Drifting In & Out

So I and my stuff all managed to get back home safely. Praise the Lord! I was even welcomed by a lovely group including my family and some of my good high school/church friends, which was really nice.

Right off the bat, it was a good experience coming home. Thankfully my family and friends understood that I would want (and even need) to tell them a lot about the summer, and more than just the "How was your summer? Did you see any animals?" kind of talking. As such, I was privileged to be able to talk to them for a few hours over dinner that night. Really wonderful!

Although it's been a good week, though, I really feel like I haven't had the time I need to really process what's happened or to try to integrate my experience with my life back at home. I've been so busy trying to catch up, trying to hang out with friends that will soon be going back to school, trying to prepare for the IV internship, that I haven't really had the luxury of time to think. As a result, I think that some things I'm just accepting out of habit, and other things I'm getting a little frustrated with out of hand. Nothing big, but it's weird to see people leave water running or have lights on in an empty room. Food is thrown away. People have short conversations that seem to avoid most of the substantial questions. It can be hard at times to not be a little jarred by the sudden differences again, but then I notice myself doing the same things as well. As we always said during the project, though, "It's not right or wrong, it's just different."

Next week I will be in Colorado for a staff retreat for InterVarsity, marking one of the first things I do as an IV intern! I get to go up with Hans Schenk and his family, who were all with me in Kenya, so this will be a really good time. (Hans is also the staff worker at UNM, so we'll be coworkers as well, yay!) It's crazy that this has all come up so quickly. Thankfully, I'm already just over 50% funding, which is the goal for allowing me to actually start my work on campus. However, in the coming weeks, I will need to raise the remaining 50%, about $7000. It's a hefty amount, but I trust that God wants me on campus at UNM, so He'll be providing that money somehow.

I know that I promised a kind of summer summary post, and that will be forthcoming. In fact, I'll try to get it out before I leave on Sunday. As of right now, I am posting my pictures on Facebook, but I don't have a way for all of you to see them readily. I'll try to post a few here, but there are far too many to put them all up in blog posts. I'll see what I can do, though.

Please continue to pray for the whole team as we deal with reentry into American culture and try to relate our experience this summer to those around us. I also need prayer as I prepare to start my internship in a few weeks, especially that I would have the necessary prayer and financial support. Also, please pray for the retreat next week. I'm hoping that it will be an opportunity for me to reflect a bit and also to prepare for the work ahead. Finally, thank God that I have such great support here at home, that everyone on the team was able to get back home safely, and that I have the pledges I need to at least start working at UNM.

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 1:4-6

Orientation Week Photos

The conference room of Watakatifu Wote Senta, where we stayed for orientation.

The team ready for a session.

Hanging out in the dining area one night.

Hans and his son Liam travel the road from the center to nearby Ngong town.

Ngong town, complete with a donkey searching for some food.

Finale

Kwaherini. Goodbye, everyone.

Wow, the final day. I've been in Kenya for almost 7 weeks now, and in just hours I'll be on a plane heading back to America. We've spent much of the last few days in reflection over the summer, reminiscing about the work we've done, the lessons we've learned, the things we've seen.... God has really been at work this summer!

The other important thing that we've been doing is preparing ourselves to share our stories with our families, friends, and churches as we return. I definitely want to let you all know firsthand what's been going on this summer! These blog posts really provide almost no idea of all that's been happening.

Preparing to return also means preparing to leave, though, and we are heavy-hearted as we realize that we won't see one another for a very long time. Yet, we are so thankful that God has gifted us with the opportunity to come to Kenya and to be transformed by our time here! What a blessing.

Finally, I would like to let you all know that I plan on sending out one last entry about Kenya once I get back. I'm going to be sending a letter to all my donors as kind of a summary of my time here in case some haven't been able to keep up with the blog, but you'll be able to read it here as well. This won't be the end of my blog, though. I plan on continuing to post here during my time on staff with InterVarsity at UNM as well, so please keep reading to know more about that work as well! Thank you all so much for your prayers and support while I've been on this project. I pray God will bless you all for supporting the work of His kingdom.

Please pray:

• For all of us as we prepare for our returns home. It will be especially important that we will be able to integrate our experiences here well with our normal lives and also that we will be effective in sharing with others.
• That our return flights will be safe and that all baggage and people will arrive at their respective locations.
• That I will be able to finish my fundraising for the IV internship well. Time to switch gears!

And praise:

• For the wonderful ways that we've seen God at work here both in us and through us.
• For the relationships developed while we've been here both with each other and with those we've ministered to.
• For all of you, my wonderful partners in this ministry, for answering God's call and providing me with the prayer and financial support I needed to be here. God bless you all!

See you in a few days!

"The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the LORD tests the heart."
- Proverbs 17:3

Culture Clash

Maji na bariki. The water is cold.

