Coulston of the Streets

Happy New Year

2012-01-04T18:19:00.001-08:00

We've been saying "Happy New Year" to each other for several days now. And I've heard a few resolutions. But the transition to 2012 is not a great one, cause I don't feel great need for anything new.

I have more money and things than I deserve. 18 short-sleeved shirts and 2 pair of sports shoes and 4 pair of Levi's, a house and a car on 2 continents. What could I ask for?

I have as much work as I have time to do. I advise the Made in the Streets Team, do strategic planning for street ministry, plan and design construction for MITS. I'm also working on book number 2 about street kids, reporting to supporters, pleasing my wife, spending time with a daughter and grandkids, serving as liaison with the sponsoring church and board. That's enough at my age.

I have many friends who love me and who love those whom I love.

I have dear ones who made good decisions in 2011. A grandchild baptized into Jesus in August. At Christmas 3 street kids were baptized. Alex, one of our students in computer studies, enrolled in preacher training school. One of our newer girls, Lydia, decided to stay at MITS when a girl running away urged her to run. My wife decided to stay with me another year (I never assume...). So there is much to feel good about.

I have many books in my library I have not read, and at my age I can read some of them again. And I have 8 books recommended by friends.

I pray that 2012 will bring more of what we had in 2011.

More kids from the streets -- we had 46 new ones in 2011. We don't have enough beds for that many more in 2012, and we want each kid to have his/her own bed. But we can take some.

More visitors from the US Christians to MITS - coming with skills and encouragement.

More growth in spirit and skills for Team members. I pray for them to know their strengths and grow their strengths and use them for Jesus.

More Christians in US who love homeless and hopeless kids and who want to help us find these kids and redeem them and help them be responsible for their own lives - and for those Christians to give generously.

More time with friends who bless my life with affection and encouragement.

That will make a happy year!!

During the Holiday

2012-01-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

I was walking to Starbucks with Darlene. It's 20 minutes. It was Dec 29, and I was thinking about Anna and Simeon, waiting in Jerusalem to meet Jesus. They were heralds of the new year, the new age of King Jesus. I like that woman. I was close to tears, unable to talk to Darlene about it, remembering another time I cried in the middle of a seminar over the absolute goodness of God. I like Anna. Her whole life was worth living for the moment she met Jesus. We have no idea what she may have suffered, what griefs she had, what joys. But this was the big moment, the moment she was living for. As Simeon says, "now I can die in peace." I like him too. And it is so for us. When we meet Jesus, life is made. We could die in peace. What is truly wonderful is that we get to keep on living, with Him, knowing him every day, walking to Starbucks with Jesus. And always the surprising work he has for us to do.

Poetry about the Streets

2011-11-05T01:30:00.000-07:00

Watcher I

I am a watcher I

Have a place to observe the sky

Watcher I see mighty hand

Lightly touch waiting land

Waiting they who have none

Squinting at equatorial sun

Then to sleep on the street

Where pain and despair meet

Watcher I their daily pain

Dirt pads where they have lain

Time was when I did not see

Those born to misery

Watcher I edging near

Close to see the smallest tear

Observing a divine plan

To make of ragged boy full man

Watcher I take delight

In finding new sight

Days spent not seeing

Are days with no true being

Watcher I see young men giving

Day after day of their living

Sacrificing heavenly seats

For those Made in the Streets

I wrote this poem in September 1996 when we were only serving young men sleeping on the streets, and 9 young Kenyan men were working together with Darlene and me. It is well to gain understanding, to see the lowest of the low, and to take part in the plan of Jesus to dramatically alter their lives and transform their hopes. Boys and girls who sleep on the streets of Nairobi have no reason to think that anyone loves them. It is delight to see them respond so happily to affection and care.

Hear My Cry

2011-09-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Last night was a great experience with grandchildren. It was the grandparents' job to close out the day - trampoline jumping, swimming, a shower, dinner, finishing reading "The Last Battle" by C. S. Lewis with them, a snack, brush teeth, jump into bed. Time for a story - so I told them a story about their mother when she was a little girl even younger than they are.

And this is my story: "She was young, and she loved her grandparents - you know, Granny and Grandpa. We were in California and they were in Oklahoma, and that's a long way. We had friends who were going to Wichita, Kansas, in an airplane, so we let her fly with them. That was her first time in an airplane. And Granny and Grandpa drove from Oklahoma to Kansas and met her when she got off the plane. They drove back to Oklahoma, and I bet they stopped for ice cream along the way. They had a good time - did you know your Mom loved to catch grasshoppers? She caught a big jarful with her great grandfather on that trip; he's my daddy's daddy. (One of the kids said, "She wouldn't do that now.") But in those days she loved grasshoppers and frogs and all things that moved.

When the visit was over, Granny and Grandpa took her to Oklahoma City to catch a plane and return home. She was to fly alone - well, not all alone - the flight attendants take good care of kids who fly. When they got to the airport, and the luggage was on the plane, and the people were getting on, a man called the airport and said there was a bomb on the plane. So they hurriedly got everyone off and took off all the luggage. They did a careful search of everything.

Your Mom called me from the airport and told me she was scared. I was really glad that I know something of the Bible -- you will want to learn all you can of the Bible, and where everything is, so you can use it for good. I asked her to get her Bible out of her carry-on -- she always carried her Bible places with her - and open it to Psalm 61. Then I read the words of the first few verses and sang the song that goes with it: 'Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the ends of the earth I cry unto you. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, that is higher than I."

I told her to keep those words in her mind and to pray - to ask God to be with her and help her heart to be encouraged. And she did. And she came home. So please keep these words in your mind when you have trouble."

One of the kids said, "Did they find the bomb?" "No," I said, "there wasn't one. They searched every place, then allowed the plane to fly. But it was still scary, and a real adventure. Sometimes there is no real problem when we think there is, but either way, we put our trust in God."

The grandparents then sang the song several times to the grandchildren as they went to sleep. Softly they met the night. We looked down at them for a few minutes, asking that they be spared the troubles of the world, but asking even more that they be given strength and courage and undying hope in God's great love.

Daughter of my Daughter

2011-08-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

August 2011 has been a highlight month for me. August 1964 was the month that Darlene and I gave our lives to one another. August 1995 was the month that street ministry in Nairobi became a passion in my life.

A few months back, one of my granddaughters asked me to study the Bible with her. So in August I studied a number of passages of the Bible with all the grandchildren. Our studies were Discovery Bible Studies. That means we studied as a group, that I wanted them to draw their own conclusions from the Bible, and that we focused on "what it says," "what it means," and "so what?"

The passages were all from 5 to 10 verses - some on who Christ is, some on faith and some on baptism. I gave each of them a notebook, a ruler and a pencil. We wrote the Bible reference at the top of the page, then we made 3 columns on the sheet. On the left hand side, we wrote out part of the passage, whatever they together said was the most important part of the passage. Then we talked about what the passage means - sometimes we talked about the meaning verse by verse, sometimes the passage as a whole. Then we wrote down what we concluded about what it means. In the 3rd column we wrote "so what?" and I had them talk about what we could do to obey the passage. We wrote those things down. We did 12 studies together.

I had to be patient and work slowly with them, since they are young. One of them did not know how to spell the words, so writing it out was laborious. But it was worth the time and effort.

Last week one of the girls said, "I'm ready. I want to be baptized Sunday. I have to do it."

Saturday night we had dinner together at our house. We brought out the pottery from our wedding shower and cooked steak and chicken and taquitos. We had wild rice and green beans. And ice cream for dessert. And we gave the girl planning to be baptized a little book called "God Thinks You're Wonderful" She loved it. First she read what we wrote in the front, smiled and said thank you. Then she read some pages to us, delighted with what it said to her. Then her mother gave her a journal and encouraged her to keep a spiritual journey book. She treasured that too.

She wrote out what she wanted to say to the church at the baptism on Sunday, but when the time came, she said, "Just ask me questions." So I asked her, "Do you believe Jesus is God's Son?" and "Do you believe that Jesus died for us?"and "Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead?" and "Do you say that Jesus is Lord?" To all these she said "yes."

Then I told the church about the studies we had done. I said that I have baptized many people, and this one has the same joy as all the rest. Well, maybe a little more joy.

And I reminded her that her grandmother was baptized at 8 years old, that her mother was baptized at 9, and that she has models of women who stay with Jesus all their lives, so she can do it too. Then I said, "By the mercies of God, you will now receive the baptismal wash in the name of God your Father, in the name of Jesus your Lord, and in the name of the Spirit who guides you. And all your life you will live in the promise of forgiveness and having the Holy Spirit with you. Amen."

And helping her under the water was a most weighty thrill, a joy without parallel. I have felt warm all day, and it has nothing to do with Texas at 105 degrees. And she has been smiling all day.

Happy Sunday

2011-06-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

What a happy Sunday.

I led the Discovery Bible Study groups at Kamulu - John 6:1-15 is the story of the young man who brought lunch to the coronation (well, Jesus didn't allow the men to make him king, but they wanted to). Jesus checked out his disciples' faith and vision, then he pointed the way for them with a young man's lunch (should he have been in school with his lunch box?). The groups seemed to get the point - that Jesus can take the little that we think we have to offer him and make much of it. After all, he said his original plan is to shame the strong with the weak, exalt the poor among the rich, and so on (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Francis Mbuvi preached a quality sermon on the same topic - he made us laugh and touched our hearts. It was all Swahili today, since our group of visitors from Texas A&M are off to the Coast. Darren Wilson is here working with Moses Okoth on our computer curricula, and Alex Atema (one of our older students) sat with him and interpreted.

After that we drove across the city to see Caroline Wanjiru and Jane Wangare. They were from the early group of young people from the streets who lived at Kamulu (before there were boys out here). They have been working at the Narcisse Salon for about 5 years. They have their own apartment, and they can cook!! We enjoyed a wonderful meal of rice, sukuma wiki (kale), fish, tomatoes with avocado, potatoes and beef stew. They were delighted to have us over, as they tend to think of us as the parents they might have had. We spent a long time talking about their plans, their church life and Bible study with other young adults, their words to pass on to our current kids and their work at the salon.

How great it is to see our kids loving God, successful at work, involved in church, and still caring about others who come out of the same situation they did.

By the way, there are more kids than ever coming out on the streets in Nairobi. Even the media and government have noticed it! And there are also articles and news broadcasts about the prevalence of alcohol addiction in Kenya - one of the reasons kids end up on the streets. Pray for us, pray for power and will to break addictions, pray for kids who suffer from the failings of those who are responsible for them.

Still, it was a happy Sunday!

Prayers and Strengths

2011-06-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

We sent one of our students at Made in the Streets - Charles Kimani - to Malindi on the coast of Kenya this week to a medical clinic organized by Dr. John Bailey of BandS Ministries at a hospital there. He has a mass under his shoulder blade, and the doctor concluded, after looking at X-rays, that it needed to come out. But when they began surgery, they discovered that it is inoperable, and life-threatening either way. We will get further word about prognosis and what Charles can do. I announced it to the Team and kids in chapel today, and talked to them about the event with the young boy where Jesus said, "This kind comes out only through prayer." We broke up into groups of 7 or 8 and prayed for Charles, asking God to dowhat we cannot do, believing that He is able and asking that His will be done. So we invite those who love us and the street ministry to pray for Charles as well. More later. The pictures are of Charles when still on the streets and another a few months ago at MITS.

I also need you to pray for me. My diabetes is a tough case, and I have had a difficult time lately with sugar level. My body acts as it wants to, producing much more sugar than it needs or can take care of. It seems to jump up and down, depending on the stress level and on what I eat. I have needed help all my life with everything I try to do, and this is no exception. So please ask God to help me.

Otherwise, we are well. Darlene is with the Team and Kelly Davidson right now continuing the "strengthsFinder" seminar that Kelly has done with the Team. Today they are talking about how different strengths fit together, running scenarios on who would be asked to handle certain situations among the kids and Team and the ministry, and continuing to encourage the Team to use their strengths on behalf of God's work, develop their strong points even further, and mesh together as a Team. This is more in our ongoing plan to develop high leadership functioning in our Team.

Strengths

2011-06-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

We are all gifted by God with certain strengths that are part of our nature. Making us in his own image means creating us with some of HIS strengths. Kelly Davidson, director of Aggies for Christ at Texas A&M University, is visiting with us, and he led our team through an exercise of finding our strengths and how they relate to one another. The assessment was done from a business point of view, so it doesn't portray a person's whole life. The reasons we do street ministry - compassion and love and understanding that God wants love and help given to the poorest of the poor and faith -- are not covered in this. But we found it very instructive and helpful in understanding one another.

The 5 top reported strengths that I have are called "Strategic," "Learner," "Responsibility," "Belief," and "Relator." Darlene's are "Communication," "Belief," "Positivity," "Developer," and "Responsibility." After hearing stories about the beginning and growth of Made in the Streets, Kelly said, "It is unlikely that Made in the Streets would have gotten off the ground without the certain strengths that Charles and Darlene have.

One of the best parts of the workshop was that all of us were struck with the idea, "That's how God made him/her." We had better recognition of why we are as we are. All of us felt better about each other. We also began to see ways that we could assist one another because of our particular strengths. Moses Gicharu said at the end, "I have been having some trouble understanding why some of the Team acts as they do. I have even been a little discouraged. But now I see, now I can feel better about all our work together."

We saw that Francis Mbuvi has a wonderful set of strengths for being our leader at MITS. And the Team at Eastleigh working on the streets all share the strength of "connectedness." This means they see the connections that exist between people and events, that they have a moral urgency to keep up those connections and to help everyone in their relationships. How important is that for working on the streets with demoralized kids?

On Thursday we will have a Team meeting, while the Aggies for Christ take care of our kids, and go over our strengths and how we can benefit one another and the whole ministry with our strengths. What a blessing!

Memories

2010-12-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since I've written anything here. Lots happens to me, and I have a lot of thoughts and ideas, but I'm not so good about sharing them on the blog.

My heart and mind are on my mom-by-marriage this Christmas time, since she reached 90 in November, started losing weight that month and died on Christmas Eve. I feel sorrow together with Darlene, great relief that my prayer that she might go Home is answered, and really good about the life and relationship we have had.

In-law relations should and can be filled with joy and with building one another up. After all, the spouse of one's child has been CHOSEN, loved, wanted. One's own child, who is smart and beautiful and good and wise, has chosen him or her. Let's be glad for in-laws everywhere, and let us praise God for them. GO, IN-LAWS!

We share rich memories with Dorothy Wright - making a life together with Darlene and her parents helping in so many ways when we were young, working together with street kids in Nairobi as we began to teach kids Bible and English and Math, taking trips together as we went back and forth from US to Kenya. We rode the elephant in Northeast India, we walked all around the old wall of Jerusalem, we stood at Nikos Kazantkasis' burial plot in Heraklion on Crete, we saw the sights of old Athens and picked up pieces of marble, we looked for gold on the riverbanks of California, we listened to the waltz music by the Danube on our Vienna trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the animals on the Mara in Kenya. We also sat knee to knee with street kids who were scratching the body lice, and we went out together to visit street kids where they slept at the "bases" in the alleyways of Eastleigh. And not once did my mom-by-marriage complain or back off from any unpleasant task.

We've been looking at old pictures on Christmas eve and Christmas day and today, and the memories are sweet as a Swiss chocolate bar, as gentle as the hands of Jesus, as uplifting as the church singing "Here I am to Worship".

So...give thanks for your in-laws today, give them a hug and ask God to give them richly everything they need. They make your life better.

Inafaa, Haifai

2010-11-30T00:10:00.000-08:00

"It works; it doesn't work."

I am sitting at the Java House in Nairobi, where they have wi-fi!! When I am home, Quickbooks won't work on my laptop. It decides that it wants to register AGAIN, and apparently it doesn't like my internet connection at home, because it gives me a phone number in the USA instead of registering again. But when I am sitting here at Java, it works! And it doesn't say anything about registering. And apparently the Quickbooks support people don't know what to do about that, because they do not respond to my emails (except to write me asking me to contact them and say I am satisfied with the service!!!). Also, when I call them from Nairobi, they apparently don't like my sometimes bad phone connection, because they give up quick and tell me they have to go. Oh, well. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. (Did I mention that my Quickbooks program on the other laptop refused to register online, and they didn't give me a code to use when I called, so in a few days QB will quit on me. It's a little hard to get that code one needs to keep QB running.) I'm saying all this so that those to whom I have to report financial information will please forgive me for being late.

On the other hand, I can't get my Go Daddy email to come up when I am at Java House, but at home on my slow connection with the cell phone company it comes up and works. So "it works' it doesn't work"

Life is full of little twists that can raise stress levels and irritate us. I've been working on staying conscious of the Biblical command to "Rejoice in the Lord always." If we are willing to obey all that is written in Scripture, then this is our daily job - to rejoice! And of course we have much to rejoice about - forgiven sin, the Spirit within, fellowshipping with friends.

The Lord has set up life very well. Whether it works or doesn't, rejoice!

Proud of Mauryn

2010-11-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't written for a long time; I'm sure you really miss it and will hang on every word. I do appreciate anyone who reads what I write. This is a picture of Tim and Susie Neel from Midland, Texas (the Golf Course Road Church) along with our own George Mwenda, formerly from the streets. He has been with us for 2 1/2 years now and is studying computers in the skills training program. He is wearing a shirt they brought with them. The Golf Course Road Church sponsors a major World Bible School program in Kenya that is managed by our own Mauryn Mbuvi.

Mauryn is married to Francis Mbuvi, who is the administrator at Made in the Streets. They have two children, Jonathan and Jeremy.

We met Mauryn soon after our arrival in Kenya in 1992. Berkeley Hackett introduced us to her and let us know that she had no way to pay for school fees. She was in the 9th grade at the time. We paid her school fees at the boarding school in Western Kenya, and she became a member of the teenage teaching team we developed to go out to village churches and teach children on weekends. In 1993 we made 25 trips to various places in the country, and our teenagers became excellent teachers. We met Francis on the streets in 1994, and he soon became one of the teachers as well.

After Mauryn completed high school, we asked her what she wanted to do. Since I was director of the computer college (KCITI), she chose to study computers at home in Eastleigh. She completed that program in two years, and we once again asked what she wanted. By that time she wanted to work in the hotel industry; we helped her enrol in Utalii College in Nairobi which teaches catering, cooking and hotel management. After completing that, she got an internship in a hotel near Mombasa on the Kenyan coast. But after about two months there was severe ethnic fighting in the Mombasa area, many people were killed, and the tourists stopped coming. Many hotels closed for the season, and Mauryn was forced to return to Nairobi.

By that time I was involved with the World Bible School program, led by John DeFore, a member at Golf Course Road. GCR was also our sponsor for the three years 1998 to 2000. So I asked Mauryn to be my secretary and handle the WBS records and letters. She took over my office in our building behind KCITI. The street ministry was growing fast; Darlene and I were working with 9 young men and 2 young women. All the young men treated Mauryn like a sister, until one day in a Team meeting Darlene said to them, "Have any of you noticed Mauryn?" They all laughed, but a few days later we noticed some of them begin to stop in at the office, talking to Mauryn. In 1998, Darlene and I moved to an apartment down the street from KCITI, and we rented an extra apartment for the WBS office and for visitors to stay in. Again, we noticed that now and then young men would stop by and visit with Mauryn a few minutes. But it was Francis who made her laugh, and who brought flowers. We moved into our own building nearby in August, 1999.

It was not long until Mauryn was handling the relationship with Golf Course Road and developing the WBS ministry further and further. To shorten the story, she now manages more than 20 men who gather names for WBS and who work in churches around the country. And even greater, some of those men had great compassion for homeless children in the countryside, many of whose parents died from HIV infection. Golf Course Road has responded with compassion and support, and Mauryn and her team now operate several orphanages in various parts of the country. It is a great ministry that has marvelous potential. As I write this, Mauryn is on a trip to visit orphanages in Western Kenya with Tim and Susie. Last night, we had Francis over for dinner.

