A good sign

During my time in Kenya thus far, I have had many experiences showcasing the lack of good systems, processes, organizations, and governmental activities that define much of this country. All of this makes it easy to become pessimistic about the capacity of Kenya to move forward in the world or even help its own people. Thankfully, every once in a while I get a reminder that there are all kinds of people really working hard to improve this country and help the people who need it - both locals and foreigners. Today I had a meeting with several directors from the Nazareth Mission Hospital near Limuru, where many of our clients go to get their ARV medication, which served as a good reminder that there is indeed hope for Kenya!

One of the big challenges of the HIV/AIDS crisis is that the medication required to live with the disease is extremely picky. Someone taking ARV's must take their medicine at the same time every day, with the right nutrition in their diets. If they miss a few days, the medicine will stop working and they will have to switch to a different drug - a process that is very involved and can only happen a few times because of the limited number of different ARV's. Because of these factors, hospitals struggle greatly in having effective HIV/AIDS treatment and are often faced with patients who "default" on their treatment schedules by missing an appointment or taking their medication improperly.

The existence of these difficulties for hospitals is one reason that CARE for AIDS is so effective and so needed. Because our community health workers are meeting with clients every week at the center and visiting their homes, they stay closely connected to the patients and can personally monitor their drug intake and their adherence to the necessary regime. In our meeting this morning with the hospital, we set up a system for the hospital to refer to CFA any HIV/AIDS patients who are having difficulties adhering to the treatment plan or who are coming from especially desperate or poverty-stricken situations. They were thrilled at this idea - essentially we can offer to take their most problematic cases and walk closely with them for an extended period of time, a necessary step that the hospital has neither the resources or the manpower to undertake. At the same time, the hospital will work with us to waive the fees associated with hospital tests and treatment of opportunistic infections for patients who are going through our program - a major gift to the clients.

Furthermore, the hospital offered to send its community nurses to meet with the physical and spiritual counselors from all of our centers any time that we would like. This was a huge answer to prayer - just before our meeting this morning, Duncan and I were discussing the need for continual training and education for our community health workers, and we were somewhat at a loss as to how to accomplish this. Only a few hours later God had given us the perfect answer! We are hoping that every few months our workers can meet with the hospital staff, or other professionals, to stay updated on the latest treatment and counseling techniques, and the hospital directors were more than willing to help with this.

It's such a beautiful thing when pieces seem to simply fall into place! I would appreciate your continual prayers as we try to build more relationships with hospitals, government organizations, financial institutions, and all the other entities that can help CARE for AIDS take the next steps towards truly changing this country!

A lazy Kenyan Sunday afternoon

Since the craziness of the all our American visitors subsided last Monday, this past week has been one of catching up, putting things in order, and figuring out a plan for the next few months. The first part of my time here in Kenya was really focused on preparing for both the vision trip and mission trip (described in previous posts), so it feels like now the real work begins! It's a little bit daunting, because there are a lot of things that will be happening with CARE for AIDS over the next few months, but it's also really exciting. Seeing this ministry grow and transform more and more lives is part of the reason that I felt called to come here, so the feeling of potential and the promise of future growth is a great inspiration for pushing hard every day!

In the midst of all this potential are a lot of things that I am going to really need prayer for during the next few weeks and months. Up to this point, much of what CARE for AIDS has done has been a process of trial and error, discovering what works and what doesn't work. Now we are at a point where we know what works and we must figure out how to standardize our whole process and take it to a greater scope. Along with that comes a lot of preparing documents, writing contracts, developing policies and systems, and meeting with government officials. I am really excited about helping to make all these things happen, but I also know that I am going to need God to fill in the gaps of my experience and knowledge in all of these areas. I would love prayer for guidance and wisdom, for contacts with all of the right people for advice and direction, and for discernment in knowing who to trust. I would also love prayer for patience - everything in Kenya is more complicated or slower than things in America, especially when dealing with the government, and I'm having to find a delicate balance between promoting efficiency and driving myself crazy!

Apart from the long list of "action items" that Justin left me with, I have been finding time to relax a little bit and hang out with some good friends here in the Limuru area. It's really cool to see how God has built a network of western missionaries in this area and how He has brought me into contact with people who can provide much-needed "American-style" fellowship. I've gotten to know a group of guys working for a ministry called Global Connections who live in a house just a few minutes down the road from mine. Their house is a little more technologically equipped than ours, and we've managed to get a satellite TV service that carries a precious few American football games - this tuesday afternoon we've got plans to watch the Monday Night Football game between the Panthers and the Cowboys, which I am so excited about (just don't tell me who wins)! For someone who has been quite addicted to football for the past few years, I am incredibly thankful for the small, but meaningful, blessing of a football game every now and then!

