Kitale update 22nd Feb 2010

22^nd February

Dear family, friends, and supporters of the Soul Edge Girls!

Since returning from Turkana, February has turned out to be a busy month! We jumped right back into life in and around Kitale and have really seen God at work, both within our team and in the places we are working. Session wise we’ve been looking at leadership, communication, public speaking, women in leadership and identity. Our outreach and ministry has been really varied! We’ve helped with clothes distribution and prayer at a small slum community, continued to lead Saturday Kids Club at the Fireplace, and helped out with building a large chicken hut, aka “Chickingham Palace” to support Oscar, one of the Youth Apart team. Ali and Tanya preached on “loving God first” at church last weekend, we’ve had many great worship nights, we helped out with a music workshop audition day, we’re still teaching at the Kipsongo slum school twice a week, and the girls have even found time to get their hair braided African style! This past week we spent a very long 14 hour day out in the village of Bidii where there’s an orphanage being built…from dawn to long past dusk we raked, poked, and compressed 50 tonnes of concrete for the floor. It was an exhausting day but a lot of fun and so great to be able to serve in such a practical way. Last night we were also able to meet the house parents and the children who’ll be moving into the Bidii home which was really exciting.

It’s not been all work and no play, however…. Last week we spent the day out at Mount Elgon, hiking and exploring the bat caves which was a lot of fun! We also celebrated Hannah’s birthday with some birthday challenges and chocolate cake.

The week ahead is pretty exciting…teaching sessions include Grace, The Father Heart of God, and Spiritual Warfare. The girls are currently down in Kitale on a prophetic prayer treasure hunt, and later in the week we may be helping out again with construction at the Bidii plot.

There’s a lot that’s been going on, but one thing that’s really both challenged and blessed us as a team has been the slum at Kipsongo, where we’ve been teaching the bible classes in the school there. The last few weeks, however, we’ve also been into the slum to pray in the community. For this update, just wanted to share with you a journal update from my (Amy Williams’) experiences in the slum last Friday…

“ We wound our way down a few more streets deep into the slum and found ourselves being invited into someone’s home. The lady inside was called Esther, a beautiful older woman. Her face was lined and wrinkled with years of life….her face told the stories…this was a woman who had lived. But her face also showed pain; struggles and worries as well as physical pain. And so we prayed for Dad to release her from physical pain, fill her home with his presence, to protect her family and direct her steps. She opened her hands to heaven and received deeply from the Lord. As we finished praying, she held my hand and then embraced me tightly. As I pulled back, I looked into her eyes. They were alive and shining. You got lost in them. They were deep and they were pure and they lit up her tired and wrinkled face. As I looked into her eyes, my heart almost skipped a beat and my spirit stirred. I saw Jesus. In the midst of such brokenness and pain, there was Jesus. Where else would he be?”

Prayer points….for continued spiritual growth, boldness, and confidence for the team as we step out in faith….for God to challenge us through the teaching sessions….for guidance as we begin to plan our upcoming time in Uganda…for good health for the team.

Thank you for continuing support.

The Soul Edge Girls 2010

Turkana update 2 SEG 2010

8^th February

Dear family, friends, and supporters of the Soul Edge Girls!

So we are safely back from Turkana after an amazing time of challenge, stepping out, trusting the Lord, and seeing him show up big time! I asked the girls if they would write a brief update for you…and instead they wrote a rap (which has since been recorded at the studio behind the Fireplace, our church!) It sums up pretty well our outreach in Turkana….enjoy!

We went to Turkana and man, it was hot!

Kinda squishy but we learnt a lot.

There was no way of keeping clean,

We found cockroaches in the latrine.

Lekkere babe was the name of our car

We had to drive extremely far

A 12 hour journey on potholey roads

No suspension ‘cause of heavy load.

Five nationalities in our team,

Eleven mzungus, know what I mean?

We arrived late at night, slept under the stars

Felt like we were on planet mars

We drove through the desert the very next day

Saw camels and monkeys along the way

We reach the village to share JC’s love

And the good news that comes from above.

At first we sensed a cultural divide

But it was all good ‘cause JC did provide

We preached the word and prayed for the sick

Gave out flour, used our medical kit

Church on Sunday like in the UK,

But was a different experience that day,

We spoke at the front and sang a song

‘Blessed be your Name,’ they clapped along.

Went to the hospital and gave out prayer

Asked for lots of healing there.

Another village was next in line.

Same word, same prayer, but lentils this time.

Turkana really was an amazing experience.

Jesus deffo made an appearance

People were healed, people were saved

And many great relationships were made.

We were pushed outside our comfort zones

Nothing like we’re experienced at home.

We looked like we’d been dragged through a hedge.

But that’s how we roll on Soul Edge.

Turkana really was an amazing time of stepping out in the Lord, and I know we were all changed and brought closer to God’s heart through it. Back in Kitale, we are continuing with teaching sessions and discipleship, as well as continuing to serve here, including teaching and ministry at the Kipsongo slum. We’re also getting involved in more practical work, including the building of a children’s home at Bidii. Will update you on all this soon! Please continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord’s heart and serve here. Thanks for your support of our team.

