Together, we are Empowering Lives!

“Together, we are Empowering Lives, and this is the month of fellowship and teamwork!” These were the words I chanted with our staff this morning at the end of our meeting. We huddled up, swung our arms together, yelled our chant, and then cheered as we each high fived everyone in the room. I sat amazed as I looked around at the incredible team God has placed me in. These thirty Kenyans and two Americans have become such a real family to me in 3 ½ short weeks. And what a team we make! Every person plays their role and serves with all their heart. Truly, there is no way we could keep up with all God is doing here without each team member serving with the passion and sacrifice that they do.

Let me tell you a bit about ministry here. It’s pretty out of control. I knew that God was doing great things through ELI before this summer, but I had no idea the magnitude of what goes on here each day and week.

First of all, there are the major trainings and retreats that we host. Last week we held a five day retreat for 40 of the alumni who have gone through our 6-month training program. The alumni came for a week of leadership training, follow-up, special skill training, fellowship, and spiritual development. The day after they left, 20 pastors in our Pastor Empowerment Program arrived for a similar 4 day conference. During all of this, we also had a short-term team from William Jessup University living and serving with us. The day after William Jessup and the pastors left, a team from Life Bible Fellowship Church arrived. They left this morning, and a few hours later, a group of 8 women caught up in the commercial sex industry arrived for their three-day retreat. This is a group of 8 women who would like to leave their jobs of prostitution, but don’t have any other way to feed their children right now. This is all they know. We have been meeting with them once a week to build relationships and to see how we can encourage and empower them to leave this line of work. We are excited to have them here for the next three days to share Christ with them, get them dreaming a bit, re-instill value into them, and give them some ideas and skills to find new work. Right after these women leave, we have a church coming for a week of Home-Based-Care and AIDS training. These church members will learn about AIDS, how to educate their community, how to bring testing and counseling to their village, and how to care for those who are infected in their area. These trainings are extremely powerful as we equip the church to move out to the front lines to fight this deadly disease, the fear and shame associated with it, and to care for those dying in their villages.

And the list goes on and on with these retreats and trainings. The Training Center is always full of people getting empowered, trained, and taught the word of God. But this is only a part of our ministry. While these trainings are going on, let me tell you what else is happening simultaneously.

First, there’s the Children’s Home that will soon be home to 96 orphans. Construction will be completed in two weeks and on June 20th, we will start bringing in our first children. Our social worker has been going through the cases of the children who have applied and has been making sure we have all the needed paperwork (death certificates for both parents, etc). Today the house parents are going out to meet their children for the first time. Even though the children won’t move in for another 2 weeks, the parents are meeting them and getting their pictures and stories so that we can begin to find sponsors in America for each child.

Then, there’s the Home-Based-Care ministry. Every day is packed for this team of 8 people. Mondays are providing AIDS education, testing, and counseling in a new village. Tuesdays are sharing at a school in the morning, and then training other communities and churches in Home-Based-Care in the afternoon. Wednesdays are educating in more schools. Thursdays are providing testing and counseling at a local church. Fridays are taking the positive patients to the clinic for their treatment, and then delivering food to all the patients’ homes. Saturdays and Sundays are often either AIDS Campaigns or follow-up at churches where we have done the training. And, free-time each day is spent visiting the sick in their homes and providing physical, emotional, and spiritual love and care to these “untouchables” rejected by their communities.

Then, there’s the unexpected ministry that God brings our way each day. Yesterday, it was a woman in labor who desperately needed a ride to the health clinic. A few days ago, it was a mom with her dying baby knocking on our doors at 2:00 am needing to get to the hospital. We drove her the hour to the hospital, but it was too late, and the baby died the next day (her fourth child to die). Today, a staff member went to pay the hospital fees that the mom couldn’t afford in order to bring home the baby’s body for a proper burial. As our main driver went to the hospital, that left me to go and pick up the women working as prostitutes and to bring them here for their retreat. As Pastor Peter and I drove to get them, we came across a woman waiting for us to give her and her son a ride to the doctor in town. Her 10-year-old son is crippled with a disease that I’m guessing is polio or cerebral palsey. She had already carried him 5 miles to get to us, and had no way to get the remaining 30 miles to the doctor. Unfortunately, we had to pick up the other women who were waiting for us, so the best we could do was pay for a taxi to bring the mom and her son to town.

I’m telling you, the action never stops around here. The needs are so great, but it’s amazing to see God meeting those needs through this ministry. It’s exciting to watch the church actually be the church. And to watch the body of Christ actually serve as the body of Christ. For truly, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a body imitate the actions of Christ so clearly. When I look at Christ, I see a man who healed the sick, fed the hungry, made disciples, preached the good news to the poor, ate with sinners, loved and re-directed prostitutes, touched the untouchables, cared for the orphans, and let the world truly experience the love of God. This is this Kingdom of God. And this is the Kingdom that I watch people experience each day in this village. Oh God, may your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Continue to establish your Kingdom here.

Thanks for all your love and prayers!

