GREAT NEWS! Both for me and for AMCC... Maggie is here! I'm so excited for her to be here, not to mention the kids. When we arrived late on Wednesday night, they were all waiting for us. As we walked in they went crazy with screaming, laughter, clapping and tons of hugs! I was proud of them for giving her such a warm welcome. I had them sing a song and do a few of their chants.


I have to give a shout-out to the Bannisters. Tim and Diane are neighbors from the north (Canadian) who have been in Kenya for about 20 years. They offered their home as a "refuge" for Maggs and I before we came back to AMCC. For me as a refreshing break from Kenyan culture and for Maggs as a transition from the Thai culture to the Kenyan. Now we're refreshed and ready to go.

We wasted no time in putting Maggs to work! The first day she was here we cleaned the maize for the kids to eat that night. She came right in the heart of it all (the experience that is). Tomorrow we'll have no more beans to eat so we're praying that God provides from the delivery of avocadoes that John is making today.

Here's a pic of us in our really cool aprons. She has inherited the one that Mark was using, which is appropriate because Mark's was marked with an "M". Haha, God knew all along she'd be here.

Yesterday I took Maggs to the Chief's Camp to meet him and the Assistant Chiefs of our area. This is a neccessity when a "stranger" enters the territory. The Chief must know who is coming and going in his territory. But before we went, Maggs needed to iron some of her clothes... Check this out. That's a fully metal iron, except for the handle, that we opened and put hot coals in from the fire! Neat deal.

Anyway, when we got to the Chiefs, we spent a few hours there. He was super hospitable, as are most Kenyans, and showed us his shamba (small farm) and took us to a nearby shop and bought us a soda. We sat in the sun and enjoyed "Bitter Lemon", a soft drink that tastes a lot like grapefruit.

On the way back we passed a school where the kids were just getting out. Talk about feeling like a celebrity. They had never seen a white woman before. They went crazy! They crowded around us and occasionally one would be brave enough to touch Maggie. When this happened they would all burst into laughter and excitement as the one who touched would run away. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture! Maggs did though and she'll put up a pic of it on her blog.

That night we went to watch the kids pull water at the well. Some of them were havin a good time seeing how many Stephen could carry on his back. Here you can see Euticus on the top and David sandwiched in the middle. This is usually a good time for the kids to practice acrobatics and horse around.

As far as news with AMCC, we've decided to switch to the mango business! Or at least we're gonna try. Bloom Church in Denver has agreed to pay the extra funds needed to continue. We feel like the return on investment is gonna be much greater and that harvesting mangoes will allow John to be back at AMCC more often. Currently we're waiting to hear whether the buyer is going to give us an order or not. Please be praying for this. If we can get into the line-up, the profits could take us easily into the next year.

Thanks for reading!

Kenyans can carry just about anything on the back of a bycicle. This guy's got talents I only hope to achieve one day.


John and I got to see Micah and Betsy again! They invited us to a 1010 Project meeting. It was a networking event and allowed me to see a bunch of white people like me and for John to connect with some other Kenyans running orphanages.


Micah also introduced us to Adam, the Executive Director of 10:10 Project who's 26 years old and also to the Kenyan Director, Fred who is involved with three other NGO's here in Kenya. One of the coolest things about the 10:10 Project is that their strategy and methodology for helping struggling organizations is very similar to what Mark and I are doing with AMCC. They're big fans of not just giving money for expendable needs, but rather to start income-generating projects.


It turns out that Fred and John are actually old preachin buddies! They used to live in the same town and preach alongside each other. Fred and Adam invited us back to Fred's house where we talked about how we can partner! This was very exciting stuff. We're hoping to recieve a grant from 10:10 for the chicken project to help with some of the funding in September. Currently the biggest grant that 10:10 has given is around $7,000. For our project, we're going to need about $15,000 overall, so we're hoping and praying that 10:10 can help us with about half the cost. There's no gauruntee though.

John's still hard at work with the avacodo business. Here's a pic of him with his game-face on. The business is getting more and more competitive as the season is comming to a close in about 6 weeks. We're having to go further and further to load the truck. We've reached the Mungiki territory in one direction, which means really bad news. They're like the Organized Kenyan Gang. They charge outsiders fees for any type of work. When people refuse, cars and farms are set on fire and occasionally people are murdered. So we're gonna have to fill our truck elsewhere.

Yesterday was a visiting day for the parents. It was a great time for the kids to get to see their parents or grandparents (those that have them). Most of the guardians brought fruit or greens or soap or some other necessity. It was quite a blessing to get to eat ugali and kales rather than getheri (maize and beans) last night. Even this morning they all got to take chai (tea with milk and sugar) because one parent brought milk. What a treat for the kids. John and Nancy also sat down with each guardian and discussed issues with their children and how they were doing at AMCC and in school.

