Being in Kenya has taught me a new way to pray.

I walk across our campus and am surrounded by wonderful young people. Some are encouraged to pray for their safety. Some pray for their futures.

I pray that Jesus will give me a water balloon that I can throw at their heads.

And I pray it loudly.

I’ve found that nothing brings people together as when an old guy prays, “Lord Jesus, please give me a full water balloon that I can throw at Josh’s fat head.”

Students have asked why I do it, and I remind them that Scripture says to ask Him for ALL things.

I had a student tell me it wasn’t very nice. I responded by saying, “Lord Jesus, please make the water balloon I throw at her extra cold.”

And they say I can’t relate to young people.

This is a month that included a boomslang on a little kid’s backpack and had a senior getting a concussion from running into a gazelle on his motorcycle. There has been more illness, and more lingering illness, than any time in our 11 years. The whole place is exhausted, and we are all trying to hang in there until the end of the term.

So when the first African student in 104 years got accepted to MIT, I saw people who were so sick of bad news and so ready to rejoice that there was much jumping and yelling and crying. It is hard to explain what something like that means when you are an isolated school surrounded by baboons, but it is pretty great indeed.

Great news is always a wonder, and we received some of the greatest news ever. JT is engaged to the lovely Janelle, and they are planning to get married after he graduates in May of 2011. It is such an exciting stage of life, and we are so fortunate to have gotten to spend time with her last summer and really fell in love with her. Janelle invited Katie to be in the wedding, and I wished you could have seen her face when she got to look at the bridesmaid dress she will wear.

Three more computer centers were completed by the amazing Bruce Kinzer, and I was visiting a center at Karia. The children were working hard when I arrived, and I was visiting with the headmaster when Paul, the computer teacher, wanted to talk to me.

Paul wanted to tell me of a major problem he was having. I don’t know what you do when you’ve hit the limit of major problems you want to deal with, but the way I handled it was to let out a deep sigh. With a twinkle in his eye, he told me that after class was over, he would have to chase the children away from the center because they loved it so much they wanted to stay and keep learning.

Long-time readers might remember that back in 1999, we had a guy who worked in our yard named Fred. I was in charge of teaching computers to the 1st through 6th graders then and there was a drought, so I invited him to come to the lab with me. He was so afraid to touch a computer at first, but eventually he was doing replication and ghosting, and the school hired him to work full time in the lab.

He had asked to borrow a large sum of monies a few years ago, and we lent it to him. After years of paying on the loan, he just stopped paying and we stopped seeing him much. We’ve lent lots of money which has never been paid back, and we just assumed that this was another case in point.

Fred came by today and paid off the rest of the note, which was a large sum of money. He let us know that he had three kids, he was the data base manager for the hospital, and he had used his monies to buy rental property. He now owns his own home and the three rental properties free and clear. He is a deacon in his church, and he is doing well. It was such a reminder to me that when He directs you to invest in people, sometimes you get to see the wonder of God in ways that most people don’t get to see.

We are in the process of building three more computer centers, so we will leave for furlough with 20 centers and 20,000 kids receiving a lunch each day. We don’t say it enough but we are so grateful for what you have done. The schools can continue with no problems; we have the infrastructure in place to continue the food if the monies are there.

We didn’t know how we would provide food for next term, but we have seen so many miracles. JT and Janelle raised over $8,000 at an event they sponsored at Wake Forest. Our school in Texas raised more than $38,000 at their annual auction.

And God made it rain. There has been the biggest crop in years, and there is so much maize the prices have come down significantly. We aren’t there yet, but suddenly we see a chance that wasn’t there before.

I am ashamed to admit that I don’t like having faith; I’d much rather have the monies than to trust Him for it. I say that, but when you see Him move, and you know it is only Him, that is the sweetest sight on the earth.

Your pal,
Steve

P.S. We will arrive back in Texas on July 29th. If your Sunday School or small group would consider us to make a presentation, we would be so grateful. We will be in the states for a year, and hope we get to see you or at least say hi.

Kenya Kids Can is supported by the prayers and financial contributions of people like you, from all over the world.  If you are able, please make a donation today to either the “Peifer School Lunch Program – 000339” or the “Peifer Computer Center Program – 000336.” Steve and Nancy raise their own funding; to support their family directly, make your contribution to “Peifer, Stephen C and Nancy J – Support 047930001.” Thanks in advance!