Mungu Akubariki,
Kierra

p.s. I attached some pictures for you. The first is this incredible place that I am living. The second is some of our 6-month alumni working to put a puzzle together for the first time. They loved this!!! No one had ever seen a puzzle before, and then we debriefed about teamwork, leadership, and learning. The third picture is Pastor Peter and I. We are partners in crime together as we host these American teams that come. Together Peter and I coordinate their time, debrief with them each night, etc. I am so blessed to have this amazing disciple as my partner. I learn so much from him every day!

Some pictures

Eating dinner at Pastor Peter's house. What a blessed night of fellowship, eating together, worship, dancing, and prayer. Oh how I love this family!

Eating in Pastor Peter's home. Little Vivian fell asleep in my arms. Lala salama Vivian.

Holding newborn Solomon on a home visit to a recovering alcoholic.

Holy Moments

Today was a holy day. I think that God intended all days to be holy days, but somehow I usually miss the holiness of them. I miss the sacredness of the moments that fill them. But not today. Today my heart was touched by all the divine moments that came my way. It started at 5:45am as God woke me up way before my alarm was to go off, and beckoned me to meet Him in His word. I then went for a 2 mile run with my friend Juli, and many other friends who joined us on the way. Our first “joinee” was Daniel, a professional runner in the community who was doing his “cool down” with us. As we ran, he had questions for us about the passage from last night’s bible-study. “What does Jesus mean when He says that man does not live by bread alone,” Daniel wanted to know. We discussed the passage and the fact that physical food does not fill all our hungers. We can have all the physical food we need, but our hearts and souls will still be hungry. Daniel got it. During the final leg of our run, we were accompanied by ten laughing children on their way to school. What a blessing.

Juli and I then proceeded to her hut for our morning time of prayer together. This morning was especially sweet as we sat in silence in the presence of the Almighty God. No words came to our mouths this morning- the Spirit simply led us into a time of listening and stillness before His throne. Truly it was a precious 45 minutes of “being still and knowing that He is God.” At breakfast, we had a special guest. Though his name is David Kibet, I know that truly, it was Jesus in our midst, dining at the table with us. David is a walking miracle; a testimony of God’s might and faithfulness. David should have died two years ago. He was dying in bed from AIDS when one of Juli found him. At 6 foot 2, and weighing only 100 pounds, he could not even lift his hand to greet someone. But as he explains, then Jesus came to him through his friend Juli. Jesus loved him, still believed there was hope for his life, took him in the car to a clinic, got him on treatment, and has restored his life. As we worshiped with David this morning and listened to his testimony, I knew I was looking into the eyes of Jesus. For this is what Jesus means in Matthew 25 where he says that when we visit the sick, we are really visiting Him. I sat blown away by the goodness of God as I looked at this man who has received his life back. He now is on the retroviral drugs and is feeling healthy and strong. He is able to work in his garden and provide for his family. He is currently helping with the construction of our new Children’s Home and is helping to give hope to children in need. But most of all, he now radiates the joy of the Lord. He continually speaks of the goodness of God, and I can see new hope shining out of his eyes.

After the morning devotion, I had the honor of visiting a woman named Esther in her home. The 3 mile walk led me to a tiny, musty hut with a frail, yet smiling woman inside. Esther couldn’t contain her joy at having visitors. HIV positive, abandoned by her husband, and rejected by society, it is a rare treat for Esther to have company. She shared her heartbreaking journey with us, as well as her hope and trust in God. He’s all she has- the only One who hasn’t forsaken her. She asked if we could sing her favorite song with her. One line in it says that though my father and mother may forsake me, my God will never leave me. She has felt the love of God first-hand through our Home-Based-Care Team, and she praises Him for His faithfulness to her. After sharing some scripture and praying for her, we continued on our journey to visit another family in need of love and prayer.

Returning to the training center for lunch, I again found myself eating in the presence of Christ as he dwells in the “least of these.” One visitor was Dina with her baby Daniel. Both mother and son are HIV positive, and today Daniel is also suffering from Malaria. They came for help and medicine today. To add to the complications, Dina is half blind, and her husband is an abusive alcoholic. Our other visitor was Timon. Timon is also dying of AIDS and is on his last stretch. We don’t know how long he has left. A stroke from 6 years ago has left him paralyzed on the right side of his body and unable to really communicate. For now, all we can do is to love him, pray for him, and stay at his side throughout this painful process of death. Today we brought him to the training center to provide a little company and joy in his week. Timon loves to hear singing and so after lunch, Juli decided to find some people to sing with him for a bit. I tell you, that was a holy hour. I watched as the body of Christ came together to truly be the body of Christ to this sick and dying man. All of the ELI staff dropped what they were doing to join the choir. Gardeners, cooks, pastors, the housecleaners, and teachers left their tasks to sing and bring the presence of God into that dining hall. Truly, what a sweet aroma went up to heaven during that time.

