Recovered...

Just wanted to write a quick note to say that we arrived home safe and sound. We are recovering from a bad case of DAE (dry-airplane-eyes). It's great to see friends and family again. It was only 10 hours after we arrived on Thursday night that we were out and about working on adoption stuff.

Some of you may know we have a house full in kenya when we left. We are so thankful that our friends and Only Servants board members- Mimi and Coulson could come and fill in for us while we are gone. They are a FANTASTIC couple and we consider ourselves SO blessed to have them on the OSM board. I'm asuming all of you are going to want to continue keeping up with teh happenings in Kenya while we are gone. Mimi will be keeping up with thier new blog- http://gothope4.blogspot.com/. So now you can continue following the street evangelism and all that is going on even while we are home...

While the boys were away...

...the girls went to play!  

You heard right.  They boys have been working their pa-toots off traveling around and doing so many different ministry things.  Shauna and I got the chance of a lifetime to do something fun.  Did we go for it?  You bet.  It was too good of a deal to pass up.  For about $10-$12 you can take a "red eye" bus ride to the beach- Mombasa.  Then if you get enough people together- you can split the cost of the bung-a-low.  (In other words- if you are cool sleeping 3 people to 2 twin beds).   It didn't matter about the sleeping situation.  We played so hard during the day we were exhausted by night. Then we slept so hard and got up by 6:30 every morning to go running.  By going DOWN (in altitude) to Mombasa it was much much easier to run on the beach as opposed to where Sara and I had been running- the trails around the house.  Since it was safer running with someone- Shauna and I decided to be smart.  Though together we each had our own moments with the Lord just delighting in Him and in His creation.  I will never stop loving the beach.  It might be old news to someone like CT who grew up there, but I love the feeling of knowing just how small I am.  The ocean always does that to me.  It humbles me to look out over the ocean (this time the Indian Ocean) and know that God doesn't need me or anything that I have- But he wants me.  And I have been given the opportunity of life to use for Him.  To glorify Him in everything!  That was probably the most special times- getting up early to spend time out on the beach running and singing praise songs.  I had just recently received an encouraging email from my BF and she mentioned in there to sing like no one is listening- so I knew I really needed to do that.  So as I ran, I sang... loud.  Only, Shauna could hear me... over her music.  It was fantastic though.

Here are a few pictures of our trip.  Cheap trip, but action packed fun!

These Kenyans were NOT messing around playing volleyball. They were SO good! It was worth every bruise though.  I LOVE some beach volleyball. 

Now, you KNOW we are going to find some kids any where we go.  Isn't he gorgeous?  We had to get them some ice cream.  But this little guy wanted to save his and share it with his mommy.  So it was milk by the time he got back.  :)

Who can say they've kissed a camel?

Feet kicked up overlooking the ocean. Yes that is Walt's raft (any Lost fans?) and a camel in the back ground.

A Living Room Conversation

"Where have you visited that has been the hardest to see?"

"What does African food taste like?"

"How do you say 'Holy Spirit' in Kiswahili?"

If these are some of the pontifications that have rolled around inside your head as you've followed us and this ministry, then you can find those answers on May 17th. Since we are only going to be in the US for about 5 weeks, we wanted to host an evening of casual conversation that allowed all of you, our friends and family, to come and get more than a "sermon" on missions.

During this evening, we invite you to come and listen to stories we've never told from the first year of ministry. It's during this time that you can ask the burning questions you've had for so long. It will be informal and laid-back. We are doing this purposefully. There will be stories, laughter, videos, "tastes", sounds, and more. This is a wonderful time to bring your families to be blessed more than they can imagine.

So, mark your calenders:

"A Living Room Conversation"

w/ Chris & Lindy Thompson

May 17th, Sunday

6:30pm

Rich Fork Baptist Church - Thomasville, NC

directions

And please share this date with your friends and family! Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend.

For My Dad

I am usually the one who encourages Lindy to keep this website as free as possible from personal preferences, but today I am going to break my own rule.  Those of you who already sense my topic will be smiling as you read.  For those of you who do not prefer the team set on a hill, the light of the basketball world, the place that's a priceless gem;  read on.  Maybe God will stir your to change your heart.

From 8,000 miles away, I was able to wake early this morning (4:00 am) to watch one of the rare pleasures that I succumb to.  Watching Carolina play basketball does for me what smelling freshly-baked apple pie does to the soul.  It warms you with a smile strongly visible on the inside.  Something special and nostalgic stirs within you.  All the memories of your youth revisit you at the same time.  They are the memories that still find fondness in you.  You can't help but feel a connection to them.

