The few days we spent at the hostel were filled with a New Year’s Eve celebration, making final plans for our ministries and a lot of crazy changes. Whoever you know who’s been to Africa has probably heard or used the term TIA (This is Africa). Since I help with Logistics for our entire squad, it’s usually an extremely busy time for me when our whole squad moves from one location to the next and now that we were planning in Africa, it made the changes that occurred much more drastic and frequent. My usual demeanor during these times is not a happy one, filled with stress and general frustration that I can’t enjoy time with the people I’ve been away from for the entire month, but I found myself with the biggest smile on my face throughout our 3 days together.
My team was picked up on Sunday morning to go to Deliverance Church in Nairobi where we will be serving for the month. There was this up-beat African music playing, we were all squished into this tiny van and we were on our way to a Kenyan church. Just looking at these people makes me smile, and I really haven’t got a clue why except that God has given me a heart to love them. We participated in the church service, worshiped and then we were given tea afterwards. Let me just say that Kenyan tea is the best hot drink I think I’ve ever had. I think I love it more than coffee (that’s a pretty big statement for me).
Today we went across the street to some apartments, knocking on doors, inviting them to church and asking them if there was anything we could be praying for them about. Some invited us in and most were really receptive and interested in talking to us. Part of my frustration in the last five months has been due to the fact that all we were doing was ‘evangelism’. Now, that is essentially what we did and I still have the biggest smile on my face. We stopped to play with some kids when we were done going door-to-door and that probably has been the highlight of my day.
