The Shangilia kids taking their first peek at the “treasure.”

My family had an opportunity that was especially exciting:  bringing and passing out books to the children at Shangilia School and Children’s Home and at Kibagare School.  You see, I adore books and grew up with a library always, almost literally, just around the corner.  Here in Kenya, however, that is not the case.  There is limited access to the reading materials that we so often take for granted and the scant number of books for purchase are very costly.

We want to thank Dawn & her daughter, Grace, from Michigan who coordinated their Pebbles and Stones group along with other friends to gather all their nicest books as a gift for the schools.  They even collected money for postage so that the books could be shipped directly to Christian Mission Aid in Nairobi.

Before handing out the books, we participated in the students’ Bible lesson, though I think that the stack of “mystery boxes from America” was somewhat of a distraction.  To get something in the mail is exciting, but getting something that you were dreaming of and praying for – and needed – is even better!

Sabra giving Monicah her new Bible.

The looks on the children’s faces were priceless as we pulled stacks and stacks of books from the boxes.  Monicah, a lovely young student at Shangilia, received a beautiful Bible hand-picked and purchased by Grace.  Monicah was thrilled – not only did she get her own Bible to read, but it was also specially engraved with her name on its pretty purple cover.

After we had handed out all of the “treasures,” one of the children delightedly whispered to my mom and me, “Now we have more books than students!” Truly, the books could scarcely have gone to a home where they would have been more well-loved.

My Grandma Patty ready to share books at Kibagare School.

More books than students!

Sabra playing with the babies at New Life Orphange

It is a beautiful morning – the sunshine is just starting to show its face, the birds are waking up, and…..wait….is that the sound of a kazoo? Why yes it is, here at six in the morning. And thus the day begins.

Since the sun is already blazing, I decide start on some laundry – each load of which must be washed, hung to dry, ironed, hung or folded, and put away. A little while later, as Sam and I are sitting to do some homework, there is an unexpected knock at our door. Ah yes, the electrician who was coming back “tomorrow” four weeks ago. As I sit at the dining room table, he comes in; takes off his socks, shoes, and button-down shirt; and climbs (now barefooted) onto the table. I must say, it is rather disturbing to have foot marks on the table you eat at. And, even now, I am skeptically eying the lights – now loose from the ceiling again – that were “repaired” using the shove-a-piece-of-stick-in-the-screw-hole method. Not particularly effective, if you ask me.

Mom and I now make our list, gather our fabric shopping bags, and set out on the 3 km walk to the grocery store. Now, shopping here is very hit-or-miss. No amount of careful planning can ensure that you find each item on your list, so we are learning to take things as they come – and that includes more areas of our lives than just shopping for groceries. The most exciting thing we found was a can of V8 juice, and we were thrilled. Mom pointed to it on the shelf, and in an awed whisper asked, “Is that V8?” And indeed it was. We are certainly learning to take pleasure in the small things. We can’t even just go out and buy items like hairclips or mechanical pencils, so we are happy for the things that we can find. As we go to pay, the card machine isn’t working – in truth, it nearly never is. So we wait….and we wait…..and we wait until it gets sorted. Finally we’ve finished. Next errand? Take some cash from the ATM. Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. The first machine we try is out of money, as is the second. On a really bad day, the third one won’t have money either. Eventually, we usually end up with some cash….sometimes. After we are all done running errands, either Dad picks us up after his work day – spent “out in the field” or in the CMA office – or we walk home. (Before we buy any groceries, we always figure out how we will be going home. If we walk, we have to be careful to watch the weight of our items, because that box of milk or that pineapple that “wasn’t very heavy” seems a whole lot heavier after walking 3 km with it on your shoulder!) As we enter our apartment complex, the small neighbor kids start yelling to us, “Baba Sam, Mama Sam, Sister Sam! Where is the barking cat? Where is the dog of Sam?” (Are you catching that Sam is popular? He is like the Pied Piper for young children. The dogs are popular as well.) Sam and some of the other neighbor kids are in our living room – Sam is the best, and our house always has Wii and homemade “biscuits” (cookies), so of course they come.

I make dinner, and we spend some “quality time” as a family. We have to light candles some evenings, as the power goes out rather frequently here. Candles and matches are household staples for Nairobi living. We turn on all our water heaters about an hour and a half before we want to have hot baths or showers – the same goes for heating water to wash dishes.

Our days go like this part of the time, always filled with humor and surprises. The rest of the time we are out at churches, visiting schools or slums, hosting teams from North America, and building relationships. And that is our call, our call to community. Just another beautiful day in Africa….