Though tired and in the midst of an extremely busy time in the ministry, I wasn't about to miss this "One Shining Moment".  Here in the quiet confines of our Kenyan home, we viewed the culmination of something special.  I watched one of the very truths I have tried to encourage in the youth back home; discipline leads to victory.  For 4 young men who chose this path, their reward was lifted high above their heads just before midnight  (6:40 am in Kenya).  I love seeing people turn down immediate gratification to wait and gain something greater.  

Just another reason why I love UNC.  They aren't perfect, but the manner in which they carry and conduct themselves as a program, sure does give me hope that there are some who still believe in discipline and selflessness.  And that is becoming something quite foreign to our world.  

Thanks for reading and letting me philosophize through something that's very special to me.  And thanks dad, for introducing me to a team, a coach, and a way of carrying yourself in all areas of life.  God knew you'd need this to teach me when your words often feel on my deaf ears.  I got the lesson.  And it's still teaching me.

Travel Agenda...

I have tried several times now to post a cutesy little map of our travel plans over the next couple of weeks.  Didn't work.  Then I tried to just post our ical events.  Didn't work either.  So I'll just tell you what the plans are and you can read this map for yourselves.  Thursday morning Chris, Rich, Pastor Indiazi, and Thomas all left to take the new van to see what she's really made of.  They drove about 8+ hours to Kakamega to do some work.  They are putting up fencing around someone's land.  Also Chris is getting together with some locals to plan a mens conference there in June.  All the guys were SUPER excited about going.  I have talked to CT a few times and they are having a great time.  I'm hoping he will blog about it when they return- along with posting a few pictures.  He told me that a bunch of neighborhood kids came and pitched in to help them get the work done.  He told me they were literally sweating and working so hard.  They weren't even doing it expecting anything in return.  They just wanted to help.  

Shauna and I leave at 9pm tonight from the bus station downtown to travel to the east coast.  We will be going with a few teachers from her school.  Shauna and I are going to try and visit an orphanage there in Mombasa during our stay.  We will hop another bus Wednesday night and return here Thursday morning.  Unfortunately, our schedules don't overlap with the boys so we won't see them for nearly 2 weeks.  :((((((That is a bunch of sadness huh?)

The Thursday we return- Chris, Rich, Meshak, and Kennedy all leave for Kericho until the following Sunday.  Are you getting all this?  They are going to do a youth rally or conference.  (I just like the word "rally" I think) So we will be MIA for a bit.  Hopefully we won't leave you too out of the loop between the 2 of us.   

So that's our Kenya agenda!  

As for the US: we leave to come back to the states April 22nd.  Arrive the 23rd.  We go to Sparta on 24th.  Then we leave for Sneads Ferry on April 27th.  Whew!  That's all we know for now! 

4 sisters...

Lately God has laid it on my heart to go out into Kibera on Thursdays to talk to some of these "mama's" I've met at taylor shops and fruit stands.  I already have some type of relationship with them.  They at least know my face, so why not? 

Finally,  last week the Lord told me that this Thursday was the day.  I was planning to go by myself because I thought Shauna might be busy.  She asked me about my plans for Thursday and I told her.  She, too, had been having the same urging.  So together we went yesterday.   We had both been with the guys to watch them evangelize... now it was our turn.  We went separately from the guys because we were taking some new friends back to their house.  Once we got there... before we ever set foot on the ground we prayed over our soon to be attempts at sharing the love of Christ.  Neither of us claimed any type of knowledge or know-how to do this.  We were truly going on faith in hopes of being obedient.  We arrived at a particular taylor that had been on my heart all week.  Come to find our it was 2 sisters.  They weren't doing anything so we made small talk.  Then I began to lead into a series of questions I had heard Chris begin with.  Honestly, I expected to get tangled in my words and super nervous.  What if I mess up?  None of that happened.  I felt the presence of God there with us.  I was able to stay focused on the conversation and answer their questions.  Shauna and I were able to feed off of one another.  They asked some great questions and seemed to understand.  It wasn't easy though.  We did not have an interpreter so we had to go off of our tiny bit of swahili and their little english.  It took us the whole entire time to witness to these mamas.  But you know what?  We entered and met 2 sisters... we left 4 sisters in Christ.  We have made plans to go back and visit them next week to see how their discipleship material is coming along.  

Praise the Lord for His gentle nudges to get out and do more...

The "Most" of these...

