STAYING

Kelly and I are please to announce that after a lot of prayer and wise counsel we are staying in Kenya for an additional year. It was such a hard decision because Kelly and I had to decide before the first week in December was over. We have only been in the country for 5 months and to decide to stay an additional year was difficult. The reason that we had to decide in such a short amount of time was because Rosslyn Academy (Kelly's school that she teaches at) had to figure out if they needed to hire someone in Kelly's place or not. We did not have a real strong leading from God one way or another. There was a phrase that Roger said that kept ringing in my head which was "God does not call you away from something, he calls you to something." The interesting thing was that I heard that phrase about 4 or 5 times in the 6 weeks that we had to decide and I realize that I could create something to go back to in the USA but nothing solid was there. We also realized that if we stayed our ministries would be at a good place to leave them at. So keeping all of these things in mind we had to do our best to make a wise decision. So now what this means is that we need to raise our funds for one more year. We are going to have to raise about $9000 one more year which is a lot less than what we needed for our first year due to Kelly's salary and other items. God is good and we are excited about what he is going to do in the additional year we are staying.

CHRISTMAS

As I have said in previous post we are very excited about my parents coming into town (Matt's Parents) because they have never left the USA except on a cruise. It is very exciting because I believe that God is going to do some amazing things in their lives. They will see things that they have never seen before like the extreme poverty and a safari. We are going to go on a real African Safari to the Maasai Mara which is one of the best places in all of Africa to view the wild game. We will see Elephants, Rhino, Lions, Buffalo, and many other African animals. We will also stay at a hotel inside the game park that looks over a watering hole where the animals come at night. It should be amazing.
We plan to celebrate Christmas with some of our Kenyan friends, missionary friends, and my family. It will truly be unique. We will have some authentic Kenyan Christmas foods and American Christmas foods. We will sit around a artificial Christmas tree, blinking christmas lights, ornaments, and presents like at home except we will eat goat meat and Chapati (Kenyan version of Pita bread). It is funny to think about.

MENTORING

Things are going well with Pastor Willis and Nii. Pastor Willis is a bi-vocational youth pastor and his job is in jepoardy currently not due to anything he has done but because of lack of work. He is worried that he may not be able to back on his feet financially. The good news is that he is a very gifted musician and he works at a studio part time. He plans to make some money running the studio during this down time. The only problem that might arise is lack of business. Please pray for business to come in for him. It is possible for business to come in because the studio is one of the best in East Nairobi.
Pastor Nii just got done doing a youth camp in Limuru, Kenya with his students and he said that it went well. God was doing a good work amongst them.
I have had some incredible meetings with both Pastor Nii and Willis as we have talked about such issues as having a vision and doing ministry with purpose. They have been very happy with our talks and they are they are taking notes furiously every time that we meet. I am praying that we will be able to fully implement the biblical principles that we have gone over.

Things are great over here and Merry Christmas to all.

THANKSGIVING

Kelly and I celebrated our first thanksgiving apart from our families ever. It was sad but God has been very faithful. We have a great group of friends over here in Kenya. The day after thanksgiving about 25 of our American friends all got together and we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, etc. We had a great feast. Some of our friends kids even made special thanksgiving place-mats and name-tags. Since we were not able to watch football on TV we played flag football. Everyone made their own "Turkey Bowl" t-shirts as uniforms to wear. My team won the game which was exciting.

MENTORING-

Things have been going really well with mentoring so far. I am meeting regularly with Pastor Nii and Willis. I was not able to meet with Pastor Willis for about 3 weeks because I could not get ahold of him on his cell phone and he was not at his church. Then one day he called me after I had given up and told me that he lost his cell phone. I was able to purchase him a new one. The phones here are pretty cheap. So he got a new phone and he was so happy because he was not able to afford one. Pastor Willis enjoyed the study on the 3 Essentials of youth ministry so much that he is teaching people at his church. That really made me excited. That is exactly what I want him to do.
Pastor Nii has been enjoying our group a lot. We have been talking about getting a vision from God on where to lead the youth group. He has been printing out our notes and keeping them. He really loves it. He is currently praying about receving a vision from the Lord. Please pray that he will get one. I believe that if he does his ministry will radically change. His life will radically change.

Well that is it for now I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my parents on the 20th. I cannot wait to take them around and show them Nairobi, Kenya. God bless.

FIRE

In my previous post I wrote about how my church did a mission trip at Mjiwa Haruma. I wanted to report that about 50 people gave their lives to Christ. It was such an amazing thing to see. Young men who were drunkards even gave their lives to Christ. It was incredible to see. Well unfortunately 2 days after the mission ended a fire broke out and burned down 3 of the tin shacks. In one of the shacks there were 3 little kids below the age of 4 and they died in the fire. The village we very upset about it made the national news.

One of our pastors and an IMB missionary went to visit the family. They were so devastated about what happened. The church provided food and essential items for the family after the loss of the house and the 3 little kids. The family was so grateful and pleased with how the church loved on them after the tragic event. Hopefully more people in the village will put their faith in Christ after this tragic event

MENTORING

I have really enjoyed myself with my new mentor Pastor Andrew Nii. He is a great guy and he is so hungry for knowledge. We have sat down for a couple of hours talking about youth ministry and how it is working at their church. We have discussed several items and we have begun talking about a vision and mission for his youth group. He was very fired up about all of it and he seemed to take that very seriously.

I have had a lot of trouble meeting up with Pastor Willis because he lost his cell phone. He works full time and spends the rest of his free time at the church with the youth. It is a real challenge to run into him and it took us a couple of weeks to get in touch. Eventually he borrowed someone's cell phone and found my number and called me. I was really worried but he assured me that all is well and he is happy. We will continue to meet this week.

TANZANIA

WOW Tanzania the country south of Kenya is such a beautiful place. It is rolling green hills, with giant mountains like Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background, impala in the fields, Masi hurding cows, and you can see for miles. I went to Tanzania with Moses (Teens For Christ) because we were looking to expand both of our ministries there. We were so blessed because we made some incredible contacts this week.

We ended up meeting the pastor of Moshi, Tanzania Baptist Church who was in charge of the Northeast region of Baptist Churches of Tanzania. He was so blown away by Global and Teens for Christ that he said when can you guys start? We need this in our churches. It was so encouraging. The pastors name was Pastor Kelly. He was such a passionate guy. He actually broke down in tears whenever he was talking about his churches ministry and what God was doing in his life. Moses and I were amazed.

After a great meeting with Pastor Kelly we moved onto Arusha, Tanzania where we had a lead to meet with a missionary. We did a lot of searching and we ended finding Tom Folks of the Baptist Bible Mission of Kenya. By the grace of God we ended up meeting Tom and several other missionaries that happened to be in town that day. One of the missionaires that happened to be in town was the Tanzania national director of the Baptist Bible Mission. He said that they had many youth pastors all around Tanzania in their church plants that needed to be mentored and trained. They told both Moses and I that we need to start very soon and that they would love to help us. God was so good to us.

