Friday, August 28, 2009

We are home once again. We are waiting for our minds and bodies to reconnect to the right time zones and are slowly reintroducing rich American food to our systems. The last several days of the trip we were unable to update the blog as we were travelling and in areas that had no online connections. So here is a summary of the last days:

Massai Baptisms
Felix, Deni, and Darlene drove out to Engikaret with Emmanuel from the YWAM base to pick up those Massai that were ready to participate in the first baptisms in the village. Between a small van, a very old jeep, and a feed truck we transported 17 Massai women and young women to a small church that allowed us to use their outside baptism tank. Once we arrived, the women were eager to check out the tank - with about 8 inches of murky water.

A local pastor taught on the meaning of baptism and the importance of the day. I (Deni) gave my testimony regarding my own baptism at the age of 16. Felix gave a blessing to the group. The women gathered around the tank and began to sing Massai songs as Deni and a local Bishop stepped into the 8 inches of murky water and began to baptism women who have NEVER sat in a any depth of water, NEVER had their faces under water, and NEVER seen a baptism performed. It was so awesome to be apart of these firsts. Each women stepped into the water in their ceremonial dresses and beaded jewelry - beautiful reflections of young Christians trusting in their new relationship with God.

This is only the first of many more baptisms to come. The men will follow in time. God is moving amoung this group of people.

Love Feast
Our last night on the YWAM base, we had a Love Feast: great food (everyone pitched in help), signing, laughing, and opportunities for to give appreciation. The YWAM team thanked Bob and Linda Gist for their many weeks of serving on the base, the CTK Team was thanked and prayed over, the base children performed for us, Felix and Deni washed the feet of John and Jacinta for their ministry on the base and then everyone hugged and sang as good-byes were said. Wonderful way to end our time there.

Drive to Nairobi, Kenya
Long. Dusty. Bumpy. One flat tire (only to put a spare on that was missing a hulk of tread). And in the midst of all of this the team stayed happy along the way. We stopped just inside of Kenya at at tourist rest stop. Some of the team ate a lunch, while others did a little more shopping. Tom made friends with one of the local storekeepers. Finding out that he was a Christian and looking for an English Bible - Tom gave him is Bible. The look of delight in the eyes of this young man will stay in our minds forever. As we left he was sitting on the ground thumbing through his new NIV Bible with a huge smile on this face.

Kibera Slums - Kenya
Inside Niarobi is a ten-square mile nieghborhood of shacks made of tin sheets, mud and dung. Over one-million people live here. 70% of those people are children. No running water, open sewage, crowded pathways between "homes", laundry hanging, hundreds of dirty children running the roads yelling out: "How are you. How are you." to the Mzungus (foriegners) walking through their roads. These are images that will stick with us forever.

With our guides and missionaries, Thomas and Beatrice Omolo, we made our way through the neighborhood to the Savior King Academy. It is here that some 200 plus children receive one meal a day, schooling and wonderfully solid teaching about Jesus Christ.

These children sang for us, greeted us warmly with smiles and were eager to play, do crafts and just sit with us. About half of the team went to visit several homes to hear the stories from single mothers, two parent families, and widows that are doing their best keep a family while living on nothing. Heartbreaking. At first we wanted to throw money at the issues - but quickly realized that all the money we had would not fix these issues long term. It will be people like Thomas and Beatrice, the long term support of CTK, and reaching the children that will someday make a dent in these issues.

We were only there for about 8 hours. The memories will stay forever.

Casting Vision
After attending their church, Thomas and Beatrice took us to their home for a wonderful lunch. Later in the afternoon we drove out to their recently purchased 5-acres of land just outside the city. It is here that Thomas casted the vision of a future children's home, school and farm, and church. We walked the land with them and prayed over it. God has a plan - there will be a day when this land will hear the sounds of orphaned children laughing and singing praise to God.

The long flights home
It took about 2 days of flying and hanging around various airports to make it home. Everyone made it, all the luggage got here, and as we placed our feet on American soil again we realized that this trip was life-changing. There will be many days and weeks of sorting through feeling, memories and thousands of pictures. Decisions will be made about the future for some, for everyone we will look at life differently than we did 3 weeks ago.

Thanks to each of you for your prayers as we travelled and served some many people. Thanks to those of you who financially supported team members, covered for them while they were gone, and for listening to team members as they process this trip with you.

Pictures will continue to be added to this blogspot over the next several weeks - so keeping checking in.

God bless you. Maybe you will be on the next mission trip!