Tears filled my eyes later that afternoon as Betty shared her story with the team during our debrief time. Another HIV positive woman, Betty met God as she lay dying alone on her dirt floor. She knew that there must be a God out there, and she cried out to Him asking Him to restore her life if there was still work she could do for Him. He spared her and she has come to know Him and His love through our ministry. Shunned by everyone else in the world, Betty found acceptance for the first time among our staff, and actually began to feel like a human being again. Now she knows that God has a purpose for her and she spends her time visiting and encouraging the sick, speaking openly about her status to break the stigma that accompanies it, educating people about AIDS, and testing and counseling others. When I asked how we could pray for her, she answered, “I just want more of God. I want so much of Him in my heart. May there always be more and more room for Him in me. I don’t need anything else. I’ve had the things of this world, but they don’t mean anything to me anymore. Just pray for more and more of God in me.” Wow, thank you Jesus for examples like this lady. I knew at that moment that I was sitting in the presence of one the “greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” She may be the least on this earth- but this child of God is surely going to be among the greatest in Heaven.

The day ended with some holy moments of pure joy. After dinner, we got out the music, and had a blast laughing and dancing for an hour. We did the “picky picky” dance, learned the electric slide Kenyan style, and learned the jumping dance of the Dinka tribe from Sudan. Amidst the sadness and reality of life here, it’s a blessing to have these needed times of laughter and fun. I know God was laughing with us as we danced together.

But nothing from the day compared with the final hour of worship. We are having a Pastor’s Conference here for the next four days, and tonight was the first session. Wow, I have never heard worship like this. These 15 pastors sang with such passion and strength. Acapella worship and heartfelt prayers filled the room. What devotion, what love, what passion, what worship!. The King of Kings was seated on His throne and received the glory due His name.

Thank you Jesus for these moments. Continue to open my eyes to all the other sacred moments you want me to experience. Open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you.

Only in Kenya...

My goodness, I love this place. And I love all the daily experiences that cause me to think, “Wow, only in Kenya.” Let me share my two favorite examples of this from the past few days.

First of all, only in Kenya would the taxi seatbelt eat through your skirt. Let me explain. My friend Juli (another ELI staffer) and I took a matatu (Kenyan taxi) down to Nairobi on Monday to pick up the team that was arriving. We were chatting away during the drive when all of a sudden, I looked down at my brown skirt and realized that the top of it was turning bright pink. “Juli, my skirt is changing colors!” I exclaimed. We both started cracking up at the random occurrence. Neither of us could figure out why my skirt was turning pink. The other 12 people in the matatu found the whole situation quite amusing as well. We thought it might be from my seatbelt, but when we looked at it, there was nothing on it, and it definitely wasn’t pink. Juli decided to test it anyway. She rubbed the seatbelt on a lower part of my skirt that was still brown, and sure enough, that section turned pink. Now we were really laughing. She tried the seatbelt on her skirt (which was red), and to our delight, it turned BLUE! Both of us were crying because we were laughing so hard. Our skirts were already ruined, so we decided to decorate them all over so at least the bright pink and blue would be distributed evenly throughout them and look like part of the design. We became quite the fashion designers and created some very interesting tie-die skirts.

We arrived in Nairobi and began to attend to the errands we needed to run there. We had been walking around for about a half and hour when I realized that I needed to turn my skirt back around. (I had put the back in the front so that I could decorate the back of it). Now I realized that I had never switched it back to the right direction. As I turned the skirt around, to my horror, I found two huge holes in what I had been wearing as the “back” of my skirt. Whatever had dyed my skirt, had now completely eaten through it!!! And these weren’t small holes- this was like all of Nairobi had been seeing large sections of my underwear as I had been walking around for the past 30 minutes. “Julie, my skirt!” I yelled. When she saw the holes, she almost fell on the ground she was laughing so hard! Now neither of us could stop the tears because we were laughing so uncontrollably. The worst part was that her friend Bernanrd then arrived to greet us, and I had to cover myself with one hand, and try to greet him with the other hand, all while trying to suppress my laughter enough to actually be able to talk. Praise the Lord that Juli had an extra skirt with her and I was finally able to change out of my very inappropriate one. I don’t know what was on that seatbelt- it must have been some type of bleach or battery acid. But wow, did it provide for an eventful day!! I must say that I think this is one of the strangest and funniest things that has ever happened to me. Only in Kenya…

Second, only in Kenya would the lights go out in the middle of a seminar, resulting in spontaneous worship in the pitch dark. We were holding a night meeting for the 30 Kenyan alumni students from our 6-month training program. Our director, David Tarus, was speaking about AIDS and the testing that would be offered in the morning, when our solar energy ran out and the lights went out. The room was completely dark- much darker than the dark of America where there always seems to still be some type of light source shining some light into the room. The room erupted into the most beautiful, accapella worship ever. What a sacred time of heartfelt worship in the stillness and darkness of the night. The staff eventually got a generator started and the lights came back on, but I will forever treasure those 5-10 minutes of worship in the dark. When the lights resumed, David told us all, “You know, it’s no problem if the lights go off. This just gives us another opportunity to praise God. We get to be like Paul and Silas in the dark dungeon.” It’s moments and lessons like these that I praise God for every day. Only in Kenya… There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now.