Habari asibuhi! Sikikuu ya furaha! (Good morning! Happy holiday!)

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you” (Psalm 84:11-12).

INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION
Though we are far from home and the nation around us pays little attention to our US holiday, we are planning to celebrate the 4th of July - American style! We are hosting the missionaries from the area and a couple of neighbors to our place to put burgers and hot dogs on the grill, eat apple pie and ice cream, and spend the day playing games. The only differences will be in the fact that there will be no fireworks, public or personal, and we will be celebrating on Saturday. This is a work day here in Kenya and at ANU it is no exception.

WINDING DOWN
We now have four weeks of classes left before we start the two-week final exam period. In the first chapel of the trimester I reminded the students that they had 168 hours a week and 83 days until exam time and challenged them to make the best of the opportunities. They still have 168 hours a week, but are now down to 30 days to get ready. We are hoping they will.

I am blessed with some good students. In my Church History class everyone has at least a B and in Homiletics everyone is pulling at least a B-. These classes are not large, but that gives me a opportunity to work more directly with them - and it doesn’t take very long to grade papers. Next trimester I could have as many as 150 in the New Testament class that I will be teaching. I’d better enjoy the small class while I can.

SICKNESS ON CAMPUS
The bug is going around. Everywhere I turn people are coughing, sneezing, and just generally feeling bad. It has hit the faculty, administrators, students, and grounds workers. I had my share a couple of weeks ago and lost my voice for about a week. Tuesday night Mary Jane came to bed with chills, fever, aches, headache, and an unset stomach. By today she is doing much better and thankful to be on this end of it. I guess these things just have to run their course. I am told that the sicknesses become acute because of the constant dust. We haven’t had rain in months and don’ expect any more until October or November so everything is so dry. Living with the dust that results from the dry conditions is just a way of life. We are far enough off the road that we have it better than most. Those that live along Maasai Lodge Road must choke all the time.

FELLOW LABORERS
In Kenya everyone seems to have a uniform. The job is known by the kind of clothes one wears. For example, our guards were a uniform that is black with red trim. The gardeners wear green and housekeeping workers wear tan. Let me say just a word about the gardeners. We have some of the most talented men with green thumbs that I have ever seen. Headed by Jehoshaphat and Samuel, our team has transformed a barren plain into a Garden of Eden. Where once there was just dirt and dried grass now there are gorgeous red, yellow, and white flowers of all shapes and sizes. We have huge cactus plants, tree-sized poinsettias, and roses everywhere. Many of the varieties are unknown to me (I have never been big into flowers), but they sure add color and beauty to the campus. We have our own nursery here so seeds are collected and potted for future use as the campus continues to expand.

PRAYER REQUEST
One great need that we have here at ANU is for a college church. We are probably the only Nazarene University in the world that doesn’t have a support church near the grounds to help us in our mission. Please pray with us that God will open a way, provide the correct leadership, and help us to access facilities to bring this new congregation to pass. Since we are out in the country most people have to catch public transport (matatus) to attend services in Ongata Rongi or Nairobi. Even though we have worship services on the campus each Sunday, there is no way to conserve the fruit of our labors and make plans for further discipleship and outreach without an organized church. Wouldn’t it be great to get it off the ground in time for our denomination’s 100th anniversary (Oct. 5). We will work to see what can be done here and we count on your prayers where you are to see this endeavor come to pass.

THANKS
As I look out my office window I see the clocktower and court of honor. On the spokes that go out from the tower their are plaques with the names of every person who has been here to the campus to help out with a building project since the university began - and some even before the school opened. We don’t say thank you enough for the many who have sacrificed time, money, and labors to bring our school to the point it is today. This is just to let you know that we are very grateful and appreciate so much those who keep us here in your hearts, minds, and prayers. ANU is a very special place and it is special because so many from so many areas have given so much to make it so.

REAL-TIME CONNECTION
If you ever have an interest in talking with us live during a church service or missionary meeting, check with us as how it can be done. There are some options that are free through the Internet and then, of course, there is the phone route at a varied rate. If you think that some “live moments from the field” would be of benefit, drop us a line and we will see how we can set it up.

SCHOLARSHIP DRIVE
No offering will be taken, but we are looking for 12 churches with 12 people willing to give $12 per month for 12 months to provide an amount equal to 4 students each getting one year paid in full, or one student getting a full university education. Are you interested in having us come to your church and tell you about it in December or early January? Just let us know.

Well, it’s time to go. We truly wish you a happy and safe Independence Day weekend! Till next week, be blessed and be a blessing…

Wape salamu zangu jamaa zako! (Give my regards to your family!)

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Habari asibuhi! Mhali gani? (Good morning! How are you?)

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63). (Sometimes it seems like this is a description of Kenya between rainy seasons.)

Hello once again from just south of Nairobi and east of Ongata Rongi, Kenya. Actually, we are in the middle of nowhere, but that is rapidly changing as neighbors move in and the cities move out our way.

