Jambo to family and friends, We are finishing up another week on the Hill with the kids and community!  The birthday celebration with special devotion, cupcakes, small gifts and a bonfire worship was lots of fun for everyone last Saturday!  After an awesome worshipping the God who made us and made all the stars that were in the sky that night, the kids were in awe of the clearly seen white Milky Way band across the sky, several of the kids and staff stayed up late with our family after seeing the Jesus Movie to lay on our backs under the stars. The kids were presented with their tie dye t shirts they had made the day before and wore them on Tuesday to a special worship and picture taking time on the mountain.  One of the children commented that with all the kid's wearing their colorful t shirts "they looked like a rainbow from God".  Well said!  We have been spending our nightly devotions really focusing on Jesus with scripture reading, Bible stories, new worship songs from America, lots of prayer time asking Jesus to help us to believe that He is indeed everything to us.  Scott is working hard in the hospital down the hill in the nearby town.  He is continually being challenged with seeing patience with trama and diseases uncommon to his U.S. patients.  James has been his "assistant" on these days and takes his new position very seriously.  Matthew and James are doing down to a friend's home in that same town this morning to watch a pig slaughtering in preparation for a pork roast we all are excited to go to tomorrow night.  There were no other volunteers from our family to go with the guys. She has "recruited" our entire family to help with homework from 7:30 to 9 every school night.  The kids know not to ask Mom for any math questions which adds a predictable laughter every night.  Sarah loves hanging out with the older girls and reading Bible stories to the little ones.  The daily after school volleyball games are helping Sarah get ready for her season in the fall.  Today, the Smith family is leading an education team to the Hill for a week to teach at the local school. It will be cozy in the guest house each night! The students and teachers are all so excited to have this opportunity and I know that the U.S. teacher's hearts will be changed forever during their experience here.  Please pray for the mamas and young ladies who will attend the all day Seminar this coming Saturday.  The excitement for this event in this community is at an all time high!  We believe that God has a wonderful plan for speaking to all these women.  Lives will be changed when these ladies, whose lives are so very difficult, encounter the love and grace of the Lord.  Please also continue to pray for physical and spiritual protection for our family.  We also are asking God to be in our words and all our interactions with others each day and to give us spiritual eyes to see beyond the battle into the hearts of these precious children.  The stories of their lives prior to coming to the children's home are heartbreaking, their passion for the things are God is inspiring and any time spent with them is a true gift to us. 

                                                                                             Friday, July 18, 2014

 

Dear family and friends,

     Six days on the Hill!  We are enjoying every moment with the kids and friends this week!  We await the kids getting out of school for fun like volleyball, chalk drawings, Bible story reading, talking and sharing along with nightly devotions (Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!) and all six of us helping with homework.  Today we are preparing for the weekend- popcorn and movie tonight, t-shirts with tie-dye after school, Jesus posters and crafts for Saturday along with the long awaited birthday party celebration at night.  The kids remember blowing out the candles, although it was not clearly communicated to not eat the wrappers and candles with the cupcakes, and singing their own Kenyan version of “Happy Birthday”.  Scott has worked down at a hospital in Kilgoris with the Drs. Magita for a few days this week and is experiencing a high learning curve to treat malaria, typhoid and other diseases common to this area.  Kathi was happy to reconnect with the mamas of the community a few times this week for Bible study and to discuss the upcoming Mama’s Seminar on Saturday, Aug. 2.  They are very excited to be hosting probably over 150 women of all ages on this day for worship, Bible teachings, prayer and fellowship.  Please pray for the women of the larger community for this day that they would experience God’s love, forgiveness and provision in a new way and that they all would leave renewed in their faith.  A young mama shared with me that, last year at the woman’s seminar, she wrote a prayer on the small slip of paper asking God to bless her with a long- awaited daughter.  She then nailed it to the cross.  God answered that prayer and I was able to hold the beautiful “Cross Baby” (as her mama refers to her as) earlier this week- God is so good!  Matthew and James are working on a shelving project for all the new books donated by Oasis.  Megan is starting a reading program with the kids soon to strengthen their reading and comprehension skills and to build excitement in reading all kinds of books. She has been having a blast helping the kids with their yearly sponsor calls to the United States.  The looks on both the kids and sponsor families’ faces are so precious!  Sarah, James and Matthew have really enjoyed reconnecting with the kids this week and are looking forward to many more hours of hanging out together in the next weeks. Even though we have been gone from the Hill for a year, there is an appearance that time has stood still in a way for this community. Despite this,  the kids at the children’s home have grown and changed quite a bit both physically and, especially, spiritually. Their testimonies are filled with a new sense of God’s presence, love and provision during this past year.  In their eyes, we see a hunger for the things of God and even their worship demonstrates a growing faith and trust in Jesus. Please continue to pray for our family, the children and the community here.  We are continuing to sense a need to pray for His spiritual and physical protection and wisdom during our time here (which we are reminded daily is too short).  There is nothing we can bring to this “table” that is worthy of anything- of that truth we are so sure of.  Our desire is that God will work through us- that our words would be His words, that our actions and decisions would reflect Him only. 

                                                                                                       In Christ,

                                          Scott, Kathi, Sarah, Megan, James and Matthew

                                                                                               Saturday, July 12, 2014
Dear family and friends,
     We have been in Kenya for three days now!  The flights were basically uneventful and we drove into Kijabi (one hour from Nairobi) around 2 am on Thursday. Megan greeted us at the airport and we are enjoying every minute with her.  She is doing so well and is loving serving the Oasis ministry and the kids during this past month.  Megan is enjoying living and working with the Smith family- and, of course, any day spent with the kids of the Oasis Children's Home are the best! Today, on Sarah's birthday, we joined the Smiths and Ruzga's hiking Hell's Gate gorge.  Seeing zebras, warthogs, monkeys, giraffe and gazelle while descending into a very deep gorge and then praying that each one of us will make it back out again ended up being a wonderful birthday memory for Sarah.  Tonight, we have prayed with our good Oasis friends and are very, very, very ready to make the trip to the Hill tomorrow morning!  We have had some restless nights courtesy of jet lag, but tonight the excitement of seeing the kids and friends on the Hill will probably make it more difficult to sleep.  We are so very thankful to the Smiths, Oasis for Orphans, our family and friends and especially to our God who is able to "do more that we can ask or think"- He is truly the God of miracles!   What a gift we have been given to have this month!  Please pray for the baptisms of the kids, the community women's conference, the birthday party celebration, Bible studies, building projects- we are so looking forward to all things wonderful things, but also to just being with the kids again.  Please pray also for our health and physical safety, for wisdom and discernment, for relationships to grow with the kids, staff and community and that glory will be brought to God through everything.  We are looking forward to sharing with you this month.

All God's Blessings,

The Derse Family