Let the Games Begin!

Fun in the sun…and out of it! As was stated, quite enthusiastically, in the last post Saturday we are had a youth fun day also known as THE YOUTH BASH. Youth here are much different from American youth. I am sure many people would say youth are pretty much the same everywhere and to an extent that it true, but not completely. Here, youth don’t know how to have a lot of fun. They know how to kick around a soccer ball…and are really good too! They can also run their hearts out much faster than anyone I have ever seen. If they were to go up against any of our youth in Colorado Springs in a Bible Jeopardy I would bet hands down that the youth here could whip them! But when it comes to playing useless games, being goofballs, and just having pointless fun they really don’t know how.

On Saturday we brought a little of our “useless fun” to the tent. The planned agenda for the day was as follows

10:00 a.m. – Check in

10:30 a.m. – Begin Relay Games

1:00 p.m. – Eat Lunch

2:00 p.m. – Dating Sessions

3:00 p.m. – The End

Those were the plans, this is how it happened

10:00 a.m. – Check in (yeah we hit one target)

12:00 p.m. – Begin Relay Games (Bumped everything 1 ½ hours later)

2:00 p.m. – Begin MAJOR water fight (unplanned but fun)

2:30 p.m. – Eat Lunch

3:30 p.m. – Dating Sessions

4:30 p.m. – The End

Wow those were a lot of numbers. I wrote all that to say when you ever here us say “Kenyan Time” is late we aren’t joking. The reason that the relay games began so late was because more than half of our youth were late…like really late. Many people would have just said lock the gate and don’t let any one else in, but when you have food in the kitchen for a hundred and only 15 are in the compound at 10:30 closing the gate would not be too smart of an idea. We ended up beginning the games significantly late, and believe it or not people still came after that 12:00 expecting to get it. I did have to lock the gate eventually and did at 11:30.

Here we are it is 12:00 and we are starting the relay games. We have about 45 youth and are all in teams of four. My mother has explained the games to the teens and she is now shouting “On your marks, Get set, …” After she says go none of us have any idea what kind of havoc is going to occur or if everything is going to run smoothly but without further ado she said “GO.” I could have never of guessed how things would go after that but I was pleasantly surprised. They did marvelous! Some of our relay games included holding water in a spoon going to the other end and putting it in a cup then coming back, going and breaking a water balloon with your bottom, eating a piece of bread as fast as you can, chewing a piece of gum and blowing a bubble (there were about 8 people that didn’t know how to blow a bubble but it worked out), running with a balloon between your knees, and just a few more. We had a lot of fun. In the end the group Kenny was over won. They were a group of 10 good sized guys. It was so much fun! After the relay games my parents got a little mischievous. They had the team with all of the guys go out of the tent and talk to Pastor Safari. In the mean time they had a team with lots of little girls go get buckets of water to dump on them. After that moment the games began! There were water fights EVERYWHERE! I got soaking wet and anyone in that tent soon became drenched! It was a lot a lot a lot a lot of FUN!

DING DING…2:30 and the lunch bell has rung! My mother, me, Mrs. Susan, and Mama Dan are all behind the lunch table ready to serve, not Kenyan food but potato salad, baked beans, peanut butter and jelly, and juice. No one other than the white folk in that compound had ever had anything like that kind of food so it was going to be an adventure for them. They really liked the food a lot. Some obviously liked some things more than others , NO ONE despised the pb and j, some were not too crazy about baked beans or the potato salad but everyone went home full. The lunch went good and was a lot of fun for me to serve!

“1 John 2:15 says that if you love” As things began settling down inside the church God began to move inside of our youth. My dad spoke about love, dating, and marriage. I was busy cleaning during most of it but what I did here was very good and encouraging. When he called for the altar every youth went down. The Holy Spirit was really in that place.

No one went away on Saturday hungry spiritually or physically. I was very tired but it was all worth it! We had a blast! I thank God for the resources we have to be able to have fun days like Saturday and feed all of those youth! God it great!

QUICK UPDATE WITH KENNY: Kenny preached today and did very well! 4 people gave their lives to Christ and many people went down to the altar for other things. He is doing great and will be heading out for a safari tomorrow! He is having a good time and making lots of friends! He hasn’t gotten malaria yet :0).