A DAY IN THE LIFE…
Have you ever wondered what we do around here on a typical day? For me, a week it looks like this: I wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. and by 5:15 the guard dogs are off duty so I can go out for my morning prayer walk. By 6:30 I am cleaned up and out the door to my first devotional time of the day. I meet with several students (anywhere from 5-25) in Jernigan Chapel to have a time of sharing and prayer as we begin our day in a service we call Morning Glory. Then I get breakfast and collect my things together between 7 and 8 and am at staff devotions in the administration building from 8:00-8:30. On Mondays I have to leave at 9 to get to get to our town campus in Nairobi for chapel at our town campus. While I am in town there are supplies to pick up and errands to run, but usually I am back on the main campus by a little after noon. This week I made a little detour because I have found this gas station/convenient store that sells the best footlong hotdogs I have had in a long time. I think this is going to become a serious weekly ritual.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons are usually days for office work, student counseling, and committee meetings. On Tuesday and Thursdays I have pre-chapel preparations and chapel from 9:30-11:30. My first class begins at 11:50 and goes until 1:30. The next class begins at 3:30 and goes until 5:10. In the late afternoons I try to jog and two days a week I coach softball. On Wedneday evenings there is our midweek Bible study and on Thursdays our Christian Union meetings goes from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Usually I get home near the time the sun is going down and Mary Jane and I go through our evening ritual of dinner, a card game, and watching a video of some kind. Then we get a book, go to bed, and read until we pass out. Usually it takes me about 10 minutes. Saturdays are days for shopping, occasional sight-seeing, and rest. Sundays usually find me leading one of the two services on campus or away speaking at a church or high school. This routine really doesn’t vary a lot. It may not be the exciting life you might imagine in Africa, but it does keep me busy enough to stay out of trouble.

SOFTBALL
I mentioned last week that I have been asked to try introduce softball to our student body - first as an intramural sport and perhaps later on an intercollegiate level. It’s pretty interesting to watch. Not one person who has come out to play has even seen a game, held a bat, or had a ballglove on their hand before. No one initially had any concept of terminology like “balls,” “strikes,” “outs,” or “runs.” Running around bases is a totally foreign concept. In fact, when someone hit a grand slam the runners just kept running around the bases. They didn’t know they were supposed to stop after one time around because in the game of cricket they don’t. We started by teaching kickball and then are progressing from there. As the university has not been built in a day, neither will this team come together in a short time. However, along the way we hope we can bring some fun into their lives through this new sport.

MORE GUESTS
Yesterday we had 23 guests from the Hermitage Church of the Nazarene in the Nashville, Tennessee area for lunch and to take a tour of the campus. As usual, they were impressed with what God is doing here and it was a joy for us to be able to tell the ANU story once again. Our next visitors to the East Africa Field and ANU will be from Indianapolis Westside Church of the Nazarene and it will be nice to have some “Hoosiers” to connect with for a little bit.

AFRICA ABLAZE
We are making plans for a major youth conference to be held here in August. It’s a lot of work to get ready for it and it’s kind of an experiment for the university to be involved in such a venture. We’ll let you know how it turns out.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
The work that is being done on the back of our house is starting to come together. It’s amazing to see what these men can do with concrete and mortar. The floor of the bedroom and the bathroom is all tiled and the patio area was poured today. We don’t have a timetable for completion yet, but with each passing day we are nearing the big event. This is a project that has been underway since December, but time is not a relative factor in the developing world.

REAL-TIME CONNECTION
If you ever have an interest in talking with us live during a church service or missionary meeting, check with us as how it can be done. There are some options that are free through the Internet and then, of course, there is the phone route at a varied rate. If you think that some “live moments from the field” would be of benefit, drop us a line and we will see how we can set it up.

SCHOLARSHIP DRIVE
We are looking for 12 churches with 12 people willing to give $12 per month for 12 months will provide an amount equal to 4 students each getting one year paid in full, or one student getting a full education. Are you interested in having us come to your church and tell you about it in December or early January? Just let us know.

Well, that’s about it for now. Please keep those notes coming our way. We love to hear from the “home folks.” We can never get too many prayer partners and friends. Till next week, be blessed and be a blessing…

Kwa herini (Goodbye)!

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Jambo (Hello)!

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God for he will freely pardon. ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither of your ways my ways,’ declared the Lord” (Isaiah 55:6-8).

WINTER
Though most of the US is heating up for the summer, we are in the cool days of winter here. The skies remain a lot cloudier and the temperature has dropped considerably. It would not be cold by the midwestern standards I was raised in for winter, but these houses and buildings are made of stone and there is no heat in them so we get used to sitting around in sweaters and blankets. I understand more at this time of the year why the Kenyans drink so much hot tea.

FATHER’S DAY
Our Father’s Day celebration was a quiet one. I really feel like doing much and our Internet was down so we couldn’t communicate with the outside world. Mary Jane taught a Sunday School class and I preached in the morning service on campus and then we just relaxed the rest of the day. It was not a bad way to spend a holiday.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Thursday of this week was the one-year anniversary of the first time Mary Jane and I ever set foot on the campus of ANU. It’s amazing how much things have changed since that time. I have found that each new location produces its own sense of strangeness initially. I remember the smells, the awkward feeling, the general disorientation and the feeling of great fatigue all mixed being together in those first few days. Everything seem more normal now, though I can’t say that it feels natural yet. I am still a mzungu (white guy) living in a Kenyan world and will probably always have a certain amount of western baggage along for the ride. Though many customs are more understandable now, all it takes is a short drive in Nairobi traffic to remind me I am not in Indiana anymore and that I have a lot to learn.