With love,

The Soul Edge Girls 2010

First week in Kitale, Kenya 16th January 2010

Dear family, friends, and supporters of the Soul Edge Girls!

Welcome to the first of our updates for the 2010 Soul Edge program, and hello from Kitale, Kenya!

We arrived safely in Kitale a week ago and have quickly settled into our home, ‘the Factory,’ complete with beautiful garden, Dutch housemates, a few dogs, the odd cow wandering down the street and a very irritating but endearing pair of chickens.

Our first week in Kenya has been a lot of fun as we have continued to get to know each other as a team, adjust to the hot weather, slot into our soul edge schedule, begin serving different projects, and experience all things African! Our days begin with a run (which everyone seems to be enjoying, despite the early wake up call!) and are then filled with teaching sessions, worship and prayer times, reading, journaling, and then practically serving in the community. Teaching sessions this week have included walking with the Lord, prayer, the Holy Spirit, solitude and submission, healing, and touching the untouchables.

The places we are going to be serving are beginning to develop…we have spent some time this week at the Esther Home, a project for teenage mums and their babies, facing difficult circumstances. We spent some time helping them with a beading project, making bracelets and necklaces, as well as doing manual labour harvesting crops and then clearing land on their allotment site. We have helped with a kids club at ‘The Fireplace,’ the church which we attend here. In addition we have visited the Kipsongo slum, which is just outside of Kitale. Around 2,000 people live there in heartbreaking conditions and circumstances…it’s a tough place, but one where we believe Jesus would have walked. Alcohol and drug dependency are high, and many of the children are alcohol dependant as a result of being fed ‘busa,’ a highly potent alcoholic beverage, in place of food which their families cannot afford. We will be supporting a ministry at a school in slum, run by a pastor who used to be drug dealer there himself before becoming a Christian. Their vision is to break the cycle of alcohol dependency for the children by offering an alternative way to spend their day and food for them to eat. We will help in teaching lessons at the school, feeding the children over lunchtime, and then simply playing with them.

This coming week we will be continuing with sessions and engaging more with the ministries we will be working alongside, including the Esther Home ,The Fireplace, and the slum school. Please pray…

· That the Lord would continue to guide us as we serve ministries in and around Kitale
· That we would continue to be growing stronger as a team
· That we could continue to be challenged and changed by God through worship, prayer, and teaching session as we seek after His heart.
· For physical protection, that the team would stay healthy and safe.

To get our Phone numbers and address please email us directly at the soul edge girls email address:

soul.edge.girls@googlemail.com

With love,
The Soul Edge Girls 2010

ARRIVAL

The 2010 girls arrived in Nairobi safe and well today.

(Meanwhile 12 boys have assembled in Canada to start the boys course).

The first few days 2010

Hello Friends and Family of the Soul Edge Girls 2010!

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say hi and that we're all safe and well in snowy Watford, and to send you our first team picture (complete with shorts, flipflops, and sunglasses in anticipation of our arrival in Kenya!!) From left to right, we have Amy M, Amy W (team leader) Hannah (team leader), Ali, Claire, and Tanya. We're looking forward to having Kiri with us as another leader when we reach Canada :)
We've had a great time so far getting to know each other and preparing for the next 5 months. Please pray for us as we prepare to travel to Kitale, Kenya over the next couple of days!

Blessings!

The Soul Edge Girls 2010

Banff and Herbert

Sorry its been so long in writing... we will have a Pelican Narrows update too soon :)
Here is Gemma's update!!!
Blessings
Kiri
xxx

