Hello friends and family,
Peace and Greetings once again from Nairobi. This is a story, so please don't feel bad if you don't feel led to read this. I just wanted to take a moment to share with you all how God has blessed my assignment (which isn't over yet). During the past couple of weeks, I questioned God a lot about why I was where I was placed. I tended to compare myself to others who get to live with their pastors or ministry partners, while Sarah and I had to coordinate between our hosts and our partners, the Missionaries of Charity. It seemed that the work we were doing wasn't what I had in mind for our missions project. It felt like we were just doing charity work. I felt like something was missing, but at the same time I wanted to feel content and grateful for just the oppurtunity to be here and all that God has changed me through this. Well, I expressed my concerns to Sarah and we prayed about it. And after waiting, we did something. We were able to connect to a non-denominational pastor whose church is within Kibera, and he took us around today, on the sisters' day of rest. For the first time on our assignment, Sarah and I were able to walk into peoples' homes and see how they live. This is what my heart really desired. I felt as though we were walking through the slum each day, but without visiting homes, I felt unable to connect. It surprised me even further when in each home we visited, Pastor Gelirson, asked for a Word from the Bible from each Sarah and I. Under normal circumstances, I would have froze. But God is gracious. The past couple of weeks I have had a lot of down time, and I have spent that time reading and studying the Bible and getting so much insight from God through that. I definitely believe that our works should flow from our intimate relationship with knowing Jesus Christ and that is what God was doing to me. He's been purifying my motives and drawing me into his arms so that I could better connect to people. God is sovereign, because if we had just jumped into house visiting from the start, my words with other people wouldn't have been as genuine.

Pastor Gelirson led us into this one home with a family of 4 consisting of 2 young people, who were not saved. After sharing with them the Word we had from the Bible, the pastor asked if any of them wanted to come to Christ today. This was not unexpected because here in Kenya, people are very frank and forward with evangelism. Quite often it is stressed that a decision should be made whether or not to follow Christ. I was prepared for this, but still, as someone who neglects evangelizing at home, this was a completely new situation for me. To make a long story short, Joyce, the girl we met, got saved. I can never say that I have been very involved in leading people to Christ as I have so often not been there while someone was making the actual decision. I don't know how much of an effect any of my words had on her because I could tell that seeds had been planted long before we got there. However, I feel blessed and encouraged that Sarah and I had something to do with her ultimate decision. That we were there to give her insight and prayers. Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord)!

The other youth, Jared, was still on the fence. He told us that he believes that one day God will call him to be saved and he's waiting for it to immediately happen. He doesn't want other people to convince him about Jesus, he wants to hear God's call. Please be praying for him. I know he will come to know the Lord, but waiting for a strike of lightening can sometimes be deceptive. (I can also relate a lot to him in his feelings that he does not want to be coerced into a decision.)God has already lavished us with the gift of knowing him, all we have to do is recieve it.

I feel encouraged to send this story your way, as a few months ago, I can honestly tell you, I would not be this encouraged in my faith. I am coming to find that Christ is my solid rock and the only soil I can grow in and become the woman I am meant to be.

I hope and pray you all are doing very well, and I cannot wait to hear from you. I miss the States very dearly but with less than a week left on assignment and less than a month left in Kenya, I already miss it. I only pray to God that I can enjoy and relish in each moment. Please continue praying for me.