SICK DAYS
This has not been a very good week for me health-wise. For the second time since we came back to Kenya in March I have picked up some kind of throat ailment and have lost my voice again. It begins each time as a cold, but then settles into my throat leaving white blisters and extreme soreness. Because of the congestion I have slept in a chair or propped up on the couch since Sunday. I have been to the clinic and had a culture done, but the results won’t be back until Monday. Hopefully by then I will feel a lot better. A friend of mine used to say that predicament was when a frog was on a highway with his hopper out of whack. I feel kind of the same way as a preacher who has no voice.

SPECIAL GUESTS
Eleven guests from the Denver, Colorado area are in the area with us right now. They sang and spoke in chapel yesterday and had an opportunity to see ANU up close and personal. They are working on a building that will house married students in the coming days. It is about a mile from campus and is not directly connected to the university, but we will gain the benefit from it down the road. It’s always nice to have folks “from home” come by. Meeting new friends from all over the US is one of the blessings of being in this kind of ministry.

HALFWAY
We are offically halfway through this trimester at this point. Midterm exams are being taken and the reality of school life has settled in for those who are in their first session here. The faculty is preparing for internal moderation of final exams before they are send to and external moderator to see what kind of work we are doing. It’s a bit different process than we are used to, but I guess it is normal here.

This is the time when I am beginning to schedule speakers and chapel services for the next trimester. It’s an ongoing process and keeping the services lively is ever a challenge. Students get bored easily - and it’s no different here than in the USA in that regard.

CRITTERS
Though there aren’t as many wild animals around as there used to be, we get the little ones here on a regular basis. As I type this I see the parade of ants the just continually want to move in with us. I’m not sure what is attracting them, but we sure seem popular. Every once in a while I hear a scurrying and a thump from the ceiling area and I know that the lizards are alive and well. Maybe if we let some of them in and made pets out of them they would help us with the ant problem.

STAYING SAFE
I thought I would update you each week with information about some of the people who work here at the university. Let me tell you about the guards. We have about forty of them, male and female, who operate on twelve hour shifts as they patrol the twenty-five acre compound. (We have 125 acres here, but only 25 are developed.) The ladies work at the gate and are usually there during the day. Each guard is assigned to a particular section and they are there day and night to see that all the students and staff are kept safe. The night guards carry homemade bows and arrows for protection again any stray animals (or people) that might venture onto the ground. In addition to the manpower we have forty-three German Shepherd size dogs that roam the grounds from midnight until 5:15 a.m., seven nights a week. No one dares to go outside once the dogs are on partrol. Added to this is either an eight-foot fence or a similar sized concrete wall topped with barbed wire all around the grounds. I don’t think we would be any more secure if we had machine-gun towers on the corners of the campus.

THE ALL-AMERICAN SPORT IN AFRICA
We have a new sports director here now and he has asked me to help get a softball and baseball program going among the students. Those who have played this game with me in the states know that I am no Mickey Mantle, but in the coming weeks I will do what I can to see if we can help these young Africans enjoy an all-American pastime.

2008-2009 SCHOLARSHIP TOUR
Plans are in place for our return to the USA in December and early January to speak in churches and raise awareness for ANU scholarships. Our goals are threefold. 1. We would like to raise awareness of the work of missions and help create personal involvement through the local church. 2. We would like to help empassion the youth and children of the local church with the worldwide need for laborers and make them aware that God may be speaking to them about their role in missions. 3. We would like to ask people to look into their hearts and wallets to see if scholarship support for ANU students is possible. The plan for this third part is very simple. We are looking for 12 people in 12 churches who would be willing to give $12 a month for 12 months to help provide African Nazarenes students with a holiness university education. If you would be interested in having us come where you are and share the ANU adventure, just drop us a line and we will be happy to work something out. We ask for no deputation offering during this trip. Our focus is on the youth and church leaders of tomorrow. We believe you will be blessed and many others will be helped by what such a service can bring about.

Well, that’s about all the news of the week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Be blessed and enjoy God’s best.

Kuwa na siku njema (Have a good day)!

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Jamaa zako hawajambo? (How is the family?)

“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1-2).

GREETINGS TO NEW READERS
On a regular basis I get requests to add new names to this newsletter list. I want to welcome each one who is reading for the first time and trust that you enjoy this new style of “missionary book” and continue to spread the word. This ANU update now goes to more than 300 homes and many send copies to their friends and family. Please feel free to contact me with any new e-mail addresses of people who would like to be included in this weekly offering. If any have suggestions as to how to improve this effort, or any particular questions that you think we could answer about life in Kenya, please let me know.

A BUSY WEEKEND
We had planned to make our first trip to the national park last Saturday, but realized that we had too much to do on finishing up our final exams - which had to be turned in Monday - to take time off. So Mary Jane worked at home and I worked in the office for most of the day to get things finalized. We went into town to meet Russ and Donna Lovett (other missionaries) for dinner, and to say goodbye to Verna Stanton (another missionary) who had just lost her father and was going home to the US for the funeral. We eventually made our way back through the darkened roads to the campus. Along the way we hit a big traffic jam. A matatu (14 seat public passenger van) had hit someone head-on and traffic was backed up for a long way. People don’t move their cars off the road here when they have a wreck. They have to remain exactly where the crash occured until the police get there so they can determine who was at fault. Traffic can back up for miles because the roads are narrow anyway and matatus and buses cram three or four abreast, cutting through ditches, and facing oncoming traffic head-on just to get around the accident. It really makes for a mess. Anyway, we finally got through it and were able to get to campus in time to host the Saturday night movie. That’s something I’ve started each week to give the kids some entertainment. There’s really not a lot to do around here once the sun goes down.