Another big part of my social life revolves around eating. Kenyans always make fun of Americans for caring so much about food, but I've realized that meals are a huge part of life in America and are a great opportunity for fellowship and quality time. One of our favorite meals around here happens at a place called Diamond Plaza - I might have mentioned it before on this blog, but its an amazing place. Going to eat at "DP" is really more of an adventure than a meal.
First it involves driving into the heart of Nairobi from Limuru - especially exciting on a weekend night battling traffic in the city and on the twisty country roads. Then, after fighting for a place to park, you walk into a covered area full of picnic tables and surrounded by 20 or so small Indian restaurants. The minute you sit down, swarms of waiters literally run to get your business, throwing menus into your hands and yelling in broken English for you to try their chicken masala or paneer - this picture shows a little bit of the anxious waiters and the overwhelming amount of menus. You sort out a few things that you want - inevitably ordering more than you need in the pressure of the moment - and then enjoy an amazing dinner. Most of the food is eaten by tearing off a piece of buttered na'an (a tortilla-like flat bread) and scooping up a handful of saucy chicken or cheese. Its impossible to eat without making a mess of your hands and face, but the food is delicious so its totally worth it! I'm a strong believer in the fact that the messier a food is, the better - and it doesn't get much better OR messier than this. After eating, then comes the challenge of sorting out several different bills - one from the na'an guy, one from the chicken guy, one from the cheese guy, etc. I'm never sure if I actually paid the right amount, but its all cheap by American standards so "hakuna matata!"

A night at DP isn't complete without a trip to the bootleg DVD store. The shop is run by two Pakistanis, and for some reason they start blasting Akon's "Beautiful" over loudspeakers the moment an American enters the store. Once you get past the knock-off electronics, jewelry and hair products, you can find almost any DVD ever made (or movie still in theaters) for about 5 bucks. Now, the $5 versions are the quality copies, but if you're willing to sacrifice a little clarity you can get a "16 in 1," "60 in 1," or even "148 in 1" DVD disk for the same price! Oh, the things we miss out on in America with all of our intellectual property laws!

This about sums up my Saturday night last night, leaving me both full and full of crazy stories! There will definitely be more to come - as I start to get to know people, branch out, and explore more of this place, Kenya just gets crazier and crazier. Thank you again for your prayers and for all of your encouragement - its always great to hear a word from people back in the states, and it helps me from becoming TOO Kenyan!

God Bless...

Dogwood Trip Part 2

To pick up where my last post left off, the Dogwood team spent two more days around Limuru working with Imani Baptist last week. On Thursday, we held a seminar at the church for all of the church members and clients - about 60 people overall. Members of the team first taught about personal finances and good business practices, especially focusing on the importance of saving and tithing. It was a great message for the people to hear - the concept of saving is extremely foreign to most Kenyans in this area who live meal-to-meal and have never thought about putting aside what little extra money that they might have. After the talk, people from the audience asked a lot of insightful and detailed questions, which was a great reassurance that they had listened and really learned something! After sharing lunch, other members of the team talked about spiritual growth and a variety of spiritual disciplines that are necessary to grow as Christians, and we all spent some time worshiping together. It was clear that the team from Dogwood had put a lot of time and effort into preparing these seminars, and I think it really paid off for all of the people who attended!

The next day we met with all of the clients at Imani to fellowship together with them for the morning. After singing some lively Kenyan songs and dancing together, we got to hear a bunch of the clients give their testimonies and share how the CARE for AIDS center has affected their lives over the past couple of years. Because Dogwood Church fully supports this CFA center, it was awesome for the team members to see where their financial support is going and hear directly from the clients how much they appreciate the center. The team brought a collection of clothes and supplies, so we distributed those to the clients while serving them Kenyan tea and bread. For lunch we all walked over to Cornel's house, where his wife Irene served us a fantastic Kenyan meal of rice, stew, beans, chapati, and potatoes. It was clear that she had worked hard on the meal, and the whole family was so excited to have a whole group of "wazungo" eating and laughing together with them.

