The final countdown! My last month on the race I’ve been in Kitale, Kenya living and working at an orphanage/school called challenge farm. Here we lived with the kids and were blessed to hear their stories of how they were brought in off the streets. I grew to love all 135 of them. I grew especially close to a group of the younger girls. It’s very common for the kids living there to have experienced abuse from the parents or guardians they had prior to coming. There is a young girl named Mercy who has more joy than any of the other children at the camp. I was speaking with one of the teachers there and asking about some of the kids. Teacher Joyce goes on to tell me that Mercy is 8 years old and had lost her mother at a young age and her father decided to make Mercy his wife before she was found on the street and brought in to the orphanage. I was in shock to learn that the most joyful child I’ve met in Africa had such a dark and scary past. It hurt my heart and brought me to my knees to ask the Lord how such terrible things can happen and then this child be so happy and smiling all the time. This story I learned throughout the month is common to most of the others. Yet these children laugh and love and play everyday. The Love of God is what they’ve experienced that has changed their life. They know and understand who Jesus is and that He brought people to save them from the streets and give them a better life. God said I want that one and that one and that one. This is what He does. He see’s His children hurting and in darkness and He pulls them out and places them in His house to teach them who they are.
Below is a picture of Mercy with my teammate Elizabeth Gonzalez
This has been a wonderfully ending month for the world race! I'm looking forward to coming home and starting this next season with the Lord. Thank you all for your prayer and support and for keeping up with my blogs. I'm blessed by you!
