Hello everyone!!! We just finished up 3 months in Africa and are now headed to Europe. It’s been a wild, wild ride, but also so full of sweet, joyous times. I wanted to take a minute and tell you all about these last 3 months and the things the LORD has done! Enjoy 🙂
Also, this is my incredible team 🙂
Hmmm, let’s begin with a summary of 3 months in Africa:
Wow, it’s hot
But the rain has seemed to follow us everywhere we went, wow, praise God.
Seriously, all the locals kept telling us that it was dry season and was not supposed to be raining, but in all three countries, wherever we went, it would rain.
One incredible story of this was in Kenya when we were visiting the Pokot tribe for a few days . Now, the climate of Pokot is not like the luscious green Kenya I was so used to, but desert. Think Arizona dry, but even more so. This tribe lived over an hour away from any town, up in the mountains, rarely getting rain water. The first morning we were there, our host took us up to an overlook to pray over the mountain and the Tribe, and to pray for rain to come. We prayed, asking the LORD to pour down rain in a way that would be undeniably him. A little bit later that day, we were all standing in front of the tribe introducing ourselves, and as soon as we finished, no lie, it started pouring. It was one of the coolest things and clearest ways I’ve ever seen God work. And we got to stand up there and tell them to praise God for the rain because it came from him.
playing with the kiddos in the rain with balloon animals – what a time
Wow, wow, it’s beautiful
Truly, so green and luscious, full of fruit trees, vibrant red clay, roaring hills and don’t even get me started about the stars, WOW
Travel, travel, travel
We covered a lot of ground all over Kenya + Uganda, whether that be by foot, bus, car, matatu (taxi van thing that they shove as many people as possible in), or boda boda. Our ministry hosts had connections all over and wanted to be sure we were able to visit each one. Training camp prepared us well… unpack, pack up, unpack, pack up, unpack, packup.
Carbs, carbs, carbs, carbs
It was a true chaparty (lots of chapatti) + some rice, bread, and my fav, Matoke (green bananas)
Beans and greens were also beloved staples – they will be missed
Living with a farm in the backyard
Goats, chickens, geese, turkeys, rabbits, roosters, dogs gave us a choir all throughout the night in Kenya, and made sure to pee/ poop on our bags and tents
Cutest kiddos
The families we stayed with have the sweetest families. Some of my favorite memories from these months are spending time with all the little nuggets.
our sweet Kenya family:
Some of our time in ministry in Kenya too was spent with kiddos. A few days I got to homeschool the kiddos of a sweet American family who lived in Kenya to run a baby home. I can’t tell you how happy it made my heart.
This is sweet Allan. She became my best friend this past month in Uganda. She came with me every night to Bible study, during the day we would always play, and in the evening, she would fall asleep snuggling up to me as we watched the news. She was the biggest joy. Wow, I will miss her dearly.
People shouting “muzungu, I love you” as you walk down the street
Truly, this is my least favorite part of the last few months. I used to love, love, love walking around, but here, we stand out quite a bit, and nobody wants to let you walk by them without shouting often quite bizarre things at you, or coming up to try and touch you.
However, a few times it has turned out into really cool times. There was one day I was walking back to the compound from town, a girl who was walking back from school, came up to start talking to me. She ended up coming back to the compound with me to hang out for a bit and have a little snack. We even got to talk a little bit about how her family is Muslim and Jesus’ love. Times like these are little checks + challenges to keep a heart posture of Jesus, who had crowds shouting at him and following him almost constantly, yet he lived hospitably and interruptible, always having time for people.
Incredible, Incredible hosts
Each country we truly had the most incredible hosts.
In Ethiopia, we partnered with Dr. Ralph at HOPEthiopia. They are building the Kingdom in a village of Ethiopia in numerous ways – from reforestation/agriculture projects to training women in the community tangible skills such as sewing and crafting that they might make a living for themselves to a children’s home. Truly, it was such an incredible blessing to get to partner with them and getting to know Dr. Ralph + his team a bit. They are full of strength and passion to transform their village to a place that shines the Kingdom of God. Wow.
In Kenya, we partnered with Cliff, John Sam, and Justice at Glory Shiners Ministries. Each one of these men have wildly incredible testimonies of where the LORD has brought them from, and they each walk daily with deep hearts of gratitude to God for that. They are fierce in their dedication to teach, train and encourage people all over Kenya to grow in depth of maturity and love of the LORD.
