Hello from Kenya!

Hello from Kenya!

Our Kenyan Home!  

A week ago today, we were boarding the plane. Wow, I can’t believe it! It’s been an amazing week, but there have been so many “firsts” it’s hard to process it all. We arrived in Kenya on Friday night around 8 pm and got to the land. It’s a gorgeous place, and we have been so blessed to have two nationals to stay with us and help us cook and get used to the Kenyan life. This post is sort of long, but it will be going through my regular schedule every week, as well as ways you can be praying!

On Saturday, we went to the girls home, Shunam (from the story of the Shunammitte in 2 Kings 4), and met all of the girls and were able to spend time with them and get to know them more. It was so sweet! We will be spending every Saturday there with them, getting to know them and praying with them for the service on Sunday.

Sunday, we went into Kibera, the slum, for church. I had forgotten so much about it. It takes about 20 min to get into Kibera. Once we got there, I was able to attend the Sunday School class for the younger kids. It was so sweet to see so much hope and joy, in what could seem, to the world, a lot of destruction and desolation. After that we were able to attend the church service, and head back to the land around 3.

Monday’s we will be spending time on the land doing construction for the new location of the girl’s shelter. The boys have been doing the construction and the girls are helping in the garden and cleaning around the land. I think Monday’s are going to be a great way to start our week, and spend time getting to know the construction workers as well as the other Kenyan nationals from the church and the area.

            Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s we will be spending time in Kibera. When we went this past Tuesday, 6 of us were assigned classrooms to teach at the school in Kibera and the rest of us are going to help with the support group for HIV positive adults on Tuesdays and Bible Study’s by Martha (Mama Elmer) on Wednesdays. I was assigned pre-unit with Teacher Hope, which is similar to pre-k. It was encouraging to see the kids warming up to me and getting to know me. We sang songs and I was able to teach them days of the week and different things like that. It was such a sweet time, I loved it! I think this will be one of my favorite parts of the week.

            On Thursday we will be going to Mothega, a sister church of the church in Kibera, where we were able to help with the school there. It is another slum, much nicer than Kibera, but still struck with poverty. We were able to assist in the classrooms as well as playing with the kids. I really enjoyed getting to know the different kids, as well as seeing them play with us. Many of the girls loved our hair, so they would play with it and comb it.

            Fridays, we will have the day off, so we will be able to get Internet access most of the time, as well as talking to our families. I’m thankful for the day off, because we will desperately need it towards the end of the summer, and even now.

I have really enjoyed my time here and am so blessed to be here. God is working in my heart in so many ways, and it’s only week one. So how can you be praying? Well first and for most, pray that God would radically change us, and that it will be for His glory, not for ours. My prayer has been that it would be less of me—my expectations, wants, needs—and more of Him. That His glory would shine through everything we do.

Yesterday, (Thursday) on the way home from Muthega, Pastor Imbumi said that we needed to stop on the way home to pick up one of the boys from the Slum of Kibera. This boy is 8 years old, and has walked all the way from Kibera to try to come to our property to stay with us, because his step mom is abusive and he wanted to leave. He traveled close to 15-20 miles to find us, got lost, and the police picked him up on the way. When we got to the police station to pick him up, they wouldn’t let Pastor take him, because he was not his family. The boy came outside to say hi to us, and was clinging on to Pastor Imbumi’s leg, crying because he didn’t want to stay. Pastor prayed for him, and he had to go back inside. It was heartbreaking. In that moment, I longed for heaven. God is breaking my heart for what breaks His. Please pray for this boy, that there will be redemption through this. I have to trust that this is God’s perfect plan, and that he chose this for this young boy. And this is only one of many cases here.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, 

for the old order of these things has passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

Please be praying for us, for flexibility, for strength, and for us to draw our hope from Christ. Without Him, these situations seem hopeless. Christ is working here. I am learning so much about God’s work in Kenya, and I can’t wait to tell you more! Thanks for reading, and thank you for your prayers!

“Answer me, O Lord, answer me, 

so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God,

 and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

1 Kings 18:37