Life Is Just One Big Slumber Party...

This is the day that the Lord has made! I don’t know when this will be posted, but I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, September 7th, on a beautiful Kenyan day. We finished Sunday School a couple of hours ago, and I just wanted to come and write to you guys before school starts back tomorrow. I will be really busy for the next few weeks, so I am not sure how often I will get to update you. Hopefully it will still be every week or so.

As usual, I first want to update you on what I have been doing with the orphans. This was definitely the slowest week I have been here so far, but it was really good to spend some time with Rose, Hesbon, and the children at the orphanage. Sometimes I catch my mind drifting to home during the slow days, but I always remind myself that I will be longing for these days when I am home living the busy American schedule. I am trying my best to stay in the moment, and that is getting easier and easier as this place is becoming more and more like home. I have really been accepted here by the Tumaini people as one of their own. That is such a great feeling!

Earlier in the week, after lunch, Karlee (my friend and volunteer from Australia) and I were set to go to the orphanage for the afternoon. When we opened the door to leave, the orphans were standing at our door. They had come down to play for the afternoon, and it was then that I got to witness an historic day for the Tumaini children. I got to be a part of the first basketball game ever played in the village. I was the coach for the children, who played just two games because each game took so long to finish. It’s safe to say very few baskets were scored. The cool thing is that it did not matter to the children. It was exactly how sports should be played. I hate to say that the children were bad, but let’s just say they have a lot of work to do. I was trying to teach them the rules, but I think they only selectively heard some of them. They would barely dribble (bounce the ball) every ten steps or so, and they would literally tackle each other whether it was a boy or a girl. It was the roughest game of basketball I have ever seen. It was hysterical, and I had to catch myself to make sure I just let them have fun instead of beating the rules into their heads. I will have time to teach the rules when the team begins practicing. This was the happiest I have ever seen kids play sports, and it made me think how wrong we can get it sometimes taking the joy out of the game. I know I have been guilty of that. Anyways, that was an amazing experience for me and hopefully for the kids.

There were two other significant things that took place this week with the children at the orphanage. On Wednesday, Karlee and I had a slumber party with the children. That ranks near the top of my list for my favorite experiences here so far. We played games, sang songs, read a Bible story, gave them candy, and just spent time with them. They normally go to bed at nine o’clock, but on the sleepover night we kept them up until nearly eleven. It was definitely a treat for them. Something special for me was getting to hold the two-year-old baby orphan named Doro for about an hour. She gets a kick out of giving hugs, high fives, and big kisses on the cheek. The first time Doro saw Emily and me, she cried and cried and cried. But now anytime I see her she wants me to hold her. I held her for a while just looking over the miles of fields, hills, and huts as the sun was setting. God gave me a huge peace at that moment that this was the exact place that He wanted me to be. It was an incredible time!

Finally, the last thing that I wanted to tell you about concerning the orphans was Sunday School today. God placed in my heart even more peace about being here. I got to share “Daniel and the Lion’s Den” with them out of a children’s story book, and they really were excited to hear about it. But I am most pumped up about the end of Sunday School. I know that I get to spend a lot of time loving on the children, but it is my heart that at least one of them will come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I cannot say if any of them accepted Christ today or not, but for the first time, I got to give an extended description of the Gospel message to them in a way they could understand. I told them about their sin, the consequences of their sin and the punishment it warrants, but also about the incredible news of the salvation that comes from Christ alone through the forgiveness of sins that His death on the cross offers. I will be spending more time in the near future following up on who has confessed or desires to confess Christ Jesus as their Lord. I may not see anyone come to Christ in my time here, but I know the seed has been planted. I am praying for God to do the rest. Salvation is His gift alone!

That is what has been happening with the kids here in Kenya. That is all I am going to say about the children in this blog. If that is all that interests you, then you don’t have to go on reading. I wanted to stop here and keep this installment short, but I just had to express what God has been teaching me. I hope that this section of the blog never sounds too “preachy.” I am trying my best to avoid that. I never want to command anyone about what they need to do or sound like I know everything. This is all about what has been happening in my heart lately.

I told my parents earlier that coming to a foreign land where I know no one has been a difficult and sometimes painful growing experience, but I would not trade it for anything in the world. Coming to a slower-paced culture has given me a lot more time to read, pray, write, and think than I ever get to do at home. Also, being here without any of my friends or family has taught me a lot about myself. It exposes even more sins and insufficiencies within myself than I wanted to admit. I have always known about some of my core problems and faults, but being alone in a strange land has smacked me right in the face with them. It has been a humbling experience being in this vulnerable state.

God has revealed this to me: I place way too much of my dependence on and seek way too much of my satisfaction and confirmation from the people around me. More often than not back home, I fill the voids in my life with the people I surround myself with and a busy schedule. However, here I don’t have those things, so I am confronted with the truth. I try to please people more than I should. Wanting people to be happy can be a good quality, but I frequently take it to the extreme.

What am I going to do about it? I am praying about it every day--confessing to the Lord my insecurities, and asking God to remove this burden and transform my heart. I want to be secure with who I am in Christ alone. Who else is there to please? My identity is in Him. Galatians 1:10 says, "…if I were still trying to win the approval of men, I would no longer be a servant of Christ." I am praying for Him to fill up any emptiness or longing to be confirmed by others with the fullness of Christ.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support throughout this entire process of my going to Africa. As I have said before, it is an experience I would not give up for anything right now.

I wanted to finish by giving a shout-out to all of my friends in Gainesville, Florida. I miss you all so much. On Saturdays, I think I experience the strongest longings for home due to my missing the tailgating and Gator games. Please enjoy them for me! That reminds me, it is Sunday afternoon, and I still don’t know anything about yesterday’s game. My mom was supposed to text Hesbon (cough cough).

I also want to say hello to my roommates: Justin, Jeff, and Cody. How is my empty room? Turned it into anything cool yet? I hope you are getting plenty of cave time, playing a ton of Mario Kart on Wii, and watching more college football than is humanly possible. I won’t put anything too sappy on here for fear of being mocked and scorned by you guys. Maybe I will save that for an email. But I do miss you guys!

I love all of you! If you ever feel like emailing me, the only email that I check is rowdyreptile50@earthlink.net. I may not be able to respond, but I'd to hear from you soon!