Tom even invited Moses and I to stay the night at his house. They bought us dinner and made us a great breakfast. I believe that the harvest is very plentiful in Tanzania it is just a matter of us finding people willing to go.

SECURITY GUARD-

On my last post I told you of a guy named Robinson who is our security guard. He recently recieved Christ as his Lord and savior. The church bought him all kind of stuff for the inside of his apartment after all of his possession apart from his family were lost in the fire. He is now so happy because we were able to move all of that stuff into his new apartment. Robinson told me that his coworkers were not saved and that we should talk with them about Christ.

I agreed with him and the next day we went and met with one of his coworkers named Festus. Festus is an older man who is a high school drop out. He is not a drop out by choice but he was not able to pay his high school fees. We met with Festus whenever he arrived to work one night. We sat down together for about 20 minutes and I got to share the gospel with Festus. Since Festus did not get to finish high school he did not speak English. Robinson translated my English into Swahili. After I was done sharing the gospel Festus said that he wanted recieve to Christ into his life.

After he prayed to recieve Christ I asked him if he went to church anywhere? He said that he had been going to a church for four years and never received Christ. He said that nobody had really explained the gospel to him for four years. That really made me sad because it is true that many pastors in Kenya do not have much training on the scriptures. It was such a blessing that Festus received Christ and that Robinson was able to be apart of it.

MJIWA HARUMA-

Things have slowed down for me because schools have let out and my mentoring has slowed down because the youth pastors are really busy with all kind of activities now that the high schools are out due to December holidays. Luckily I have had a lot to do with the church that Kelly and I have been attending called Ridgeways Baptist Church. We spent 7 days in a village named Mjiwa Haruma doing a mission trip. It was one of the most incredible experiences that I have had since I have been in Kenya.

This village of about 2000 people is incredibly poor. The people live in tin roof and wall housing. One house is about 10'X8'. Most of the people in the village will make around $1 or $2 per day. The property that the village sits on is beautiful. They are located on 4 acres of a river valley and you can see nothing but forest all around with a river flowing by. The thing that is so striking is that in they are located next door to some of the richest people in all of Nairobi. I am talking multi millionaires. The houses that the Runda community (rich people) lives in are mansions but literally next door to them are some extremely poor people.

The youth from Mjiwa Haruma actually walked 30 minutes both ways to come to our church because of all the crime that goes on. Last year 10 youth died in the village because they were stealing and running from the police. The youth came to speak to the pastor and asked if the church would be willing to come and help the village spiritually and socially. So our pastor said since they are our neighbors we had to go and help. So we had a mission trip in Mjiwa Haruma which is made up of very poor people, guys who make and sell illegal moonshine, drug addicts, drunks, prostitutes, teen pregnancy, abortions, idleness, witchcraft, and many other things. The police will even walk into the village, go straight to the moonshine makers, collect money from them, and then leave like nothing is wrong.

Well I could go on and on about the mission. But just one story I will have to share is this. I had developed a good relationship with a guy named May May. May May and I went to go sit down somewhere so that we could talk. I started sharing the gospel with him and while I was in the heat of it 8 or so more men and young men surrounded us. These 8 or so men and young men were the car jackers, illegal moonshine makers, thieves, and pot heads. I kept on talking about the gospel with all of them. I was preaching as hard as I could to them. After I was done with the gospel the oldest man, who was 35 years old, said to me "Mr. Matthew we are the ones who make the illegal moonshine what does the bible say about that?" Luckily the Lord had prepared me with an answer to his question that morning during my quiet time.

I read him Romans 13:1-2 which says "1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." As soon as I was done reading this scripture I told them that basically you are breaking the law and therefore you are in sin and under the judgement of God. You are also getting drunk off of this stuff all the time which is sin. You are also creating ways for all of the people in this village to sin and be drunkards. You need to repent and be saved. They combated with the following statement "Well Jesus brewed wine and I brew moonshine and I don't see how I am sinning."

I responded by saying well lets read the scripture where Jesus turned the water into wine and we will see what it says. We read the entire story in John 2. At the conclusion of the story it says this in John 2:11 " 11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." I said so clearly this was done so that Jesus would recieve glory and so that people would be saved. It does not say in this scripture that it was illegal for Jesus to "brew wine." It also does not say that people are getting drunk off of the wine. If hypothetically Jesus did break the law by turning the water into wine then he would not have risen from the dead and the atonement of the cross would count for nothing. I don't see how this is the same as what you are doing. You guys are justifying your sins and you need to repent and be saved. God is not happy with you.

I then backed off a little bit and said guys I want you to know this. I deeply care for you and I want you to know that I hope we can all be great friends. I don't tell you these things because I think you are disgusting and bad people. I tell you these things because I want to see you in heaven with me one day. They responded with "Mr. Matthew thank you so much for coming to our village." We love you and we want to be your friend also. So from that day on we became friends and we discussed the gospel together all of the time. They even came to our outdoor crusade. Unfortunately none of those guys received Christ but I know that the seed had been planted. There were many more things that happened in the village that week but it would take too long to write it all down.

Wow God has been really good in the last 10 days.

MENTOR
To start off with I have been praying for weeks and weeks about getting another guy to mentor. God has answered my prayer. I have found a youth pastor named Andrew Nii (knee). Pastor Nii is a great guy and he has a youth group of about 30 students. He really wants to see the youth ministry grow, have more adult helpers, and develop some serious disciples. Through several conversations and meetings he told me that he would love for me to come in and help mentor and train him on the biblical principles of youth ministry. I am so excited about this mentoring opportunity.

SALVATION AND FAITH
On another note I have learned a lot about faith in God. I have a friend of mine named Robinson who is the security guard at our apartment. He earns about $60 a month. Robinson was not a Christian instead he said that simply because he was a member of the Catholic church he was going to heaven. Well we had a few conversations about the gospel and he was not saved by association. He said that he wanted to think about it for a little while. Well the very next Sunday he said that he woke up and really felt strongly that he needed to go to the Pentecostal Church down the road from his house. So he went to church and ended up accepting Christ into his life as soon as the pastor gave an invitation HOORAY! He came and told me the next day and we were both so happy. His wife who was a Christian had been praying for him for years with friends and privately. She was so thrilled that he was Saved now.

Four days after Robinson accepted Christ his house burned down. It burned down so fast that he lost everything. The only thing that he was able to do was grab his two little girls (3yrs and 1 month old) and wife and get out of the house. The house burned down in a flash. He was not able to salvage anything. On a $60/month salary he was not able to afford to buy new things in his house. There is no insurance for such a place either. Robinson was so depressed and upset but he said that he had a peace despite the whole situation.

