupting volcano

When my mother saw me safe and sound she became jovial and as happy as a lark.

However then when I went to discuss the matter with the teacher she said the phrases came straight from a book. I must say I was a little disappointed.

Tomorrow marks a glorious day: Rolympics. The kids will participate in various athletic activities such as 100m, 400m, long jump high jumps as well as games: soccer, volleyball, badminton and other fun competitions such as tug u’ war, sack race, potato n’ spoon relay. I cannot help but reminisce about my own elementary Olympic experience, running so fast the gobs of sunscreen flew off my face all for the prize of that blue ribbon.

But enough of that what did I actually do this week. I continue to hit it up at the soccer field after school. I think I am getting better or the kids are just intimidated now. A couple of days ago I scored 5 goals in 9-3 romp of class 3. I usually play for class two because they could use the extra help. I must say three hours of soccer a day is a pretty good workout.

Street church was extremely peaceful last week. So now it has been two weeks now when the crowds remain peaceful. That is God. Nothing else can describe this peace. Please continue to pray for those who attend. Pray against their lives built on fear and need and the hand of God to intervene in their lives.

Every Tuesday night is prayer night. Many times by the time it gets to 7:30pm you are dead tired but prayer is worth it. If there is anything I want to take back with me it would be the spirit of prayer.

Thank God for good health. Many people who come tend to get sick off the Malaria medication so I consider it a huge blessing to not have taken a few days off. My stomach is becoming much stronger.

The month of July is the coldest month of the year. That just means the mornings are cold and the midday tends to be hot. Bring a jacket and take it off at lunch time.

Two weeks form now we will go on a mission to the bush. The headmistress chose ten students to join the team. Pray

Highlight of the week

-Yesterday Dave brought Massai blankets, which is important because all the watchmen have these blankets. So as soon as I got back to the house I brought out the blanket and got pictures with one of the watchmen jumping. One thing the Massai are famous for is fighting (they were born fighting) and they can jump. Oh they can jump.

Food for Thought

- Try taking a cold shower once a week it will help to not take for granted the comforts we so easily take.

-Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
When Christ calls us to Him he asks us first to deny ourselves. Not deny your personality but put God first instead of you. Next time when you share the gospel start there. (Also this is something to live out. If you do this people will notice.) Now when I say deny yourself remember all parts of you. When I look at myself there I the parts honor but also I am not perfect, I am not pure and these part will not change without the help of God. So when we deny ourselves we place the lying, the cheating, the sloth before God. Believe me if you do this you are going to get the better end of the deal. Remember he is there for more then just your guilt but he desires to make you like Himself.

Matt 11:28 "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Tell me how it is

The week of 7/5-7/12

Wow I am tired. Believe it or not, I walked Kenyan ground for three weeks and I had not yet played football. I consider this an amazing feat especially considering I am a PE instructor. That changed this week. After school the lower primary students get out before the upper. (lower primary = classes 1,2,and 3.) Thus they go out to the field a play a legit soccer game. If it makes it sound like I was playing against third graders, that was not the case. The class three students would destroy third graders any day of the week and then send them crying to their moms. Plus these kids may be as old as 17 but most are 13 or so. So I am not a fish out water flopping on the land. I have three things on them strength, speed, and intimidation. Intimidation is a valuable asset. I don’t think I have ever had that advantage before. I found out I have a canon of a leg. However the accuracy is not quite there. The past two days I have scored a goal. ( I am not going to count the ones I scored during PE.) My favorite part is penalty kicks. I loved looking at their faces before I kick. Fear and competitive spirit. These things fuel athletes to be great.

I love it because I got hundreds of kids at my disposal to play sports with except for during duties. Everyday they have chores and during that time they take away all the sports equipment. This my friends is the saddest time of day.

I got to see to today how I am a blessing to the staff. Today I had six PE classes which is equivalent to about a 70: 1 student teacher ratio. It was bordering chaos every moment. The tidal wave crashed on my head and I just waited for it to take me away. This is what he has everyday, so you can see having an extra instructor is a huge boost.

I guess I cannot complain about having class three ever again. 30:1 is manageable.

The school is preparing for the Olympics. The event should be really exciting and tiring at the same time.

Food for thought:

When I returned from Cuba I saw I was living in excess. This happens to most all that visit people living well below the poverty line. Seeing people living on next to nothing lead me to question the lifestyle of Americans. First of all, how do you cut back but how do you give the cut back amount. The sensation that I was living richly has not hit me in Kenya. I think it is because I already learned the lesson. This statement seems cocky but read on. I do not deserve to be wealthy, go to a university, be born in America but I was. It does one no good to feel guilty because it this way. Believe me, many of them find more joy than we do. Accept this fact; everything that is your has been given to you by God. Now it is your responsibility to deal with it responsibly. So I have a couple points to live by

Steward your blessings wisely

Cherish blessing don't put a death grip on them

Don’t look down on those with less material wealth

Let your life speak louder than your money

It is okay to have fun in life and to own things that cause enjoyment but make sure you can exhibit self-control when it comes to spending money.

Still clouds cover the glorious sky

Clowds Cover Stars

Let me see what can I tell you today. Really, the biggest thing to realize is people are people. If you realize that you are no better than the person next to you (and live it) you have a lot of life figured out.

One thing sticks out in my mind very clearly> -- One girl at the school went up to the front during an assembly telling the students not to complain about ripped shoes because at least they have shoes. wow, if this is true then no one has reason to complain because someone will always have it worse than you.

I love the ministry here at Rohi. Out of 150 ministries toward street kids in Nakuru, this is the only one on the street level. Also, the ministry aims to provide for the needs of the kids while preparing them to live on their own; either vocational school or preparation for the university. If we aim to take them out of their culture, give them the skills to survive not just provide a place to stay with fresh food. Some times I think America should do something like that instead of using college to serve that purpose. However we will see no matter how bad the conditions for people are, people find a way to live. While conditions might surprise us of disgust us, this is the life they know and hold dear. Some kids after being taken off the streets run back because the streets comfort them.

Please keep the street church ministry in your prayers. Pray for the people attending and those leading it.

This past Saturday the team went with class 8 to a ropes course. It was a lot of fun and I just realized I have nothing else to say about it other than it was fun and the bus got stuck along the way.

I haven't seen the stars yet because clouds continue to cover them every night.