Encouragement

As some of you know, mission trips can be exhausting. It's easy to miss the familiar sounds of home and friends when you realize they're located halfway around the world, approximately 8000 miles below your feet. And it's super easy to doubt why you're there, what you're doing, if it's right, or if it's making any difference at all. It can be easy to succumb to discouragement, especially when communication with the other side of the world is completely cut off. But, lucky for me, a little into the trip when discouragement really set in, I had help.

First, one of my bestest friends, Casey (hi Casey!), made me a little picture book with pictures of all my Santa Clara friends (including one of Cyrus, ha ha) and encouraging notes from them. It was great to see all them, remember their love for and belief in me, and read all their encouragement. It literally turned my week around to have that. So thanks so much everyone!

Then later in the week, I was reading along in Jeremiah, trying to diligently pay attention, but I kept wondering whether the talk I had given the day before at Seminar Day was the right thing to say (see blog about Seminar Day). Though it was neat that Eric and I had independently chosen messages that went together, I was still feeling discouraged. As I was pondering all this, I read:"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands..."

I read this and thought to myself, "Oh, here! This will tell me what I should be proclaiming and affirming in distant places, to all the nations. Whatever it is, maybe that's what I should be saying." So I read on and it said: "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: 'He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.'" -Jer 31:10

I was so surprised to find that what I had talked about, that God is our good shepherd, was what this said. It was a small thing that I found very encouraging. It's cool how, though God asks us to live by faith and believe in his leading, he takes care of us, helps us, and knows what we can handle and when we could use just a little nudge of encouragement.

The Good Shepherd

While I was in Nicaragua in the spring, I had one of those vivid dreams I get from malaria pills. In it, I was on a Core retreat and had 3 hours to plan a talk. So, in this dream, I planned a full talk with main points, illustrations, the works. It was about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

At the time, I also was planning for this trip to Kenya. The leaders had told us we would have a Seminar day where we did a bunch of teaching, and I was asked to prepare one of two talks to give the youth. As I thought about it, all I could think to do was this talk about the Good Shepherd from my dream. I figured it was as good a thing as anything to teach, so I decided to go with it.

Later, I found out that Erik, who was giving the other youth talk, had also chosen to talk about the Good Shepherd, but from a different text (he did Psalm 23, I did John 10). God's pretty cool like that. So, months later, I gave that talk on a Kenyan hillside to girls I would end up building fairly close relationships with. I told them about how Jesus was my shepherd, leading my life, and had led me to them.

I told them about how he lays down his life for the sheep, heals and provides for them, and gathers them all together like he had done there with Kenyans and Americans. As I spoke, some of them really connected, looking surprised, excited, or concerned at different parts of illustrations or stories about my life. As I spoke, I realized the truth of what I was saying as well, more profoundly than I ever had before. Jesus really is a great leader of the world and of my life. That week, I also was able to hear from the girls some of their stories, struggles, and how Jesus was leading them. I'll post some of that soon.

Water from Rock

The Kilgoris Project has been working on a well at one of the schools for a while now. While we were preparing for our trip to Kenya, the team prayed that the project would get a drilling permit without cooperating with corruption and bribery. After a few weeks of praying and waiting, it was finally granted. They drilled and drilled and we prayed and prayed that they would hit water. Yet, after digging down more than 200 meters, they still had not struck water.

But, they then realized that even though they had not hit water at the bottom, this now 200 meter deep rock tank started to just fill with water every night. We essentially now had a giant cistern with enough water everyday for the school.

So, on Sunday, our last day, we all went and christened the well as the Kenyans sang songs about how God doesn't change and he can give us water. It was quite the modern day example of the Old Testament stories of God providing water for his people out of rock.

Here's the awesome video Jon made about it:

New Well at Ntimigom from Jon McCormack on Vimeo.

Parables

Most of our days in Kilgoris were spent going to the different schools, greeting them, and doing various programing. I was involved in youth/teen ministry. So, each day, we gathered all the kids and told a parable, did a craft, played Kenyan games with them, and just hung out.

One thing that really stood out to me was how relevant the parables were to their culture. It's one thing to take about a shepherd going to get a lost sheep in Silicon valley. It's another to tell it to kids who actually are shepherds, all gathered on a green hillside with sheep wandering in the background. It makes so much more sense.

We told and acted out the stories of the lost sheep, coin, and son - which they thought was pretty funny. But, as designed, the stories also communicated the heart God has for lost people and for each person, and we were able to bond over that as well.

Here's a video taken of us telling and acting out the parable of the lost sheep.

We Treat, Jesus Heals

This is the sign for the hospital in Kilgoris. We found their motto to be true on our trip, in our work, as well.

The first day, one little girl hung out next to me for several hours. Her head was covering in boil-like eruptions. I didn't know what was wrong with her, so I just prayed and prayed that Jesus would heal her. As I did, I got the sense that he really cared for her, but her head still looked the same.

Later that day I saw one of the women from our team who is a nurse looking at this girl with one of the Kenyan women. She told us that they had figured out that the little girl had a very advanced case of ringworm, so they had treated her for it. 

We went back to the same place on our last day. The girl ran up to me in her Sunday dress and her head looked completely different. There was not an open wound on it, just a few places where you could see it had healed over. It was so exciting to see our presence and small ability to pray and treat bring about a big change for one girl God cares about so much and who I had also come to love and cherish.

Welcome to Kenya

Kenyans are probably the most welcoming people I have ever met. Everywhere we went, people were not only happy to see us but pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome. They prepared all the food they could, gave us the best chairs or shady patches of grass, and said again and again, "You are most welcome, please feel completely at home."

On our very first day we drove up to Ntimigom school and were greeted at the road by 200 singing children. The teachers told us that since the kids couldn't really grasp time measurements well, they asked when we were coming every day before that.



After lots of singing and walking up the hill holding hands with every child that could get next to us, we sat down and listened to school teachers, board members, chiefs, ex-chiefs, and other politicians welcome us and thanks us for coming. They were so happy we had come all that way to meet and spend time with them.

They also brought out their young dance team that had just placed at a regional competition. Here's the video of them dancing for us.

At just about every school or place we went to, groups of Maasai dancers and singers performed for us to show us their culture and make us feel welcome. A school even showed up in our backyard one day to sing for us.

All of their warm welcomes, warm food, and performances made it clear they were happy to see us and it did in fact make me feel completely at home in their beautiful land.

The Summons

This morning, about to head off to the airport, I was praying and one of my favorite Catholic songs popped into my head. I haven't heard it or thought of it in a long time, but it was just what I needed to help with that standing-at-the-top-of-the-waterfall nervousness. The song is called The Summons. Lyrics and a video of what it sounds like are below. I found the first verse especially poignant. In it God asks, "Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?"

Also, this will probably be my last post until I return, as I don't think we have internet. So keep praying for us, that we will be able to follow the summons and love, teach, play, and learn well. I'll post all about the trip when we get back.





The Summons

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.