Often times when you are involved in mission work to developing world countries, you meet so many with so little.  You'll spend time with a family that has lost one, two, or many members due to a horrible illness, famine, or injustice.  There are people who have been victimized by some part of their cruel world and left with so little.  I've met some whose plight has been a lifelong struggle against intense poverty, abandonment, and with little hope.  

But in all of these situations, there is one common theme; "little".  They all have something little.   Their financial situation is little, their material possessions are little, the hope is little, or their chances are little.  They all have, though very small, ... something.

Yesterday, I met some with none.   Where the afore mentioned groups had "little", these had absolutely, unequivocally nothing.  The story that I am about to tell you, is difficult for me because I am going to try to convey the lives of a group of young boys that are hard to fathom and difficult to understand...

Within the Kawangware slum there is an area where we often will see young boys hanging around.  It's a filthy area where pools of stagnant water and fields of mud cover the surroundings when it rains.  It's void of vegetation and littered with trash.  This area has been "claimed" by a group of Street Boys who spend the entire day dwelling in this open area of nothingness.  They range anywhere from 20 years of age down to as young as 9.   They don't go to school, have jobs, enjoy time indoors with family and friends because of one uniting commonality:

                                    They are homeless. 

Day after day, they wake and slumber in the open air of the Kawangware slum.  Some sleep out in the actual dirt streets of Kawangware.  Others find an abandoned car with which to climb under to slumber the night away.  There are no extended family members to take them in.  There are no friends or well-wishers who invite them over for a meal, some company, or a quick wash.  They fight each day on their own.  They, alone, are responsible for their safety, basic needs, and

 tomorrows.  Most of those three things never get found either.  There is no one to bail them out, no one offering aid, no ministries providing meals to the homeless, no one giving out pairs of shoes, opportunities for schooling, jobs, or even a word of encouragement.   

No one.

Most of them are addicted to sniffing glue.  They wear larger coats to conceal used liquor bottles filled with glue which they sniff throughout the day.  The sniffing of glue does 2 things to them: 1.  It makes them forget about the struggles and pain of their lives and 2.  It takes away the pangs of hunger so they don't have to deal with the fact that they haven't eaten in days.  I saw some as young as 10 years old sniffing this glue and unable to stand straight.  Other's eyes were glassy and unable to focus on you.  They stumbled around and would fade in and out of consciousness.  

Those that hadn't started sniffing, knew that it was only a matter of time before they succumbed to the pressure and strains to take up this    terrible addiction.   Soon it will ruin their kidneys and damage their brains.  More than likely it will happen before they are 30. ...

... if they live that long.

We met 46 of them.  Their clothes were covered in layers of stains, tattered with holes, and worn so thin they'd fall off within days.  All them had air conditioned shoes.  You know the kind: with holes around the toes, no shoe strings, and broken soles.  

All of them had stories that defied understanding.  All of them were desperate for help.  I laid awake last night thinking of all I had and comfort I was living in, while at that very moment, they were thinking one thing: Survive.  Even if it meant stealing in order to make it, they would.  My heart is so burdened for least of these, like my new friends.  

I think we were the first people (Kenyan or non-Kenyan) to stop and spend time with them.  We had decided to spend the whole morning with this group of young men.  Rich shared his past with them.  He talked about the familiarity he had with being bound to an addiction.  ... Some listened.  Others were too far gone off the influences of fumes to even try and pay attention.  Those that did listen began to realize that we were real.  We were serious.  We weren't looking to take advantage of them.  We didn't want anything from them.  Our desire was simple and sincere.  We nailed that home with an example of our genuine concern: food. When we told them that we had food and drink for all of them,... they took notice.  We walked with this mob of forgotten lives back to the Kawangware Center where we gave them chai and mandazis (doughnut-type food).  

I'd like to tell you that they all prayed to receive Christ and immediately changed their lifestyles.  I'd love nothing more than to tell you their behavior was perfect and that they voluntarily gave up their glue bottles and broken hearts.  I would like to tell you they walked away with a new-found view on life. ...  I would like to tell you all that, ... but it wouldn't be true.  This is a long a difficult process that we began on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009.  I have no idea how long, how much, in what way, and with whose help it will take to fully bring crowns to these princes, but we are willing to love them till it happens.  

With each challenge in this process, the possible rewards are even greater.  We saw glimpses of this on Tuesday, but it will take so much more than what we've done thus far.  There is a mountain in front of us, but we know God has told us, "Climb!"  We need your prayers.  We need your encouragement.  And we need you to realize something very very 

important:  When you have absolutely nothing,... then there's more room for God to fill.  They aren't the "least".  They are the Most!  

They just don't know it yet.