Overwhelming Day

Today we visit the Nyeri Baptist Church Saturday Outreach to Children. This is an amazing work for this church and its primary partner Team Kenya. We arrived to see a steady stream of children gathering. Every Saturday, the church provides a cup of super nutritious porridge, a lot of care, a hugh meal (for most of the children it is the only full meal they receive all week), and well done teaching, singing, learning time (age-graded). To me, it seemed for some of them this was the only meal they received all week. They were so well behaved.

When we arrived it look like about two hundred children, but the time we left there was no way you could count the number of children (they average around 800 children every Saturday. Look at the kitchen and how so much is prepared. An amazing and awesome task is done by the Nyeri church volunteers. Oh, they also provide a meal for as many as 200 street young people. Nyeri Baptist Church borders the largest slum area in Nyeri with over 30,000 inhabitants. The area just below the church has about 15,000. I was amazed at the growth of the slums in less than a year. Also, 60% of the Nyeri Baptist Church members come from the slums. Even more so, some of the volunteers—one of the cooks for us during the conference and today—lives there. They children craved attention but we never had one problem with them. Joseph seemed to attract them but also he seemed to gather them. Rumor also has it he will be a wonderful grandfather. This ministry is one of the most amazing and effective social ministries that I have ever seen. The way they teach the children and care for them is really a model for the world.

We left for Bernard’s family gathering in his home area about 30 minutes from Nyeri. I also got to visit Robert’s family. We were received so graciously. In this rural setting, I was reminded of my own families gatherings and our BBQ’s. Children were playing, men were cooking the meat over the fire, the women were preparing other things, men were sitting and talking, women were preparing the food and things, men were talking, and women were gathering all of the children for the meal. Well, it was great. We had BBQ sheep (the herbs on it were fantastic), traditional Kikuyu dishes (Bernard’s family tribe). What a blessing for us to share this time with him and his family. We met his mom. I was very happy that she remembered me. We got to see some of this brothers again. Met a few new ones.

Robert took me to meet his parents. They live on the edge of the Tana river in a valley. The mountain sides leading to the valley are very steep and accessed only by foot trails. The river flows from the Aberdare mountains to the Indian Ocean. Bonnie and I crossed by boat many miles down stream in 1995. Meeting his family and visiting with them was a great privilege for me. Their small farm sits in an S shaped curve of the river with rapids at one end. The setting was beautiful with the sound of the river and native birds. The good news is that Robert will graduate in April with his degree in Community Development. This is very exciting.

At this point, Adrian, Joseph, Bernard, and Anne left for Nairobi and the Kentmere near Ruaka. I left with John from Nyeri to return to Nyeri. Got a call from Jesse that he had picked up Bonnie, Lucia, Garry, and Johanna--The last of the teams to arrive. They report that all went well on their travel. I look forward to seeing everyone one tomorrow afternoon. Adrian, Joseph, Anne, Meg, Rebecca, Garry, Lucia, Johanna, and Bonnie will worship at Koinonia tomorrow. I will worship at Nyeri Baptist Church fulfilling a three year commitment to worship with them on a Sunday. I am looking forward to a celebrating our common love for Lord and experiencing the joy of changing lives in Jesus Christ.