This past weekend was something completely different than I am used to. So far, my race has been comprised of mainly staying in cities and being in civilized areas of the countries.
This weekend, six of us out of the eleven who stayed together left the civilization, running water, and greenery for the county of Pokot. We woke up and left our ministry location with our host in two trucks. Three of us were invited to sit in the backseat of one truck, and the other three travelled in the bed of the second truck.
Although we thought we would be driving for six hours, we ended up being on the road for around eight hours. Honestly, I was not paying attention because we ate in the nearest town and stopped many times.
We drove into the backcountry of Kenya, which included stretches of desert and sparse trees as far as the eye can see. We also had the opportunity to see herds of camels just roaming around, goats, and cattle.
The reason why we left our comfortable ministry was because we went to two different remote villages. We all got to share the Gospel with the people of the first village through a women’s session. We started it off with a round of worship songs, and although we thought that only one of us was going to share something, we all ended up getting to talk to the women.
After we finished visiting the people in the first village, we travelled another hour or so across riverbeds and dirt paths to the second village. As soon as we arrived, the villagers welcomed us with songs and dancing. We were desperately in need of rest, so after we introduced ourselves and shook everyone’s hands, we set up our tents outside of their chapel and called it a day.
The next day was Sunday, so we danced with the people of the village and surrounding community to start off the festivities. Then, we sat around in a massive circle outside and listened to a sermon by our host. We figured we would be headed back around noon, but because we are in Africa, we did not leave until around 3:30 or 4:00.
We finally made it back home around midnight, but I would not have changed our trip one bit.
As I reflect on the past three days, I think about how welcoming and hospitable the people were in each village we went to. We were welcomed in both places with dancing and singing. Not only that, but the people were enraptured by how far we had come to see them, so they fed us many times even though the food was scarce for them. When I say scarce, these people did not eat very much, and when they did, they only ate rice, ugali (corn flour and water), sometimes cabbage, and goat. These people were so focused on the things we told them about Jesus and were so joyful in the ways that they worship God.
One thing I want you all to know though is that these people are so broken. Yes, these people are happy, yes, they love Jesus with all that they have, and yes, these people are some of the kindest people ever. But guys. In these villages, girls, like 11 or 12 years old are picked to be married to men nearly three or four times their age. Not only that, but the women are among many of wives to men of these places. Yes, they are remote villages, but they have the opportunity to have a road built for them by the government to make their communities more accessible to the larger towns. The thing is that the men, who are in charge of the villages do not want that to happen.
This broke my heart. I wanted not only the people in the more civilized areas of Kenya to have access to the Gospel and other important things, but I wanted those who do not have the choice of where they live to have that same access. This weekend taught me so many things about having joy and peace, but it also taught me how to have a broken heart for the people I encountered.
Thank you so much for following my blog. I am almost done with my time here in Kenya, so stay tuned for maybe a last blog to tie up the month.
I am currently trying to raise the last bit of my fundraising goal, so please, if you feel led to help me stay on the field, follow the donate button at the top to give what you can.
-Jo