Chad & Sam at church in Maasailand

Queen Esther -- painting by Edwin Long (1878)

If we are obedient to God, if we eagerly desire to become the men and women He has called us to be, and if we are chasing after His will and not our own, we discover our giftings and impact lives. You see, each and every person is uniquely gifted by God and should, through His strength, use their talents to His glory and the benefit of others: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 5:10) Here I want to stop my quote and point out the words various forms. It is so important that we realize that there is not just one way to honor God – not just one way to change the world. I thnk that, in many cases, we have really come to underestimate God’s amazing power. We have fallen into believing that bigger is better – if you can’t do it big, why do it at all? If you aren’t Joyce Meyer or T. D. Jakes and are just plain old you, how could you make any difference? But what not everyone understands is even those people are just one person. If everyone would become “the one,” think how it would radically impact the whole world!

I am going to use some examples: Esther from the Bible and Neo from Matrix. They were each “the one”; they were put in the right place at the right time: “And who knows but that you have come to…postition at such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) Now, each of them had a choice: accept or say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” They could have made the choice to walk away, BUT, as Mordecai told Esther, “For if you remian silent at this time…deliverance…will arise from another place…” (Esther 4:14) Esther could have refused the task set before her, and God would have made another way to save His people. In fact, He could have just zapped the “bad guys” with a lighting bolt or done something else equally miraculous. So why didn’t He? As I said, God has given each of us a destiny and a purpose, and He wants us to follow His call no matter how impossible our circumstances may look to our own eyes.

Let’s take a look at Neo now. He was really concerned that he wasn’t “the one.” Because if everyone else was wrong and he wasn’t truly “the one,” then there was a big problem, right? However, as the Oracle told him, it wasn’t about whether he was actually “the one” or not; it was about him believing that he was the one – about him believing that he could be change and make a difference. We need to come back to a place where we focus not on the seeming impossibility of something, but on how just how big God is, because with Him, nothing is impossible and He will always equip us to do what He has called us to do.

I want to finish by quoting verse eleven of 1 Peter 5: “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” The time is now – the time for each of us to be the one to step out, to be the one who does what is right, to be the one who obeys.

Roadside shops on the way to Charisma Tumaini in Sinai slum

Sam, my dad, and I had the amazing opportunity to spend the day out with our dear friends from Pebbles and Stones, Kathleen Trock and Sue DeKoekkoek, visiting the children at Charisma Tumaini school and Provision Education Center. (Mom & Baby Aviya stayed home to rest.) We did short Pebbles & Stones groups with them, teaching them that God not only speaks – He wants to talk to and have a personal relationship with each one of us. I think that my very favorite part of the day was our “listening time” with the students at P.E.C. Over 160 children – ranging from about three to twelve – were gathered into one room, yet there was nothing to be heard but the beautiful sound of silence. God’s sweet presence so filled the room that it was nearly tangible.

When I looked at all those little blessings (as Mrs. Kathleen so fondly calls us children), each and every one of them had his or her eyes scrunched shut and hands folded neatly, expecting to hear the Father’s voice. Student after student came to the front to share what God had said to them, or a prayer that He had given them. I can’t help but think about how much the Lord must love it when His children quiet themselves before Him and simply listen.

Listening to the Father’s voice

In the silence
You are speaking
In the quiet I can feel the fire
And it’s burning, burning deeply
Burning all that it is that you desire to be silent, in me

(Lyrics from Jason Upton’s “In the Silence”)

Sara with Pastor Elisha. Neither of us speak Swahili. I only speak English & he only speaks Maa (the language of the Maasai people).

And the call is to community,
The impoverished power that sets the soul free.
In humility, to take the vow,

that day after day we must take up the basin and the towel.

These words are part of a Michael Card song and are a perfect fit for what it means to be a missionary family. Each and every day, we are learning more and more to live our lives outside of ourselves – living to love people and sow into their lives by shining God’s glory. We live here in Nairobi to serve communities and impact lives. It is not about how wonderful and amazing the Hoffman family is, living as missionaries in a country half-way around the world. It is about giving ourselves to serve others.

In any ordinary place,
on any ordinary day,
the parable can live again
when one will kneel and one will yield.

See the words “In any ordinary place, on any ordinary day”? That is our life. Each day we have beautiful opportunities to share God’s love, not just through big things, but thorugh small things as well – listening to someone’s story, feeding both friends and strangers, offering a smile, or sharing a hug. A life of loving and giving isn’t always easy – in fact, it usually isn’t easy at all. But we do it because we are passionate about Africa and our calling is to community.

Chad during a visit to one of the children's centers supported by CMA.

And the space between ourselves sometimes
is more than the distance between the stars.
By the fragile bridge of the Servant’s bow
we take up the basin and the towel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the YouTube link to Michael Card performing The Basin & The Towel live.

