Well to all who may be concerned that our spider friend Leroy has an angry family ready to avenge his death you can sleep easy. Our walls show no sign of his family and we are SO thankful. As for the water situation, we only went a few days without water as some men came to fix the well. It also rained Thursday, which helped settle all the dust and gave the soil a much-needed drink. This week of teaching went really well. We have been talking about self-awareness and the kids really enjoy the activities we do in class. We looked at ourselves in the mirror and talked about our physical features, how God made us unique and special and how we should embrace who he made us to be. They LOVE this, as many of them have never seen themselves in a real mirror before. I have been discussing the changes that occur in our bodies during adolescence with the 6^th grade class, and as you can imagine that leads to some interesting discussions. I love this class and I’m amazed at how often an opportunity arises to relate our topic back to Christ and His love for us. At the beginning of each class we say our Faith Statement together. It’s from Beth Moore’s Believing God Bible Study that I taught the kids last semester. They love it and remembered all of it on the very first day of class. GO GOD!!!!!

God is who He says He is

God can do what He says He can do

I am who God says I am

I can do all things through Christ

God’s Word is alive and active in me

I’M BELIEVING GOD

On Thursday it was time to call all the kids to the office who had received sponsor gifts from the US. I have to share this one story with you… it touched

my heart and soul. Here’s Emanuel’s story:

Emanuel’s sponsor sent some money for me to buy a few things for him here in Kenya. They suggested that I use the money to meet his immediate needs, so I went up to the school earlier this week and just made some observations. What I saw broke my heart. He was wearing shoes about 2 sizes too small. His toes were busting out the ends and the soles were worn unevenly. I also noticed he was carrying his books in a worn plastic bag, like a WalMart bags that had ripped at the handles and been tied together into a million knots. The next afternoon I headed to town to purchase some new shoes and a new backpack. When I called Emanuel to the office Thursday afternoon he waited patiently as all the other kids received their various gifts. Now it was his turn. I called him out to the front porch and presented him with a letter from his sponsor. We read it together and then I handed him his backpack suggesting that he take a look inside. We looked in all the pockets until we came across a shiny new pair of black shoes. His eyes lit up his face like the moon lights up a dark night sky. My guess is that he’s never had a NEW pair of shoes before. This was special. I looked down at his feet hanging out of his shoes and suggested that we try on the new ones. As he removed his feet from his old shoes I noticed the mud caked on them from where he was helping clean at the school just a few minutes earlier. The Lord gently spoke to my heart and said, Amanda, I want you to wash Emanuel’s feet. Show him my love, Amanda, show him my love. Now for those of you who have known me for a while you know that I would barely even touch my own feet let alone someone elses up until a few years ago. Feet are just not my thing. It’s funny how over the past few years God has changed my point of view concerning feet. Anyway, I had Lacey retrieve a basin of water and a towel and I washed Emanuel’s feet. If you are ever in need of a humbling experience, just wash the feet of a kid who walks miles each day to school with huge holes in his shoes. I must say that in that moment his feet were absolutely positively without a doubt the most beautiful sight I had ever laid eyes on. Who knows, these feet may be the very feet that one day carry the gospel to the nations. God has BIG plans for this kid. As I finished drying his feet, putting on his new bright red socks, and shiny black tough soled shoes, he looked me straight in the eye and said may God bless you… thank you. What could I say but you are so welcome and thank you Emanuel for being such a wonderful kid. This kid is going places. Not because he has new red socks and shiny black shoes, but because he knows what it means to be blessed to be a blessing!!!!! I know his response blessed me beyond measure. Praise be to God. It is my prayer that each of you know how truly blessed you are. May you see the overflow of those blessings revealing the glory of the Lord in your life and in the lives of others! Bwana Asifiwe.

Well, I‘ve been back at Tumaini for a week now and it’s been great seeing the staff and children again. This time it’s been refreshing to have some else from the US living in the house and serving with me. Lacey has really helped me process all that happens here on a daily basis and she is a blast to be around. God really answered my prayer by sending her to Tumaini. This week was the first week of the school year and we worked hard to help the teachers establish a schedule that will work for them. This term I will be teaching a class called Life Skills, which is sort of like a basic psychology class for kids. We will be discussing things like self-awareness, emotions, and communication skills. I will be teaching classes 3-7 on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. Lacey and I will also be working with the kids during the lunch reading program. For those who have donated books, thank you so much for making this reading program possible. We still have a long way to go to get all the books over to Africa, but I am working on several options to get them here ASAP. These kids LOVE to read and are constantly asking me for books. They are really passionate about learning. Finally I will be helping the teachers establish a club program in the afternoons for the kids, offering such things as Bible Club, 4H, Science Club, etc.

