Joska Day 2

Today I woke up to hear multiple roosters crowing right outside my window.  The children were in class all morning, so I was left to entertain myself.  I walked to the other side of the compound to see the new construction.  There is always a new project here; I am always so impressed with the progress that they make in a year.  Since I was here last, they have started a new building that will be a recreation center and a chapel.  It is a large, gorgeous stone building that is such an improvement on their too small, aluminum chapel.  They are also continuing work on the dorm building, though progress has been halted since I was here last because they haven’t had the funds to continue.  After a nice walk around the compound, I spent the afternoon talking with Pastor Joseph.  Pastor Joseph is such an amazing man, the amount he does here amazes me, but he is so happy and loves all of his 900 kids.  He has a great story and it was fun to discuss culture and religion and so many topics with him (you’d be amazed all the things you can discuss and how well you can get to know a person in three hours when you take the time to just talk, no tv, nowhere to be, just talk).  After the children finished class, they took some recreation time and I brought out the football I had brought.  None of the kids had seen one before and I had to show them how to throw it.  My demonstration left much to be desired, but the boys understood the idea, and in no time they were throwing it like they had been raised in America.  Afterwards we tried kicking field goals over the soccer goal.  No one succeeded, but had any of them been wearing shoes I’m sure it would have been too easy for them.

Tonight we were planning on dancing again, but halfway through dinner the power went out.  The generator was out of fuel and the man who went to get some had not yet returned.  It’s hard to organized 900 kids with no light and no P.A. system, much less get them to dance, so the kids were sent to bed.  I was disappointed, feeling like I had wasted a day here, but then I saw the stars.  I have never seen the stars like this.  There are just so many more than I have ever seen; at least 10 times more than what I see at home.  It was so amazing and beautiful it brought me to tears.  God’s paintbrush was right here.  There may be a lot of trouble in Kenya, but God is right here, painting the stars to remind everyone how marvelous He is.  The fact that He created the stars has always baffled me….that the giant fireballs in the sky were just a day project for Him…but this was something new.  He didn’t just create these things, He arranged them into a beautiful masterpiece that shows us only the smallest fraction of His glory.  I wish I could capture these stars so I could always look and remember, but this beauty cannot be captured in a photograph.  God’s creation is so marvelous that the only way you can see it is to come to Him everyday.  No man-made thing can capture His brillance.