The term ends at the end of November, and the guys get to go home for a month. Provided of course, that the dorm passes inspection by an external inspector. We began with a hope that the dorm would be clean enough to call the inspector right after lunch, and then struggled with the idea that the boys would be done by the time they got to college.

Eighth grade guys (ok, all males) but eighth grade guys especially believe that the cleaning fairies will come and do the cleaning for them if they only believe, and they must express their beliefs by wandering about aimlessly and asking `Is it done yet?’ in hopeful tones. We won the award on campus for being the last dorm cleared to go, but thankfully, we did pass and they are home with their parents.

If you are like me, you sometime look for reasons not to exercise. We had another virus pass through the campus the last week of school, and several dozen kids were sick, including Nancy this time. I was as tired as I could remember, and as I contemplated running in the morning, we got a warning not to run on our usual course.

Elephants.

Right outside our campus, a herd of elephants were ANGRY, and chasing anyone who got near them. We haven’t had elephants before. We get lots of baboons and monkeys, but elephants were a new phenomenon, and it seemed like a worthy reason to sleep in.

We had a British family over for Thanksgiving. This was an actual conversation with their daughter the week before:

Me: You are coming to our house for Thanksgiving!!
Her: What is Thanksgiving?

As the school year in Kenya comes to an end, you all fed almost seven thousand children six days a week. Twenty schools were blessed by your kindness, and although I don’t have official statistics yet, many schools reported that they had NO drop outs vs. a usual 30-40% drop out rate. The computer lab is coming together.

The computer lab is a used shipping container

When I made an announcement to the teachers about the lab, they couldn’t believe it. One teacher told me he had prayed for a miracle, but he had not expected anything this great.

My favorite Christmas song is Good King Wenceslas, and my favorite part is the end: They who now shall bless the poor shall themselves find blessings. I think of you guys when I hear it, and I pray that you have been as blessed as you have blessed.

I am the most unlikely person in the world to be doing this stuff, but I heard two stories this week that made me realize that He uses people where they are. Duanne’s journey to Africa began several years ago when his daughter broke her back and became a paraplegic. Going through that changed him forever.

Last month there was a terrible car accident, and a young woman became a paraplegic because of it. They called Duanne and his wife, and they were able to minister to her in a way that no one else could have. She was comforted, and accepted the eternal Hope into her heart. What they had gone through changed the young woman forever.

Nancy and I were babysitting today, and heard the story of an abandoned three pound baby. His cries were too weak for anyone to hear, and so he was going to die.

But the ants descended on him. And as they began to feast on him, his cries became loud enough that he was found and saved. The ants, which could have been a curse, saved him.

He even uses ants. He even uses me.

Your pal,

Steve