Jambo America!

Jambo America! I hope everything is going well back in the ole mother country! While I love it here, I still miss all of you. I am thinking about you and praying for you constantly. More than anything, this trip makes me appreciate all of my family and friends as well as my country so much more than ever before. I just want to take this time to update you on what has happened and what is about to happen. I will not be able to tell you everything until I see all of you again in December. I am upset that I cannot share this whole experience with you, but I will try and give you a taste of what is going on here.

Emily and I spent the last week doing Vacation Bible School at the orphanage which included us teaching the watoto (children) Bible stories, doing crafts with them, playing games, and teaching them some American Christian songs like “This Little Light of Mine” or “Waves of Mercy.” They just love having visitors around. I am learning that the ministry we have is partly just being here for them and loving on them, because the orphans have no families to which they can go home. I have never seen a group of kids smile as much as they do here.

I have a couple of stories to share with you from the past week. During one lesson, after I shared the story of Adam and Eve out of a children’s book, I asked the orphans how they believe we can experience God’s forgiveness. The sweetest boy named Hillary answered, “Teacha (teacher), by going to church.” It really grieved me at that moment that so many of these children have no idea how they can have a relationship with Jesus. I know they are young, and I should not expect them to have a true understanding of God, but I am realizing that a lot of these children believe that religion will save them. I later asked Hesbon about this, and he shared my sadness that a lot of these children are putting their faith in their family’s religion. He also has a burden to let the children know about how they can have a personal relationship with Christ, and that is what my main focus will be during Sunday School, and when I get to speak at Friday school assemblies.

I also wanted to tell you about two boys named Toba and Pius. This past week, Rose (my director) gave me a detailed account of how they came to be at the orphanage. These stories put an even heavier weight on my heart for these kids than I already had. Pius used to live close to the orphanage with his father. His mother had died of AIDS, so his father was left alone to raise him. One night, Pius’s father also died of AIDS while Pius was asleep. When Pius got up early in the morning, he jumped in his father’s bed. He lay with his dead father for a while before people came to his house to figure out that his father was dead. It was a horribly traumatic experience for him, and even just this week he started sobbing when he thought of his dad. Toba’s story is brief but still sad. He was found in the city of Kakamega, and not a soul knew who he was or where his parents could be found. To this day, no one at Tumaini knows his true age or birth date. They say that he is “around five or six.” That is so sad to me that he will never know his birth date, his age, or his family.

Okay! Enough of the sad stories! I have another funny story to tell this week about Hesbon, although I am sure that this story will again be funnier to me than to you. While Emily and I were talking to him one night, we asked him about his age. He said he was 23 years old which would make him a year older than me. We then asked when he was born, and he told us November of 1986. Take a second, stop, and do the math. That would make him 21 years old. So we asked him about it, and he said, “Well, I guess I am 21 then!” Emily and I laughed so hard later when we talked about it. We can say we were there on the night when Hesbon discovered his real age. I love that story, because it speaks to the carefree spirit of the people around these villages. Small details about their lives do not seem too important to them. There are bigger issues here for them.

Another thing I wanted to express is how much I appreciate your prayers. God is moving here in the lives of the children and very tangibly in my own heart. As I stated earlier, I am getting the chance to share the Gospel with these children through Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. I know that I may not see the fruit of my sharing, but I am trusting that these children will be convicted by God’s Word and that many of the older kids will come to know Christ.

The Lord is also moving in my life as well. I want to be very honest with everyone right now, so they can know how to pray for me. I always knew that leaving home for 4.5 months would be tough, but I really have never understood true homesickness and feelings of loneliness until now. I did not really want to share this, because I know my parents are reading and I do not want them to worry about me. Let me set the record straight: things are amazing here, the people are great to me, and I love the children. I am absolutely certain this is where God wants me right now. For the first time in my life, I can actually say that with confidence. It is a neat feeling to have. However, even if you love where you are at you can still sorely miss your family and friends back home, and Satan has tried to attack me with those negative feelings that come with being homesick.

But you know what? God is winning the battle over Satan in my heart and mind. He is guarding my heart and my mind with Christ Jesus. David’s Psalms have never been as true to me as they are now. I was never put in situations where God absolutely had to be my refuge, my dwelling place, and my sanctuary. Those were just nice phrases that I used and knew from the Bible. But now He really has to be my refuge here. Anytime I have longings for home, I ask the Lord right there and then to satisfy those longings within me. I don’t want to paint the picture that my life is physically in danger. I am definitely safe here, but emotionally and mentally I have to be watchful. It is not that the loneliness is actually me being alone, because I am around people a lot. It is hard to explain, but when everyone speaks Swahili, and English is only their second language, you can feel somewhat disconnected. And it didn’t help that Emily, who I love and is my best rafiki (friend) forever, left on Thursday. That was very difficult for me. But I can truthfully say, as David said in Psalm 4, that He has put gladness in my heart. Whenever I miss home, I rejoice in my salvation, and I rejoice that Christ is living in me. He is all that I need, and He is all that can fulfil me. The beauty of foreign mission trips by yourself is that He really is all you can turn to. So, I have held Ezekiel 11:16 close to my heart. Part of it says, “And although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.” I thank God that He is my sanctuary in times of loneliness!