I ended up taking him to our Church on Friday morning because that is when the needy ministry meets. The church decided to buy him 2 beds, pots, pans, silverware, clothes, and some food. To a Kenyan in his position it was huge. He could never afford all of that stuff in even 10 months time. He was happy beyond words. The only issue was that he did not have an apartment to rent after his burned down.

He became really depressed and upset again after he learned about all of the stuff that he had. Well God is faithful and he was able to get another place for rent but he had not been paid. He really needed a place to rent and he was getting really desperate. I encouraged him that God had been faithful to provide all of the things inside of a house and why would God give him that without an apartment to rent. So after our conversation Robinson was paid. He was so happy and thrilled.

God was teaching him all about faith and he got to move into a nicer apartment for the same about more money. Praise be to God.

MENTOR
I had a great meeting with Pastor Willis, who is the youth pastor that I am mentoring, today. We have been going over the 3E's (3 Essentials) of youth ministry. I went over what it means to Equip, Evangelize, and Encourage in a youth ministry. He really liked it. It has taken us a couple of weeks worth of going over the 3E's. I feel like we finished it and now it is time to explain the 3A's of youth ministry. The 3A's are Availability, Accountability, and Ability. I gave him a quick overview of the 3A's and he loved it. He told me that he really loves our meetings and that he wants me to stay longer than a year in Kenya. ING

I have been wanting to develop our relationship on a different level. I wanted to have more of a friendship as opposed to a strictly mentor to mentoree (not really a word) relationship. It seems to be almost all business every time that we meet. I was hoping for us to have lunch a couple of times and just hang out. He does not work in youth ministry full time. Willis is a bi-vocational youth pastor. He works full time at this research place and uses all of his spare time at the church. We are planning to meet up next week. I am excited about it.

Please pray for me as I mentor Pastor Willis. I really want to do a great job and teach him as much as possible. Please pray for him and his ministry. He is a great guy and very humble. He is all about the Lord and not himself.

FINANCIAL TIMES
Things are really starting to get hard here for many Kenyans. Unfortunately food cost are being driven up. One of the major foods that Kenyans eat is called Ugali,z which is like grits. They eat it everyday and it is very filling. I would say that Ugali is to Kenyans what Rice is to the Far East. Ugali has gone up 60% and most Kenyans salary has not changed despite the inflation that is going on. Ugali used to cost 50 Shillings ($.70) and now it cost 80 ($1.25).

The security guard who works a 12 hour shift 7 days a week at my apartment complex earns only 4000 Shillings a month here. That is equal to about $62/month. His rent including utilities is 1600 Shillings/month ($25) and one of his sons has a school fee of 1000 shillings/month ($16). Which leaves him 1400 Shillings/month ($21) to eat on. This is almost impossible to do but he ends up making it work. IF he was to buy Ugali only he could buy 17 full packs which would last him the whole month but it would not be very healthy or enjoyable.

So what he does is buy about 8-10 packs of Ugali (about the size of a bag of flour) and buys Spinach ( A.K.A. Sukuma Wiki-Swahili for- to push through the week). He might also mix in some bread, butter, tomatoes, onions, and carrots. If it happens to be a good month then they will also cook a delicious Kenyan dish name Chapati. Chapati looks like a Tortilla but thicker and better tasting.

The security guard will eat one meal a day most likely. He lives at the level of whatever is in the hand is eaten. I really felt bad for him once I learned his lifestyle so I went to the my vegetable and fruit lady and bought him a weeks worth of fruits and veggies for less that $10 (very great price btw) and bought him several staples at Nakumatt (Kenyan Wal-Mart) for less that $10. Whenever I gave him the groceries he was SO HAPPY. He could not believe it and he got a little emotional over it.

His name is Robinson and he is not a Christian. He is a Catholic but he has never received Christ into his life. I shared the gospel with him and he said that he wanted to think about it. He would get back with me and tell me what he thinks about it. Please pray for him to receive Christ.

Matt Elmore ><>

Ridgeways Baptist Church is where Kelly and I attend Church every Sunday and it is also one of the places that I minister at. The church is about 3 minutes from our house and they have been gracious enough to give me an office space to work out of. One of the guys that works with me at the church is named Ken who is 27 years old. Ken was an orphan at age 13. His mother and Father died very close to one another. In order for him to continue in school would require the church to help him. In Kenya they don't have a day school program like we do in the USA instead it is almost ALL boarding schools. The church decided to pay Ken's school fee for him from 7th grade up until 12th grade when he graduated. During his time off from school he would work at the church as a janitor and also lived around the church.

After graduating from high school he moved on to college. There was a 3 year program that would give him a degree in Finance. The church agreed to pay for 2 years which was really amazing for him. He is one year away from graduating but in order for him to finish that it would take a lot of money for him. It cost 50,000 Kenya Shillings for him to complete that last year which is about $800. For him to save that money or get a loan for it is VERY difficult. He hopes to one day finish his college degree in finance.

America is having financial problems and so is Kenya. The cost of fuel is $6.25/gallon and the main staple food (Ugali) has risen 60%. The church agreed to give him a raise but things were hard for him in the month of September because his raise did not start until October. It was the 24th of September and Ken was out of money because his landlord raised the prize of rent quite a bit on him. Electricity bills all across Nairobi nearly trippled and several other things happened. Ken ran out of money for the month and all that he had to eat was GRITS for one meal a day for the next 6 days. I found out about this and visited his home. I discovered what he lived in.

Ken lives in an apartment that is about 8'X8' which has one sheet of tin as the roof and the four walls are made with cinder block. He had a bed, small couch, and a dresser. There is a community bathroom and shower that everyone shares. He had a hole in his roof about the size of my fist and everytime it rained it would drip water onto his bed in the place where his head was laid. His landlord refused to fix the hole. He has a propane tank with an attached burner that he uses to cook on and he only had one pot which was split down the side making him only able to boil about 1" of water in a pot thats diameter was about 6". He did not have any silverware, plates, cups, knives, or mixing bowls. The only kitchen equipment he had period was a cracked pot, a few bowls to eat with, a wooden spoon to stir with, and that was about it.

I took Ken to the Kenyan Wal-Mart which is called Nakumatt. They have tons of stuff. I used some of our money to buy him groceries, pots, pans, silverware, 4 piece dinning set (coffee cups, saucer, plate, and bowls), mixing bowls, knives, thermos, and several other things like that. Ken was so excited because I bought him some beef cubes which is a really nice thing for him. I noticed that as we walked by the freezer section that he was looking at ice-cream and I said do you want some and he was like wow yea I would. He has only eaten ice-cream a handful of times in his life and it made him happy. He had to eat the ice-cream that day because he does not have a refrigerator or a freezer. He was overjoyed.

