Agape is on the verge of receiving a wonderful blessing through Rotary District 5220 (Central Valley, CA).  While we are tremendously thankful for this blessing, we understand that the true nature of this blessing is in the good it will do in the lives of the boys at Agape and most importantly: those who are yet to be rescued from the street!  The real value will not be in the physical things that this grant will purchase but rather the timeless values that will be added to the lives of even more street children.  These are the true temples we are striving to build at Agape.  Temples like love, hope, faith!

This also provides for each of us an opportunity at Agape to reconsider what we ourselves as individuals are striving to build.  And by proxy it is a good thing for each of you as supporters of Agape--by prayer and resource--to also consider.  What stones will be left of the temples you are building when life ends or when Jesus returns?  Will the stones be engraved with words of human glory?  Words like money, home, or title?  Or will the stones be engraved with the eternal words of God's working?  Words like peace, heaven, and joy?  Just something to think about.

We've had a wonderful few weeks at Agape since my last writing.  I meant to write a few days ago but came down with a bout of food poisoning.  One must maintain caution when eating out in Kenya.  As we have been here almost two years, it is easy to become over confident in eating foods that may be prepared with unsafe water.  I am just recovering from the painful reminder.

Two Sundays ago, we had the joy of returning to St. Stephen's Anglican Church to officially present to the choir and the Provost a copy of the Agape/ThreeFour:One CD.  The Praise Team of Agape was invited to sing a few songs during this special service and I was invited to preach.  (I'll spare you the text here)  Since the service was being held at the new site of the cathedral for St. Stephen's, the famous children of the parish were invited to return.  These included several ministers of Parliament.  Mr. Raila Odinga, one of the most powerful men in Kenya, addressed the crowd.  The line between church and state in Kenya is a bit blurred.  The boys delighted the more than 1000 people with their songs and even sang well past the five hour service. (that's right, I said FIVE hours!...and you thought your pastor preached a long sermon)

During the school break during August, the houseparents plan outings and activities for the boys.  There are actually days at Agape where you have to look to see if any boys are still on the compound.  One such event included organizing some door to door evangelism in some of the slums aournd Kisumu and concluding with a Crusade/Concert/Sermon at the end of each day.  All the boys that participated were trained for one week before the program began. Effectiveness is a bit of an earthly term to use to describe such a spiritual experience, but God did bless the work with more than 100 added to the kingdom in just the first two days of work. The team was led by Praise Team leaders Shaddrack and Kisala.  John Mwalo did the training and supervising.  I had the joy of joining the crusade one afternoon as well.

A few days ago the District Officer came to visit Agape along with all the area Chiefs and Asst. Chiefs and the requisite number of armed guards.  It was quite a site to watch all these uniformed officials taking a tour of Agape.  After the visit, Patty and I were invited to join the DO for a speech she was to give in the Kibuye Market.  It was truly a Kenyan experience.  The gathering took place along the roadside in the midst of the market.  A side of beef hanging here, chickens running there, bicycle taxiz stopping to see what the wzungu (white people) were doing in the area. As in any Kenyan event it started with the serving of warm sodas, Fanta for Patty and Krest for me.  Midway through the speeches, the tent blew away that was intended to shade us and then the rains came.  We politely excused ourselves at this point.

Agape News Updates: Our scout troop will be leaving later in Sept. for the national competition.  This is the third year running that they have won the provincial competition and will represent Nyanza District on the national level.  The competition commences on Sept. 9. 

Street News Updates: Many of you will remember Dan the young man on the bicycle who is frequently seen in town. Last year a donation was used to put a new seat on Dan's bike along with new tires and a few other repairs. We noticed Dan was not around for quite some time until just a few weeks ago. As we left a restaurant one evening we spotted Dan sitting on the sidewalk, his bicycle has been stolen. Some of the street boys carry him around to move him from place to place. Today we heard the familiar voice call out "Dan!"  as we drove past our friend, he was using two sticks as crutches. We will be talking with Lebaus about how to get Dan a new three wheel, hand pedal bike.