On Sunday I got up at 5:00 a.m. and made my way to the gate where the bus was supposed to leave at 6:00 to go to a distant high school for weekend services. The bus didn’t arrive until 6:40 and didn’t leave until 7:10, but I had to drive anyway because we found we had 28 riders on a 25 passenger bus - plus music and sound equipment. I was happy to drive rather than being crammed into such tight quarters.

It was a long day but we had two services in Marang’a High School where about 44 boys (out of the 800 students) gave their hearts to the Lord. I preached in the morning service and a student preached the afternoon service and then we made our journey home. We hit more heavy traffic in Nairobi, but were thankful to pull into campus around 7:30 p.m. A long, but successful day.

MIDTERM
We are hitting our stride now as we move into the middle of the trimester. In the first chapel I reminded the students that they had 83 days before final exams begin. Now they have 51. Some are taking the classes very seriously and like all universities there are some who haven’t learned to focus yet. One thing I have learned is that students are students the world over. Just about every level of commitment (or lack thereof) that can be imagined is present on most campuses. ANU is no different. It’s a place where teenagers learn to be adults and some catch on quicker than others.

CAR REPAIRS
Just like back home, cars here need upgrades occasionally. I sent my car out Wednesday to have two mechanics from the field office put new shocks, brakes, and tires on it. Hopefully, we will get the car back sometime tomorrow. These roads are a killer on vehicles. Sometimes they are so full of dust that everyone around is choked and when it rains everything turns to mud. I’ve seen some pretty good potholes in the US from time to time, but I don’t think I’ll ever complain about American roads or traffic again. The people here are some of the most precious in the world, but highway infrastructure is a concept that hasn’t quite caught on yet.

WORK AND WITNESS
We are expecting Work and Witness teams on campus in the coming weeks from Westminister, CO; Indianapolis, IN; and Nashville, TN. Though none of them have projects directly on campus, some will be speaking and sharing music in chapel, and others are just sharing a meal and tour with us. In any case, it’s always good to have folks from abroad on campus and we look forward to making some new friends.

2008-2009 SCHOLARSHIP TOUR
Plans are in place for our return to the USA in December and early January to speak in churches and raise awareness for ANU scholarships. If you would be interested in having us come where you are, just drop us a line and we will be happy to work something out. We believe you will be blessed and many others will be helped by what such a service can bring about.

We hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend!

Kuwa na siku njema (Have a good day)!

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Jambo! (Hello!)

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6).

HELLO FROM EQUATORIAL AFRICA
I hope this has been a good week for you! It’s been a good, but busy one here. The weather has seemed to have found its level and is about the same every day. We have cool nights - cool enough to see my breath when I get up - and warm days in the 80’s. Things don’t change much in this department. I don’t guess we will see much in the way of rain until October. It’s going to be a dusty few months.

SATURDAY PRAYER BREAKFAST
My day began last Saturday by joining Dr. Rod Reed and attending the President’s Annual Prayer Breakfast. Since this country has only one president (only the government can have a president; schools and corporations cannot) this one was sponsored by the executive branch of the government. Shortly after we arrived the meeting was joined by President Kibaki, Vice-President Kalonzo, and Prime Minister Odinga. It was pretty amazing to be only two or three tables away from these heads of state. I could have hit them all with a spitball - although I’m pretty should I would not be writing this now if I had tried. Anyway, it was a good morning and really very spiritually based. It was an honor to be asked to attend.

SPECIAL GUESTS IN CHAPEL
This week we were honored to have our chancellor, Dr. Jerry Lambert, and the president of Nazarene Theological Seminary, Dr. Ron Benefiel, to speak to us in our chapel services. Both did an outstanding job and I believe our students will long remember these men of God and the focus they have for them and for the call to dedication to Christ they inspire. We will be taking Dr. Benefiel back to the airport tonight and then all of our special graduation guests will be gone. It’s been a joy to have them here, but now we can all get back to our normal routines - if there is such a thing.

FINAL EXAM TIME
Though we haven’t even reached the mid-term yet, our final exams are due to be turned in by Monday for each of our classes. I have begun work on mine, but have a long way to go to get them ready. So, it looks like I have a couple of busy days in the office ahead. Fortunately, I only have two meetings scheduled for today so hopefully I can baricade my door and try to knock them off before Saturday is over.

HIGH SCHOOL CHALLENGE
On Sunday I will be speaking at Murang’a High School. It is called a weekend challenge and I am not even really sure what that means at this point. I know that some of our students and praise team are leaving today and will be there all day Saturday as well. I will ride the bus for about two hours on Sunday morning and deliver the morning worship message. Each time I do this kind of thing it is an adventure and a learning experience. I will leave at around 7:00 a.m. and get home around 7:00 p.m. so it’s a good thing that my next busy day will not be until Tuesday.

LIFE AT HOME
Things are pretty normal around the homestead these days. Mary Jane is back to her old self and in fact I was greeted with the aroma of baking banana bread as I came in tonight from holding chapel at our town campus in Nairobi. It’s nice to have guests that come our way but nice also to just get back to doing what we do normally. I guess I’m getting a little set in my ways.

