KENYA: My team did a lot of motivational speaking at elementary and high schools. It was an interesting experience because we would usually find out about our speaking engagements the day of and usually had nothing prepared. This was a new experience having hundreds of students eagerly awaiting profound life changing words to hold on to and not having a game plan. My team pulled through like a champ. Between the six of us we spoke about self-worth, encouraging the students to believe they can achieve their goals. The importance of being a leader, we asked them what motivated them. When we were at an all boys school with about 1,000 students I told them things that I look for in a man and encouraged them to be a strong man of their household if they did not have one.
The topic I most spoke on was checking your heart. I have found that many Christians in this world feel like they have to be a certain way. Robotically reading their Bible, praying, fasting, and doing good works because it is “the Christian thing to do.” When you meet someone new in Eldama Ravine they will most likely introduce themselves then tell you that they are born again. It’s just part of their greeting. I challenged the students and asked them why they do these “Christian things” I didn’t get much of a response so I went on to telling them that if their hearts are not in the right place when they pray or do good works they will feel nothing but guilt and emptiness when they mess up. It’s all about your heart! If your heart is in the right place and you make a mistake you will not feel empty. There is no condemnation with God. There is however conviction but that does not bring guilt. As humans we are all going to make mistakes all the time. We are not called to act like we are perfect and to put on a show. When we let go of that mind set and accept God’s grace and start to believe that God can use all things for his glory we will have a change of heart. I am finding this out first hand on this trip. I am sharing more openly things that I have struggled with and times that I am not proud of. By sharing my life and being transparent in my honesty I am finding that I am helping more people, and that is what we are called to do. Love people where they are at and encourage them to grow.
Debrief was a blast. Our squad was able to go to a rugby game together and most of us also went on a safari. I decided to take my own advice from all of the speaking I had done in Eldama Ravine. Again mostly encouraging the students to work hard in school, have a dream and pursue it. School has never been something that excited me. My motivating factor was simply that I didn’t want to be uneducated. So during all of my free time in Nairobi I started to think what life would look like after the race. This was a very scary thought considering there are so many options. As I was thinking about the future I came to the conclusion that school is where I want to be. All the things I see myself doing in life require an education past an Associate Degree. At this point I think I want to go back to school for social work.
