I hate to admit this, but I am glad that Kenya is finally over. This month has been a hard one for my team and me. We had many frustrating moments in ministry and many miscommunications with our contacts. I felt like I was looked at like a genie in a bottle and I was asked for three wishes on a daily basis:
Money– We were looked at as the wealthy Americans, and when we would turn them down for money they would scowl or look hurt and ask, “then why did you come?”
Magical Prayer– Because we were white they looked at us as being more magical or spiritual or closer to God. They thought our prayers had some sort of power, that God would more likely answer prayers from us than from them.
Marriage– Well that is pretty self-explanatory (was even asked if Americans accepted cows, or if they took airplanes instead?)
Our ministry was tough, and we had many fights to try and get people to understand why exactly we came. So I had some conversations with God. I was frustrated and confused about ministry, and I wasn’t feeling a whole lot of joy or love towards the people. But what God taught me is that I need to look harder then, I need to find joy in the little things. He taught me to stop focusing on the bad and to start finding the good. So that is what I want to talk about, the good things that happened this month.
(First and formost was the family that we got to stay with. They were amazing and blessed us so much!)
I was frustrated with the people because of how the church we worked with treated us. But one day while on a run two men redeemed that. Ash, my team leader, and I went out early one morning. We were hardly more than a mile from the house when I tripped. I thought that all I did was simply hit my knee on a rock and just needed to get back up and walk it off. But as soon as I stood up and started to walk my knee began to bleed profusely. Ash and I had no phone, no money and no way to stop my wound from running down my leg. Trying to limp home with tears welling up in my eyes two men ran over and lead me to a small shop and asked what I needed. “I don’t have any money,” I answered. And to my complete and utter shock, they replied, “no problem.” They took money from their own pockets and bought me water, a wash rag and band aids. I was still in shock over that when they then sat down at my feet removed my shoe and sock and proceeded to wash the blood off my leg and bandage me up. I was completely humbled by the kindness of these men. They didn’t even question who I was or the fact that I had no money. They simply saw a woman in need and helped. I was so grateful. I don’t even know the names of those two men, but I will never forget them.
(if you can't tell that is my knee)
Another day we went to the hospital. Our idea of what a hospital visit should look like and our contacts view of what it should look like were two very different things. So the first time we went was a little discouraging. But the second time we went we took matters into our own hands. We split up into small groups and spread out through the hospital. I was with Shanna, and she wanted to go visit a couple of girls that she had met the previous time who were still there. We brought nail polish and markers to cheer them up. We sat for about an hour just painting nails and drawing pictures as we talked about what they were excited to get back home too. Then we got to pray with them before we moved on to the little kids room. Once again we whipped out the paper and markers and just let the kids feel normal for a little bit. They had not a care in the world other than what color they were going to use next and whether or not the “mzungu” (white person) would praise them for their work. It was precious and seeing their joy really brought me joy!
These are just two stories of many that happened this month. It was the small things that God used to bring me joy this month. Sure, overall ministry was a drag, but God was still moving and He didn’t want me to miss that.
