Thursday, June 14

Hello everyone.  All is well here in Kenya.  I'm going to try to add some photos from today on here but if I can't figure it out, I'll also be putting them on my facebook page (Jenni Green Millet) for everyone to see.

We have had a great couple of days.  The kids are all currently well although we have had a typical stomach issue of some sort affecting 3 or 4 people that seems to be short lived.  This morning we started out with a wonderful devotional from Jon's cousin, Steve Wolcott, who has joined us this week.  He was born here as an MK in the Congo and has basically been a missionary all his life here in Africa up until the last two years since he and his wife have been in the states attending to some health issues for her.  He was a wonderful encouragement to the students, told us some great missionary stories and gave us a great reminder about having our trust only in the Lord.

Today we are back down at the work project here at Scott finishing up clearing the field for the playground and painting inside the school building.  This is a GREAT group of students and you would just be so proud of them.  They are all working really hard and have had fantastic attitudes. I wish I had time to mention them all by name but there are so MANY of them I just literally couldn't do it. 

This afternoon, we will be hosting our 2nd annual TCA/Kenya invitational 5K race!  We are hoping to take first, second and third in the women's division since we will have the only women running.  :)  Mark Dyer and Brian Millet have done a great job getting it organized and we are expecting a huge group around 5 p.m. to race.  We will be preaching a short sermon before and after the race, and having our students evangelize to the people who come to watch.  Last year there were around 200 spectators.

We will ALSO be running day 3 of our VBS here in Machakos during the same time as the race.  The number of kids doubled yesterday from the day before so we are hoping even more will show up today.  The students are doing a wonderful job leading this.   I think the group was not real happy with my choice of buying a really loud flute craft to pass out yesterday but that's okay because the kids had fun.  :)

Tomorrow, the Machakos team only will have the special treat of visiting the Masaku School for Disabled and we will be taking a few kids over to the orphanage as well.  We can't overwhelm them with this huge group of 73 but I know the ones who get to go will be really blessed.

Those of you who have been to the Springs of Hope Orphanage will appreciate this story.  I will keep this student anonymous but one of the students on our trip who had been here last year told me recently that she had woken up one night with one of the orphans on her mind and couldn't sleep.  This is a little boy who is severely affected with Cerebral Palsy and has been wheelchair bound named Dennis.  She began to pray for him and then God put it on her heart to raise money to buy him a new wheelchair.

So Jon and I went over with the Bergman's yesterday just to see how they were doing and inquire about buying him a new wheelchair.  As we told the Headmistress, Mary, about this student she was just looking at us shocked.  She said that Dennis' old wheelchair had fallen apart and he has been basically bed-ridden since December.  They have been exercising him in his bed but knew that he needs to be up and back in a chair.  They had made several requests to organizations for a wheelchair and been turned down.  Their whole staff had been praying specifically for a wheelchair for Dennis!  I love these kinds of stories.  God really does know all our needs.  So tomorrow, we are having someone go into Nairobi to hopefully buy the wheelchair in time so this student can see him before her group has to leave for another location.  Please keep Dennis in your prayers.

More news from the orphanage...some of you will remember some of the kids that we have grown to love over the years.  The orphanage was so overcrowded this year that they had to offload some of the children to other orphanage homes in order for them to receive adequate attention. Mary didn't want to break up her little groups so many of them went all together to a new orphanage home.  She travels to see them frequently and allows them to be brought to visit often as well.  So, we were sad to hear that little John,  Mac, Tina, and a few others we had grown to love are no longer there but are in good hands and all doing well.  John and Mac both went to a special home for kids with disabilities where they will receive more therapy and help.  There are little twins, Ruth and Naomi, who were taken in while our group was here in '09.  Their mom had died of starvation 3 days after delivering them.  They are still here at Springs of Hope, now 3 year old toddlers running around playing chase while we were visiting.  Their older brother and sister were sent off with the other group but come by often to visit.  Okay, I will quit talking about the orphanage.  Obviously, that is one of my favorite places to visit while here.

Please continue to keep our group in your prayers.  We are enjoying the work God has for us and fellowship with the Scott students who are accompanying us everywhere.  Thank you so much for your encouragement and support.