Day Three - 12/11/11 Sunday

Today was church day!  We attended an 8:30AM service with the local Assemblies of God Bishop and then went on to Pastor Kennedy's church for their later service.  The 8:30 service was nice.  The church was much larger and built better than other buildings we had been in, in the slums.  I was impressed with the sound system and the overall service.

A little girl came around and welcomed us all (probably 2 yrs old) then hopped up in my lap.  She cuddled with me for quite a while.  This was very cute!  This definitely made me miss my own children quite a bit.  Pastor Dean gave a great sermon and the overall spirit of the service was very moving.
When we arrived at Pastor Kennedy's church, the men were asked to follow Pastor Kennedy and our security team to another location.
We witnessed the birth of a brand new church! We were asked to attend, because the soccer team that won the youth division of the tournament would be there.  This was a way for Pastor Kennedy to get some people to attend the first service.  The boys were asked to bring parents and siblings if at all possible.

The "church" was in a shanty probably 10ft. by 15ft.  No lights, wobbly wooden benches, but most importantly it was a gathering of people to worship the Lord!  This was very moving to see.
The boys were very excited to receive their trophy and a rousing round of ole' ole' was sung!

We headed back to Pastor Kennedy's church where the women took the children into the children's church and the rest of us stayed behind for another Pastor Dean Sermon (he gave a different one so the GP folks wouldn't have to hear the same one twice...thanks P. Dean).  This service also provided us an opportunity to award the other soccer team with their trophy and 6 of the young men on the team stepped forward to accept Christ!  A great day indeed!
This service also was a chance for the wonderful people of Kariobangi to thank us for coming to their church and spend time with them.  We also thanked them for their amazing hospitality.  Each of us were given a beautiful piece of Kenyan artwork (made from banana peels)...they are AWESOME!  Then the church gave us six large wooden trucks made by the local men in Kariobangi for us to take home and share with the children of our churches.

After the service at Pastor Kennedy's church, we headed to another area in the slums.  We visited an orphanage and church where we were able to tour and then be entertained by the children with some songs and dancing!  Behind the orphanage was a landfill that was horrific.  The children often go through the landfill to find things that they can trade for food.  This was too much for me, I finally had my "moment."  It had been a long three days and seeing people out in the landfill and then thinking about these children picking through waste so they could eat was alot to take in.  Again, the 3D effect of Sight, Sound, and Smell had hit me in the face hard.

After the trip to the orphanage, we went to Pastor Kennedy's home for lunch.  This was a wonderful afternoon.  Emily, Pastor Kennedy's wife, made a wonderful meal for all of us!  After dinner, we went back to BTL and played some games.  We taught our security fella, Jackson, how to play Yahtzee!  That was fun.  After playing for about 45 minutes it was time for be.  Tomorrow will be our last day in Kariobangi.