Dancing, Matatus, and Youth Seminars

Hello dears,

I am currently greeting you from behind my desk in beautiful Kakamega, where the Lord has decided to make my home. I am here and am doing well. I have had the opportunity to travel to see Salvation Army work around the territory, to meet new friends and strengthen relationships with those around me, and I have even been taught how to do some Kenyan dancing (but its not quite tolerable yet, give me a few months).
Since my last post I have been keeping busy, but not too busy. I have been enjoying the company of those around me, have been getting more involved in my corps (church), and have really enjoyed working on our farm. We could start a salad company, since we have more lettuce and cucumbers than we know what to do with.
On the 10th of July I had the opportunity to go visit a friend named Mike in his hometown of Moi's Bridge. It is a small town, but with a lot of Salvation Army ministry occuring within it. Mike is an active PSS member (as defined in earlier entries) and is the leader of 4 PSS groups within that area. I had the opportunity to lead a meeting where we discussed the Way Forward for the PSS program and discussed ways of how we can work together. I was then taken to see the PSS ministries that are occuring within the Kaptien Outpost (a church plant by the Moi's Bridge corps). When I arrived in Kaptien I was greeted by the community who was excited to have a visitor, since I was the first person from THQ to ever visit the outpost. They showed me the income generating projects that they are doing to raise funds for the youth and then allowed me to be a part of their Kids and Youth (KAY) Club.

During the KAY Club we played games, sang songs, had a Bible lesson, and had a lot of fun. After a small group time, the youth went inside the church building to have a time of displaying their talents. There was singing, dancing, reciting poems, dramas, a fashion show, and others. There was even a three year old boy who recited a long poem complete with hand motions, dramatic actions and pauses, and a very professional bow. I picked him up out of joy, but he was a little bit scared. I am happy to see that God is moving within the PSS program and is doing something good in the midst of his children.

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to lead a youth seminar in Kapsabet District. We arrived on friday to see all of the officers (pastors) and youth workers waiting for us. The place where we were told to arrive was called "Dangerous Forrest" so we were a little bit sacred of what was before us. But they were anxious to have us come and teach them so that they can grow in youth work. Kapsabet is a brand new district (only one year old) and they are facing a lot of financial problems, yet their leaders felt it was important for a youth seminar to take place and the corps were able to fund the whole weekend. I am very happy to see a District within the Army that is so dedicated to youth work. On friday, we led the youth workers through several seminars and tried to encourage them to work tirelessly for the youth in their corps.
On Saturday, the youth arrived and we have a day full of seminars and teachings. The youth were so excited to be together and praise God. They listened intently to every word the TYS (the man in charge of all youth in Kenya West) and I said and were eager to put it into practice. On Saturday afternoon we held a very wonderful crusade, where the youth marched proudly and sang loudly. One child held my hand, and when the others realized I would allow them they all grabbed on. I had one child on each finger and several on each arm. During the open air, which was filled with dramas and dancing, i was pulled onto the "stage" and was told to dance. I tried my best.

The youth were very excited to have us there. For many of them, I was the first white person that they ever talked to, so they kept me up late asking me questions, which i was happy to do.
When we travel to other cities we use a vehicle called a Matatu (which means "for three" but I'm not exactly sure why). They vehicles are kind of like Hippy Vans and are used as buses. They are only supposed to hold 14 people, but they will not leave a city with less than 20. So it is common to be sitting in the aisle on a piece of wood or to have someone leaning on you or sitting on your lap. I have several interesting matatu stories, including oddities with breastfeeding mothers and vomiting grandmothers, but perhaps another time.
Thank you all for continually praying for me and reading this blog. I really feel your love more than you can know.

