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

Actual Post Coming Soon... But until then....The Mini-Post:

John's got the camera with him while doing avacodo stuff! We'll see what kind of pics he takes.

Meanwhile Mark went to Rwanda for about a week to visit the orphan his parents have been supporting for something like 15 years and I've been home with the kids doing what has now become regular activities; laundry, pulling water, cooking getheri, and now even leading the morning parade. (It's not really a parade. Basically the kids stand there while you give them a few words of wisdom before they go to school.)

Love you all! May you truly know the Lord and His unending love for you.

P.S. Most recent awesome Swahili word: Piripirihoho (means hollow pepper and is pronounced "peedy-peedy-ho-ho".

Does anyone wanna guess what's goin on in this picture? Give up? I'll tell you.

This is a picture of John being a superstar! "Why?" you might ask. Well, in this picture, John is on his way to supervise the SECOND day of Avacodo picking! That's right! Even though THE ASIAN told us that we woudln't be able to start until June 4th, John got up the next day and started makin phone calls. So instead of sittin around twddling thumbs for two weeks, we're on the move! This is huge for AMCC! Their first income-generating project! At least for a while they won't have to be relying soley on others to continue operating!

PRAISE GOD!!!!

John had a meeting with "THE ASIAN" today! For those of you who don't know, "THE ASIAN" is the guy who is the head of the avacodo industry in our area. Our first order is on June 4th and he has promised us priority at that point. I'm not sure what that means exactly but it sounds really great! Definitely something to be praying for.

Onesmus, we think, has come down with malaria. He's had it before so this doesn't mean that it's in our region, it means that it could be returning from his past...or it could be in our region. He's not too bad now. We took him to the hospital immediately after we suspected that it was malaria. The doctors won't confirm but they gave him meds for malaria. Please pray for his health.

Cynthia, whose mom died last week, never showed up from school yesterday. Mercy, her classmate came home alone. I asked her where Cynthia was and immediately after she told me that she went to Ndunyu Chege with two other girls, I took off running. I ran for about 2 miles toward the nearest matatu stop on the most likely path to be taken. When I didn't find them, I ran toward Ndunyu Chege in order to try and cut them off before they reached the "tarmack road". It was to no avail. She was gone.

That night we all prayed that Cynthia would be found. We alerted the Assistant Cheif and a few others and asked them to pray. Thankfully the Lord answered our prayers quickly and Cynthia's aunt called and said she was with her. This was better news than nothing but Cynthia's aunt is... not the best person for Cynthia to be with. We don't have legal custody over Cynthia; meaning that we can not legally retrieve her. It is up to her aunt to bring her back. I believe that she will have a much better life at AMCC than with her extended family so please pray that the Lord would carry out His plan in Cynthia's life.

So if you're wonerding why there aren't any relevant pictures...somebody forgot to bring my camera battery back with him from the cyber cafe. (I love you Mark and there's still no better person to be here with than you ;)

Here are a few more things I wanted to take pictures of, but my battery was dead. Sometimes the imagination is better anyway:

• Mark and I doing the Electric Slide in church with the other young Kenyan mothers last Sunday (this one really caught us off guard)
• Singing "It is Well With My Soul" in acapello with Mark in church in front of a bunch of people who don't understand English
• John Mutugo, the awesome preacher kid, fighting an invisible man using karate, unbeknownst to him that I was watching
• Faith, the oldest child pointing to body parts like her tongue and arm while Paulo, the youngest child, stated them in English.
• The children in pure ectasy to be blowing and trying to catch bubbles
  

Mungu akubariki! (God bless you!)

I have good news, bad news and way more good news. We'll start with the bad news. This little girl is Cynthia (right; and Mercy, left). She's very bright. I walked into her classroom of about 50 students (3rd grade level) where there was no teacher. Cynthia was standing at the front of her class with her back turned to her peers holding a rod in her hand and pointing to the numbers on the number chart. She would say a number in English and the whole class would repeat. I was amazed at how she had control. The other kids didn't even know we had walked in the back of the classroom. She's about 9 years old but sometimes acts like she's 30.

Cynthia's mom was 29 years old and was going back to school in a place near Mombasa. She had an "enlarged heart" and had been struggling with it for some time. On Sunday her mom passed away. Nancy has decided to accompany her to to the funeral. They'll be back on Friday. Remember Cynthia this week.

Now for the good news. Where to start! This is a picture I took while walking toward AMCC the other day. They got all the power lines up and have said that we should have electricity by the first of next week!

John's Birthday was on the 10th! So I bought the guy a suit. He deserves it and he looks pretty "smart" if i do say so myself. Kenyans use this word "smart" for "really good" or "slick" or "hot". Speaking of "smart", did you know that John has his bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies? Here's a guy who is educated, could be makin some money in a church somewhere, but has decided to raise orphans and at-risk kids for the last 2 years without getting paid. Not a bad chap.

This man, is Peter Kenneth. They call him "The Muzungu", which means "white man" but he's not really white. His dad was a German though so he's lighter skinned. Anyway, Mr. Kenneth has announced recently that he'll be running for president in 2012. So he's kind of a big deal. Also, he gave Mark and I his personal cell number in case we ever get harrassed. John and I went to speak with him about renewing my visa and getting some food and land at AMCC. We talked with him for all of...maybe 4 minutes. He directed us to the D.C., and when he wasn't there we met the D.O. who is also a friend of AMCC. Long story short; we got 5 bags of maize comin our way before the weekend! I know it doesn't sound like a big deal to get a bunch of corn but it is. We only have enough food till about Friday so to get this news was amazing! This is the D.O. who's sending the food our way.

