Two weeks later....

....and our time is coming to a close. :( It has been an awesome two weeks and though I will be glad to return home I know I will miss Kenya.

Our second week in Nairobi, Kenya, was slightly more relaxed as the CCV team returned to the USA after a Safari Trip & well-earned rest, and we continued our involvement with the team from Lifespring.
Here's a summary of the activities we were involved in during the course of the week:

Monday:
* rest and relaxation time after a very busy Sunday, and an evening basketball game with young guys from the local estate. Simon put the locals to shame by scoring the winning goal, and taking the team which had been losing all evening, to victory;
* Meetings with Ministry Directors, pizza lunches and preparation for the missions expo rounded off a more relaxed week.

Tuesday:
* We sat in on the Lifespring staff prayer meeting which is held every Tuesday morning.

* Wednesday: we had for the first time an opportunity to map-out our schedule for the remaining 2 weeks, and a quick trip into the city to Masai Markets which turned out to be a bad idea! After being surrounded by some shady characters, the girls freaked out and Gerald (the only Kenyan amongst us) promptly motivated us to move away from the market area. A scary experience all-round, it reminded us of how quickly a situation can get out of hand.
* a day at the Lifespring office being involved in general activities with the interns;
* "T 4 12" in the evening,

Thursday:
* Leadership Classes with the interns in the morning, meeting with ministry Directors during the day, chill-out with Young people at Pastor Sammy's in the afternoon, and SALT campus fellowship at Nairobi Chapel in the evening;

Friday:
* Danielle & I had a meeting with Web Design 'team' to come to some agreement on how to go forward with Lifespringchapel.com;
* meetings with the Ministry Directors of Lifespring Chapel.

Saturday:
* preparing for Mission expo - we created a 1.5m x 1.5m display that contains information about Gymea Anglican Church, it's partnership links and ministry areas.

Sunday:
* Our last Lifespring Church service, where Pastor Charles from Tumaini Church, Kwa-Njenga, encouraged the congregation to be involved in missions - whether at work, school, home or out & about.
* Clint preached at the Tumaini Church in the morning, and by all accounts the message was well recieved with someone giving their life to the Lord
* the Mission Expo (where our display was one of many others) took place after the Church Service at Lifespring, with a number of displays from Lifespring and other organisation (eg TULIP - Tumaini Ladies Integration Project).
* We had a very late lunch @ Pete & Kathryn's (Kathryn is an aussie girl from Orange, NSW, and will most likely be back in Australia with her husband Pete in Jan 2005
* a visit to the Giraffe Centre (such majestic creatures - and such hideously long tongues!) before our late lunch, and time in the evening with our host family.

We spent today (Monday) back in the Kwa-Njenga slums with Pastor Charles. Charles gave us a complete overview of the ministry work that the Tumaini Church supports. The sheer volume and scope of work is almost unbelievable, yet it is clearly a testimony to the awesome power of God working through people that are willing to do whatever it takes, wherever God takes them. Charles' passion for reaching the people of the slums is matched by his desire to see leaders raised up from the Christians within the slums. Please pray that God will continue to raise up people from within the slums who can eventually take over the running of the Tumaini Church.
We were also privileged to spend a short amount of time with the team from Angaza Trust. Angaza is setup to allow home-less kids and young people the opportunity at obtaining an education. Angaza links with many organisations to help young people rehabilitate from substance abuse, as well as moving away from a 'street' lifestyle. The staff (Caroline, Faith, Joseph and other volunteers) also work to educate men & women on the dangers of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and the benefits of abstinence. They also run a sports clinic for where young people can focus their energies, rather than being idle. Please pray that the relationship that exists between Angaza and the Tumaini Church continues to grow to the mutual encouragement and support of both teams & the people they minister to.

This week we look forward to wrapping up our involvement with the Lifespring team, and treking off to Mombasa on Friday morning, returning to Nairobi on Monday (the 12th) afternoon, having dinner with the crew from Lifespring & our host families, then jumping back on a plane to Dubai in the early hours of Tuesday morning (our flight leaves Nairobi at 00:45). As many of you know, I will be leaving the other 3 in Dubai and travelling, not to Sydney, but to London to see a very special person. :) She knows who she is.

Please pray that the Partnership summit (all day Wednesday) would be an awesome time for both the Lifespring leadership team and us, as we meet together to discuss how the partnership between our two churches can go forward. Many thoughts and feelings related to the partnership have already been expressed, so please pray that this time would be beneficial and effective.

On a slightly different note, the MED (Micro-Economic Development) projects, co-ordinated by Joyce from the Lifespring leadership team, has highlighted the need for a separation of roles which Joyce currently performs. Being a social worker to and a loan officer for those who recieve loans for MED projects has complicated Joyce's role. Joyce has highlighted the need for a MED project office dedicated to the management of finances, an office that is separate from Lifespring to avoid a mentality that assumes that because the money is coming from a Church, it is given as a gift and not a loan, and therefore does not need to be paid back. The project office would be set-up to, initially, finance projects that are already established and viable, and then at a later stage, start financing new or experiemental projects. This is a very viable set-up, however the major hurdle is up-front financing because a large pool of money needs to be available to the established businesses from the outset.

Thanks to all for your prayers. Please let me know via email if there is anything you specifically want to know about.

In Christ we have it all,
-Spud, Dan, Mon, Clint.