Please pray for:

-Music Camp

-Territorial Finances
-The Divisional Youth Officers (DYS')

-Our crops

-For me to continue to adapt to the new language and culture

-My family in the US

-My corps (in Kenya and the US)

Much love,

Justin

Living on a Pillar

I've been thinking a lot about a Desert Father named Saint Simeon Stylites. He lived out in the desert and was trying to withdraw from the world, but pilgrims kept coming to him for advice, miracles, and prayer. It got so bad that he could spend no time alone in prayer and reflection. One day he stumbled upon some old ruins and decided to make his new dwelling on top of one of the pillars (it was about 9 feet high). He decided that living on top of a pillar was what God wanted him to do. He tried escaping into quiet reflection and prayer horizontally, now he would try vertically. So he made his dwelling on top of a 45 foot pillar (the greek word for pillar is styloi, thus he received the name stylite).

His disciples would send him food up in a basket and every afternoon he would allow the pilgrims to come up to him via ladder in order to receive prayer and counseling.

He said that he was "called to give up movement" and he would always be on his feet. He stood on top of the pillar and fastened himself to a pole so that he could sleep standing up. His only excercise was to bend at the waist, which he did after every prayer. the point was to symbolize that he was constantly pointing heavenward and that he would not stray from the Word and Will of God.

He lived on top of his pillar for 37 years all the while giving counsel to kings and political figures, discipling many followers, counseling, writing letters, and spending countless hours in prayer.


From his example, a series of Stylites started to spot the wilderness as his followers sought to escape into quiet reflection.



I find it interesting that we use the term "up on a pedestal" to say that people are highly respected or looked up to, and yet here is a man who is using a very high pedestal as a form of escape from the sinful world and invited others to come up to him by a ladder to meet with him in his sanctuary of solitude.


Hagiology is so cool.

Tupac

The other day I was in the city of Kitale and a man came up to me and took my hand and said, "Oh you look exactly like someone. Oh, who is it? Oh yes, Tupac Shakur!"

So, if anyone has any questions that they would like to ask here is the place for you to ask them and I will gladly answer them.

I was asked a whole bunch of questions by a day camp that my friend works at, and the questions were really good. My faorite question, which I chose not to answer, was "why do birds have baby birds?"

if you want to watch the video of their questions it is here.

http://www.vimeo.com/5526718

Sunday School, handshakes, and Muzungu-ness

Dearest ones,

I hope that this blog entry finds you well. I am doing fine, I have been very tired for the last few days, but mostly because I have decided to stay up really late and watch movies for the last two nights. So it was a bad decision. But otherwise, Kakamega is good. The climate is good, cool in the mornings and evening and hot during the day. My farm is starting to look wow! The corn is tall, the beans are red, the spinach is like spinach, and the cucumbers are many. Soon we will be harvesting peanuts, something that i am very excited about.

Since my last post many things have happened. i have attempted to learn several popular Kenyan dances, all of which have failed horribly. I have been attempting to learn the dance moves of Rose Muhando (a popular Christian artist - youtube it, parts of it are crazy) but they are impossible.

I had the opportunity to travel to the Musudzuu Division two weekends ago in order to lead a Divisional Youth Seminar and Youth Leaders' Workshop for all of the youth of the division. This was a really good weekend, but was very tiring. It started on Friday with about 100 youth leaders coming in order to learn about Sunday School leadership and program. The TYS (my boss) and I have decided that Sunday School is a major need in our Territory. Most Sunday Schools are boring and formal, so we are attempting to revive the Sunday Schools in our Territory, which is proving to be more difficult then expected. These youth leaders were very receptive and said that they learned a lot and are planning to make great changes.

We visited a Salvation Army school and I am quite certain that I have never been stared at more in my life then I did by those children; it made me feel very awkward. The place where we were was very rural, and most of these young children had never seen a muzungu (whitey) face to face before, let alone touch one. So every single child wanted to greet me. They wanted to shake my hand and say "how are you?" which they repeat over and over again. So i created a mass handshaking system where i shook about 40 hands at a time, in order to make it through the 300 students of the school in a relatively short period of time. On Saturday, we were with all of the youth. There were about 600 youth there to worship and learn from us. We sang, danced, and taught them and then went on a huge crusade. We marched for 10 kilometers, 5 miles, each way and then held a very wonderful open air, and then returned. At the end of the 10 mile trek of dancing, i was quite tired, but the youth were all very happy. They even stayed up until midnight singing and dancing. All they need is a Yamaha keyboard that plays drum beats and they go on for hours.

