Moriah Faith was born on November 7. We are blessed to have another daughter.

Well, we have 2 weeks to go till baby #2 is due. We are excitedly waiting for her arrival. In the meantime, we are enjoying Nairobi life. Lots of new things to see and do. I’ve especially enjoyed being able to get decaf coffee! We are looking forward to the arrival of our parents next week. Please keep us in your prayers and we’ll keep you posted about the news of the coming arrival.

This evening, we held our college service. There was much opposition and challenges faced as we prepared for this service this week, but we prayed and persevered. As the bible says that our fight is not a physical fight, but a spiritual fight. Little did we know what great spiritual victory was about to come.

A young lady and college student passed by the facility where we hold our college services. She was checking it out for a venue for her uncle’s wedding and she heard people praising and came into the service. She told one of our leaders that she wanted to be saved. I was delighted to have the honor to share Christ with this young lady. She shared with me that her family is Muslim and that how she’s been raised. She even lives in the strongly predominant Mulsim area of the city. Yet she was longing to be saved, but didn’t know how or what to do. What an awesome God we serve; He led her right to us and we prayed with her to receive Christ! We gave her a bible, invited her to a weekly discipleship class we are teaching, and we are connecting her with a church near her home. She is so happy. She has come out of darkness into the light of Christ.

This morning’s reading in Alexis bible reminded me of a recent encounter I had with a lady and her baby. Paraphrased from Isaiah 58, it basically says that we should share our food with the poor, give clothes to the needy and give the homeless a place to stay.

Last week, as I was walking to a nearby duka (small snack shop) from the office, I came across a young lady with a small baby tightly bundled in a thick blanket. The lady looked distressed so I inquired how she’s doing and asked to see her baby. I was stunned when I saw the baby’s face; his skin was patchy and looked as if it had been burned. Through conversation with the mother, I found out that she washes clothes for $1/day! This is the money she uses to buy food and take care of her baby. She washes her baby with laundry soap because she can’t afford to buy bathing soap. Deeply moved by her desperate situation, I bought her some food and had one of our staff take her and the baby to a clinic. The baby was quite sick.

Grace came by our office this week, to say thank you. It would be easy to think, oh we’ve helped her, we’ve done our part and move on, but God is asking us to take it a step further and to give her a job that she can do in addition to her other work.  This will help to supplement her meager income so she can buy the other things she needs for her and the baby.

Please pray for Grace that God would give her joy, strength and wisdom. Please pray for us as we encourage and mentor her.

On a road trip last weekend, we stopped at a town trading center to get directions and I was amused by two young guys walking by us with a skinned cow on a stick and the head in the hand. I didn’t get a photo of the head, but I did get a photo of the body.

It reminded me of an old commercial whose tagline was: Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.

Neighborhoods here are very different from the neighborhoods in the US. Our road is very uneven, with rocks embedded in the dirt and crevices everywhere. Along the roadside are local shops, mostly selling fruits and veggies, homes adjacent to the shops and often times even connected. Babies, toddlers and preschool aged children are roaming about and playing along the roadside, a lady is putting a weave in a friend’s hair, a few men are playing a dice game, baby chicks are chirping and scampering about, looking for scraps of food. It’s so lively; an opportune time to meet others.

A young girl, on her way back to school, from eating lunch at home, started walking alongside me. I asked her name, where she attends school and what grade she is in. Her name is Faith, she attends Steps Primary School and she is in P3 (3^rd grade). Faith asked me to push the stroller and I allowed her to, knowing how it would delight her. Realizing that she probably had not ever pushed a stroller, and maybe not even seen one before, I closely guided her. It wasn’t long and my suspicion was confirmed. We walked together a ways till we reached the side road leading up to her school; she went on to school while I continued down the road.

A little further ahead, I decided I should turn around. On our way back, the children seemed to be bolder. Some still just waved from a distance, but others ran up to the stroller, waving their hands and saying, “bye-bye.” A group of 5 boys, all under the age of 5, playing at the edge of the road, approached the stroller and began poking at the wheels. I never knew wheels could be so intriguing! They soon surrounded Alexis and started waving at her and getting close to her face. She looked at them somewhat stunned, but also amused.

After a few minutes, I decided I needed to get back home. The boys decided to walk with us. Each one grabbed on to the stroller, a couple at each side and one at the back with me. I carefully maneuvered the stroller, trying not to roll the wheels over the boys’ feet plus trying not to step on the child in front of me; not to mention trying not to tip the stroller as I rolled it over the unlevel, jagged bumpy road. We had to stop a couple of times and pull over to the side to let a car and a semi-truck pass by.

Finally, I made it to our gate. The children helped me push the stroller inside the gate, curious to see where the bazungu (white people/foreigners) live. Within seconds, they were running around the outside of the house, climbing the steps to the garden and jumping down. With a little prodding, we eventually got them to leave, thanking them for their help with pushing the stroller, and letting them know we would see them again soon. Alexis seemed energized, after the social interaction with the neighbors and children, and I felt a sense of satisfaction. Just a reminder of why I am here.

Walking down the street today, pushing Alexis in the stroller, I could hear murmurings from onlookers…adults and children. As a few children approached us, I could hear some words in Luganda then one word in English – doll. Agnes, a Bugandan friend who was walking with us, laughed as she told me that the children think Alexis is a doll! But it wasn’t just the children saying that, even some adults were also asking if she is a doll.

We attended Easter service at Elim Church. It was so good to see our church family after months of being away. We were asked to greet the church and reintroduce Alexis, since the last time she was there she was only 3 weeks old. Now, she’s 5 months. Following the service, we joined the pastor, his family and the secondary (high school) students (boarders) for lunch Ugandan style…matooke, rice, irish (potatoes), beans, g-nut sauce.  And after lunch, we went to a friend’s for bbq American style…hamburgers, hotdogs, cole slaw, fruit salad. We were blessed to enjoy a bit of both cultures on Easter.

How did you celebrate Easter?

Pastor Butch & Alexis

Pastor Butch, Ricky, Matt

Students serving food

Sitting in the living room this morning, I heard a beautiful chorus of voices singing in Luganda. The sound seemed to get closer, so curious to know where the sound was coming from, I looked outside. And just over our compound wall, I saw what looked like a cross. I called Matt to come quickly and he walked out our gate to see a procession of Christians walking past our house singing and carrying a cross. I was blessed by their act of declaration of the Lord’s crucifixion.

As you may know, Matt and I have written a few life lessons curriculum for youth, addressing the issues they are dealing with as a teen, and teaching them how to handle these issues in a godly way. The first Life Lesson is called Walk Pure, which teaches how to live a life of purity and encourages abstinence from sex until marriage. We began teaching this curriculum last year in Kampala (Uganda) high schools. The second curriculum we wrote is called Faithful Friends, teaching youth how to choose the right friends and how to be lead others in a postive way. We introduced this curriculum for the first time to our staff today. They are quite excited about it and have expressed how it builds on what we’ve been teaching in Walk Pure. Our desire is to launch this curriculum in the schools in January 2010. We have been working hand in hand with the graphic designer and other individuals to revise and tweak it to get it ready for publishing, and it is nearly ready. We are sure the youth will readily receive Faithful Friends as they have received Walk Pure.