Again, I am so sorry that these are so long. Hopefully they will be shorter when I get to Nairobi, and I can update them more often. And I hope the next few will be a lot less about me and more about the kids. Even if no one is reading, it is really good for me to pour my heart out here. It helps a lot. Anyways, I am now the official Class 4 (ages 8-10ish) Math, English, and CRE (Christian Religious Education) teacher, and it is so fun getting to be in the classroom teaching. I will also soon be the basketball coach for the school. How cool is that?

I promise I am done now. I just want to say how much I love my family and my friends. If you want to see any pictures, Emily has posted some on my Facebook page. Check them out! I love you guys, and you are always in my heart! You will hear from me again soon! J

*Special thanks to Kristen Seitz Potter and Ryan Potter for helping to post the last blog and possibly this one...

Jambo from Kenya!

Hello everyone back in America! I am sorry it has taken me a while to post my first blog from Kenya. I only get internet access every so often, and then it is dial-up. There is so much to say about my first week here. I will try and give you a basic understanding of what life is like and what God has begun to teach me. I have so many stories already, but those may have to wait until I get back.

First of all, at Tumaini, there are about 150 students and 16 orphans.  I am living right behind the school so I wake up to singing children every day.  I am staying with the director of the orphanage, Rose Bugusu.  She actually has a Facebook if you are interested in looking her up. She has been like a second mother to me here.  From the first moment I met her, it was evident that she had a caring and compassionate heart to the millionth degree.  Her life is all about service and loving these children.  The other very significant person in my life here is Hesbon. He is 21 years old, and he has given his life to this orphanage and school.  He does whatever Rose requires of him.  Hesbon lives with us, and he has easily been my best Kenyan friend here. I love both of them, and I am so grateful they are here.  I experienced some homesickness and loneliness my first couple of days here, but because of the two of them, my friend Emily from North Carolina (who leaves Thursday), and the Lord, I have been able to settle into this place as if it is beginning to become another home.

I want to share with you a couple of things that have happened during my time here and what I am about to start doing.  This past week, we were able to help build and finish the children's basketball hoops.  Basically, they are two hoops with wood posts and backboards with a metal rim attached, and they are placed about 50 feet from each other on a grass patch on the property.  It is so cool to see them start to learn the game of basketball which has been so foreign to them.  Part of my job will include holding basketball camps, lessons, and practices for the children.  Also during the week here, I have started to build relationships with the students.  I have spent time playing soccer with them, sung songs with them in their classrooms, and spent a lot of time just talking to them, hugging them, and giving them high fives.  The children love having white people around which they call "mzungus".  They want to touch us, talk to us, and especially take pictures with us (they are amazed by cameras).

The other day, Emily, Rose, Hesbon, and I played UNO around the lantern that we usually light at nights.  It was so fun seeing how much they loved to play this game.  We played 3 games, and Hesbon easily had the most cards each time by almost double the amount of cards we had. Before I go on, try and imagine Hesbon for me.  He is the sweetest and silliest Kenyan who has the best attitude of anyone I know.  He is such a good sport.  He speaks fairly good English with a heavy Swahili accent.  Hesbon is also a skinny and lanky Kenyan.  At the end of the night, Hesbon tried to explain how he had won.  "You see, at Tumaini, we try and get the most cards. So, I actually was the weena (winner) every time.  Hesbon wins!  Well done, well done, me!!" He cracked up with the highest pitched laughter and had such a huge smile on his face.  This story will clearly not be as funny to you as it is to me, but it helps to show the joy and love that everyone I have come across here possesses.

God has taught me so many lessons here already: (1) that happiness in this world has nothing to do with material possessions. I know that as Christians we understand that, but it has really smacked me in the face here in Kenya. These people have very few possessions, but they are so joyful with what God has given them. They all work hard for very little, while in America there are many people that work little but have very much. Emily and I noted how hard they work just to live every day. But they always do it without complaining. (2) God and His Word are more than enough for me, and I cannot lean on people for my contentment and satisfaction. During spells of loneliness, I have had to turn to the Lord for my satisfaction and friendship. I am truly learning to lean on Him first since I do not have my family or most of my friends here to turn to. I can look back on this first week and already see where God has brought me and continues to bring me. I have already grown a lot and am simply spending much more time talking to my God.

I am sorry this was so long. It is just hard to make it brief since I am only writing every ten days or so. Thank you so much for praying for me. I need your prayers more than ever as we start this week. This week, the children are off of school so we will be doing a type of Vacation Bible School at the orphanage. I am excited about one-on-one time with the orphans.

I want to close by saying that Kenya is gorgeous, and God has shown me how huge He is through this place. Hesbon took us on a hike the other day up a hill that overlooks miles of villages amidst the vast, green landscape. We sat up there and just were in awe that Africa was this beautiful. Kenya is nothing close to the desert land that most of us have imagined Africa looks like. This truly is a breathtaking place.

I love all of you guys! Here are a couple verses that got me through some of the tougher times...

1. The entire chapters of Psalm 13 and 91 have been my go-to passages.

2. Psalm 61:1-2

3. Psalm 4:1-2,8

4. James 1:2-4

God is so good to all of us. I am learning that more and more as I spend time here. I will talk to all of you soon...