The avacodo business hasn't started yet. We're waiting on "The Asian" to set his market buying price. It would be a very poor decision to start before that because one could end up losing a lot of money. So in the meantime, John and I went to inquire of coffee farmers. In the states, a kilo of the same coffee is going for about 1200 Kenyan shillings, while one kilo is being bought from farmers at 25 Kenyan shillings. The farmers produce a lot of coffee but get very very low wages; not to mention the laborers. We have been talking with a U.S. company, Pura Eveda who deals more directly with farmers in hopes to relieve the stresses of poverty. All they need is a sample to let us know whether it will work or not. The farmers we spoke with seem very excited but can't get us a sample until around August. So we'll wait and hope "The Asian" makes up his mind soon. Alas, God is good because He has provided us with food for this month!

The other really good news is that we have recieved FIVE packages from my family and one from Molly and Sarah, a few girls who were in the house church and are dear to my heart! Thank you guys sooo much! I couldn't even get it all back in one trip. I loaded my huge pack and there was just too much. Mark had to go back the next day and get the rest. I wish I could express how excited the kids were. They yelled and screamed and sang and prayed for an hour or so because of the stuff you all sent. They each filled their hands and gave thanks to God for what they were holding, be it a toothbrush, nerf ball, or trail mix. We laid hands on everything and gave glory to God for you guys that sent it as well as all our supporters. The kids were truly histerical. I hope the Lord allows me to get that excited again about something! Thank you, thank you thank you.

The last bit of good news is that a few reps from BIDCO Oil Company are coming to "talk about something" on Sunday. We're not sure what but we're praying that it is about putting AMCC on their food plan! With both the governments support and BIDCO with food, WOW that will be such a load off! such a blessing! Please be praying about that too!

Love you all and miss you guys tons!

Here is a picture of Denis, inside the water tank cleaning it out, Joseph, the "Head-boy" on the left and Maureen on the right. They're all form 1 kids (freshmen) Good kids.

Also, here is a picture of what I saw the other day while hiking home on the dirt rode. They were just hangin out and eatin grass. We were supposed to start our avocodo business this week but T.I.A. (This Is Africa), so we haven't started yet and we're praying that the Lord would give us favor and allow things to get going on the other end. As soon as we're off, you'll see pics and read reports.

The landlord's decided to get electricity! This is super exciting because we won't be using gas from the lanterns and the kids will have sufficient light to see for studying. It is also a bit worrysome because it means rent will go up and we don't have any money for it! Hakuna matata (no worries) though. I'm getting used to really relying on the Lord with finances. I don't have any cool pics yet about the electricity but maybe I will on Wednesday. Speakin of cool pics check these out of Maggs.

About three weeks ago Maggie was in a motorcylce accident in Burma where she was thrown and evidently "flipped" through the air into some brush and caught a nasty bamboo stalk to the face. She never cried though. I'm proud of her! Way to go babe! About an inch up and to the left would have left her without an eye. It was a scary deal but it reminds me of a couple of things about the Lord. 1) He does not promise us physcial safety, 2) Rather He does promise safety from what's most dangerous, spiritual enslavement and spiritual death. And 3) That He is merciful at times even in physical danger. It could have been her eye.

He is good to us. She had 37 stitches which have been removed. Now she's in the "scare prevention" stage and it seems to be healing up really well. Please pray for healing for her face and that she would continue to do the Lord's work there in Burma and Thailand.

That's all for now! I love you guys!

Good and faithful Blog-readers!

Karen's in town! (Mark's wonderful girlfriend). We picked her up from the airport in Nairobi on Thursday. It's so great to have another American around to laugh and speak "normally" to.

I went with Nancy to my first Kenyan wedding! Her cousin is the groom and I met about a hundred "brothers", "sisters", "moms" and "dads" of Nancy's. The wedding wasn't entirely different than weddings in the U.S., but the things that were different were a bit commical. Here, they bride is putting the ring on the groom's hand. They hold it high so all can see. The next picture is of me standing next to Nancy while the bride is wondering who the muzungu is at her wedding, and why he's in the picture.

The Minister of Parliment, whom we met personally and whom has announced that he will be running for President of Kenya in 2012, has given the workers till the end of the week to finish the electricity project in Kimata. You can see the man hanging the wires here and directly below him is the guy we hired to cut the trunk of the tree we got with a chainsaw.

Gladys stopped by again and brought some pants or "trousers" for some of the older boys at AMCC. For those of you who don't know, Gladys stopped by about 2 and half weeks ago and gave her life to Christ! John is pointing at her as if to say, "This is my spiritual daughter." which is actually what he said right before the picture was taken.

Every day John calls a "parade", which means all the kids stand together as he talks with them. Here he has just informed them that school starts again tomorrow after their month-long break. He has asked them to grab each others ears and repeat so all can be sure to hear and be prepared.

Two nights ago Mark and Karen made fajitas for all the kids! Haha, the little ones didn't like it so much. They said it was "beetta" (bitter) but John made them eat it anyway because it's culturally innapropriate to refuse food that was made for you by guests. Poor little guys. I felt sorry for them. I think it was the cilantro. Kenyans, generally speaking, don't seem to like a wide variety of spices in their food. Most things we eat are neither too sweet nor too spicy.

That's all for now! I love you guys!