Kenya

On November 2nd, 2012, 10 members of CCC and I flew out of ICT, headed for Kenya, beginning our journey to the Mathare Valley in Nairobi. The next week and half would show us faith we knew existed, but had yet to see in such action first-hand. The trip was...

Humbling

Here are Beverly, Nora, Jacklyn, Naama, Elizabeth, and (not pictured) Francesca. These six girls taught me more than I had ever hoped to learn when we went to visit Joska, a boarding school that takes girls out of the slums into a positive environment. Our team attended church at the school. After the service, as I was leaving the large tin-roof, tin-wall, big-tree-limb supported building, two of them held my hands and the six of them proceeded to lead me on a tour of their school, their home. 

They showed me their fish pond, (samake = fish in Swahili), greenhouse with fruits and vegetables (nyaya = tomato), their dormitories, and some classrooms. As we began our walk back to eat with the teachers, one of the girls, who had earlier asked to carry my backpack for me, said, "Wait! We have to clean your shoes." The girls then proceeded to get down on their knees, removing all the grass and dust from my shoes. 

I stood there, in silent awe of the great, small thing that had just been done for me. Immediately, my mind went to John 13, where Jesus washed his disciples' feet. He says therein, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."

Refreshing

The entire Kenyan experience was fantastic, so it's tough to identify one moment or event that stood out above the rest. But lo, I can do it. Above is a picture of our team leader, Tom Black, along with many of us (not pictured) from the team in a class with Kenyan pastors of churches in the slums. The class is called TUMI, and is very much a power-course through the Bible for those who are not able to procure a formal education on the Bible. That 90 minute period was exhilarating. 

The pastors were so hungry for the Bible, for Jesus, for being empowered and strengthened to minister to their churches. At first, we were all fairly unsure about what would be appropriate for us to say, but soon we were blessed to be able to encourage them with Scripture and insights. I asked the missionary facilitating the class about the Biblical knowledge of the pastors, and he told me of their need for more teaching, their real desire for it. 

More or less, if they called me today and asked me to go over for a few years to do Biblical teaching and discipleship with the pastors, I would go, if for no other reason than to be encouraged by them and their faith in action. 

A Blessing

Our whole time in Kenya, we were well taken care of. It seemed like we were constantly eating and I have never had so much Fanta in my entire life. The guacamole in Kenya, just FYI, is absolutely amazing. I haven't had chai tea in about two weeks since leaving...this is bad news. I'm pretty sure my blood was becoming mainly just chai tea while I was there. The house we stayed at had a crew of four ladies who were amazingly sweet, taking care of us and even joining with us when we had our sometimes-spontaneous-sometimes-planned times of singing praise to God. 

Our team was, in a word, magical. We laughed. A LOT. We cried. We talked deeply about Jesus. We got our hands dirty. We encouraged each other. We taught each other a lot. We encouraged each other. Our leader was fearless and we followed him with keen eyes, and we even left one of our members (Steve Voth) in Kenya. Soon enough, we all would bet, he will live permanently in the country we all grew to love. 

The biggest blessing was the simple community and friendships we experienced there. I met a Kenyan man who was hard at work ministering to Muslims in not so friendly areas of Kenya. The children and teachers of the school we taught at, Mabatini, were wonderful. I won't even tell you how much we all cried the day we said goodbye to them as they sang us songs and danced with us. I certainly won't tell you that I'm the one who started all the crying, either. (I promise, I'm really tough...I almost touched a zebra.) I wish I could better communicate the blessing that this trip was to me. If you want to hear more, please ask me or any of us. I love reliving it. This trip truly and honestly has me more excited about Jesus, his church and what we are here for than I ever have been. 

Our God is good. 

We were 10 feet away from touching a deadly African beast.

Like I said, we laughed a lot. This child is an all-star.

Arsenal! (my favourite English soccer team) (on his beanie) Oh, and a cute little Kenyan kid. 

My absolute favourite picture. These kids and I clicked pretty quick in the slum.

Last but not least, I leave you with the Kenyan children 

singing a song for us as we came to their school one day. 

In His Majesty's Service,

Speed