More landscaping is going on around our place. Our gardener here, Samuel, is really a craftsman. He has turned a dirt and rough landscape into a beautiful garden just ourside our window. People here work hard, but they truly have some amazing talent.

Our new room addition continues to make progress slowly. Things are not done quickly here. The project of adding a new bedroom for us began in December. I expect it should be ready to move into sometime by late summer or early fall. Things are not done in American fashion by any stretch of the imagination, but time is irrelevant in this culture. No matter how how I try, that’s probably not something I’m going to get used to.

STATESIDE IN DECEMBER
We are still making plans for our scholarship tour for this December and early January. Feel free to contact us at any time if you are interested in having us come your way. In the meantime, have a blessed weekend and a wonderful Lord’s Day! We look forward to hearing any news that you would like to send our way.

Till next Friday,

Kwa herini (Goodbye)!

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Jambo (Hello)!

“I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will up hold you with my righteous right hand’” (Isaiah 41:9-10).

GRADUATION
I was up at 5:00 this morning getting ready for the 11th graduation here at ANU. I can’t even begin to tell you how many man (and woman) hours have gone into getting things ready. The campus has been transformed into an even more beautiful garden, the men’s dorms have been equipped with new patios on the south end, the new Helstrom Chapel and Student Center has been surrounded with flowers, flag poles, red - yellow - and white banners, and supplied with 3500 chairs - which were all filled during the ceremony today, and even the roads have been filled in and smoothed. I will include some pictures on our weblog site (http://randyandmaryjane.wordpress.com) as soon as I can get the computer working again at the house. It should be sometime next week.

Our guests on campus include not only the school’s trustee and council members, but also our graduation speaker, Dr. Ron Benefiel, the president of Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City. He preached a powerful and challenging message to the assembly and we all appreciate his coming our way. Last night we got to chauffer he and Dr. Ted Esselstyn to the graduation banquet (which was a 6 1/2 hour adventure) and got to know them both a little better. It’s an honor to be able to rub shoulders with the many church leaders who come to visit us here in Kenya.

We graduated 210 into the ranks of the ANU alumni today and most of them had their families there to share this wonderful event. All the graduates are special to us and we thank God for them. We have an enrollment of 1040 this trimester and many of them also got to share in the celebration today.

While rehearsing for graduation on Wednesday night, when I turned on the auditorium lights a huge white owl began flying around the cavernous arena. It was really a beautiful bird. I’m not sure what that is a sign of, but apparently it found it’s way out because I haven’t seen it since. One never know what will be found when you turn on the lights in a dark room in Kenya.

We will conclude our day of celebration tonight at the Carnivore Restaurant. It’s a place where we will once again be treated to exotic dishes like crocodile, ostrich, goat, and camel along with ugali (a corn meal dish) and sumu-wicki (wild greens), and who knows what else. Frankly, it takes a little bit of adjusting on my part, but when in Rome…

SOUND SYSTEM
One of the great joys to me - and a huge monkey off my back - is the completion of installing our new BOSE sound system in our new building. It was quite a challenge, but the Lord helped us to purchase the system and we completed the installation yesterday afternoon. Now, that’s cutting it pretty close. However, I feel we are now ready to host any venue, small or great, and have a first-rate sound presentation for our guests. Since receiving this assignment many months ago we have looked at a lot of options and I have been given a pretty good education in the science of sound. The system performed wonderfully today and no one is more grateful to God than I am.

HEALTH CONCERNS
I have been doing great health-wise these days, but these have been trying times for Mary Jane. For the last month she has been experiencing extreme weakness and has just been forcing herself to do her daily activities because of it. Finally, this week we got her to the hospital where they did a complete battery of tests. Thanks to the prayers of many, everything came back negative and she appears physically to be in good shape except for dealing with some high blood pressure issues. It also appears that she may have contracted some kind of virus that has set her back, but the good news is that she is finally starting to regain her strength and we have high hopes for her to return to her old cookie baking self in the coming days.

SAFARI WALK
I finally got to get out to the countryside last Saturday and explore a little more. After a couple of hours I came upon a beautiful herd of nine zebras. I think these are becoming my favorite animals of Africa. They sometimes graze alongside the Maasai cows and sheep, but are easily spooked. However, I managed to get within about fifty yards of them before they decided that was close enough. This weekend looks pretty busy, but hopefully I can get out again soon. There aren’t as many wild animals nearby as there used to be because of all the people moving in, but I’m finding that if one knows where to look there are still some wonderful wildlife treasures within a couple of hours walk. I still haven’t seen any snakes or lions - and that’s okay with me. If they want to stay hidden we will all be a lot happier.

A TIME TO SPEAK
This weekend begins a string of opportunities for me to be behind the pulpit again. I have campus services here on most Sundays in June, but also a series of high schools that I have been invited to over the next couple of months. It’s a great way to see the countryside and to interact with new people. Most schools here are boarding schools so church services on the weekend are standard fare. I will keep you posted as to how things go.

TIME TO GO
Well, it’s been a big day and I only have a couple of hours before we head out to eat again, so I’m going to wrap this up. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Lord’s Day. Till next week…

Kwa herini (Goodbye)!

Randy and Mary Jane
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Jambo! Habari Yako? (Hello! How are you doing?)

