Day Two: Sunday Blessing

We woke up to cool temperatures this morning...maybe around 50 degrees. Sunday class started at 9:00 and services at 10:00. Worship service was simply amazing. We sang songs in English and Swahili that were accompanied by a lot of clapping and genuine smiles all around. This was truly a time of worship...the Kenyans really get it. Their thankfulness and happiness really shines through in everything they do. After lunch, which I'm pretty sure was goat chili, we spent the entire afternoon getting to know the kids. In travelling back and forth from the learning center to the boys dorms, I was able to see and visit with many of the locals who were walking down the road. Its really odd seeing so many people walking. You know, when we drive around at home from place to place we stay so isolated. When walking, it is impossible to miss or ignore someone you are passing at arm's length. I have learned to say "habari" which is the equivalent of "what's up." Its so funny to see the looks on their faces when they see us coming down the road. Without fail, we have been met with big smiles and an assortment of friendly hellos.
This evening was really something special. We ate dinner with the boys and brought our ipods and iphones to share with them. Its was amazing to watch them after we turned them loose, they learned so quickly. Between the three of us, we had something like 2 iphones, 4 ipods, 8 pairs of headphones and two splitters, so they tried every combination of sharing setup imaginable. I was sitting with a group of the younger boys and asked one of them to tell me "his story." That's all it took. In the next hour, I heard the life stories of about four or five boys, and how they came to MITS. They were all sadly similar, commonly including a death of one parent, being beaten or abandoned by another, running away, living on the street, stealing, lying, being beaten, sniffing glue and finally being rescued. I am convinced that they would not be alive today if they hadn't of come to live here. They openly and enthusiatically credit God for rescuing them from their lives on the streets. They humbly recognize that they have changed their lives and live for God every day. They talk with such a clean heart and clarity of thought for anyone there age. We talked about how God forgave their sins from the street, how he provides daily for their lives, and shared how they pray for their futures. As I was leaving for the night, one of the boys took me aside and told me that I was the first American that he had told "his story" to. He went on to tell me that if God were to bless him with a job, a wife, and a child, we would surley tell them about me and my kindness. He said a brief prayer of thanksgiving and gave me a hug and a stong handshake. That was my Sunday Blessing.

Good night.