Day 5: Teaching Marathon

Day five was an incredible one. I was scheduled to teach two classes: Youth in the Bible, an exploration of the story of the Rich young ruler. I was trying to show them how God wants everything we are... and that "one thing" we hold back is what he'll work on us with. I also did a pretty fun session on issues involving being a youth leader as a single person. It was a pretty hilarious discussion as we turned to "boundaries" that must be respected when working with youth. One pretty funny youth pastor pointed out to me (Using hand gestures to reinforce) that it is illegal in Kenya to touch a girl's breast. We called him Capt. Obvious from that point on. ;p Tommy, our missions minister was waaaay overbooked, so I agreed to switch another session with him and decided to teach the woman's conference a Biblical look at Godly women: Mary. So three sessions in one day. I was pooped! I heard some very good sessions from other team members and all in all was a productive conference day.

Our school visit that afternoon was two-fold. Most of the team was to visit the primary school 20 minutes away, while Jenn, Austin, and I visited the secondary school. Wow, they were so pumped to see us. It was awesome to visit with them. I presented a short salvation talk, we discussed life in America, and left the school with gifts of soccer balls, nets, shorts, and jerseys as a thank you for letting us visit. It was a very pleasant afternoon of being poked and prodded again.

I found out why everyone was laughing at my name. Apparently there was an infamous Kenyan named Carlos who is known for stealing the Queen's bracelet when he shook her hand. So I was kind of a villain. They were yet again enthralled with the pretty blond girl, and Austin was a hit with the little Kenyan girls. We really had a great time. We happened upon a herd of giraffes on the way back and took some closeup pics. It was awesome.

Out last event of the evening: a home visit to a woman from the church. She lived in the traditional mud huts of the Maasai. It was really awesome inside of one, albeit dark. We took her some sugar and Texas treats as a gift and enjoyed some time with her.

That unfortunately meant that it was time to go back to Tent city and pack up. We would be leaving for Nairobi the following afternoon and would need to be packed to leave after the conference the next day. Sad. I was really enjoying Ilmamen.