Be Not Overwhelmed...the LORD Answers Prayers.

Yesterday I was at the Children's Home (the orphanage) helping out with our Sunday School service and I noticed that Chella (my baby girl) and her sisters (my other sweet girls: Sharon, Phillis, Abigal, and Silvia) were no where to be found. It's very unusual for them to miss church so I began praying for these 5 sisters ...my mind started wondering if they were okay/healthy/did their parents not let them come?...etc. One of my baby-class students from Cheptigit named Vivan was there so I spent time loving on her.

Around noon I went inside the girls' dorm and laid down. I got my ipod and began to listen to a Passion 2012 session by Christine Caine. It was only a 26 minute session but it was a great one. It was a convicting one. As I laid there on this back-breaking/wooden-board bed listening to what the Lord had to say through Christine....I began to pray and pray and pray for more opportunities to make Him known. To share His love with the people I live among here in Kaptagat...that they too will come to know Christ and to experience the power of His might, His salvation, His love, and His comfort. That they too will know the Truth.

You see, here in Kenya the mission field is challenging in this way: Almost everyone here has heard of God. Most of them have heard about Jesus. Everyone calls themselves Christians..but they have never really heard/understood the Gospel. If I were to ask a Kenyan (alot of them..not all) how they became a Christ follower...they would tell me because they were born in a "Christian" famiy. If I were to ask a Kenyan to share their testimony with me...they wouldn't know what to say (again, alot...but not all).

After I finished listening to the session and praying...I got up from the bed and went outside. I began walking towards the playground and these two sisters come up to me and say, "Come to our home". There I was...in shock. A million thoughts went through my head. Lord, you answered my prayer. You have given me an opportunity to go to these kids' homes and meet their parents and share Christ with them.

So I began walking down the dirt road with all these little hands all over me. Two children on each hand. One girl playing with my hair behind me. I began to talk to them with the kidogo (little) ki-swahili I know. I asked them if they knew where Sharon's/Chella's house was, they took me to their house (it was a nice typical Kenyan mudhouse). I walked over to my girls and asked them why they didn't go to church today and that they were missed. One of the girls that invited me to her house (her name is Elisabeth) translated my question to Sharon. Sharon said that they couldn't go to church because they didn't have clean clothes. My eye began to water a little. I hugged them all...as they wore their dirty little dresses. I told them that it doesnt matter whether we have clean clothes or not. That they are always welcome at my home no matter what they wear. I made Sharon promise me that they would go to church each Sunday regardless of clean clothes or not. I told then I would be back...that I was going over to Elisabeth's and her sister Gladys' (they also have the cutest little brother names Sammy) house and as soon as I was done I would walk back.

So I got to Elisabeth's house and her mom comes and greets me. They sat me down in their little wooden family room (which was the size of a small bed room back in America) and the kids began to show me picture from a photo album. Peneni (the mother's name) insisted that I would stay and eat lunch with them. They had ugali for lunch...and I cannot swallow ugali..so Peneni treated me to an orange Fanta and come milk cookies. She was so welcoming and loving. She was a hard worker too. Her husband works in Town (Eldoret). He leaves in the morning and comes back home in the evening. She is a stay at home mom. I had never heard or seen of such a family that has both parents in the picture, the man provides and comes home to his family, and the mother stays at home with her children. As Peneni and I began to get to know eachother there in her living room, I noticed that she had alot of Scripture around her house. I asked her if she knew about Jesus. And she replied, "Yes, I know Jesus. He is my personal Savior." Her answer brought so much joy to my heart. I had never heard someone say it with all the hope and joy that she said it with. I got to share how I had been praying to Him for more opportunities to love on people in our community and how her daughters were an answer to that prayer. At the end of my visit I had asked her if she had any prayer requests. She brought all the kids inside the house and had them sing a couple of songs for me. Then we all got in a circle and she began to tell me her prayer requests. (requests like: praying for some family and friends that don't know the Lord, and for her two older kids that are away in boarding schools, for Gladys who has a cough...etc). The kids told me their prayer requests as well (to pray the sick and for those who were in the hospital). I began to thank God for allowing me to be there with them at their home. That He would bless Peneni and her household. That He would continue to provide in the great and mighty ways that He has provided for them. For the Lost. For the sick and poor. For the people in our community. For the Church. That He would be exacted among the nations. For sweet little Gladys and her cough.

I had to go back to the Children's Home in time to eat a late lunch (yes, it was gidairy=maze and beans). Peneni walked with me half way. As I walked with them I see this little girl walking across this field...it was my Chella. She was all nice and clean. She had washed her body, put on somewhat clean clothes, and had valon (this cream kenyans use) all over her body. She had walked all the way to where I was to be with me. I picked her up and carried her in my arms and we said kuahari & twonani (goodbye & see you later) and gave my thanks to Peneni. Elisabeth, Sammy, and Gladys continued to walk with me. We stopped by my girls' house again and got to take Phillis and Abigale back to the Children's Home with me. Along the way I noticed that Phillis had some weird liquid running down her left ear. I wasn't sure if it was an infection or not. We finally got the Children's Home and I fed them lunch and gave them some clean water to drink. I got one of my older boys (Roy) to translate for me and to ask her if her ear hurts. Phillis nodded yes. I got some first-aid stuff and cleaned out Phillis' ear.

Please pray that Phillis' ear would get better. That it wouldn't be something too serious.

Please pray for the Church here in Kenya. We have started this Bible study on Saturday afternoon in local AIC (African Inland Church) here in Kaptagat. Pray for the people here..that He would draw them near. Pray for the kids. Pray for us. Always pray and never lose hear.


Love you and miss you all!

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.


"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."-Hebrews 10:23-25.