A People Who Prayed For Peace

Well, as most of you would have heard, Kenya recently just had it's first presidential election since the horrors that took place in this country in 2007 over the last election. And much to the international media's disappointment, they had nothing to report on but peace.

Peace doesn't sell papers. You don't get high ratings from stories of peace. But the church in this nation prayed, diligently, for over a year in preparation for the 2013 election and God heard their prayers. And he answered with a resounding, "Amen." And so it was... and so it is.

For the first time in the history of this country's independence, the only thing the people wanted more than a winner was for their neighborhoods and relationships to lack any kind of tension.

God fought for us and with us in this cause and He has transformed this country's story from a fiery, murderous blemish to a promise of hope and unity among Kenyans. They also have a new constitution and had their first ever presidential debates this year. God did all that in less than 5 years.

The day after the winner was chosen, the celebration was not for the prospective new President*, but it was a celebration of what God has done. There are no riots, no looters, no machete wielding idlers, no hate speech, no posters... nothing but peace.

I joined in that celebration and I'm not surprised in the least that there is peace. God is really working on this nation. I can see the future here and it is a bright one.

(Nairobi Chapel - The morning after the votes were tallied)

*The announced winner of the election has not yet taken his place as President. There were some abnormalities in the tallying process that are being challenged in court. Until there is a verdict, President Kibaki remains in power.

Grace Plays For Someone Else Now

Grace was on her way to a basketball scholarship in the US before she got injured. When she thought her dreams were lost, God showed her something new.

Listen to Grace's story below.

Knowing About vs. Knowing, Njeri Knows

Njeri knew about Jesus was when she was young, but it wasn't until she was 22 when she really understood that she needed Him in her life.

Listen to Njeri's story below.

50 Feet In The Air

Everyone struggles with something in their faith right?
Or, I'm the only one...?

Lately I've really been trying to correct some unbelief I have in the area of prayer.
In short, I'm the kind of person that totally believes in prayer, that God blesses and heals and listens to the hearts of his children. I believe prayer works... for other people.
I've always struggled a bit with the truth that God cares about me and actually wants bless my life in huge ways. Not because I don't believe He is able, but because maybe, there's a reason He would not want to be willing.

It sounds kind of ridiculous to struggle with that, especially knowing that if it were not for God and his plans for my life, I would not be in this place right now, this place in which I am absolutely, undeniably content and even thrilled.

But it's true, I have weaknesses, lots of them, just like you.
*gasp* Yeah, I just called you out.

He is Real, Just Ask Ann

The first of a (hopefully) long series of people sharing their stories of how God has changed them.

But first, here's a short behind the scenes video.

The Great Drought

Not only in Nairobi but on my blog it seems.

Ok, there's not really a drought in Nairobi, but it's been really HOT. Like 32 celsius hot... for weeks and there's not a lot of relief until sundown.

But this place has been seriously neglected and I am still sorry. Don't let this generate your opinions of me on such topics as parenting, pet ownership, stewardship or any other position of responsibility. I really am a responsible person... serious!

(This is where I would launch into a rant about how bad my internet has been for months but I just don't feel like complaining)

Instead, I'll give you a little snippet of what's happening right now.

VLOGS
I have about 4 to be edited.
Lately I've been working on quite a few projects at once and since I am not the type of person who prioritizes well, I've been plugging through all the urgent stuff more so than the important stuff. Still working on that. But know, there are vlogs coming. (One takes place at a Kenyan Wedding!)

PROJECTS
I am almost done a video project for By Grace Children's Home located in Ngong. (South west of Nairobi)
I filmed the whole thing in one day. I had some help from teachers at the school in wrangling in the actors but that day I took on the roles of director, sound engineer, director of photography, script writer and now editor. Let's just say that next time I will be asking for help. This project was a lot of fun to work on and I will be putting it on my youtube channel once it's done.

Baptism testimonial videos are one thing that I'm going to be taking initiative in creating at Nairobi Chapel this year and I will be filming my first one early next week. I have a meeting with the lady sharing her story and then it's film time. It should take a few sessions to edit but needs to be done by the end of next week. I'm excited about it but a little intimidated by the time frame because of other things going on.

Streeters! I've done streeters in the past with my good friend and former Youth Pastor. A streeter is basically taking a camera into the street and asking people questions. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to do this with Chapel and I spent two days with the help of a friend just getting outside and talking to people. I love these kinds of projects. It gives you the opportunity to pick the brains of people you wouldn't normally have the opportunity to talk to, people from all kinds of social and economical backgrounds. We took the better part of a week condensing an hour and a half of footage into 3 minutes, created some subtitles, found some music and stuck on the Chapel logos and voila! An impactful video that we are showing at church this Sunday. I would love to upload this one but we had to assure hesitant participants that this video would not be published.

In the future I might have the opportunity to work on a video for a new organization that rescues young prostitute girls (under 12 years old) from slums to be housed, fed, educated, counseled and mentored. It's really heavy stuff but I'm hoping that God opens the door for me to have the opportunity to share what is going on in the lives of these girls, and how He is able to take someone even as broken as these and make them whole.


MORE
There is more stuff outside of video projects that I'm in the middle of. One big thing is MOVING!!
More on that soon...

Wasting Time: Ethiopia #2

Missed Flight: Ethiopia #1

Human Powered Ferris Wheel

The School Boy

Dancing Khakis

Oliver's Story Has Just Begun

Girls Be Shoppin'

Moving In

Waterfall Jumping

House Hunting

That Was Dumb

My neck is a vibrant shade of pink today.

I was out house hunting with Reagan yesterday and didn't even think about it at the time, but spending 4 and a half hours walking around in the blazing sun is probably not the best idea for someone as fair as I am... base tan or not.

I didn't document the first day because I wasn't sure how it was going to go. But I think I'll take the camera out today and show you all some of the flats in my price range.. and maybe even some of the ones that are not.

Oh, and I've decided that I'm going to institute VLOG WEDNESDAY.
To the best of my ability, I will upload a vlog every Wednesday to be a bit more consistent.

So tomorrow I will bring you some house hunting.

Flying To NBO

I finally caught up on the vlogs.
Here is a REALLY short one I recorded during my very long journey to Nairobi. Airports are boring and sitting in a metal tube for 8 hours is boring so there wasn't a lot to capture.
But I did upgrade to business class which was totally worth it!

Kingston, Not Jamaica

Two days before I left for Nairobi, I spent the day with some family in Kingston.

Burning Breakfast

Here is a vlog I recorded during my last week in Canada.