Karis was placed in Eldoret, Kenya with two other teams (Judah and Hephzibah). Our contact was Pastor William Getumbe and his wife Pamela, along with one of his friends, Patrick. When we arrived, we were welcomed with open arms…a great welcoming for us! Pastor William had arranged it for us to stay in a house in the same compound as him…it was his neighbor’s house. The family that lived there had a three bedroom house with a living room, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. The whole family moved into one of the bedrooms (the smallest one) and gave us the rest of the house! What!…are you serious! I don’t think I realized how blessed we were in that situation to have been given a whole house! That family really sacrificed for a whole month while a bunch of Americans took over their house…I think I might have gone insane and kicked us all out after the first couple of nights…we aren’t the quietist and cleanest people. We also took over most of Pam and Wiliam’s home, as well. Oh…and I can’t forget to mention how Patrick gave up his family (his wife and baby boy) for 3 weeks to help William take care of us….he slept on the kitchen floor of Pastor William’s house to help serve us…and then went out with us to serve the ministry….what! I don’t even know if I would have been that okay with sleeping on a kitchen floor for 3 weeks! Hmmm….God certainly blessed us with these types of people! Anyways, we were pretty much put to work when we got there which was definitely fine!
So..our first week of ministry looked a little bit like this: we woke up and ate breakfast, we went to do door-to-door evangelism, short break, and then we went out and helped put on a Crusade (or open-air meeting) where we were to give testimonies and someone would preach. That was our first week!
The second week consisted of us helping to run a Conference. We passed out flyers in Eldoret to help promote the conference and then each one of us would eventually preach a 30 minute sermon that week. We were at the church from around 9ish a.m. to about 5ish p.m.
The last and final week (also Christmas week) only consisted of Crusades at night…oh, and a Christmas service at the church….again, we all were expected to give a testimony or preach!
So…what all happened in Kenya…oh…a lot!
We worked a lot with the street kids that were a part of Pastor William’s church!…it’s pretty much his and Pam’s ministry! Everyday that we would go there…they would come bustling in with their excitement…sometimes I think it was more for the free food that we offered them at the end of the service rather than the Word of God…but that is something we have leave for God…I trust that their hearts were pierced with His truth every time they entered that church!
We came in contact with so many people even at the Crusades that we assisted in…so many children, too! I love them! They were great! They loved playing in our hair…they were just amazed by it…it was really cute…I loved on so many children…and they loved on me…I just loved it!
We definitely had our trials while we were in Kenya….I have to admit that though I loved being with both Hephzibah and Judah…there were times when I felt we were much too crowded in that town with all of us there…or actually…maybe it was more at the house…it was just tough to find your own space!
As far as our team, Karis, goes…we worked through some things that month and I felt like we actually started to genuinely prefer each other…it was nice!
I learned a lot about myself during the time we left our China debrief and throughout Kenya! I learned that I need one-on-one quality time…that I thrive off of it! I learned that I still have a lot of forgiving to happen for myself, as well as for other people in my life…and I learned that it is hard to let go of my past ideas of family to grasp the kind of family that God intends for me to have! Kenya was a big growth for me…every country has been so far….I’m learning a lot about myself!
Oh..and one more thing about Kenya….everyone asks you about Obama! Please don’t ask me about him…I don’t have an answer! Ha
