Leadership Seminar

On Friday at the CARE for AIDS office we had all of the small group leaders, past and present, come to a Leadership Seminar for training.  We had 40 small group leaders attend and we packed out the room!  I co-taught with Sarah, the empowerment coordinator and we covered topics like: leadership values, goal setting, having a vision, brainstorming, small business loans, and micro financing just to name a few.  It was a great opportunity to meet more clients and get to know them better.  We had some great questions and interaction throughout the sessions.  It was very exciting to see them taking notes and it seemed that they were very engaged.  We pray that they can use the material we covered to be amazing small group leaders who lead with integrity, and empower those who are in their groups!  Here are a few pictures from the seminar...

This is Robert, the Limuru Region Director 

This is Sarah, the Empowerment Coordinator

Blessings,

Amanda

Small Group at ICF

Jerrod and I have LOVED getting to know other expats here in Nairobi, it has been a huge answer to prayer and He has provided a great community of friends these last few months.  Every other Sunday we attend a church called International Christian Fellowship (ICF) at Rosslyn Academy.  We meet in the auditorium of an international school that lots of missionary and UN kids attend.  We only attend two Sundays a month because we go to the orphanage on those Sundays.  The other Sundays we have been going to a Kenyan church.  It's a good mix for the both of us.  At ICF we joined a small group bible study and the last few months we have been doing the Love Dare.  We are all married within the last 3 years, so it's been great to have other couples to relate to in life.  This picture was taken from our last hangout together.  One of the couples is moving to Jordan, but we will pick back up again in July and probably have a few more couples join.  We love this group of people and are so thankful for the community of friends and believers around us!  God is good :)

Blessings,

Amanda

FuNdRaIsEr!!!!!

Spaghetti Lunch Fundraiser

for Jerrod and Amanda's Ministry in Kenya

WHAT: Spaghetti Lunch Fundraiser

WHERE: First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, Pleasanton

WHEN: June 2, 2012 pick-up from 11:00am - 1:00pm

WHY: To help support the Carpenters ministry in Kenya

COST: $6/plate (spaghetti, green beans, bread) 

**Presale tickets ONLY.  All proceeds go directly to the ministry AHKI.**

There will be hand-made crafts and gifts from Kenya for sale when you come to pick up your plate!!  Email amandacarpenter09@gmail.com for ticket purchases.

If you are interested in helping sell tickets, or volunteer the day of the event it would be a HUGE help.

THANKS!!!

CFA Home Visits

Lately I have been doing quite a few home visits to the clients homes in CARE for AIDS.  It has been a humbling experience to see what life is like for many clients.  Each client has their own story and it has been a joy being able to get to know them better, pray with them, and encourage them.   Here are some pictures from a few of my home visits with center staff. 

Love the sign above the door, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

In Memory of George

I know right now I should be writing a blog about how our ministries are going.  I should be giving you an update on life here in Kenya, maybe even trying to throw in a witty or funny story if I could muster one.  But truthfully, none of that is on my mind right now.  All that I can seem to think about is George, the young boy who passed away at the Morning Stars, the children’s we volunteer at.  I can’t sit here and claim to have known Georgie, as he was affectionately called, extremely well.  In fact even though the news of his passing hit Amanda and I hard I can’t say that it really affected me or that I lost any sleep from it, that was, until a couple of days ago, that is when we laid Georgie to rest. 

                        The service for George actually began the day before we buried him, when everyone gathered for prayers at the children’s home.  The next morning Amanda and I woke up extremely early to meet everyone at Morning Stars because they needed us to help transport people to the mortuary.  Basically the day of a Kenya funeral everyone drives to the hospital to pick up the body and then from there go to the burial site for a short service.  The day started like a typical one in Kenya, running behind and disorganized.  Due to lack of room Amanda ended up having 8 kids in her car and I had 9, both of which are supposed to seat 5.  The procession of cars all put red ribbons on their antennas to inform everyone especially the police that we were a funeral procession.  So we started off to the hospital in Kijabe at about 7 a.m.  We arrived at Kijabe, a small town in the middle of the Rift Valley with a missionary hospital, at 9.  Everyone waits outside the mortuary as the closest to the deceased go in and get some personal time with the body.  As you know Reah is still in the states because of her daughter’s health and was devastated by the news, but her sister was able to come up and help with the arrangements.  So her sister, George’s mom, and a worker from the home that was very close to George went inside. One at a time the nurses began to bring out bodies in coffins, singing as they did.  Each coffin was prayed over and opened for their loved ones in attendance to view them one last time before it was loaded in the hearse.  One by one this happened until it was only those of us waiting for George who were left.  They carried George’s tiny casket out and all I could think was that they should never have to make a casket that small, it just didn’t seem right.  All of the kids from the home gathered around, and I realized something.  I know it is not even close to an ideal situation for these kids to grow up in a home, even a nurturing one like Morning Stars, whether they are orphans or because their parents can’t take care of them, but one thing you can never say is that they are alone.  It was amazing to see the kids and how together they seemed.  I know some of them were too young to understand and some of them were old enough to understand too well.  In a country where the life expectancy is in it’s high 30’s they have probably seen this far too much and will see it even more.  Amanda and I held the kids that were too young to view George’s body as the pastor prayed and people circle around to see him. 

