My Friend Steve

Hey Guys. I just wanted to let you know about another blog that I have been reading. It is by my friend Steve, who is a good friend and brother in Christ from Cal Poly. Steve is in Kenya right now as a missionary, helping build a medical center designed by some friends at Cal Poly, and then to minister to the street boys of Kisumu through soccer. He formed, coached, and played on a team with these boys, many of whome are addicted to sniffing glue. I love reading about his time there; the adventures, struggles, laughter, tears, and reality of these boys, their situation, and how God is ministering to them through Steve. Below are a couple of my favorite quotes, which I think, speak for themselves. If you want to check it out, you can here: http://steve-kenya.blogspot.com/

From African Safari:

I am probably one of the luckiest white people to come to Kenya in fact. I say this because of my friend Julius...Julius and I learn a lot from each other here at our compound where he works as our night-gaurd. We are great friends. I teach him about American life, Jesus, eschatology, business ethics, and geography. He teaches me about lion killing, elephant tracking, drinking cow blood, being a bush warrior, and man-swallowing snakes that live in the nearby swamp.

From I am okay, just a little emotional:

The second shortest verse in the Bible says that "Jesus wept"...I too wept today. I...was thinking about all the boys that I spent time with today. I was thinking about the ones pulling on my shirt as they looked down at their empty bellies. I was thinking about Kenedy who is repeatedly molested at night by the older boys. I was thinking about my impromtu drug lesson on sniffing glue as I made gun motions at my temple. I was thinking about how many people don't care about these poor, starving orphans here in this city. I was thinking about Ben who came to the streets when he was 5 and is now 20. I was thinking about Franco who wants to be a professional football player. I was thinking about Abel who wanted to be an engineer, but ran out of money after high-school. I was thinking about how rich I am. I was thinking about how full my stomach got tonight at my nice wood table covered in a nice red cloth. I was thinking about a glue bottle stuck to the nose of a seven year old boy. I was thinking about Victor getting beaten and chased my the police last night. I was thinking about Jesus coming back to set this world straight. As I was thinking, I just wept. Steve wept today.

From A Ten Hour Day: Soccer ministry at its finest:

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.

From Snakes Confessions and Cockroaches:

I will start with snakes...This black mamba showed its ugly self right here in our own compound just a few nights ago...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...

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...

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...