On Saturday, the 4th of July, I marched in two parades. But sadly, neither was for American Independence. One was for a Union Organization and one was for a mass group of police and army personel. Luckily this gave me the chance to learn the difference between the uniforms of police, APs, MPs, Forest Department, Prison Guards, and others, but of course I have forgotten most of them. After the two parades, the band went and played in a memorial service and then did home visitations. It was a very long but very good day, i learned a lot of Kiluhya Traditional songs.
The following day I led Sunday School at my corps and tried to make all of the youth act like lions (simba), but they wouldnt. There was only one boy who tried to act like a scary lion and the face he made literally scared me a little bit. I then went to a soccer game which was the district championship for High School teams. There is a Salvation Army school near my office which I often visit and both the girls team and the boys team made it into the finals. This was an amazing thing for them because they are small and new. The teams that they played were big and old. But our team (called Kakamega Township) did very well, but sadly lost. However, the next day on the National News they interviewed the principal of the team that one and he made a reference to a "Salvation Army Muzungu" who was in Army uniform and was rooting for Township. Then the people on TV made fun of me. I was quite proud to be known as "the white man in all white" (which is our sunday uniform, which is quite schnazy).

We have been planning many things for next year; including the calendar, budget, youth events, trainings, and a Youth Congress.

I have been struggling with certain things and could really use prayer. I have been lonely and have been feeling homesick. Also, many of our programs have been changed by the leadership, which is frustrating and difficult.

Also, I taught the TYS the word "finna" and hopefully he will continue to use it.

Please pray for:

-Territorial Finances

-For me to work well with my leadership

-Patience

-Loneliness
-Rain

Much love y'all,

Justin

The Juniors

The Salvation Army was started by William and Catherine Booth. William was both really cool but also really crazy (in a good way). But let me just focus in on one of the reasons why he was really cool: he knew the importance of children in the church.

He wrote a book called "Sergeant Major Do-Your-Best of Darkington No. 1" in which he writes about the work of the Army and the role of the Sergeant Major, who is kind of like a deacon and is second to the pastor within the church. He writes from the Sergeant Major's point of view.

In one of the chapters Sergeant Major Do-Your-Best discusses how his corps (church) had a horrible youth ministry, but once they started their new initiative to the youth it brought new life to the church.

I think everyone should read this if they have the time. If you are not in the Salvation Army you may not be interested but it is a good read. It will take betwen 10 and 20 minutes to read. It has really made quite an impression on me. Its real good.

http://stevebussey.blogspot.com/2008/01/william-booth-on-youth-work-1906.html

justin

changing things up

So for the last couple of days I have been thinking about changing the way that I do blogs a little bit. I know that people seem to enjoy my current style of Blogging, but i am going to try something a little bit different, and see if it works.

So this is what i am going to do: I am going to use this blog to post some of my thoughts, things I've been reading, little blurbs on things, and the such. I will try to add at least something small every few days. Then one to two times a month (like i have been doing before) I will put up a big report of what i have been up to.

Does that sound like it will be ok? I think it sounds alright.

So instead of contacting people via email and facebook whenever I update, since I plan to update more often, I will only do so when I write the longer report things.

What do you think? Do you think that this could work?

much love,
Justin

PSS, so many youth, and electrocution

My friends,

I feel like I am constatnly apologizing in the first sentence of each blog, but once again I am sorry. I keep telling myself "Self, update that blog!" but then I don't. But today, I will. I will do my best to update more often, of that I promise.

Life is still treating me quite well. I feel more and more comfortable each day, my kiswahili is coming along well (I find myself understanding more and more words when listening to others speak and can count to 39 without thinking about which language I am speaking in - which I feel is a good step), and I am becoming better at working in an office. I have learned how to manage my time and fulfill many jobs within one day.

