A Small Prayer Request

I think I might have typhoid fever or malaria. I had a fever last night and I vomited after our soccer match today. Please pray that God would protect me and that I would get better. Thank you. I hope you all are well.

Team Hovic

Can you spot me in the picture? Look REALLY hard, can you see me??? We played really well last Wednesday with our new uniforms and all. It was great to finally look like a team. The score was 2-1 against the hawkers. After the game we needed to have a team meeting to discuss some pertinent issues i.e. getting cleats, team unity, building one another up, field clean-up days, and we closed with some prayer. I am seeing some good changes in the boys as a result of me being here and I can only praise God for those changes. God is at work!!! Isaac told me the other day that he has stopped sniffing glue because of my advise and he said he can tell that his body is now more healthy and stronger. I can even see his soccer skills are really improving. His brother Isaya has not been coming to practice but is doing a lot of work at his new job. I am really proud of him and I make sure to tell him so. He has no parents to tell him that they are proud of him and I feel that it helps if I do.

Thurs and Friday

We had two days to clean up Bamako field where we play our tournament games. This consisted of removing literally thousands of rocks. We had to disperse the rocks far away from the field to prevent drunken spectators from hurling them during games. I asked why the boys were moving them so far away and they said because these are African bullets. I didn't question them. I told the boys that if they came both days then I would buy them cleats. I spent four hours on Friday shopping with the footballers trying to find the best deal for cleats. A white man bargaining with Africans is the worst. I hate it so much. After negotiating for hours with some shop owners this one guy gave us a pretty good deal and we left with nine pairs of boots. The boys played with their boots today and it felt to me like Christmas morning and I got to be Santa.

Saturday and Sunday

I had a very busy weekend. We helped with CHE (Community Health Evangelism) in Luanda for a big event. I was the only white person out of the four hundred people that attended. By the end of the first day I was the only red person there out of the four hundred. We were only expecting four soccer teams to be there, but eight teams came and so we played soccer all day in a tournament. I reffed four games and played in one on Saturday. Sunday was for the closing ceremony and the championship game. We barely made it out of the village on Saturday due to a ten minute monsoon that came as we prepared to leave. The rain soon stopped and it took half the village to push our little van through the slippery red mud. We all got home wet and covered in mud, but I personally had a lot of fun. On Sunday, after the most tense soccer game I have witnesses in a long time I was able to crown the fourteen winners with medals and preach to them a bit with a translator. I stressed that Christ is coming soon and we should be ready for His return because He is coming to judge the world. You could hear a pin drop, but I don't know if that was good or bad. I came back exhausted, but I had a great time.

Glue update

I have been talking and praying with the people that sell glue. There are two places that I have been going to and I am beginning to understand these people's predicament. They are very poor and in a way they are trapped into this business. They own shoe shops where glue is readily available and selling glue to little boys is a huge temptation. They know it is bad. They know it is illegal, but feeding their children becomes the priority over doing the right thing. The ones I am talking to don't want to sell glue anymore are are looking/praying for a way out. Although there is no excuse for this sin, I can sympathize with the one's I have been talking to. I prayed with Dorine today and told her not to sell to children for one day and I would pray for her and come back tomorrow. I told Caleb that I would talk to the older boys who beat him when he is walking home. They beat him if he refuses to sell them glue. Some of the small boys are afraid of me because I am constantly teaching them about the effects of glue and asking them to leave it. They are so enslaved by it. I hate it so much.

Life is so different here in Kenya, but I am loving it for the most part. I am excited to finish strong here and go into the next season of my life back in SLO. I miss my church family, family, friends, and I also miss pizza. I am going to eat a big fat one when I get back. Be blessed today my friends.

-Steve

Snakes Confessions and Cockroaches

I will start with snakes. I have been on the lookout for snakes the whole time I have been in Africa and even the last time I was here I wanted to see one. I finally got my chance. This black mamba showed its ugly self right here in our own compound just a few nights ago. In the picture to your left you can see my hand and one very dead black mamba. Our dog Nora found the snake and our very Masai (a hardcore, samurai-like African tribe) gaurd did the killing. I had the priveledge of being flashlight boy. It was better than nothing. Our gaurd stunned the snake with a long stick by smacking it ka-ra-te style. Then he took a pipe and smashed its head on the concrete stair as you see here. I then got close to watch it die. This was just a young mamba, but still able to kill 20 grown men with one venemous bite. Luckily nobody was walking down the stairs as it sat there alive. Praise God for keeping the family of six safe that was having dinner upstairs. And props to our dog Nora. Even if she is the most disobedient brat of a dog, we will keep her.