After George’s casket was loaded in the hearse we all set out to his burial site near Kiambu.  In Kenya most people traditionally bury their loved ones on their own property, there are not necessarily what you would call public cemeteries as we see in the states.  So if you don’t have property you have to find an area where perhaps you can pay someone to let you do it.  Morning Stars found a place overlooking a small but pretty valley and forest.  There were quite a few other graves there and time had taken its toll on the site but it was a nice spot.  It only took a quick glance around to notice that many of the graves were children most of which did not reach two years of age.  It was just another reality check about how common a sight like this was here.  Before we put George in the ground people gathered to take a picture with George’s mom and his casket.  I know that sounds weird and it was weird to see so many pictures being taken and the whole thing being videoed, but I believe that is their way of seeing this time more as a time to celebrate rather than mourn.  When the singing and message were done it was time to bury George.  At a Kenyan funeral everyone helps to bury the casket, the women with just a handful of dirt and the men taking turns with the shovels, while everyone is singing.  I actually thought it was a fitting way for each person to say his or her personal goodbyes.  Then when all of the services were done we all traveled back to the children’s home for a meal shared together, when everything was finished it was about 5:30.       

            I hope that paints some idea of what George’s funeral service looked like.  But in reality that is not what is important here.  We never gather at funerals to celebrate that particular moment we gather to celebrate the blessing of a life lived no matter how long.  So I want to take this time to celebrate the life of George and maybe pass on a part of that blessing God gave me by allowing me to know him. George was born on June 5, 2005 in Western Kenya. When he was young he moved with his mom into a slum in Nairobi to be with his grandfather.  George was deaf, a trait passed down from his grandmother to his mom and aunt, then to him, and eventually to his brother.  He was currently learning to sign with one of the workers, and the children’s home had actually enrolled him in a school for the deaf that began next January.  George was also HIV+, another trait handed to him not by his own choosing.  The meningitis may have taken his life but it was the AIDS that allowed it to happen.  Unfortunately at about age 5 George’s issues became too much for his mom to handle.  She was no longer able to properly take care of him.  So Morning Stars stepped in and offered to take George.  It wasn’t easy for his mom but she knew George had a better future at the home.

            Even though that paragraph might tell you some about George it is a long way from telling you who he really was.  Yes he had to sign to speak and yes he had to take ARV’s for a condition, but if that was all you remembered about George then you would be missing…well…everything.  And I would be dishonoring his memory if that were all I told you.  Let me try to do my best to honor Georgie by telling you who he really is and why heaven is so blessed to have him.  Amanda and I have only been volunteering at Morning Stars for a few months now but it took me all of two minutes from our first trip to know George.  If you were a frequent visitor or just there one time it was a guarantee you would remember him.  I have never seen a kid that made himself so well known without the ability to even say one word.  Even the whole hospital in which George passed away knew him.  The reason is because George spoke with his heart and his huge smile; he didn’t need all 5 senses to change his world.  He was always the first one to come up to you, shake your hand, and smile a smile that made you feel like you were the most welcome person in the entire world.  The kids do a youth led service every Sunday for church and George was always front and center, he might not of always understood what was going on or what was being sung, all he knew was that there were kids up front and he wanted to be a part of it.  He didn’t care what he looked like; he was just willing.  Georgie could always be counted on to tell the truth, if you wanted the real story you went to George.  So many of us have been blessed to be born with no handicaps and in a positive situation, but after knowing Georgie I am beginning to realize that maybe it is all of us that are actually handicapped.  We are held back by those very things we considered to be blessings because we use them as crutches.  George was especially made by God to be exactly who he was.  If one day I can be half the person George was then I will have done something.  He was more honest with his signs than I ever was with my words, he was more ready and willing to serve at six then I was at 26, he lit up the room more with one smile than I ever could with my best speech, he was more hospitable with one handshake then any of my southern manners could hope to be, and his attitude on his worst day was better than mine on my best.  George only lived 6 years, he didn’t travel the world he didn’t get to live all of the life we feel he should of, but he really truly lived it.  I will never understand why God took George home early and it would be easy to be mad at Him about it, but in the end I have to feel grateful.  Grateful to have been able to know George, grateful to have seen God’s creation in what the world considered downcast and imperfect, grateful to experience Christ’s love so amazingly expressed in the life of a 6 year old boy, and grateful that one day when I get to heaven I will get to see that gorgeous smile again as I shake George’s hand.  I would say that I hope to say hello, but George never needed hello.

Lord, thank you for giving this world George.  We know we are selfish and try to understand why 6 years wasn’t 80 or 100.  But what a testimony to your amazing power that you did so much with those six short years.  You took something the world rejected and made it your masterpiece.  Let us all learn from you by learning from George.  Help us to be walking displays of your love in our homes, our relationships, our jobs, our churches, and our world.  We don’t need money, power, prestige, Father; we don’t even need our hearing or words.  All we need is a willing heart focused completely on displaying your love to others.  Thank you for using George to change my life and thank you for giving him the best home he could ever wish for. Amen.

A Great Loss...

This past weekend the orphanage we volunteer at lost a very special little boy this weekend due to Meningitis.  By the time they got to the hospital in Kijabe it was too late.  He's around 5 years old, deaf but learning signs, and the happiest little boy you would ever meet.  George was always the first to greet us when we got to the orphanage and was our little shadow.  He was always happy, up front and center when the kids would sing and dance, and loved attention and affection.  The services are planned for Wednesday.  Please pray for the staff and the other children as they have lost a very special little boy.  Now he is in heaven with His FATHER of the fatherless, praising His name!

CARE for AIDS Blog Post

Check out this blog post I wrote for the CARE for AIDS blog.  It's a story on a lady named Lucy, who has come from prostitution and drug addiction and is now SAVED!

http://careforaids.org/2012/04/12/story-lucy-wairimu/