DAY 4 Pastor Paul's Perspective

“And the mornings and the evenings were” all running together by now. What a DAY! We started with breakfast around 8am and then had some preparation time for service. The Mission Baltimore students and others taught Sunday School today. I went into all the classes and took some video and pics. There was a separate class for the Kids Center residents and the Slum kids. It was amazing the Bible knowledge that the Slum kids had. Many of them attend the Pre-School here at the Church. I also spent some time taking pics and video off the Slums just across the wall. There were all kinds of sounds from the slums this morning. Some preachers on loud speakers, singing, (one area sounded like an old fashioned Pentecostal Campmeeting, but who can be sure? My Swahili is not up to par). I hope the video captured some of the feeling of the area. The music in the service was uplifting as usual. You have to be in good shape to be on the Praise Team here. Lots of movements, great heart of worship. Pastor Sam Abbott, from Indiana brought some powerful word from Ps 91. It was beautiful to see all the children so attentive, Bibles and note pads in lap throughout the whole message. Several came up to pray to be saved before he got to minister. At the close of his message there was a powerful time of prayer covering all areas of the sanctuary. Service closed about 1:30 and we headed into Nairobi for lunch. Just outside the gate of the compound here, there were several people walking, cattle being herded and others carrying large loads on their backs and in buggies. We drove on the wrong side of the road but noone seemed to care. Everyone else did too, Even worse, most of the steering wheels are on the wrong side of the vehicle. We were able to see the spot where the slums start closer to the downtown area. We ate at The Serena Hotel. This is the place diplomats stay (Condaleza Rice was there a while back) when visiting the country. It was a beautiful buffet with more new food entries for me to try; duck, a spinach dish, several others a few that I was not brave enough to try. The hotel was breath taking, with a garden area & a pool that was open w/people swimming and laying out. We arrived back here about 4:30 and service began at 5. It was a great Sunday evening crowd. The music was good, lively & energetic again. Can’t say much for the preaching (it was me, so someone else needs to blog this for me), but it seemed to be well received. Wonderful altar service w/some coming for prayer to be saved and others just seeking God for more. We also had a “God ordained” time of prayer for the Womble’s. I actually played the keyboard some at the close of service. Amazing to see how many people stayed after it got dark, realizing they would have to walk back home to the slums in the dark. The kids were served supper as they prepared for Night Two of Kids Krusade. The group gathered for sandwich and snacks. I pulled out one box of peanut butter crackers, and the Womble’s brought over ham and fresh pineapple for sandwiches. In the mean time, David Ray taught some of the Mission Students the joys of banana, peanut butter, and mayo sandwiches(Kayla who was born in Clanton, and is a member of Oneonta Worship Center, had the upper hand & already knew how good it was), with any combination of that you choose. Some of the group was also unaware that pineapple sandwiches are wonderful. You would think they were raised in a third world country or something with their lack of food knowledge. (Oooppss, that’s where we are now). We then went to the Upper Room for Kids Krusade. At the close of the games, teaching, sharing, and ministry time, the Martin’s presented Dedication Certificates to all the residents that were here last year that were dedicated during a special service. What an awesome experience to watch the kids light up as their names were called and then to see their expressions as they had pics made and were given the certificate. This was followed by some fellowship time among the group, knowing that most of us needed to hit the bed soon. Tomorrow will be here all too early (8 hours earlier here than there for most of you). We are scheduled to take a short tour of the Kiberean slums in the morning, followed by lunch and then a trip to the market to do some shopping.