All in all it cost me about $200 to buy him everything and he said that it was one of the best days of his life. He was so shocked that we would get all of that stuff. He told me over and over that words could not express how excited he was.

All of these things were made possible because of the generous contribution of everyone that sent Kelly and I to Kenya. God bless you.

Matt Elmore ><>

Man I have had an exciting week so far. I went to preach schools that I preach at every week and I had a good time. At one of the schools that I was at this week I preached on Jesus' interaction with the Rich Young Ruler. It was a great time with Kiambu Township High School. As soon as I was done with the sermon and dismissed everyone one of the girls at the meeting brought 3 of her friends up to Pastor Dan and myself and the 3 wanted to accept Christ into their hearts. Pastor Dan helped talk with them and then prayed with them. The girls were so happy and so was the one friend that brought them to us to accept Christ.

All of this reminded me of how we are to be like that girl. We as believers need to bring our lost friends to places where they can hear the gospel. Bring them to places where the word is being heard because it changes lives. It is always exciting to see the Lord save someone. It really made me happy.

The Youth Ministers Fellowship is good. I had a meeting with the core team today and it was so good because we hashed out several details and worked on the program. God has really been blessing it.

My mentor meetings are going well so far. I was able to go to Pastor Willis' church this past Sunday which was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see what was going on at his church. Please continue praying for him because he is a great guy and I believe that God is doing a good work in and through him.

I am also on the verge of getting one more person to mentor. Please pray for that.

Our security guard that sits at the our front gate is really funny. Almost every time that I drive by and say anything to him he responds "I'm fine." I will say hello and he responds the same way. I have said stuff like "have a nice day," and he will respond "I'm fine." It makes me laugh so much. Even if I will say something in Swahili to him he still responds with "Im fine."

Things are going well with the school ministry so far. I was able to give away a few Bibles to the boys that accepted Christ at the Kiambu Township High School. It was wonderful and the boys were very happy.

Kelly and I have to give our final answer about whether or not we are staying in Kenya for one more year.

I had my first meeting today with Kiambu Township High School. It was wonderful. There were about 60 students in a chemistry classroom. It was our first of many meetings so I thought it would be appropriate to share my testimony and talk a little bit about what I am doing in Kenya. I did not get to finish unfortunately but as soon as I was done the teacher in charge of the Christian Union lunch meeting came up and said thank you to me and said that any students that wanted to accept Christ into their lives or be prayed for to stay back. Seven boys stayed back and accepted Christ as their Lord and savior. It was really amazing. I was even trying to preach the gospel and I was a little disappointed because I did not get to finish but God is good. I was so surprised to see God move in that way. I know that I shouldn't be but it was amazing to see. We are going to take them all a bible next week.

I meet with Kiambu Township every Monday and Wednesday between 1:20pm and 2:00pm. They have a great worship leader and the students are very disciplined. They are also serious about prayer. As soon as they come into the meeting they all bow their head and pray. It is wonderful what God is doing there. I am so happy that I am able to be apart of it.

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I really had some great things happen this week. I was a little discouraged because I have a lot to do after 3pm but not much to do before then during most days of the week. The slowness on the mission field has only started this month because school has started back and school ministry is only available on in the early mornings and late afternoon. I was a little discouraged because both the meetings set up with my mentors and the school ministry is in the late afternoons. It left me with a few slow weeks this month.

Well one of the pastors at our church (Ridgeways Baptist Church) named Dan came up to me this week and said that he was trying to expand the high school ministry and he wanted my help. We visited 3 schools and they wanted us to come in and minister to their high school students. So my set-in-stone ministry schedule looks like this now:

Monday: 10 am meeting with TFC
1:20pm Kiambu Township High School meeting

Tuesday: 1pm Ofafa Jericho High School Meeting
4:15pm Banana Hill High School Meeting

Wednesday: 1:20pm Kiambu Township High School meeting.
4pm Call Global

Thursday: 4pm Mentor Pastor Willis

Friday: 4:45pm Balkan High School Ministry

Saturday: Spend time with Kelly

Sunday: 9:30am Go to Church
2:00pm Call Parents

Things have been a little slow this month, so I was so excited that Pastor Dan added three schools to my schedule. I also have one more mentor to add. His name is Phillip Kimuli. He is a great guy and wants me to mentor him. He is currently in charge of his church's youth group and he is in seminary. He is also a great musician.

Well that is the latest. I am excited about the new mentor. That currently gives me two guys to mentor. I am trying to work on a third.

The ministry with Youth Minister's Fellowship is going well so far. We are going to have our first meeting with the area youth leaders this October. We are really excited about what God is doing.

Wow what a weekend! I got my hair cut on Friday by a friend of ours named Ed. It was a free haircut. He did a great job. It was the first free haircut that I have had in years. It was nice to pay nothing. The only thing that he did that was a little different was that he cut the back part of my hair a little high. It is not too noticeable but you can tell it is a little short in the back. It is all good Ed.

While we were at Ed and Tricia's house we had some guacamole. I have become a big fan of guacamole since we moved to Kenya because Avocados are REALLY cheap here. They cost about $.23 per avocado. So naturally you make guacamole. Another good thing about Kenya is that they have a type of Lays potato chips that we don't have. They have a flavor called Thai Sweet. They are spicy yet a little sweet. I really love them. Kelly also loves them because they do not have MSG in them. MSG give her headaches.

We woke up on Saturday and had a nice relaxing day. It was great to not have to do much. Kelly made French Toast which would rival Cracker Barrel's. God has truly giving me a wife that can cook very well.

Moses came over and we were supposed to head to Rosslyn Academy to do the G.Y.M. benefit Skype call. We went to Rosslyn Academy (Kelly's work place) because they have the fastest internet connection that you can get in East Africa. I woke up at 1:50AM and we did not get back from Rosslyn Academy until 4:30AM.

It was awesome doing the phone call with Mark Kaigwa, Moses, and myself. We really had a great time going there and getting to be apart of the concert. We called in early and we were able to hear several songs by Casting Crowns which was a lot of fun but then during one of the songs we lost all sound from the concert. It made me a little nervous but Drew (tech guy) kept saying it would be ok. We kept joking with Drew saying that if we did not get the concert back then we were going to go on strike and not talk to the 4500 people watching the Global benefit concert.

