A few weeks ago on our day off, Jamie and Natasha took us to a place near Nairobi, where a huge amount of tea is growing in the fields.
It was a relaxing day of fellowship and afterwards I felt spiritually and mentally uplifted. We are usually doing ministry six days out of the week, so it's good to spend our day off just relaxing and having fun with the team.
In celebration of Good Friday, we planned a day of food and fellowship with the ladies of Calvary Chapel Nairobi. In Kenya, eating chicken is considered a luxury, and killing a chicken is only affordable for special occasions. In order to have enough chicken for all the ladies, we had to kill and prepare three chickens. Jackie, Ana Marie and I learned how to cook chicken literally from scratch! It took a few hours to prepare along with some traditional Kenyan side dishes, but at the end we had a feast in honor of Good Friday. Before we ate, we took time to pray, sing a few worship songs and then Jamie read a passage of scripture about His death and resurrection. It was a good time of fellowship, and an opportunity to continue to get to know the ladies better and build relationships with them. My favorite part of that day, was seeing the reaction of the ladies as we helped them prepare the food. They were blessed that we were willing to learn from them and to prepare the food the way the Kenyans do. Even though it was more work than we are used to in our fast paced Western culture, it gave us the opportunity to spend quality time with these ladies.
On Easter Sunday, we hosted a party for the FIC (Fellowship in Christ) youth group at the church. Our vision for this was to allow the youth to fellowship in Christ, while at the same time challenging them to learn more about Jesus. We had them play games to challenge their knowledge of Bible scriptures and also to remember the significance of what Easter means to us as Christians.
We've spend a lot of time these past few weeks praying and preparing for the arrival of the Russian team that finally arrived a few days ago. They will be serving here with us for about a week and a half, and so far they have been a total blessing to Calvary Chapel Nairobi.
Yesterday, the Russian team lead worship alongside Natasha and the entire church was blessed with the worship they lead in Kiswahili, English, and Russian. After service, they held a special concert for the children of Calvary Chapel Nairobi, as well as the children we handed out flyers to in the slums behind the church. The children enjoyed a variety of singing, games, puppets, miming, and even rapping, all relating the gospel message that Jesus is the way to life. It has been a blessing so far to work with the Russian team, and fellowship with them at the guesthouse. I have the opportunity to learn about Russian culture, while living here in Kenya.
Our schedule over the next week and a half will be filled with evangelism, outreach, home visits, debates, and children's programs as we serve alongside the Russian team. Please continue to pray for Jackie, Ana Marie and I to finish strong and to serve well as we are sometimes distracted with thoughts of what the next season in our lives will bring.
Pray also for the family of the lady I am discipling named Damaris, that her husband will be saved. Please also pray for:
1. Team Unity with Russian Team and Jamie, Natasha, Ana Marie, Jackie and I
2. Good health and specifically for Ana Marie's health to improve
3. Wisdom for Pastor Dave on decisions of where we do outreaches
4. The Holy Spirit to help us bring people into His kingdom with the many outreaches this week!
5. God's provision for moving back to America:
If you desire more details please contact my friend Diana Gutierrez for more details on this via email dianagutierrezsd@gmail.com
In His Service,
Christina
