I was the first of our group to wake up this morning. So, I decided to make the coffee for Bruce, dad, Jacque, Kamar, and me (Ray and Tyler typically do not begin their mornings with coffee). My typical nights/mornings thus far have gone as follows:

(1) get 2-3 hours of sleep

(2) wake up to the buzzing of a mosquito. Then spend the next 20 minutes making tactical plans to assassinate this interloper.

(3) after failing in my assassination attempts, I switch tactics and resolve to leave the light on in my room the rest of the night/morning. I then spend the rest of my morning trying to prepare a sermon I am to give to the Maasai on day 8.

(4) I finally leave my room and wander the beautiful grounds of the hospitality house

(5) I then enter the kitchen of the hospitality house to make coffee (if I happen to be the first one up).

Unfortunately, for the rest of the team, I was the first one up and thus made the cofftea. That is what I am calling this awful brew concoction I made. I mistook the tea grounds for coffee grounds and…well dad, Bruce, and I drank drip brewed tea thinking it was coffee. Actually, dad was the first to question this brew and ask, “is this tea?”

Me: “oh my goodness, now that you bring it up, it did seem like the coffee tasted a little off this morning. I think I may have confused the tea for coffee.”

And to think I have been entrusted with running the coffee shop at Phos Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan on dodge park road (that’s my plug for our church). If you ever visit, I promise you won’t get a bad cofftea concoction.

Our morning devotional was led by Ray. It was on Acts 1:8.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

Most of the rest of the day was spent in Nairobi at Michael Otieno Maura’s Bethesda Baptist Church. Pastor Tyler preached the morning and evening service (evening service had some heavy, heavy rain). The rain was so hard it was difficult for Tyler to speak loud enough and still be heard.

That was certainly a new experience for Tyler. While Pastor Tyler may have issues, being loud enough to be heard has never been one of them (thankfully Tyler and I are good enough friends that I can publish this without fear of being excommunicated from the church…maybe).

During the morning sermon Bruce Paul gave his testimony. Please see embedded YouTube video to listen to his raw and poignant testimony.

After the service and lunch at Bethesda, we went to Trinity Baptist Church Donholm (still in Nairobi) and Alice Mukui’s house. It was special to visit this church. This was the church that Grandpa (Blake Lasslett), Matt, and I first worked with in our flagship trip to Kenya in 2003. It has changed much from then, but it is still flourishing and faithfully preaching the Word. My grandpa spoke in this church numerous times, and I asked if they could find some old tapes of his preaching from back then.

Our time at Alice Mukui’s house was special as we were able to visit with 2 of her daughters, Joy and Njambi. Thankfully, we will have more time to spend with them later this week. But our fatigue was such that we only spent around an hour at Alice’s house before heading back to Openhand.

I ended the night hopeful to get better sleep and to be a more skillful assassin.

JOKE OF THE DAY:

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TEAMMATE PROFILE OF THE DAY:

David Lasslett

This is my dad. At 65 he is the same age his dad (Blake Lasslett) was when he first went to Kenya (with Matt and me) in 2003.

I am so proud to be in Kenya with my dad. This has become one of the greatest events of my life. He is a man of humility who loves to serve in whatever way he can. He is a great example of what it means to be a father, husband, hard worker, and someone who is not just a listener of the Word but a doer of the Word. He is my hero. I aspire to be like him.

He is an elder at Phos Church, and also owns a hair salon (Premier Hair Studio in Lake Orion).

God willing I will return to Kenya with him next year. I love you dad!