It's been a whirlwind over here. Joel and I got married April 15 and then honeymooned for a week in Jamaica; and two weeks later I left with a medical team for Kenya. After two weeks of recovering from travel and sickness I'm back in business.
And my first order of business is to tell you about our trip to Kenya!
Our team was made up of nursing students from the University of Alabama, four high energy and high spirited New Yorkers, and a few others from Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. We were a motley crew.
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| Our team outside the hotel |
1. The National Partners
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| Catherine is second from the right. |
As a part of e3 Partner's strategy in Lunga-Lunga, we partner with local pastors and missionaries. The team of nationals working in Lunga-Lunga and the surrounding areas is amazing. These men and women have dedicated their lives to share the Gospel with the lost in Kenya.
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| Me and Anne with Alfa our Kenyan strategy leader. |
Catherine and I went to the village together one the first day and it was surreal to talk with her about church planting and missions strategies. I know that's strange, but it gets me excited to hear that Catherine is learning the exact same strategies I've been learning in the States. We are both learning how to share the Gospel with Muslims and how to reach the unreached of the world with the Gospel!
As we talked, I was reminded how self possessed I can be...let me explain. I assume all of these cool mission strategies and tools come out of America, because I'm from here...doesn't everything good and cool come from MY country? BIG FAT NO. I KNOW this in my head, but so often my heart forgets.
When I learned Catherine is learning the same things as I am in another country across the world, well that humbled AND excited me. God is doing an amazing work in this area. He is sending workers to come and claim His people for His glory and His honor.
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| Daniel, Simon, Body, D, Hassan and Skyler - men of God! |
2. The Rain
We came to Lunga-Lunga in the rainy season and we were ready for it!
We spent almost every evening packing medicines and vitamins for patients. And because of the rain, evenings were also spent shouting over the downpour that pounded on the tin roof of our hotel. There is nothing like a good power outage and minor flooding to bond a team together.
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| Playing at the school next to our purple bus! |
It actually rained so much that we were unable to get to Lunga-Lunga on our second day of clinic. My co-leader Alfa, called a local pastor and asked if he would be open to host our medical team at their Christian school...he said come on! We drove through unpaved, flooded, dirt roads to get to the Christian school and church to set up clinic.
The surrounding villages had no idea we were coming, BUT we spread the word and within a few hours over 400 people were at the clinic doors. The rain might have kept us from Lunga-Lunga, but God had other plans for the day.
Every child in every classroom at the school heard the Gospel from our team that day. The head master of the school reported to us that 90% of the students are from Muslim families. Seeds were planted and lives were changed.
3. The Bridge and the Purple Bus
The rain stopped half way through the week, which meant we were able to get back across the flooded bridge into Lunga-Lunga.
We had an amazing day of clinic and played with tons of children. A small team went into the village again to share the Gospel and invite people to the clinic.
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| The 'waiting' room tent for the clinic. |
At the end of a long day, we loaded up our huge purple bus with almost 40 people plus equipment and set off towards our hotel.
About half way to the bridge crossing, we get a call -- the bridge had collapsed as a result of the rains earlier in the week. My co-leader and I looked at each other and said, "The bridge we drove over this morning? That one? That bridge collapsed?" Okay. Well, praise God no one was hurt and praise God we were not on the bridge when it collapsed.
As a result, we would have to take the long way around to get back to our hotel.
The actual time it would take to get back was unknown, because our driver only knew part of the route. We picked up someone in one of the villages who was kind enough to ride along and show us the way through the hilly and pot holed filled dirt roads.
About two hours in to the trek a few of us in the front of the bus noticed the gas light had come on.
Now, you might know, but just incase you don't -- there are NOT a lot of gas stations in the middle of the African bush. There are a few in town, but no so much outside of town.
We just started to pray.
And the gas light stayed on for 15-minutes.
And 15-minutes, became 30-minutes, and that became 45-minutes.
And it started getting dark and people started getting hungry.
Even after a 'bathroom' stop the bus just kept going.
And we kept praying.
After almost three total hours on the backroads we made it to the main road! The gas light had been on for 45-minutes.
We were still rolling.
We made it to a gas station at about the one-hour mark.
Now I can for sure push filling up my car at home, but there is no way I could go for an hour.
God did a miracle. A literal loaves and fishes miracle.
After we got gas, we just looked at each other and laughed, because what in the world! God knew we'd have that detour and he provided a miraculous way for us to get home.
So needless to say God was present and did some remarkable things in Lunga-Lunga. One of which was multiplying our gas to get us through the bush in the middle of the night!
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| The line for suckers was long! |
It was an honor to serve in Lunga-Lunga and I will not forget the faces of the people there nor will I forget all God did among the Digo people.
Please pray for all of the national workers who are giving their lives to these people in Kenya. Remember the Digo people and ask that many would come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.
all my love. until next time.
caroline
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