Preparing for Goodbye

It is hard to believe, but we are in our last week at Smile. Time is a funny thing, isn’t it? I feel like I’ve been here for so long, yet at the same time I feel like I just got here. 

never want to leave this boy!

We had quite the exciting day on Friday. Two young men from outside Smile’s fence began stoning sweet David (who’s about 13 years old). We got the security guards of Smile, and they found one of the men. He had to kneel in front of David and apologize. Of course, about 100 kids wanted to watch this and started chanting in Swahili, “Shame on you!!!” They followed this man the entire way out, dancing, and chanting at the top of their lungs. I couldn’t help but laugh. The man was so embarrassed, but it serves him right! He was stoning poor David for no reason at all. That night, we watched The Lion King (aka Hakuna Matata according to the kids), which is their favorite movie. They always sing “Hakuna Matata”; however, those are the only two words of the song they know.

excited to watch the Lion King!

 A couple days ago, one of the boys, Peter, was quite mad at me because I was holding another boy instead of him. He went and cried in the corner, refused to smile, and gave me the cold shoulder every time I tried to console him. I kept thinking how ridiculous that it was that he wanted my love, yet he refused to accept it. He could’ve stepped into my embrace at any time, yet he chose to soak in self pity and isolate himself. I just wonder how often I do that with God. How often do we refuse to step into His loving embrace? How often do we ignore His love even though we still long for it? But praise be to God that He accepts us back every time we choose to come back to Him!  

The last couple days at Smile have been both crazy and fun. There have been other teams of muzungus at Smile, and they have loved on the kids and brought many useful gifts for them. They have done a great job of sharing the Word, doing skits, playing games, and loving on the kids. The other day, they brought new clothes for the kids… shorts, shirts, and shoes! For one of the first times ever, Habuchi did not want to be held… he just wanted to hold my hand and walk in his new tennis shoes, which is an experience he has never had before. It was such a tender moment. However, the next day, Habuchi was back in his t-shirt full of dirt, snot, and spit. His dad is an alcoholic and most likely sold his new clothes to use for his addiction. The entire day, Habuchi just wanted to sleep in my arms, and I couldn’t coax a smile out of him.  

Ocheng and Habuchi in their new outfits... don't they look great?!

Today, one of the teams brought toothbrushes and toothpaste for all the kids and were taught how to brush their teeth. The kids were very excited about this, and even more excited to smile for all the muzungus afterwards! However, I think the kids also thought the toothbrush would be a useful tool in building their little mud houses… most toothbrushes were a nasty color by the end of the day.



the toohtbrushes by the middle of the day...



All of this has been making me struggle with the question: how can I really help these children here? What can I bring that will be sustainable in their lives? With the thought of leaving so soon, I just can’t help but think I’ll be another person in their life who has loved them and has left them/disappointed them. I’m still struggling with this question. All I know for now is that I need to leave them with Jesus and leave a legacy of Him. Please be in prayer for these children and ourselves as we make the transition and leave.

after I squirted the boys with my water bottle-made-squirtgun. They loved it. I loved it. It was great.We have been saving our water bottles up so we can give them to all the kids and have a huge water fight right before we leave. We're pretty excited for it!



Today, I taught the widow’s English class again. Those women are SO sweet, and we’ve had a wonderful time learning together! We also went to a prison again yesterday. The prisoners were on their way back from a work project, but there were about 5 men that had stayed behind. In order to kill time, we all ended up sharing our testimonies. When the rest of the prisoners arrived, the pastor requested that we all share our testimonies again along with the message because they were very powerful. Sometimes I feel inadequate in sharing because these men have been through SO much in their lives, but it’s so incredible that God can use an American girl’s testimony to touch the life of a prisoner in Africa. Christ makes us competent, and He can use all of our testimonies in any circumstance to bring more people to Himself. Praise the Lord! 6 men came forward to be saved, so once again, please be in prayer for these new believers!

some of the ladies that come every Wednesday to learn English

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement! I am so blessed by you all J  

pooped by the end of the day!



"He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water." -Isaiah 49:10