Greetings from KENYA! I have my whole life had dreams of travel, of seeing the world, but I never would have imagined actually finding myself in the middle of the beautiful Rift Valley in Kenya. What a gift from God! We’re spending the month in the house of our contacts Ben and Christine, the founders of Shekina Glory Missions, and their four wonderful kids. Ben and Christine are amazing people full of God’s love – they both quit very lucrative jobs to start this mission, and now they have founded dozens of churches, schools, and orphanages in Kenya and other African nations.
We’ve been able to spend time with several of the missions Ben and Christine are responsible for, doing all sorts of different things. We’ve preached and led worship, painted churches, played with schoolchildren, and gone house to house sharing the Gospel.
The overall experience has been absolutely amazing, and we’re only half done with the month! God has been moving in so many different ways – and I want to share just one of those ways with you all.
The second day we were here, most of us went into town to get some essentials, including drinking water. For whatever reason, when we were all back in the house we realized it had been forgotten. Liliana grabbed me and we piled into Ben and Christine’s van with them to make a quick run into town. After getting water, we tagged along for a couple of other errands they had to run – including meeting an old friend. Allison had stayed with them a few years back, and she was leading a high school mission team back here – she’d just gotten in the previous night. We said hi, and Ben promised we’d all talk more the next day when we were all together at one of the ministry sites.
The next day a huge bunch of high schoolers, Kenyan and American, showed up at the church we were painting. The only person I knew was Allison, so of course I wandered over to talk with her. Another of my squadmates, Alison, joined the conversation. After a little time, Allison was called away to meet some other old friends, and Alison and I were left talking with one of the junior leaders named Josh. Nearly every American we’ve met has been very interested in the World Race, so of course we got to talking about our experiences. At one point, Josh asked us, “So how has this trip affected your faith?” Alison and I shared the things God has been teaching us: the truth of love, how to find our identity in God instead of others, and the sheer reality of God and how He works in our life. Josh got very quiet for a moment, and then said, “This is really weird, but… that’s exactly the sort of stuff I’ve been going through lately.” He went on to tell us a few things about his past, and how he was really eager to change the series of poor decisions he’d made lately. We had only a few minutes to pray over him before we left, but it was an incredible experience. I later talked to Allison again, and she said he had really opened up as a leader and as an individual on the trip. Their trip was a short one, and we never saw Josh again, but I know that God used that encounter to encourage us both.
And it never would have happened if we hadn’t forgotten to buy water.
God’s working in mighty ways this month – stick around for the next update! I’m so grateful to those of you who continue to read my blog, and especially for the comments you leave. God bless you all!
