God spoke to me while I
was in Colombia about my trip to London and He specifically said I wasn't going
on vacation as He had other plans for me while I was there. While this message
filled me with excitement, my natural reaction was to find out more as I wanted
to be prepared for what He had in store for me during this trip. However, God
didn't say anything else and He had a reason behind it.
Three weeks before my trip to London my father
sends me a text message asking me if I would like to go to Kenya with my
grandfather to help get an orphanage started. As I read this text many thoughts
came to mind- was this was God was referring to when He spoke to me back in
Colombia? Do I even have the funds to support this trip? More and more
questions clouded my mind, so I text my dad back asking more logistical
questions as I was afraid I wouldn't get permission from work to take more time
off in addition to my trip to London. He responds back saying this trip would
take place during the days I had planned to be in London, but I would still
have a week to enjoy London. However, I decide to take a day to pray and get
confirmation from God that this was truly what He wanted for me. Later that
night I sit in my room and start praying, and after a few minutes, Papa says :
remember what I told you in Colombia? This is it. It was a clear yes and a
green light. I was excited but at the same time I was filled with uncertainty
because I wasn't sure what to expect, and it didn't help that God wasn't going
to provide any details as to what He wanted me for on this trip.
The day after confirming with my dad, I immediately went on preparation mode. I made phone calls to get all my shots done, visa done, and personal items done. The three weeks went by fairly quickly, but a week prior I dedicated it to fasting and preparing the most important part- my heart. I was in constant prayer and seeking after what He had for me in Kenya, but God was not willing to reveal much. However He did give me a verse that was going to be very important throughout this trip - Philippians 2:1-11. This verse was solely focused on humility and adopting a Christ-like attitude. I thought I was pretty humble, but maybe there was more work to be done in that area so I thanked God for this word and I flew to London the following day.
London was a blessing as I got to really experience other cultures at once, but since this specific blog is dedicated to my trip to Kenya, I will not be sharing details about London.
June 21st couldn't come any sooner! It was time to go to Kenya. All I knew about this trip was that I was going to be a part of a ministry that was starting an orphanage. We met up with a group of people at the Manchester airport and the first person I see is Desola as she greets me with a hug and a big smile, so I knew I was going to be right at home.
After a 10 hour flight and a four hour bumpy journey to Meru, we were finally at the orphanage. As soon as we entered the village, we were welcomed by a group of kids that followed us all the way to the orphanage. I believe this was their first time seeing a muzungu (this means white person in Swahili) so we had definitely sparked their curiosity. They were so excited to see new people and by the time we all got settled in the house, we already had a pretty big crowd of kids lined up by the wire fences that surrounded the orphanage.
The day after confirming with my dad, I immediately went on preparation mode. I made phone calls to get all my shots done, visa done, and personal items done. The three weeks went by fairly quickly, but a week prior I dedicated it to fasting and preparing the most important part- my heart. I was in constant prayer and seeking after what He had for me in Kenya, but God was not willing to reveal much. However He did give me a verse that was going to be very important throughout this trip - Philippians 2:1-11. This verse was solely focused on humility and adopting a Christ-like attitude. I thought I was pretty humble, but maybe there was more work to be done in that area so I thanked God for this word and I flew to London the following day.
London was a blessing as I got to really experience other cultures at once, but since this specific blog is dedicated to my trip to Kenya, I will not be sharing details about London.
June 21st couldn't come any sooner! It was time to go to Kenya. All I knew about this trip was that I was going to be a part of a ministry that was starting an orphanage. We met up with a group of people at the Manchester airport and the first person I see is Desola as she greets me with a hug and a big smile, so I knew I was going to be right at home.
After a 10 hour flight and a four hour bumpy journey to Meru, we were finally at the orphanage. As soon as we entered the village, we were welcomed by a group of kids that followed us all the way to the orphanage. I believe this was their first time seeing a muzungu (this means white person in Swahili) so we had definitely sparked their curiosity. They were so excited to see new people and by the time we all got settled in the house, we already had a pretty big crowd of kids lined up by the wire fences that surrounded the orphanage.
