Grace and her roommate in Kenya, Lauren

BWANA ASIFIWE!

This is the way many Kenyans start speaking to a group of people.  Meaning, “Praise the Lord”.  And there truly are so many reasons to praise Him!

A couple months ago I was writing a letter to many of you in anticipation for a month long journey to Kenya.  I had little to no expectations, and barely had any idea of what I would be doing.  Well, that month of my life is behind me now.  It’s crazy to think about, and hard to believe, but it’s true… I did that anticipated month, and it did change my life….forever!

In my last letter, I wrote about how God changed my life in an instant when He drew me to Himself in salvation. He continues to change me, little-by-little, as the years go on.

Well, He changed my life again on my month-long endeavor to East Africa.  

It’s hard to know even where to begin in writing an “update” or “recap”.  There are so many aspects of this mission that written words could not even capture.  But, here I go, attempting to put it into words (which, mind you, is not my strong suit!).  Basically, I am going to share exactly what’s on my heart and see where it takes us…

Because I know there any many people who like numbers, I will start there. The entire team that went to East Africa consisted of about 50 people and 4 teams. There were two teams that stayed in Kenya (including my team) and then 1 team went to Uganda and 1 team went to Tanzania. Our first and last weeks were spent in Nairobi all together.  In about 3-1/2 weeks we were able to speak to over 43,000 high schoolers and over 9,000 of them indicated to receive Christ! Bwana Asifiwe!  We worked with Kenyan staff and volunteers who are continuing on with follow up and discipleship with those students!

What we did to get into the student’s lives, was go to their high schools, and do a program. We did the same program for every school, except for when we had to cut things out because of time.  Let’s just say Kenyan time and American time are very different.  We learned to be flexible, or “flex” as we called it. The program consisted of talks and skits having to do with academics, relationships (with authority and opposite sex), and drugs, alcohol, and negative media.  We then, of course, shared the Gospel and a student’s testimony!  At the end of the Gospel presentation we would pray and allow the students to pray with us to receive Christ. When the program was over, we would have one on one time with the students. (sometimes, more like one on 30 time!)  This was my favorite part.  I so enjoyed speaking with the students and seeing their lives change in front of my eyes.  And, of course, see God use all of our own personal lives to effect theirs.

As many of you know, our good family friend, Laurie Anderson, passed away at the end of June, which was only a few days after I got to Kenya. It was, and still is, one of the hardest things I have ever experienced. The way God used that in my life and others lives while I was there was incredible.  From Him giving me peace about staying there, to being able to add aspects of the situation to my personal testimony that I shared in front of the students, to God giving me the strength to make it day-to-day, and having an incredible support system of the body of Christ.  Students were coming and asking questions that I could better answer because of what I was going through.   God was being everything I needed Him to be.

Someone asked me recently if Laurie’s dying while I was in Kenya affected my trip.  It certainly did, in an unexplainable, but understandable way. I know death is not something that we like to talk about but it was/is such an important part of what God did/is doing in my life.  There are so many stories that I would be happy to tell to you personally, but just share the fact that God showed up in my life in ways I would have otherwise never experienced.  He showed up over and over again to be the exact Person I needed.  He was my love, my joy, my strength.  My everything.  He showed me His faithfulness in unbelievable ways, and I am thankful.

I fell in love with not only people, but also a part of the world.  Who knew my heart could get stolen so quickly?!  I know some of you followed me on instagram or facebook while I was gone and saw some of my updates and photos, and that’s a glimpse of the impact the people and the country had on me. I really did have unexplainable love for every person I came across.  And by unexplainable, I mean solely and completely from the Lord.  His love is incredible, beyond my comprehension, but it certainly is not beyond Him to freely give it to us to give others.  And I experienced that!  As I look back on the places we went and the people we saw, I see how dirty things are in comparison to our life styles, how dirty and sick the kids were that we loved on.  But I didn’t even notice at the time!  All I wanted to do was hug and kiss those kids with snot running down their faces and mud forever stained on their bodies and clothes.  I wanted to give them the love and affection they so deeply craved.  I didn’t see dirtiness or a “lesser” people; I saw something that I loved so deeply that I knew it could only be Christ’s love.

Not that there weren’t times of pain, and heartbreak, and hurt.  Not that there weren’t difficult times on this project. There definitely were.  But God was there for those times too. He placed me with an incredible team that lived out Romans 12, and a roommate that I couldn’t be more thankful for (that sadly lives in Ohio. Our whole team is scattered around the U.S.).  The Kenyan staff and volunteers we worked with also captured my heart in a moment and I will miss them continuously until the next time I get to see them!

God did a great work during my month is Kenya, and is continuing to do a great work there…and here.  He is so faithful.  I want to encourage each one of you in that.  Never doubt His power. Never grow tired of doing good.  God will show up, He will be what you need.  We need only to be still and allow Him to use us!

I eagerly await the next time I get to go back to Kenya, and maybe other parts of East Africa, but until then, it is forever in my heart. Kenya is now a part of me, and I thank God for that!  I thank Him, too, for those of you who gave to and prayed for my life-changing month in Kenya!

All my love,

Grace