For the confessions, I can praise God so much!! One of the boys that plays soccer with me was being honest with me the other day and really opened up to me. He has been reading the Bible since I have been here and God is at work in his heart. He confessed a lot of his sin to me and expressed a desire to change. He is a security gaurd at night and has lots of time to read the Bible. The verse that says, "The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart", (Heb 4:12) is so true. This boy has been searching the scriptures and he realizes now that he is a sinner. He said to me just the other day, "Steve, I need to be honest with you, as I have been reading the Bible I have realized that I am a sinner." I told him that I could relate to him more than he knows and that we can praise God together because of Jesus who paid for all that sin. I can't wait to see God continue to work on this kid. I really like him. He is the best friend I have here. I am so thankful for what is happening with him. My pastor always says, "Our job is to just bring people to Jesus and then Jesus will do all the work." Please pray for him, his name is Tony.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches were everywhere as I pulled off a rotten piece of wood in the kitchen of our new place. Since Doom (Kenya bug spray) was nowhere to be found I went on a small rampage. Feet, hands, and all were smashing roaches left and right. It was pretty fun for me. I am a bit sadistic at times. We are renting out a new compound where we can allow people to come in and out freely- street boys included. There are many restrictions where we are now and it is limiting our effectiveness with the street boys. We got this place that has no water and no sewer, but it is being worked on even now. It has a big yard for soccer and a garden already in place. It is Arabic style architecture, which I like a lot. There is a sweet little outdoor courtyard and a spacious interior. OH!!, and there are plenty of COCKROACHES!!! We will make sure they are all dead before we move in.

I hope all of you are well. Thank you for reading my blog.

Corruption

Dear Friends,

My naivety is waring off and I am beginning to see Kenya's true colors. I still know so little, but I am a little less "green" as they say here. I am with Kenyan's all day every day and there is still a lot of good I can say about many of them. But the corruption and deception here rampantly parades around every corner. I have met two known con-artists, two wolves in sheeps clothing, countless bogus merchants, and users galore. It is so difficult for impoverished people with such high unemployment and I understand to a certain extent, but much of it is just plain evil. My skin continues to betray me and it is a little hard to deal with always being a means to somebody's solution to poverty. They don't even know I am nearly broke, but my skin makes me rich. And in reality I am. I am filthy rich to these people. If I needed a thousand dollars I could get it no problem. I just ask for it or borrow it without a problem.

The people are trying to survive and if I were in their shoes I would be very tempted to do the same (lie, cheat, steal, manipulate). The reality is that the problem is spiritual as well as physical. Paul say to be content with food and clothing. He also says that godliness with contentment is great gain. Most people here can find side jobs to get their daily bread and they all have shirts on their backs, but being content is very rare here and in America. The secret is not having more, but being content with what you have. I struggle every day as people ask me to buy them things: food, clothes, transportation, etc. and I really can't at all. I have the hardest time being kind to them and politely telling them sorry. The Bible says to give to those who ask of you and also that those who don't work don't eat. The paradox is making life a little difficult here. I am trying to find the best way to give all that I can for the best of the people.

I guess that all one can conclude with is that this country is bad in many of its own unique ways. America is bad in very different ways and I really don't like either country all that much. Each are very different, but still part of the world system. Not discounting the good things that I see I recognize that something is seriously WRONG with this world. I think that only in heaven will I finally feel at home.

A pilgrim in this world,
Steve Jones

More

I came to the number of 33 after counting places where my skin had broken over the past week. The football fields are not friendly to such soft skin like mine. I am learning this the hard way (no pun intended). Cleats that are too small claim 7 blisters on my heals and toes. Doing a front flip to avoid crashing into audience members can account for about 15 cuts on my hands and legs. A full speed collision yesterday with a goalkeeper adds about seven road rash markings on my hands, knees, elbows, and left cheek. The others are miscellaneous falls here and there. I am having a great time playing soccer with these boys despite any loss of blood.

We had a field clean-up day today. It was fabulous. Instead of rocky hard dirt we now have just hard dirt with a few rocks. I wanted the players to feel like they were earning their uniforms and also find a way to serve and bless the community. I want to clean up Bamako field as well. It is REALLY rocky on one end and is almost impossible to play on. If they can do that then I will definately get them some cleats. I have the money now for them, but I really want them to earn them so that they don't continue to develop this "Hey rich white-man give me money for no reason" attitude.