Well, this is it: the final week of the assignment. It's hard to believe, but in just a few days I'll be flying back to America and then home. This is a thing of mixed emotions for me and everyone else on the team. On the one hand, we'll finally be returning home, able to eat our own food, see our families and friends, sleep in our own beds, etc. But at the same time, we'll also be leaving life as we've known it for the whole summer. We've spent so much time together, shared so many wild and wonderful, life-changing experiences, come to see the world in a new way and be a part of what God is doing here, but we're leaving all that behind. It will be really hard.

To help us deal with all of these conflicting emotions we'll be experiencing, we've come to Mombasa, a coastal town off the Indian Ocean, to have some reentry training. Mombasa is very different from any of the other places we've visited in Kenya so far. In some areas, it looks almost like Beverly Hills in its extravagance. It is a tourist location, so there are people here from all over the world. It has a large Muslim influence. In many ways, it is more like America than any other place we've visited, and most of those ways are proving to be the hardest to deal with. For some people on the team, this reentry training and debriefing is proving to be the hardest part of the whole experience. It is hard to see water wasted when we've seen people who have to travel several kilometers to fill their small water jerkins. It is hard to see food in abundance when we've met children dying of malnutrition. It is hard to see houses with bedrooms larger than the entire homes of our pastors. It is a very different place, and it is the kind of culture that we'll be coming back home to.

Perhaps the most difficult part for me has been trying to understand the place of prosperity in my own life. Surely G0d promises us good things as a blessing, and it would be wrong of me to shy away from the blessings that He has placed in my own life, but how can I go back to having so much when I know that my resources can go to keeping people from starving to death or help build a church or keep kids off the streets? Where do I draw the line?

Another things that has been playing on the back of my mind is the realization that I will soon be leaving the people whom I've spent so much time around. Many of them I would now consider some of my best friends, but we'll be leaving one another and returning to different lives all with their own demands. I really hope that I can continue to have relationships with as many of them as possible, but God only knows who I'll ever see again or who I'll even be able to stay in contact with. It's a comfort to know that in the end, He knows best.

I'm glad I'll be home, though.

Please pray:

• For the team as we begin to deal with the problems of returning to American culture without either becoming frustrated with it or simply forgetting the lessons of Kenya.
• That we would enjoy our last few days together but will also be ready to return home.
• That the work we've done here will be permanent and not just temporary; that when we leave, our efforts will not have been in vain.

And praise:

• For the many wonderful lessons we've all learned here in Kenya.
• That the ministry continues even here - two of the hawkers on the beach decided to be born again!
• That my assignment area, Kimanju, has had two days of rain since I left, the most since March!
• That though we are leaving Kenya, God is not, and He'll continue to be with us as well.

"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
- Romans 8:28

Idolatry in the Modern World

Baraka za Mungu. God's blessings.

The last few days here have been mostly focused on exploring the teachings of different religions from those who follow them. The idea is that by really understanding what they believe, as they describe it, we will be more prepared to effectively communicate/witness to them, and hopefully be able to have some really practical training to bring back to America. (only about 2 more weeks - wow!)

We attended a Hari Krishna temple and a Hindu temple. While many people think that these religions are closely related, they are not exactly. One major difference is that Hari Krishna believe in one god with millions of different demigods to serve him, and they hold that their view of god is one that represents the true beliefs of all religions, superceding them since they have the most "complete" view. The Hindus, on the other hand, are incredibly polytheistic; they believe in millions of gods each representing a different aspect of creation and who require devoted worship in the form of sacrifices and personal holiness.

Both temples, however, were incredibly beautiful, and it really struck me just how much these people were willing to give in service to their god/gods. While we've seen so much desperate poverty in many places we've been, there we saw extravagant wealth used in the praise of so many false gods. It was really disheartening, and difficult for many of us as we experienced firsthand the kind of worship that is so often deplored in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.

Today we heard from some Muslims about their faith and went to an Islamic temple. It was a very interesting experience because, due to all of the animosity between many Muslims and Christians, the Muslims were very determined to let us know that they follow a peaceful faith and that exteremists are the exception (though it may also be a reflection of the particular sect we visited). I think we were much more comfortable overall with this experience because of the many similarities between some of the beliefs of Islam and Christianity, though there were also many glaring, irrecconcilable differences that we had to learn to discuss and learn about in love.

I am so glad that we've had such opportunities to learn more about these faiths and also to grow both in our own understanding of Christianity and in how to effectively dialog with people of other faiths. It is so easy to become confrontational as we are faced with the lies of other religions, especially in their misuse of the Bible in attempting to defend their faiths, but we are all stronger for it, and hearing straight from the sources has been a great priviledge.

The other major event of the week has been going back to the slum in Mathare Valley and helping with some work projects there. Among the activities were nursury care, a worship team, teaching children, making balloon animals, repainting the sanctuary of the church, giving free medical check-ups, and cleaning out about 200 meters of the sewage ditches that line the road. I helped with the children, which was good, though we had a little trouble getting them to pay attention for the message. Once they were released for free time, though, we were able to just hang out with them and play, and it was wonderful. I was throwing kids into the air and running around with them, having a really great time.