Well Casting Crowns played 5 songs and it was time for us to go live on the big screen at the concert. Moses, Mark, and I were supposed to have a question and answer session with Mark Hall and Roger but it was hard because we could not hear anything. We did not know who was asking question or when it started. All we knew was that it was time for us to talk. Drew was sending us IM's through skype and that was the only way that we knew we were to speak. Moses was up first in the question and answer session. It was funny because Moses was like a deer in headlights because he just froze and did not say anything. I kept whispering to him and telling him to speak but he just sat there smiling. I was laughing on the inside. Then I spoke up and said "Sorry we are not able to hear you." Then Moses jumped right in and started talking. It was a good time and we really enjoyed it. We were all so excited to be apart of Global's big night.

The next morning I had to wake up and go to church because I had to preach. I preached at both youth services. I preached on John 8:1-11 which is the story about the woman caught in the act of adultery. At the end of the first sermon I gave an invitation and one boy named Samuel wanted to accept Christ. Hamisi (Youth pastor of Ridgeways Baptist Church) brought him up in front of the crowd and he asked Christ into his life in front of everyone. It was interesting to see.

After we were done with church Kelly and I ate a quick dinner and then we drove to the Westgate Mall. The Westgate Mall is as nice as any mall in America. We bought our groceries at Nakumatt which is Kenya's Wal-Mart. They actually sell more items then Wal-Mart. You can buy everything there including furniture, appliances, and a car (Special Nakumatt only). Then we went back to Rosslyn to talk to my parents. It was nice talking to them.

All and in all we had a great weekend.

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST- Kelly and I have to make a decision at the end of this week if we are going to stay in Kenya for one more year. Please pray for God to speak to us and let things go according to his perfect plan. The reason we have to decide in such a short amount of time is because Rosslyn needs to recruit someone to fill Kelly's job position (Resource Teacher). They would like for Kelly to stay one more year. We really need wisdom and guidance.

Mungu Aku Bariki (God bless you),
Matt Elmore ><>

We arrived on July 4th. From July 4th until current date Moses (Teens for Christ Director) have worked very hard to start a youth pastors fellowship going. As of 2 weeks ago we have officially started the Youth Ministers Fellowship. I have been meeting with a group of 6 youth leaders regularly to get it going. We have had about 6 meetings and during those meetings we have developed our vision, mission, and core values. We are about to kick off with our first meeting major meeting this month. It is really exciting.

The Kenyan guys that I am working with are so excited about it. They are so excited about the direction that we are going and the fact that it is so organized that they are talking about starting a Youth Ministers Fellowship Chapter in the 5 biggest cities in Kenya. I was very impressed with their vision and direction with it.

I was able to do some school ministry this week. I went into a school named Ofafa Jericho Boys School that had a lunch meeting with the Christian Union. About 80 boys showed up and the meeting was only 30 minutes long. I was supposed to preach 15 minutes and I ended up preaching 30 minutes. The good thing was that God was with us. After the message was done I gave an invitation and 10 boys accepted Christ and about 40 were convicted over their sin. It was amazing how receptive they were and how amazing God was at using the message.

The church that Kelly and I have been going to (Ridgeways Baptist Church) has given me an office space. It is not like I have a desk and stuff but they have given me a sunday school room with a table in it. My office equipment consist of my laptop, cell phone, I-pod, head phones, bible, and electrical outlet. It is really simple but I feel like it has helped me get a lot of things done. I feel like I actually have an office and office environment. God is really faithful and I love working here.

I officially have a mentor now. His name is Willis Anuduea. I have several meetings with him. He is the youth pastor at a pentecostal church. It is interesting because he works a full-time job and he works at the church part-time. He does not draw a salary at all. He really loves the Lord and he loves the youth. I really like working with him.

Sunday- We left on Sunday night at 8:15pm on a big 59 passenger bus holding 59 people. It was much the same as an old greyhound. It was nice because you could recline your seats quite a bit. The seats were very comfortable and we drove from the southern middle part of Kenya, to the southeastern tip, and then back north because of the roads. I was the only white guy and non-Kenyan on the mission trip. We stopped at a bus stop during the middle of the trip and got some food and just relaxed. The stop lasted around 1.5 hours. I was ready to go needless to say. The bathrooms at one of the stops was so bad. The Kenyans were like man this place is terrible. I laughed because of how powerful the smell was. But when you have to go you have to go and I did not want to wait 4 hours till the next stop. We did not arrive in Malindi until 8:30am Monday morning. The trip took us right through the middle of a game park. Luckily we did not break down in the middle of lion and elephant territory.

Monday- We arrived at 8:30am. A 12 HOUR BUS TRIP!!!! We drove up to our hotel and it was definitely a retreat center. I have to admit that selfishly I was like wow this place is a little rough. I was picturing what a lot of Americans would say if they were staying here. But I had a nice, comfortable, and clean bed. The bed had a mosquito net with huge holes in it. It made me laugh because even a fat mosquito could fit through it. On the whole it worked though. I started to get to know all of the youth and college students from my church and it was nice to get to know them. I felt a little out of place because I was the only white guy. But they were gracious. We laid down to take a nap from a few hours after breakfast and I was went to sleep for about 4 hours because I was so tired. Then we got up and went to the Police station. Our mission was to paint the police station and witness to people around it. My responsibility was to go around and witness to the nearby areas. After we left the police station we went to the beach. The beach was great. It looked a lot like a Florida beach and the water was very clean. It was such a great moment in my life because I got to swim in the Indian Ocean. Through out my life I have been in the ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, and now the INDIAN OCEAN. The only thing left is the Arctic but I doubt I will swim in it. We then came back had a nice dinner and then went to bed.

Tuesday- I got up at 6AM to prepare for the morning devotional. All of the students were suppose to arrive at 7AM but they did not show up until 7:15 or so. The students all said that they wanted to figure out what God’s will for the their life was and so that is what I taught on every morning for the week. I then gave them their quiet time material that I had prepared for them the week before and they had personal devotional times. It was great seeing all the students spend time with God. Afterwards 1/2 of us loaded up on a bus and arrived at the police station while the other half waited. We all arrived at the police station around 9:30AM and around 95% of the group started painting while the rest of us headed out to witness. We went out in pairs. I was paired with a guy named Wallace. Wallace is a 21 year old college student who is high talented in translating Swahili to English. Wallace was also wonderful at witnessing. I felt very confident with him. We shared the gospel with some women that were out on their front porch and we discovered that they were saved and then we prayed with them and moved on. The next lady that we met with overheard us praying and she was so touched by it because she had not heard anyone praying in the village for a long time. Malindi has a lot of Muslims and it meant a lot to her to hear Christians praying. She did not have a church home so we introduced her to some of her neighbors that were believers and were willing to take her to church on Sunday. A little bit later we saw her heading to church to meet the pastors. Then we ran into a police officer that was known as the black sheep in his family because he had made a lot bad decisions and was a heavy drinker. He grew up in a Christian family but was not saved. We shared the gospel with him and he was ready to ask Christ into his heart. We tried to make sure that he was serious by reading verses like Matthew 10:37 to him. He was ready to accept Christ and he did. It was amazing.
Then we headed to the beach for some free time. During the trip there we went to a beach that was amazing. The hotel that we went to and the beach was so beautiful. The sand part of the beach was so big. Once you stepped on the sand you had to walk about a mile to the water. The beach was covered with palm trees that had coconuts on them. We started swimming and after a while 3 of our students got caught up in a very serious rip current. It was 2 21 yr. old guys and a 17 yr. old girl. Some locals ended up dragging them out of the current and onto the beach. One of the boys was so physically fatigued that we thought he might be dead. We started to give him CPR and then realized that he was breathing and his heart was working fine. He actually started to go into shock and talking crazy like. We covered him in towels and shawls that the girls gave us. During all of this one of our students named Steven got swept up into the rip current and ended up dying.