This marked the end of the trip itinerary that I was somewhat responsible for, so I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief and a big prayer of thanksgiving for an amazing week and - I hope - a truly meaningful experience for the mission team. Friday evening we all drove into Nairobi and visited the Maasai market - a big collection of pushy vendors selling carved animals, beaded jewelry, spears, African paintings, and all kinds of other souvenirs. It's always entertaining to watch people bargain and haggle to get the absolute best prices! For dinner we got to go to what is possibly my favorite restaurant in the world - Carnivore. Its an amazing restaurant...you sit in a covered outdoor terrace while waiters in crazy African outfits bring around giant swords holding pieces of chicken, pork, turkey, beef, lamb, and ostrich - truly a feast for anyone who likes meat!

All of the CFA vision trips go on a safari after their week in Limuru, and I decided to join this team for the trip out to the Maasai Mara, one of the most gorgeous and animal-filled places in the world! We left early Saturday morning in a van for the 4 hour drive southwest through the Great Rift Valley, arriving at the Fig Tree Camp around lunchtime. We relaxed for a little bit in our tents - point of clarification: "tent" here is not what you're thinking, its basically a really nice hotel room, with a balcony overlooking the savannah, a permanent bathroom, big beds, and hot water - and then went out on our first game drive. While driving through the park, the top of the van pops upward about 3 feet, so we could all stand inside the van and look out all the way around. Over the next two days, we got to go on four game drives through the savannah and even out to the infamous Mara River. We saw countless antelopes, gazelles, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, elephants, buffalo, and hippo. Some of the highlights of this trip were a 5-meter long crocodile, two black rhinos (which are extremely rare in the Mara), a group of 3 cheetahs, and a leopard perched in a tree. For me, though, the best parts of the Maasai Mara are the lions. I know its a somewhat small thing, but God really answered my prayers for this trip - after not seeing any big male lions on my safari in March, I had been praying for weeks that God would give us some awesome lion encounters, and over the weekend we saw a total of 7 full-grown male lions...amazing! They are truly magnificent creatures, and when you find yourself staring one in the eyes from less than ten feet away while it jumps to its feet, its hard not to have your breath taken away! Places like the Maasai Mara are such a testament for me to the awesomeness and power of the Creator - seeing such beautiful animals, vast golden grasslands, glorious sunrises, and generally breathtaking sights points my heart and my mind to the glory and beauty of God like few other things. Praising Him for the beauty of nature has always been a strong component of worship for me, and few places inspire that praise like the Mara! It's almost impossible to capture this kind of place in a picture, but I'll put some shots from the whole week on my facebook page if you would like to check it out.

Thank you all so much for your prayers over the past few weeks! It has been busy and hectic, but also extremely exciting and rewarding. Now that all of the Americans are on a flight home, it's time for things to settle down here, but we have been given a vision for the next few months with CARE for AIDS and there is a lot of work to be done to make that a reality!

Dogwood Church Mission Team

It seemed like the last vision trip had barely left the airport when I found myself picking up a new group of American visitors in Nairobi on Monday. This team is from Dogwood Church in Atlanta, which supports our first CARE for AIDS center at Imani Baptist Church in Karanjee, so the focus of their trip was on building the partnership between the churches and serving both the church and the CFA clients. In addition to Justin, the team consists of Dogwood's Missions Pastor John, a man named Brian, and a couple named Porfirio and Andy - seeing Kenyan's try to understand the name Porfirio is pretty entertaining!

The team's first day here was spent at Imani painting the outside of the church and finishing parts of the interior. The congregation has grown so much in the past year that the church extended its building by about 15 feet, leaving it painted multiple colors and without walls on the inside. According to Pastor Linus, it would have taken the church up to three years to save up the money to complete the renovations, so they were all extremely grateful that the team from Dogwood would furnish building supplies and a lot of cheerful manual labor. We started in the morning by cleaning the outside of the church - we did this the Kenyan way, which is essentially beating the corrugated metal sheeting with a rag to throw off the dirt. Then we mixed paint with turpentine and part of the team started turning the outside of the church into a bright forest green. We rounded up a couple of homemade wooden ladders, and Justin and I climbed up the rickety contraptions to get the upper part of the walls. At the same time, a few members of the church climbed up onto the roof and started painting it red - we joked that this was now the official church of Christmas! It was a long, sunny day outside painting, but by the end of the afternoon the whole outside of the church had a whole new look. We were all dirty, sweaty, and looking quite Christmas-y ourselves with green and red paint all over the place, but it was great to see how excited the church members and pastors were when they saw the new, finished look of their church!

