Kenya Days 3 and 4

So for the first day or two in Kenya, I couldn’t believe how short a time we’d been here. We’d have a day absolutely full of experiences and think to ourselves, “we’ve not even been here 24 hours yet.” I think it was simply our minds and hearts adjusting to the radically different culture and conditions here.

But yesterday I noticed quite a change in my thoughts. We’ve settled into a nice routine where we teach seminars through the morning and afternoon, then take a rest and go to the crusade in the afternoon, coming home in the evening. It is quite exhausting and deeply fulfilling to participate in all these experiences. So I was at the crusade last night with the intense feeling of “I want to go home.” I don’t mean my home in Colorado which I will certainly want to go to when the time comes, but I mean Fred and Alice’s home. Fred, Alice, John, Karina, Riva, and their unbelievably hard working and gracious house helpers Ruth, Bette and Salame. These friends and their place have become our home and some of our best times are reflecting on an intense day of ministry and learning from each other.


So a couple of highlights and observations from the past two days:

We’ve always suspected that Fred and Alice are unique among all people we know, but seeing them in their own culture, the deep respect people have for them and seeing how much they have done here already is an absolute testimony to the power of God working through highly skilled and passionate people. They are somehow pastors, business people, leaders, team builders and international collaborators. In any topic I teach with the local pastors, I find myself pointing to Fred as an example and they are all nodding, as they know this man is a giant.

I think we’ve also seen the power of hope in the midst of despair. The poverty and struggle here is on such an exponentially larger scale than anything we deal with in the western world, but joy and hope is palpable here. I have seen it strongest when people are worshipping – singing and dancing with sheer abandon. When I walk into to meet with the pastors for leader training, I find them all walking around the church, praying and chanting to God and its deeply moving to witness and I'm glad to remind these men of all the things they are teaching us while we are here.

Our team is outstanding and I’m thankful to God every day for each of them. On Thursday Jacquie and Kim shared their testimony at the crusade. Jacquie made sure that everyone knew she was a university graduate - a not so subtle message to women and their men. Kim brought the children forward and spoke God's love to them and then spoke to their parents and she was surrounded by a mob for the rest of the night. Last night Kelly and Lisa shared about their own journeys and the very noisy crowd grew completely silent as they shared. I was very proud of our team, especially those who had never done such a thing before. Aside from that, just watching our folks bond deeply with people, play with kids, and encourage, encourage, encourage – its an awesome thing to witness.

On a fun note, Lisa and Kelly had Nancy style their hair - photo evidence provided!

The seminars are a real hit. Mike, Kelly and Jacquie are teaching computer and business skills and are working on a plan to help Fred and Alice oversee an ebay business where they can sell their hand made items to western countries. Jacquie has also been doing double duty working with some kids on computers and crafts. Kim and Lisa spent another day with the students, then a day doing some teacher training and I’ve stayed with the pastors and we’ve had an absolute blast and found much in common. I was asked yesterday “how do you get people to church on time” and I laughed at the commonality. Most of our time has been on much deeper issues and we have had so much fun talking through some leadership and planning tools and talking about deep heart issues that are common to all pastors. (how can I be sure of my calling? How do I help people change? How much of my own struggle do I share? Having fun and resting makes me feel guilty, how do I leave my troubles so I don’t burden my wife etc.) Most of these pastors have been pastoring their church for 2 years or less.

Today, day 5, our ladies are hosting a seminar for women and there is a lot of excitement among our ladies and the ladies in the community. Mike is going to teach our pastors some computer skills and I’ll be helping him, then we’re off to the safe house and I’ve promised to hypnotize a chicken while I’m there. Tonight is the final night of the crusade and then another full day tomorrow! We’ll catch up later – thanks for your prayers and thoughts!