“And this is my prayer, that your love may grow richer and richer in real knowledge and all discernment, that you may test the things that are better, that you may be unsullied and blameless as you face the day of Christ, abounding in the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11 Modern Language New Testament).

NEWS OF THE WEEK
These have been busy days. We have been having chapel services each day in an emphasis that we call “Holiness Week.” We have these special days of emphasis each trimester and the normal procedure is to invite a guest speaker from outside our campus community to meet with us and preach in each service. We decided to try a different format this time, however, and use our own students who are preparing for ministry - and they have done an outstanding job. I would recommend any one of them to a pulpit anywhere. The only downside has been trying to make something happen with our p.a. system. Each day has been a time of trial and error and some days it has been more error than trial. We have a company coming this morning to test a new Bose system and I am trusting it will be the answer to our prayers. We are making progress with what we have, but I don’t think we will ever have the sound we need until we can spend some money and do it right. Hopefully, by noon today a decision will have been made and we will be on the fast track to having really good sound in our new building. 8000 square meters of open space in a concrete room makes for a tough place to kill an echo problem.

Did I say things have been busy? My days are starting usually at 6:30 a.m. with my first student meetings and I finished last evening at 6:40 - and there was another meeting (a student club meeting) that I should have attended, but since it took place at 10:00 pm. I missed it. Sometimes I wonder why I have an office because I don’t get to be in it very much. Hopefully, when graduation is over, the new sound system is in place, and the Holiness Week events are behind us, my schedule will lighten up some. Actually, until next Tuesday my days are looking a little more normal and I am grateful for that.

CAMPUS VISITORS
We had seventeen visitors this week from Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. They are business students on a tour of American based businesses in Africa. They will be traveling the continent for thirty days. I’m sure that they are getting an education that they will never forget. They weren’t here long, but it gave them an opportunity to visit an African class and for some of our business students to interact with them. Maybe someday we can take students to visit their campus.

UPCOMING EVENTS
The big thing on the horizon is graduation. On Wednesday of next week our guests will begin arriving and some will be with us for as long as a week. They will come from literally all over the world. As I understand it, we have 208 graduates, or graduands, as they say here, and we are expecting around 4000 people to be at the graduation ceremonies. Our new building should be filled to capacity and then some. There will be banquets, luncheons, parties, and celebrations all over the place in addition to the regular official activities, so it’s a pretty big deal. My neighbor and deputy vice-chancellor, Dr. Mark Pitts, has had his hands full with planning everything so I know he will breathe a big sigh of relief when the last detail is finished.

COMING DOWN THE ROAD
We are in the beginning stages of making plans to take our university choir to Orlando, Florida, to attend our General Assembly and Conventions in June of 2009. Though there is still a lot of red tape and permission- seeking to do, we also hope to be touring various parts of the country doing concerts and exposing our students to first-hand American culture. If your church would be interested in having this group for a concert, please let me know and we will try to work it into our schedule. Plans are still very loose at this point, but we plan to be in the US for two-three weeks with a music group of about 16, plus four sponsors (including Mary Jane and me). We will keep you posted as time goes on.

HEALTH ISSUES
I wish I could say that we couldn’t be better, but that’s really not true. Mary Jane has been battling an infection that has pretty much knocked her down. As I understand it, her white blood count is supposed to be around 13-15 and hers is at 37. She is taking an antiibiotic for an infection and still doing what she has to do, but is pretty much wiped out most of the time. Please keep her in your prayers.

I am doing okay as long as I don’t overdo. Because these days have been so busy there has been more of a tendency to violate that policy, but I really do think that things will get back to normal shortly. In many ways my job is like that of a youth pastor and it sometimes just takes more energy to do it right now than I have available. You can pray for me to have the physical strength that I need and wisdom to know when to shut it down. I had to get off some of my medicine because of an allergic reaction, but my blood pressure remains in the normal category and I keep a daily watch on it. I know many family members and friends are concerned because of the TIA I had in January, but all seems to be well at this point. Your prayers really do make a difference.

SCHOLARSHIP TOUR
I received a report from our financial officer this week that over $35,000 has already come in from our scholarship drive of last year and more is arriving each month. The plan here is to hold the money in escrow until September of 2009 in order to maximize the interest that can be gained before we begin releasing the money to our students, but I know that a lot of young people are going to really be helped and blessed by this effort. To those who made pledges we thank you so much for your continued support. Your $10 per month for one year is going to make a different beyond what you can even imagine.

Mary Jane and I are hoping to repeat last year’s tour this December and early January 2009 as well. If you would be interested in hosting us we would love to come your way. We have a story to tell that will warm the hearts of your churches and help you to see what huge dividends can come from a little bit of investment. Please prayerfully consider doing this and help bring the bright light of a Christian education to a place that has for so long been known as the “Dark Continent.” We look forward to hearing from you.

SO LONG FOR NOW
Well, it’s now 5:23 a.m. and I guess that wraps up another edition of this newsletter. Thanks for your prayers, notes, and faithful support. Please feel free to share this newsletter or weblog with as many people as you would like. If someone you know wants to be added to our mailing list, just have them send their e-mail address to: randyandmaryjane@aol.com. We would love to make our readership family a little bigger.

Be blessed and have a wonderful weekend!

Until next week, Kwa herina! (Goodbye!)

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Jambo! (Hello!) Habari asibuhi! (Good morning!)

“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant” (Psalm 135:3).