On Wednesday we spent the morning at the CFA center seeing how our Community Health Workers and Spiritual Counselors do their jobs, and then we split into two groups and walked all around the area visiting some of our client's homes. I went with John and Brian, along with Rosemary (the physical counselor at Imani) and Cornel. Its a whole different world when you get off of the beaten path and weave through the alleyways of the Misri and Farmas slums, only a short walk from our house. We climbed down steep hills to visit families in their wood and tin shacks, where we heard about the amazing things that God has done in their lives, as well as the challenges that they face every day. It's truly an eye-opening experience, and it always makes you stop and think, even if you've seen it time and time again.

We finished our home visits at the house of a client named Ruth - as we got to the house she was just finishing getting the three little girls who live there (all about 2-4 years old) cleaned up and the house in order. We brought with us a couple of bags of food that we'd purchased at a small shop along the way (owned by one of our former clients, Esther), and soon we were all put to work preparing dinner. I chopped up a bunch of cabbages, tomatoes, and cilantro, while the other guys prepared carrots, rice, potatoes, and onions. Over the next two hours we got to help Ruth and Rosemary cook a typical Kenyan dinner on small, charcoal and kerosene fueled stoves, inside the single room that is home for Ruth and her children. We heard Ruth's story, and we watched as the girls slowly became convinced that the crazy white people wouldn't hurt them - in a few minutes they went from quietly sitting on the bed to running all over the place singing songs and giggling uncontrollably! It's so amazing to me how special it is for a Kenyan, especially one stricken by poverty and ostracized by the community because of HIV, to have a group of people all the way from America come to visit their home and share a meal with them. It's really a dream that most of our clients would never consider, but I have a hard time deciding if it makes more of an impression on them or on us. Our lives are so infinitely different, but sharing the love of Jesus Christ and the simple act of cooking and eating creates a beautiful bond that inspires joy and hope in both parties!

A few African experiences

Today I want to tell you about a few of the things that remind me I'm in Africa on a daily basis. The first of these is driving, which is an entirely different experience than any transportation in the US. One thing that's vital to understand here is the network of matatus that covers all of Kenya - a matatu is a 14-passenger van with a yellow stripe down the side, but any semblance of standardization ends there. Matatus come painted in all different color schemes, with huge decals of political figures, celebrities, or religious slogans on the sides and windows and crazy sound/video systems inside playing obnoxiously loud music videos. If you want to get most places in the country, you can walk out to the road, wait for the correct matatu (evidenced by a wooden plaque in the windshield with a number) and hold out your hand. The van will slam to a stop, and the matatu handler will jump out and push you into the van...they are legally allowed to hold 14 people, but its not uncommon to find 20 or 25 inside. At some point you will tell them where you want to get off, and he'll ask for the fare - generally about a dollar for an hour ride.

If you're blessed with the luxury of your own transportation, actually driving on Kenyan roads is a whole different story. I have been learning to drive out around Limuru, so the first challenge comes with the open, winding "country" roads. Think about a typical neighborhood road in the States, then take off all the curbs, lines, signs, and lights. Add in dirt ditches on each side of the asphalt, giant potholes, lots of pedestrians walking on the road, bicyclists, donkey carts, matatus that stop without warning, and slow-moving trucks. Finally, put the car in the highest gear possible and floor it - don't even think about driving less than 50 or 60 miles an hour (there ARE no speed limits in Kenya). If you get on a longer straightaway and can get up to 100mph, great!

An entirely different challenge is driving in the towns and cities. Here, the pace drops significantly, but any idea of traffic lanes or crosswalks vanishes completely. Matatus cut across traffic constantly, and passing on the shoulder or the wrong side of the road is vital if you are going to make it through in a reasonable amount of time. Standard advice from Duncan includes, "If you hit a person, just keep going," "pass both of those trucks before the matatu gets over the speed bump," "watch out for that chicken/cow/goat," and (yelled out the window) "hey boy! you want to die?" All in all, it takes a lot of concentration, a little bit of skill, a ton of assertiveness, and a good deal of insanity...love it!

Another interesting African experience is getting a hair cut. Yesterday I went to the barber shop in Limuru, where I'm fairly certain they have never cut a non-African's hair. For one thing, scissors aren't used at all - all of the cutting is done with electric clippers - so really the only question is how long you want your buzz cut to be. After doing a really good job of cutting with clippers, Moses shampooed my hair while I was still sitting in the chair, and then washed it out with with warm, wet towels...interesting. He asked me how it all looked, and then charged me about 75 cents - it would have been 10 cents extra for a shave! I was definitely the entertainment for the whole shop, and we had a pretty good crowd of curious onlookers.