However, I saw that once I got tired, some of the kids would leave to go do other things, but some of them stuck around. They weren't just looking to get some kind of amusement park experience from me, but they really wanted to have a relationship. I think that sometimes that's how we as Christians, me especially, treat God sometimes. We have mountaintop experiences where it's so easy to feel close to God as He sweeps us away in His love, or even vally experiences where we cry out to Him and pray for strength or comfort or revelation, but it is the plains of life that are the problem. It is so easy to forget about God when we are just living life as normal, with no felt need to pray or praise Him. I didn't mention it earlier, but that was a bit of an issue for me on the ministry assignment; I would have down time, and rather than use it to pray or grow closer to God, I would just turn off for a while and let my mind wander. My prayer for you all is that you would stick close to God even when life is simply mundane, because He still has something to teach you then, and even more important, He still wants a relationship with you then.

Please pray:

• For the people all over the world following the faiths we learned about this week, especially in the ability of Christians to form good relationships with them and for God to reach out to them powerfully.
• That the work we've done in the Mathare slum will not simply be a one-day event, but have a real permanent change in that place.
• Again for the people of Musul/Kimanju/Ewaso, that they would be blessed by God and that His work would be done there.
  
• For those who have continued to get sick/stay sick. I think over half of the team has been sick at some point during this trip now, and even though I'm over the malaria I think, I now have a cold/cough.

And praise:

• That though many are sick, many are also getting better.
• For the work that people have been able to do on their ministry assignments (it's so great to hear the stories).
• That though we've seen a lot of darkness in the last week, we worship a God that is far greater than that and who we know will be able to shine light into even the greatest darkness.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it."
- John 1:5

Out of the Bush

Nimeokoka. I am saved.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been able to update.... I've been out in the Bush, away from pretty much any form of communication for the last 3 weeks. That part of the ministry is over now, though, and I've returned to Nairobi to spend the last 2 weeks doing various ministries and having a little "tourist" time. I have much to share from being in the mission field, but unfortunately my time is limited, so a short overview will have to do for now.

My Kenyan partner Ezekiel and I stayed with Pastor Samuel Ndung'u at a small town called Kimanju, which is in Maasai land away from most of Kenyan civilization. We also ministered at the towns of Musul and Ewaso, travelling the few kilometers to each via the Pastor's motorbike, which was a new experience for me. The area is very dry due to a prolonged drought, which has been a big struggle for the people, who generally survive off of their animals and have been unable to properly take care of them now. There are also many wild animals; we saw elephants on a number of occasions as well as some giraffes as we travelled back today. Also, due to the lack of water, we were only able to shower about once every 3 days, and we had to ration our drinking water as we travelled to different areas.

We experienced a variety of work with the Pastor and his family. He has been a missionary to the area for the past 8 years, so his work is both pastoral for the 3 churches under his jurisdiction as well as evangelistic. We helped with both sides of the work during our time.

There were several days where we evangelized by going house-to-house in an area witnessing to the people. Though many people live in the town centers, most live out in homesteads including up to 4 generations from a single family. Also, being a mission field, we encountered many people who said that they had heard about Jesus or the Gospel before but didn't know anything about it. We had numerous opportunities to witness to people simply by showing up (Kenyans love visitors) and sharing a simple Gospel message to them, asking if they would like to be saved. Praise God, we saw 10 conversions during our time!

For the pastoral work, we were involved in preparing and giving sermons all 3 of the Sundays. Ezekiel took the first week, then I took the other 2. We also gave some seminars on 2 occasions to help the churches understand some Biblical principles such as tithing or health. For many of them, it was the first time that they had heard anything about these subjects, so I really felt like we did a good thing by providing these lessons.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I really hope that I'll be able to stay in touch with the people there, and they're already saying that I need to come back sometime, hopefully with some family. ;-) The only downside really was that the last day, I became sick with what is probably Malaria. Thankfully, I seem to have had a very minor case and was able to get some medicine very quickly. Though I'm feeling almost completely better now, please keep me in your prayers that it won't become a problem. Also, please pray:

• For the people of the Kimanju/Musul/Ewaso area, that they would be blessed with rain soon.
• That the churches would be blessed and grow in numbers and maturity, and that their many needs (I'll be bringing back a thorough list) would be provided for.
• For the new Christians, that they would be able to connect with the church and begin a good walk with Christ.
• That I and the others who have become sick during the past few weeks - about 6 of us as far as I know - would get better soon and without much hindrance to the ministry.

And praise:

• That we were kept safe during the past few weeks during the assignment.
• For effective evangelism and other work during our time.
• For the hospitality of the Pastor, his great family, and all of the people we were able to meet.
• That I already seem to be getting better from my illness and that it came at a time that didn't disturb any of the ministry we had to do.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."
- Phillipians 2:14-15