Michael Card — The Basin & The Towel

Nakumatt at Junction mall is a nearby grocery store but somehow this photo is missing the atms, matatus (taxi buses), shoe shine stands, armed security guards and the throngs of shoppers.

Grocery shopping isn’t nearly as simple as it was in Michigan. Each week the products are rearranged – often in quite a drastic way or a way that makes no sense, such as putting the apple sauce in the row with the tomato sauce (the African equivalent of ketchup) because they both said “sauce.” It just never ceases to amaze me and frustrate my efforts at following my shopping list.

A happy discovery I made, however, was the existence of sweet melon. Sweet melon is neither a cantaloupe nor a honeydew, but possess qualities of both – the rind and texture of a cantaloupe with the color and taste of a honeydew (it sometimes has the colors of both, being green with a orange-colored ring near the middle). Oh, and if the variety of the melon is unknown to you, just throw it in a bin and call it “sweet melon.” In addition, there are big, juicy pineapples and delicious, firm avocados in abundance. Dried fruit and nuts are more difficult to come by (and cost more $$$!). Pork of any kind is rare because people are partial to cattle and goats – hence the easy access to goat meat and ground beef! (Steaks are actually not as popular – I doubt many people know what a “grill” is.) And don’t get me started on cheese – seriously, imported cheese only, please — unless you are craving the taste of crayons. The cream cheese (which is fluffy and rather salty) also leaves something to be desired. If you are looking for the potatoes, try that mountain of dirt in the vegetable section. You want crackers? What are those???

Cherries: 42 cents each — did they ride first-class from Michigan? Don’t worry, I redeemed a frequent shopper punch-card and got these for free!

Last week I was walking my five-and-a-half pound Yorkshire Terrier, Poppy, with the company of Sam and his spaniel, Ginger, in our apartment complex. As we walked past one of the buildings, Sam in the lead, a small boy was peeking out his window at us. He began to “oooh” and “aaahh” over Ginger. When Poppy and I went by, however, he shouted “Ha ha ha! A CAT!” I just couldn’t keep a big grin from appearing on my face as I thought, “Oh, yes, just a very expensive cat on a rope!” It is so funny to watch how people react to our pets. Poppy and Ginger make the highlight of many a person’s day because they stay in the house, sleep in our beds, have little toys, and “love you back.”

Sabra and Mary with Joel in Maasailand

Two weeks ago on Wednesday, our family – dogs included – went for a much-needed day away from the Nairobi hustle and bustle to visit with our friends in Maasailand. The dogs were a smashing success – everyone loved them. Ginger was thought to be quite novel, but Poppy was something else altogether. If we hadn’t had Poppy spayed, I could have made a veritable fortune breeding her. As it was, I almost thought that we wouldn’t make it home with her in our possession! Everyone wanted to know if they could have her and whether such a little “thing” could survive in the hills of Maasiland. To the first much-repeated question, I continually gave a single answer: NO. To the later question I mostly just smiled, thinking to myself that Poppy, while she would love to become part of a herd of mbuzi (goats), she would probably get taken by one of the big baboons that roam freely in the area. One particularly enterprising young lad even wanted to know if he could get “one of those” from his dogs – some of the “wild dogs,” as the people call them, that wander around (which we would probably call “mutts”).

Our dogs adore people – with the exception of “bad people” (those wearing hats) – and love to be stroked and have a fuss made over them, so this is the perfect situation for them. What happy lives they lead!

Sabra with Poppy & Samuel with Ginger

 How many are Your mercies toward me?
As many as the stars in the heavens!

How great is Your love for me?
As great as the waters that cover the ocean!

How long will You remain with me?
As long as everlasting to everlasting!

Bask in His love and hear Him speaking to you, saying, “Do not doubt me, beloved; Never doubt My heart for you, My treasure!” You ARE His precious treasure; do you know that? You are priceless, a rare jewel, and there is no other gem like you in His collection. If you had been the only person to ever live, Jesus Christ still would have died on a cross. All because of His great love for you. Don’t listen to the lies; listen to the truth – His truth. Simply listen and allow your heart to be filled with His goodness and love today.

“Give careful thought to your ways….You have expected much, but see, it turned out to be little….Why?…Because of My house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.” (Haggai 1:7, 9)

As I read these verses this morning, I wondered just how often we end up going our own way in our own strength, forgetting what our top priority should be — focusing on and obeying our loving heavenly Father – and thereby end up missing out on a lot of beautiful things. “Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.” (Haggai 2:18, 19) How often do we cause our Father – whose desire is to bless and care for us as we follow Him – pain by choosing to walk in our own strength?

