kenya

My trip to Kenya... what to even say about something so huge... I will attempt though.

Blue sky. Bright flowers. Mysterious people. Poor land. Rich spirits. That is my first impression of Kenya. This place is filled with contrast. You see a slum yet bright beautiful flowers surrounding it. You see poverty yet joyful people. You don't see many religious signs and symbols (grand cathedrals and statues of Jesus, like I saw in Spain) but you meet people with such profound and authentic faith.

Each day we did something different and got to touch on a lot of things rather than stay focused on one place and the same people. In that, we saw and did more than I could've imagined, so I will share a few stories.

The orphanage we visited. A 15 year old boy was dying of cancer and was asked by the Make a Wish Foundation what his last wish would be. He said, "to build an orphanage in Africa." They said, "ok what is your second wish?" "To build an orphanage in Africa." "And your third wish?" "To build an orphanage in Africa." And so this boy died and left behind a legacy. As a result of his death 50 African orphans now have a place to live. The 8 of us sat in front of the kids and each one was introduced to us by name and shook each of our hands. Later we played with them and they showed us their rooms. Each has a bunk bed with a basket at the end that holds all of their belongings: a stuffed animal, towel, maybe a change of clothes. They were so sweet and we had the best time with them. As we left Pam got in the van and took off her shoes and gave them to a girl who had holes in hers.

Spring Valley. We put on a women's conference at a school/church in a slum called Spring Valley. THe people who live in this slum used to live in the city. They were poor and lived on the streets and one day they were picked up by a garbage truck and carried off to the slum. The women there were wonderful, joyful, the kids sang and danced for us. I made friends with a bunch of 11 and 12 year old girls who asked me "will you be my friend?" I struggled with the fact that we were standing up there trying to tell these women who have the hardest lives and most painful pasts to "walk by faith, not by sight" and we'd share our stories with about 1/100 of the weight that their stories held. I should be learning how to walk by faith from them! But a few days later we went back there. All of those girls began to give me letters that they had written me telling me how happy we had made them by coming to meet them. That was really neat to go back there and know we made some kind of an impact. We also got to give them lots of money that had been donated from people at Hope.

The safari.. I will have to make another blog about that.

Membley Baptist Church. This was another church we went to visit. Hayley, Ashleigh and I were able to really connect with the 17 year old girls there. During lunch we talked with them about their school and boys and things like that. We laughed together and enjoyed one another. One of them told me she wanted to share her testimony in front of everyone afterward. She started off like this, "I want to share my story for all the mothers in here. My mom was raped and had the choice to have an abortion. I am so thankful my mom didn't abort me. But she had a hard life and always tells me she wishes she would have aborted me." At the end of her story she encouraged the mothers there to love their children because she isn't loved by her mother. Then we all broke into small groups. I went with the girls that I had talked with at lunch. The ones I had been laughing with a few minutes ago and they began to share their stories with us. What intense lives, girls that have tried to commit suicide, who have been abused, who have lost their mothers and family, who are told they are worthless. Yet they all praise God at the end of their stories. I was stunned by their words and their painful pasts, yet the faith they have in God. They are only 17. I barely even knew what to say to them, except that I told them how powerful their stories are and how God can use them and valuable they each are.

ok so i have many other things to say stories to share, I will post more of them later.