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...