Unfortunately, ....or fortunately..., one of the older girls told her mom she wouldn't let her leave without her coming along. Rosemary was saying that she didn't like it at AMCC. Her mom, who makes about a dollar a day, will have a hard time supporting Rosemary. Most likely she won't be able to go to school and will have to go for casual labor picking coffee or tea. Her mom asked her to tell the plain truth of what the problem was in from of John and Nancy. But Rosemary wouldn't say anything. Then her mom told her that she knows Rosemary is lieing about something because she wouldn't verbalize the problem in front of John and Nancy. So why would she leave?? I dunno know exactly. What I do know is that other kids have fought and screamed and cried to stay there instead of going back with their parents. My personal opinion is that Rosemary doesn't like being told what to do, i.e. pull water, saying "excuse me" before talking to her superiors, helping to clean her room with the other girls, etc... She is a bit older so maybe she thinks she can have a better life elsewhere. I hope she doesn't become uneducated and/or pregnant! I pray that the Lord would go with her and grow her in Him.


Oh, I almost forgot! The Big News from last time! So there's a lady who lives down the road, Mrs. Wesley, who has recently been widowed. Her late husband would often frequent AMCC on Sundays and teach the kids about the Lord. The Wesley's daughter, Dorithy, lives in London and is very involved with her church there. She's heard much about AMCC and has known John since she was a child.

She's really pushing to get her church involved and recently a lady has expressed interest in raising $20,000 for AMCC to buy land! I dunno how serious this woman is but I'm praying that the Lord would put it in her heart to do so. Having no land of their own is one of the primary problems that AMCC has currently. So please join with us in praying over this situation!

The last piece of Big News is that Maggie will be here tomorrow! I'm so excited I can't sit still. May the Lord be glorified in our time together here! Please pray that we would remember to seek first the Kingdom of God and that He would use us to encourage one another in our walks with Him. I'm praising God because He has given us this opportunity to serve Him alongside one another. Whoo hoo!

The lovely Teacher Nancy. I know most of you girls are jealouse you can't make your hair look like this on a daily basis. We call this "bush hair", as in "Some of those in Africa live 'in the bush'".

John's still workin on the avacodo business. We've made a 12,000Ksh profit so far! We're still waiting to collect the 5 grand that one of the workers ran off with, but the police are on the trail and we're still prayin. Nonetheless, John was actually able to pay the rent for AMCC this month!!!! Bwana asufiwe! (Praise God) He's also paid for medical bills for two of the kids and for Nancy to get one of her teeth pulled (ouch!) So AMCC is on their way! We even hoping to be able to collect money from various doners for more trucks and workers. John's feeling confident that AMCC can make some money for the future. He's also promised to put enough of the money into a "Deposit Only Account" so next year in May, they'll be able to do start right up again! This project is cemi-self-sustaining, because it only last for about 10 weeks. We're hoping we can go through the end of the year with the profits we'll make.

The Assistant Chief stopped by to give the kids a word of wisdom. Fortunately his office is next door to us, which allows AMCC to be a bit safer. I'm really thankful that John's got such a good relationship with him. This night he actually talked to the kids about sex! Talk about a surprise! I didn't know they talked about such things. Honestly though, he talked to the girls about not believing the lies of older boys. The week before, a freshman girl had dropped out of school, slept with a young man who told her that he owned what was actually his grandfather's estate, and had become pregnant. Now she's gonna have rough life and repeat the cycle of madness of her parents. He also encouraged the boys to stay in school and reminded them that there was a time for everything. He made sure they knew that school and marriage were for two different times.

John is becoming quite the barber. The first night he started, he shaved two and half kids' heads with the battery charged clippers before it went dead. The next night he shaved, he made it through 3 and a half, and this morning he did 5 kids! What a pro! These clippers are awesome by the way! Thank you guys sooo much for sending them! So far we're gonna save like 400Ksh! (haha, or rather not spend the 400Ksh we don't have)

Micah and Betsy came to K-ville (Kimata)! I can't tell you how pumped I was to invite them in to AMCC, not to mention John and Nancy. You know, Micah is the one who developed the AMCC official website. I haven't posted it yet cause it needs to be updated... I'm wanna wait to Micah has a chance to do so. We had a blast together even though it was for less than 36 hours. They are here working for the 1010 Project, who give small business grants to struggling Kenyan Christian organizations. So if you know of any, tell Micah and Betsy about it.;) It was truly a blessing to see some other Americans around who are dear to my heart! Thanks guys!