Wednesday- I got up at 6AM again to prepare for the morning devotional. I really felt a stiring in my heart that I needed to preach on something different than what I was originally planning. I preached on living a double life. I believed that God was telling me that I need to preach reading his word. I started off by preaching that it is important to read the word of God and there are several ways to honor God’s word. I listed six ways to honor the word which were hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, meditating, and applying. The students were so convicted. They stayed in their personal quiet times for quite a while. Several of them came up to myself and other adult leaders and asked how they could have a more serious quiet time. It was really amazing to see God work in that way.
The pastors continued their search for Steven that day. They walked about 30 miles up and down the beach looking for him. They were unable to find him. It was really sad and difficult to deal with for them. The youth pastor named Hamisi got so depressed that he did not eat all day and he slept for about 15 hours that night. Most of the leadership for the trip was looking for Steven. They gave myself and one other person the task to help make sure that the students continued with the mission trip that entire day.
The students and I went to a slum next the retreat center that we were staying. We split up into groups and went to preach the gospel to the people in the slum. There were about 10 groups total. My group was great because we went to several Muslims that lived in the area but unfortunately they did not want to hear us. We ran into one guy who was willing to talk however. I asked him a couple of questions about his faith and he told me things like Jesus was the Son of God, Messiah, God in man form, and the only way to heaven. I then responded to him that he just denied some very fundamental doctrines of Islam. He became confused and I tried to help steer him back to the gospel but he decided that he did not want to talk anymore. My students were shaking in their boots because they were scared to talk to Muslims. It was great to encourage them in their faith.

Thursday- I woke up at 6am to prepare the morning devotional that I was scheduled to share. As I woke up I became very convicted that I need to share a different message than what I was planning to. I felt God was telling me to preach on living a double life. As I was giving the word the mood in the room really changed. The students that came in laughing and joking began to stare down at the ground. Some of them that were taking notes began to stop and listen more intently. I could feel the presence of God on me and sense him moving in the room. It was very encouraging. Once I was done I gave an invitation about eight students responded. One of them was the pastor’s son. It was amazing to see him come forward. He ended up talking to one of our adults that had a bad past with drugs, alcohol, and sex. Our adult really had a lot to say to him. It was awesome what God did in his life that day. He repented and wanted to live his life for the Lord. He has been doing it since we have returned from Malindi.
Steven’s father arrived in Malindi early in the morning and we did not get to see him. We were scheduled to see him but he became too emotional to speak to us all so he left and went to a friend’s house. Steven’s father said that as soon he saw all of us he began to say to God how come it is my son that is lost and not one of these other students. It was really hard on him.
We left to go to the beach where we lost Steven at and met with the head investigator of the police station to get statements from all of the students. It was a very emotional time for us because we all saw Steven’s father for the first time. He was crying as we all walked by, shook his hand, and said a word of encouragement to him. The police would ask us all questions and some of the students that had almost drowned refused to come on the beach because it caused them such fear. The girl Stephanie who almost drowned believed that Steven actually grabbed her as he was drowning and as she was being swept out to see in the rip current. She wasn’t sure who grabbed her but she said that in the panic she pushed the hand off of her as a reaction. She really felt guilty for that and began to cry. It was very hard for her to say it. Then one of the boys named Wallace who almost drowned next to her said that he thought that might have been him because he reached out to grab someone as he was drowning. In the commotion and emotion of them feeling like they were about to drown they did not fully realize what was going on. They all had a one-track mind of survival.
We all headed over to the police station to continue painting. While we were there the police wanted Mark Kaigwa (Church member) to witness to the prisoners that were in the jail cell. Mark asked two other college guys and myself to come with him. We ended up talking to only one guy who was a Muslim. He was in jail that day for beating his wife who happened to be a Christian. We shared the gospel with him and talked to him about the differences between Islam and Christianity. We mainly read verses to him that talks about how Jesus is the Messiah, God in the flesh, and how he created the world. We wanted to make sure that he knew that Jesus was not simply a prophet like Islam teaches. We also read Ephesians 5 to him about how it is important to love your wife as Christ loved the Church. We told him that if he was not willing to be governed by this passage that he could not be saved. He said that all the scripture verses were so touching to him and so convicting that he desperately wanted to get saved and reject Islam. We prayed with him and we all became a little misty eyed at the end of the prayer. It was amazing that God would meet this Muslim in a jail cell. It reminded me that Christ can meet anyone anywhere and no matter what sins you have committed his grace is sufficient. It was probably one of the most memorable moments of my life.
We ended up finishing the job and the police were so happy. They really appreciated the work that we did. Police are really looked down upon in Kenya because they are associated with a lot of corruption but not all of them are like that. For the church to come in and paint the police station it was touching to them because so many people are against the police.

