On the Seventh Day God Rested

 Sunday 07-28-2013

Today was a day off for the team!  Unfortunately, Dr. Keyes had to spend the day planning out the rest of the week.  We had a leisurely breakfast and morning, and then went to church on the Into Abba’s Arms Compound (IAA). The IAA compound opens their doors to all the neighborhood children for a church service and afterwards cookies and a game of soccer.  The church service worship started with all of the children up front, over 70, dancing and doing dance steps and line dances while worshiping! The beat was fast and the children were so happy worshiping the Lord! After worship there was a time of the children sharing testimonies of God waking them up this morning, speaking to them and giving them songs. There was a time of shared memory verses; and then four different choirs amazed us with beautiful songs, voices and dancing for the Lord. The leaders and staff of IAA introduced themselves and sang a song for the children, and the message was given.  After the cookies were given to the children, they started playing soccer, a version of hopscotch and other games.

A group of us, Elena, Maria and Sarah; were taken on a walk around the IAA compound by two of the older girls, Teresia and Lydia. We walked out the door of the compound, and right up a dirt road. The countryside was beautiful, with farmland, and the occasional cow or house.  We walked up the road, took a right onto a larger dirt road, making a loop around IAA. Teresia brought us to the home of a woman right outside the compound.  She was in a small room with a fire in the center, visiting with another woman. Another neighbor came by that could interpret for us since the two older women only spoke Kikuyu, and Teresia and Lydia spoke only Swahili. We were invited into the main house, which was about 10 feet away, to visit. We sat inside and talked about how we had come to IAA, and that we were putting on a women’s and men’s conference this week. We also prayed for the woman of the house, for back pain; we held hands while standing in a circle and prayed for her.    

Overall it seemed that team members were able to connect individually with the children and staff of IAA as well as members of the community.  It was nice to have time to get to know the individuals and do one on one counseling with the use of modified sand tray with stones.  With this technique two girls relayed stories of life prior to coming to IAA and revealed the amounts of trauma and resiliency they have experienced in life.  It’s hard to believe our time is coming to a close here with only four days left.   We are excited to begin our conferences and go out with a bang!

- Jen, Maria, and Sarah