The Saint Boys

So we just got back from the masai mara.  The Serengeti was ridiculous...almost too beautiful.  Anyways I'll post more about that later.  I wrote this entry last Thursday night before we left but my blog was down and we didn't have internet access where we stayed this weekend.  So alas, I'll just post what happened last week and write more about my experience and thoughts from this past weekend later.  I've had a ton of thoughts and things to wrestle with.  It was good but challenging.  

Chris Thompson and Graig Austin have established a beautiful ministry called the “Saint Boys”.  Chris and Graig partnered with World Hope, another mission organization that has built a facility right next to a slum called Kawangware designed for sports ministry.  So here’s the jist of what Chris and Graig created.  It’s pretty incredible.  Once they both moved to Kenya (Graig is the pastor at my church now in Ann Arbor, Chris still lives in Kenya-we’re staying at his house) they started evangelizing in Kawangware, a slum outside of Nairobi.  While visiting people they would see these boys who were extremely malnourished, addicted to glue (that’s what a lot of street boys do to escape the life they live, sniff clue and get high) and immediately had a heart for them.  They asked people in the slum who these boys were and found out that they were in fact titled “street boys.”  No homes, no parents, no life.  Some had run away due to alcoholic dads, both of their parents were dead, their parents kicked them out, or they simply ran away.  The majority of the kids are less than 15 years old.  So Graig and Chris started a day ministry where they would bring the kids into the facility provided by world hope, give them showers, food, tutor them and share the gospel.  Chris, Graig and the two other Kenyans who help out the Saint Boys are doing an unbelievable service to the Saints of God, and loving boys who desperately need it.  So that’s the background of the ministry we have been helping out with for the past two days. (These are some of the boys- they loved my hat).

Here’s something I’ll never forget.  I’m sitting next to Brian, a street boy, I’d say around 12-15 years old.  I say, “Hey, that’s a cool bracelet man, where’d you get it?”  He replies, “I bought it.”  He then proceeds to takes it off his wrist, ties it on mine and says, “Keep it.”  I started to tear up.  These kids literally have nothing.  I was talking to Johnny today,  a street boy who is 17 years old, who was on the street at the age of 13 because his Dad was killed, abandoned with his brother who was 8 at the time (His brother’s name is Danny, he goes to the Saint boys too).  I asked him what he did, he just said, “Sleep”.  I mean these kids didn’t have anything.  The first thing I wrote in my journal about these kids was the love they displayed and how much life they had.  I’ll post pictures sooner or later to show where these kids live.  But it really is incredible how much life and love they share.  They are just beautiful, they are God’s saints and He loves them so incredibly much.  Their attitudes are amazing and their work ethic is inspiring.  Not every kid sticks with this program.  Chris was telling me that they have had kids drop out because they were so addicted to glue and couldn’t handle the discipline Chris asked of them so they fled back to the street.  But these kids are doing it.  They are the hope of the world, and I see it every time I’m with them.   (Here's a picture of Johnny- 17, rumor has it an awesome futbol player).

 

So here’s my little take on what I saw today, because I’ll be processing it for a long time.  I’m sure many of you, including myself, have seen videos and pictures of slums around the world.  Today was my first chance to actually visit a real slum.  And to be honest I am still in a state of shock.  I’d say numb.  Numb from the many emotions I am feeling.  Numb because I feel like I just need to cry.  The walkways are filled with dirt, mud, trash and feces.  Bugs are everywhere.  People are living in this mess.  Little babies, toddlers are walking around in what they call home.  It’s unbelievable.  Words and pictures don’t do justice for what I saw today. They are living on the bare essentials that we take for granted every day.  I’ve heard this before, and it’s funny that it’s happening to me, but once you’ve been to a slum, it really does put everything into perspective.  I can’t believe what I take for granted every day, when these people struggle to live daily. 

Ya know though, God is so good throughout all of this.  And I’ve seen his goodness and his wonder throughout all the “shit” I’ve seen (pardon my French, but it is terrible living conditions).  Talking with Jonny today, I was able to learn about how he came to Christ.  How he was presented with a bible and that he had just made his profession of faith.  How cool is that?  How cool is that a kid, a street kid, an orphan, who has every inclination and one could argue every right to question how can God be good when he's living in this mess (I hope I would have the faith to declare and praise my Lord if I was put in his situation)?  How amazing is it that He knows Christ, and has accepted Him as his savior?  That’s God at work.  I was able to help build beds for the Saint Boys house (which was a shack) and too see their humble living conditions which broke and humbled my heart (their living area is a lot better than a of the people living their, Chris bought them their house).  The 10 minute walk the boys take from their home to school through mud, crap and trash is astonishing, but they do it every morning.  How often do I complain, then sometimes skip class when I have to walk from 711 Arbor st. to the MLB (A building at UofM)?  Anyways, I know this post was a lot, and not very succinct, but it’s been incredible here.  I can’t stop thinking about those boys.  They are truly God’s creations and I have learned so much from them already.

So tomorrow we will be going to the masai mara, which I’m told is an incredibly large park in Kenya (about 6 hours away, leaving at 6:30am) where we will be staying in God’s beautiful creation.  I’m told the scenery is incredibly beautiful just jawdropping (so I'll be the judge of that, boom).  I’ll also be able to go on my first safari which I am super stoked about.  Although I feel so blessed and am excited to go, a lot of me wants to be with those boys and feels a tad bit guilty.  But as Chris told me, it makes God’s blessings on your life that much more real, and it brings honor to Him when you recognize those blessings as his mercy and don’t take them for granted. 

 

God bless ya’ll

Oh I don’t know if we’ll have internet access so I may not be able to post until Sunday or Monday (I actually thought today was Tuesday ha)  And dad, I tried calling you tonight but couldn’t get through.  I tweeted you haha, you’re on twitter bah, that’s what I’m talkin bout POPS!

This is a video is of Johnny showing us his new place.