We are creeping up on our two month mark here and are getting more and more acclimated to the culture. There are many things that we love about the culture and many things we are realizing could cause some barriers and frustrations. For instance: I go to buy eggs from a little shop on my way to the baby center, each time I go I am greeted with kisses and hugs and am asked to stay for tea. I love how incredibly friendly and welcoming the people are of outsiders.
At the same time there are some real frustrations. Example 2: Cason and I were supposed to help out with a meeting and arrived a little late (the meeting was at 1 we arrived at 1:15pm) Well no one was there so we went to the baby center to play with some kids. Around 2-2:15pm some of the people started arriving but there were no leaders yet so Cason winged it and got the meeting started. At 10 till 3pm the leaders showed up and then at 3pm the meeting was over b/c another group needed the facility… So we are beginning to pray for patience and understanding.
Cason just
finished up executive meetings in Tenwek and I got to teach some science! It was a lot of fun getting to know the MKs and especially fun brushing up on my teaching skills. This picture is one of my classes. We studied the characteristics of living things and watch yeast breathe! I know... not many of you get excited about that :) Cason has been playing soccer pretty regularly and even got to watch Liverpool beat Man U in a little wood hut out by the baby center He's
had a lot of fun building relationships with these guys and is really hoping that a solid ministry can be started from it. Most of the guys play soccer in bare feet on the hard rocky dusty ground – Click HERE for some pictures. We are amazed at how tough they are! If anyone has extra soccer cleats laying around or wants to donate money for shoes or uniforms, Cason is hoping to collect a bunch to give to the guys he plays with. shoot him an email at casonandcolleen@gmail.com if you are interested! This last week a work team from Nappanee church arrived and was incredibly helpful to the caregivers and myself. They played with the
kids non stop, and did several projects around the center that needed to be done. They had so much energy and even amongst being around sick kids, and getting sick themselves, they stayed positive and loved the children. They had such servants’ hearts and I could tell that God had prepared them to love on these kids. 
It was very hard for us to let them leave, and hard for them to leave the kids. I am praying that God uses the heartbreak of parting with these beautiful children to further his ministry here and to use the passion and love 
they have to touch others for the orphans of Kenya. The team dressed the kids up as a nativity to take some pictures… left is Ida and Jessie as cute little sheep. Click HERE to see more pictures of the team with the kids. Life is back to normal now… as normal as life here gets ;) and we are preparing for the super busy next few months. We have quite a few visitors coming and we are getting very excited to see some family in December and January! It is starting to get difficult not being an active part of our friends and family’s lives. We are realizing that following God’s will means missing out on some very important phases in people’s lives and we are trying to reconcile that and to not get discouraged. We love you all so much and welcome any news or updates on your lives.
Love, Colleen
PS – In our last post we talked about the Greenlees goodbye service… Click HERE to see some pictures of the service and the church we attend.
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