Last Day at Marurui Primary School

            Today was our last day at Marurui Primary School.  It was so hard to say ‘good-bye’.  They have taught me so much more than they will ever realize.  

            The kids would run out and great us each morning, “Teacher Onnica” “Teacher Nakesha” in their cute little accents.  They would each need to give us a high five or hold our hands as we walked in.  They demonstrated obedience and respect for authority that is unheard of in the States.  They strived each day to please us and sought out our approval in their academic performance.  Please keep in mind that they live in one of the slums in Kenya, in fact, the school is located in the middle of the Marurui slums.  They have had very challenging lives with little resources, yet they do not make excuses and strive each day to achieve excellence.   They start school at age three, are required to pay school and uniform fees, the only text book is often the teacher copy and yet they are performing higher than most American students at the same age.  I can’t help but to question American values and how we are raising our children as it relates to education.  Just think how far our kids could go and what they could achieve if we raised them to value education as many of the children that I have met do. 

            The teachers also welcomed us and took us in as one of their own.  We shared tea together and fellowshipped during lunch each day.  They shared their lives with us and demonstrated that

Teachers at Marurui Primary School

hospitality is not limited by resources.  They did not interact with each other as simply colleagues; they truly cared about and for each other and they treated us the same way.  Today was no different.  They made sure they sent us off well.  They had special bread and butter sandwiches for us during tea, showered us with words of appreciation, and each gave us both a necklace to remember them.  After hugs and tears, they ALL walked us through the community and to our car asking us to come back. (Yes, leaving the students at the school and I can assure you none of them thought about misbehaving.)  They assured us that they would begin praying and fasting, asking God to provide for us to return.  Wow!!!!  What amazing people!! 

Although they asked us to share how they could improve, I assure you that they were the ones who showed us how we needed to improve.  God works in mysterious ways.  He will even take a person like me half-way across the world to show me that He is indeed very much at work in the lives of His people across the globe.  Please continue to pray for the teachers, students, and their families at Marurui.  They are an amazing group of people and I thank God for the opportunity to have spent the summer with them.

Update from Kenya

            God continues to move in and around us here in Kenya.  I continue to be blown away by how much it feels like home here.  I absolutely love it here and am enjoying the opportunity to serve.  We

Marurui Primary School

have had many opportunities to serve as well as learn from the people here in Kenya.  We have been teaching at Marurui Primary School (located in Marurui slums), we have ministered in Loruko Village and the Shaba Community in Isiolo, Kenya and we helped to facilitate Kamp Kenya in which the youth from our church came for a short-term mission trip.

            The Shaba Community in Isiolo continues to be one of the places that touches my heart deeply.  It is a small community in a desert-like climate with little to no access to food and clean

Baby from Shaba

water.  The people are some of the most marginalized people that I have come into contact with, but they are so full of life, joy, and love.  The beautiful people that make up this community truly demonstrate that one’s value is not in material wealth.  God truly has the ability to keep and sustain people even in the midst of challenging life-circumstances and societal injustices.

 

            There continues to be important lessons that I am learning through this experience.  One lesson that I have learned and continue to be learning is that His grace is truly sufficient.  I am continually blown away at how He works and moves when I get out of the way and surrender to His will.  I have been in many situations that should and previously have made me uncomfortable and at times even fearful, yet some of those same situations I have felt His peace and presence in a way that truly does surpass all understanding.   One of the situations that continues to stand out in my mind is when we went with Pastor Ezekiel to the university as he preached on loss and bereavement.  There were over 1,000 people at this engagement and even more in an over-flow room.  We prepared to speak and share our testimonies during this occasion.  I normally do not like to speak in front of groups of people (even small groups), yet as I prayed, planned, and prepared to submit to His will and the assignment at hand I had a peace that is indescribable.  This was a lesson that did not need to be learned during the assignment, but took place during the quiet time spent with God in preparation for what He was going to do. 

            God's grace can best be experienced when we are willing to submit to His will and trust in His grace, peace and love to prevail regardless of the situation.  God is moving in miraculous ways and I am grateful to be a part of what He is already doing.

 

Greetings from Kenya

I will not be able to fully explain all that God is/has been doing throughout the first week here.  The peace that I have cannot be explained in mere words.  God is certainly at work and I am thankful to be a part of what He is already doing.   I have been blessed with so many new experiences.  We started language school, met with the head master and teachers at the school where we will be working, fellowshipped with a young adult Bible study group, and experienced Sunday morning worship at Ridgeways Baptist Church, just to name a few.  There have been many lessons as well as challenges and I am thankful for both.

