Kenya Blog
Post 2-20-16
Yesterday’s post was relatively short
due to our long, emotional day followed by an early morning today. To follow up, our main purpose
for yesterday was to meet our
sponsored children. We all experienced a
variety of powerful emotions as we were able to hug these children we love and
support while at the same time coming to a fuller understanding of their living
conditions. For instance Lisa’s sweet
Diana’s prayer request was for her to do well on her national exam which will
determine whether or not she’ll be allowed to attend high school and
where. Her dream to be a doctor requires
her to continue to do well in school.
Diana’s mom welcomed the team into her one room home with great pride
and a gracious spirit. Traci’s gal,
Swyne, blessed her heart when she hugged her so very tightly and held onto her
hand as she proudly walked the team to her one room tin home. It was heartbreaking to hear of her mother’s
recent struggles with Malaria and destitution with no income and six children
including a set of triplets. Also
heartbreaking was Swyne’s daily struggle with headaches. We’re praying for
God’s miraculous touch and healing for this sweet child.
The
challenges these children face daily is certainly overwhelming but their faith
radiates in their faces and fighting spirits. In total, we were able to meet 27
sponsored children, hear their stories, play some games, watch them open letters
and gifts from their sponsors, and share our love for them and of our Good,
Good Father. Seeing first-hand the life
change and the amazing impact sponsoring a child has was humbling to us all.
Today was a
really big day for our group. After many
months of planning, our women’s conference finally arrived. We were so very excited to share this day
with 41 of the women leaders in Nairobi.
The day got off to a great start with the Kenyan women leading us in
worship. The experience proved to be a
true Kenyan experience in more ways than one.
Not only were we blessed to participate in the Kenyan worship, we also
started on Kenyan time and ran the day pretty much the same. Some of us also
experienced the Kenyan squatty potty. If
you’d like more information on that, ask Lisa…
Our hope for
the day was to encourage these leaders who work tirelessly for the sake of the
Kingdom and for the welfare of the community in which they serve. By God’s grace it appeared these women were
refreshed by the day. Our day included teaching
regarding some spiritual disciplines that allow for God’s refreshing goodness
to permeate a busy heart, creating personal journals together, and the
culminating key women ceremony. Each
woman not only received the opportunity to practice some disciplines allowing
for a deeper, richer experience of God, they were also equipped to teach and
lead others in such disciplines.
Allowing the Kenyan women to share and respond gave us the opportunity
to witness two different cultures of two different countries experiencing one
great God. The day was complete and we
were blessed and affirmed when the women spontaneously broke out singing “How
Great Thou Art” in Swahili at the end of the day. They graciously transitioned to English for
our sake though God was surely blessed by the simultaneous native tongues offering
praise and worship. Though we’ve only
been here three days, it seems we’ve had an abundance of life-changing
experiences. We are broken by the
brokenness we’ve witnessed but encouraged by the Hope shining bright here in
the darkness of the Mathare Valley.
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