God is so cool in how He provides.
Last month my team and I were in Gulu, Uganda at a trauma treatment center run by an organization called Child Voice. The center houses and provides counseling and classes for child mother refugees from South Sudan. With the women there we got to carry water from the bore hole on our heads, shuck corn, love on lots of sweet babies, and just spend time with the women at the center.
For this month in Kenya my team and I are doing “Unsung Heroes.” We have pretty much free reign of Kenya to go and find contacts of people or organizations who are Kingdom minded and have a vision for the area they are in. We then send their contact information back to Adventures in Missions (AIM) for future World Race teams to come and work with them.
So, back to Gulu, Uganda. The camp was in the middle of nowhere and the only way to charge electronics was on a generator from 7pm-10pm. The last few days we were there, the generator wasn’t working. So we had no way to charge our phones to do research on what to do in Kenya and how to get there. The only thing we knew was you could take a bus to Nairobi and then a train to a beach city called Mombasa. On our second to last day in Gulu, we had to submit a proposal of our plan back to AIM. We had been praying for days that God would make the generator work so we could do research on where to go. But it remained broken. So, with 2% battery left on my phone I submitted a proposal of the only thing we knew; going to Mombasa. That night the generator came on. We had prayed that God would open doors for us and slam doors He didn’t want us to pursue. God wanted us in Mombasa.
The next day, we took a bus to Kampala, Uganda to then get on another bus to Nairobi. Our host, Ben, had told us to get on a bus as quickly as possible. He had told us child sacrifice is very prominent in Kampala and the bus station area especially was not a safe place. Before we even got off the bus in Kampala, there was a man at the window asking if we were going to Nairobi. We said yes and he guided us to his stand where we booked a bus that was leaving in an hour. It was such a blessing to be able to get on a bus quickly and head on to Kenya. (we also got to see another World Race team, RAD, at the border which was another blessing!)
Finally, we got to Nairobi. At 4 in the morning. And we couldn’t get to our Airbnb until 11. So 5 girls got off of a bus in a city known for robberies with no plan. Right away a man asked if we needed a taxi ride. We said yes, but we didn’t know where to go. We just needed somewhere safe to sit until we could go to our Airbnb. We asked about a McDonalds or a Starbucks. He drove us around for about 15 minutes but nothing was open. We were praying hard and getting desperate. Our taxi driver then said there was a hotel nearby that might let us stay in their lobby. So, he took us to the hotel and walked in with Tori and Abigail while the other 3 of us waited in the car. At first there was confusion at the hotel desk, the receptionist thought we wanted to book a room. But the taxi driver said something to her in Swahili and she then said we could stay in the restaurant upstairs. And, bonus, the hotel had breakfast. God had provided for us again!
Since being in Mombasa we have met so many amazing people and were provided for so fully. Through a connection Rebecca had, we got to stay at a beach apartment for under our budget. The family who owned the apartment were all such amazing and kind people who helped us in so many ways. Despite them being Muslim and us being Christians, they took us in like we were part of the family. They had us over for dinner and cooked us authentic Indian food, they invited us to their restaurant where they gave us lunch for free, and they took us all around Mombasa for a day and treated us to local street food and ice cream. They were such a blessing. We also met a missionary couple from England and a missionary couple from Texas who are both doing amazing things for the Kingdom in Mombasa. Paul and Debbie from England own an orphanage and a high school for kids who cannot afford to go to school. I also had the privilege of hearing Paul preach. Wayne and Tammy from Texas wake up every morning and ask God to guide them in what they do that day. They are so filled with the Holy Spirit, it’s amazing. They also had us over for dinner and fellowship.
My team and I are now back in Nairobi for a day until we head to Limuru tomorrow to meet with another potential contact. We would appreciate prayers for safe travels in our last week in Africa and then as we head to Malaysia soon!
