Weekend Away

Friday was a very interesting day...no one showed up to our morning classes, and our afternoon classes were very light. So we had a relaxing day. After the last class we headed back to our guest house to grab our bags. This weekend we're all staying with various host families from Nairobi Chapel. This is stretching most of us out of our comfort zone as we venture out with just one or two team members to different people's houses. Posting will not happen over the weekend while we're away, but we'll work to get more up for you in the next week. The next weeks classes look rather full so we'll be very busy! Thank you all for your prayers, and please keep them coming!

Tina, for all

We Do Actually Work Here...Maybe

VBS with the children of the NEGST students (Their School is on the NEGST campus). We had a great time playing with them--but is this really work?

Teaching Classes--This is where the real work is going on! (And I don't know why this won't let me put it further down...I am not a blogger expert, even if I just taught someone how to use it!)

(It is a very tiny and hot room)

Resting after classes:

January 22 Curious to Know God?

It is January 22 and we are in full swing with our computer training at NEGST. Today will be a full day of computer training. Tina Miles and the VBS team will be entertaining the children at NEGST with games, songs, and some special gifts. We have been encouraged at the number of students participating in training classes.

This blog will also be used to answer student questions after we return to the USA.

As I read today's meditation, I thought it applies in many ways to our team, except for the rest part as many on the team are still experiencing jet lag.

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
—Exodus 33:14-15

In what I have to say I may not be joined by any ground swell of public opinion, but I have a charge to make against the Church. We are not consciously aware of God in our midst. We do not seem to sense the tragedy of having almost completely lost the awareness of His presence.
I do not say that to condemn. I say it with a grieving spirit. I pray that the churches in this day may yet reap the joys and fruits of gracious revival and the deep inward awareness of God's presence.

Revival and blessing come to the Church when we stop looking at a picture of God and look at God Himself. Revival comes when, no longer satisfied just to know about a God in history, we meet the conditions of finding Him in living, personal experience....

Modern mankind can go everywhere, do everything and be completely curious about the universe. But only a rare person now and then is curious enough to want to know God.

Tozer on the Almighty God: A 366-Day Devotional.

Touring

Our tour of the Kazuri Bead Factory:

Beads that have been made drying in the sun. They will be fired overnight and then be glazed.

The finished products.

The guest house where we're staying. Sorry the pictures and text are all wonky here--I don't have the time to play around with trying to make it look better. We hope you enjoyed a bit of what we're seeing!

Sights We're Seeing

The sign greeting us at the airport & the loads of luggage 14 people manage to bring.

Touring NEGST & enjoying the warm sunshine.

We Are Here!

Late, late, late Monday night we arrived in Kenya. Well, we arrived at 8:30…we did not find the Guest House we are staying at until about 1:30. Most of us slept VERY well that night.

Tuesday was a slow day to help us get adjusted to the time change. We slept in, then got a tour of NEGST. After lunch several of our team members stayed on campus for a meeting, the rest of us got to tour the Kazuri Bead Factory. We enjoyed seeing how these unique beads are hand made.

Wednesday was our first day of teaching. This was a challenged as the campus and surrounding area kept losing power. The generator ended up overheating. Internet was coming in and out (so we are VERY sorry we did not get in contact with some of you and for the delay in updating).

Today, Thursday, looks to be a long day. We are teaching all day, starting VBS today and having an open lab from 9-11. Please pray for strength for all the team members as well as for improving health. We’ve had a few people have a few issues (and I don’t feel comfortable sharing their issues here—I’ll let them decide if they want to or not). Internet is doing better this morning, so we hope to get some pictures up as well! Thank you all for your interest and your prayers!

Tina, for all

January 13th, The Secret Garden

Dear NEGST team,

As we approach our time in Kenya, I would encourage any of you that want to share your thoughts on the daily meditations, to take the time to post your thoughts to our blog site.

Tina, thanks for posting. This site can be used as a public journal to express what you are experiencing as you process before, during, and after this trip. You can be anonymous or post with your name. Unlike today's meditation our blog is a public reflection of your "inner secret garden". I would encourage each of you to come here often for reflection of what you are experiencing. You may be surprised that many of your teammates are feeling many of the same things.

JANUARY 13 The Secret Garden
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and
his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
—Genesis 3:8
However we may explain this mysterious "ground" within us, we will not have been long in the Christian way until we begin to experience it. We will find that we have within us a secret garden where no one can enter except ourself and God.... This secret inner chamber is the secret trysting place for Christ and the believing soul; no one among all our dearest friends has the open sesame that will permit him to enter there. If God is shut out, then there can be only everlasting loneliness and numb despair.
Where God is not known in the inner shrine, the individual must try to compensate for his sense of aloneness in whatever way he can. Most persons rush away to the world to find companionship and surround themselves with every kind of diversionary activity. All devices for killing time, every shallow scheme for entertainment, are born out of this inner loneliness. It is a significant and revealing fact that such things have in these last days grown into billion-dollar enterprises! So much will men pay to forget that they are a temple without a God, a garden where no voice is heard in the cool of the day.
Tozer on the Almighty God: A 366-Day Devotional.


Ed Fischer
Qwest Communications
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Government and Education Solutions
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