We tried to pick up our uniforms, but they were not the right ones. We will wait for Saturday to pick them up. Hopefully the lady will get the right ones this time. I am missing home a bit and I feel a little ready to get back, but I have a month to go here and I am going to do my best to see that these young men have a good team and some instruction in the Lord before I go. The good news is that I am befriending them so well. At lunch today we were having a great time joking around and laughing. I was so blessed to just sit there with my ten cent tea and my ten cent beans just getting to know these guys a little. They have been through so much that with all their perseverance many of them have great personalities. I love them so much. My prayer is that there would be somebody to direct them both in soccer and spiritually when I leave. I don't really want to leave them hanging, but God must provide the right person to come in after me. I pray God would do just that.

Forgive me if my last post was a bit strong. I only spoke the truth boldly because I felt that is was necessary and loving to do so. I hope you are all having a wonderful day. I pray God would bless you in a special way today. When He does let me know.

Super Dave Osborn

A quick bio on David Osborn. Was a nominal Christian most of his life, but started to take the words of Jesus seriously, that whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the sake of the gospel will surely find it. Take up the cross daily and follow me. Dave is a middle aged guy and is currently a full time missionary in Kisumu, Kenya. He has never been married and has been in Kenya for four months. He has a laundry list of degrees and could make tons of money in the states if he wanted to, but he left that to follow what God would want from him. He doesn't own a computer so I get to talk to him about every three days when he comes to our house to check the email. We are both going to those glue-selling people to minister to them and get them to stop selling to children. Dave knows them very well. Dave rides his own personal boda boda around town as transportation. Dave works with older street boys also and lives with a few of them while he brings them into understanding the character of God. I really love him. He is such a humble and genuine soul. God is clearly with this man.

A cool, but creepy story he told me today.

He went to go pray for Josephine the other day and he witnessed the manifestation of demonic possession. Josephine is a glue dealer to children. Dave has been talking to her for a while, but the last two times the demon that occupies her body poked his/her head out to say hello. The demon said to him, "I AM NOW SAVED BY JESUS THE SON OF GOD." Prior to the demon talking out of her mouth she put her head between her legs and was sobbing then she went over to some grass and laid face down in the grass in her pretty dress. Then she came up and the demon did his talking.

Don't think that God doesn't know all your sin today. God is no respecter of persons. Demons are clearly real and so is God. If you aren't right with God at the point of death then you will die in your sins and receive condemnation for dying in your sins. God sent his only son to pay for all your sins and the only way to heaven is through Christ by trusting Him and receiving Christ and what he did on the cross. You will now that God has saved you by a changed life. Things will begin to happen that show evidence of a saved individual.

I care about you all and I wanna be there in heaven with you all. I love you all.

A Ten Hour Day: Soccer ministry at its finest

6 am - Wake up way too early. Oh well. Fix coffee. Eat something small. Do some writing, reading, and balancing of funds to see about team jerseys and boots for the boys.

8am - Take a Boda Boda or Blackman On DA-bike Blackman On DA-bike. Took my five soccer balls, ATM card, and myself to the field. This was a thirty cent operation. I beleive the Blackman's name was Solomon. Boda's love the white man cuz it usually means 5-bob bonus shillings. No problem.

8:20am- Walked to Abel's place. Abel will be taking over some of the responsibility when I leave. We are gonna bring him to the Bible as much as possible and see if Agape can train him. I saw the mama and she made some chai. Did I mention that I love this dude a ton. He has no job, but is very bright and could do anything on the planet if the opportunity arose with the encouragment to pursue. Abel is the uncrowned king of the "no problem". I will probably adopt the "no problem". No really, it's no problem

9:30am- the start of our practice. (US time) Sit and wait for Kenya time.

10:21am- the start of our practice. (Kenya time) We jog, do some running lines. One running line looks like we are orengatangs moving along the grass. The we do lots of ball drills. Lots and lots of balls drills. I love it so much!!! We have the best practices in the city by far.

11:45am- Children flock from the nearby primary school for lunch-break to go look at the white man who looks like soccer pro Wayne Roonie. I tell them sorry little friend. We play with a soccer ball with the little ones. I call the game the try to touch the white man's soccer ball while he runs around game.

