LONG overdue!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the ridiculous wait for these pictures and this post!

Here are a coulple photos from my assignment in Kwale, where my partner and I were working at a school. The kids were great (and all of them loved pictures)!

There are way more pictures on my Facebook page- so if you haven't go take a look:)

OR I also have a bunch of them printed out more of less organized... and I would love to show them to you anytime!

Amber

Kindergarteners singing a song!

We finished our assignment!

Hi everyone!

We arrived back in Nairobi safely this morning, after an overnight bus ride from Mombasa to Nairobi. I'm a little bit tired after that one:)
Kwale was amazing! I loved it so much. We stayed with Pastor Felix, his wife Norah, their 14 month old daughter, and two house helps. Our host family took very good care of us. It was very hard leaving them all. At the school we worked with the 14 teachers, who were all wonderful. They confused us with complicated handshakes, fed us chai until we thought we would explode, and made us feel very welcome. It was also very hot! I was almost a puddle for the whole three weeks:) It was great being a part of their lives for the last few weeks, they went so quickly it was almost scary.
While we were there we worked in Mwangaza (lish) visionary school. Every day we led devotions with the students and teachers (between my partner Katie and me we gave more than 50 talks in three weeks!). We were also able to tell the kids about Jesus, and just spend time with them. I will have to get used to not being called Madame... A lot of our time was used preparing what we were going to say. It was good to be there to encourage the teachers, who as Christians are such a small minority in their community. Encouraging and the Christians of Mwangaza was a big part of our ministry. When we weren't speaking we were talking to kids and drawing five thousand posters/diagrams/charts/maps for the classroom walls-which we also got to help paint while we were there! The school looked great! (5000 is only a slight exaggeration)
I loved the older kids, and Katie loved the younger children, so it worked out very nicely:) In the school and teachers we were able to see both God's goodness and faithfulness in providing for and protecting the school. Your prayers for the school, it's needs and the difficult ministry it is undertaking are totally appreciated.

Now that we're back in Nairobi and together with the entire group we'll be doing different work days around the area including in the slums and in orhphanages, we'll also be doing some Muslim and Hindu outreaches. So we will be learning a lot, and facing some interesting challenges.

Please pray that our hearts will stay open to God in the next few weeks, and that we'll have effective ministry with the the Kenyan people we meet. Prayers for health and safety are also needed:)

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!
Happy late 4th of July,

In Christ,
Amber

Ministry Assignment!

Habari! (which means "How are you?" and it's the only word I think I can spell)

We've been doing and learning so much so far! So I'll pick a highlight to tell you about! On Sunday we had the chance to go to a church that is also the location of a childrens centre. As soon as we got there we got to meet about a hundred children. They gave us tours of where the live and their garden. My new friend was named Charles, he was 8. After church, we got to spend more time with the kids, learning games and talking to them about what they had learned in their Sunday school classes. We also ate lunch with them, at the end the pastor the church told us about where the kids had came from. They had been rescued from the streets in Nairobi and were brought to live at this centre, where there would be food and a community for them. They are also taught about Jesus and how much he loves them. I was ready to keep Charles:)

Last night we got our ministry assignments! I'll be headed to Kwale with my partner, Katie. It's about a 13(ish) hour drive south of Nairobi, and it's about an hour away from the coast. Once we're there we'll be working with a local pastor in a Muslim community. We'll mainly be working with the local women and children. During the days we'll be spending time in a school, we'll also be reaching out into the community through house visits during the evening. There is also a feeding program for the people there, and we'll be involved in prayer ministry to the people. So a lot:)!

Please pray for my partner and me during our assignment.
For... ways to build trust and relationships with the Muslim women in our community and open doors to share the gospel with them.
(I suppose you could pray for all that safe travel and health stuff too:)

Love,
Amber

First post from kenya!

hey!
so we're here! after twenty some-odd hours on a plane:)

We're staying at Watakefuwote (i think that is how you spell that) which is a catholic center outside of a town called ngong. The first day we had a couple sessions and then went down into ngong to talk to people and experience the place. after buying some essentials, like laundry soap and toilet paper, we were able to wander the market. the kids are so cute! and i recieved my first proposal, (then i ran away) so it must have been a good day!

Day two we went to the mathare valley slum and then we visited to the sanctuary of hope childrens home. The fact that people live in a place like mathare valley is unbelievable and heart breaking. it was good to see the sanctuary of hope afterwards, to see children who had been rescued and play with them.

Today is a day in nairobi to experience the market and city life a little bit, and get more comfortable using the little bit of swahilli we know.

Well, that's about it...
thanks again for your support and prayers
and please keep praying for boldness to talk to people and compassions to love them well
... and anything else you can think of:)

post NUMBER 2!!!!

Hey everyone!
Here's post number two!

Thank you all again so much for your support! I'm seriously seriously one the home stretch now, with just the last $400 to go.

This coming Tuesday (June 1st) I'll be leaving for Seattle... my dad is driving me over, Road trip! Once I'm there I'll be staying with a friend of mine for a couple days, and then flying out to New York on June 4th.

On June 5th the team will meet up and on the 6th we're leaving for Kenya!!!

Please continue to pray for safe traveling and good health both physically and spiritually for me and the team...

more coming soon:)

First post!

Hi everyone!
Thanks for stopping by and welcome to this (at least for right now) very empty page:)
I'll be posting news about my trip to Kenya this summer, so please stop by again later, I promise it will be more interesting next time!
Love,
Amber