Friday- I got up at 6AM again and finished my series on discovering God’s will. The students really seemed to enjoy what I was saying to them because they all said that they wanted to learn that from the beginning of the week. I was so happy that God was speaking through me and it was a very sweet time throughout the week. The students even liked the quiet times that I developed for them. They really enjoyed it. Some of them had never really had a devotional time. It was exciting to see.
In the morning Steven’s body ended up washing up on shore. We were happy to know that Steven was found but very devastated that he was dead. We told the students late in the afternoon after we got back to the retreat center for dinner. They were very emotional about it all. Some of the girls were heaving and some of the boys were very serious looking and went by themselves to think it over.
We ended up having the day off because we had finished painting the police station. Originally we were supposed to have a dedication service with most of the force but the head police officer was unable to be there. We decided to have a free day. We ended up going to a marine park which had one of the most beautiful beaches that I had ever been to. I felt like I was in the Bahamas or an island in the Caribbean. It was amazing.
While we were there I met a Rastafarian name Rosdula (Ross do la). He was a little more friendlier than he should have been because I think he was a little high. He sold me a shell necklace that I ended up giving to Kelly as a gift. I ended up running into him later at the marine park and he asked me if I wanted to buy any weed. I did not quite understand him because he did not say weed he said weed-ah. He repeated what he said and then I told him that I was not interested in buying weed. He said no problem in a very strong sounding Jamaican accent even though he was Kenyan. Right before we left he came up to me again and asked me if I wanted to buy some weed and I told him that I was a missionary in Malindi with my church doing a mission trip and he responded oh praise Jah mon. My friend Ken and I about split a gut whenever he said that. It was so funny. He then told me I want to get saved. I was suspious because he seemed a little high still. I shared the gospel with him and then as soon as I was done he wanted to get saved. I told him to just think about it a little more before he made a decision. Ken and I prayed with him and he was so happy that he gave me a really nice tiger shell that he was selling and he asked me to pray for him. It was really cool to meet him. The team really loved the story and we all made jokes about Rosdula and his accent for the rest of the trip. The students now call me Rosdule for some reason because I witnessed to him. They also call me Mzungu (Mmmm Zoon Gew) which means white man. That is a pretty common phrase but they like to call me that.
We all ate lunch at a little hole in the wall place but the food was incredible. They had a mixture between Indian food and Kenyan food at the restaurant. It was really nice to be there. I was the only white person at the place and the owners seemed to be a little surprised to see me there. I ordered some of my food in Swahili and they were very surprised then. I was taught so much Swahili throughout the week from several of my friends. They would teach me bad things also like for example one of boys would tell me to repeat something and I did and the a group of them would die laughing. Then I would be confused and they told me later that I said that “I am stupid,” in Swahili. It was really funny. They also taught me how to say other things like “Someone just farted.” They died laughing at that.
In the morning Steven’s body ended up washing up on shore. We were happy to know that Steven was found but very devastated that he was dead. We told the students late in the afternoon after we got back to the retreat center for dinner. They were very emotional about it all. Some of the girls were heaving and some of the boys were very serious looking and went by themselves to think it over. After the news was broken we went to our senior pastors fathers home to have a memorial service with Mr. William (Steven’s father) and some of his family members. Our senior pastor was there and he helped lead a service with us there. It was nice to be with everyone and share our pain and concerns with each other in that environment.

Saturday- We went to the police station in the morning and had a commissioning service with all of the policemen. They all got up and said that they really felt terrible that Steven had died and they sent their wishes to Mr. William and the rest of his family. Mr. William happened to be there with us. After we sang a few songs and our senior pastor said a few words to us Mr. William got up and shared a word with our group and the police force. He said some of the most incredible words.
Mr. William said that he was hurting that his son was missing but that he loved the Lord so much. He said “A lot families have miscarriages and never get to spend one day with that child but God in his grace and mercy has given me 17 wonderful years with my one and only son. I know that one of your goals for this mission trip was to connect with God. If it means my son having to die so that all of you can connect better with God then his death was worth it.”
I was totally blown away by the words that he said. He said that he made peace with God about his sons death and they he loved the Lord with all his heart. After he said some words he shared the gospel and whenever he was done sharing the gospel our senior pastor got up and gave an invitation. About 8 people ended up making a decision.
Mr. William ended up going to identify Steven’s body and while he was at the mortuary he shared the gospel with the worker who was there. The worker ended up accepting Christ. It was unbelievable to see such faith in a man that should have been in such pain. He truly was walking in the ways of the Lord.
We then went to the retreat center to eat some lunch. After lunch the group headed to an amazing hotel to go swim and hang out on the beach. The hotel was run by a bunch of Italian people. As soon as our group arrived at the hotel to swim the people there began yelling. They called the group racial slurs and began cursing at them in Italian. The owner ended up calling the police and asking us to leave. The head policeman over all Malindi came and said that there was no problem with us being there. We were not breaking the law and we were not violating any of the hotels rules. The Italian owner apologized to us and we continued swimming.
I actually was left at the retreat center. It was funny I stepped into my room to put on my bathing suit and as soon as I got out of the room the entire group was gone. I could not believe they left me because I was the ONLY white guy in the entire group. It was really funny. I being picked up by Pastor Hamisi (youth pastor) and we took a tuk-tuk to the hotel. I ended up leaving my backpack inside the tuk-tuk and I remembered it was in there as soon as I walked into hotel. Unfortunately the driver had already left. I was so upset because Kelly’s really expensive camera was inside of it along with my nice study Bible. I was so upset.
Kelly told me before I left to come to Malindi that there was one that I could not do and that was loose her camera. I felt sick about it and I felt sick that my really nice study bible was missing. I prayed for that stuff to come back but the chances of that guy bringing it back was slim to none. I prayed about it and I remember God telling me that it would come back. I went to bed in half believing and half not. The next morning my bag was on the porch along with the camera and my Bible. I was like wow God is amazing. The tuk-tuk driver may have picked up 100 people that day but he ended up remembering that it was my bag. God is awesome.

Sunday- We got up slowly on Sunday morning and I had the same breakfast that I had since Monday which was hot chocolate and butter and jelly sandwiches. They were pretty good but it was the same thing every day.
We headed to the Fellowship Baptist Church of Malindi that we were partnered with at 10AM. FBC is a small church. It was shaped like a letter L. The stage was at the right angle in the letter L. If you were sitting one side you could not see the other. It was an interesting building but it seems to be fairly normal as you look at other small churches in Kenya. The church was very friendly but very hot. I could not believe how hot it was inside of that church. One thing that was unique was how they did the offering. They have a little box that you can see inside of and as the worship music is playing you come up and put money in the box. It was different than what I was used to.
Fellowship Baptist Church had an incredible Children choir. There was no adult helping them lead a song instead they sang by themselves. They had dance moves and they were really into it. We all were so impressed. Whenever it was there turn to sing they actually danced/marched down the aisle of the church. It took them a little while to get to the front of the church but it was incredible. I was so impressed and the energy they had was awesome. I was also impressed with how the women’s choir did the same thing. They would dance from the back of the church to the front and as they got into their positions they would dance/march. I really enjoyed watching them.
After we were done with church we came back to our retreat center and hung out for a while. We ended up splitting our teenagers into guys groups and girls groups. The girls ended up meeting for over 3 hours. The guys met for about 1.5 hours. We had some great talks. The girls really came away with a lot of great things. After the talks we basically waited around until 7:30pm until our bus came to pick us up. We left at 7:30pm and we arrived in Nairobi at 6:30am.
We ended up stopping at a really neat bus stop on halfway from Mombasa and Nairobi. I got to buy some Masai tribe trinkets really cheap. I bought a hand carved elephant and giraffe for about $9 total. If I were to buy those things in Nairobi I would have spent about $40. I was really happy with the prices of everything.
I arrived at 6:30am Monday morning and then I went home and slept for about 5 hours. I woke up and felt rested.

