Oh my goodness, How do we sum up all that we’ve experienced the last few days? Thursday afternoon we watched 250 kids participate in the Student Showcase that we had been preparing for! Once again, God aligned the program with the schools’ new creative arts standards beautifully.
The beloved “Kuku Generale” (Kevin – the crazy recreation MC) hosted. It began with soccer penalty kick competition, followed by the volleyball team wearing new Jessup university jerseys playing a serious scrimmage. They’re SO good!
We then went back into the children’s home hall and had an art gallery parade of little kids walking and showing their best flowers, tigers, and elephants.
Daniel and I helped students in the band breakout session (5 kids on guitar, 6 on a drum set and groups of 4 at a time on keyboard). My highlight was seeing our old friend, a student in a wheelchair learn to play keyboard. He’s so talented and I pray this will be an outlet for him to serve at church in the future.
Daniel, of course, was a great guitar teacher… It’s not easy to learn to play guitar in a total of about three hours. The dance team had a really engaging performance complete with scarves and lots of rhythmic movements.
Natalie‘s group of 15 shared with us a song they wrote based out of Psalms 95. And then Joshua’s group of drummers finished with her really energetic tribal drumline.
It was an amazing showcase of all of the talents God is growing in these kids. We have each made connections with individual kids and teachers from the schools, and I’m so grateful that this dream of bringing the creative arts came to reality. The teachers were so grateful and give many speeches about their gratitude for the week.
That evening, we had a goodbye service for Natalie and the other church team who was here.
Extravagant Kenyan hospitality means welcoming with intention and also sending people off with intention. There are gifts and speeches and songs and opportunities for people in the community to share words of gratitude for the sacrifices specific team members make to come across the world to show love of Jesus. We also get to share our perspective on how we’ve been impacted by the community here.
Daniel Gluck 
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