Lord Prepare Me to be a Missionary- Day 4

Today started with a devotion at Kajiado Childcare Center with all of the staff. They gave us hymnals with songs in Maasai so we could sing along-- it was amazing. We got lost a few times and probably butchered some of the words, but the experience of connecting with our new friends was unbelievable. Jared led the devotion by speaking about not growing weary of doing good. He was also able to share his experience of his mom's battle with cancer with a man whose wife had just been diagnosed with cancer (on the anniversary of her diagnosis none the less-- it is amazing how God works). After devotion we returned to the house so the boys could wash clothes and Martha prepared tea and pancakes for us-- the pancakes were amazing.

After tea we unsuccessfully attempted to pass out stickers to the children in the childcare center. They were a little too excited and started to fight over the stickers so their teacher, Anne, made the children go and settle down for a little while.
Next we got to play a game of football (soccer) against the children. It was very unfairly matched-- it was us and Pastor Samuel against about 12-15 children who were obviously familiar with the game.
They beat us 2-1. 

The children cheered after they won saying that they had won and we were crying about it (at least that is how it was translated to us). Then we went with Joseph, the physical therapist, to visit some children that had cerebral palsy. We were able to help with some of the training.

Joseph does stretches with the children to strengthen their muscles and joints. We visited three different families with Joseph. One of the fathers we meet was on the childcare's board. He was a very nice man and greeted us with many welcomes. He invited us into his Maasai home. The house was so small that we could only go in two at a time. It was very hard to breathe inside because there was a small fire inside that filled the whole house (which was a fairly easy task considering its size). It was evident that this family loved their child very much, dispute his disabilities.

(This was the mother of the child with CP.  We think the way they tie their babies to their back is so cool.  She was showing us how in this picture)

Sadly, this was not the case for every home we visited. Some of the children we met were covered in flies and dirt. Joseph informed us that in this culture if a child has a disability then the whole family is looked down upon.
After we returned to the childcare center we unloaded some food and supplies that we had purchased for the center. We were able to give enough for the entire month of July.

After that we were finally able to pass out some stickers and jewelry to the children and play with them for a little while. They loved the gifts and attention :)

Later in the day, we met with the Maasai mothers and children again for worship. They sang for us in Maasai and English and we sang for them-- we even sang "God is So Good" in Swahili. The children really enjoyed singing with us.  Jared played the guitar this time so we threw in some songs that we hadn't planned on singing.  Even though it was last minute, the songs sounded great and the children loved the songs!

Pastor Samuel took us on a tour of the medical dispensary and showed us a maternity building they are working on. They want women to be able to go to the center and deliver their babies in a safe, Christian environment. We visited the church were Samuel ministers. It is in need of renovations in the amount of 800,000 shillings which is about 10,000 USD. It would be amazing if we could raise the money and help rebuild parts of the church.

We are learning to be very thankful for the things that God has blessed us with in the United States. Please continue to pray for the children at the childcare center.

Group Devotion (John 15)- we discussed the importance of being personally connected with God and the need to continuously grow in Him.