Kenya Mission Trip - September 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

            I first want to sincerely thank all of you for your prayers and support throughout this part of the journey.  I know that many of you are excited to hear about my trip to Kenya.  I feel so blessed to have had this experience. It has been an amazing experience that words just simply cannot describe.  It will take time for me to be able to fully process all that has occurred.  I would like to share with you three important lessons from my trip.

            LOVE:   The love, joy, and compassion that the people in Kenya demonstrated was absolutely beautiful.  Their smiles stretched from ear to ear and were very contagious.  When you looked at the children, you did not see the realities of their life weighing them down.  They did not look like the “poor, pitiful children” that you see on TV.  They were happy, smiling, singing, and just being kids.  They demonstrated love even though they had not eaten in three days and were without clean water to drink.  They simply have been denied the “luxuries” that Americans take for granted each day.   Love is not hindered by language or culture.  It transcends to all people, all generations, and all tongues.  Love is beautiful and the people of Kenya understand what it means to love one another. 

            WORSHIP:   The people in Kenya truly know what it means to have genuine, authentic worship.  They truly do focus on who God is and live to experience Him.  They are not worried about form or fashion and do not focus on what God can do or will provide for them.  They simply desire to experience His presence.  They take very seriously their worship and strive to understand and experience God more and more. 

            We went thinking we were going to teach the children some of the basic Bible stories, but it was the children who taught us.   They have to memorize the Bible since most of them do not have access to it in written form.  They knew and described the very stories we were going to teach with more detail and accuracy than any of us were prepared to teach.   It was not just the children who taught us about worship; the adults also had much to offer.  During Sunday service in Isiolo, the Pastor announced that they would not have service next Sunday.  Instead of Sunday service, they would all meet at the church and would go out two by two to the people who may never enter into the sanctuary.  It was announced that they would be doing this once a month to ensure that all of the people in the community and surrounding areas would hear about Christ because the “end times are near.” 

            STEWARDSHIP:  The people in Kenya understand how to take the resources that they have and maximize them.  They seemingly have so little (in terms of resources only), but they do so much with what they have.  Many of the children are educated in tin huts, without books, paper, or pencils.  Their teachers do not have any resources. Even though these children are hungry, they are two to three grade levels ahead of most American students. 

            The people in Kenya also understand what it means to give sacrificially.  We were ministering at a “Day Care” for the poor.  There is no way any American family would send their children to a place with such dismal conditions, but these parents did not have any choice.   As we were leaving the Day Care, the adult workers went and got a live chicken for us.  They handed us the chicken to express their appreciation and said that we could use it for a meal on our way home.  They clearly could have used this chicken to provide a meal for themselves, yet they thought more about us than they did of themselves.  This one act demonstrated so much love and compassion.  I was blown away at their selflessness.  How many of us would give something that we need to someone else, especially when they do not need it as much as we do?

            We all truly do need each other.  The people of Kenya need many of the resources that Americans have, but Americans need many of the values that Kenyans have.  We all have something to give and we all have something we need to learn.   Serving God, loving each other, and being good stewards are things that we are all admonished to do.  God is truly amazing and I am so thankful that He allowed me to experience and see Him work in the nation of Kenya. 

                                                                                    Love you and God Bless,

                                                                                    Onnica