This family lives in our hearts.

Visiting Granny

2010-09-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Generation to generation our values are shaped. And the great-grandparents and the great-grandchildren must actually see one another for those values to be indelibly stamped on our hearts and minds and spirits. So we take the granddaughters over to see "Granny" as much as possible.

Dorothy Wright had mutual love and respect and fun with her husband. After she was alone, she traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, each year for 6 months to teach English reading and conversation to preachers, young people and street kids. She had such fun doing this valuable ministry. And one of the neatest things is that Darlene and her Mom did ministry together, sharing the joys and pains of the lives and needs of street kids.

Now she sits quiet, no wrinkles on her face, sleeping most of the time, not speaking and seldom opening her eyes, and she will be 90 years old soon. But she still makes noises in her throat when a great-granddaughter says "I love you, Granny."

She also has a malignancy growing on her face. So Darlene sat with her for the whole process of surgery for it. Not to remove it completely, but to limit its growth and remove the sight of it. She slept through the surgery and it is healing great.

Generation to generation we love one another, and we keep the values alive - love and fun in life and service in Christ's name and devotion to one another. Blessed be the Lord who gives us this life, and even better is coming.

Creation and Necessity

2010-09-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

I am so amazed at all the marvelous discoveries about the universe and all the thought that goes into where all this came from and what we can know from looking at the universe. Recently astronomers have found two planets circling a star. And there is a star out there that has an enormous amount of water around it. And scientists are thinking about it carefully. Already they say the water can't come from passing asteriods and comets and other celestial sources. The water is too close in to the star -- so the star itself is producing the water. But from what astronomers already know, the star should be producing carbon monoxide. Yet water is forming. It's exciting to think about what that might mean and what new discoveries will come because the formation of huge amounts of water is possible in a star.

Stephen Hawking is one of those thinkers who seeks to understand the universe and history and form theories about the source and the destiny of life. He thinks about gravitation and relativity and all those obscure things most of us know so little about. And Hawking has recently written that what we know about science does not bring about a necessity that God is involved in creation! He concludes that the more we know about the universe, the less necessary it is that we must argue from the creation to the Creator.

What a marvelous idea! What freedom to our faith! And it fits the theology of Scripture. We do not believe in God because the universe demands it. We do not believe in God because of some evidence built into the structure of the universe or the atom or gravity. We do not believe in God because reasoning about the nature of life leads us to that conclusion.

We believe in God because he has come to us, because he has made himself known to us, because Jesus Christ has described the Father who made all things. As John wrote, "what we have seen, what we have touched.." The mystery of our faith is this, that Christ lives in us. At the core of our faith is not knowledge about the physical universe, but knowledge about God himself.

Once you know God in Christ, then you can see where the farthest star and the most amazing phenomena fit into his reality. As Paul writes in Romans 1, the glory and majesty is seen in all the things that are. We might even want to talk about intelligent design. But we do not start there. We do not argue from design to the designer. We know him, for he knows us, and he came to set our hearts on fire.

Christ is in us. And this truth sets us free.

Vacation (Paris Style) Joy

2010-08-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

John Wambu, with whom I work closely at Made in the Streets both in our building projects and relations to government offices, often says, "We can't take a vacation; we have work to do." He hardly ever takes a day off, and I almost never take a day off when we are in Nairobi. Street ministry and the boarding program are a 24/7 deal.

But vacations are really nice, as we found out again when we stopped off in Paris on our way back to the USA. Paul and Edie Tews hosted us with great kindness. Here is a picture of us in the Tuileries Gardens having lunch on Sunday afternoon. Delightful!

It was great attending French worship with them on Sunday morning -- what a cosmopolitan church, with many members from West and North Africa, both immigrants and second generation. And such noisy and happy fellowship before and after the worship time. And in the evening, after English worship, they had a fellowship meal. We were happy to get in on that, as the preacher is a good cook. Here is a picture of us with Roland and Rosa at the church building.

I Get to Preach

2010-07-25T04:51:00.000-07:00

I am always happy when I get to preach. Most of my adult life has been involved in preaching. 1968 in Roswell, NM, then a two year break to teach in a University, then 21 years preaching in Redwood City, CA. For several years in Kenya, I would go to various congregations and be asked to preach. Since we have been doing street ministry, I have encouraged the young people we work with to preach and teach, and I have done less and less. Last week I was in Eastleigh at the new congregation we have opened at the Eastleigh Center, and I was asked to preach. It was the third meeting of the congregation, there were 70 people, and 5 young men from the streets were baptized. That was a good day!

These days Francis Mbuvi invites me to preach at Kamulu on the Sunday before Darlene and I leave for the USA, so that means I get to preach two times a year. TODAY was that day. My sermon was on the subject "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," and my illustration today was BONES and the human skeleton. I had an 18 inch model of a human body and a handful of the 206 bones in the body. I also had 99 candles and 99 matchboxes.

Since what bones do for the human body is give us FREEDOM - we can move about, raise our hands, nod our heads -- freedom of movement, freedom to do what we were made for. And the equivalent of bones in the "body of Christ" are the teachings that never change, that form the hardness of the body of Christ. I spoke of teachings such as that of sexual purity and "love one another" and "receive the Holy Spirit" -- great things that make the church what it is.

I also talked about the MISSION STATEMENT of the Kamulu Church. Some of the leadership has been meeting to talk about our future and the purposes of the congregation, and so today we started asking the whole church to agree on our mission statement. Essentially it is "we are free to be friends," a message we want to spread all over the community (free from greed, free from hate, free from fear). And the second part is "we love children." The third part is "we want everyone to know Jesus." Today's emphasis was "free to be friends."

I said that in Kenya everyone needs a candle and a matchbox, because the electricity may be out tonight. Everyone nodded. And we had put a label on each matchbox that says,

Free to be Friends

The Kamulu Church

Christians Meet Here

Call 0733 834507

We have 3 groups that often meet after church on Sunday. So I asked each group -- the youth group, the young adult group, and the women's group -- to take 33 candles and matchboxes each, to visit 33 homes in Kamulu, and to explain to each that we want everyone here to be "free to be friends" and to tell them why.

Should be exciting to see what happens!

15 Years of MITS

2010-06-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over. We worked for weeks and weeks to prepare the property, a program and our hearts for the Made in the Streets 15 Year Anniversary Celebration. And it came off so well. We had some local preachers with us, some officials from the ministries of agriculture, and gender and children, lots of former students, a guest of honor who was herself honored to be here, some former team members and various friends of the ministry -- some from local schools and from Good News Productions.

We sang and prayed and ate and heard very short speeches and recited Scripture and poetry and cut the cake and talked, all the things people do at a ceremonial function. But it was more than ceremony - it was joy and glad greetings and inspiration and encouragement and a chance to show what students have done and can do.

We can get by for quite a few days on this happiness.

Fascinating Sunday with Friends

2010-06-28T03:41:00.000-07:00

Truly a fascinating day! One of the great things about missionary life is that we get lots of visitors - and ones who love us. Worship at the Kamulu Church was true harmony! Several of our street kids were involved in leading worship. Francis Mbuvi had really studied about the UNITY of the body of Christ and wanted so much to communicate well what it means to have the DNA of Christ in us. He wanted us to get it, he wanted to share something good and precious. And one of our students, Francis Cugia, led the Lord's Supper and the collection, and he also spoke about unity - of the whole Christian movement in the world - and he reminded us of the need to give, to share. He meddled in our lives; he said, "even you students, you get some money and you go to the store and buy an avocado, and as soon as you get back to the boys' or girls' compound you say, "Don't ask." And don't we come to church, he said, after we have earned money during the week, and we say to God, "Don't ask."

Then we had 10 for lunch. Since we were almost out of food, Darlene made a great stew and homemade biscuits and we had some chips and salsa. And everybody wanted iced tea!

The retired dentist is an old friend who has helped us a lot at Made in the Streets. With him were three business and medical people working in a clinic on the Kenyan coast. One woman visitor has spent years in South Africa. Another one said, "Oh, if only our anesthesiologist could have been here; he would love the singing. They came over to be with us for a day and a night. And a young couple who live in the Sudan now and are learning Arabic and planning to help people there with agriculture - and the love of God - showed up to be with the church also. And one of our MITS Board members who is a teacher is here with her daughter. We had happy conversations, though some of it was about "the worst food I have ever eaten anywhere."

It is so great to have friends. Get one today.

Life with Young Moms

2010-06-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

What an interesting day. I spoke in chapel at Made in the Streets today about the very beginning of the street ministry, about the first street youth that we met in 1992 and how that meeting changed our lives and led to there being Made in the Streets.

Then I spent most of the day working on the new home for the moms and babies from the streets who are now at Kamulu. There are 7 of them and they have 8 children together. We are moving them into a house next to the girls' compound, and later we will build a wall enclosing them into the compound.

In the afternoon Darlene and I met with the 7 girls, our girls' supervisor and the woman who will supervise the moms and live in the house with them. We talked about what we expect from them and how much we love them and their children. Expectations like respecting one another's space and taking good care of their own kids and not hitting the children, just as we do not hit the moms, for any reason.

After the meeting I went back to the house. Two of the young moms came over, excited to see the house, and helped me with the beds and with cleaning the floor and picking out which pillow and sheets go on which mattress. After a while I was concerned about whether they were supposed to be doing something else at the school. So I asked them, "If you were not here, where would you be?" Mercy looked at me and said, "Oh, I would be in a terrible place, just terrible, I might be dead!" She is truly happy to be at Made in the Streets. That was a little more than I wanted to know, but I thanked her for that and asked, "Well, if you were not in his house at this moment, where would you be?" They said it was teatime, and the others were drinking tea but they wanted to help with the house.

As they were finishing cleaning and working on the windowsills, Veronica noticed something and called Mercy's attention to it. Then Mercy showed me where hornets had built a very long nest along the edge of a window. I went home and then set out on a "wild at heart" adventure. You have to be careful with hornets, for they are fast and have a bad temper. And they were scattered all along the window, not bunched up to make it easy to battle them. With my "Doom" in hand, I carefully took aim and hosed them good. And this time I won!

Now the moms and babies have a new clothesline, the walls puttied and painted, all the beds put together with mattresses, pillow and sheets on them, all the lights working, along with the toilet and shower -- a good day's work. I'm tired, but the girls will rejoice when they move in tomorrow. Before I left, I noticed that Mercy had put her scarf under one of the pillows and Veronica put an exercise book under another one. Staking out a claim...

Tonight our feral cat who sneaked into our house and had 4 kittens in the bottom of a wedding dress actually came up to me and took bits of cheese out of my hand. Then she had the nerve to try to get up on the table and get at my hamburger, but I won that one too. One of the kittens is living with Francis and Maureen now, and another will go to Jackton and Milly's house soon. Two to go, then we can lock her out! Well, maybe not, cats have a way of getting in the heart.

May your heart be captured by something good today.

In the Place Christ Chose

2010-06-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

My life has changed a great deal since we began working with street children, going into the alleyways of Eastleigh and the warren of small houses down in Mathare Valley. Spending time helping young men and women who have a heart for ministry learn how to do it with eagerness, with endurance, with joy and with confidence in the face of great difficulty.

In earlier times I was a preacher, and I loved preaching. I also taught religion and philosophy in university, and that was great joy. Then I was administrator of a technical (computer and electronics) training school, and that felt like real service, doing something genuinely good.

I have been very comfortable with all my work. We fit in well in California, both with the church and universities. Life has been blessed and full of joy.

We are having a special study lately in Sunday morning class about the human body and the body of Christ. I have downloaded pictures from the internet of human cells -- red and white blood cells, bone cells, eye cone cells, fat cells and nerve cells -- all those wondrous things in the body that show how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. Today's class was on "specializaton," making the point that a cell must "sacrifice" anything else it might have been for the sake of the body. It specializes, for the good of the body.

My life has changed as I have gotten closer to the heart of Christ, as I have found the "special" role that is mine. So now I don't preach any more, now I don't teach in the university, now I don't manage a school. And I'm no longer in California. So I am living in a less comfortable place, and my role is different. Now I am a fundraiser, and a networking liaison and an advisor, none of which make me most comfortable. But I am in the place where Jesus has placed me. It is not what is "natural" to me, but it is what naturally happens in the body of Christ.

And for this I give God glory and honor and praise, for the choice he made for me is that which makes the heart happy and fulfills the longings of the soul.

Passover and Hametz

2010-05-20T11:54:00.001-07:00

For many years we have used a Seder service in our family and church life. Darlene did a careful study of Passover and the relationship of Jesus to the seder and to the concept of Passover. After we began the street ministry in Nairobi, we have continued to do a "Christian Seder" with the street kids in our lives. One of the fun things we do is put some packages of "bread with yeast" around the room where we do the Seder, then we have the kids hunt them down and throw them outside. There are many other parts of the Seder that are great fun as well as filled with meaning.

We remember Jewish friends in California who also had to prepare well for Passover. Some of them had large amounts of liquor in the house. Before Passover, they would gather all of it up and take it to the house of a friend who is a Gentile, because it is "hametz" (fermented, thus unclean). They would leave it there until the Seder service was over, then the next day collect it and bring it home. This meets the requirements of the letter of the law, for it is out of the house, unavailable.

I've been thinking about how being in Christ and following the way of Christ has made "hametz" a daily reality for us. In Christ we have a new and different life. Passover is every day. Every day we have to wake up and clean out all the unclean things in life, in the house, in the physical body, in the body of Christ. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Christ is the Passover every day. The unclean is not only certain foods (and actually Christ has pronounced foods to be clean), but the unclean is in the heart, as Jesus makes clear in Matthew 15. So every day clean out jealousy, impure thoughts, hatred and anger, desiring what is another's and so on, all that which the Gospel teaches us is not for us on a Passover, especially when we sit down to eat a meal with Jesus present in the middle of the family.

Kittens, Kittens

2010-05-03T02:53:00.000-07:00

Here is Darlene with our 4 baby kittens. Last week we found a cat, sort of feral, in our house. It had come in the window; we chased it away. The next day Darlene and Laurent baked cakes for Kennedy's wedding on Saturday. Darlene did the wedding cake and Laurent several sheet cakes. Darlene put all of the cakes on our tables overnight, planning to decorate them on Friday. Friday morning 2 of the cakes had a bit eaten out of them, so we blamed the cat. We locked up all the windows (makes it kind of stuffy in the house, but...), and they decorated cakes on Friday.

That night the cat jumped on the window ledge and banged her head on the glass, three times. I went over and looked down at her and said "no." She finally went away.

Saturday morning Grace came to put on her wedding dress for the wedding; we have 4 hanging in the closet. Then we all went to the wedding, and it was great. We love it when our street kids grow up and get jobs and find the love of their lives. About 250 people came, enjoyed, ate a meal, tasted cake, and we finished in time for them to leave for the honeymoon (no easy feat in Kenya). Grace and Kennedy came to the house for her to change out of the wedding dress. As Darlene was helping her, she heard a cry, and thought a bird had gotten into the house somehow. When she pulled the wedding dresses out, 4 little kittens tumbled out.

So...tender-hearted Darlene opened up the windows in the bedroom, put meat and milk on the floor, and closed the door. The babies cried and finally momma came back. So now we have residents in our house.

We are glad that three team members at MITS have offered to take a kitten -- so that leaves one for us. And what of the Momma? Well, that's up to her. We never make anyone stay here; the street kids are free to leave if they don't like MITS. The rule is that they can't come back if they choose to leave after living here. Of course Momma cat knows how to get in. It's a good thing that our practice is never to leave any foodstuff out (the wedding cakes were a necessary exception). Anybody want a kitten?

Planning for a Volcano

2010-04-23T07:56:00.001-07:00

We have been developing another "business" course for our students who are in skills training at Made in the Streets - this one is about PLANNING. Bill Rider of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, created the basic materials, and Darlene has tailored it for our current students. Part of planning is seeing the potential obstacles and possible pitfalls of our plan of action.

Darlene and I always try to plan ahead when we travel. But we didn't plan for Iceland's volcano, even though we had read that is would erupt someday. So we flew through London and stopped off for a couple of days in Athens -- which turned into several more days, as we couldn't go back through London. Our favorite travel agent, David Jack from the Conejo Valley Church in Thousand Oaks, CA, finally got us seats on a Turkish Airline flight through Istanbul to Nairobi.

If you have to be stuck somewhere because of a volcano, Athens is a mighty good place. We watched the sun set from the Areopagus, where Paul preached to Greeks about the unknown God who is known in Christ (Acts 17). The picture is of the Areopagus taken from the Acropolis with the Parthenon in the background. Note the new stairway they put in to make it easy on older people!! The old stairs are still there, down below, and still a bit slippery, but that is probably the way Paul got up there, so we went ahead and climbed up that way. We ate gyros and feta cheese and spinach pie (and Darlene ate baklava). Dino Roussos graciously invited us on a bus trip with Christians from Tennessee to Corinth and Mycenae (remember Agamemnon and the Lions' Gate with the oldest sculptures in Greece??). It was a sentimental trip to Corinth, because we remember well one of the last trips we made with Darlene's Mom, who would come to Kenya and teach street kids to read for 6 months a year during her 70s. She loved Crete and Nikos Kazantzakis, whose tombstone reads, "I desire nothing, I fear nothing, I am free." She also loved Corinth, and she put a foot on every paving stone of the ancient city so that she would step where the apostle Paul did. So Darlene and I went down the street that way this time too. Now Darlene's Mom cannot go in the flesh to any place, but in the spirit she can still walk the walk with the Lord, and some day she may again step where Paul has stepped before her.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

We have been "on tour" with two Kenyan Team members at Made in the Streets. We have taken a break for Easter weekend. We had our "family Christian seder" Thursday evening with 28 people over! On Easter morning we were singing in church, and our grandchildren were singing the hymns -- lovely sounds to a grandfather. Then came time for the offering. One grandchild had a 2-dollar bill in hand, and it was not one handed over by the Mom. Then a small hand reached into the child's own wallet and pulled out another 2-dollar bill and put both in the plate as it came by. Then a smile for the Grandad.

I love everything in my life. I love seeing children do good things out of the heart. I love helping street kids get off the streets and into our family. I love being married. I love all the advances of modern technology and knowledge of the world. I love the ever-present Spirit.

Moments of Joy

2010-03-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

It was with great joy that we presented a "thank you" to John and Rosalyn Bailey at the MITS fundraiser at Legacy Church. The Baileys received a book chronicling their relationship with Made in the Streets titled "Tell Us Your Story." Life stories of three of the MITS girls are in the book as well as historical pictures. The woodworking boys at Kamulu made a wooden plaque with "Asante" (Swahili for "Thanks") engraved on it.

After the fundraiser, the Coulstons and family, along with Jackton and Irene and some Legacy Church members, went to DoubleDave's for pizza and fellowship. Jackton told us he had been praying for snow, since he has never in his life seen any. As we sat down to eat, a strong wind was blowing outside, and it began to snow. So Irene went outside to dance in the snow and was joined by the little girls in the group. Such fun to be with people experiencing parts of life for the first time, just as we rejoice when a street kid experiences having a bed of his own, or 3 meals a day, or a new pair of shoes, or an understanding of the God who loves him.

How Are You?

2010-03-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Our "base" is now the Dallas/Fort Worth area when we are in the USA. From here we go out to Tennessee, California, Iowa, Arizona and any other place where we can visit people and churches who will love street kids and us. And we arrived in time for the Texas Snow Season of 2010. We had a white Christmas and a white Valentine's Day. Then our two team members arrived from Nairobi; neither of them had ever seen snow, and Jackton was praying that God would let him see snow.

