Hey guys "how are you"?  "How are you" is what every kid in the slums say to you when you walk by them!  Don't know where it comes from or why, but you go by a group of young kids and all you hear is "how are you?  How are you?  How are you?"  It is pretty funny!  So hey what does your classroom look like at school?  Does it look like the one in the picture above?  Well the kids in Bhondeni have rooms just like this for their classroom!  We went to the lower campus of the Bhondeni school this week and the kids were so cute, they are all in the first few grades there (K-2) and they were awesome, I put a video below of them singing to us today...we have to step up our game kids, these guys make us look dull!   

These are the cooks at the school making up a batch of cabbage for the kids meals at school!  What do you have for lunch each day at school?  The kids at Bhondeni get to have...

• Monday- cabbage, rice, beans, water.
• Tuesday- cabbage, rice, beef stew, water
• Wednesday- cabbage, rice, beans, water
• Thursday- cabbage, rice, pasta, water
• Friday- caggage, rice, beef, water
• Saturday- cabbage, rice, beef stew, water

So?  Sound good?  My apologies to the cooks if I got the menu right I tried to remember the best I could.  But you get the idea, would you like that menu for each week at school?  Oh and did you notice the "Saturday"?  Yep these kids go a half a day on Saturday, if they did not they would not eat!  So they come and get breakfast and lunch before having to go home, sadly for some with no more food till breakfast on Monday.  

Umm the kitchen at the lower Bhondeni campus....look like your kitchen at home?  Hmmmm?  

Bhondeni Day 3

Hey guys, what a great day three we had today!  About 230 adults/kids came to seek medical treatment and (if they knew it or not) also meet with God!  While the medical team treated their wounds we in the prayer room treated their hurts...and guess what?  OVER 7 PEOPLE CAME TO KNOW THE LORD AS SAVIOR TODAY!  Is that not awesome?  God is so very good and it is so awesome to be able to be used by Him here! I love this picture of the kids, the dude on the end just cracked me up all day long!  

This is the sign that hangs in the front of the school telling the kids/parents what is going on for the day.

This is a new friend I made last night, his name is Ryan...he is a cool guy, he likes soccer, and played football for Texas Tech University!  We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant last night and he helped me know how to do it...you guys ever eat at an Ethiopian restaurant?  IT IS GOOD!  Their are such nice people that I have met while being here, Ryan works with Missions of Hope here in Bhondeni and helps people to make businesses and make a living for themselves. 

This is a picture of the prayer room and a place where almost 700 people to date have come for prayer and healing. Cool!  

This is my corner in the room where I have seen so many nice people this week and so many people in need of prayer for their bodies and for their families.  I will show you and tell you alot more when I get back.

This is the entrance to our prayer room.

This is the child that Mason and Jada Brooks and their family support, many of the kids have adopted families that help to support these kids and send money to make sure they have food and clothing and an education.  Thanks Mason and Jada and family for supporting this child, he was so appreciative of the gifts you sent.  I have to leave to head back to Bhondeni for day 4 so I will catch up with you later!  

Love and miss you guys see you in a week or so!  

Pastor Darren

Bhondeni Day 2

Hey kids what is up?  Well this was day number 2 in Bhondeni and let me tell you it was incredible!  We prayed today for almost 230 kids and adults and 6 people came to know the Lord...YEAH!  Now that was worth the 24 hours of travel, questionable food, bad water, stinky bathrooms!  We also prayed for so many kids to be healed today, the conditions in the slum are so poor and all kinds of sickness is the norm for the children here!  I just tried to love them like Christ would and feel like he would for them and you know what? Jesus must hurt a whole lot because it brought me to tears today to pray with these kids and their families and see the struggles they have to live with...not deal with but "live" with!  This is a pic of the street looking north going into Bhondeni.

Now this one is kinda funny...you can't make it out very well but the sign on the building says "Beverly Hills Hotel"?  Now I have never been to Beverly Hills but have seen Beverly Hills Chawawa and this does not look like the Beverly Hills Hotel to me?  

See all those umbrellas?  Well all through the slums to make money people have little roadside shops set up selling everything from food to shoes, clothes to jewelry and just anything you can think of to make money to survive!  This picture does not do justice how many people have little shops set up and it is one of many little outdoor places you see all through the city.  

