My team and I have officially arrived at our first months ministry location, Busia, Kenya. And everything I had read in blogs from previous racers about the generosity and blessing that is Reverend Gideon has proven so true! Reverend Gideon is our contact here and when I first read about him and his ministry I got this strong feeling of him being a father of us and his people, I don't think I could have gotten a better vision of him. As soon as we made it to Busia, after our 10 hour roller coaster ride of a drive, he was there to pick us up from the station and brought us back to his house where we will be staying with him and his wife Jane aka "Mama" during our time here. Quick side note: haha that bus ride, trust, was one of the most fun and funny things ever… if you ever get the chance, please travel long distance in Africa on an easycoach bus and get ready for some big bumps and some high flyin seat belt or no seat belt. Gideon has immediately brought us under his wing and taken care of us as his own though, and I am full of gratitude for what the Lord has done in his life to create such a conduit for His love, grace, and provision. It is so evident that Gideon loves the Lord and has a passion for bringing the people of his church into deeper and deeper relationship with Him as well as those around Busia who don't know Him at all into the knowledge of their savior.
We also got to meet pastor Steve who will be taking us out into town for out reaches, like going to the hospital to pray for the sick and going door to door to share the gospel and invite others to church. Steve and Gideon shared with us how they will have about 200-300 people at church every sunday and that people here would say that they are Christian, but not many actually live under the authority of God or in the power of the Holy Spirit. With that they said that they were less about "converting" people and have seen such a need to truly disciple men and women well so that they will grow in their understanding and love of the Lord so they will actually begin to live lives as such. In a sad way it reminded me of home. I am excited to get to know the people here though and to dive into what the Lord has for both us to learn through one another.
Here's some obvious truth: I have a lot to learn. Just from a couple days here this has quickly become a stark reality. Our american culture, way of living, and pattern of daily life, are so different from everything here and simply because of lack of experience I have a lot to absorb about how everything here works. Ha, I've learned quickly how to use the restroom with out a toilet, learned how to catch a chicken that's gotten out of the cage, how to wash laundry by hand, how navigate around roads with no lanes, people everywhere, and bigger pot-holes than anyone in missouri has ever seen, and much more. I think what has surprised me the most, though, is my reaction to everything. I haven't experienced this big shock or surprise, perhaps because I've heard so much about these places, granted it's one thing to hear about something and another to be smack dab in the middle of Busia with street kids running all around as you buy groceries. That said, I expected to feel different than I do. I don't exactly know how I expected to feel, but I know that I love this place, I love Gideon, I love this town and these people and I feel a weight of the depravity that is here, as we lock up the gate at night and I look at the brick walls that surround homes which have broken shards of glass on top of them to keep out unwanted visitors. But I am not startled by it. I am reminded of home, where most nights in Maryville we would fall asleep with our doors unlocked, where I have a toilet and toilet paper available to me nearly anywhere I go, where we have a lot of everything, where we are spoiled rotten… sometimes I think literally. The two places externally are so different, yet I feel remnants of the two in each other. Because what really are external things, but things that are so temporal and ever changing. At the heart these places are the same; full of corruption, depravity, sickness, pain, greed, poverty, pride… they are everywhere… but in the mix there's a Gideon or a Dan Roye or a Pastor Clay full of life, love, healing people, easing pain, giving to many, and humbly serving all. It looks different, so vastly different, but the heart is the same. Believers all over the world they look so different but they love the same and unbelievers all over the world they look so different but all their actions scream out of the same heart.
I am looking forward to serving along side Gideon and Pastor Steve in this town amongst these people and telling you of all that the Lord does through us. Every friday we will be fasting along with all of Deliverance Church and then meeting at the church for corporate prayer and to lay hands on those who have specific needs. Gideon wanted this to be the first thing we do with the church because he said prayer is the perfect way to begin our ministry with them.. I couldn't agree more and am excited for what tomorrow will bring. After that on sunday we will be introduced formally to the church and just observe the service for this week. The following weeks we will be helping with running the sunday schools and a couple of us will be sharing a message. Please join us in prayer for those things, that the Spirit would reveal just what we are to teach them and just how to say it. If it is one thing that I have been looking forward to it is experiencing how our brothers and sisters over here worship and praise the Lord! I will definitely be trying to post as many pictures I can.