So after the fundraiser at Legacy Church, we went out for pizza at DoubleDave's with some people who helped us. And it started to snow, with the wind swirling it all around. Irene went out and danced in the snow, and Jackton went out and let it blow in his face. Delightful!

As we travel around, we see people whom we know and love. And they say "how are you?" And often my answer is, "I'm happy to be here with you." And it's true. And then I reflect on the question - it turns me inward to examine my heart and feelings and my true state.

And I have found inside myself that I am doing the very thing for which my life was created. That is a welcome joy for one who spent many years feeling inadequate and a bit restless, one whose teenage daughter painted a sweatshirt for him at Christmas one time with a lion and a lamb and the words, "May you find your peaceable kingdom."

And I have.

Showing Off

2010-03-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

I like to show off.

I like for people to see Made in the Streets. Visitors come to see us now and then, and they go out on the streets and alleyways with us and meet street kids. And they hurt inside, because they have never seen anything that touches their hearts like this. Then they visit our Centers and see the former street kids who are with us and how they have "cleaned up" and how good and smart they are, and they are impressed. I love showing off the ministry.

I like for people to meet the people I work with. The Kenyan Team that runs Made in the Streets - these are special people. This month two of them, Jackton Omondi and Irene Otalo, are in the USA traveling with us, visiting churches and friends. And people love them and listen to them. I love showing off my friends.

I like for people to know I am a Grandad. I taught two granddaughters how to ride a bicycle last month, and I'm still glowing with excitement as much as they are. I love showing off my family.

I like for people to know about the church -- and about the churches that are a rich part of my life. Eastside and Redwood and Campbell and Palo Alto and Conejo and GCR and Mt. Ave and Simi and Otter and Central and South Mac and Singing Oaks and Prestoncrest and Legacy and Hamilton and A&M and.... I love to show off the church.

I like for people to know that I respect Jesus. I confidently sing "He is here, He is here, He is moving among us, and He is here." I love showing off my Jesus.

Snow Think

2010-02-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

Watching the snow pile up and thinking of deeper things. What a creation water is! Made of relatively simple and common atomic structures, water is itself fairly simple molecular structure. Maybe that accounts for the incredible flexibility from ice to liquid to vapor in the cloud. There are so many forms of water, and all are beautiful in their own ways. Perhaps snow is the most amazing, though Crater Lake has its charm.

God knew we would enjoy all the forms of water. And that means He had our enjoyment in mind as well as the utility of water's functions. And that makes we appreciate Him all the more.

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are at Fort Worth/Dallas! It continues to snow today. We stood outside and watched the biggest flakes I have ever seen, and it was wonderful. Of course, we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 20 years and only saw it snowing once. And the last 18 years in Nairobi we have NOT seen it snow! So for us this is just great, and this afternoon when granddaughters come from school, we'll play in it and make snow ice cream and have lots of fun. The pic is of the house we are having built for our happy use when we are in the USA. Our hearts are in Nairobi with street kids, but being here with family and friends is also our joy. Let it snow!

Loving Jesus MORE

2010-01-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

Today I feel so grateful to friends who support us. To those who don't know us well, my mom used to come and spend 6 months each year with us, teaching and loving street kids. She was with us in the beginning and set up our English curriculum; she loved teaching them to read and was equally "at home" sitting in a street base or living in a nearby apartment to ours in the slum. Now, she's in a home, with two loving caregivers, and she sleeps most of the time. Seven years ago she forgot my name; this was when I returned from Kenya after not being with her for 6 months. When I got there, she had "moved"; she didn't know where she was. And I didn't know where she was either; she was lost in her mind. Now, she sleeps most of the time, and I think she recognizes my voice. This has been hard on me. I leave her and go to Africa. It's not easy.

What makes it possible is friends who love God and thus love her. Let me just tell you about one friend, Michelle. She's had two wonderful ideas I'd like to share; the ideas might help some of you with a parent like mine. Last time I was there, Michelle said, "Let's run by the mall. I need to do some shopping." Well, OK.... She took me to Build A Bear, and together we picked out the softest animal and do you know, they have a "voice" you can put inside. So I stepped into the restroom, and tearfully sang a song to Mom, and we put it in the bunny. Michelle bought it and I took it to Mom. If you press a bunny foot, she can hear my voice. Mom's two caregivers think it's great and fun too, so they press it a lot. And so do other visitors that come to be with Mom.

Michelle's other idea is that she's made Mom her "MITS prayer partner". Every time Michelle comes, she prays with Mom about MITS. How appropriate. I do know that if Mom could talk, she would tell me to be in Africa, for she loves those street kids too. My other friends come to read Scripture, sing, pray, and (I hope) press the bunny foot, ha. I really, really, appreciate them!

So today, as you live for Jesus in so many ways, just know that as you impact others, we really appreciate it and feel God's arms around us and around those we must leave in our choice of service to Jesus.

Have a busy day! Darlene

SUCH A GOOD TIME

2010-01-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

I have been having such a good time that I haven't had time to write.

Reminds me of a story from the early church. The apostle John had survived longer than the other apostles, and he was elderly near the end of the first century. There was much turmoil in the Roman Empire, charges of sedition and disloyalty were being brought against various people, and the new emperor wanted to be called god as well as honored.

So some of the Christians tried to convince John to write his memories -- "you were with Jesus," "you were there at the beginning," "you saw the church at its origin," "you witnessed the resurrection of Jesus," and so on. But John resisted, saying that he wanted to keep on teaching, that he was having the best of times, that the Word received in a heart is the most joyful of events, that the "word of mouth" is the most believeable means of communication.

Perhaps it is the Lord himself who arranged John's exile from Ephesus, so that John would have opportunity to be led by the Spirit to write a story of Jesus and to "see" the apocalyptic or hidden truth underlying life in this age.

Anyway, I have been having a good time -- with the church, with family, with little girls who are learning basketball, with friends. But today begins a period of discipline, in which I will write regularly, and get more work done.

May you get done what you desire.

HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

2009-12-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

How does it happen that we plan a visit to Campbell for 12 March because we need to be in Thousand Oaks on 13 March, and then we find out that 12 March is the day the Christian School finishes a fundraiser for Made in the Streets, and they would like very much for us to be there for the closing event?

How does it happen that my doctor tells me it would be good to read Three Cups of Tea, since it is a little like our own work, and we arrive at the Jacks' house, where we are staying that night, to find that Michelle has that book sitting on her stairway to give to us?

How does it happen that the MITS' Team works out the holiday events for the street kids, sets up a budget so I can send out a newsletter requesting help, and the money we get in the next two weeks dedicated to that purpose is in fact that amount?

What is the nature and power of faith that events like this should occur? Does faith in fact bend the course of events to fit the need and the plan? Or is faith a faithful guide to put us in the right place at the right time? Jesus said that our trust in Him would shake geography, putting mountains in unplanned locations. So faith has this power to bend and shape. And it is not the power we put into our faith, but the mere presence of faith that brings such joyous shape to our lives. For this is the nature of the mustard seed.

We are not ashamed to accept these gifts, not ashamed to admit that it is not our intelligence and planning that makes life so very good, but the goodness of the one in whom we trust.

So...take a look at a coin today...and let good things happen.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR HEAVEN?

2009-11-30T07:05:00.001-08:00

Here at Made in the Streets in Nairobi we have had everyone painting Christmas stockings - all the students at Kamulu, the single moms at Eastleigh, the Team members, the other staff of MITS, the little kids in our family -- we have 89 stockings hanging up in the courtyard of the Learning Center and a few more to finish. I told them that Father Christmas only puts stuff in the stockings he finds. Darlene had fabric paint, so they have all been creative.

We watched the movie Polar Express, and we then gave the DVD to the girls. The boys have seen it. The big question is, What do you want for Christmas? Somebody asked me, and I didn't have an immediate answer, but I've been thinking about it. All I can think of that I really really want is a quiet, or noisy, afternoon with my granddaughters. I think that's "dayenu" as we say at Passover time about each of God's gracious gifts that are "plenty."

Then I started thinking about the gift of heaven and what other gifts go with it. And I was sitting in church at Kamulu on Friend Sunday yesterday (we had 186 before the kids went out for Sunday school, and I had 34 in my adult class - quite a few visitors at church), and two of our street girls sang a song for the church, and Titus led one of his wonderful prayers, and I looked around at all these kids, some in literacy, some in skills training, some in internships, some having jobs and with us on Sunday. And we set up all our tables and had chapati and bread and Blue Band and jelly and cookies and tea and coffee and juice and cake (did I mention it was Jeremy Mbuvi's first birthday yesterday and Laurent and Eliza's anniversary?), and everyone sat around

and talked and ate and the kids had so much fun.

And I thought -- this is what I want for heaven. This is the gift of heaven I want -- to be with these people eternally, along with some of my family and some old friends -- and Jesus, of course. I think that will do it for me.

BLESSINGS FOR JANE

2009-11-27T01:06:00.000-08:00

Jane Njeri was a church member at Kamulu for about a year before she began to volunteer in street ministry at Eastleigh. She would go in on Mondays with Maureen and Team members who worked with the street mothers' program (more than 40 young moms from the streets with their babies) or to go out on the streets with Kennedy, Anthony and Larry Conway. She proved to be a great teacher and inspiration to the young moms. Her background in alcoholism and a broken family and subsequent decision to be faithful to Jesus gave her a good background for working with the girls, plus the fact that she came out of poverty also.

Jane had a problem, though. She had a growth on the side of her face at her lip that had been growing for about 15 years. Last summer she became a Team member at MITS after Ann Mwangi, our Eastleigh supervisor, left us to go to university. Then John Bailey, who was in Kenya on a medical mission program, had a doctor look at her, and we took pictures for the doctors to analyze. Last month doctors came again with Dr. Bailey, and Jane flew "fly540," one of our local airlines, to Malindi on the coast for surgery. It was her first airplane ride.

She was there for almost a week and returned with a swollen jaw. But she said she could tell the difference and was confident the swelling would go down.

Here are before and after pictures to help you see the benefit to Jane. And having her happy is good for MITS! We are all happy for her and grateful to the doctors who came with John and performed the surgery. MITS is blessed to have such friends.

Garden Delights

2009-11-09T20:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I had opportunity to make a chapel talk. We rotate chapel talks through the kids and the Team members. I decided to talk a little about our garden, because we have been so delighted in how well it does. It makes me know that at Kamulu we are able to grow more food than our kids can eat. It's a matter of doing the farming right, and we will learn.

We have a young woman with a small boy whose husband left when trouble came who works as a gardener for us. Her little boy was born without a full urinary tract, so he has needed surgeries and therapy. A doctor whom Larry Conway knew has been wonderful to take care of him. Anyway, Nancy has done wonders with our garden. Only 6 tomato plants are making all the tomatoes we can eat, and about 200 plants will soon produce. We have 7 short rows of pole beans, and every other day we get about 15 pounds of green beans. So we have been feeding green beans to the girls and the boys and the Team members and for lunch at our cafeteria.

Back to the chapel talk. We sometimes have kids who have reasons to give up - school is hard, another student yells, they make mistakes, they have to keep to the schedule. So I talked about "burnout" in business and professions. Then I talked about how beans can give and give and give (we've picked our beans 12 times already) and still, at the end, they produce as many dry beans as they would have if we never picked them. God made the bean, and it turned out really good. I told them that when they produce for God, He will pick and pick from them and use it for good, and they never have to give up. And at the end God will take what they have left and it will be good.

Then we had a short Team meeting. Francis had been to a leadership conference, and one of the things he wants to talk to the team about is the ability to keep on going with joy and dedication without losing desire and quality work. The ability to renew self in spirit so that you can go.

So, here is to a life without burnout, a life that keeps on giving, a life propped up by God's own energy!

2009-11-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

There cannot be much better in life than seeing good things happen to those you love. So let me list a few --

1 -- Paulyne Adhiambo, one of our street moms who came into the Eastleigh program last month, went to the hospital on a rainy night to have her baby. Can you imagine how hard it must be when a street girl has her baby on the street in the rain?

2 -- Jane Njeri, our supervisor at the Eastleigh center, has been invited to fly to Malindi tomorrow to have a long-term growth taken off her lip and cheek. We doubt that we will recognize her when she returns at the end of the week.

3 -- we have good friends in Iowa, and you can imagine how they feel after the locals came from behind to defeat an arch-enemy in the second half.

4 -- Francis Cugia, one of our older boys who is in an internship in carpentry now, was honored in church today for his service to the church.

5 -- Kehl Omondi, Jackton and Millie's baby, came through hernia surgery on Friday just fine, thank you, and came home yesterday. Jackton shared the story of his birth in the communion talk this morning.

6 -- Susan Wambui, our student with diabetes, looks great lately. I talked with her today, and she is keeping her sugar level down, giving herself injections regularly, exercising and eating the diet she has been given, and she is enjoying her beauty school. She has taken mock exams, will take final exam in a couple of weeks, and has talked to some salons about an internship. She will be 18 in December and is looking forward to her life "out there." She also told me that she has already checked into a school downtown where she can go in the evenings and get her high school equivalency, which she will pay for herself after she starts work (unless we decide to give her a gift just because we are so proud of her!)

7 -- Joseph Mburu, our student who got a job in a computer shop, talked to me today about going to programming school. Looks like we'll have to get some money together to send him; it is nice to see such ambition in our kids. He has checked into a school, gotten a brochure, and will now get our IT man to write a proposal for him to present to the Team.

8 -- And there is Titus Kioko, a young man who has come out of a drugged-up life to become a fine young man -- we presented one of his prayers last week. Today he told me that his grandmother found him when the kids went on their last shopping trip and told him her house in the slum had falled down, obviously hoping he could get someone to help her. So he wants to find some way to help her build it back up (she is still sleeping in the fallen remains). We talked about how we could get our Team at Eastleigh to take a few of the older street guys down there with some posts and sheet metal and shore it up. What is important in this story is that this is the grandmother who did not want him. When our Team members first helped Titus get off the streets, they found his grandmother to talk about where he would live and see if she would sign off on him. But she said, "Titus is worthless..he will just run away," and she refused to sign. But there was another grandson, and she signed off on him. He came to Kamulu but soon ran away. But Titus is still with us, and now he wants to help his grandmother. I would say that good things have happened to that young man.

So...I'm happy today, in Jesus Christ I'm happy today....because my friends are blessed.

Have a blessed day

Garden of Delight

2009-10-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

We weighed the basket that we got in from the garden this morning - 9 pounds - green beans and tomatoes and passion fruit. And we have two stalks of bananas ripening in the garage. When I left the Oklahoma farm for university, I said goodbye to the farm, thinking it was forever. Now we have our own "little farm," and the street ministry has a lot of farm land in which our students can learn agriculture and which help feed the kids as well.

Tonight I went out where young passion fruit vines are growing near the fence. I took twine and began to disentangle the strands of vine to tie them up on the fence. The passion fruit complained that I was hurting them, as I had to break some of their tendrils that cling on other surfaces in order to raise them higher where they could grow better. They thought I was being mean to them. So they cried out in pain, and they did not understand that I had a better plan for them.

So it must be with God at times. He works in our lives, shaping and molding and creating a future for us. And we hate change and pain, and we cry out against Him, or we seek some other answer to life besides His patient but pain-giving tending of our lives. And He has a better plan for us than we can make for ourselves, sinking our tendrils into the lower parts of the earth, when He would have us climb and produce.

MORNING IN KENYA

2009-10-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Early morning the hyena are whooping, and many birds singing their joy. The mara in Kenya is a most marvelous place, even in a time of drought. Six AM coffee, then to the hunt. Two cheetah walking across the plain, a thousand gazelle dot the landscape and lonely acacia trees spot the land. Seemingly lazy giraffe walk in majesty and a lilac-breasted roller sits calmly on a branch in the wind. Lions are sleeping, and a few raise their heads and show golden eyes. Four Thompson gazelle run with all their might, and an eland stands quietly in the early morning sun. A black rhino casually saunters down to the river bank and up the other side, charging a secretary bird just for the fun of it.

And God said, "it's good."

Hard to find a better experience than seeing African animals in their own habitat. And then back for breakfast at the lodge- omelettes and fruit and coffee and toast until bursting. Happy conversation with friends, talking over what we saw.

We were the guests of Nargis and Minaz Manji, who are businesspeople in Nairobi and have part ownership of the lodge. Nargis is the salon operator who has trained and employs five of our street girls. Minaz has helped many of our visitors with safari plans at his travel business.

And on this trip they introduce us to other people, who are interested in the street ministry and willing to help. And they have ideas and suggestions and they know people who will give our kids attachments and maybe jobs in their businesses.

Nice to mix pleasure with ministry.

Prayer and Doing the Right Thing

2009-10-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

Certain things seem to have power to work out. One of those is prayer - we know the power that God exerts in the lives of those who pray. When the local member of parliament here in Nairobi and a group seeking to gain money from a government community growth program invaded Made in the Streets land, brought thugs to attack two of our team members and a student and tore down our fence around our skills training property, we immediately began to talk to the kids about how to respond to trouble. No violence! No anger! Pray for your enemies, in obedience to Jesus. Seek to let the law take its course.

The law taking its course has not worked well. The police did not protect us nor did they deal with the invaders in any way. They fear the powers that be. Nor have the courts proven to be a place that upholds the laws of property ownership. Even the Ministry of Education has allowed an illegal registration to take place; it violates the policies they have tacked to their most visible bulletin board (No registration shall take place without receipt of copies of legal ownership of land where schools are built.)

But prayer has had power in the lives of our Team and kids from the streets. Last Sunday morning one of our young men, Titus Kioko, prayed in church for the health and well-being and blessing on the member of parliament. The character of our young people is being developed in prayer.

And today John Wambu came by to talk about some of his conversations with people in the community. There is a man in the community who operates a school, and he has been our "enemy," encouraging those who seek to take land away from others. Last year his school had a terrible fire. The only people in the community who came to their aid was Made in the Streets. We took them a load of sand and some cement to help rebuild. We re-welded their metal bunk beds, which were twisted in the fire. He told John that he has encouraged everyone he has influence with to leave us alone. So doing the right thing has power too.

This doesn't solve the current ongoing problem of the land that was invaded, but it does help secure that we will not be invaded again. And through prayer maybe those who are involved with get what they really need in their lives.

Visitors to Made in the Streets

2009-10-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

We love having visitors at Made in the Streets. We love introducing street kids to visitors, giving our kids a chance to interact with all kinds of people. For two days Dr. Don Moore from the Otter Creek Church and Vanderbilt University has been with us. He talked about medical issues and answered questions from both our Team and kids, and the kids had lots of questions. He endeared himself most to them when he presented them with a soccer ball from his son.

Yesterday Greg Clodfelter, who works in Nyeri, showed up about 5 PM with David Roland and Keith Pilcher of Knoxville, Tennessee. They rode a matatu (our local transport, famed for its disrespect of the law and crowded conditions) from Nyeri. Four of our girls saw them as they arrived and directed them to our house. They enjoyed talking to the 4 girls, whom they said were quite talkative. That shows how much confidence kids gain from being at MITS. It was really great to have David ask us, "If I went back home and told my elders what you need here, what would you say?" That was great! So we told

him that 1) we need a hairdressing teacher, and we need to fund that teacher for a couple of years (and we could use someone here a few weeks from the US to train someone. And we said 2) we need a pre-school teacher, again with funding for a couple of years, since our single moms will need a place for the kids to be while they do skills training. Each of those is about $125 a month, in case a reader is interested. Donate online (see madeinthestreets.blogspot.com) or send to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027. We also told

David that we feel a need to send our Team on a retreat two times a year, since we are a 24/7/365 enterprise. It costs about $1,200 for a retreat, unless we do something really special such as flying to the coast and staying at a resort, which costs about $325 a Team member.

some of the men on the MITS Team

Things That Inspire

2009-10-05T00:31:00.001-07:00

I felt inspired by a passion fruit this morning. We have a garden on our stone wall surrounding our house in Nairobi; passion fruit vines are growing on it. We took 124 passion fruit down to Milly today so she could include them in the lunch for our students, former street kids now in our "family" and education and skills training program at Kamulu. So I took one of them into chapel and talked to the kids about it after the first couple of songs (it's great to be back here singing with the kids -- that's inspiring in itself!).

