It's been a few days since I've been on the computer, so I'll update you with what's been going on lately…   For starters, there is a new name to add to the list of "who you need to know" Shannon – She was with the California group that was here last week. The rest of the group went back to the states on Tuesday, but she stayed here. She will be here for 2 and 1/2 more weeks. This is her 4th time at MITS and she will be here 6 weeks total this trip. She is going to be a junior at Pepperdine and she is a really neat girl. It's been awesome getting to hang out with her and get to know her.   Well, I finally got to play soccer with the kids here! They play just about every day, but I've either been out doing something else, or have just been too exhausted to play. So the other night I went out and played. At one point I stood off to the side and counted how many people we had playing (at once) and there were 48 people, give or take a few. All on one field. Yes. It was crazy. And by "field" I don't mean nice turf with freshly painted goals. I don't even mean a nice grassy area. This "field" consisted of dirt, dead grass, stickers, weeds, rocks, and very uneven ground. It was so much fun though. African League vs. Mexican League? I'd say that the skill level is definitely higher in Mexican league, but these kids here sure do have heart! They LOVE playing. Like I said, they play almost every day and if it didn't get dark at night, nothing would stop them from playing all hours of the night. Most of them played barefoot, a few had on flip flops, a couple of them had cleats, one boy only had on one shoe, and another had on 1 cleat and 1 croc. Whatever it takes, they want to be out there. They hustle, they put everything they have into it, and they have fun. I'm not kidding, I think I saw more bicycle kicks in that one game alone than all of the bicycle kicks I have seen in my life put together! It was a blast watching these kids play. One time a boy kicked the ball really hard and really high, the ball hit the power lines, and sparks went everywhere! Watching their reactions was the best part. They were rolling on the ground cracking up for at least 3 minutes. It was hilarious.   I've still been teaching classes and helping out at the Learning Center. I've taught English, Spelling and Speech so far. It's such a great feeling to help teach these kids and watch their faces change from being confused and unable to grasp the concept, to suddenly seeing the light come on and watching the look of accomplishment spread across their faces as they become so excited to finally understand. I love that they love learning. One day Shannon and I went down to the skills center and helped with the catering students. That was such a wonderful time. The catering building here is very, very special to many people. It was built in Connor Brown's name and I can just imagine the joy he would get seeing these kids bake and learn their trade while having so much fun doing it. The catering building is really great and so many students love learning that skill. They have several ovens, stoves, and a huge collection of utensils and other cooking supplies for the students to use! We taught them how to make American pancakes and also tried to make crepes. The pancakes were a huge hit – they loved them! The crepes… not so much. The kids still ate them, but we quickly found out that we are not the best crepe makers. In the words of Shannon, "Sometime we fail at certain things in life so that we can learn from our mistakes. This is one of those times!"     Every other Friday, most of the MITS staff goes into Eastleigh to walk around and visit the different street bases. They do this because they are always looking for new kids to bring into MITS, but also to constantly be reminded of where their kids came from. The students WERE on the streets living on these bases with the worst of the worst before MITS took them in for a different life. These bases WERE their lives before MITS. While the staff was in Eastleigh, we stayed back with the kiddos. They each wrote letters to their sponsors, we played several games, watched movies, and just had a fun day! One of the games we played with the kids was Ninja! Ha… that was so entertaining!   Saturday we woke up, had breakfast, and then headed into town around 10am. We went to the Village Market, which is a mall in town, and then went to Java House for lunch! Yummm! It was so good! When we came back home, I took a nap, we had dinner, then we went down to the Charles and Darlene's house for tea and cake! Saturday night I also got to talk to my best friend in Lubbock on the phone, so that was a big highlight of my day! It was his birthday so I bought some more minutes for my phone and got to talk to him. It's funny how different and how much more exciting it is to actually hear someone's voice on the other end of the phone rather than just reading an email from them. It was so great talking to him!   Today (Sunday) we had church and Larry Connoway came out for church with us here. He and his wife, 2 boys, and Heather Lowery came! Larry and his family have lived in Kenya for over 20 years and he works with MITS in Eastleigh. Heather had been on a medical mission trip with Dr. John Bailey (Lee Ann Brown's dad) this past month and then she met up with the Connoways to work with them out here around Nairobi. It was great getting to see her! We all went into town for lunch and went to Java House again, which was completely fine by me!      Now I'm back at the Mbuvi's about to take a nap! A group from Pepperdine gets here tonight, some more will be here on Tuesday, and we will work with them for the next week and a half! On the 28th there is actually going to be a wedding here at MITS! 2 of the people from the Pepperdine group met and fell in love on a trip out here to MITS last summer, so when they decided to get married, they wanted to do it here!   And that's it for today! Hopefully I'll be able to update this more often now that I topped up on my internet time! I'm learning a lot here and seeing God's hand in everything. He is sovereign and incredibly powerful. It's amazing to be reminded that He is THE God. The one that we worship, the one that people in Kenya worship, and the one that so many others all over the world worship. And He is the TRUE God, which has been so apparent here. Being able to worship our God with other members of the Body on the other side of the world has been an unbelievable thing, and I know He has so much in store for these next 2 weeks… I am fully expecting the Spirit to do big things. And I am very, very excited about it!   Colossians 4:2-6 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."     -SG