Well my month in Kenya is in the books! And what a great month it was. I spent all month in a small town in Northwestern Kenya called Kitale. We stayed with a man named Bishop Moses and his wonderful family. It didn't take long for us to start calling him and his wife Mama and Papa. They were an absolutely amazing family and they blessed us so much.
We spent the month doing a lot of different ministries in and around Kitale. We started off with hospital ministry and praying for the sick. We were able to encourage so many people. In fact, my teammate Jordan F. even had a newborn baby named after her. The next week we were able to go to an orphanage/school nearby called Haven of Mercy. And we got to teach classes! The orphanage is run by a Pastor Simeon and his wife Liz who have given everything they have to run this place. They loved having us come and teach classes and play with the kids. I definitely played my share of soccer with the boys that's for sure. I also got to bless the women who cooked for all the children by spending a day chopping wood for them. Gave me a good workout and them plenty of split firewood. Everybody wins in that situation.
Then we did a week of door to door evangelism! Intimidating, I know. We worked with a church nearby in this little village. We walked around with the pastor of this church and a few of the leaders of the church who acted as our translators. It was definitely something new for me and although it was a bit awkward at first, I kind of warmed up to it. It's definitely not my first choice for ministry but it was good. We walked through these tiny villages in the countryside and visited people in their houses. Most of the people we visited were believers and we would pray for them and encourage them before moving on. But we were able to share with a few people who didn't know Jesus. We shared the Gospel and got to know them and I got to witness one person come to know Christ. It was amazing! It was a tiring week but oh so good.
The next week we spent the afternoons in the town area ministering to street kids who spent their time sniffing glue. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We would walk around and talk to these kids and they wouldn't care what you were saying or what they needed to agree with as long as we would give them what they wanted. Which for the most part we couldn't do. Where do you start when there's so much to be done? I left them everyday with one thought in my head. This world is not as it should be. And I've always believed that but it was never as clear to me as it is now. We would leave everyday feeling helpless and wondering what God was doing for children like this. That's when God showed us exactly what He's doing for them. We visited another orphanage that was taking these kids off of the streets, giving them clothes, food, shelter, and most importantly a hope for the future. It was an incredible minstry that God is using in powerful ways to change the lives of these kids. It was inspiring to see and sparked hope. These kids will have a future now.
We closed out our last week by visiting Haven of Mercy again and spending time with the kids. They were the highlight of our month and we all loved that place so much. That's just a brief overview of what we did in Kenya and some of the things we seen. It was a long, busy month full of up's and down's and everything in between. Next stop Uganda!