I held up the passion fruit, and they told me what it was. I told them it is dark like them, but unlike them, it is kind of ugly, while they are beautiful. They laughed, and I shared with them that many American visitors have never seen passion fruit before, and when they look at the fruit, they doubt whether it will be any good.

I reminded them that they have had experiences like that, when nobody thought they were very good. They nodded their heads or said yes. They have had people shout at them, run them away, pour hot water on them, throw stones at them and abuse them in other ways when they were sleeping on the streets.

Then I told them the value of the passion fruit, that it makes everything else better. You mix it in with mango and strawberries and apples and oranges, and it adds a special flavor that is delightful. And I said, "You make my life better." And I told them that I believe they will make many other people better during their lives. Most of them will marry, and they will make husbands and wives into better people. They will help their employers to have a better life, and they will make fellow employees better. And they will make others in the church better.

They will do this because they love God, and because they love what is good. So I said to just keep on going the way they are going, and they are like the passion fruit, making life delightful in their own way.

God is Smart

2009-09-17T07:50:00.001-07:00

I mentioned before about walking home from a Passover meal carrying my granddaughter, when she looked up at the constellation Orion and said, "God is really smart." I've been thinking about that truth lately. We drove through the desert in our move from California to Texas and saw its stark beauty. And here in Texas we saw a lightning storm, as great bolts hit the ground all around. I walk a great deal, partly to keep the diabetes in check and to stay relatively fit, partly to have time to think or to talk to Darlene, and I have looked at all the ways we use concrete.

There is an enormous amount of concrete all over the world. One aspect is that it means the removal of trees and the loss of farm land. But another is revelation of the enormous amounts of raw materials for concrete.

So...in the beginning...God planned for our future. He made raw materials for something people would learn to use many thousands of years after their making. And he made enough for all the creative ways we would use the materials. And then there are radio waves, which we would learn to use. And who knows what else lies in our universe that we have not even dreamed of, but will be useful to people who live long after us.

God is really smart. He not only makes what is needed for the moment -- all manner of fruits and plants for the young couple in the Garden to eat and use -- but for all the long future of mankind before He decides the time is finished. That's why the marveling Paul of Tarsus writes that in Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col. 2:3) and in Christ all things hold together (Col. 1:17).

And there are a lot of other things to marvel at, not to mention the people whom God has transformed into the image of his Son.

Coulston Address

2009-08-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

We have a new address to receive mail. The family is now based in the Fort Worth/Dallas area. We are less than 20 minutes from DFW, so our flights to visit people on behalf of Made in the Streets will be easy to catch and centrally located.

Continue to donate online (see www.made-in-the-streets.org or www.madeinthestreets.blogspot.com for the online) or send to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027. But for mail about the ministry, or for sponsors to send mail for us to take to students, please send to

Charles/Darlene Coulston
P. O. Box 93165
Southlake, TX 76092

We look forward to hearing from you.

I Fell Off the Truck

2009-08-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

We are now in Texas. We have been warmly welcomed. Joel Quile, who was in the youth group in the Redwood Church when we were in the Bay Area, lives 5 minutes away and he found us kind and serving believers who came over and helped us unload at the house. And Kim brought pizza and someone else brought a cake and water bottles...it was a great welcome.

We received a wonderful goodbye from the Conejo Church in Thousand Oaks, CA. They let me preach on August 16 and gave us a reception goodbye after second worship. Then we drove the pickup and the van the 1,474 miles from Thousand Oaks to the Fort Worth/Dallas area, along with me in a rental truck. So, back to the topic...

Darlene and I are putting our belongings in storage for the time being; maybe by this time next year we'll have a place to put it all. We took the rental truck to the storage unit and started unloading. Our son-by-marriage was in the truck with me handing out a large mattress, and Darlene and our daughter were below, with the kids in the car. Darlene slightly tripped on a bed frame and I thought I'd be a good guy and get down and help them with the mattress, so I walked off the truck.

I am impressed with how efficient gravity is. Seemingly with no time in between I left the truck and landed on the asphalt. Everybody screamed, and I don't know what they did with the mattress. It was quite a shock to my system, and I lay there a bit to assess the damage. My head hit the ground but there seemed to be no pain there. After a while I isolated damage to my left knee, my right elbow and the right side of my back in the rib cage. In the last few days I have supported the Ibuprofen industry and been pampered by the family. Each day one of the granddaughters asks me how I am, and I tell her I am sore, and she says she wants God to help me feel better. That helps a lot!

I am still able to drink lattes and talk short walks around the neighborhood. And now I am back at work on the internet. And I have this short piece of advice that is useless -- it isn't wise for a medicare patient to be too helpful.

peace, charles

Ready to Move

2009-07-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

We always try to be ready to move, whether to heaven or to another spot here. There is so much work to moving, to remind us of the value of where we are and the joy of where we are going. Nothing against Texas, but we would stay in California if it were up to us -- we are following granddaughters (and they have parents, of course). The Coulston's new mailing address is P.O. Box 93165, Southlake, Texas, 76092. Donations to Made in the Streets may be done online or sent to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027. But anything that needs our special attention please send to the Texas address.

Tomorrow is a granddaughter's 5th birthday, and in two weeks we will have been married 45 years. As Scripture says of the early church - "much grace was upon them all" - we have first-hand experience of that great and wondrous grace that grows out of not only the kindness of God but also the kindness of God's people.

So...be kind! And rejoice in grace!

A Good Book

2009-07-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

Now and then I find a book that reaches deep down within me where my true heart resides. That part of my life needs to be touched now and then with great ideas, because it is out of that place that my actions come. Last year Mike Rivas of Thousand Oaks, CA, gave us several copies of John Ortberg's Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them. Two weeks ago I finally got around to reading it myself. Chapter 3 on "the fellowship of the mat" is worth spending my own money for. So today I introduced the book to the Team members at Made in the Streets who are dorm supervisors for the boys. I asked them to read it at the same time and talk in pairs after each chapter. They agreed. I found out that a couple of the Team have already read it, and now 6 are engaged with it. We will see what it touches in them and what it will come to mean to the street kids also.

When you find a book that reaches you, we would love for you to recommend it to our Team, or buy a few copies for us. We can get the books over here in suitcases when we travel. Let us know. It's a way to powerfully impact young men and women who powerfully impact kids who have no home and no hope.

Matatus

2009-06-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Matatus are fascinating. They are mini-buses that are used for public transport in Nairobi and all over Kenya. They have 30 seats and hold 77 people - or they did until they passed a law in 1994 saying everyone had to have a seat. Once Darlene and I turned off 1st Avenue in Eastleigh into Juja Road and there were 4 matatus abreast coming at us (and that's on a 2-lane street). I guess they missed us; I didn't remember anything for a few days. Here is a picture of two matatus coming down a street in Eastleigh with lots of trash in it. Many of them are wildly painted, with all sorts of graphics and words on them. And they play loud music and drive as fast as they can wherever they are. The objective is to pass one more car. And the method is to stop anywhere and without warning to try to pick up one more customer before another matatu does. They cause lots of traffic jams by passing anywhere, especially if there is a slowdown, blocking cars from the other direction, filling up the round-a-bouts (traffic circles) and causing all traffic to come to a standstill. Everybody hates them, and everybody rides them. Of course some of our kids at Made in the Streets aspire to be matatu drivers.

And yesterday we were in a small traffic jam on the highway, following a matatu, and we saw written on the back of it -- Max Lucado! Now that's fame!

Virda Stevens

2009-06-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

Sadness and joy seem always mixed in our lives. We have to say good-bye to a close friend. Virda Stevens, the person who convinced us to visit Kenya in 1990, died, and we feel an empty space. We often tell this story when people ask us how we came to work with street kids or why we do what we do. In 1988 Bill and Virda visited Kenya, spent time with some missionaries, and fell in love with the concept of ministry the missionaries held. And they developed a great vision for the work that led to a great school in Eastleigh Section II of Nairobi -- KCITI. Under their vision and help, it became a computer and electronics school that excelled in training computer operators and technicians. For many years KCITI produced more graduate than all the other schools in Nairobi combined, and they got the jobs because they had everyday experience on the computer.

But back to the story. In 1989 they decided to join an evangelism campaign led by Lloyd Deal in Eastleigh. They invited us to go with them, but we refused. We had no intention of working in Africa, since we wanted to eventually go to Singapore and Malaysia. Besides that, we were set on going on a backpacking trip in Europe that summer. So they took several other people with them on the trip. Deal's campaign, lasting over 2 months, baptized 360+ people, and a church was begun.

That was great, but Virda had another vision. She saw hundreds of kids on the streets, and they were only evangelizing adults. So she wanted to return and do a Vacation Bible School and train teachers, so they would one day have a good children's ministry and Sunday school. She came to us and asked us to write a series of 5 classes and a two-day teaching training manual of the type she felt they needed for the kids in poverty in Eastleigh. We said, "Okay, but we are not going." It took about 3 months to write the material. When we gave it to Virda, she read it and liked all the graphics and lesson plans and crafts. A few weeks later she came back to us and said, "Uh, you are the ones who wrote this teacher training material; you really ought to be the one to do the training." That was too much to resist. So we went, and 35 people from the Eastleigh Church came for training, and it was wonderful. And on the last day of VBS, there were 435 kids.

She wanted to go again the next year, so we did the same thing. This time 76 people came for training for the two long and grueling days of preparation. And on the last day, 1003 kids showed up for VBS. We could have died and gone to heaven then.

But Virda has continued to serve the Lord, and so much more has been done in all the years since. And we are still in Nairobi, now working with street children, still in the Eastleigh area, because of Virda's love for us and her perseverance. Thanks, Virda, for a friendship well lived.

Moving Gets You More Friends

2009-06-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Those who know Darlene and me know how much we love California. The San Francisco Bay Area was home for 21 years. We love the rugged Pacific beach and the stunningly beautiful Sierra Mountains. We love many people there who live in our hearts. The Redwood Church holds wonderful memories for us.

And we have truly enjoyed having our "base" in Southern California for the years we have worked in street ministry in Nairobi. Returning for time with family in between visits to churches to make reports is a delight, as we watch grandchildren grow and spend time with an aged mother, who herself did great ministry in Nairobi for 6 years. And the growing relationship with Conejo Church has enriched our lives, as we have developed many dear friends.

Now our lives promise to be divided further, as we will have 3 homes. We will continue to be in Nairobi half our time, but we will be divided between the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth area and California. Because of street ministry, we have found great friends among Christians in Irving, Denton, Colleyville, North Richland Hills, Hamilton and Garland, not to mention Dallas itself. Such varied churches as South MacArthur, Prestoncrest, Legacy, Hamilton and Singing Oaks are dear to us.

Every move we have made has resulted in finding dear friends with whom to enjoy life and ministry. We are certain that will continue. In Christ there is never a need to look back, only forward, and sideways to those we walk beside. For Christ is always the "yes" to what we seek to become.

An Answer to Despair

2009-06-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

I am happy to have an answer to my questions in a short time. I have known people who struggle with issues and bad feelings for long periods, and who thus have to battle against bitterness as well. Asaph writes in Psalm 73 of his own struggle as he watched bad people get good things. The rich got richer, the proud gained more reason to be proud. He was almost reduced to complaining and bitterness. Then, he says, "I went into the sanctuary." Then he understood the vaporous character of gain without gratitude, the slippery slope of self-pride in place of God-pride.

So today I went to church. It's my job to make coffee and teach the 9:00 am Bible class. Today it was 1 Thessalonians 2. But it was afterwards that I found my answer. I begin on Sunday getting ready for next week's class, which is to be 1 Thessalonians 3. I sat in church and listened to two of our girls sing, and one of our boys read a scripture about hope from Isaiah. And in a quiet moment I started to read chapter 3. Paul wrote to the church that "we must have these troubles." He says, "we told you that we all would have to suffer." I know those concepts, but it was only in the context of the church that they became real for me. For Paul also wrote, "we have much suffering, still we are comforted by the faith of the church."

So there it is. Suffering does not diminish joy, when you are in the church. Loss does not bring despair, when you listen to the song and the scripture and you experience in living color the faith of the church.

Next time I suffer loss and feel the pain, I will seek to remember to go right away into the presence of the One who lets us see. And I will not forget the church. And I will never cease to value the role of the church in my life.

Dealing with Loss

2009-06-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

John Wambu and I are having a hard time dealing with loss. We made the offices at the Learning Center of Made in the Streets as secure as we knew how. We put a safe in the wall when we built it -- and put a cement roof on the room. We put a metal door on the office, a metal door on the outside office door, metal gates on the Learning Center, and we stationed a dog at the Center. As it turns out, we did not have at the time of the break-in the strongest possible locks everywhere, but we had strong ones. Thieves broke in and stole $8,000 of the ministry money, which was scheduled to do renovations on the property, to build part of a new building and to pay for special activities for the street kids, among other things. No one had actually seen us bring in the money, and only 4 people knew about the safe.

But people know that a school will have cash at the end of a month. And they know it will be in the most secure office. And someone may have noticed that there was a connecting door between the conference room and the office area, and the conference room had a strong lock but one that could be cut. So...they came at night, broke the locks, found the safe and took the money.

For us, loss is hard to deal with. Both John and I feel guilty, knowing there was more we could have done for security. And we feel bad for the ministry and the kids. We sorry that someone we know and love may have been involved. We wonder if we can keep money safe the next time.

There are many things we think of. Jesus suffered loss; he even let Judas Iscariot continue to steal out of the common purse. Paul counted all material, mental and social things of this world as less than nothing for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus. Paul said he was content, with little or much, with whatever happens in life. Christians are called to rejoice in all circumstances. We are called to believe that we are in the will of God, that God is in control, that all that happens to us will further the kingdom of God in some way.

We still find it hard to deal with loss. It happened on our watch, and we built the office and the safe. And we have responsibility for the ministry's money. So how do we find peace? Or do we need the turmoil until we find better ways to take care of God's resources?

We each forgive and try to encourage the other, and it is hard for either of us to receive the encouragement. It keeps us awake at night, and both of us have lost weight (and John can hardly afford the weight loss). We both know that God loves us, that this ministry is worth doing and these kids are more valuable than all the world, but all that doesn't yet console us. Each of us keeps thinking it's our fault, and that's hard to shake.

I have discovered many times that one of the answers to guilt is the passage of time. One usually feels better in the morning, at least after sincerely changing and desiring to be a better person. So I feel sure that a morning will come when we both feel better. We want once again to have what John writes about, when the heart does not condemn.

I usually don't write like this, because my life has been incredibly happy and full of joyous things. Bad things have happened, but I have been basically untouched. So why does the loss of money hurt so much? Maybe it's because my Dad was so responsible when it came to money, and I think the way he did.

I'm also working on forgiving the people who took the money. May they find the Lord!

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER by darlene

2009-05-26T02:23:00.000-07:00

Last week the whole Team of Made in the Streets sat and talked about their feelings and questions regarding the land problem. Some had fear because of a man who brought thugs near the property, some were confused. At the end, Irene Akinyi suggested that the best thing we could do was to ask God for help, and Jackton wondered aloud, "What extraordinary thing can we or can God do that will help us with relationships with community people?" We all dedicated ourselves to pray for God to show us something extraordinary that will lead the community to love what we do for street kids, instead of hearing rumors.

Two days later some women from the church, who did not know that the Team was praying, dedicated themselves to pray and to talk with their neighbors. And a week later, the member of Parliament who led the group in the invasion of MITS land came to visit, to see what we do and to talk. The picture is a group of women who meet and pray together after worship on Sunday.

God is at work! We can't wait to see what the end of it will be.

Making Kids Happy

2009-05-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Each time we return to Nairobi after a stay in the States, we have great joy in seeing the growth of the street kids who are in our program. It is especially gratifying to see our young mothers who came from the streets and are learning to enjoy their babies and toddlers. This time our grandchildren, who pray for street kids every day and especially for these little ones, bought gifts to send with us for the kids at the Eastleigh Center. Here they are packing their gifts in our crates before we left the States.

Darlene spent time with the young mothers and gave the

gifts to the kids, who are Mna and Larry (their mom is Maria, the 15 year old), Mutua (his mom is Catherine, 17) and Brian (his mom is Millie, 16). In this pic the kids are enjoying their treasures. The other pic is Mna, who got the most wonderful little African-American baby doll. You garage sale lovers might look for a soft vinyl African-American baby doll for us, since one of our teenage girls, a new one named Florence, who hardly ever speaks up, said wistfully to Darlene, "That is beautiful. I have never had a doll." Make you wanna cry!

Of Things Missing, Fleas and Dying Engines

2009-05-13T11:53:00.001-07:00

It only takes 30 minutes for disaster, or something close to it, to occur. We needed to deliver empty crates to the boys' dorm leaders because some of the boys had no place to put clothes, we needed to deliver new mattresses we will use for visitors to the girls' compound (all the girls were there taking karate lessons from the Pepperdine University visitors), and we had other things we needed to take to the Learning Center. The Team was there doing Team-building exercises with the Pepperdine University group. So we decided to drive it all down.

We rounded the corner at the Learning Center to drive to the shops for the crates, and the ground we usually drove over was all plowed. And Darlene said, "where's our container?" I looked and couldn't believe it -- someone has stolen our container!!! -- John Wambu and I own a piece of land near the Learning Center and I have a container parked on it. But it was gone, and the fence was gone, and it was all plowed. Now there has been a dispute over this piece of land because a neighbor behind it wants highway frontage property, and we are there on the very valuable piece of land. When we drove through the Learning Center property to get to the shops, we found the container. It had been moved down by the Learning Center on the frontage road, and there were the fence posts. That's the first step.

We went on to the shops and went in the auto mechanics area to get the crates. We noticed that our dog Beauty was missing also. Then as I went back to get the flashlight -- did I mention the electricity was out? -- Darlene noticed something stinging on her legs. When I went into the container there, she ran back out to the light to find little black seeds all over her legs. When they didn't brush off, she then concluded they were fleas. By the time I put some things in the container and got the crates out, I could feel stuff crawling around on me too. When I got outside, I found little black fleas all over my shirt, and pants, and shoes. So...we delivered the crates to the team and said, "Did no one see the container moving around?" Of course they did, and you can read about it in the MITS blog at www.madeinthestreets.blogspot.com

We got back in the car and drove home, with Darlene opening the gate and motioning me to go on and get my fleas taken care of. When I turned the corner to head for the house, the car died. And it wouldn't go any further. Maybe it didn't like us getting fleas in the car, maybe it's tired, maybe the fuel pump went out -- I don't know yet.

We ran in the garage and got our clothes off and got the bug spray and whammied the fleas and picked all of them off ourselves. We wanted to take a shower, but did I mention that the electricity was off. Did I mention that we didn't have water in the afternoon either because someone digging at the boys' place had busted a water main from our well and so they had to turn the water off? A little later the electricity came back, and we had water, and we got the shower and felt much much better. We feel really grateful to be here facing the little struggles of life while we work on the really great things of life with street kids.

The evening ended really wonderful, even though the day is filled with plenty of trouble of its own. Go to that MITS blog and read about it. I feel pretty sure that we will all feel better tomorrow morning too.

