Matt: I Can't Think of a Creative Title...It's Late...

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I haven't blogged for a while! That, for me, is quite abnormal. Ready? Cuz I am!

Friday: the day I discovered I'm part Chinese. (Whaaat? Whaat? Matt, whaaat? Okay, okay, I'll explain later, just wait =) haha.)

We began the day with our second visit to Mathari slum. Our job was to finish painting and organize the library (the library where you all donated books to!). On the bus ride leaving the slum, I was telling Bekah how my oldest sister, Carrie, and brother-in-law, Jeff, had given our family special Christmas gifts for advent conspiracy--some were buying animals for families in our names and some were for "a year of learning" for children. As I was sharing this, tears came to my eyes. I was beginning to realize what those gifts really meant. I was beginning to understand what giving meant.

This was also the market day and this is where my "being Chinese" comes in, even though I'm not at all Chinese... The team told me that Erika and Cindy were the super-incredible tough barterers (and Cindy is REAL Chinese). While Trenton kind of rolled his eyes at the thought of Erika's haggling, I was kind of excited. I may be Japanese, but I'm also an American! The first guys that approached me basically were mean to me and thought I was from Japan and touched my hands a lot...my Asian personal bubble go popped a lot this day. But from then on, it was a different story. I was NOT going to be pushed around! But first, I shall tell you about my djembe. Shawn bought one and for whatever reason, I decided to buy one as well. Erika, the professional, bartered the price down from 3000 to 1800 shillings. The djembe was mine. (Later, I bought another one...it will probably be a gift.) Here's where my Chinese side kicks in. The next few hours were spent helping John, Bekah, and Heather haggle their prices down. I'm happy to say that Erika trained me well. I would apparently make comments like, "you think that fabric costs 200 schillings more? I could do this at home!" and..."no, no, no, you will NOT trick me out of the deal we just made. Is that what you're saying? You want to not keep your word with me?" Yeah...so, I kinda had to pull out that language, but it was so I was...a good steward of the Lord's money! That makes sense...right..?

Saturday: Kayaba and Pastor Paul. He called me a..."Choir Master"...? haha.

I was extremely excited to visit the slum of South B. I had seen the video of Dan and Pastor Paul from last year's blog, so I was really excited to meet him this year. The team one by one entered the Kayaba church. Instantly, we hear the sound of voices praising Jesus with all of their hearts. I have never heard anything like that. All of the people in the Church were worshiping truly with all of their hearts and souls. It brought me to tears again. During the worship set, Bekah shared from the song "None But Jesus." By the end of the first chorus, I was crying again. (So, I'm actually not an emotionally unstable person. God's just touching my heart extremely powerfully this trip!) It was truly apparent that the Spirit of the Lord was present. We all felt it.
That night, we had "Trerika: A Program of Relationship Advice" time. We asked them questions and they told us fun(ny) stories about their relationship and marriage. (Trenton was weiiiiiird...! haha. hope he doesn't read this...)

Sunday: Christian Life Center. I wore a tie and gave Trenton a back massage. (Those two things were totally unrelated.)

Today, Bekah and I co-led the Sunday worship set for Church. (Does it seem like I've mentioned Bekah like a thousand times this blog? Sorry...or maybe not sorry, but...okay, nevermind..) Again, I witnessed some of the most amazing worship of our King I've ever seen in my life. Worship with intense passion and without fear. Oh yeah, today was my sharing day. I shared out of "King of the Broken" and basically totally ad libbed the entire thing...It was pretty fun! (Big surprise, right, Dad? Cuz I hate talking...)
When we got back to the housing, Dan made jokes about kissing giraffes and Cindy silenced him within seconds. It was pretty funny.

I feel like this blog was really unorganized and had bad writing. I apologize... I'll try to be funnier the next blog.

I love you all. And family, I miss you so much. I love you so much. I appreciate how much you've done for me. You mean the world to me.

Love,
Matt