12:10pm- Team slashes some grass to earn their uniforms (no lawnmowers, sorry). We are clearing the rest of the field for volleyball, soccer, tetherball, etc. We take some water, and then chill for a minute.

12:40pm- Bible study. We are still in John chapter one and will probably be there for a while. I tangent like it was my job, but we all get a ton out of it. We talked a lot about baptism today. They asked me all their Bible/ theological questions they have always had. Praise God!! It was sweet.

1:15 pm- We take lunch. thrity cents per person by ten players and you have $3 gone. Dang!! I had two African donuts and some tea with a happy amount of sugar. It is no problem. I gave one of my mandazis to a older glue-hound, who always has a bottle stuck to his face. He said I wasn't his friend and he wanted to beat me because I always refuse to buy him food. I had no idea of his level of seriousness so I figured giving him a mandazi with a quick teaching about unmerited favor (grace) would appease his anger. He was my instant friend and showed grace back to me by giving me a tie from his dirty bag. I tied his for him and now I guess we are buds. Sweet!!

2:00pm- Franco (captain), Tony (baller/best kid in the world), Basil (second best kid in the world/also baller), Solomon (baller/close third), and myself hunt for uniform deals. I stay waaaaaaay back, because I always tell them, "my skin betrays me". I am a skin-proclaimed millionaire to the Kenyan. We get a SWEET deal. I am stoked. For once I get to pay the right price and not the white man price.

2:30pm- Appointment with lady who sells the glue to the children. For $.15, a boy can buy a fresh bottle of glue that will make him very very high and kill his brain at the same time. I meet the son instead and talk to him as he struggles to communicate back. I share with him the verse, "whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were tied around his neck and thrown into the river." I thought it was very fitting. He agreed and we may have played the- I will just please the white man by agreeing with everything he says game- until he goes away game. I then prayed for him. I am so passionate about this issue. I HATE IT !!!!

3:00pm- Walk forever to go to the bank with Basil,15 and Solomon,15. They are both orphans, but in school and have a man who took them in. They are SOOO cool!! We get some dough and walk back to the bus park.

4:00pm- Pay the lady half for the uniforms. Yes!! Pick them up on Tuesday.

4:07pm- Walk to the field and realize how dang thirsty I am. Solomon agrees fully. After we find that the tap water is not working, I say, "hey Solomon, here's five hundred shillings, go buy us some cold water and bring me 430 for change." I feel much better after a little water. Nobody shows for 4 to 6 training so we go and try the stadium. The stadium is booked for the month and so we don't get to train there. Oh well, I was so tired I didn't really wanna play any more.

5:20pm- Abel and Solomon depart and Basil and I walk together to Nakumat City (COSTCO in Africa). We walk around and just look at how outrageous everthing is. I like to go there cuz it is the closest thing to America they have in this town. I didn't buy anything. Me and Basil talk and talk and talk about everything. I want to take this kid to America and raise him myself. I love the boy. He is so smart and such A BALLER!!

6:00- Talk some more with Basil as he walks me all the way home.

6:30pm- Get home and praise God on the inside for such a wholly wonderfull, fulfilling, exciting, long.......long, beautiful day.

I covet your heartfelt prayers to God for these boys. Pray for Franco today. He has anger, glue, marijuana, and many other problems. He is our captain and could be a strong leader in the future. God is so good. Me and Franco are best buds.

Good news na bad news

Bad News-

I was the one responsible for seeing a boy get beaten by a police officer. I had to watch it too. I was constantly checking my pockets in the back of my mind so that I wouldn't get picked by a street boy. I was in the busy bus park and boys were all around me. I thought I had my wallet in the left-front and some tracts in the right front. Aparently my wallet was home the whole time. I politely asked three little boys for their toxic glue to spare their little minds for a night. As I was leaving the boys were hugging me goodbye, holding my hand to stay, and really trying to get the sniffing glue from my left hand. I hopped on a Boda-Boda cuz it was getting a little late and I reached for my wallet after about five minutes on the bike. I GOT ROBBED!!- I thought. I went back. I politely asked for my wallet cuz I needed my I.D. and my ATM card. There was no money in it so they wouldn't mind forking it over. There was no wallet and a small crowd was gathering. This can be dangerous in Kenya for reasons I don't want to write. Not cuz its graffic I just want to go to bed. Anyways, the police came and I told some boys about the ones hugging me and pulling on the bottles as I left. I could have swore that Mgongo took it. He was always a shady kid to me, but he actually didn't at all. They let the boys go, but poor Mgongo (He looks fifteen, but is 25) got beaten pretty good. I had to watch. I thought he stole it also and all the little ones were saying he took it as they cried in the police box. I still feel terrible about it. That was some bad news.