Praise for a fantastic vision trip!

Life around the CFA house has been drastically different the past week, as we have been hosting a CARE for AIDS vision trip from the US. It was an incredible group of people: two couples from Texas -- the Johnsons and Ryffels -- along with Justin and Lindsay Miller. Justin is the CFA Executive Director, and he and Lindsay are two of my best friends from Vanderbilt. On Friday, Duncan, Cornel, and I picked up the group from the Nairobi airport and took them to Diamond Plaza, a market-style combination of about 20 Indian restaurants. It's a slightly overwhelming but delicious meal after a long time on a plane!

Saturday morning we drove to Koinonia Baptist Church, one of our partner churches, to join with them in the final day of a Vacation Bible School. During the morning, we spent time with about 150 kids playing games, telling Bible stories, coloring, and singing -- the presence of 7 "wazungo" was a huge excitement for the kids, young and old alike, and their never-ending energy was amazing! We provided food for all of the kids to stay for lunch, so we got to share some rice, meat, and vegetables with them as they ran around playing with bouncy balls and jumpropes -- a great introduction to Africa! After lunch, the kids all went home and all of the clients from the Koinonia CFA center came to have lunch at the church and fellowship with the team. We got to hear testimonies from current and former clients about what it is like to live with HIV/AIDS in Kenya and what the CFA center and church have meant in their lives, which was really meaningful for both the team from America and for me personally. It seems like no matter how many times I hear that kind of story, each one inspires a new appreciation and praise for what God is doing here!

For church on Sunday morning, we all attended Banana Hill Baptist Church, the site of the newest CARE for AIDS center. After a rousing service with lots of singing, introductions from the whole team, and more smiling kids, we shared a cup of chai with all of the pastoral team from the church. Seeing their passion for working with HIV/AIDS-infected people from the community is so inspiring, and it makes me so thankful that God has put us in touch with partner churches like Banana Hill who truly want to come alongside CFA and reach the people who need it.

On Monday, we left in the morning to walk through the Karanjee slum to Imani Baptist church, our first CFA center. The team members got to sit in on physical and spiritual counseling sessions with our community health workers, which gave them a great picture of what actually happens in a center and an intimate look at some of our client's lives. After a quick lunch back at the house, we split into two groups and walked through the slum to visit some of our current and former clients in their homes. It is so meaningful for a Kenyan, especially one who has been ostracized due to AIDS, to have Americans come and visit them where they live, and it is humbling to see the gratitude and joy on their faces. We also got to see some of the former clients in their places of business and hear about how they are working to provide for the families, and then each group went to a client's home to make a typical Kenyan dinner. It is always an eye-opening experience to see how these people cook a meal with food fresh from the markets, no electricity, and the help of the whole family (and guests, in our case!). All of us were given jobs like peeling potatoes or cutting carrots, and its so funny how the Kenyan women laugh at our utter ineptitude compared to their practiced skill!

Finally, we traveled back to Banana Hill Baptist Church yesterday for a day of celebration with all of the clients. We helped them to cook a big lunch, and we had a sort of panel discussion in the church during the morning. Doctor Johnson, especially, was asked a lot of questions about medical care, and the clients really appreciated input from the whole team. After some singing and sharing lunch with the clients, we came together in the church to hear more testimonies and then listen to a bible study presented by Doctor Johnson. It's amazing to see how the clients respond to a genuine care and concern, both physically and spiritually, coming from people from the other side of the world. It means so much to them that this team would come and share with them, and the joy and encouragement in their faces was really exciting.

The whole trip was so exciting for me - I love any chance I get to share with other people what I am so passionate about here in Kenya and see them really understand what is going on, and having other Americans to share in that excitement is a huge blessing. The whole group was incredibly encouraging to me, both personally and CFA-wise, and for that I am extremely appreciative. Thanks to all of you for praying for this trip - I think they had a great time and truly got to see what CARE for AIDS is all about, which is exactly what I would want!

We will have several vision trips in 2010, so if you are interested in having this kind of experience (along with a lot of other exciting African things) please get in touch with me about it!

Prayer Requests

I've been in Kenya for a little over 3 weeks now, and I wanted to update all of you on some things to be praying for. I really appreciate all the support and encouragement I am getting from people all over the place, and I know that there is a lot of prayer going along with that!

