From the past.

Over the last month I have had the urge to do something different, something out of the ordinary. As I worked around our church campus this morning I was thinking about things I have done that haven't exactly been part of my college degree guide or job requirements. Things that you could never be prepared for or instructed on in a classroom. An image came to mind that I have not thought about for a while.

We had just arrived in Kitale, Kenya. We went to the local market and bought bread and milk. Then we headed into the main dump on the outside of town to meet up with local street children. We were astonished (more like scared and uneasy) by the crowd of children who were gathered in the dump. Zac, Jordan, and I stayed in the car while Phil got out and met up with some of the children to organize the crowd. The dump quickly turned into more of an amphitheater and we all jumped out of the van and began feeding the children, once everyone had been fed Phil looked at me and said, "are you ready to speak?". I stood up in the middle of the crowd, and began to share with the children about finding hope in Jesus. Everything I said was translated in swahili by one of our friends from town. It was a surreal experience. A few days before I had been with all of the youth from our church in Riverside, California; and what seemed liked moments later I was in a dump in Kitale, Kenya. After sharing with the street children we said our goodbyes and went out into the town for the rest of the day.

I still have the image engraved in my mind of all of the children in the dump, some with glue bottles to their noses and others locked to my every move. The colors of the dirt, Mount Elgon in the background, and the amazing opportunities God has given me to teach and share about His only son.

Accept,
John Denton

Check out www.glueboys.com for more information about our work in Kenya.