Day Nine... Children's Orphanage and Crusade!

Today we started off with breakfast at the hotel and then a little shopping in downtown Nairobi.  I bought 2 skirt suits (everyone here dresses up and I mean everyone, the men wear suits and ties, the women skirt or pants suits all the time, def not what they portray on TV as they have more fashion/classy style here than in the US and my long dresses and flip flops made me feel very underdressed) but it took us forever to find a store with my size because I guess all the women here are a size 8.  In each store (and there are millions of tiny stores along the streets) all the women say the same thing, "I got your size" then you hold it up and it's way too big for you!  But I give them props for being so persistent in trying to sell their products.  And nothing is labeled with a price really so you have to bargain on what you are going to pay for it, which I can't do because I don't speak Swahili so Penny did it for me.  We then had lunch at the hotel with Pastor George and while we were eating he received a phone call saying they were airing a clip from the free eye clinic on the 12:00 news!  So we had the waitress turn it on and sure enough there we were (and I was chewing gum and smiling HUGE on the Kenyan public television station!!)  We are going to get a copy of it to bring home but they also filmed us today at the orphanage and tomorrow at the crusade to play on the news also...so I am now a "super star" in Kenya...ha ha!!  After lunch we picked up the food supplies for the orphanage and then took it to them.  There are 99 kids living at this home and they were all so nice and happy.  They really appreciated the food supplies we brought them (with the money you guys donated...Thank You!) and were happy to see new faces of visitors.  I wish we had more time with them but we were pressed because of the crusade so we only had time to tour the facility (which was very nice, the German's sponsor this orphanage so it was very clean and has had a lot of money poured into it).  The children are usually picked out of the community by local women from a church group or brought in by the government.  One little boy I met named Stephen was just recently picked up on the streets of Kambul as his parents didn't want him so they forced him to live on the streets and someone reported him for eating out of the garbage. 4 of the kids in this home are HIV positive and they have no parents because their parents died from AIDS.  This facility is equipped with a nice medical clinic in which doctors fly in from Germany every week to check the kids and local patients in the area.  They also treat the kids with HIV because the medicine is very expensive.

After the orphanage we went straight to the crusade at about 5 and it was already packed and been underway since around 2.  The youth band was singing and performing for the crowd (they love to dance) and of course everyone stared when they saw the white person walk up.  The kids all ran up and stood in front of me the entire night with their eyes wide and mouths open as they had never seen a white person before.  The praise and worship music was great and everyone in the crowd was up dancing and praising God.  There had to be at least a couple thousand people there tonight which is a great turn out for a Saturday night especially for the location in which the crusade was held.  The stage was in the middle of town surrounded on all sides by drinking bars. There was one drunk man that almost pulled Pastor George off the stage so security had to come in and get him (and don't worry, I have my own personal security guard with me at all times so I am very secure).  The only people that try to get around me are the kids, they want to touch my skin, my hair because it's so different.  Pastor Richard preached tonight and we had a couple people accept Christ as their Lord and Savior! 

Praise the Lord!  Bwana Asifiwe!

Tomorrow we have church at 10 then the Mega Crusade starts around 12.  We will leave the church with the Kenyan Police Band leading us as we march around just like they did in Jericho ending at the stage in downtown Ndenderu!  My words don't give it justice so I can't wait to share all the 1,000's of pictures I have with you!  A guy named Benjamin (yes, they all have an African name and an American name) has been the best paparazzi for me!  Which is great because a lot of times the people get uncomfortable when the mzungu takes their picture!


It's time for bed, I am exhausted and the biggest day is ahead of us tomorrow!  Please keep us in your prayers as we wrap up this crusade!

Your Sister in Christ,

Leslie / Shiro