Good News-

The boys had five soccer balls today for practice and it was the best soccer practice ever!! We did lots of ball drills. It was great!! I got nice and sweaty. It was some great excercize. We had a Bible study after and some lunch for 30 cents each. That is some good news.

Bad News-

There is a woman and some others that sell that toxic glue to the boys in the bus park. I hate that stuff with a PASSION. It is evil and those poor little boys are so addicted. This woman who has a shoe business sells it. Some bad bad news. Not new news just bad news.

Good news

After lots and lots of ingenius lying from the street boys and many others, I found the place where the glue was sold and I went and talked with the woman. After we got past her lies, the Lord began to open her up a little bit. I told her to stop selling glue to the boys for three days and I would pray for her other business of selling shoes. I told her WHEN (not if but when) God answers that prayer that we will talk on thurday. God will honor that prayer- more good news.

Bad News

thats it, accept for all the corruption here. It pretty much sucks.

Good news

We found Mgongo today. His mind is pretty messed up from years of glue, but there is still hope with God. I used to think he was shady and pretty hopeless, but after today I just love the kid. Since I caused his beating, I treated him to lunch and sat next to him as he made the whole restaurant bust up because of his loud incomprehesible chatter. He almost made me spit out my chapati he was being so funny. He was very grateful. These boys get in fights so much that a beating from a cop really isn't anything to lose sleep over. He got over it the instant he knew lunch was being served. Pray God would do a miracle with this boys brain. He used to be a very sweet little boy is what I hear. Some more good news.

Thank you for reading my blog. I actually don't even know if people read it, but whateva. God bless you my friends.

Kisumu After Dark

One place you don't want to be at night as a white man is in downtown Kisumu. You especially don't want to stroll through fanana park after hours. I spent lots of time with one of our best players named Basil (not BAY-zll Baa-zil) today and he informed me about Kisumu after dark. He said that fanana park is the worst place to be when the liquor stores have emptied their stock of the cheapest and nastiest liquor. Basil told me that women will walk through the park half-naked and drug use is rampant there as well. The irony starts with the fact that this place is where ministry happens every sunday with the street boys. A hundred or so gather to sing and hear the word of God on the very same ground where debauchery and crime flourishes. I asked if I would be okay to come at night even if I had no money to steal and he said I would likely get beaten anyways for not giving them any money. I will just stick to daytime ministry for now.

My first game with team Hovic was today. It was a real Kenyan football match. The politics of Kenya and the corruption in this country even manifest in the local men's soccer league. This is disturbing, but true. The Ref was afraid of a beating from the other team so the calls were skewed making for a 2-1 defeat to a wrongly called p.k.. And our opponents must have trembled at a bunch of street boys plus one random white man beating them in the match. They were older and more skilled, but the street boys were a hundred times more daring and brave. They would give their left leg to win one contest for the ball- blood gushing and all. Their bravery is what may make them good football players one day. I knew there was something wrong when my players advised me to not go for the ball because I quote, "they will likely injure you". The street boys knew of the corruption and it made for an intersting match. I looked half African after the match from the dark dirt-sweat combination all down the left side of my body. And I only bled a little, but it was all worth it!

Tomorrow is a turning point for these boys. I hope to purchase eight soccer balls in the morning followed by their first REAL football practice. I am bubbling with excitement, but also cautious at sharing a fortune with boys who have nothing. The balls that I am buying are the best. "Losing" and then selling a ball would mean food, rent, pleasure, and survival. I recognize the temptation presented so the balls must be well gaurded and they will clearly be labeled my property for the time being.

The spiritual aspect is this. The boys know some about the Lord. Their undestand rides along the surface and has never truly been explored. Are they truly born-again going to heaven Christians? I don't really know. Time will tell. The word of God changed and is changing me and I know the same will be true for them. Tomorrow I will have a Bible on the field and continue fulfilling my self-proclaimed role as team pastor. Things may get hairy because the enemy is truly fighting for the souls of these boys, but hakuna matata as they say.

Life is good, God is good. I am fully alive and so happy and content with life. I love being here and may find my way back some time. Thank God today for all He has done for you and all that He has blessed you with. He is worthy to be praised and thanked continually. Isn't it?