This is Patrick. He’s our host for the month of January. He loves drinking tea and watching old episodes of Survivor. And he loves Jesus.
Patrick’s passion is the people of Eldoret. Each Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Sofia and Fanatic head out to the local markets with him to set up the sound system and lead a small praise and worship service for the people who stop by to listen. Sometimes there’s a big crowd. Sometimes it’s only children. Sometimes it’s the dirt on the side of the road in front of us. Patrick isn’t deterred. He’s busy sound checking the microphones with a “Jesus” or a “Hallelujah” while getting the keyboard ready for the Swahili praise music he plays when our English worship session has finished.
Patrick loves us too. He gets up when the rooster crows every day (which is anywhere between 4 am and 6 am) to make sure that we have fresh bread and milk for breakfast. He won’t let us eat anything that isn’t fresh, including our meals from the night before. He and his wife Emmy wait for us to eat our fill before they eat because they want us to have the freshest food possible. When he went with Katie and Julia to pick up Tamica from another town an hour from the Ugandan border, he went across the border into Uganda to buy bananas for us, because he said they were better than the ones in Eldoret. Did you get that? The man drove to another country for a dozen bananas, all because he wanted the best for us.
He doesn’t see us as a burden. He doesn’t see us as twelve more mouths to feed and house. He doesn’t see us as a black hole for electricity consumption. He sees us as an opportunity to love like Jesus loved. And I wonder if it’s even possible for us to love him as much as he loves us.
In our Western consumer culture, I don’t know that many people would be so enthusiastic about hosting a dozen twentysomethings at their house for a month. I can’t think of many people who’d be up for the challenge, let alone people who would embrace us as family and go out of their way to ensure our comfort. We’re changing their diet for the month, we’re changing their daily schedule, and next month, they get to do it all again with a J-Squad team. Raise your hand if you’d travel to Mexico to buy bananas for twelve loud, laughing, foreign young adults without much of a sense of where they’re going next.
I’m trying to keep my eyes open for opportunities to give back to the family, but I’ll be honest, there’s a lot that I’m sure I overlook. We’ve got a job chart outside the kitchen for us, but there’s still opportunity for us to serve that we don’t even think about. I’ve been praying for those extra perceptive eyes to see where I can be a blessing instead of a burden. I’ll be honest, though; I’ve got to improve my vision. Trying harder is on my to-do list for the rest of the month. Patrick and Emmy love us too much for me not to be more aware of how I can help.