Greetings from equatorial Africa! It’s a beautiful day and the sun is shining brightly. We could really use rain, but I guess we will be content with what we have. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long time before we see moisture in a very heavy amount from the skies.

School is fully underway and so are the many other activities that go on in the midst of a university campus. Clubs are meeting, lecturers are giving out assignments, the library is trying to collect overdue fees, and students are getting aquainted. We moved our chapel services into the new Helstrom Student Center this week. I preached on Tuesday and Thursday this week to launch our new trimester theme, “Living to Please God” and found that it is an entirely different environment than I have been used to. This huge, cavernous, concrete building makes sound a real challenge and we are working steadily to correct that problem. Next week we have five student preachers preaching our “Holiness Week” services. I’m sure they are in for an interesting experience. Please keep them in your prayers.

All systems are go for graduation (May 30) and we are looking forward to a wonderful celebration and reunion of former students. This will be the 11th graduation ceremony of the university and the first to have inside a building for some time. It’s going to be a very special weekend.

Mary Jane is staying really busy teaching two classes, supervising campus visitor arrangements, helping out in the alumni department, and entertaining students in our home. She is also teaching a Bible class on Sunday and helping out some with music. I don’t think she needs to add one more thing to her plate.

I continue with my teaching (six hours) and preaching duties on the main campus and at our town campus. This week I preached or led devotions for groups eight times. Some days there are a lot of meetings to attend. I am totally off all medicine now except for the one pill of blood thinner a day. I thank God for continued strength and health.

I hear word from home that prices are rises there and that people are having trouble coping. I did a little survey here concerning what things cost.

Gas - $6.00 per gallon
One chicken - $6.40
5 lb. flour - $2.00
3 liter of milk - $3.60
Peanut Butter (800 g) - $3.83
Grapes (one bunch) - $9.98
Breakfast cereal - $10-15
One gallon of paint - $35.92
Dress shirt - $16.66

When you consider that the average wage here is still $400 per year, it’s pretty tough for folks to get ahead.

One of our graduating students lost her mother last Friday and Mary Jane and I went to the “visitation” this week. It was an unexpected and unusal experience. There was no body. In fact, there were several groups that met in small room throughout a large building and each had a time of singing, a brief sermon, and then we were asked to contribute money to help cover the family expenses. We were glad to help, but was certainly different than anything we had experienced in the USA. I’m getting more used to driving at night here. There is no way to go to these events unless I do.

Well, this is my study day so I’d better get at it. I don’t get many days when I am just free to hit the books. Most days I start at 6:30 a.m. with my first student meeting and go until well after dark, so I need to take advantage of study time when I can.

Please help us spread the word about our scholarship tour in December. We need to schedule meetings in enough churches to make our trip home worthwhile and getting the message out is important to the future of students here and throughout Africa. We will be in the USA during the month of December 2008 and the first week of January 2009 and we would love to share the ANU story any place we didn’t get to visit last time. Thanks in advance for your help.

For previous newsletters and pictures, go to: http://randyandmaryjane.wordpress.com

Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Lord’s Day where you worship!

Kwa herini (Goodbye)!

Randy and Mary Jane
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:10-11)

I hope this has been a good week for you. I know for many in the northern states you are just getting into the routine of cutting grass and doing other yardwork and gardening again. Those are some of the things I miss here, but there are other things that make up for it. This has been a week of orientation for new students on campus and welcoming back students from previous trimesters. Next Monday classes will begin and we will be off and running once more.

One exciting aspect to this trimester is that we are moving our chapel services into the new Helstrom building. It will be a while before we can fill up to the 3500 seating capacity, but we should be able to form a good looking congregation on the 1200 seat lower level. We are still in the process of working out the sound logistics and will have to rent equipment for the graduation ceremonies at the end of the month, but every day we are making progress toward full use of this wonderful addition to our campus.

I don’t know what the official count for our new enrollment is. We had hoped that the intake would be a bit larger this time around, but when one considers the great trama that this nation has been through over the past few months it is certainly understandable if it not. When one has to make the choice between paying school fees for their children or rebuilding their house that was burned in the rioting, there is really no choice in the matter. There are still some people who live in tents that the government has provided for them and many who have no jobs, lands, or homes to go back to. It will literally take years for the economy to rebound to the point that it was in before the elections in December.

Having said that, this would be a good place to announce that Dr. Marangu, our school vice-chancellor, has just assigned me the task of returning to the United States in December of this year for another scholarship tour. The congregations that I visited on the last tour were wonderfully generous in helping us to begin a scholarship program and we would like to extend this opportunity for ministry to others who may want to get in on the blessing as well. I promised those I visited last time that I would not be back to ask of their help again because we certainly don’t want to be a burden on anyone. However, if we did not get an opportunity to come your way last time and your church would be interested in hearing what God is doing at ANU firsthand, we would like to share with you a painless way that you could be a valuable part of this ministry. We only have the month of December and the first few days of January, so our time is limited, but our prayer is that we will have a full slate of places to share while we are back on US soil. We promise to do all we can to be a blessing and not a burden should we get the opportunity to come your way.

Anyway, that’s still about six months away and there is a lot to do between now and then. I getting geared up for my Homiletics and Church History class. I’m really looking forward to them since they are among my favorite subjects. I am also getting involved a bit with some afternoon basketball games. It feels pretty good when I’m out there on the court, but each evening I am reminded that these guys are 30 years younger than me. It’s been a while since I have played much, let alone full court. Hopefully, a bit of conditioning will return the longer I do it - if the old knees hold out.

