Month 4 in Kenya is drawing to a close. It’s been a month full of new everything; new team, new continent, new ministry, new experiences, and of course new challenges.
New Team Refining Fire! Ryan, me, Alyssa, Matt, Ashley, Lauren and honorary member little Gladys
Our month has been spent at Christ the King International Pentecostal Fellowship church with Bishop Maurice Pepela Busuru (we just call him Bishop). We live in his house and it’s been wonderful. He was blessed a few years back with a house and a new church building built by an American who wanted to bless the Bishop. So while we are surrounded by mud huts, we live in a big, comfy cement house with plumbing and electricity. Such an unexpected blessing! Bishop’s wife, who we call Momma, fixes us delicious meals three times a day, and we’ve had to start working out to prove it. Oh, and we’ve officially had “fresh� chicken, straight from the yard, (their daughter Mercy told us she was taking her to go lay eggs…. ) and we’ve learned how to make their favorite dish Chapote (which is now ours too), and eaten fish the way Jesus did.
Making Chapote!
Dinner!!
Ministry has been an all new experience for me as well. Our days consist of praying for people in the hospital and going door to door asking people if we can pray and minister to them. The first day we headed out we had no idea what we were doing. We followed our translators for about 20 minutes and then as we split up and headed to the door of a strangers home, one of them turned to me and said “where’s your Bible? You will share a word with them�. Uh. Yeah. Ok. And it continued like that pretty much all month. So we have learned to expect and be prepared for ANYTHING. We’ve taught the Bible studies, taught Sunday School, led worship, etc.. God wasn’t kidding when he said it was time for me to step up. And there was no more “training�, time for the real thing. And through God’s strength and grace, I’ve stumbled through it and it’s come out fine.
Playing with the little neighborhood kids that show up during the day
The struggle I’ve had is that our longest ministry day is Sundays at 6 hours, most days it’s only 2-4. So we have a lot of downtime, more downtime than I’ve had in my life actually. And with all that downtime came a lot of thought of the future. My team and I started talk of what life look like when we’re home? What do we miss, what will we do, what does God have in store for us next? And then we found ourselves struggling with discontentment, wanting to be busier so we feel like we are on a mission trip, wanting the time to go faster, wanting this month, this year, this race, to go faster so we can move on and see what’s next in life.
Then God convicted me, “are you going to spend your whole life looking forward to the future for joy and contentment or are you going to start enjoying where I have you now?â€� . Yep, three years ago I thought I would be content because I was finally finishing school and could get a better job. Then a year ago I thought I would be content because I was finally leaving my job and was going on the Race like God wanted. Now, I’m only on month 4 and already looking forward to finishing it and moving on to what’s next?
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.� Psalm 118:24
I think that’s what the world teaches us, to look to better circumstances for happiness. We always think, “I will finally be happy when…… “ And then we spend our days looking to the future and what we want and don’t have and not enjoying where we are now. And when we do finally get what we always wanted, we find we are still not happy and are still looking for something more.
Philippians 4:4-9 says “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. “
The only way I’m going to be able to make it through this year is if is if I focus on being in the presence of God, in constant communication with Him, and focus on where He has me now, in this moment of my life, and what joy He has for me here. If I make my goal to just live close to the Lord, thanking Him for every opportunity, every moment, I will find joy even in the most difficult of times and places.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in ALL circumstances�, (not just the good ones) “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus�.
And when I think about it that way, this month has really been an incredible blessing, and exactly what I needed at this point. I’ve learned so much, I’ve grown so much, I’ve come so much closer to God. After last month, God knew I really needed the downtime to rest and to spend quality time in His word so I can recharge and move on with the rest of this Race. And God’s used the ministry opportunities we have had to stretch me, mold me, and shape me and encouraged me to grow into what He needs me to be to for the next part of His plan for my life, whatever that might be.
�Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.� Hebrews 12:1-2
