Kachibora, Kitale, Kenya. Where to start? This month has definitely been unlike anyother in almost every way: new continent, new climate, new ethnicity, new ministry, new toilets and new spiritual atmosphere. I am writing this with exactly one week left in Kenya. I have had mixed feelings about this place all month and it has been hard to sit down and try to put it all in words. But its getting close to the time when I will have legitimate internet so I’d better be ready to post. 🙂
Africa has proven completely different than Asia, as I mentioned above. Coming from countries where only 2% of the population is Christian to Africa where Christianity reigns dominant has been quite the culture shock. It has been really awesome to constantly meet fellow believers who are so passionte for Christ. They have such an easy confidence in Jesus that is such a blessing to see. Our main ministries here have been going door to door evangelizing every morning and teaching at the church meetings every night.
Door to door in the mornings was kind of a challenge for all of us at the beginning and I am still trying to understand it all even now. We typically split ourselves up into two groups of three and go knock. First of all, this concept of going to a stranger’s house and wecoming ourselves inside is foreign to us as Americans. Its awkward, uncomfortable an kind of intrusive. Then we sit in the family’s house and ask if they know Jesus. If the answer is yes, our translators wait for us to give them a word of encouragement and we pray for whatever needs the family might have, including any kind of physical illness. If the answer is no, we dive into the story of God and Jesus: the ten minute version. At the end of the Jesus story, our translators ask/prompt the people into praying the sinners prayer. So in our culture, this looks like us intruding into someone’s house, forcing Jesus down their throat, writing their name down and leaving… So strange to us!
But here’s the thing, it is not wierd in Kenya. And God does not fit into the box of our “relationship first” method. He does things however He wants. It has been so hard for me to swallow but its just another thing that makes our God so great. He is constrained by nothing and no one.
A girl we met going door to door
The second part of our ministry here is the 5:00 worship meetings every night. We cast lots at the begninning so we have an order that each of us teach in. We get 20 to 35 minutes every night to share what is on our hearts. I do want to describe this meeting to you so you can try to “see” what we get to see every night. Meetings are scheduled to start at 5:00. (We learned at the beginning of the month that 5:00 means anytime between 5:00 and 5:59…so true). The worship leaders show up at 10 or 15 after. They start the music. For worship there are a minimum of three people onstage, there are usually more and on Sundays there are like 8 or 9, and two have microphones, accompanied by a keyboard. People keep trickling in until about 5:40 and the combination of all results in a rockin worship session complete with dancing. I love how dancing is such an fundamental part of worship here. These people get down! None of their worship is ever forced and it never feels like anyone is going through the motions. They dance and sing with such joy EVERYDAY. The music portion of the night goes to about 5:45-50 and always ends with a slower song or two. Then one of us gets welcomed up.
Teaching has been fun; I have loved learning from the other girls and sharing what I am learning myself. Its awesome too because these people are great at verbal feedback during your message. Nods and the occasional “Yes!” or “Mmmm” are always encouraging. 🙂
It is beautiful here and God is continally blessing us and bringing me to a place where I can’t survive without Him. I won’t say this has been the easiest month or even one of my favorites, but it has been so good. I am learning so much about myself and about Jesus/God/Holy Spirit. I thank God daily for calling me out of life I was living before this. I don’t deserve to be here and I am definitely not more “Christian” than anybody else but thats the great thing about our God. His love and grace abound and He wants to use and meet us right where we are. I have learned so much already and am so excited to see how much more He will show me over the next six months. I know I will be blown away. So thank you again to those of you who have helped make this possible for me. And if you can, go on the World Race ;).
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