Mary Jane is really busy these days coordinating travel and accomodations for our soon coming guests. Graduation is just 21 days away and all the school is focused on it now. She is also excited about getting her first taste of teaching on the university level. Before long she will be playing piano for the school music groups again and baking cookies for the various guests we host and for the students and staff workers who look forward to them so. Sometimes I think the school just called us here to get her cookies.

Last weekend I was privileged to be invited to speak at a pastor’s retreat in the Rift Valley district. It was the site where much of the violence took place in January and where the economy is still reeling from the effects. It was different preaching and teaching Saturday and Sunday through an interpreter, but after a few hours of doing it, it seemed to get a little more natural. These men and women are real heroes of the faith. In spite of the ethnic rivalry of recent days among the tribes, we worshipped together as one even though they were from tribes that normally don’t get along well. There were Luos, Lujah’s, Kalejin, Masai, and others I couldn’t identify, but we were all brothers and sisters as we worshipped in a church with a dirt floor, no electricity, and seating in plastic chairs for about 75-100. It was a pretty amazing experience. It was about a three hour drive each way to get there, but the Rift Valley is beautiful. I’ll try to get some pictures put on my weblog (http://randyandmaryjane.wordpress.com). I also spoke in chapel this week at our neighboring school, Manna Institute, where I found another group of loving Christians serving the Lord via their own denominational focus. I find African brothers and sisters wherever I go.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Lord’s Day! We look forward to hearing updates from your part of the world also.

Lazima niende sasa. Kwa herini! (I must go now. Good bye!)

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya

Habari asebuhi! Mhali gani? (Good morning. How are you?)

“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless
the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain” (Psalm
127:1).

I have heard from several who receive this newsletter that they are
having trouble getting into our weblog
(http://randyandmaryjane.wordpress.com), so I have decided to just send
this directly and post it on the blog as well. If you want to see
pictures you will have to go to the weblog page because for some reason
I am not able to send them via aol. Otherwise, you can just read the
letter and I will try to use enough word pictures to provide the scenery
for you.

The campus is starting to come alive again after days of quiet during
the student’s trimester break. There is a local church camp going on
right now, which has about 180 teenagers on the grounds. They are a
loud bunch, but they seem to be having a great time and I am happy that
we have a place for them to “get away” from the usual routine of life
and focus on fun and spiritual growth.

We also have a retreat going on for pastor’s kids. They are mixed in
ages, the youngest being fifteen and the oldest into their adult years.
This is a first for ANU and it will be interesting to see how effective
such an effort is.

This weekend the student mentors will be returning to campus for
training and by the time this newsletter comes out next week many of our
regular students will be back on campus and off we go again for another
trimester. Time rolls right along.

Tomorrow I head out for the Rift Valley, about three hours to the west,
to teach in a district pastor’s seminar on Saturday and then preach on
Sunday. It will be my first venture into that part of the country and
the first time for me to travel alone. Mary Jane will be providing
music for the service here on campus, so I get to fly this one solo.
The Rift Valley is the breadbasket of the country and from all that I
hear, it is also contains some of the most beautiful scenery. I look
forward to the trip. It was also the site of some of the worst violence
during the days of unrest, but thankfully things have calmed down now
and life is beginning to return to normal for lots of folks. It will be
interesting to hear stories from the local pastors there and find out
what truly has happened over the past few months from those “on the
ground.”

Work continues on the campus. The men’s dorms are getting new tile
floors throughout the buildings, the apartment building next door is
coming along nicely, and the addition on our home is under roof and
progress is being made daily on it. The Helstrom Student Center and
Chapel is nearing completion and decorations will soon start going up in
preparation for graduation. Even the buses here are getting a makeover.
They have been refitted with brakes and shocks, which don’t last long
on these roads, and new seatcovers have been installed. The outside of
the buses have been sanded down, repaired, and repainted. They will be
like new vehicles by the time that the students return. All this work
is done here on campus by our talented labor force. They can fix or
make just about anything.

The Masai Lodge Road is in the best shape that I have ever seen it.
It’s not ready to be paved yet, but except for about a 100 yard strip it
is at least passable without tearing a car’s suspension all to pieces.

Our health continues to do well. I am walking about an hour and a
half a day and since my blood pressure seems to be almost perfect
(119/70) I am hoping to be able to eventually get off that medicine
altogether. My blood count is where it should be (2.7), so I think I’m
doing pretty well. God is good and I am grateful for His healing
touch.

Mary Jane is also doing her daily walking and keeping up with her usual
household activities as well as working in the office five days a week.
She heads the coordination of visitors to the campus and will be
teaching two classes in a little over a week. She has been able to stay
away from the parasite problem lately. We have just learned not to eat
anything fresh unless we are home and can clean it ourselves. She seems
to love it here more all the time.

So, that’s what’s going on where we live. This next week we will
finish up with our lesson plans for upcoming classes and prepare for the
return of our students. We hope to have a good crop of first time
students as well as those who have been here previously.

Thanks for your prayers and interest. TV is not much here, so we
always look forward to getting your notes and letters to read and catch
up on life at home.
Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Lord’s Day!

Randy and Mary Jane James
Africa Nazarene University
Nairobi, Kenya