Touching the Important in Bible Study

2009-05-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

I love it when something brings my heart back to what is important. I am teaching a Sunday morning Bible class, currently on Ephesians, and we are in chapter 5. So I prepared a worksheet on Ephesians 5:19-33, a passage where the relationship of husband and wife is compared to that of Christ and the church. I took a look at the Greek text as well as several English and Swahili translations, and it always amazes me how much the translations lose by using logical and meaning-filled words instead of staying with the graphic and image-producing Biblical language.

Just one small example -- the language used to describe Christians' relationship to one another and that of wife to husband. The Biblical image is that of arranging things where they belong, putting that which is highly regarded in the prominent place. It's like stacking papers, putting the most important document on top. Or like God's creation, where he puts everything in order in the universe and sets one of his creatures on top. Or like putting fruits and vegetables in a bowl, where you put the tomatoes on top so they won't get mashed. We do that for one another, and wives do that for their husbands. That is so much richer than "submit" or the Swahili "stahi" (which almost no one uses in normal speech). And it puts wives in charge of their relationship, where they ought to be, since marriage is a voluntary involvement.

My study led me to 1 Peter 3:1-8, where I found what I think is the most wonderful statement of the marriage relationship. Peter, who traveled with his wife on his mission journeys, says that a husband is to treat his wife with HONOR as she shares with him in the inheritance of LIFE! That is just great! Another rich graphic image is that he says to treat her as the "weaker vessel." We often dislike both of those words -- "Am I weak?", she asks as she arm wrestles him into submission. "Am I just a vessel, like a tool?" But if we see his image as he states it, it is rich and good. Husband and wife are both vessels, and she is the fragile beauty. It's like having a stainless steel kettle for heating water on one hand and a slender glass tea steeper on the other, or a pottery plate up beside the fine china. Which one do you take most care with, which one do you protect most, which one do you cherish and put in a special place? That is the task of the husband, to make a place for the beauty he has found and won with love.

And so I went into the kitchen and found Darlene and hugged her for a long time and told her I have remembered why I love her so much.

musings from Darlene

2009-05-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

I'm reading Charles' blog (over coffee at Java), and I ask him, "Can I write something on your blog? He's so gracious, he even gives me half of his latte also! A few days ago I was remembering that when I was in jr. hi, I delighted in finding games and having the teens over to our house. I even went to the library to find games, and I loved it. Here I am, many many years later, finding new games and leading teens in fun, and I love it still! Like Charles told the students and Team yesterday, God can give you your heart's desire, even in small things.

It's so good to be back, to sit in Laurent's living room and hear him say, "This is the right thing. I like it here so much. This is where I started, and I want to teach other kids they can succeed." He and Eliza have jumped in and are busy helping in the ministry with joy. And now we have a Pepperdine group here to teach baking, build ovens, and share skills. The girls were ecstatic when Shannon arrived -- she'll probably not have a minute to herself!

It's also good to sit in Millie and Jackton's living room and hold that precious baby. He can hold up his head and his eyes follow a toy and follow his mama walking around. I'm so thankful! And Jackton shared with us how he felt when he first saw Kehl, but he has seen this is a true blessing from God. They are finding others in the community with special kids and they are drawing even closer to God. And Kehl is a delight; he and Jeremy are passed around by the students. The students love babies and they are learning nurturing and loving.

I love babies too! Our ministry team has changed -- now we have toddlers and babies of Team members, and two Team members are seriously in love... (Robin and Irene A). We miss our family back in the States, but God gives joy here too.

Thank you for loving this street ministry. Kids really are changing and the Team loves them and give themselves away for this ministry. When we first started in street ministry, Charles and I asked God to lead us to people who would love street kids. And He has! It's amazing -- we have found wonderful friends in the USA and here as well.

As the kids say in chapel, "My encouragement today is to" ---- Ask God for your heart's desire in serving. He will provide!

The Reality of Who We Are

2009-05-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

Every day brings a new adventure and a new twist in life. We are struggling with regaining control of a piece of land that belongs to Made in the Streets but has been invaded. The people, who call themselves the "Kamulu Residents Committee" and pretend to look out for the welfare of the whole community, but who are really a small group of men who gained the help of a politician for what they wanted, have built a building on our property with government money and bought a pickup and added to their houses.

And the American Embassy has refused to help us in this issue. They made one suggestion at the beginning, but have recently told us they don't want to do any more. We had hoped for some influence from them, but we are little fish and don't matter much in the world. I really mean that. While I know that God loves me fully and I rejoice in His guidance and power and love, I know that what I am trying to do is small in the eyes of most of the world. I am grateful that many of you who read my blog like me and believe that what we do for street kids is important.

But we should not live with illusions. When we talk with middle-class or more wealthy Kenyans and they ask what we are doing in Kenya, we talk about the street kids. And they almost always respond with something like, "Can they really learn?" or "The police really should round them up and put them in remand somewhere." or something like that. Back home even unbelievers will say "That's nice" when they hear of street ministry.

I am grateful that followers of Jesus count street kids as important as they are and believe that to raise them up to a new life is a really good thing! I have found street ministry and the care of these homeless kids to be the fulfillment of my life, to be what I was born for, to be what God has always intended for me. So it does not matter what people think who do not value these kids, nor does it matter whether anyone thinks we or what we do is important or not. What matters is that these kids come to know God and have a new life.

And I am certain that the end result of the land problem will be good for us, whether we win or lose. It isn't winning that is important, but what our lives become, what we are. So let us be glad for today and rejoice in it.

peace and joy, charles

Pure Agape

2009-04-25T02:24:00.000-07:00

Speaking of communication, there is nothing like the close and small, especially with the small ones in my life. Before we left the USA to return to Nairobi, we had a couple of days with the granddaughters. And they took us to the airport, but we stopped off at Starbucks before checking in. The girls had hot chocolate, we gave them a Polly Pocket Cowboy and Corral present, and they sat and played while we talked to the daughter and the son-by-marriage. Now and then one of them would come over for a hug and a little talk. And we did the "kissing hand" and the "I love you to the moon and back" -- or to Pluto, or outside the universe, or whatever exceeds the last thing we said.

The youngest one told Darlene that she would think of her Shosho whenever she sees the color gray, a reference to our current hair color. One of the girls told me she would look at the stars and think of me.

Since we left the youngest one has decided that her birthday party should be tomorrow, since we are coming back for her party, that way we would be back.

This kind of communication is at the heart of life.

Pure Angst

2009-04-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

The modern world has its new anxieties. One of the chief is finding myself without a cell phone in hand. In all the months in the USA, I had instant access to everyone I wanted to talk to. I haven't had one since getting back to Nairobi -- but NO COMPLAINTS. I am working to live my life without complaining. But back to cell phones - before we left Nairobi, we went to the phone company and asked them to set our plan so that our phones would no be deactivated even though they were unused for several months. They agreed and entered it into the computer. But...of course both our phones were deactivated. So we drove into the city and went to the office, waited in line, then found out that their system for reactivating lines is out of commission for a while. The technician took a friend's phone number, wrote down the deactivated numbers, and promised to call and let us know whether the lines were still available. But...of course no call. Now it's the weekend, and we have to wait until at least Monday before we can go back and try again.

I'm trying to living without complaining...when I conquer this, I will need to work on NO ANXIETY! Over the years we work on our anxieties and are able to overcome them with God's help. And then new anxieties appear, prompted by the very things we love most about the modern world. "Cast all your cares on Jesus" is one of the standards by which we live, but every new thing in our lives brings a new challenge to our life of peace.

At least I had the internet chip in a phone and could do email and access the world that way. It doesn't work with Skype for phone calls, but it works for communication. Isn't it amazing how used we have become to instant communications with everyone? The internet and the cell phone have become wonderful tools for missionaries, and we value them highly.

Still, the most important task as a missionary is to share the life of Christ with others, to train and encourage others to serve the mission. The cell phone and the internet can aid that, but cannot replace the personal touch. So, living without complaining and living without anxiety are more important than having technology working the way we want it. The conclusion is that, since living without anxiety is more important than getting a working cell phone, I must turn loose of anxiety about not having a cell phone in my hand.

How's that for logic? Now to make it so...

Back at Made in the Streets

2009-04-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

Darlene and I arrived in Nairobi this week. As always, there is much to do, and yet if we did nothing, this ministry would be a blessing. We have visited with the kids, and they seem very happy, a good sign that our Team is doing good work. We have 13 really industrious kids now who are on the Fast Track program -- they will take the 8th grade exit exams in December -- and they still keep up their chores, their skills training, farm work and life in the church. These are kids who have had very little formal education, and we give them our basic literacy course, then set them on a study course to prepare for one year for the exams.

It has been very dry in Kamulu area for the whole year, but we have crops growing, thanks to our drip line irrigation system and the well. The new equipment that came in the container - thank you, everyone - is working well: the tractor, the woodworking equipment and the sewing machines.

Our students are wearing uniforms with pride, and the sewing factory continues to develop, with two good contracts for uniforms. In years to come, this will develop as a strong force in the ministry. We have a new auto mechanics' teacher, who is working on probation for now. Joel Njue and Irene Akinyi continue University studies in Business and Counseling, respectively.

Take a look at the blog produced by the Team for the prize-giving day! Great uplift for the students. That blog is www.made-in-the-streets.blogspot.com Moses Okoth (our technology guy and computer teacher) tells us that Alex Atemai is brilliant. His sponsors in Cedar Rapids, IA, and Mount Vernon, IA, will be happy to know that!

May you be as happy as I am when you look at your co-workers and those whom you teach!

The Children of Passover

2009-04-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Our family has been doing a Seder Passover service with family and friends for many years. Over the years Darlene has developed an enjoyable, concise and meaningful Seder based on the joy we have in Jesus the Christ. Now our grandchildren are part of the event, along with other families with children. We had a great time this year with 10 adults and 13 girls.

We sing the song "dayenu" (it would have been enough) and invite anyone to share what God has done in our lives "that would have been enough" if that were all that God had ever done for us. One of our 6-year-olds raised her hand to say "if God had only given me faith," then later raised her hand again to say "if God only gave us the Holy Spirit." We sang the "dayenu" after each person and enjoyed it much.

After everyone had gone home, I walked home with the grandchildren and our daughter. I held this granddaughter's hand and walked along talking about the stars and Orion and the moon. Then she began to talk theology, all about Jesus and what God has done and how he made California and it was for us and about God's love and Jesus dying to help us. She chattered all the way home. There are few things finer in the world than listening to a grandchild get her theology straight. I complimented her on the wisdom of saying that "faith is enough" and she said, "of course (I am your granddaughter)" -- and went on to talk some more about how smart God is.

In Honor of Street Youth

2009-03-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

Darlene and I spent the weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Great "Poetry and Coffee Night" with the Central Church -- dessert, coffee, original poetry -- lots of fun and fundraising! Here is my poem, written as I thought about the pathos and pain involved with sleeping on the streets.

SHADOW PLAY

Shadows play on darkened alleyway

As boys gather at end of day

A shadow propped like a scene from the manger

Cut deep from bottle broken in anger

His story legion, abandoned one

Has not enjoyed childhood fun.

Once he was home, a child desired

New wife said no, Dad was tired,

Blind to the deeds of his mate,

Who for her own child's sake learned to hate,

Little food, no bed, driven out,

His worth, his hope, his heart, reduced to doubt.

In the city he disappears,

No one to listen or see his tears,

Slowly blood seeps into the shirt

And mingles with trash in the dirt.

Someone must come, come to bind,

But most of the world is blind.

If there is none to come, none to find,

Then the world loses piece (sp?) of mind.

Shadows play on walls we see

This child of destiny.

Lifted, bound, healed, sent,

He fulfills all that was meant.

But will he see the light of day,

Will he run and laugh and play,

Will he have his heart restored,

Is there someone who ceases to hoard

And answers the call from the dark place

And shines the light on this little face?

29 March 2009

by charles coulston

2009-03-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

The true joys of life are not hard to find. They present themselves to us in the ordinary movements of our lives. We go someplace, and there the joys are to be found. We come home, and the joys are there already.

This weekend we are in Iowa - Cedar Rapids - to see old friends and visit with the Central Church. Richard and Diane Bradford have a daughter entering Abilene Christian University in the fall, and they have four 15-year-old sons who are a great mix of interests. We've talked about school, and played table tennis, and looked at snowboards, and listened to drumming, and gone out for coffee together, and watched March Madness basketball and compared computers. These are true joys with people we love.

And this afternoon it started to snow. We seldom get to see snow, since most of our time is spent in Nairobi, Kenya, and when here we are often in Southern California. And deer were running in the trees behind the house in the snow. So I called California, and talked to a grandchild who loves the snow, who would be outside making snow angels no matter how cold it gets. And that true joy told me about the great race at school and the award. That's a true joy.

And I share all this with Darlene. True joys are all around and constant. God made our lives for this, for joy that erupts in laughter and affection and hope. All I want for my life is that I can share the true joys with street kids, who have borne the great abuse of having no one tell them how wonderful they are and how much they deserve to revel in true joy.

May your joy be full today, and true.

Planning the Future for Street Ministry

2009-03-15T14:22:00.001-07:00

I may have mentioned before that I am on Medicare and Social Security now! A real transition point in life, and I get 10% off at buffets and would get in cheaper at movies if I went. So we are now in the process of setting up advanced health care directives and wills and powers of attorney. It will make it easier for other people when we all of a sudden can't make the decisions we need to make.

In the past three years we have had five families make special gifts to Made in the Streets when a loved one died. In each case they were people who already had an interest in street ministry and in MITS. That has caused us to make a decision to do something similar.

We have talked with our heirs about using part of what is left in our estate for Made in the Streets. We are thinking that somewhere around 25% would be great -- that still leaves something for the family but provides a future for the street ministry.

And doing it this way will not place constrictions on our heirs. They can give whatever amount they want to for a few years in order to get the best tax benefits possible until the whole amount is given.

We are hopeful that some of you will do the same thing. Decide an amount or a percentage you'd like to go to Made in the Streets. Talk to your kids, executor, whoever, and express your desire, then let them follow through when the time is right.

The 5 gifts have done great things for MITS -- we set up a visitors' quarters, we built a skills training building, we are preparing to build a new boys' dorm, we bought a piece of land that has been invaluable, and we were able to do a refurbishing of our Eastleigh Center, which gets a lot of wear.

So...please give it some thought. We want to provide the infrastructure and funding for Made in the Streets, since we have wonderful Kenyan Team members who can run this ministry themselves and who plan to stay long-term and serve street kids.

Prayer for the Church

2009-03-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

How's your prayer life?

Every day I get reminders about the power and meaning and joy of prayer. Many things bring prayers of thanksgiving to my mind and heart

The Eastleigh Team meets a kid who has just come out on the streets.
I go to the park with the grandchildren and play and hike.
One of the street youth students decides to be baptized into Jesus (such as Millicent last Sunday - she is one of the "moms" in our Eastleigh program)
A Team member decides to be a long-term street minister with MITS.
Darlene and I meet with a USA church that is excited about street ministry.

There is also much that calls for sober and continual prayers for help

A street student turns 18 and prepares to leave MITS for a job or internship.

A student runs after being with us for two years.

A student's relative dies and we deal with grief.

Last week Francis Mbuvi sent me two pictures of the church meeting at Kamulu, pictures which he showed to the church and told them he was sending them to me so I could pray for them. Here is a pic of part of the church. There's Jane and Mama Caro near the front and Kennedy waving from the back. My heart is very much with them. Most of us will be with a church somewhere tomorrow morning. When you sit down in the pew or chair, please stop a moment and pray for the Kamulu church, the street kids of the world, and give thanks for the church you are part of. And God's powerful Spirit can then be unleashed in the church.

Happy Birthday

2009-03-06T09:37:00.001-08:00

One of the most loving acts we do at Made in the streets is to give birthday parties to the street kids who are in our boarding program. When we meet the kids, many of them do not know when or where they were born, and none have ever had a birthday party. If we have no documents on them, then we take them to a dentist for their molars to be examined, and the dentist will say, "He's 13, give or take a year." What the dentist writes is a legal document. So we then ask the student, "what month and day do you want for your birthday in 1996?" Ali quickly answered, "February 5." Others decide to take the month we are in, since they will be included in the birthday party for that month! Still others think they know the month, so they choose it. The picture is of Mercy Kisya getting her age assessment.

Our birthday parties are great events. We gather in a circle at the Learning Center courtyard. We share good things about each birthday person by passing a ball around while we are singing, then whoever has it when we stop gets to say a good word about any or all of the honorees. We will have a devo also, and we will serve cake (baked and decorated by our own!) and maybe popcorn and punch.

May you have a happy birthday. And please remember to pray for kids who do not know when they were born, or why!

Travels

2009-02-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

The Coulstons are on the road again. February 22 we are at the Otter Creek Church in Brentwood, TN. Sunday morning March 1 we are at Eastside Church in Duncan, OK, and in the evening we are with the Singing Oaks Church in Denton, TX. On March 8 we are at the Legacy Church in North Richland Hills, TX.

We have been in Tucson, AZ, and a great visit with the Mountain Avenue Church; we have visited with many people at the Conejo Valley Church in Thousand Oaks, CA, while spending time with "the kids" - daughter, son-by-marriage and the grandchildren.

It is our great joy to tie together two worlds that have many differences but One Lord -- the street ministry in Nairobi and supporting congregations and friends in the USA. And what we are most amazed about is the continuing compassion and generosity we experience in Christians in the USA.

Maybe the greatest difference is that our world in Nairobi is "homeless" while our world in the USA has the comfort of good homes. In Nairobi the street kids sleep outside, so our work is outside also. And our congregation in Kamulu is "homeless", since we meet outside in the courtyard of the Learning Centre at MITS. But at Kamulu we are providing a home for kids, with each street kid having his or her own bed! And the same is true for the girls with babies at the Eastleigh Center. Your support makes this possible, and we are all grateful.

The Pursuit of Happiness

2009-02-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

In the USA, we believe firmly in certain rights for every citizen. One of those is the freedom to pursue happiness. Of course, happiness has different dimensions and definitions. Since it is a pursuit, it hinges on certain realities, and that is where being happy differs for people. For some, the foundation of happiness is having the economy strong, and that means having enough money to do the things I want to do. For others, the foundation is family - having everyone together and safe and unified. For still others, happiness comes from having the career or job or activities that one wants to do.

If those things are not there, then happiness is lost, and depression or sadness or frustration sets in. We hear this now and then from those who have lost jobs and whose happiness depends on money. We hear it when a family member is in a dangerous place or separated from family. We hear it when a person gets too old or is too weak to do the things he wants to do.

It's easier for those who are not suffering loss to stand aside and regard people as weak or wrong-headed who are frustrated or unhappy.

But there is another answer for life, one that enables us to find happiness regardless of human situations or losses. God has an economy, God has a family, God has a purpose. To accept God's economy, to enter into God's family, to take on God's purposes in our own lives is to find a way to happiness that does not depend on having money, or a safe family, or doing what we want to do.

God's Spirit has his own ways to produce happiness in our inner lives, and our outer lives as well. As we tell the street kids, "you are not bound by your past." Now are we bound by present realities. We also tell the kids "money is not the answer." And we tell them, "we are also your family."

We are free to pursue happiness. Let us keep our ears open to hear the enduring words, "Happy are those who...." (see Matthew 5)

Raise Your Own

2009-01-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

MITS HONORS ITS OWN

It really pays to invest in people. Land and buildings and cash and clothes and furniture are all very nice, but people pay off in the long run. In our short careers (have I mentioned that I am on social security now?), Darlene and I have always worked with young people, whether campus ministry in university, teenagers or nursery school kids. We directed youth and children's camps for 20 years. Our objective was to "grow our own," using high school youth who had been in our children's camps as counselors in children's camps when they were 15 and older. And we used our college students as counselors in youth camps.

