Greetings from Kenya!

(Originally sent July 20)

This is such a beautiful country with such beautiful people and we have enjoyed every minute of our time here! God is so good and faithful and has allowed us the opportunity to meet so many precious Kenyans already in the past week. We worked at the Kariobangi Baptist Youth Center and it truly touched our hearts and changed our lives.

Our group got to rotate around to all of the different classes and we were truly blessed! We taught the children new songs, games, and scripture, and they taught us about the love of Jesus Christ. I have never seen so many beautiful, smiling faces as I did this past week in the slums.

As we drove down the road each day to the school, we passed hundreds of hurting people. The children were such an encouragement to us as they lined the streets to shout, "How are you? How are you?" We played with the babies, read Bible stories to the children, and did manicures and pedicures for the young women. In the middle of such poverty, despair, and darkness, this school is such a bright light! We made scripture verse books for these children who are so eager to hide the Word of God in their hearts. Our prayer is that they can continue to grow in their knowledge of Jesus and continue to love Him more. The faces of the children lit up as we read them stories about Jonah, David and Goliath, Moses, the Good Samaritan, and the story of Jesus.

Several of the children at the school were concerned when they saw some of us had freckles. They asked us what they were and if they hurt! It was quite a sight to see the 90 children in the baby classes fit onto six mattresses each afternoon for naptime. Each member of our team was truly touched this week as we were able to be the hands and feet of Jesus to love on these children, to play with them, teach them songs, and teach them about the Bible.

Tears flowed freely as we pulled away from the school for the last time. We are trusting that God will bring more workers behind us to have the blessing of working with these precious children. They will be in our hearts forever. Psalm 89 says, "Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it! I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are. I'll never quit telling the story of your love!"

By Mandi Wheat