Hello everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts lately… Tuesday was the first night in over two weeks that we’ve both been home with no guests or meetings. We’ve enjoyed being busy and having guests, but it is nice to relax just the two of us!
We are leaving to come back to the US for a quick three week trip a week from today, primarily for Colleen’s sister’s wedding. We’ll be in the States from June 21st, - July 13th in Ohio, Indy, and Chicago, and we’d love to see you all, so let us know if you’ll be around.
~ Football Tournament ~
In addition to staying busy with work in the office, I’ve been leading the youth group at church and organized a football tournament with my local club. I had told the guys on my football team that I would help organize a tournament before we go back to the US for a few weeks. So last weekend, we hosted some other local teams on our home ground.
Predictably, not everything went smoothly… we were supposed to have 6 teams, but only 5 showed up… the first game was supposed to be at 9am on Saturday, but didn’t start until almost noon… there were a few questionable calls and some unhappy spectators, but all in all it was a great time.
My team, Ngata, won the final on Sunday 3-1, which was attended by 150+ people. After the final game, one of the pastors at our church gave a brief talk and invited the guys to our church. We also prayed and handed out some prizes. It was a very Kenyan weekend, but I loved every minute and was glad that the church got to share with young men from the community. The local teams are excited about organizing more tournaments in August once I return – if you’d like to help sponsor one, let me know! I’ll also be collecting some soccer gear while I’m home, so if you have any goalie gloves, cleats, shin guards, or kits you’d like to donate, just shoot me an email.
I’d appreciate your prayers for how we can continue to be a witness to the Ngata football team and the other teams in the area.
~ Youth Group ~
A month or so ago, we switched the youth group meeting from Saturday to Sunday afternoon after the service since attendance on Saturdays had been sporadic. We’ve been reading though 1 John with them and have been discussing how we need to make our faith our own – to really personalize it and sift through all the lies that the world puts out there.
One of the passages that we really dug into was 1 John 2:15-17, which says, “15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
We had some great conversations about what is the “world” for us… I inserted the “worldly things” that the youth put forward as tempting for them. So we read the passage as, “Do not love your cell phone, or anyone in your cell phone… Do not love the TV, or any show on TV… Do you not love your friends… Do not love your boyfriend…” We discussed how those things aren’t inherently bad, but they become detrimental when we prioritize them over our relationship with God. They seemed to enjoy my “paraphrasing” and I think it helped with driving the point home. The thing that really clicked with the youth is when we discussed why God sets rules for us… the reason He doesn’t want us to fall in love with the things of the world. He is trying to protect us because He knows that it will all pass away, and the only thing that will matter in the end is our relationship with Him.
Please pray for the Ngata youth as they continue to seek out the things of the Lord and fight the temptations of this world. Also pray that God would give us (and the other leaders) wisdom in how we can connect with them and encourage them toward Christ.
~ The Baby Center ~
Colleen has been busy at the Baby Center organizing the volunteers to do daily physical therapy for the kids and helping with the extra babies – there are 40 right now! There are currently 4 additional volunteers working at the Baby Center, some of whom are helping Colleen with physical therapy and child development. A few weeks ago, a team of physical therapists from Nairobi came to the Baby Center to analyze the kids and help Colleen plan development programs – it was such a blessing to have them come, and the new plans and additional help has seem some drastic improvement in some of the kids.
Please keep praying for the kids of the Baby Center… It was a difficult last week for Colleen. She took three of the babies to Tenwek hospital for check ups and spent a sleepless night with the sick children. Also, the Baby Center has received a new baby and said goodbye to others, which she will write about soon.
Sometimes the weight of the stories behind these children’s abandonments can be very difficult to put behind us and can make our hearts heavy with grief. We believe that God has a plan for all of these children, but sometimes it is hard to forget their difficult and at times cruel beginnings and see beyond to the redemption God has for them. Please pray for Colleen as she continues to ministry to these precious little ones, that God would protect her heart, as well as the other workers at the Baby Center
Thanks so much for reading our blog! Hope to see some of you in the US in a few weeks.
God Bless,
Cason
PS – Isn’t Angela beautiful? This was taken a few Sundays ago when 21 Baby Center babies were dedicated at church. Click HERE to see Colleen’s album.
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