The first picture is a group of street kids taken early (1996) in the Made in the Streets ministry. Laurent Mogambi is the one in the front with the baseball cap turned sideways. At the time he did not know his real name, but he called himself "John Mwangi Isaac," with the Isaac emphasized because his little brother, Isaac, had been picked up by the police and Laurent thought Isaac was dead. He wanted to honor his memory.

The next picture shows Laurent at 15 years old just before he entered the initial live-in program at the Eastleigh Center in 1999. He was a good student -- we were teaching Bible, English and Math. Darlene's Mom came to Kenya 6 months each year (she was 72 the first year she came) and taught reading to evangelists and street kids. She taught Laurent to read, giving him lots of encouragement and guidance. He absorbed everything and wanted more. When our team enrolled him in middle

school (he was accepted into the 7th grade even though he had never been to school because he learned English and Bible and math at Made in the Streets), they also found out his name and other info a

bout him.

The next picture shows Laurent at his final meal preparation at the cooking school the Team

enrolled him in, which he cooked for Darlene and me. By God's grace he got an internship at the University of Nairobi cafeteria, and he has cooked there for five years. He has cooked at meals attended by the President of Kenya, and this year he helped cook a meal for the contenders for President (Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga) held during the negotiations for the new coalition government. All along Made in the Streets has stayed in touch with Laurent, and his wedding to Eliza (another of our former students) was held at the Kamulu Center in December.

Now our investment in people really starts to pay off. Laurent becomes the fourth of our former students to begin working on the MITS Team.

Last week Francis and Mauryn Mbuvi moved into their new house, moving out of the house at the girls' center. The next day Laurent and Eliza moved into the house vacated by the Mbuvi's. Laurent will begin part-time teaching at the new cooking skills area in the Connor Brown Memorial Skills Training Center. As soon as he finished his responsibilities to the University, he will be full-time with MITS. He will train students to cook, and he will direct their work in operating the small cafe we have on the highway at our Shops Center. Eliza both sews and has good ability as a hairdresser, so she will likely work in some capacity in relationship to MITS.

There is nothing like "raising your own" when it comes to good management of resources and investment in the future. The church can always do this by giving young people lots of responsibility and opportunity to stretch their abilities and faith.

Have a good time in your investments in 2009

Christmas in Kenya

2008-12-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

Now that we have a president in the USA with a slight connection to Kenya, we also have more news correspondents in Kenya, and they need to find something to do. So one of them has done a good service with an interesting and true-to-life article on Christmas in Kenya. It's Edmund Sanders in the Dec 23 issue of the Los Angeles Times. You can find it at www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya-xmas23-2008dec23,0,2397369.story

Kenyans who live in Nairobi spend a lot of money going home for Christmas -- higher bus fares and other costs, but especially relatives in the country who expect their "rich" Nairobi relatives to bring gifts and cash home for Christmas. This happens partly because those who go to Nairobi to seek a living don't report back home that they only got a security guard job at $60 a month and one-third to half of it goes for rent. They continue to make it sound wonderful to live in Nairobi! The truth is that about half the people of Nairobi live in the slum areas of Kibera, Mathare, Soweto, Korogocho and the many scattered but smaller slums around the city. And more than half of the people don't get enough food every day. And most of those who come to the city to seek riches can't get skilled labor jobs but must work at the lower income jobs.

We are happy that Made in the Streets can give the street kids who live with us a better Christmas than many get -- each one has a bed, and enough food to eat, and an opportunity to visit some relatives at least once during the holidays, and Team members who truly love them, and literacy education and skills training and a shopping trip and other activities that normal families take together.

Thanks to all those who help us do this, and Merry Christmas

Tolstoy Tells it True

2008-12-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Had a great night last night. The granddaughters spent the night with us for the first time. An evening of delights for grandparents! We had popcorn, colored Littlest Pet Shop, made a snowman craft, sat in front of the fire, blew up the air bed for the girls, ate turkey and dressing dinner, and read Leo Tolstoy's The Three Questions. All while the parents were out of town having dinner and a night on their own. Makes me really glad God let me live this long.

The book we read is a children's adaptation of Tolstoy's original story. In the story Nikolai gets his 3 questions answered: 1) when is the best thing to do something? 2) who is the most important one? and 3) what is the right thing to do? The girls appreciated the story and remembered the 3 answers -- good lessons for them, and for all of us. I recommend the story to you, in either version.

More good news -- social security is giving me an increase for 2009 -- such a deal! It's great to grow old in this time.

When you pray, please remember these

1. Our good friend Virda Stevens needs God's healing hand,

2. Another friend, Hugh Fraser, needs continued improvement,

3. Land issue at Made in the Streets isn't settled yet - should get final court ruling Thursday

4. One MITS student, Joseph Kamau, left us to go and help his aunt on her farm after his uncle died.

5. 15 young people from the streets have taken government skills exams in November and December -- in auto mechanics, 8th grade exit exams, and sewing -- and 3 others finished training programs outside of MITS (hairdressing and cooking) -- pray for their success in finding work and living on their own. Anastasia will go to a 'bridging' program for her journalism studies at Universal College.

Thanks -- peace and joy, charles

Surprised by Joy

2008-12-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

We came to Oxford, England, to visit friends posted here to teach by Abilene Christian University. Darlene has read the Narnia stories by C. S. Lewis to all the street kids in our Kamulu program. And this year we took all the kids and team to see Prince Caspian because two young girls in Thousand Oaks, California, gave their earnings and allowance and money from recycling to Made in the Streets so we could do something with the kids. It was a great experience -- 75 of us went to the theater in Nairobi on a day when they gave away hot dogs, popcorn and a soda with the price of admission. The kids loved it, and Francis Wahome told us afterwards that he did not drop even one grain of popcorn but ate it all.

We had no idea we would get to see all the C. S. Lewis memories. Mel and Jan Hailey took us on a walking tour of Oxford. We walked down to Magdalen College where Lewis taught. And we went to his house and walked around the little lake and wildlife trail where he often walked, which must have been his inspiration for Ransom's walks in Out of the Silent Planet. And we saw trees there that looked like the Ents in Tolkien's stories (Tolkien was a friend to Lewis). We walked over to the Trinity Church where Lewis attended and saw his grave in the cemetery. And finally we went out to eat at his favorite restuarant.

Needless to say, this was a rich experience. Lewis influenced me greatly with his wonderful arguments in Mere Christianity about the value of the coming of Christ into the world and about the moral teaching of the Bible. I saw in That Hideous Strength the necessity of taking action when truth and hope and joy are threatened.

I feel once again a sense of joy, a sense that I am blessed above all men, a sense that God thinks about me and remembers me and makes a way for me.

May you find an unexpected joy today,

charles

Love is a House

2008-12-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, when I was in University, I fell in love with stories, so I read all the short stories I could find and listened to storytellers. A few I vividly remember, like "love is a house." It was the English countryside, and every person lived alone there, each in his or her own small brick home, for there were only so many bricks, and there was room for no one else inside. One day a cargo plane flew over and accidentally dropped a load of bricks, which landed on a man's house and smashed it. When he patiently rebuilt his house, it was larger than before.

He gathered some extra vegetables and fruit, and he went over the hill to where a woman lived in her small house. He invited her over to eat with him. She was reluctant, but finally she came. And they were both delighted.

So the next day he went out hunting for more bricks, and he rebuilt his house again. Then he went into the valley and found others to invite to his home. Years later, after he married and raised his family and lay on his death bed, his son leaned close so he could hear the last words, "love is a house."

And it's true. We are delighted with the home we have. Wednesday evening we invited half of our leadership Team (and wives/husbands) to our house for Christmas dinner (I know it's early, but Darlene likes to get started on Christmas!). I cooked steaks and sausages and roasted corn upstairs on our rooftop patio. It was great sitting up there talking to Jackton and Irene and Robin and Victor as we cooked. After dinner we all went upstairs and talked about the moon and Venus and stars and meteorites and whether they might ever have gold and the trouble we've faced over Made in the Streets land. We are all so glad that we have chosen a non-revenge and patience and let-justice-take-its-course and God-will-work-his-will course.

And the next day John Wambu came over after his work of building on the new nursery school building and his visit to the Department of Lands, and we sat on the rooftop and talked and enjoyed our friendship.

And tonight Darlene and I went upstairs after dark and turned off all the lights and felt the strong wind blow and watched Orion rise in the East and a beautiful but quickly burned meteorite. And we felt the peace of love.

Merry Christmas from Darlene, and may your house be love.

Feeling Good and Bad

2008-11-30T10:57:00.002-08:00

These days I mostly feel good. We know that what we are doing is something that God wants done, for He himself visits the garbage dump to find the needy and lift them up and seat them among the great ones of his people (Psalm 113). And we have such good kids; we have never known a teen group that thrills us like this one does. This morning I taught my adult Bible class (to whom several of the teenagers come) at Kamulu -- actually I let a film do the teaching called "Peter and Paul". Darlene and I left before 10 AM with 4 of our kids -- Ken Wabungu, Francis Wahome, Mercy Wanja and Jackie Njoki -- to visit the Kayole Church of Christ. They invited the kids to sing two songs and me to preach. It was a great visit.

But I seem to always have something to feel bad about. And there were two things today. Just before they served the Lord's Supper, the worship leader mentioned the Supper and the collection, and I thought, "Oh, no, I have no money." I hate it when I don't have anything to give, so I had to apologize to the church and promise to get it to them later.

Then I gave myself something else to feel bad about. I had prepared a sermon on the book of Hosea, and I wanted to present it not as an analysis but as the book itself is written. And I wanted to make some practical application. I forgot that I would need to have a translator -- I didn't trust myself to do the Swahili on some of the passages. But translating means that it takes longer -- so I ended up preaching for 45 minutes, which is also something to make me feel bad. I didn't apologize for that, except to the 4 kids and Darlene on the way home.

This is the nature of life -- that we live in the midst of the good and the bad. It is, I suppose, a product of Eden, of eating the fruit that is forbidden to the pure in heart. So our hearts, or at least mine, can never be fully clean and pure, without blemish.

It makes Romans 7 a really important word for life. "Who can save me from this dilemma, where I want to do good but find myself doing bad?" And the answer lies in Jesus! So the slogan some people laughter at (what is the question? ha-ha) really has truth in it: Jesus is the Answer!

By the way, I think our kids are starting to think that Darlene is strange. Of course, lots of our "mzungu" (foreigner) ways are strange to them. Today we had the two girls come to our house for lunch since we were late (after the preacher talked too long) and the girls did not save them any food. We sat down to make sandwiches, then we found out that neither of them had ever eaten a sandwich! I showed them what I do -- I put mustard and Miracle Whip on bread, then got a slice of ham, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, put it all together and cut it. They were looking at my work strangely, so Darlene said to them, "Would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," to which they both quickly said, "Yes." I think they thought the meat was raw, and they never eat raw veggies, unless it's a carrot. Anyway, they enjoyed the peanut butter, and the orange soda, and each took an apple and went off to their Sunday afternoon Bible class.

But the reason they think Darlene is strange is that she goes around wearing a chameleon; she even carried one around while she was videotaping the wedding. Abdi Isaac catches them and gives them to her, but most people think they are poisonous and are a lot like snakes! Here is is with her little pet, which she set free in the back yard, and it disappeared.

Learning New Things

2008-11-27T07:40:00.002-08:00

Each day I seem to learn something new. Today it is about RICE. I'm trying to figure out how our kids can eat at the wedding of Laurent and Eliza Saturday. Most weddings in Kenya cost $4,000 or more, and we're trying to do this one on only a little more than $1,000. So...I told the kids this morning, that after the wedding ceremony, they would need to go to their dorms and prepare their lunch there instead of eating at the Learning Center, since it would be for the wedding. Of course they were disappointed.

I found out that Laurent (who is a chef himself, so he has planned the menu for the wedding) plans to have rice and beef stew and some other things. So I sat down with Milly and asked her what they had planned to eat on Saturday, and she said, "rice and beans." That sounded good, so I asked if we could use the rice she had, then I could add some meat and something else and we could ask Laurent if the kids could join us. And Milly said, "I don't know; they may not work. We are using Pakistani rice." I looked kind of blank, so she explained that when people pilau, they usually use Pishori rice, since the Pakistani gets kind of sticky and the Pishori gets fluffier and is a larger volume. Wow! There are so many things I don't know anything about.

Laurent and Eliza came later in the day to plan the wedding, and I asked about the rice. Laurent said they had Pishori rice (of course!). When I mentioned the kids, he said, "We couldn't leave them out. We have 25 kilo of rice, so we have enough for everyone." I could have just stayed out of the picture and said nothing to the kids, but of course then I would not have learned anything about rice. Anyway, now the kids are happy.

Darlene came home from the ladies' Bible study while I was talking to Laurent and Eliza, and then 6 of the girls stopped by because they want to help with the wedding cakes, which Darlene is preparing. The best price Laurent could find for a wedding cake was about $400 -- a small one. So Darlene has borrowed and bought circular pans. The girls were thrilled to look at the dress and to know they would eat at the wedding.

Laurent and Eliza left because they have to catch public transport back to their apartment, and they need to get home before dark. I walked out with them and we met John Wambu, who was supervising men who are digging out the black cotton (Louisiana gumbo type) soil for our driveway, and a group of women had come over to look at the house Francis and Maureen are building nearby (I have given house plots to team members who intend to stay with Made in the Streets for a long time), so we saw lots of people on the way.

The girls stayed and swept and mopped our floor, while some of them mixed cakes with Darlene. They had a good time. It's great to have a house where the teenagers can come and spend time with us.

And it's good to know about rice!

Christmas is Coming - Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T01:05:00.000-08:00

We are only thinking about Thanksgiving because we are thinking about people who will read the blog. If you mention Thanksgiving in Kenya, you get a blank look. But I can tell that Christmas is coming. For one thing, Darlene has her mind on it. There is a stocking hanging close to my desk, and a small Christmas tree set up in the living room. And I can tell out on the highway too, that it is near the end of the month and that Christmas is coming. In the newspaper today is a short article noting that passengers in public transport are unhappy that there are 8 police checks in a 10 kilometer stretch on the Mombasa highway. And driving into town this week we went through 3 checks in about 3 miles.

If you have a little extra money as you go out to buy Christmas presents, you could send it to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN, 37027, so we can give a very merry Christmas to our street kids at Eastleigh and Kamulu. Thanks!

We are very busy at Made in the Streets -- building the new "First Steps" building for nursery school kids, finishing renovation at the girls' center, getting ready to open the cooking school in our skills training (the Connor Brown building at the 20 acres), preparing school uniforms in our tailoring and opening the new shop to sell uniforms, planning for the December time with our students at Kamulu, getting end of year taxes and land rates paid, searching for new street kids to admit to the Kamulu program, helping several students exit from MITS into jobs and housing in Nairobi, and the daily life of English, Bible and Math classes, building up the farm and learning how to relate to one another and prepare for a successful life.

And it is all good -- what a blessing to have these young people in our lives and to encourage them to grow and become strong and beautiful and confident in the Lord.

Open House

2008-11-17T02:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a happy day at the Coulston's new house. We own 4 acres of land about 400 yards from the girls' center at Kamulu. From 2002 until last month we lived in our apartment at the girls' center, but now we are in our new place on one of our acres. And we had open house, inviting all the team and students at MITS and everyone at church to come over. After morning worship we started preparing food -- Charles popped 13 batches of popcorn and Darlene cooked 6 pounds of "bitings" -- small pieces of beef skewered on toothpicks. We put out several pounds of cookies, made 6 gallons of punch, set out 124 sodas - and Darlene baked 5 cakes.

More than 100 people came and spent the afternoon with us -- the students went up on the garage roof (our rooftop patio where we can watch sunsets and stars) where there were popcorn and sodas. They went through all the popcorn in about 5 minutes. The adults and little kids stayed in the living room (the kitchen, dining and living rooms are all one big room, built without trusses). For the first time since we started working with street kids, we had food left over -- maybe a quarter pound of bitings and 2 gallons of juice.

We feel good at having a home where we can have people come in to visit. It's also good having two extra bedrooms so people can stay with us -- already we had Bill Smith and Bob Brannon stay and after them Fielden and Janet Allison.

We have planted lots of stuff inside and outside the fence -- bananas, mango and avocado trees, mulberry, roses, cannas, hibiscus, passion fruit and other climbers. Plus Kikuyu grass in the yard. So we have good things to look forward to.

We especially look forward to seeing some of you on our next visit to the USA -- we will be available January through March -- so please invite us to visit your congregation and talk more about street ministry and the future of MITS. As always, we will need to raise funds -- we continue to have more kids on the streets and will be doing another intake this year.

peace and joy, charles and darlene

Our African Home

2008-10-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

Darlene and I have 3 homes -- not as many as some candidates, but enough for us. One is a promised home, a place in God's eternal family. And we also feel at home in the USA, in California, where old friends and familiar places are. And of course Nairobi, with street kids and the MITS Team. From 1998 to 2002 we stayed in Eastleigh, down the street from our street kids' center, in an apartment building that slowly became an almost totally Somali enclave. Down our stairs and the next building over was a camel butchery. When they butchered a camel, they put the head in the doorway so people could see how fresh the meat was. After a few days the flies and the warm sun made it a little less appetizing. It was great to be close to the street kids and the Team in Eastleigh; many was the time Team members came in the middle of the night to borrow our car to take an injured street kid to the hospital. They would usually clean it up good, but eventually a number of blood stains became part of the car.

Then in September 2002 we moved out to Kamulu, where we had built a center for street girls on an acre that we owned. We added a room in the girls' center and lived there until two weeks ago. It was also great being with the girls -- Kamulu has fresh air, we came to know the Drumvale Farmers Cooperative and received rights to the land that MITS now uses for ministry and education and skills training and the farm. And the girls came over at all hours -- with a cut finger needing a bandaid and antibiotic, with a headache, or a heartache, with something the girls' leaders had trouble handling, with a desire to earn a little bit of money.

Two weeks ago we moved into a house we have built on another acre that we own. Instead of the two rooms at the girls, we now have a spacious bathroom, a bedroom, a very spacious combo kitchen, dining and living room, and two guest bedrooms (1,799 square feet, counting the garage). And we have planted bananas, hibiscus, roses, mango and avocado and orange and mulberry trees, passion fruit and cape honeysuckle and other climbers. We have a garage for the car (our 1989 Toyota), which we had repainted last week, and on the roof of the garage is a patio for sunset and star watching and coffee-drinking. And it's quiet and private, a real change in our lives. We felt a desire for this and are glad to have this change (maybe it's from being 65 and getting social security -- how much does that change a person?).

It's a sign that we are even closer to fulfilling our desire to have the Kenyan Team take over all the responsibilities of the ministry -- administration, student affairs, loving the kids, teaching, first aid, skills training, developing new team members, holding close together in a pleasant working relationship -- all those things that make the ministry work.

We are far from a perfect ministry, maybe even far from a good one. We need more work on our farm -- to get to zero-tilling our irrigation areas, to intensify our production, to get a full crop rotation program going. We need more work on our businesses -- to get the cafe running again, to learn how to market our sewing and wood products in a continuous manner, to set up a more professional salon, and so on.

Our best works are the Eastleigh ministry on the streets, the literacy education, production in sewing and woodworking, development of the infrastructure in buildings and the staff, and the congregation that meets at our learning center. And maybe the best of all is seen in the morale and attitude and quality of the kids who have come from the streets and live at Kamulu -- our Team is doing a truly amazing work with them. We see the signs of God's work among us.