The first night in Meru we
got a taste of what the next two weeks were going to be like- cold water,
dealing with the electricity going on and off, and of course, lots of unusual
bugs. The first few days were quite challenging for me as I had to adjust to a
new routine and all these challenges, but even through these situations, God
was speaking to me. All these situations and this new routine was completely
out of my comfort zone for a reason- to allow the Holy Spirit to become my
comforter even through the smallest of challenge, and that’s exactly what I
did. When you allow the Holy Spirit to become your comforter, your every- day
life just seems to go much smoother and there is a peace that surrounds you
that I can’t really describe. Besides
this big revelation, I was also able to learn discipline during our 6 am
devotionals. Now, I am going to be very honest, I wasn’t too keen on getting up
at 6am every morning to do devotionals; however, besides learning about
discipline, I also learned how to see the word of God through everyone’s
perspective as we all had our turn to lead a devotional. Beginning the day
reading and meditating the word of God not only helped us in our spiritual
growth, but also it helped us become one. I don’t think our days would have
gone as well as they did, if it hadn't been for the devotionals we held daily,
so I am very thankful with Pasto Paul and Pastor Tasha for this.
The experiences we were a
part of during our two-week journey in Kenya will be in my heart forever. The
group of kids from the village slowly became a part of the family. My first
chance to win their little hearts was through candy! What kid doesn’t like candy,
right? Every afternoon I would go out and hand them out candy and try to hold a
conversation with them through signs and the few words I knew in Swahili. One
of our big agenda items during our time there was the crusade we were going to
hold in the orphanage and the main purpose was to let the people of Meru know
who Jesus really is. We went out and invited neighbors, kids from the village,
people from town, and just about anyone we crossed paths with to let them know
about this crusade. The big day came, and the first people to arrive were the
kids from the village- my little friends. They all came in their best outfits
ready to worship and learn more about Jesus. As the time went by on the day of
the crusade, some of the adults we had invited arrived, but the crowd was
mostly all the kids. As I worshiped and watched these kids worship, God
reminded me of the verse Matthew 18:3-4 that says” I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like
little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who
becomes as humble as this little child is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”. The
kingdom is for anyone who becomes like a child, so I became like one of them.
We had such a great time, that even when the crusade was over, we continued to
worship with the kids.
Getting to know each of
these kids was a blessing, but it was also heartbreaking listening to all the
stories. I will try to talk about all the ones I know, so I am going to make this blog into parts.
Junior is a 3 year old boy
who lives in the village with both of his parents. His mom works around the
farm and does all the hard labor while his dad gets drunk because he most
likely can’t get the ideal office job that everyone in Kenya would want. Junior
gets beaten by his drunken dad quite often, and because this is all he knows,
Junior also displays some sort of violence when he is with the kids if he doesn’t
get his way. While this is the reality for Junior, this is also the reality for
most kids who live in poverty. Mothers are responsible for bringing some sort of
income, dads don’t really work because they don’t have an education to get them
the office job, so that leaves the siblings caring for each other and adopting
the parent roles. To make matters worse, the kids who are part of this
unfortunate reality don’t get the proper nutrition they deserve. Most of them
eat a cup of tea a day because their parents rather sell the food they can
harvest and get some money out it.Another story that really broke my heart was the story of a man who approached us because he wanted us to take his kids in the orphanage. I believe he is a single dad who barely makes ends meet, and because of this, he can’t care for his kids. He attempted to poison them 3 times because he couldn’t handle the responsibility of appropriately caring for them, but even after all those attempts, the kids have lived. God definitely has a big purpose for them and I can’t wait to see these kids grow to serve His kingdom. These are two of the many stories we heard about these kids. The population of orphans will continue to spike mostly due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the other because of poverty and lack of understanding how to use resources.
Stay tuned for the other stories!!
God bless!
Andrea
