Bwana Asafiwe (Praise the Lord)

I have been in Kenya since May 9^th. The first two weeks were spent in the town of Kijabe, where I was serving with Love Africa Mission. Over the past 2 years, I have been privileged to volunteer with this ministry and help lead 9 short-term mission teams to this region of Kenya. We partner with schools, churches, and hospitals, as well as ministries caring for street children, prostitutes, widows, and the orphaned. I arrived a few days early to help get the Core Team acclimated to life here. Rachel, Yoli, and Les are the 3 amazing Core Team leaders serving with Love Africa all summer in Kenya. As we prepared for the arrival of the first team of young adults, we travelled around to meet with our ministry partners and assess their needs. Before we knew it, we were driving into Nairobi to pick up the 14 stellar folks representing this Summer’s first mission team.

We experienced a whole lot from day to day. Following dinner, we would meet together and reflect upon the day. It was so crucial for us to process together, because many times the things we witnessed were challenging to the ways we think. Reconciling third world realities to a first world mentality often leaves us Americans quite confused. We begin questioning everything. It is crucial that we invite God into the process of making sense of the things we see and hear. There was one day when we went with my friend John Njane to provide food for widows in a specific community. We have found that these widows care for 5,6, or even 10 children on their own. Some are their own kids, but others are the children of a sibling who has passed away (often HIV/AIDS). John’s ministry, Flow of Hope, has been providing for some of these ladies for over 10 years, and he is always on the look out for more widows who are in need of monthly food support. There was one home that was specifically bad. The lady was looking after nine children, one of which was 18 years old and mentally disabled. Due to lack of funds, she was not able to care properly for the boy. He would sit in the dirt all day mimicking the sounds of nearby animals. It was not an option to care for him at home because she had to look for work in order to feed her family. And she was completely uneducated regarding his condition. Poverty is viscous. It breaks my heart! But when I go to God, I am reminded that He sees the poor and His love for them is beyond my comprehension. And while they may struggle materially, they are rich spiritually. This life is passing away along with its desires (1 John 2:17). Many of us are holding on to things that won’t go with us into eternity. Those with little have learned to hold tightly to God, and they are those who will be great in His kingdom.

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? (James 2:5)

On the morning of the 24^th, I said goodbye to the team and to my friends in Kijabe and began the journey to Northern Kenya. 21 hours of traveling on four separate buses took me around Mt. Kenya, across the equator, through the Chalbi Desert, to a town called Sololo, just 10km from the Ethiopian border. I came to work with a mission team with For All Nations, with who was partnering with the local church in Sololo to do outreach to Muslims. Islam was by far the majority religion in this region. One of the main focuses of For All Nations is their mission school, which empowers native Kenyans to become missionaries to the unreached people groups of Northern Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and beyond. The team I was with was Kenyan students from this mission school, many of which spoke Borana, the local language. For one week we did house-to-house evangelisms, seminars for local pastors and church leaders, and evening crusades where the gospel was preached and the teachings of Islam were exposed. We saw several Muslims become Christian and make Jesus the Lord of their life. It was beautiful to watch the Lord deliver so many from bondage. One morning while we were praying and worshipping in preparation for the day, a young man walked into the room with his father. The father explained that evil spirits had been tormenting his son for months. The young man looked at us with tears streaming down his face and asked that we would pray for his deliverance. What transpired next was nothing short of what we read in the Gospels or the book of Acts. As we surrounded the man and began to pray, the demons manifested and spoke out in the native language, saying that they were going to kill the man (I didn’t figure this out till later). The local guys with us rebuked the evil spirits in the name of Jesus and the man fell back. Three times the man stood up and then fell back down as each demon left his body. Once the man had caught his breath, he kneeled down and gave his life to Christ. Wow! God is so real.

I returned with the team to Isiolo, where I have been staying since Monday, May 30^th. I will be here for another 10 days before I continue on to Burundi.

Here is a fun little video summarizing my trip so far:

Mungu ni mwema (God is good). For all of you who have supported me financially or through prayer, thank you so much! The prayers are changing the game.

WC