Anyway, Darlene and I are happy with this house. My "office" is now a corner of the living room, and Darlene has her desk in the opposite corner, looking into the back yard. And over in the kitchen corner sits a large bunch of Kampala bananas, which was taken off one of our many banana trees here at Kamulu. And yesterday Joseph Kamau (ask me to tell you his story some day, and don't be squeamish) asked me to baptize him in the Indian Ocean at Malindi on our trip to the Coast. And he said he won't be Kamau any more -- he wants his new name from God -- call me Joseph, he says. So I will.

peace and joy, charles

A Fuller Tribute

2008-09-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

As with most other folk, we have had lots of people in our lives. Many of those people have left tracks in our hearts, memories and pictures in the mind. Walt Fuller left a picture of Daybreak Camp, standing beside the old blue car with the flag painted on it. He came as representative of Pepperdine University to spend a week at camp with us as a counselor. What great times we had at camp with kids and teens. We always used teenagers as counselors in the youth camps, with an occasional token university student. Then Walt and Jenny married and came to Redwood City to live, and we saw their love and enjoyed them, Walt comfortable and Jenny purposeful. The years passed, and Kelly, Casey and Kristi grew, captivating and strong. When Simi Church of Christ sponsored us in street ministry, they were there. The last one we have seen is Kelly; she was at Pepperdine, and it was before her marriage. We are better for knowing all of them. I'd like to give a fuller tribute, but I never have the words to say the joy of the tracks left in our lives by friends.

Hollyhock Memories

2008-07-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Likely there are lots of people who do not know what a hollyhock is. But we grew them in Oklahoma. I remember that they were Mom's favorite flowers. Our old clapboard house wasn't much to look at, surrounded by farm land and a chicken house on one side, and a brooder house for baby chicks on the other, with a woodpile in between for the woodburning stove. The cellar was behind the house, a place where Mom stored canned goods and where we feared to go when the tornadoes came, because there might be scorpions or snakes down there. An old chinaberry sat determinedly near the front porch. Mom had tried to cut it out and my brother and I helped because Dad's favorite switching stick was a limber green limb from that tree.

Mom planted hollyhocks all across the front of the house and the sides - yellow and pink and white and something nearly red. I had no idea it would create such a vivid and lasting memory for me. What I seem to remember best from my childhood are the things my mother loved.

She loved the poor family down the road, the Ballards who lived in a rented house and had even less than we did.
She loved the church and worked hard for her kindergarten class - for 23 years.
She loved every hollyhock.

Today I was rereading the little jewel Safed the Sage by William Barton. He also loved hollyhocks and planted them each place where he lived, moving about now and then as preachers often did. Hollyhocks I Transplanted is a great little treatise on suffering in God's plan. And his story in which spring has come because you can anticipate it in the seeds from the mail order store is a lifter of the spirit. Reading his book made me think of Mom again. I often go for months without strong memories of Mom, but when I do remember I feel the pain of losing her. I'm 7 years older than she was when she died. I have no regrets, for her life was good, even with the suffering. But I do wish she had been given more time with my daughter, for I treasured the moments I saw them together.

Ah, well, as Safed says, now the hollyhocks rest secure in their bed hard by the house of God.

Rest in peace, charles

Things Go Wrong

2008-07-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Things go wrong even on wonderful days. Yesterday the Team of Made in the Streets went to the Eastleigh slum to visit the "bases" where street kids sleep. It's a great time that kids who sleep on the streets really enjoy; they experience the care the Team has for them. And those of us who stayed at Kamulu with the street kids who are now our students also had a great time, experiencing once again what a great group of kids we have now. Reading books and playing games and sharing lunch and writing letters -- it's all a great experience.

And our construction projects are coming along well. Darlene and I are building our own home on a piece of land we own near the girls' center; the trusses and stringers went up yesterday. And the John Connor Brown Memorial Training Facility, where we will teach hairdressing and cooking, is nearing completion. There are so many good things in our lives and ministry.

But things still go wrong. We have been getting ready for the Conejo Valley Church in Thousand Oaks, CA, to visit, and they arrived last night. We had a toilet to repair in the women's guest quarters, and John Wambu and I turned off the water to the girls' center and removed the toilet so he could repair it. And of course I misplaced my glasses -- this happens every day (I think it's a sign of my age), and I went into the guest quarters to look for them. Now the kids had finished lunch and were doing some work on the farm, watering banana trees and pulling weeds and such, and they were working behind the girls' center. Of course no one admitted turning on the water valve at the back of the compound, but when I walked into the guest quarters, it was a flood, and water was spurting out of the open pipe where the toilet had been. I had to hold the end of the pipe, and I felt like the Dutch boy as I yelled at the kids outside. No one seemed to know where the valve was, and one of the farm workers ran all the way to the boys' center to turn off the water from the main tanks. Good thing I have a cell phone; I called John, and he came back from working on the toilet (with his one leg!) and turned it off.

Then I was called out by Joel and a couple of the church members. Samuel Mburu, a member of the church who was taught in World Bible School, had fallen off a donkey, who got spooked and turned the cart over, which crushed Samuel's leg; The bone above the ankle was sticking out. Joel took our car and I gave him some money to rush Samuel to the hospital. Upon getting there, Samuel and Joel and the family waited for hours while getting the runaround. Of course the national hospital is always very busy. Samuel was in great pain, but was finally tended to in the middle of the night.

We have been beautifying some of the property, and we have 4 of our older boys painting at the boys' center. They have used up 40 liters of white paint and 8 liters of cream. Darlene and I went up to the boys' center to lock up the guest quarters there, where we had painted the bathroom and touched up the room and door. The place looks great. But it started raining, and it's about half a mile home. We were soaked when we got home, but it's not so bad, since we love the rain, and at this time of year, the rain is welcome.

But that also meant we didn't get to go over to see Susie, a 9 year old whose birthday was yesterday. We had a present and some goodies to eat for her, but the rain prevented it. She was disappointed.

So bad things happen on good days. It is part of the life that God has given us. We are to remember that it is not this life that is permanent. We are not to get too comfortable in this world, but to remember that this world is not our home. Bad things happen on good days to remind us that our trust is in the unseen, the God who sees us.

Can we learn to rejoice even as the bad things are happening?

2008-06-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Who are these kids? Everybody in Nairobi thinks they know what street kids look like, and they believe the kids cannot change, but are menaces, thieves, liars, trouble...it is amazing how well they clean up. We spent the day today with a group who came off the streets, some as late as this year. We went to the movie at Village Market, an upscale shopping center near the American Embassy and the United Nations complex.

In the past few weeks, Darlene and Philip Kariuki have read the Chronicles of Narnia to all the kids, and some of our Team members have read them. We told them that everyone who read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian in the past two months would be treated to the movie. Seven of the Team members read them, and five went to the movie. Ben Mwami had to go and pick up 100 baby chicks today, so he couldn't go (we'll get him there later). And Joel will go next week with the moms and the Team members at Eastleigh. 52 of us went today.

The theater gives away a soda, a hot dog and popcorn on Mondays with regular admission price, and the kids loved that. Since Mercy doesn't eat oil, they gave her a Mars bar instead of a hot dog, and she gave her popcorn away. Darlene told Philip she thought he has been doing a great job as a teacher and leader, so she gave him all her food. I told Scholastica that I appreciate her diligence as a student and gave her my hot dog, then I gave Jackton my soda and congratulated him on good work in the sewing plant, and I gave my popcorn to Ken Wabungu, who has been a great young person at Kamulu.

And during the movie they were so quiet, truly enjoying "seeing" the book they have read. They laughed at Reepicheep, and they reacted to the first roar of Aslan. And their behavior was exemplary; they even carried their trash out of the theater to the bins outside. I can't believe how great it is to be out somewhere with a 45-member youth group like this!!! Absolutely amazing and marvelous! My heart's desire is to know these kids all their lives, just like I want to be in the granddaughter's lives for always.

Thanks, Jesus, for the kindness you show me.

How Quickly We Forget

2008-06-24T01:00:00.001-07:00

Those of us involved in street ministry are doing this work, not because of the pay, but because we care about children and teenagers who have no choice but to sleep in alleyways and under kiosks. We have walked the streets of Eastleigh and the warren of one-room shacks in Mathare Valley, and we have talked with the kids whose stories break our hearts. There is Caro, who was beaten unmercifully by her mother's boyfriend, and so she fled to the streets. There is Ken, whose Dad had died, who watched his uncle cut up his grandfather in a disputer over the farm -- he was unable to concentrate in school and there was no food, so he left and went to the streets. There is Titus, who at 11 was always in a stupor from huffing glue, but who always wanted to please.

But how quickly we forget. Many of us now stay at the Kamulu Centre, where we house the street kids who have come off the streets to us, ones whom we believe God has called to himself. They are clean and dressed, and we feed them and each one has a bed of his/her own, and they love the English and Bible and Math classes, and some of them are training for the Primary Education 8th Grade Exam in December, and our life together is great. And so we forget what it is like on the streets.

So Francis Mbuvi, our administrator, decided that the Team should return to the streets. Every other Friday almost all the Team will spend the day in Eastleigh, going to Bases and visiting with the kids and youth. Last Friday they went, while Darlene and Francis taught the kids at Kamulu. Ben Mwami reported, "I haven't been back to the streets since our training two years ago. It was so good to be reminded. And as we crossed a street, we say a baby that had been left out and run over by a car. That baby didn't have a chance, but our kids here at Kamulu have a chance." Abraham, who is usually quiet in our meetings, spoke up twice as they talked about the experience. Robin reported that when he goes into Eastleigh to visit his parents, he usually avoids going by the bases because it is so uncomfortable for him. But he was glad that Friday he went, and many of the kids at the bases said, "Why haven't you come back? Are you avoiding us?"

How quickly we forget the needs that surround us, because we can go and get our lattes and have outings with our kids and enjoy the good life that prosperity brings. Is today a day to remember, and to embrace the uncomfortable?

Keep remembering...and peace to you...charles

Days of Stress

2008-06-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

We have always lived with stress. Some of it is good, for it helps us be focused and alert. But there has always been stress that hurts the heart and the soul, the kind that makes us be unkind to those we love and eventually damages our bodies.

My stress used to be about what others thought of me, or about getting my work done satisfactorily. Nowadays it most often has to do with computers and the internet. When you are using a computer, a cell phone, a local internet service, and the world wide web -- there are many things that can go wrong. I often start thinking it is me, or that the world is arrayed against me, and stress levels go up.

With me that's especially bad, because sugar levels go up with the stress. And my stress levels affect Darlene as well.

So...what to do? Breathe deeply, remember that everybody out there wants it to work well not just me, thing of good things, mentally relax my body and feelings -- lots of good things to try, but it isn't easy. I know a couple of preachers who have never gotten involved with computers; they don't have this stress. That's one answer, but the days of cell phones and the internet have made life so much better for communication and for feeling as if we are in touch.

What do you do when stress levels get too high? Write me at crc@swiftkenya.com if you have found a good answer when sitting at the computer!

have a stress-free day,
charles

Prayer Life

2008-04-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Many of my life is made up of realities that I can do nothing about, at least not on my own. That leads me to prayer. And since Jesus prayed for disciples, and he prayed for power and he prayed for protection, it makes sense to me to pray also. Many of my prayers are about the smaller things of life, but I've been thinking lately about some things that affect everyone. So...here's a short list of big prayers.

1. "Of the making of books there is no end." 1000s of books will be written this year, and people still read them, or at least read summaries. I want to pray that this year some really good books that will guide and improve and inspire and lift up people to higher thoughts and dreams and behavior. God, please lead some people to give us a few great books.

2. this is the age of inventions. 100s of incredible inventions have occurred in my short 64 years. And some are world-changing, like the cell phone. It has dramatically changed the lives of missionaries and teenagers, businesspeople and drivers. Here's my prayer: "Lord, help the church to learn to use the cell phone to bless the world."

3. For long ages, humans have looked up to the sun and moon and stars and dreamed and desired and even decided. Now space exploration has begun, and the telescopes look a long ways, and there's a little black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy with more mass than the sun. In an ever-expanding universe, and new explanations of our place in it, may space exploration lead to deeper faith.

4. Studies in the ancient world have shown how very diverse religion was when Jesus came into the world. And the church was a place of diversity from the beginning. It is even more apparent and more emphasized in our own age. Here's the prayer: that diversity in religion will cause a desire for God to grow and lead to a great search for truth.

May your prayers and your thoughts encompass the great and the small.

Musings of a Troubled Soul

2008-02-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

There are days in my life when I am most conscious of failure. Fear of failure does not stop me from trying to accomplish what I want to do or what seems right, but failing troubles my soul.

We have scheduled a series of fund-raisers for special projects for Made in the Streets, and we want to bring some young people who have lived on the streets to share their message with our friends. We have received the news that the US Embassy has denied Caroline Wanjiru a visa to come to the US for April. We also want to bring Anthony Owino over, and we think that if they denied Caroline, they will likely deny Anthony as well. The official told her that she did not have adequate documentation that showed she would return to Kenya. I'm sure that the Embassy official was doing the best he or she could to serve American interests. They do need to be fully convinced that the applicant will return to Kenya.

My thought is that I have failed the ministry and the young people. From a distance I can't know what occurred and why the embassy official denied the visa. I do know that life is difficult for young people who grow up in desperate poverty, and especially those who suffer from life on the streets. They have a poverty mindset, which does not comprehend how the more affluent think and how they make decisions. And it is hard for them to raise their eyes to people in authority who will make a decision that affects them. Whatever happened, it's clear that Caroline could not convince the official that she is legitimate. That means we have not prepared our young people well enough and given them the tools and outlook that enables them to deal with people with a different mindset.

Now I have to decide how to deal with failure. It is our task to search for new ways to train young people, to make them capable of dealing with people who MANAGE relationships and decisions. The mindset of the poor is to fight over relationships and to submit to decisions by authority.

This troubled soul must also remember that he serves the will of God, and he does not even comprehend what He may be planning to accomplish in all relationships and needs.

And anyway, what is to be done about failure but to search out ways to do better next time? There are better ways to train young people, and by grace we will find them.

Justice and Humility

2008-01-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

How does one think about justice and getting one's rights? How does one practice the humility that Christ requires?

In the recent election in Kenya, the strongest opposition party claims that the election was rigged at the last minute in favor of the incumbent. It is important for Kenya to know whether that is true and to find a way to solve the problem that moves the country forward. Forward meaning success in integrating with the outside world and reducing corruption and raising the level of integrity and optimism in the country.

But what does the opposition leader do? To resist the announced results, he must call for protests and put pressure on the government. On an individual level, Jesus calls on his people to practice humility, to accept insults and rejection and bad treatment and respond with love and peace and good will and good treatment of enemies. We understand that and can find ways to practice it. We swallow our pride, accept setbacks and continue with our lives.

What do you do on a national level? Do you practice humility, or do you pressure the government to make changes that will be good for the whole country? It may mean disruptions, riots, police action and suffering for many. The past practice of America has been to be willing to take military and police action to change the world or to hold what is regarded as evil at bay so that it does not take over.

And what does a government do when threatened by opposition? Does it respond with police action and put down protest, or does it allow protest and marches even at the risk of greater unrest?

I would enjoy hearing what our friends think about these issues. My email is charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org

From the point of view of Made in the Streets itself, humility is ever our goal. We do not seek to affect government or society in any way; we seek to change the lives of individual street kids - to bring them hope and opportunity - to help them develop spiritually and socially -- to enable them to work and make life better for themselves. As individuals and as a ministry, we seek to accept what comes to us in life and make a difference at the same time.

May all that comes your way to pleasant, and if not, may you find a way through it that brings joy.

Unrest in Kenya

2008-01-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

We are sad at any event that creates more trouble for street kids. The unrest at the end of the election in Kenya has led to local riots in several places in Kenya. We are grateful that our center in Kamulu (at the eastern edge of Nairobi, 20 miles from downtown) is isolated enough that there is little likelihood of problems there. What our street kids worry about are their relatives who are in Huruma or Mathare Valley.

It hurts me that Darlene and I are not in Nairobi to go through this with our Team and kids. We love them very much. Life is short, humans are like grass, but our lives mean something when we risk ourselves in order to do good and to work God's will. We know that God wants the street ministry, that it fulfills what Jesus appreciates and wants in the world, and that there are kids on the streets whom God is calling to himself.

God can be trusted to have us in his plan. God can be trusted to keep our hearts and souls safe in Jesus. God can be trusted. So we have peace in this New Year.

Be blessed in the New Year,

charles and darlene

Of Pain and Joy

2007-12-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

No matter how old we get, it still brings us pain when our kids are hurt. We go so far as to ask God to give us the hurt instead. I went to the hospital yesterday afternoon to see the daughter, recovering from back surgery. I hate having to think about all the pain she has endured in the past few years, and I would gladly take all of it to spare her. Maybe she will come home today, with about 6 weeks of recovery, for the pain to go away and for renewal of her strength. The doctor thinks the little steel disc is sitting exactly right, and he is hopeful that completely recovery of the spinal column is possible. As I looked at the x-ray the doctor brought in and listened to him talk to the daughter, I felt joy. Joy that my child would be okay.

It makes me conscious of all the kids in the world who are not okay today. The kids sleeping on the streets right now in Eastleigh, Nairobi, since it is nighttime there. The kids in Iraq on any street, the kids near that marketplace in Mogadishu, the kids in any school where bullying and fear reign - let's together ask God for his powerful beam of light to rest on those kids for their good.

There is a God in heaven, there is a God who owns the earth and all in it, there is a God who secures the future. So joy will not die, will not be defeated, will not dim in the presence of pain. Count on it!

charles

Back in the USA

2007-12-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Darlene and I go back and forth from Kenya to USA. The contrasts are great, the details astounding, and the joy remains constant. We leave the street kids in good hands -- the Kenyan Team is astounding. The kids at Kamulu had a "Family Day" today, with any family members they have visiting for the day. It's a great time and very meaningful to the kids. Even though their family experience may have been terrible, family is still very important to them.

Now we are in California. I am at gymnastics with Morgan, the youngest granddaughter. Wow, this is fun! Watching her fulfills a little part of my heart that is special. Our daughter is in the hospital after back surgery. Darlene has gone to see her today after taking the twins to school. Her husband is getting much-needed sleep. So we are useful even here!

Being USEFUL is just what we want. It's a big part of what brings meaning to our lives. We want our usefulness to bring joy to people and also hold meaning for something eternal as well.

Have to go now -- the granddaughter is ready to move on -- happy holidays -- charles

BurnOut

2007-12-03T04:07:00.000-08:00

Dealing with Burnout

Now and then people are concerned about Darlene and me – about my health, about all the travel we do, and especially about the possibility of burnout. We see and know about a lot of terrible things that happen to children on the streets. Sometimes a young person with whom we have worked disappoints, does something wrong, and leaves the ministry. Sometimes kids we love return to the streets, choosing sniffing glue in the alleyways over a safe and warm life at Made in the Streets. Maybe a student stays with us all the way to 18 years old, gets an ID card, but doesn’t care to look for a job, and ends up on the same streets where they were when we met him.

So far we continue with desire to see this ministry through, to get all the Team fully trained and dedicated to long-term ministry, to get all the infrastructure, policy and program needed to ensure an ongoing effort to help kids get off the streets and into a productive and spiritual life.

But we are alert to the possibility that our Kenyan team members could burn out also. We have recently had a series of events on the streets that could burn out a person out. I thought you might be interested in how we deal with possible burnout.

