Coffee with Christine

Our orphanage has a friend from the States who just started a ministry helping the widows here in Kenya. Lucy, our orphanage director is helping with the efforts. I was asked to help them arrange for shipping. These goods will be sold in the States and the money will be used to help the widows who made them. I think it's a great idea! This is a headband made with masai beads. Carvings, the two giraffes are carved from a single piece of wood. Pretty cool, eh. Another hair clip. Bracelets and purses. I will try to arrange for the shipping sometime tomorrow so that our friend in the States can have them soon to sell. I wanted to show off these big and beautiful roses. A very talented friend of mine made these and gave them to me. They are paper roses!! Can you believe it? Since our time in Malaysia, I am trying to lose some weight - actually, I am always trying to lose weight :-) Anyways, I pray this prayer everyday over my skinny friends :-) - it's on my kitchen wall, so...

Last week was the General Council of the Assemblies of God in Kenya (KAG). Both of us hold work permits with the KAG and we have a wonderful relationship with the General Superintendent, Rev Peter Njiri and his team of leaders. The KAG has over 3000 churches and in the post election violence, we lost over 300 churches - they were either burnt or destroyed. However, through the sacrificial and generous giving of many , the KAG was able to reach out to 692 pastors and 178,172 individuals who were affected by the violence. He reported that over 600 of these churches have now resumed their regular services - Praise the Lord! We still need to help another 100 pastors and churches to get back on their feet. Pastors praying for the unreached people groups in Kenya and the internally displaced people. These precious pastors responding to the altar after the daily devotions. God is the rewarder of those who seek Him! This is a "matatu" or a mini bus which is a means of pub...

We've been home almost two weeks now and I just realised that I have not blogged for a whole week! It's not because I am that busy, but just very many little things that needed my attention and I am too distracted to actually sit down and blog and upload pictures :-) I will be sharing some photos in the next few days....but a few updates on what we've been doing. Since our return, we've met with Bethuel (a Congolese pastor who graduated this July) and Noella and discussed the strategy/plans to plant a church in Beni and to build a school for the pygmies. I also met with some of the students - one who lost her mother just before her final exams in July. She missed the finals and is only sitting for them now. A lot happened while we were gone - quite a few students whom we really connected with graduated and we miss them! We hope to have their news from their friends when the new term bgins next week. We know that many are serving now in churches either here in Keny...

We arrived in Nairobi on Sunday 10th late afternoon. We were so tired but glad to be home. All our suitcases came in quickly and everything were intact! Praise God! When we got home, Tony found our car battery to be totally flat, it was a good thing a mechanic was on the compound fixing one of our neighbor's car. The mechanic had to remove the battery from our neighbor's car and put it into our car to get it started and then replace our old battery back into our car to get it charged...after about an hour, the car was fine. I was so hyper by then, I started unpacking and believe it or not, I unpacked all SEVEN suitcases that evening!!!! Today, I am still sorting things out and finally got all the cables sorted out...so here's some pictures to share and they may not be in any particular order! sorry.... This is a picture of our "second home" - Mid Valley Mega Mall! We were there at least three times a week - no, not always shopping but it's a central pl...

I received this email in my inbox today with the subject title "Happy Lucky Winner" from UK Lottery Claims Office: --Congratulations you are a winner of 1,000,000 Pounds (One million pounds Sterling's Only). to claim your prize reply this email sending us your details. Yeah, right!! Although it would have been wonderful IF it was true. Of course, it isn't! Or is it???? End of our fundraising trail for the rest of our lives??????? Not so fast, I don't think..........

I cannot imagine that two months had so quickly passed by! Tony told me in the car today that we ministered in over 30 services in our 8 weeks of stay....that's a lot of services!!! He has two more services to go this week before he's done and leave for the airport on Saturday. We have enjoyed every single service and have continually been overwhelmed by the responses of the congregations. Hearts are open and hungry and ready to receive God's word. I have more pics to post but I won't attempt that today. Most of our things are packed, so I won't even try to look for cables, etc, teehee! Let me recap what we did these two months : 1. Ministered in over 30 services. 2. Enjoyed the best durians, not once but twice- once in Ipoh and once courtesy of Tony's Aunt. 3. Ate authentic Ipoh Chicken Rice in Ipoh; Tony's favorite :-) 4. Vacation in one of our favorite place - Penang and stayed in a hotel right on Gurney Drive - courtesy and generosity of a fellow blogger...