The pic at top was looking north going into Bhondeni and this one is looking south...you have any streets in your neighborhood that look like this?  I so miss all of you and hate that I will be missing this week as well but fear not super friends I will be back and more broken than ever on the 25th and hope to share all about my time her, please keep praying for K-dog and me as we continue to do what God puts before us!  

Love you guys! 

Pastor Darren

Few pics from first day in Bhondeni

This is Dr. Carlos and some of our medical staff they did a great job treating all the kids and the sickness that is sadly much a part of living in the slums.  

This is where I hung out all day in our "Prayer Room" after the kids were seen by the doctors we had a chance to meet with them one on one and share the love of Jesus to them and pray for their spiritual healing!  We had several adults and kids accept the Lord as Savior, prayed for alot of kids to be healed and just loved one them....it was awesome!  (oh btw that is Kristen in the photo she was great at praying with the kids)!

This is looking up at the school that TPCC helped to build for the kids of the slums.  3 stories, several classrooms and HUNDREDS of kids like you guys!  

This is a picture of one of the classes beginning to see nurses and get medical help.

This is a shot of looking out of the second story of the school into one of the many streets of Bhondeni.

And I saved the best for last, this is the potty...yep a hole in the ground, sanitation is not great here and....well, you do what you gotta do man!  (how is this picture Maddie?  hee hee hee hee).

Seriously it was a great day and these kids and people have been the best, but it is late and I have to be up early so I am saying nighty night and I will post more tomorrow!  

Pastor Darren

Bhondeni Day 1

Hey Guys!

We had a great day at the Bondeni school today!  That is a ton of people and Pastor Darren and I are pooped!

I got to talk to and hang out with a bunch of kids today.  And you know what I learned?  Kids are kids, no matter where they are in the world.   

They do many of the same things you do.  They run, play soccer (which they call football), and steal the red chair from their brothers and make them sit in the pink chair. They love to sing and dance and they don’t like vegetables.  But these kids are different in other ways.  They don’t have electricity in their homes.  And their homes are tin shacks that are smaller than your bedrooms and they sometimes have 5 brothers and sisters staying with them in that shack.   They don’t have air conditioning, heat or toilets.  And often, they don’t have the opportunity to go to school or to know God like you do.  That’s one thing; we get to do, talk to them about God and how great He is, no matter where they are. 

Tomorrow we get to do it again so please pray for us as we talk to these kids and their parents.

We love you and can’t wait to see you at home!

Miss Kathy (K-Dog)

Pipeline Explosion

Please pray for the slums of Kenya as an explosion killed many people people today and left many homeless...our team is alright as this slum was not in our area but in Northern Nairobi.  Thanks for the shout outs of concerns but we are alright and just praying for those affected!

Pastor Darren

Missions of Hope!

Missions of Hope is the name of the ministry that we are working with while here and let me tell you they are an incredible bunch of people!  The work they are doing here in the slum area's south of Narobi is nothing short of amazing, as you look at these pics of the streets we hung out on today just remind yourself without the work of these people they would be much, much worse!

Typical alleyway where people have their homes, after an orientation today with the staff of the Missions of Hope we went on a tour (sounds so nice) of the slum area to check out the living conditions and visit some people in their homes.

We turn out of the mission and this is our entrance into the slum area...the smell of garbage, open sewer and people cooking on fires outside their "homes" fills the air!

We take an alleyway to head to a lady's home we are going to check in on, she has 6 children, living in something like a closet and most of them are in the school to give them a fighting chance to get out of here.

The slum is like it's own little world with small businesses in them, like this guy cooking bread and selling it, my fav was looking in on a small one room hut to see a woman with almost 20 little kids running her in home daycare with no lighting/running water or anything in her place but a bed and table.  

It rained today and made the slum a mess to make it around, slippery and smelly was the flavor of the day!  Still...............This was my favorite moment, these little guys shouting out to me "picture, picture" they wanted me to take their picture then show it to them and they laughed and laughed! I am amazed by the Kenyan people, seriously, they are unbelievable and how they carry on with such joy and strength, it has been something to see.  Hey see you tomorrow and tell you all about our first day of medical clinic!