Kitale, Kenya is beautiful and the people are wonderful. I
have to say that the bus ride was a little bumpy, but my violin and the guitars
made it just fine! We traveled on Monday 8 hours from Nairobi to Kitale, which
is in western Kenya near the border with Uganda.
We are staying with Pastor Geoffrey and his wife Florence,
along with their 4 children, Winnie, Grace, Philip and Joshua, and we have
already made friends with a lot of the people with whom we will be working this
month. So far, only 3 days in, I can see that this will be a full month, and we
will be helping in many different areas. We’ll be doing prison and hospital
ministry, helping the worship team, visiting sister churches in rural
areas, building a new classroom for the
school, and that is just the beginning! Every day is scheduled out for us – the
first time this has happened on the Race so far – and we are loving it! One
thing that we are especially looking forward to is attending a real, African
wedding next weekend.
Pastor Geoffrey has great vision for the future ministry of
this church, Kitale Growth Church, and we are so privileged to be able to see
some of those visions become a reality. They have a 3-classroom school right
now and we are helping to build a fourth classroom; the complete vision being
an 8-classroom school. They even have professional blueprints in faith that it
will happen someday! Every little bit of money that comes in for this ministry
is put to use right away and they are currently working on putting in a cement floor
for the church and paneling the inside with plywood to try to abate the heat
that radiates from the sheet-metal walls. Future visions include a hospital,
because the ones in the area are not the best; and they also want to be able to
house ministry teams like ours and have a facility to care for orphans in the
community. I can’t wait for Sunday so that I can see how these people, with
great faith and vision, worship our Lord!!
Today and yesterday, when we went to work on the new
classroom we also played with the kids for a couple hours. They are so
adorable. Many come from families in need and their schooling is being
sponsored by the church; there are also a couple of Sudanese refugee children
at the school too. They taught us their version of “Duck, Duck, Goose” and we
taught them “London Bridge’s” and then some action songs.
Working on the classroom felt so good. I have been craving
the opportunity for some manual labor, but my hands have definitely gotten
soft. Some of us helped to level out the grass and dirt floor using hoes and a
pretty beat-up shovel while most of the guys were building the rafters and
lining up the side walls. This morning they actually pulled up one side of the
wall and repositioned it because it wasn’t correct – and this all by hand as
they have no tractors or power tools! I got 6 blisters just yesterday, but it
feels so good to be working with my hands again. I will have to post more
pictures as the project progresses but we have extremely limited internet
access this month so please be patient.
Thank you so much for your prayers as I continue to walk in
the path that Christ has laid out for me. Specifically be in prayer for my team
and I as we partner with Kitale Growth Church and make an impact on this
community for Jesus. Pray against spiritual attack, against malaria, and that
we will truly grow in our love for each other as brothers and sisters in
Christ. THANK YOU!!!