 

1 John 3:17 (NIV) states: “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion- how can God’s love be in that person?”  What does it mean to ‘live well’?  My understanding of what it means to ‘live well’ is definitely changing with each experience that I have here.   My first lesson in determining the difference between need and want and developing a better understanding of what it means to ‘live well’ came immediately after getting off the plane in Nairobi.  After watching everyone else’s luggage come and go we realized that our luggage was not in Nairobi with us.   It would take a few days for our luggage to arrive and we had only what was in our carry-on.  It was here that we realized that we had more than enough.  We had a change of clothes, soap, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.  We learned to wash our clothes out in the sink and keep it moving.  If the truth is told, we had more in our carry-ons than many of the natives have as their life possessions. 

 

We also have had many cross-cultural experiences.  I would not have ever imagined how challenging a trip to the grocery store could be.  There were so many factors that played into this cross-cultural experience.   First of all, we did not know what foods we liked and which ones would not sit well with us, we had to try to convert shillings to dollars so we had an idea of how much we were spending, and we were unfamiliar with the lay-out of the store and what was ‘safe’ to eat and what was not.   In the midst of our shopping experience the electricity went out in the store. (This is common in Kenya.   Electricity is a want and not a need….. It has been out several times this week, both at home and in public places.)   A trip that would normally take us less than twenty minutes in the States took over three hours here. 

 

The fellowship with the ladies from Ridgeways was amazing.  It was interesting to watch Kenyan’s interact with each other and with us in such a natural manner.  Their testimonies, choices of conversation and their personal relationship and devotion to God blew me away.     They have over-come obstacles that many of us could not fathom and persevere with resilience and determination in a manner that would be uncommon at best in the States.  These ladies are wise beyond their years and it was apparent that God is working in their lives.

 

The collective experiences of the week have certainly stretched me in many ways and are working to reshape my worldview.   I am thankful to be able to see a glimpse of how God is working in this culture.   I am just starting to understand the importance of not putting God in a box.  God is so much bigger than our minds can begin to fathom. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenya Bound!

The time has come....  I cannot believe that after over a year and a half of prayer, planning, and non-stop talking about Kenya, the time has come to actually go.  I want to thank all of you who have supported me in any way.  I cannot express how grateful I am for all of your prayers, love, support, hugs, and financial contributions.  All of you have made a tremendous impact and have contributed in meaningful ways throughout this process.  I cannot tell you how many times God used each of you to encourage me at just the right time.  Many of you will never truly know how God used you to bless me throughout this process.  A dear friend often says, “Everything counts and everything matters.”  It is so true.  Everything does count and everything does matter.  Thank you for being such an intricate part of my life and journey.

 

This process has been filled with many blessings, as well as challenges.  I am thankful for both as it all has worked together to strengthen my faith in God and has helped me to trust Him more. With only five days before departure, I am filled with many emotions.  The dominant emotion is that of excitement. I am excited to see, feel, and experience God's presence in ways that I have yet to experience.  I pray that God will truly use me as a vessel so others may come to know Him for themselves and they too will be able to see and experience His presence in new ways.  It is my prayer that God will remove my desires, my will, and my plans so that I will be sensitive to hear His will, His desires, and His plan.   I pray that I will go as a servant leader and remember that I have as much to learn from the people in Kenya as they can learn from me.  I pray that authentic relationships will be formed and true ministry will take place.  I pray that lives will be changed and transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Essentially, I pray that we will see God be God and do what only He can do.

 

I can honestly say that I have no idea what God has in store for the next two months, but I am confident that He will move in big ways and we will see miracles that we cannot even fathom right now.  I ask that you continue to pray for me, Nakisha (the missionary that I will be traveling with), Rev. Crawley and Rev Pass (our host missionaries) and all those that we will come in contact with throughout this journey.  I have listed below some prayer request, but I ask that you continually keep us covered and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you as I cannot predict all of our specific needs throughout the duration of the summer.  Thank you in advance for your prayers and continued love and support.  May God Bless you abundantly.  Love you!

 

Some prayer requests:

-Traveling mercies/ Safety/ Protection/ Favor

-Heightened discernment and sensitivity to the voice of God

-Wisdom and understanding

-Forming Authentic relationships with the people in Kenya (I pray we will see/understand Kenyan people and their culture through their eyes, not through the eyes of an American.)

-I pray that our eyes will be open to what God is doing and opportunities that we are presented with.

-Peace and comfort for family and friends in America (I pray they will experience the peace of God and be able to trust Him as we travel to a foreign land and will have limited contact with most of them.)

-Smooth transitions

-Protection from dangers seen and unseen (spiritual warfare)

-The Park Church youth mission team that will be coming in July