In Uganda, we partnered with Charles at World Bridge Ministries. Charles has a huge heart for evangelism and church planting. He started a church some years ago, but the people he was renting from wanted their land back, so he had to relocate his church and basically start from scratch. We had the privilege of partnering with him this past month in building relationships with people in the village by going door-to-door & doing home visits in the morning and then hosting a Bible Study gathering in the evenings. It was so cool to see how the LORD really did build a little church this month, as in the beginning our group was around 7 people and then by the end of the 3 weeks multiplied to more than 35 people fellowshipping together in prayer, study and worship.
Now that I introduced the months and my hosts a little bit, I want to finish up by sharing a few of my favorite stories of all the things the LORD did.
Ethiopia
My favorite time in Ethiopia was for sure the day we did a prayer walk through the village with Dr. Ralph. His heart beamed with a love and dedication to care for all of creation. I found quite a refreshing kindred spirit in him that day as we walked, talking all sorts of ecotheology, and prayed over the land, the animals, all the little kiddos that ran up to us, people’s homes, the trees, the crops. We even took popsicle sticks with scripture written on it and planted it all throughout the grounds we walked upon. Then, towards the end of our prayer walk, we met and prayed over this sweet family. The grandma of the family had issues with her eyes. The LORD brought us there to make a connection with her, and later in the week, Ralph went back with a medical team.
Kenya
Truly, Kenya was a wild ride. I feel like we traveled all over Kenya. Almost every other day we were moving to visit another ministry our hosts were connected with. Guests are seen as a big blessing and honor in Kenya, so our host wanted to make sure we had a chance to invest in the church all over. The month was full of a lot of speaking to and encouraging church congregations, holding Bible studies while visiting various homes for rescued out of the sex industry/ HIV+ women & children, or visiting baby homes to encourage the caretakers or teen-age moms. Sounds like a lot, right? Yeah. It really was. A lot of sobering realities and heartbreaking stories, but also A LOT more joy and hope than anyone could ever fathom in these circumstances. Praise God!
One of my favorite memories of the month – We were visiting a church in Kisumu and joined our hosts in their monthly meeting with a group of homosexual men they have been trying to disciple. These men were outcasts from their community and family, but the church there has intentionally and beautifully brought them in and loved them, and most importantly continuously called them to God. We got to hang out with them for a few hours, and a few girls on the team shared their testimonies and a message. At the end, one of the men came forward and said he wanted to leave behind the path he had been walking and turn back to JESUS. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!! Then he got up and spoke to the rest of the men in the room and encouraged them to do the same.
Uganda
Hands down, my favorite memory in Uganda, and probably in the top few favorite memories of the race, is all about a girl named Esther Grace. We were doing our normal morning time of home visits in the village, and I had split off with Ruth (a local woman who did ministry with us all month. She is fierce in boldness to proclaim Jesus and full of love). We went up to a house and met the housemaid, a sweet girl named Sajida (a Muslim name). She had just started working for this family who happened to be strong believers. They had been encouraging her to find a church. So when we came up to tell her about us and the Church we were planting right around the corner, and the Bible studies we were having every night, she was quite excited. After talking to her for a bit, she asked us to lead her in accepting Christ! HALLELUJAH!!!!! After, she asked me if I would name her. (wow, what?!?!) Because to them, names have a great deal of significance, and if she was now a follower of Jesus, she no longer wanted to go by a Muslim name, but wanted a Christian name. Ruth then told me that the person who leads someone to Christ is their ‘spiritual mother’ and gives them a new name. Wow, what an honor. I looked at her as I prayed, seeing within her incredible strength and courage, yet deep love and kindness, I gave her the name of Esther Grace. This was the first huge smile I got to see come across her face. As the weeks went on, she would come to Bible study when she could and we grew as friends and sisters. At the end of the month, I got to see the second big, and truly exuberant smile come across her face as I got to bring her her first Bible. She leaped with joy and excitement into my arms for a big hug. So, so much joy and rejoicing. Wow. That moment will forever be implanted within me and bring the biggest smile to my face.
Well friends, that’s the best I have for summing up these 3 wild months. I wish I had the space and (honestly) the brain capacity to tell you each and every story of the people we met and the ways the LORD moved. But, if you want to know more, would love love to catch up over the phone with any of you and exchange life stories. I dearly miss all of you.
Send me a message or give me a call ( PS: I no longer have the (252-481-**** number anymore, so please delete it from your phone – it now belongs to a 13 year old whose mom has not been happy when he keeps getting messages.. whoops. Also, I no longer have Whatsapp since my phone was stolen in Kenya. The best way to get up with me is Facebook messenger!!) It would mean so much to me to hear from some of you.
In the meantime, please be praying over my new friends I told you about above and my team as we enter our 3rd and final continent of the Race. Romania here we come!!!!
Ok. I couldn’t help it. Here is one last picture of us teaching the song Father Abraham to the kiddos in Uganda 🙂
