Kenyan Children!

Hello Friends!

Sorry that we haven't written in a few days we haven't had a chance to get to a computer, but everything has been amazing! On Thursday we eagerly returned to Beacon of Hope. We started out taking matatus to get there but at our first stop where we had to change matatus we realized that we weren't going to make it there in time for devotion so we decided to get a taxi. But not even five minutes in the taxi ride we ran out of gas. So we waited as our driver ran to get some, literally. Luckily we weren't late to Beacon and got there in time to have devotion with the staff from the clinic. The staff and volunteers in the clinic have devotion together every morning before they start work. The staff and volunteers that work in the school and vocational school also have devotion together. It was so wonderful to be able to join them for this time.
We were in the clinic for devotion and Humphrey, who is our boss there, had asked us to be the ones to speak. So after we all sang a few songs together each of us shared a little bit about how we saw God working through them and Beacon of Hope. After devotion we got to go to the school that is part of Beacon, it is a pre-school and kindergarten. Each of us went to a different classroom and got to hang out with the kids and see how the teachers taught. All of the children were so smart and had already learned so much, even the ones who had recently started attending. The education that the Beacon provides is wonderful and you can tell that the teachers that work there love so much what they do and are great at it. All the kids then got to go out and play on the playground. This was every bodies favorite part of the day. We were probably out there for an hour and a half running around and playing games. The kids loved to hang all over us, chase us, and slide down the slide and have us catch them. Almost immediately each of us gravitated towards one child that became our favorite and we wanted to adopt instantly. All of them were incredibly sweet and we really enjoyed getting to love on them and took tons of pictures. During their time on the playground we sat with them while they ate portage which they get each morning. We got to go back to the classroom with them for a little bit before we left to go meet up with one of the doctors to do house visits.
We walked from Beacon to the slum that is very close and visited and couple who are both infected with HIV. They come to Beacon to get their medicine and be treated. Both of them were very weak, but they were doing better than the last time the doctor visited, especially the husband, George. He was not even able to get out of bed before and now he was able to get up and move around. We got to talk to them a little bit and found out how they met, they didn't meet until they were in their 30's which is late here and he had a job and she didn't understand why he wasn't married yet, and said it was because God was saving him for her. We then left there and walked to another part of the slum and visited a young boy who was about 10, his name was David and he is also infected with HIV and goes to Beacon's clinic for care. Both of his parents had died of HIV and he was living with a foster family. We got to sit and talk with him and his foster mother for a little bit. We talked to him about school and he said he liked it and that for fun he played with the kids that lived around him. He was such a joyful boy and had a wonderful smile, so many Kenyans do.
We then walked back and had lunch with Jane, a Kenyan woman who is the founder of Beacon of Hope. She told us all about how Beacon had come to be and how they had grown, moved to a larger location, and added onto it, such as the school and the clinic. After lunch we went to the clinic and helped one of the volunteer nurses, who is actually from Wisconsin, her name is Maggie. We helped her sort and label medicine that is going to be distributed by a group from her church later this month. She really enjoyed getting to work with us, we had a lot of fun and shared a lot of laughs.
When we finished at Beacon for the day, after running to the store and going back to our home in Kenya to change we went to Carnivore for dinner. It was a really great dinner and we got to eat different African game meat. We had crocodile, ostrich, and camel. It was delicious and adventurous. On the taxi ride home we got a flat tire, we have such good luck with transportation, but our driver had a spare and changed it quickly and we were on our way again. It was a great day and we all felt like we had seen God working and loved all that we were able to do.

Love you all!

Molly, Sam, Brandon, and Lanie