It is a difficult thought, because I know I have done that very thing myself; I have allowed myself to get too “busy with my house” (my day-to-day life), and have forgotten about the bigger picture, the most important things. And whenever I have forgotten what my priorities are and forgotten the One I am passionate about, nothing seems to go right: Nothing blossoms or blooms or comes to fruition except hurt and frustration. But our Father wants us to live with so much more: “From this day on, I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19). He wants us to live for so much more than ourselves and our plans; but until we start doing things His way and in His strength, making Him our number one priority and passion, we won’t bear any fruit. And so, “Give careful thought to your ways,” and do not forget who your first Love should be: the One who first loved you.

~ Swahili is one of the most common languages in Kenya – I would go so far as to say that nearly everyone knows at least a little bit of it – and it is our goal as a family to learn to speak it.

~ The UN headquarters for all of Africa is based here in Nairobi, so Nairobi is a pretty major hub. People from all around the world live here.

~ Since there are so many different kinds of people, it would stand to reason that there are many different kinds of food – there are Mexican, Indian, Thai, and Chinese foods (to name just a few).

~ Despite there being a good-sized international population, this is still really an African big city. Think New York City, only try to imagine it un-Americanized – hardly any fast food (I haven’t seen even one place yet, but there might be something), lots of African local food (I haven’t quite gotten with the different food so far!), no road laws (I will tell you about that momentarily), and many, many languages other than English in common use. On top of all that, try to imagine no sidewalks, lots of poverty, literal “seas” of people on foot in the roads, people trying to get more $$$ from you because of your skin color and accent (convenient when many things don’t have price tags), and, comparing to the U.S., a great deal less variety in stores and the kinds of quality goods available.

~ There are oodles of apartment complexes here in the city. From what I have seen so far, either you live in an apartment or you live in your own house in the shadow of an apartment building.

~ We are living in an area called Kilimani and are about a forty minute walk to two big malls. (These are walks we take nearly every week to get some groceries.) The larger of the two, the Junction, is five stories with a decent variety of stores. (I am hoping for a large Christian bookstore! On second thought, a nice library would be wonderful….)

~ The power goes out frequently here, but people just take it in stride. The lights will even be off in major shopping centers for a few minutes before the generators kick in. When this happens, a collective “Oh!” goes up and then everyone laughs quietly as though all part of some sort of inside joke. Nice big candles (or a back-up generator!) are important to have. Oh, and when I mean that the power is out, I really mean that the power is out – we have to go all day without power sometimes, and generally, electricity is off for at least a few hours. We went several consecutive days in July with 10-hour daytime stints without electricity.

~ Driving here is nuts. To drive in Nairobi, you either have to be crazy as well or you have to be a good enough driver to avoid the crazy people. If there are road laws, they aren’t enforced. And the traffic, like any big city, is heavy mornings, evenings, and weekends. (Or maybe all the time!)

~ Housing is expensive in Nairobi. Lots of $$$, even for a very modest, unfurnished apartment. Our apartment is four bedrooms, all ensuite (that means we have a guest bedroom with a private bathroom; hint hint, friends and family!).  It is fully furnished, but it is still more each month than we were paying for our newly-built house in Grandville, Michigan.

~ Most people here don’t own cars. They either reply on public transportation via matatu (like a jam-packed minivan that you can pay to ride in) or on the back of a motorcycle called a bordaborda. Others, who are able to afford it, have hired drivers who pick them up and take them where they need to go.

~ So housing might not come cheaply, but lots of produce does, especially veggies. I mean, seven avocados for the equivalent of 20 cents U.S.? Doesn’t get much better than that!

~ Apparently there is a roving Nairobi apartment monkey who lives around here. Nearly the size of a German Shepard, this mean, fruit-thieving primate (sitting) reaches Sam’s waist. We found him in our kitchen the other day, taking bananas. (yikes!) Our brave Sam walked right up and smacked the monkey with his hand – which, thankfully, cause him to run away (albeit with our bananas.)

~ Toilet handles are “flushed” three times in quick succession; twice to fill the tank with water and the third time makes it all go away. Each bathroom has its own water heater which needs “turned-on” with a switch on the wall (it looks alot like a light-switch) when you are ready to heat your water. The same is true with the kitchen sink – there’s a mini-water heater under it. So we have hot water on demand if we plan ahead.

~ The weather in Nairobi is moderate year-round with an average high temperature of 73 and an average low temperature of 54.  The sun rises around 7:00 am and sets around 7:00 all year long.  In the warm season (December, January, February and March) there is between 250 and 300 hours of sunshine every month!

~ Last but not least is the fact that many Kenyan women are constantly “changing their hair” – putting on different wigs or getting extensions. It still surprises me when someone comes to one church service with waist-length pink braids, and, the next time I see her, she has Shirley Temple ringlets. It certainly makes it difficult to recognize people!