Edwin and Brian's Birthday Party

Last month I was so excited to find out that my sponsored child was going to have his birthday while I was in Kenya. So, I thought it would be fun to throw a party for Edwin and his twin brother Brian. Earlier this week I connected with the Kosovo social worker, Charity, to help me organize the cakes, presents and the visit to their classes.

This afternoon I walked with Charity with the two cakes and presents thru the slums to visit the Kosovo center. Once their I went into Edwin's class to cut the cake, sing happy birthday a gave him his gifts. Then we visited his brothers class to do the same. Both got a new pair of school shoes and socks, and hand knit hats (Thanks Mackenzie and Aunt Marilyn). It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to celebrate their 13th birthday with them and to be able to visit their home. It is always a good day when you are able to give to the less fortunate and know that you have made a difference in their families lives.

My days in Joska

This week MCC's short term missions team did VBS (Vacation Bible School) at the Pangani Center for the little kids and also did CHE (Community Health Evangelism) thru home visits. I was asked to help document the festivities thru photography. The kids had so much fun doing crafts, playing games, learning about the lord, how to stay healthy and watching puppet shows.

Before coming to Kenya I had come up with the idea of painting murals on one or more of the centers walls. I recently found out that MOHI only owns a few of their centers (most are rented) which narrowed it down to Pangani and Joska. Pangani already has a lot of murals painted on the exterior of the building so I thought it would be fun to paint the murals in the dorms of the boarding school (classed 5-8).

The middle of last week I went shopping for the paint and left on saturday morning for my hour ride to the Joska center. The staff and students were very excited to hear that they will be helping me paint a picture of an Acacia tree during sunset. I asked the head teacher to find me 4 artistic students to be my helpers. After we painted the sky, ground, and tree trunk, branches and scripture verse we had all the students from classes 7 & 8 come to put their hand prints on the wall to make the leafs. It ended up taking a little 4 days to complete the project but it was well worth it.

While at Joska I was also able to worship with the pupils in their chapel and our MCC short term missions team. It was such a blessing to be able to worship the Lord with them.

If you would like to see more photos check out my facebook photo album.