First, I would love prayer for safety over the next few weeks, as there are two CARE for AIDS teams coming from America. They will each be staying here in Limuru and seeing all that CFA is doing in this area, as well as helping out with some awesome service projects in our partner churches. Please pray that everyone would travel safely, that the trips would be free from any sickness or problems, and that everyone who comes would have an open heart to how God is calling them to be involved in this ministry. Also, I would appreciate your prayers for patience for me, as I will by trying to make all the logistics of having a bunch of Americans in Kenya go as smoothly as possible!

I would also love your prayers for me as I carry out my job for CARE for AIDS. The position is very open-ended, and the Kenyan philosophy on work is essentially the opposite of how we do things in America. By nature I tend to push for things like efficiency, planning, and punctuality - especially when it comes to getting work done - but those things just aren't wired into the Kenyan mindset. I'm hoping that we can meet somewhere in the middle, and I'm praying that I will be able to relax and spend time in the most productive way possible, even if it is "Kenyan time."

Finally, I would appreciate prayers for me to find the right community here. It has been wonderful getting to spend so much time with the Kenyans I am working with, and I am growing to value their friendships and perspectives greatly. I have also gotten to know a group of non-Kenyans (American, British, South African, Zimbabwean) in the area, and having fellowship with them has been an incredible blessing. I am searching for the right balance of how to spend my "free" time and where to invest spiritually -- I know it won't look like the community I was around at Vanderbilt but I believe that God has something in mind.

Thank you so much, again, for your prayers and encouragement. I would love to hear from any of you at any time, so feel free to leave comments or email me!

Another great story

One of the most rewarding and exciting parts of my time here in Africa so far has been getting to know and love the 10 Kenyans who are currently working full time for CARE for AIDS. Each of them have amazing stories and passionate hearts for working with HIV-infected people, but one of their stories took an exciting turn right before my eyes last week.

The Spiritual Counselor at our Banana Hill center is named Pastor Joseph. Joseph has been married two years and lives in a small, but incredibly clean and beautiful, house close to his church in the town of Banana. About a month ago, Joseph's wife gave birth to their first child, a boy named Isaac. Isaac had several health issues at birth, and while his sickness healed, he had a problem with his right food that left a large part of the foot and all of his toes black and essentially dead. The doctors told the family that they would need to operate on the foot last Thursday and amputate all five toes.

On Wednesday of last week Joseph's closest friends held a "harambee" at his house for the family. Word spread during the day, and that evening about 60 friends, coworkers, and members of the church showed up at Joseph's tiny house. We crammed into the living room, and those that couldn't fit sat outside the door in plastic chairs. For two hours, family members and friends led songs of thanksgiving, passionate prayers for healing, and short sermons on scriptures that told of God's faithfulness. Most people who came donated a small amount of money to help pay for the surgery, which cost about $200 after insurance payments. At one point in the night, Joseph got up to thank all of us, telling us that while they had hoped for a baby with 10 toes, they were so thankful for Isaac and would love and praise God for him just the same if he ended up with only 5.

The next morning, I was in the CARE for AIDS office with Cornel and Steve when we got a call from Pastor Joseph. He was almost screaming into the phone, telling us that when he arrived at the hospital, the doctor took one look at Isaac's foot and told them all to turn around and go home. He told them that the foot had healed remarkably in the past few days, and that there was no need for surgery -- it would heal fully in a short time and he would grow up with all of his toes! Joseph told me this story again in person today, recounting how the doctor had looked at him and said, "This could only be a work of God." Joseph hasn't seemed to be able to stop smiling since then, and a whole community of people here are praising God for his gift of healing to this new baby and this wonderful family!

People told me before coming to Africa that miracles happen all over the world, but we don't see them in America. Duncan has said time and time again, "In America, people don't have a need for God." I don't think I ever really believed that I would experience these truths first hand -- it really blows my mind and challenges my understanding when I hear this kind of story over and over, even seeing it before my eyes. I see in this place how people turn to God in times of need first, how they praise Him in times of joy first. In some cases there is nothing else to turn to, and it makes me realize how much I have put my hope and trust in things that I have in America simply because they are there, because they make sense, and because they are more tangible than an invisible God. I don't know why we don't see as many miracles in America -- if it's because we don't ask, or if it's because we don't believe when we ask. I do know that these people believe and they see, and I want to understand how. Africa is teaching me so many things, and I am so thankful for it!