One last thing before I go. John was asked to be on the Red Cross committee for the Kadara region, which includes where AMCC is. So wherever Red Cross has potential to be involved, John is one of those on the chief decision-making team. Here's a picture a couple of those who were in charge during their training day. They took a 5-day training and crammed it into one! That's heavy stuff! I'm just glad to know that now John knows CPR.

There's some other really awesome things that God's got brewin for AMCC that have to do with some churches in another part of the world. BUT, unfortuntately I'm out of time today. So till then... Cheerio! ;)

I appologize that it's been a while since I've updated this blog last. I have to say I greatly appreciate all of you that read this blog. It is quite an encouragement to me to know that there are people interested in what I'm, or the Lord rather, is doing here. It has been quite an eventful trip so far and the last couple of weeks have not been much different. I think I'll start in reverse order because that's what's most pressing on my mind.
MARK IS GONE! Here is a picture of the four of us (soon to be three) giving Mark a "push" as they say in Swahili, down the alley behind AMCC. NOTE: A "push" is like a farewell escort. This guy was just sleepin, or passed out maybe. He looked so peacful we didn't want to disturb him.


Right before he left he gave all the kids hugs. This one is Paulo, the youngest, and dare I say Mark's favorite kid. They were all sad to see him go.


This next picture was a good-bye pic that I believe is one of the best pictures I've taken. Here's why:

1. I'm not sure what John is doing with his hands but it kinda looks like Will Ferral in the SNL cheerleader skit. (Not to mention Faith, on the far right doing what looks like some sort of Martial Art or Thai Chi)
2. Now turn your eyes to Paulo's face in the front row. I can't tell if he's filled with utter joy or bitter mourning. Either way he's givin us a good view of those pearly whites.
3. Stephen in the middle looks like he's on the front lines of an epic battle, letting out his furious war cry.
4. No doubt, Nancy the teacher is giving us the "Black Power" symbol and pose (eyes closed and head tilted slightly down).
5. I seem to have caught Mark, who said I should detroy the picture, in a very rare Pee-Wee Herman laughing pose.
6. And lastly, Bart Simpson mysteriously showed up seemingly out of nowhere. (Can you find him?)

A few days before Mark left, Alice (seen in this picture) was sent home with her grandmother and father (background). This is a sad story. Alice is the child that was tied to a tree and set on fire by her parents about 3 years ago. The Asst. Chief of our village, along with a few others rescued her and she was admitted to AMCC. Ever since Alice has been at AMCC, she has been a bit of a trouble-maker. She lies and steels often, and the other day she ran away. Surely she is disurbed by her childhood and is a victim of her parents' brutal actions. Due to the decision of the Assit. Chief and because of the liability she is to AMCC, we have officially handed her over to her grandmother and her father. Please pray that the Lord would do a work in her life and bring her out of the misery she's in.


On another note, we went back to look at the chickens that we saw 6 weeks ago when they were a day old. After looking into it, (the chicken business that is) I really like the idea. We're still working on the avacodoes (more about that later) but it can be a tricky business. Raising and selling chickens on the other hand seem to be more solid. There's a sure market, a lady with experince who has promised to train our workers, and chicken's don't steal money from you. The only problem that we seems to have is finances, about $12,000...yet. ;)


The whole week, John has been traveling from farm to farm harvesting avacodoes. We've harvested three huge truckloads and made a profit of about 3000Ksh ($36.00) on each. This has allowed AMCC to buy their first half bag of beans on their own!! It may not seem like much but this is monumental! John has gone to work for AMCC, maid some money, and bought food! It's 100% progress!



However, as I said before, it can be a bit tricky. In this picture you'll see a man in hadcuffs. (Look closley) John took the picture after this man was found at a bar. He was one of workers who had stolen 6000Ksh from us and dissapeared. John made a bunch of phone calls and alerted the authorities. John's dad, who is also a pastor, found him in a bar not far off with 1000Ksh in his pocket. The man was arrested and has been instructed to pay us the remaining 5000Ksh today. So finding good people is a bit difficult and John is learning a thing or two about the avacodo business. We'll know by the end of this week whether it is really something we want to invest more in.

That about sums up the time I've had since I wrote last. I'm sad to see Mark leave but both of us have a few things to look forward to. God is still doing a work in each of our lives, Mark is going to Zambia to work alongside his girlfriend after being in different places for 3 years, and Maggie will be here two weeks from today!

The last picture is of a couple of girls making good use of what has been sent in the care-packages from some of you in the U.S.. Rachel and Agnes are sporting the very healthy dust masks, safety goggles, and oven mits to protect themselves from the wrath of cooking ugali. The smoke in the kitchen gets out of control due to the poor ventalation of the kitchen. I've got lots of respect for these girls.

Please remember AMCC in your prayers!

With love and in Christ,

Nick