Since Janell wasn't able to go into full details about the electrical issues, here they are via email from Janell:

"Now onto our new issue. yesterday after returning home we noticed there was no power. so we thought okay another round of a short power outage. then about 4 hours later i went outside and noticed everybody else had power but us. so we try to talk with people and figure it out. the guards took us to the main switch for the whole compound and the fuse for our house was disconnected. So we went to house number 1 where they know the number for our landlord and she said the power company was out earlier and disconnected some as well as hers. and she had paid for her electricity and was not late, so she called them and they came out several hours later and apologized and reconnected it. well by time we got back and found this all out it was 8:00 and electricity company was closed. so we got up this morning to try to call power company and pamelas phone is dead. ugggghhhh so she has headed downtown to the company to figure it out. the girls paid for 2 months of power and we checked our balance and had hardly used any so they must have mistankly pulled ours instead of someone elses. they dont have them marked. so we are going on now 2 days of no power and a refrigerator full of warm food. we are so pissed. and of course the system works so differently here. but pamela said she was going to ask for compesation for there mistake of our lost food.it rained all night so it is a muddy pit here now. Welcome to Africa! :)"

And from Jessica in an email to Nancy (her mom):
"It's SO very hard being away from Steve and only being able to get a message every 2 or 3 days. It’s getting harder and harder as each day passes. It’s so hard to have no communication. I feel so separated. As for calling Pamela’s cell - Pamela has to constantly buy what is called "airtime" He phone uses airtime to place calls to anyone, to receive calls from anyone and to send and receive texts so, when all her airtime is used up, she has to wait till we go into town the next time and buy some more airtime. Also lately we've been having problems with our electricity (we currently don’t have any but should get it later today) and her phones dies. We visited the market yesterday and will be going one more time when Bob gets here. They have almost anything you can think of (coffee, baskets, wallets, placemats, knives, bracelets, key chains, paintings, figurines, coasters, etc). So we paid for some more VBS supplies... tonight is our 2nd night of soccer. The soccer program is helped run by Pamela’s brother-in-law, Everence. Friday we are going to buy some extra soccer balls, some cones and some penneys for them.... the number of kids that show up to play and how far they walk is incredible. Last soccer night we gave them some glow bracelets and tonight I think I’m going to share a few verses and then were going to pass out some candy to them. Tomorrow will be our first day helping out with a program called music for life. We’re still not sure what exactly well be doing. It could be anything from laundry, to stapling, to teaching etc. Friday we are going back to visit in the Kibera slums. We bought some bubbles to blow and play with the kids. We’ll also pass out some candy to them.Saturday will be our second day of VBS. Last Saturday there were close to 150 kids and we were running out of supplies. Praise the Lord! This week we are expecting it to double!"

As you can see, there are definitely some issues that we need to be praying about. Also, please pray for my trip over, as heavy thunderstorms are predicted for Friday afternoon in both Cleveland and Chicago, in addition to some possible complications w/my British Airways flight from London to Nairobi.

Bob

UPDATE at 10:16am (about an hour later): I was able to speak w/Janell on the phone and the power came back on as I talked to her. Albeit illegally. (long story). They should have full, legal power back in the next 2-3 days. The electric company admitted their mistake - they attributed the last payment to the wrong account.