Jeremiah and I were invited to attend a Children's Fellowship to be held Monday, December 27th at Pastor John Shakai's new home. Pst. John encourages the young men in his church in their desire to pastor a church of their own. Thus far, he has 9 churches that have launched out of his church in the past several years. Its so exciting to see these young men with a passion for Christ and for wanting to impact their communities.
These young pastors and the Sunday School teachers from their respective churches, brought their children to this event. Other than my car, there was only one other vehicle. Everyone else had to walk. Thankfully, they take shortcuts across the hills and fields, but some still came ridiculous distances with those small children. One group took 2 1/2 hours to walk there.
When we arrived we found these ladies making chapatis in the kitchen. A chapati is similar to a flour tortilla and is always present on celebration days.
These ladies are peeling lots of potatoes and cabbage to go into the stew for lunch.
These women are busy making tea. A rough count was 110 children and who knows how many adults. That's a lot of tea!
This lovely young Maasai lady worked hard and diligently to make sure each child had a cup of tea and a biscuit (cookie)
Lunch time! No fancy tables and chairs. Not even grass. They just sat in the dust next to the goat pen and ate their lunch. However, I didn't hear any complaints as the meal was wonderful.
One group arrived in the back of this small truck. This is a very common site in the rural areas. 
I don't know his name, but he stayed very close to me all day. He was very curious about my camera.
When these guys realized I was taking pictures, they lined up and said "take me, take me!" They love to see themselves on the camera.
Its difficult to tell in this picture, but these children were dancing when the program began. Any time they hear music, they just begin moving their feet. Its always so much fun to watch their youthful energy.
They sat attentively while the speaker spoke. I had an umbrella over my head to protect me from the hot sun, but they didn't seem to notice the heat.
After the program, they were instructed to line up -- boys in one line, girls in another. Its was chaotic at first, but they eventually got it. It was time to pass out gifts.
A sweet lady in Mississippi donated an entire collection of Beanie Babies to my ministry. They arrived on the container in October. This event was a perfect venue to pass them out. Each girl present received a Beanie Baby.
Most of the children were very excited. One very young girl was given a cat. She first looked at it then flung it away as fast as she could get it out of her hands. She was afraid it would hurt her. I felt sorry for her, so I switched and gave her a bear. In her opinion, that wasn't an improvement! Someone came to her rescue and tried to coax her into accepting something. I'm not sure they were successful. Her panicked little face is still in my memory.
They were all so excited about their babies!
Another man donated small wooden trucks to my ministry. All the boys received them, although I think some of the boys would have preferred Beanie Babies!
However, they were also very proud of their gifts. 
And last but not least, everyone got popcorn. I got up very early and made pot after pot of pop corn to share with these wonderful children. 
Next, they had a ceremony to honor Pastor John and his wife Maria. They held this cloth wrap in such a way it became a collection point for gifts for the Pastor. We didn't know this was going to happen, but all the other people did, so they came prepared with gifts of coins. It was a precious site to see these children giving.
The adults in the group gave John and Maria gifts that were more personal. A new shuka (wrap) for John, and a blanket. John wrapped the blanket around Maria.
This is Pastor John and his family in front of their new home. What a wonderful family. I feel so privileged to know them.
