Celebration!

So sorry if you think 156 photos is many to scroll thru (yup, that's the count!) but just be glad I pared it down from 392, which is the total number of photos taken!

All of the 14 Life Maps that Denise created - one for each of the ladies who completed the 18 week study on Women of Destiny...yes, I helped :)

We had the honor and privilege of walking with these ladies over the past 4+ months as they discovered where they came from, who they are and who God has created them to be.  On this day we celebrated the journey thus far...

 Rose greeting all the ladies as she arrived...

Time for praise and worship...to the far right is our friend Wambui who joined us to help me take pictures (so I could be in some of them!)

Poignant moment...

 Movements that go to one of the praise songs...the ladies were thoroughly enjoying themselves!

 

 

 Then Denise joined in :)

 Elijah...my friend...it has been awesome to bond with him over the past few months!

 Suferia and the makings for tea...

 He is very familiar with the black bag of goodies :)

Fervent prayers

 Patricia (in the green) is quite a prayer warrior!

 Denise saying a few words of appreciation for all the hard work...and letting the ladies know the program for the morning...

 Josephine has become one of the group...and is recognized as a leader along with Denise and me.  The ladies absolutely LOVE her!

 Just outside the door...the kids on a break from their studies...

 Taking his bag of toys out to play with the kids ;)

Wambui introducing herself

 Josephine does an AWESOME job of translating...even when Denise talks over her!

 Time to present the Life Maps and Certificate of Completions...

Catherine proudly displays her prizes :)

 

Dorothy

 

Shy Emily...such a sweetheart <3 br="">

 

Rachel AKA 'Mama Elijah'

Linet

Patricia

Rose is the one we visited a few weeks ago

Sarah

Susan - my age mate :) I found out our birthdays are a month apart!

Our other Dorothy!

   Dorothy brought her precious children Josephine and Jacob...

 We gave an award to the person with best attendance...it was Linet!  She received Dr. Schuller's book "Don't Throw Away Tomorrow"....I think she was happy!

 All the ladies inspecting their Life Maps...what a wonderful gift for them...Susan had talked one week about the Map being a legacy to leave to their children...wow!

Josephine and Catherine are looking at her map :)

 Rose invited Susan to join our group shortly after we started last year and she has been one of our most faithful members...we are grateful to Rose for bringing Susan to us :)

Rose & Susan - friends and neighbors

Linet, Dorothy, Patricia, Emily

Elida arrived late...

Elida inspecting her certificate...

Serah admiring Elida's Life Map

Josephine & Jacob looking at their mom's Life Map - and they are on it!

 

We took communion together as an act of worship and to remember that it is from God and the sacrifice of His Son that we are able to do anything...we give Him all the glory.

Setting up for communion

 It was a blessing to share communion with these ladies we have journeyed with...

 

 

 Rose trying to coax little Elijah back into the building :)

 I love this shot...can you tell I am a bit attached to this little guy?

 Serah completing a form with her life story information so that she too can get a Life Map!

Denise asked each of the ladies to share how this experience has impacted their lives...

 ...the testimonies were powerful!  Rose speaks of how her husband studies the papers she brings home and she has been able to use the teachings to teach the ladies in her church...

  Susan is grateful for the changes she has seen in her life and the way what she has learned blesses her family and her church...

 Linet shared candidly about a serious problem with anger she used to have.  People in her life (especially her husband) have noticed and been so grateful for the change they have seen in her...

 Dorothy quietly shared about how grateful she is for all she learned and her immense desire to continue making the sacrifice necessary to continue learning with us...

 Meanwhile Dorothy is exercising her spiritual gift of hospitality to make sure we have tea for our celebration!

 Jacob and Josephine trying to corral Elijah so that he does not disturb his mom when it comes time for her to speak :)

 Um...he's not cooperating!

Escape!

 

 Patricia is grateful to God for the opportunity to learn about His word with other church leaders.  She travels from another area to be with us each week...the other ladies are from a community within Kibera...

 Trying in vain to get Elijah out the door!

 Emily shared that she used to be very shy but since coming to these studies she now finds she has more courage and is more bold!

Though Rachel understands little English, she rarely misses the classes, even bringing little Elijah with her each week.

Sweet smile :)

 I love that he feels comfortable enough with me to be content even while away from his mom <3 br="">

 

 Sarah has faced many hardships...most recently the disappearance of her daughter.  Through the faithful prayers of this group of ladies, her daughter was found and is safe!

Cool dude!

 The tea is making progress...