Two weeks ago the 6-year-old daughter of one of the young women who come to our Monday program for street mothers (ages range from 18 to 34) was raped by someone known to the mother. It was a traumatic event, and our Team in Eastleigh (Ann, Anthony and Kennedy) dealt with the aftermath – getting the man in jail, talking with the mother and child. Then Nicholas, who dropped out of our program in Eastleigh in 2000, killed Patrick, who had been in our program with Kennedy and Anthony in 2003, over a card game. The next day, after the police had come around but did not act, the other guys at the base killed Nicholas. Again it was Kennedy and Anthony who met with the others at the base, with Patrick’s brother, and who took responsibility for the evening meetings where they raise money for Patrick’s burial in Western Kenya. So our Team has been up all night at the fund-raisers and working during the daytime. Then a woman named Njeri (age 34) who lives at Jamaica Base was beaten up by a former boyfriend from another base. The mother of one of our girls, Mary Muthoni, who alse lives at the base, came to ask our Team to help with first aid. When Anthony arrived there, he found Njeri in bad condition, so he got her to the hospital, after getting the young man into jail. When Anthony saw all the blood on her and was told by the doctor that she had internal bleeding, needed surgery, and might not survive, he felt a spasm in his body. He has some chest problems which may be asthma also, and the spasms made that worse.

When Anthony came to Sunday morning Bible class that I am teaching on 2 Peter this term (the Eastleigh Team comes to Kamulu for Saturday night and Sunday morning), I saw him spasm in class. It appeared to me that he has 3 spasms – his left arm, the left side of his body and his whole upper body. It is just a momentary jerk. He also feels great responsibility; a local policeman told him he was responsible if anything bad happened at the nighttime fund-raisers. At any rate, we decided it was time to take “burnout action.”
My first action was to talk briefly with Anthony. I asked him to describe what he was feeling in his body. Then I instructed him to take care of himself as well as all the other people. When he told me that they were raising about 500 shillings each night in the fund-raisers, I told him to ask them NOT to meet Sunday night, and in turn I would give them 1,000 shillings. That allows Anthony to get a full night’s sleep. Then Francis Mbuvi instructed Anthony to come back to Kamulu on Monday and spend two nights with us, giving Mbuvi time to debrief Anthony and listen to him talk about his feelings and the bad stuff he has seen lately. Kennedy will handle the fund-raisers Monday and Tuesday. Then Kennedy will come out for two nights and spend time with Mbuvi. I also asked Anthony about the t-shirt that he was wearing under his outer shirt; I told him I could tell that it has a big red “S” on it. He looked at me quizzically until I told him about Superman, then he laughed and admitted her felt responsible for everything.

Our next step was to give him opportunity to do something truly good. On Monday he plans to get Njeri from the hospital, take her to the police station to write a statement, then see her back to Jamaica Base. So I gave him 1,000 shillings and asked him to find her a room down in Mathare Valley that he can rent for about 700 shillings a month, then to buy her and her two children food with the rest. He will pay two months’ rent and encourage her and her 16-year-old to earn money in the next two months and be able to pay the rent after that. Whether that happens or she returns to Jamaica Base, we will have done something good for Anthony. Tomorrow when we go to Eastleigh for the Monday program, we will take two mattresses and two blankets for the family’s bedding.

I also alerted Larry Conway to the situation so that he can find some quiet time soon to sit with Anthony and be a listener.

I’ll let you know later what happens to the spasms.

On Health

2007-11-30T04:02:00.000-08:00

Took a walk after working all day at almost dark. Hard to keep the sugar level down and control the diabetes. Without the daily walk I lose the battle, even with pills and controlled consumption. As we walked we talked about the street kids in our program, especially the new ones. We walked a roundabout way to the boys’ center. There was a large group out on our soccer field playing at almost dark. And then we could hear two basketballs bouncing on the court. The boys were having a great way to end the day. Down at the girls’ center the girls were either studying or doing their hair.

What we always pray is that God will lead us to the street kids whom he is calling to himself. The five new kids are a great example of how that works out. All of them have said that what they like about Made in the Streets is that they get to know God. One said he didn’t have opportunity to learn anything about God out on the streets, and now he can. They were thrilled when I presented each of them with a Bible, and two of them were eager to carry the Bible to the dorm to read it at night. In only our third day in having sessions with them, and without our urging it, two of them, Mercy and George, have asked about being baptized and say they are ready. So Francis Mbuvi or another Team member will study with them soon.

They are believers. And God has called them to Made in the Streets, where they will have daily chapel, Sunday worship, weekday Bible classes, a Friday evening cell group, and opportunity to read the Bible in the dorm.

Now this is good health! When we see kids getting a new life, reaching out to the Lord, it makes our hearts a lot stronger. It makes me feel better in every way. And it helps them to grow in confidence and in poise. A relationship with God is able to make everything else easier, such as English and Math and Computers and Geography and Health and Skills training – all of the things they study.

At the Kenyan Coast

2007-11-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

Magnificent is the only word to describe snorkeling at a coral reef. Because of a kind gift to our Team, they were able to take a trip to the Kenya coast, and we went along with them. We took them in two groups, so someone could stay and work with the kids. We spent 2 nights at the Turtle Bay Beach Club, one of those all-inclusive places where you can eat all day if you like! And juices and sodas are always available, and the meals are all buffet, so the Team loved it. They could swim in the pool, play table tennis and volleyball, then go to the beach and play in the ocean.

Very relaxing for Darlene and me. We had time to talk to one another and enjoy one another's company. Of course, we almost spend 24 hours a day together, but there is something about reclining on a mat looking at the Indian Ocean near the one you love that is special!

The Team felt really special. Only 3 of them had ever been in an airplane. Now they are back at work, 24 hours a day with our 45 kids, as usual.

We have used Skype today, talking to people in the USA. If anyone wants to Skype us, we are usually at the Java House with our headphones on our Saturday morning at 7 am. That would be 8 pm Friday in California and 10 pm in the Central time zone.

be happy,

charles

Source of the Nile

2007-10-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

After 16 years in Kenya, we finally travel to Uganda, which has been a hot spot for American church of Christ missionaries in recent years, with teams in Mbarara, Kampala, Jinja and Mbale and a family in Fort Portal. We spent a week in Mbale, where the local mission team and church have a training school for church leaders, a congregation and dreams for a University. I taught a course called the Ephesian Connection -- all the Scripture and events in the New Testament surrounding the city of Ephesus. 20 students from their advanced program attended, and we had a good week.

And once again in our short lives God has given us richly of his wonder. After flying to Kampala, we took a public bus (large van) to Mbale, 6 hours on the road. Then we had good fellowship and good treatment by the Mbale church. It turned out that one of the cars belonging to a Kampala missionary was in Mbale, and we had the privilege of driving it back to Kampala. That meant we could stop off in Jinja. There the church has developed The Source Cafe, so we had lunch and bought some of the coffee they produce. We were planning to spend the night at a hotel. But while we were drinking coffee, Kim Langford showed up at the Cafe and invited us to her house. It was great being with Kim and her two boys, one of whom is just the age of one of our granddaughters.

Our sense of wonder was filled to the brim by the natural setting in Jinja. This is where the explorer Speke in 1860 found the source of the Nile River. All my life I have read and fantasized about the Nile -- mostly about Egypt of course. But here we could take a boat ride up the river a little ways to where it begins in Lake Victoria -- we could stand at the Zero Mile marker (it's 4000 miles to the Mediterranean). A great experience.

After spending the night, we drove up a dirt road to Bugajali Falls, which is one of the #5 level rapids in the area (this will soon be destroyed by the new hydroelectric dam they will build). We climbed down the rocks and sat a few feet from the river just below the rapids -- incredible! I can't describe the joy of that moment. So we sat and talked about all the places in the Bible where water is mentioned, and we especially thought about the voice that John heard in his Revelation vision that was "the sound of many waters."

We are grateful for all our experiences, in family, in the church, in nature. They are all filled to the brim with joy. And we will not soon forget the sound of many waters.

"let the living water flow over us"

It's the Economy!

2007-10-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

Amazing how much a missionary's life can be determined by the economy. The usual missionary doesn't choose this life in order to make extra money, or even to live at the level most Americans live at. But we are deeply affected by it.

One reason is that we live on exchange rates. Back in 1993 many missionaries left Kenya because the rate of the dollar against the Kenyan shilling changed so much so rapidly. We are facing a similar time now. The US $ has dropped 8.5 shillings to the dollar in the past year. That is 11.64%. Our personal buying power has lost that much in a year, and the Made in the Streets has lost the same buying power.

In addition to that, the Kenyan economy has seen a surge in growth, which leads to a rise in the inflation level. Couple that with the rise in the price of oil worldwide, and prices go up rapidly. It isn't only the price of gasoline and diesel, which have increased a little more than $1 per gallon in the past year. It's that flour has gone from $1 for 4.4 pounds (2 kilogram) to $1.70. And milk has increased twice in the past two weeks, once 5 cents a quart and the next 7 cents a quart. And bread -- our kids eat a lot of bread -- went up 5 cents a loaf last week. In the news today was a note that sugar will increase in price soon.

Besides all that, Kenya has joined the world conservation movement and has begun a campaign against plastic bags - this is one of the worst parts of the litter problem in our cities - and the government has slapped a 120% import duty on plastic goods. That also will make prices go up.

In today's paper are articles about salaries in Kenya. Now we are also faced with the fact that our Kenyan Team members are in the lowest level of salaries in the country, since economic growth has led to a rise in salaries generally.

So...we have to pay attention to the economy. And we need people to pray for us that we will be wise in using the Lord's money, the funds that Christians have so generously given us. Please ask God to give us wisdom. Even the economy points to our need for God's care. It's good to have many things in our lives that point us to the need to trust God with our lives and futures.

May the Lord guide your daily life... charles

A Matter of Timing

2007-10-10T05:44:00.000-07:00

It is great that Darlene and I got back to Made in the Streets now. There were some problems that we need to help the team with, such as attitude problems among some of our older kids who are studying for the end of primary school exam, and on the part of some kids who have gotten more gifts from USA friends of Made in the Streets than other kids have, and setting up a new schedule for the kids. Darlene and I are still some use here, even though we don't do administrative work anymore. The team is very capable in most areas, but in planning the future of the ministry, and in dealing with personal attitude issues -- we are useful.

Today was also a matter of timing. We are making plans to spend a few days in Uganda with the churches in the Mbale area teaching a Biblical course at their training center to the advanced students. There are so many issues involved -- border crossings on both sides, car insurance and permission to take the car, visas, etc -- as well as info on how they handle their courses. We drove into town and stopped at the Java House to do our email and internet work, and there was Shaun Tyler and Ian Shelburne, the brothers who invited us to Uganda! So I got all my information.

How are we to think about such events? I needed the information and was feeling a little insecure about the trip. It was great to hear it all face-to-face and be able to think of all the questions I needed answered. God is "providence" -- and more -- God is "a very present help in time of need." Christ is "master" -- in command over our hearts and spirits and minds and bodies right now. God is truly the God of history -- and history is being written in each of our lives now.

It's a matter of timing, and timing is a matter of God!

In His time,

charles

Coulstons Back in Nairobi

2007-10-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

We met Francis and Maureen (with baby Jonathan) in the London airport and traveled on to Nairobi with them. They had been in Midland, Texas, working on World Bible School project. It was good to catch up on some news and to see them. We didn't talk much on the airplane because I slept almost all the way. And after getting here I slept for about 18 hours!!

Yesterday Darlene and I walked to the boys' property and looked at the orchard -- 546 trees plus about 100 passion fruit vines are planted and growing. The water system is working. The baby calf looks good, and there are several baby goats.

It was especially good to see all the students and staff. Everyone seems happy. The bad news is that one boy ran away a week before we came. He was a troubled youth who had a hard time learning -- more about him later. I feel sad at his loss; the team hasn't been able to find him yet.

Molly and Zach, our two interns, have done good work while we were away. They have given oral reports on the work and overall Made in the Streets seems very healthy. Since we are a Team of 21 (plus interns) and have 46 teenagers and hundreds we work with on the streets, there are always minor problems that arise -- such as a student stealing keys and debris getting in one of the water tanks and a student being sick and at the hospital -- but the ministry is healthy and the kids seem alive with enthusiasm.

John Wambu and I went to the 20 acres and planned a fence around the school compound (this is the skills training area where we have built one building and drilled the water well); we also delivered woodworking supplies that Bob Workley donated for that project -- Robin and Nzioka were very happy. John and I also drew up plans for renovation of the Eastleigh property for the coming street mothers' program. We also planned some improvement in the girls' kitchen.

It's great being alive, working in ministry, serving the poorest of the poor, doing what we know Jesus wants done. We are grateful to those who give money to make our work possible.

have a grateful day,

charles

The Old and the Young

2007-10-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, and that means we fly to Nairobi today. We are trying to take care of ourselves, so we woke up early and walked the two miles to the coffee shop. The son-by-marriage got the granddaughters ready and brought them by the coffee shop before taking them to pre-school. And the daughter stopped by briefly to say hello on the way to work.

It seems the old and the young grow alike. The twins are five now, and they are feeling more the fact of our departures. They came in and sat down close to me, and neither really wanted to eat (even though it was a cinnamon crunch bagle!). They just wanted to get close and tell me how they would miss me and even cry a little.

And me...? I started feeling like crying a week ago. One day I felt strange, and I later realized that I was depressed. Since I never feel depression, I didn't know what it is. It makes me empathize with people who suffer from depression, whether clinical or occasional. It's like you are falling in a hole, and you feel disconnected from the world around you. And everything seems worse than it could possibly be. And you feel lonely even though you don't need to. It takes conscious effort to get free from depression, making a decision to be close to others and to do something useful. Otherwise you get stuck in it.

Today I feel okay. I could talk to the girls about how feeling sad is great, because it means we really do love one another. And about how if we don't go away, then we can't come back (that worked for our daughter when her granpa used it, but somehow I don't think the twins buy it.)

There is an excitement building in us about being back in Nairobi. There is plenty of work, and we get to see the street kids again, and those who have come off the streets and are at the Farm, and the Team, and the Conways and others. Our list of loved ones is almost unending.

Have an un-depressed day!

charles

2007-09-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow the Coulstons go back to Nairobi for another rotation of 3 months. This is turning out very well. The Kenyan Team administers and operates the ministry. And we still advise them in planning, provide growth opportunities for them and keep them focused on the task.

Today in church in Thousand Oaks we sang "Peace, Perfect Peace," a song we remember from childhood in the church. It has fresh meaning for us now, as we say goodbye to family and as we work with children in desperate conditions.

"The blood of Jesus whispers peace" -- life is not peaceful for children who are beaten harshly by angry, alcoholic, poor and frustrated parents/uncles/grandparents/older brothers...life is not peaceful for children trying to sleep tonight in an alleyway, in danger from authorities, from other street kids, from those who wander the night and prey on kids. And it was not peaceful for Jesus when he shed his blood. And yet...it does whisper peace.

"To do the will of Jesus - this is rest." We know the truth of this. Even when doing his will means going into garbage, into risk, into troubled hearts. Even when there isn't a day off. Even when the work is 24/7. Knowing that it is what He wants done -- that makes it rest!

"With loved ones far away..we are safe, and they." When we first went to Kenya, we wouldn't come back for 2 years or more, and many missionaries have stayed away for 5 years or 10 in the past. Soldiers do this too. With modern travel, we are never more than 2 days away now. The rub is what "safe" means -- none of us is in charge of future events, nor do we know what may happen to us or our loved ones. The world has its own dangers and diseases. And yet...we are safe, and they. For He holds our hearts, our souls, our minds - all - in his Hands and his Heart.

"Our future all unknown." We do know some of the future. We know that all the future belongs to Jesus -- the was and the is and the will be. And so..

"It is enough." Right now, in the midst of our commitments and desires and belongings -- Jesus "calls us to heaven's perfect peace."

We'll be busy October to December. We'll help John Wambu get the Eastleigh property ready for the street mothers' program. We'll help Jackton Omondi get the sewing factory off the ground. We'll help Ben Mwami and Benard Nyambura get the orchard completed. We'll help the Team plan the parameters of the street mothers' program and set policies. Charles will teach the adult Sunday school class, and he will teach a course called "The Ephesian Connection" in Mbale, Uganda, to the church leaders' training school. Darlene will work on the sewing patterns with Jackton and continue to encourage Valerie and Philip in the teaching program. She will also read Francine Rivers' book series on Bible women to the girls in their dorm.

Be blessed...thanks for reading...

coulstons AT THE LECTURES

2007-09-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

For the first time since 1993, Darlene and I attended the Abilene Christian University lectureship. That time we met people who have become life-long friends. George and MaryJo Tolbert from Hamilton, Texas, were at the lectures to find someone who would meet up with friends of theirs from Japan (an exchange student who had lived with them) who were living in Nairobi!! I was director (or Principal) of Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute at that time and a member of the Eastleigh Church. We made that contact and enjoyed the Japanese family very much, and they attended church with us regularly. Now the Hamilton church supports the street ministry.

We are all much older now, and our perspectives are different. And things have changed at ACU -- the library is a busy and happy place. Now there is a Starbucks on the main floor, with the network computers and lots of people having a good time. We sat there with our coffee and talked with Sam and Nancy Shewmaker (who are moving back to Africa) and Gaston and Jan Tarbet. We ran across Reg Cox and Tim Johnson (who knew an old friend of ours from ACU and the Bay Area, Mark Molloy). And we saw Jack Hicks -- he and I were in 2nd year Hebrew together, studying under Tony Ash in the M.Div. program back in '69. While we were talking with Jack, Chris Chesnutt, ACU student and last year's intern at Conejo Valley Church in Thousand Oaks, CA, showed up to talk to us. Jack noticed that I was taking my diabetes pills, along with something he recognized, vitatim b-12. Jack was telling me that he took his under the tongue, and Chris was looking at us with that funny look that the young give to strange older people. Jack said, "Chris, you'll be here some day." Darlene and Jack and I thought that was really funny. Ah, it's great to grow old.

The classes Darlene and I attended all had 12 to 15 people in them. But the "social justice" classes at 2 PM (not the best time for classes -- after lunch, nap time!) had between 70 and 80 people each day. These classes were all about practical ministries on behalf of children or oppressed peoples. Good indication of strong interest in the churches of Christ on alternative ministries that provide service to the desperate and poor.

may your service be given with unending joy, charles

Have a LifExciting Day

2007-09-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Andy Wall began Sunday's sermon at Conejo Valley Church with a vignette of two characters walking along discussing the first thing they think of when they wake up in the morning. Pooh Bear thinks of "food" (which makes him a soulmate to street kids), but Piglet answers that he thinks of "what exciting things will happen today." So I thought -- let's see what exciting happens in MY day today. I've written down Sunday's events for you.

1. I woke up in the morning and the first sight to meet my eyes is someone who loves me.
2. I had breakfast with granddaughters.
3. I read a little of the newspapers and discovered that Oklahoma Univ. won the football game.
4. I saw Jerry Rushford, and he confirmed that Darlene and I are invited to lead a class at Pepperdine Lectures in 2008 - Ap 28 to May 2.
5. I saw Zane and Debbie Williams at church; they are from Otter Creek church, where we met them, and Zane had sent me a song of his called "Africa I Heard You Cry." Turns out he has in a youth group that our daughter and son-by-marriage worked with, and they had lunch with him just before he left to go to college years ago. And I got to hear him sing the Africa song.
6. I got an email from an Aggie for Christ who wants to come and do an internship at Made in the Streets for 6 months - and she comes highly recommended by people I trust.
7. Darlene and I met in the evening with a group of people very interested in a trip to Nairobi to serve street kids and our Team in 2008.
8. Krista (one of the granddaughters) wanted to ride to church in the car with me.
9. Alexis (another one) wanted me to play with her and stitch a board with yarn.
10. Morgan (the third one) wanted to wear my reading glasses and sit in my lap and hug me and say "I love you."

Let's not ever get used to have non-exciting days. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

peace and joy, charles