"My Mommy Sometime Calls Me 'Moky-popo'"

Josh Chinn Quality Blog Post #5?

So over the past few days, I've heard an amazing testimony, visited the Mathare slum again, armed myself with a Masaai spear/shield/knife set (mom/dad, don't mess with me when I get home.. jk :P) and had a great time at the Kayabe Free Baptist Church.

The other day, Mr. Hyodo brought in a woman who came to share her testimony with us. It was by far the best I've ever heard. Her life story was so touching. She had faced so many trials and obstacles. I felt like after I heard it, nothing in my life that I've ever been mad about was worth complaining about. You can read her full story below, we can't post names or pictures for security reasons, but her testimony was so inspiring to hear and I couldn't believe some of the things she's been through. One thing we discussed at our debriefing session tonight was how some people may complain about God and not care about Him, and how they are able to have the choice of freedom of religion. I've thought about freedom of religion before, but today it's been stuck in my mind. I feel so fortunate to be able to choose my religion and what I believe. As we know, many people in the world can not and are persecuted because of their beliefs. The woman's testimony really made that clear to me.

Visitng the Mathare slum and the Mcedo school again was really exciting but also very hard for many team members. Driving in, we passed the soccer field and the second kids saw us, they began sprinting to the school waiting for us to arrive. Once we unloaded all of the kids wanted to show us the bracelets we had made for them the day before and they loved seeing our faces again as we spent time with them. It was really nice to see some of the kids again and to reach out to some of the new people.

Right after that, we went to the Masaai Market which is open on fridays only. It was pretty much a flea market with local goods and souvenirs you can buy. The best part about it was that you can haggle with the people, and when you get a good price on something you really want, you feel really victorious. I bought a spear and shield for a measly 900 shillings when the original price was 3500. I got plenty of souvenirs for amigos and I'm hoping that I can fit everything in my suitcase.

A couple days ago, we visited the South B Slum and the Kayaba Free Baptist Church. Right after we got off the bus, we met the uber-enthusiastic Pastor Paul. If you measure his happiness and energy on a scale of 1-10, he'd probably be a 50. He hugged us and shook our haands and then took us to see his church in the middle of the slum. It was a different experience going to the church because this time we had to walk in and in the heart of the slum was the church, as opposed to the schools that we had previously visited which were on the outskirts. The second I walked in, I could hear loud singing and praise. It was such an awesome experience. These people really love praising the Lord with all they have. They sang and danced and had a few performances for us, and after a message from Trenton we got to feed the kids. The "mamas" as they were called helped ready their food. I was surprised to find out that they only serve meals to the community twice a year. They made a TON of food, but it was all gone by the time we were finished. I was fortunate enough to help dish out the food and spend the whole time with one of the mamas. She was so energetic and happy to haev me help and I wouldnt be surprised if we dished out over 250 plates of food to the kids. It was a blessing to meet the people there and so far Kayaba has been my favorite place to visit.

The SYTE kiddos have spent a couple nights during free time listening to words of wisdom from TrErika. Man, they have amazing dating/marriage/relationship/life advice. I'm sure many people would pay good money to have them as counselors. I think they should write a book. We stayed up quite late last night (err.. technically we stayed up early) taking notes (okay that was just me) and inhaling the amazing advice and wisdom they had for us. They're awesome people. We love them.

Oh yeah, and today at dinner at the Java house we were discussing names and what parents call their kids as "cute" names. Sorry mom, but I revealed the fact that you call me Mokus-bee and Moky-popo sometimes. Now John's gonna call me that for the rest of the trip, but Erika thought it was cute (I think thats what she said.. she was laughing really hard). So yeah, now the team is just like family!

Thanks for your prayers and support!
♥ Jawsh.