This month has been filled with activities for PSS (Psychosocial Support - as discussed in my last post). The TYS (my boss) and I have been spending a lot of time and energy to revive this program within the Salvation Army. There are a lot of members and facilitators, but when no one from headquarters talks to them for over a year they get discouraged, feel unappreciated, and stop volunteering their time (which is what has happened). So we have tried to spend time with these people, call them, visit them, encourage them, write them letters, and so on. And I must say, God is so good. We are seeing a huge rise is PSS activities; just within the last month the activities have more than doubled.
On the 6th of June, I went to a PSS meeting in Kisumu and had the opportunity to learn, teach, and encourage facilitators and new members as they planned on starting new programs in their area. I like PSS because it works for mental and relational healing in youth through counseling and play. That's right, play! During the PSS seminars we play lots of games. We become childlike in order to win children for Christ. I like it. We shout, run in circles, sing rediculous songs, shake the bootay, and all that fun stuff. I really think that this is a good program, and I feel like this is one of the reasons why I am here. This program is important and God wants to see it vibrant again in this place, and so do I.

Two weeks later there was another PSS meeting but this time in my hometown of Kakamega. This meeting was two days long and sought to teach counseling techniques, how to start Income Generating Projects (which PSS uses in order to raise money for school fees for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC's) that they work with), Kids and Youth (KAY) Clubs, loss and bereavement, and so on. This was a great time where i learned a lot. We had plenty of opportunity to dance and play here as well.

During this seminar we were playing a game where our family was being attacked by lions and we had to cross over an electric fence, there were twelve squares, but each square could only be stepped in once, so some of us "strong" men (and yes of course I was included) were used to carry the twenty others over the electric fence. All was going well until my corps officer, with his 250 God-serving pounds of flesh, decided for us to send him over the fence as well. Needless to say, I should not have been a strong man. I failed horribly resulting in the "electrocution" of myself and my corps officer.

This month I also had an opportunity to take part in a Praise and Worship seminar. The seminar was ok, but God was good to us during the Crusade which followed the seminar. There were only about 30 youth there, but we decided to take our PA, keyboard, and bodies into a field in the middle of the small town we were at and started to dance and sing. This was, by far, the best worship experience I have had since coming to Kenya. We all danced and the people from the stores and houses started to come and dance with us. But then it started to rain, but we kept dancing. One person held an umbrella over the keyboard and we put the flag over the PA, but we kept dancing. After about 15 minutes the rain turned into a huge storm and we were forced to quickly end and run for cover before our equipment was damaged. Singing in the Rain (ha) is great. But dancing in the rain is better, you should all try it. (Sidenote: be careful when having a PA system outside in the rain for obvious reasons. While trying to move the PA I was electrocuted, but it was ok, it just felt like my hand was moving incredibly fast)

Many other great things have happened this month: I have preached the last two weeks and feel fairly good about the messages, I know God uses even me; I marched in a parade for the day of the African child; I somehow became the Deputy Bandmaster for a Divisional Band (even though I told them no and I wasnt there, they voted me in anyway); and many other things.

I have found that I am slightly allergic to a vegetable called cow peas and to perfectly ripened pineapples. The latter is very upsetting news. My tongue gets prickly and itchy. But I am still fighting the pain to enjoy the deliciousness. I heard a story of an American who came here and ate 3 entire pineapples in one sitting. Hit tongue started to bleed, but he still wanted to eat more. Americans are great.

My friend situation is becoming incredibly solid and I thank God for sending me some young guys to be my friends here who keep me from going crazy and working all the time. We pretty much just talk about soccer and band, they sometimes talk about girls but I try and stay quiet. They all make fun of me because my soccer team is West Ham United (Ian and Green Street Hooligans have hooked me).

Please continue to pray for:

-The Youth Section finances and calendar

-Living alone

-Language

-The PSS program to revive

-My family at home

Much Love,

Justin