My Date to Kenya

Wow, did God bless me beyond my wildest imagination during my recent 10 days in the land that’s stolen my heart! The whole time, I felt like I was on an incredible date with Him– I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so loved and romanced by God. My trip was filled with countless moments when my eyes filled with tears of joy at the extravagant, intimate love of our amazing God. The tears started as I arrived at KipKaren (hopefully my summer home next year) to the welcome of singing and hugs from the countless people I’ve come to love there. The tears continued as I learned upon arrival that I was going to get to stay there for five days instead of the originally planned one. And the tears of joy continued to grace my face as the 96 orphans in our Children’s Home attacked me with hugs and laughter saying how much they had missed me. The joyfilled tears formed as I woke up in my hut each morning and realized where I was, and as I worshipped and danced with my Kenyan friends.

What a treat my 5 days in the village were. For the first time, I got to live life in the village not as part of a team with a schedule to follow every day, but simply as a member of the community, as family. I helped cook with the kitchen staff, visited and prayed with people in their homes, worked in the gardens with the six-month students, assisted the home-based-care team at our huge AIDS campaign, and enjoyed fellowship as I helped with laundry and dishes.

Our team from Bayside (18 of us total) had a lot of other great experiences throughout the trip including worshipping at a Mossai Church and serving at a second-chance high-school, but my highlight and greatest gift was definitely the 5 days I spent with my “family” in KipKaren. Thank you for that date Jesus! I will forever treasure every moment of laughter, worship, dance, prayer, and life that you blessed me with there!

Meet Patrick

I was so inspired and challenged by the students I met in ELI’s six-month training program. Patrick is one of them and I pray his story inspires you too.
Patrick comes from an extremely poor area 9 hours from our training center. He was praying and fasting for 3 days, asking God for a way to bring hope to the dying people in his community. The next day, a visitor to his village told him about our 6-month program. Patrick knew this was God’s answer. He started our program and is so eager to learn as many ideas as possible to bring back to his people. He is going home for Christmas break and told me, “There will be no time for resting during my break. I must share with as many people as possible to help them start feeding their families.”
One morning I asked Patrick how he had slept that night and found out that he hadn’t slept at all. Instead, he had been praying all night for each person in his community, that God would use him to bring hope to their lives. Wow!May I learn to love and pray like Patrick!

Memories to Treasure

My Summer Home for 2006! I think I found out where the Garden of Eden was!
Dancing with the Home Based Care Team at the AIDS Campaign. So fun!


Meal Time: What a gift to eat all our meals in Pastor David Tarus’ home (the director of our training center) with his family and the other 25 people he has taken in. Some of them orphans, some relatives in need, others struggling community members—all are welcomed into his home as family. So as a family we cooked dinner, ate our meals, drank chai, sang worship songs, and prayed together. Living life as the body of Christ!

The AIDS campaign: ELI’s Home-based Care Team held a huge 2-day AIDS campaign in a highly infected and ignored village. Over 100 people were tested and counseled, and many people gave their lives to the Lord for the first time! Plus, everyone had a blast at the soccer and volleyball tournaments and 10K run. My favorite part though was getting pushed onto the “stage” with the Kenyan band to join the dancing and singing. them.

Cooking: One of my favorite parts of the day was going into the tiny, smoky kitchen to “help” Jen make dinner for everyone. I will forever treasure the memory of sitting in that dark room, smoke burning my eyes, listening to the Kenyan radio, watching Jen hold a whole chicken by its feet to roast it over the fire, and enjoying sweet fellowship and laughter. Such simplicity, such love, such joy, and such friendship graced that room.