In the evenings Lacey and I will be serving as tutors for the kids at the Children’s Home, and one evening a week we will be having a Bible Study with the young girls. God is really doing some awesome things already this New Year and I can’t wait to see what he has in store.

On another note, we have had several interesting adventures this week. When I arrived baby SaraBeth remembered me and we sang Oh Happy Day together. This week we will be perfecting Rocky Top! She was so cute cheering my name as we pulled the car into the carport. Loved it!!!!

Poor Toba fell on a stick that jabbed into his shin. We worked for hours to remove it, but it just wouldn’t budge. So that resulted in a fun little trip to the hospital in Malava. (note the sarcasm). They told us that Toba would have to go to the theatre or as we would say surgery. After seeing the wazungu girls coming they decided to charge us double what they would normally charge… which was about the same amount of money posted for an emergency C-Section. WOW!!!!! We decided to take him back to Tumaini and have Rose take him to Kakamega where he got the attention he needed. They removed the stick under anesthesia for about 1,000 ksh or about $15.00. We are glad Toba is back to normal!

Yesterday Lacey and I decided to go for a little walk and 2 hours and 15 minutes later we found our way home. Lets just say that we felt like we had just gone through pre-season from the old days. We are definitely a bit sore this morning.

When we arrived home from our walk all sweaty and sticky, we were informed that the well is now dry and we have to walk about a ½ mile one way for water… No big deal for the kids, but us American’s are spoiled. To top off the week, we were getting ready for bed last night and Lacey noticed this gynormous spider on the wall and forced me to kill it . We named it Leroy… it was HUGE, but I will let you be the judge!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Well it’s been a month and a half since my last blog. My time in the US was great and I enjoyed spending time with friends and family. So much so that I did not take the time to blog about those fun times stateside. Now as I look forward to all the Lord has to offer in 2011 I’m glad to be spending January 1 in beautiful Kenya. I arrived in Nairobi last night at about 11pm. By the time I got my visa and collected my bags it was about 15 minutes till midnight. I spent this New Years in a safari van with my driver friend Alex driving the streets of Nairobi. It was not much different from what you would expect to see in the US. Fireworks, excited people, and a lot of optimism… I spent the night last night at the Hampton House, which is a guesthouse for IMB missionaries. When I arrived, as I suspected most everyone had already retired for the night. We have this thing called missionary midnight, which is about 9 pm. This evidently also applies to New Years J I slept well last night and today I have one more flight and a two hour drive to see my amazing friends at Tumaini. I talked to Rose last night and she was so excited that I was back in Kenya. Then I heard from Lacey (an American volunteer whom I know well via facebook but have never met before) and she said the kiddos had been counting down for my arrival. SO, SO, SO excited to be back! I am also very excited to be serving alongside of Lacey for the next couple of months. She also knows of Tumaini because of International Sports Federation.

For those of you that do not know, I will be at Tumaini until March 24^th. On March 25^th I will be returning home to the US for my brother’s wedding. I am still praying about a return date to Kenya after the wedding so please be lifting that up as it comes to mind. I knew even before leaving for Kenya last June that it would not be a permanent placement for me. I felt as if the Lord was calling me to be an advocate for Africa, and a mentor and mobilizer for young people who may be called to serve as a missionary overseas. I knew that my time at Tumaini would be vital in doing this well, allowing me to learn about culture and real needs. But what really sets my heart on fire, as I again realized when I had a chance to speak at several churches over break, is empowering people to get involved how ever the Lord may lead them. God is already beginning to open doors for me to be an advocate back home and I just ask you to come alongside of me in prayer as I seek to trust Him with the time I have left here in Africa and with the decisions that need to be made in order to come back to the US and pursue my passion of advocacy and mobilization.

Well it’s time for the next leg of my journey to Tumaini. Blessings to you all as you begin this new year seeking Christ and all He has in store for you…. It’s gonna be a great year… this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!