We have a car now. It was a very exciting time to get the car. It took a lot of work to get it but it finally worked out. In Kenya you have to do a lot of work to get the car officially turned over to you. You have to get what is called the "Log Book" turned over to you and then have lawyer help sign the car over to you. Then you have to turn in a lot of paper work into the government. It took us about 6 hours to have it all done. Once we got the car we had to have several things to done to get it to work well. We had to get new brakes, new tires, and have it serviced. We had it serviced at a very nice mechanic shop in Nairobi. Once we got the car serviced we were thrilled and drove to one of our good friends and ministry partners Moses Omondi's home. We picked up our things and started to drive to our house. Let than one mile from Moses' house our car began to breakdown. We couldn't believe it because earlier that day we had a professional check out the car and drive it around to see if it was a good car. The man drives cars and test them professionally to give them a grade for car dealerships and other private firms. He gave the car a very high rating and then it broke down on the first day that we got it. The car broke down right next to the slums around 8:00PM. The slums for those of you who do not know is not safe place to be at, at night. There are gangs, thieves, alcoholics, and others that come out at night. It is a scary place to be.

The reason our car broke down was because it had a faulty oil filter on it. All of the oil drained out of our car. We lost 5 liters of oil that night. Luckily our car shut down and would not go any farther or we would of have had to buy a new engine. Then we ended up going all over Nairobi in Moses' car trying to find an oil filter and oil to fix our car. Everything was shut down and the stores that were open did not have an oil filter. Finally we ran across a gas station that was open. The sold us an oil filter and oil and we headed back to our car to fix it. By the time we finished it was 12 midnight. We did not get home until 12:30AM. It was crazy. The car works great now and we have not had any problems with it since that night. The mechanics paid us back in full for the money we spent that night and they sent a mechanic over to us to help us fix the car that night. God is good and he protected us from harm.

Hey Everyone!

We wanted to post our contact info just in case someone ever wanted to send us something or get in touch with us. You can leave comments on this blog also.

Address if sending something via regular mail:

The Elmore's
Rosslyn Academy
P.O. Box 14146
Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa 00800


If sending through FedEx, DHL, UPS:

The Elmore's
Rosslyn Academy
Nairobi, Kenya
Off Limuru Road, off UN Avenue, off Magnolia Close at Gigiri

Matt's email: Matt@globalyouthministry.org
Kelly's email: Lekc17@aol.com

Here's an update on the mission trip. I'm sorry for taking so long to post it, but we've had internet issues and have been very busy.

The mission trip went very well. I'll give a quick rundown of the week.

Sunday: The mission team arrived in the morning. They were supposed to get here Friday night, but missed a connection fight and were stuck in the Nigerian airport for 36 hours!!! Boy, were they glad to get here! We picked them up, and headed over to Kiambu High School, a boy's school where Matt preached and we had some socializing time with the Christian Union there. We rested the rest of the day and did some planning for the rest of the week.

Monday- Friday: Morning: Head to first school, Twilight Secondary School. This was a boy's and girl's school in a slum area. We led worship, did a brief drama, and then either Matt or the youth pastor from Mississippi, Eric, preached. Then we had recreation time. We then split up into small groups with boys and girls separate according to grade, and each of us led a group in bible study and discussion. It was common to have the students ask crazy, off topic questions, partly just to mess with us. We were able to make connections with some of the students. We had one time where the students were invited up if they wanted prayer for something, and we had many students come up to us with serious concerns, and each of us prayed over them. Many had family issues and concern over making good grades. Doing well is very important to these kids. If they get good enough marks and doing very well on their "end of high school" test, they will be able to get into a college. It is very competitive. For most of the kids, their only hope of changing their status in life and getting out of the slums is to go to university.
Afternoon: We would eat a lunch provided by Moses and Patrick's wives (they are workers with Teens for Christ, whom we were partnered with). It was delicious. They cooked us authentic Kenyan food. I tried to post pictures, but I can't quite figure out how. When I do, you will see some.



After lunch, we headed to a girl's school called Jogoo Road. We did the same format at this school. This school was somewhat easier to have small groups with. They were more attentive. We had some good times talking with them after the small group time. My girls gave me a Swahili lesson and played with my hair.
One day, we got to see a pick-up soccer match between two teams from Jogoo Rd. Girls school. Several of the girls are actually members of Kenya's national soccer team. They were really good!
Then we headed back to the retreat center we stayed the night at.

We had several kids at each school get saved, and have good conversations with our team leaders. With Teens for Christ's ministry, they will continue having someone come to their school to keep discipling them and encourage involvment with a local church.

Saturday: In the morning, we headed to the Nairobi Game Park, just a few minutes from where we stayed. It was beautiful, and we saw so many animals. We got to see some lions up close and personal! And giraffes and zebras and birds, and buffalo and antelope, etc. There are no elephants in the game park b/c of how close it is to the city and how destructive elephants can be.
In the afternoon, we went to Java House, a really nice coffee shop/restaurant for lunch. The team was very happy to have a change from kenyan cuisine. I think a lot of hamburgers were ordered! Then we headed to a souvenir shop. After shopping, the team got ready to go, and we headed to the airport to drop them off.

It was a good trip, but I think we were all ready for a good nap!
Thank you for prayer, we were a little worried about how everything would come together in such a short time. But it did.

Well, we're here! And we finally have a blog!

The first week was spent being driven around by various willing souls. We were able to get some household items, set up internet, cell phones, go grocery shopping, etc. We were very thankful to have contacts here when we arrived. The youth pastor from Ridgeways Baptist (Mark Kiagwa's church) picked us up at the airport and took us on several expeditions. Also Moses and Patrick (from Youth for Christ, whom Matt will be working with) have driven us around. We've been looking for a car. We thought we had found one, but it ended up falling through. The lady who owns it doesn't want to sell it until August 10, and we really need it before that. So please pray that we'll be able to get a car soon. I (Kelly) start work at Rosslyn Academy on the 23, and it would be nice to have one by then so that we can get around.

Right now, we're staying at a retreat center in Nairobi with a mission team from Global. The mission team consists of Matt and I, 4 girls from Global's summer staff, and then 2 boys and a youth pastor from Mississippi. We have all meshed really well. We've been going to 2 schools and leading worship, recreation, and small group bible studies with the students. They have been going well. Tomorrow is our last day. Each day has gotten a little bit better, as far as the student responses go. Several students have gotten saved at both of the schools.

Saturday we will have a fun tourist day of going on a safari in the Nairobi Game Park, and then souvenir shopping. I will post more details about the mission trip and Kenya when we get back to the apartment and the mission trip is over!

Kelly