Hey there!
Hope everyone is doing really well, and enjoyed celebrating Easter last week. We were in Banff in the Rocky Mountains over Easter, and we climbed a mini mountain for sunrise, but the problem was that the sun was rising behind some other mountains, so couldn't actually see the sun, but it made the sky look beautiful, and it turned some of the snow on the mountains different colours, so that was really cool, Laura found i nice spot to sit, over the bar i might add, and her bottom almost froze! We had a great time in Banff, we were there for a week, did a day of snowboarding, a day of skiing, a few hikes, and other random bits and bobs. Banff was so beautiful, the whole place was covered in pine forests, and there was a big river that was frozen over, and then the whole skyline was snow covered mountains, and a famount of blue sky, although it did snow a few days. It was stunning, and so peaceful walking through the pine forests, everything was so still. Banff is in a national park, so there were lots of deer just randomly walking around the edges of the town, a few came into our back garden one day. They weren't very shy, I guess they have got used to lots of people being around. Some of us found snowboarding quite hard, spent a good amount of time on our bums, and then trying to get back up again, but it was good fun. The second day Kiri, Becky, Laura, Hannah and Nadia carried on snowboarding as they were really enjoying it. However Millie, Lauren and Gemma who already knew how to ski decided that we would do that instead, and it was so much fun, such an amazing adrenaline rush from whizzing down the slopes, there's always that faint possibility that you are gonna catch your ski on something and go flying, but that adds to the excitement. But everyone had high spirits and by the end of the day we were all ready for a nice fire in the lounge!! We had two boys who Hannah knew form Bible school come with us to teach the snowboarding, Cody and Joash, and we were so grateful to have them as we wouldn't have had a clue if it wasn't for them! We did various things on the nights and one night we had to do a scavenger hunt. This involved us taking pictures of lots of lots of different things and trying to be crazier then the other team! If you look on facebook you should be able to see a couple of those pictures, it was good fun! Other nights we just staying in with a fire and watched a film, it really did feel like a holiday and was strange coming back to real like in Herbert. The town we are living in is like toy town, or like being on a flim set, everything is square, the streets are all in straight lines, like blocks, and the houses are mostly low and flat, although our house has two floors. So the town is called Herbert, and there are about 700 people living here. There is one fairly small supermaket, one school, a coffee shop a restaurant and a chinese take away, and about 7 churches! Everyone still goes to church here, it's still the done thing, like how maybe in our grandparents generation it was just a fact of life that everyone went to church. In some ways that's cool, because everyone has a basic knowledge about Jesus and Christianity, on the other hand, it can be a block, because people would say they are Christians, but in reality it doesn't mean that much. The church we are going to is run by Richard and Polly, who are the parents of Hannah, the Canadian leader in our group. Their church is kind of seen as the black sheep of the churches because it's the only really spirit filled church, in that people believe and practise speaking in tongues, and prophecy, and think that the Holy Spirit is present within each of us as Christians. That's so sad, :-( But it's a really cool church, we feel so welcome there, it is just like a big family. When we're around in Herbert, which is most of the time, we are still having sessions, doing Bible study type things, learning about different topics, and most days we go out to the cattle ranch which Hannah's parents own, and help around the farm. Lauren had to inject a calf with its vaccines the other day, bit of a daunting experience, but I suppose you get used to it. And now we are all learning how to do it just like Polly and Hannah. Then on Monday evenings we are doing a small group thing with college/sixth form aged girls, then on Wednesday evenings one with young teenage girls, and then various other stuff that crops up. We had small group tonight, and it was really cool, this was the third session we've done with them, and it really felt like they were opening up to us and each other more which was awesome. I'm really hoping that through the time we are spending together they will then feel able to keep meeting as a group of Christian girls once we have gone, that we can start something that might be sustainable. Being on the ranch is so much fun, we really feel like we are a help. As we have done it quite a bit now we sort of know what to do and can just get on with it. We get a call everyday from Jesse, Hannah's 8 year old sister asking when we are coming, its so cute because everyday we come at the same time yet she still calls to see. So we have sort of adopted her as our little sister out here which is great! We have to go on the truck to feed the One year old calves they call "yeiling" and so we all jump on the back and dangle our legs off the end and just hope that there aren't any bumps otherwise we go flying, and landing isn't too much fun! All the girls who have their driving license are allowed to drive it and its so strange and old but really cool to feel apart of it all. Next week we are going to this place called Pelican Narrows, which is about 9 hours drive north.

God bless X

(note we have now done pelican narrows... next week for us now will be our horse pack trip !!!)
woooo!
thanks so much everyone for your amazing support and prayers
xxx

CANADA

So we arrived in Herbert, SK
The weather has been kind to us,the first day on the ranch was super cold, but every other day has been above freezing and very sunny!!
The house is so nice.. and the two staircases add extra character to this epic house... it is charming... my favourite place is curled up in the morning with a Canadian stylie cup of coffee... with scruffs by the fire in the kitchen reading my bible... few things can beat that!
rooms are:
- Bex, Lauren and Gems in one
- Nads and Millie in the other.. with space for Laura when she arrives in Canada.
- Kiri and Han have josh and joels room - with Kiri specifically on the bottom bunk so she can get woken up by scruffs early on in the morning.... with a lick!!!!
Runs are daily here in Canada, and the cold is somthing to get used to after African runs.... but it has been really great and stretching.... scruffs also runs and causes havok in those times....
Sessions are sweet... with Richard having started his sessions on church history and Shelly from the church giving us a series on spiritual warfare and challenges for women... she is a real woman of God and a great prayer... :)
Today han did a session on 'The father's heart' and after dinner, and chores at the ranch.... we are visiting WALMART.... many of the girls are excited about this.. and meeting their first HUDDERITES!!! (If you dont know who these are... look them up.. its interesting)...
BANFF is TOMORROW after the session...so super exciting...
You will be filled in with the amount of bruises later on!
Love to all
Blessings
Kiri and Han and all the SE Gals 2009

p.s. Prayer would be great for:

- effective use of time in Canada
- to see more of Gods kingdom come on earth here
- to touch lives of young women here in Herbert
- for safety whilst travelling in CA and snowboarding!!!
- protection - the enemy has been attacking quite a bit recently for the gals

THANKS SO SO MUCH!
blessings
xxx