Kakamega and Bungoma, Western Province of Kenya

In Western Kenya our team split up into pairs to stay with families for a week. We lived in mud huts with them, ate with them, and shared life together. It was a stretching week, but also a lot of fun. During the day, each team would go out to different churches and orphanages to share the Gospel and to serve in various ways. 

Each morning our team would play with the children at the churches for the Early Childhood Development programs that the churches have. Then, we would plant trees for the churches to provide shade, lumber for building houses, and fruit to eat. This is Alec and Pastor Ben planting a tree in front of the church. 

Me and Corbitt planting a tree 

During the afternoons our team had the opportunity to go from home to home to pray for people in the neighborhood. We prayed for healing over families, sicknesses, invited people to church, while encouraging and sharing the Gospel with them. The Holy Spirit was evident in his leading. 

The kids love to eat sugar cane.

Our team in the matatu...our van for the week.

Pretty farmland covered with clouds.

The Swahili song we sang for the church (: 

 

Melap, my Kenyan mom for the week, and our dinner (:

This is the Wanyama family. We stayed with them in their house for the week. They were so hospitable, generous and kind! We learned so much from them. We were delighted to share life and the love of Christ with them. Laughter was abundant throughout the whole week as we shared stories, meals, and life together. 

Our team

At Rehema Orphanage

Eunice! Reunited at last. I met Eunice back in 2010, and it was such a fun surprise to see her again this year at Rehema again. 

Melap and Lawrence, my family for the week. So thankful! 

Pastor Ben

Swinging and having fun with the kids at the orphanage.

God's beauty displayed over the Nile...Crazy to think that it was once all blood! 

Me and Lexi on the "boda boda" (motorcycle)

Mt. Suswa, Masaai Land.

Between camp sessions there is a 3 week break where our team is given the amazing opportunity to serve in different parts of rural Kenya. This year we were blessed to spend 4 days with the Masaai tribe at the foot of Mount Suswa in the Great Rift Valley. The Masaai are very traditional people- they are cow herders, minimalists, and are known for being strong warriors. They live very different lifestyles than we do as Americans...But we all learned so much during our time in the Valley.

 Our Covenant Group on the way to the Great Rift Valley

 ACU Grads, 2010. 

 

During the week our team served by working on the road leading to Mount Suswa for the Masaai Conservancy. We moved rocks, filled in pot-holes, dug up more rocks, and got stronger as we worked. haha (: We were happy to help as this community desires to build a road to the mountain for tourists to come visit, get exposure to their culture, and to create some revenue for the people living in the crater of the mountain. There is a beautiful campsite that we camped in, that when the road is finished will be open to the public for many people to come and visit the Masaai people. 

During the week, we camped in tents outside a church. Pastor Jackson hosted us- their church cooked for us, and blessed us by sharing life with us during the week. This is Pastor Jackson's wife, Esther. She is a kind friend, a beautiful woman and an incredibly hard worker. They have three children who are adorable! Pastor Jackson leads a church near Mount Suswa, and is a great example to me in the way he trusts God with everything, is joyful, thankful, and generous in every situation. God is using him to share the Gospel to many people in the Valley. His church has planted a large number of other churches throughout the region to reach many people. Pastor Jackson disciples these other pastors. 

 

When we were not doing road work, we got to play with the kids in the community after school. We played soccer, sang songs, made lots of new friends, and were able to learn some of their language which is called Ki-Masaai.

The soccer game ended with an intense shoot-out! haha 

 

 Me, Andrew, and Lindsay

The last night, we were so excited to stay on top of the mountain! This was our beautiful campsite!! We all woke up at 5:30 the next morning to hike to the top of the mountain. It was an incredible experience.

 Here's our team!

View from the top of Mt. Suswa

 

O Lord, our Lord, 

How majestic is your name in all the earth!

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise, 

because of your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. 

When I consider your heavens, 

the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,

 which you have set in place, 

what is man that you are mindful of him, 

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor. 

You made him ruler over the works of your hands

you put everything under his feet: 

all flocks and herds, and the beast of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord, 

How majestic is your name in all the earth! 

 Psalm 8