Strangely Diverse

I imagined that Kenya would be fairly monochromatic and have a single culture. We are realizing that there is a rich diversity in Nairobi.

Within the Kenyan population, there are countless tribes with about 10 or so main ones. "What tribe do you come from" is a good question in our arsenal and each answer of Kyoko, Cumba, Massai or Luo leads to interesting discussions about family, customs and home towns. Each tribe brings a rich tradition to the cultural landscape and makes the country feel much more diverse than it appears on first inspection.

Then there are people like Kamil. Kamil's family is from Iran and he is Persian. In the mid 19th century his family came to Kenya to fight a war or something colonial like that. They put roots down in the area. 17 years ago, Kamil converted from Islam to Christianity. Today he runs a small bus company and is active in discipling young men in their faith. Who would have thought that we would meet a Persian convert from Islam in Kenya? Not me. But we meet people who take our idea of what it means to be Kenyan and turn it around. It's an exciting place to be.

The last two days we have spent time at Beacon of Hope practicing the ministry of presence. Mo "opened" wool with weavers in training at BOH, loving them in warm and laugh filled conversations. Sarah, Rachel, and Rich tried their hand at weaving, only to find out that the next day, all the rows they had "completed" were removed. Fortunatly they all will be keeping their day jobs but in their relational actions, they established connections with women who would otherwise be forgotten as the "least of these." James and me (Nate) become human jungle gyms centered around the question of who could have more Kenya children climb on them. At best guess, at least 10 kids were in contact with one of us at some point. We did a lot more than just this, but this gives a sense of the things we have been about and the avenues through which God has been teaching us.

As far as a "scouting" trip, things are going GREAT. We are making good connections and beginning the hard yet fruitful work of establishing healthy partnerships.

Tomorrow will be our last day at BOH and it will be a doozy. There will be a free medical clinic at the center with somewhere between 100-300 people coming through. Please pray for us. Pray for the people seeing patients - for wisdom, understanding and a healing touch. For the rest of us, I think we will be running around trying to corral a bunch of children - which could easily be equated to corraling greased cats. Pray for patience, love and compassion.

Thanks again for your partnership in this endevour. We are truly being changed by this experience and we look forward to sharing with you all the things that God is doing in us.

Nate