 Catherine shared of her apprehension to come in the beginning..."how will I understand these American ladies since I speak so little English?"  She was scared but somehow felt compelled...a lady in her church said "just go, there will be someone there to interpret" and that is exactly what happened...each week one of the ladies graciously and spontaneously translated.  Then the Lord laid it on Josephine's heart to serve the Kingdom with us and has been translating for several weeks now.

 Catherine shared that she is even learning English as a result of coming to class :)

 Jacob was SO SWEET with Elijah...

 And Dorothy was faithful to make sure the tea was just right...

In Sept our friend Twyla taught a large group of ladies in Kibera.  Denise & I attended that teaching to find out if God was calling us to minister to a small group from that larger teaching...

As it turns out Elida was on the matatu sitting just behind us...she guessed where we were going and offered to show us the way since she was one of the attendees!  We all laughed at the memory!

 These guys were too cute together...

 

 

Buds

 Serah shared of the impact in her life...even though she cannot attend every week, when she misses she feels that something is missing from her life

 Most of the ladies knew only one or two others when they first started...now they are feeling like sisters and work so well together - as on this day they brought the milk, tea leaves & sugar then worked with the church staff to obtain the suferia for cooking, the strainer, the jugs for serving...

 ...and even the cups :)

 Elija "reading" the book I bought for his goody bag...

 Dorothy and Catherine liaising with the kitchen staff to get all they need for serving the tea...

 Elijah cannot be left out!  Linet joins the other two...

 Making sure all is in place...

 Dorothy used to do the bulk of the translating and is quite grateful for the presence of Josephine so that she can spend her mental energies on learning!

 Josephine and Denise listening...well Josephine is also translating...when the ladies speak English she translates for the Swahili speakers and when they speak Swahili she translates for Denise and me!

 Elijah brought his banana to Josephine to peel for him!

 This Josephine shared how much it has meant to her that even though she was gone for a long period of time and then often arrived late she was always graciously received into the class and never made to feel bad or wrong...

 Dorothy and Catherine work to ready the tea for serving while Elijah looks on...

 Straining the leaves out...

 Let me just say - that is a heavy pot!  I am challenged to serve myself with one of those things!

Boys!

 Jacob helps Elijah wash his hands after eating his banana...so sweet :)

 

 

 Since Josephine came in quite late, we gave her Life Map & certificate at her seat...

 Proudly displaying the map and cert...

Posing with her namesake Josephine

 

 Another banana?

All of the ladies expressed a desire to continue together in Bible study...and that is our desire as well!  Here Denise is talking about the conference to be held next Wed and also asking the ladies to be thinking about what they want to study next and even if there is a message or teaching God has put on their hearts to teach...

 

 It has been our intention from the beginning for the ladies to share these teachings with others in their area of influence and we found out on this day that that is indeed what many of them are doing.

 Emily assisting with the hand washing before taking refreshments...

 

 Thanks Serah for pouring the tea for us!

 Several of the ladies quietly worked in the back of the room to assemble all these plates for us to enjoy - YUM! 

 And the food was enjoyed by all!

Patricia, Emily, Rachel, Sarah

Sarah, Catherine, Josephine

Elida, Josephine, Linet, Denise

Dorothy assisting Susan with washing after eating

 Jacob and Josephine enjoying the food :)

 

 

 

 I love Dorothy's orange dress :) and her beautiful smile!

Stella came!  She said she came from the market so was very late, but it was good to see her and thankfully we had food enough for her!

 Denise arranging with Dorothy to make sure we have bananas for the conference next week.

 Josephine posing with Jacob and Josephine :)

Dorothy & Josephine with Jacob & Josephine

 Jacob grabbed my camera - wow he is good!!!

 Then we began posing in groups for Jacob...I think he's got talent...

Denise, Catherine, me & Elijah

Denise, Rachel, Catherine, me & Elijah :)

Rachel, Elijah and me

Denise, Sarah, Rachel, Elijah & me

 Dorothy & Josephine posing for the camera...Jacob was having much fun!

 Here I am with Patricia...she also brought a camera...

Sarah, Josephine, Rachel & Emily

Dorothy, Josephine & Dorothy!

Dorothy, Josephine, Jacob & me

This day was so much fun!  I smiled until my cheeks hurt...I loved listening to the ladies and just getting a sense of the awesome work God is doing.  What a privilege to be even a small part of what God is doing in Kibera and especially in the lives of these ladies who are Pastors, Pastor's wives and leaders in their church...