Visitors from Cornwall

Members of our 10 am ESL class with

guests from Cornwall Baptist Church, Ontario

It was a great week in Eastleigh as the new semester began with the Iftin women at the Eastleigh Community Centre. Students also returned for both the preschool and primary school programs (the vocational schools will be in full force next week).

On Friday, we had the pleasure of hosting four men representing the Cornwall Baptist Church: Pastor Randy, Bob, Ted and John. The guys shared in a time of interviews with the Somali women, providing a chance for the ladies to practice their English conversation skills. Several of the students also stepped up and bravely took on the challenge of public speaking before the class and our special guests.

Tristan and Emma enjoyed having the last week off as Christmas break drew to an end. On Thursday, Erica and I took the day off from Eastleigh to go to the water slides here in Nairobi with our kids. To our surprise, we were the only people there and had the slides to ourselves for over an hour before a few teenagers trickled in. It was a lot of fun and great exercise as we ran up the steps over and over again trying to keep up with Tristan!

In prayer:

Please pray for our team mates, the Carline family, as Paul's father is struggling with cancer. The reports from Canada are not good. We pray that God's peace and strength will surround all the family especially Peter and Anita.

Please pray for the health of our friends within Iftin. Throughout this week, we've noticed the absence of several faithful members who are ill. We've also encountered many women struggling with minor injuries. Most people in this community can not afford to visit a hospital, and commonly self diagnose their ailments and purchase drugs from local chemists and shops. One of the ladies, Mama Halwa, has a ten year old daughter that is recovering from multiple injuries and head trauma resulting from a bombing in Mogadishu. Mama Halwa came to Kenya several months ago for medical help for her child.

We also continue to pray for Ava's adoption. We won't know until January 22nd if we will have a spot of the January 23rd hearing (Given the huge backlog in the adoption court, we may very well be bumped again). We pray especially for Sam Mutisya, our guardian ad litum, who is currently recovering at home from surgery. We pray that he will be able to be present at which ever date the judge is finally able to hear our case.