Jambo Y'all

This blog post is written by Beth Hartt

After spending what seems like an eternity traveling by plane and van from Atlanta to London to Nairobi to Chuka, Sunday brought our first full day as missionaries.  We spent the morning in worship with Humphrey Kanga and his lovely wife, Helen, at their home church in Chuka.  What a blessing it was to worship with fellow believers in another part of the world!  Our elders sat at the front of the church with their Kenyan counterparts, our team sang a song to the congregation in Swahili and in English, we shared communion with our Kenyan brothers and sisters in Christ, and Dr. Tim preached a good word with Humphrey translating in Swahili.  Although the three hour service stretched our ability to sit still, all of us were moved by the deep, abiding faith and fervor of the Kenyans.  Perhaps the most moving part of the service for many of us was the offering.  If you don’t have money for the offering, you bring your firstfruits – sugar cane, papayas, bananas, beans, milk from their cow in an empty oil jug, eggs from their chicken.  Then an auction is held and members of the congregation bid on the items with the proceeds going to the offering plate.  It was amazing to witness people giving generously from their meager means, not because they had to or it was expected of them, but because they want to give God glory and thanks.  To witness this sort of selfless giving, the kind of giving God desires of all of us, was breathtaking .

After church, we headed to Chuka where our gracious hosts fed us a delicious lunch.  Then the fun began!  The afternoon was spent doing a VBS with the children, including a story, decorating their pencil bags, and playing games outside.  I can honestly say there wasn’t one team member who didn’t have a huge smile on their face the whole time!  This was what we came for, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say it did not disappoint.

I could write a tome on just this first day of our actual mission work.  Sharing worship this morning with our Kenyan brothers and sisters in Christ was incredible.  Beyond incredible.  There aren’t sufficient words.  The part that struck me most was the unabandoned praise and prayer.  I watched a deacon sitting in front of me drop to his knees on the hard floor in prayer to his Savior.  I want that kind of relationship with my Savior, the kind of where you don’t care who’s watching and what they may think because your love for the Lord is so deep and so wide that nothing else matters.  The Old Testament lesson today was from Ezekiel 36.  “And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”  Lord, please use this mission trip to create a heart of flesh in me, in my teammates, in the people we meet, and everyone else who might be touched by our work here.  Bwana Asifewe!

A sponsor update - Timothy, Nessie and Martin received their sponsor gifts today.  Nessie and Martin have limited English, but through a translator and loving arms, they understood  the gift of love they received from their sponsors a world away.  Timothy’s English has improved quite a bit and was able to read his letters, and express gratitude and appreciation for his sponsor family.