Kenya Recap...take 2

As I mentioned in the previous post, my mom and I worked with Pastor Alfred and his church the entire first week. In the mornings we would go in the villages near the church evangelizing. This was definitely somewhat out of my comfort zone at first. Being in the middle of the bush in Africa, walking up to perfect strangers at their homes (huts) to tell them about Jesus was something I never imagined myself doing. In America you could get shot for that so needless to say, I was amazed at the reaction we got from almost every person we met. Nearly every single person was eager to hear what we had to say. They would immediately start running from hut to hut so they could bring chairs (or tree stumps) for us to sit on. We met quite a bit of people who were already Christians, which was so encouraging. Almost everyone we met who wasn't already a Christian were saved! It was such a humbling experience. I am ashamed at my lack of boldness to tell people here, even people I know well, about Jesus. So why would God want to use me to spread His Word in the bush of Kenya? Turns out that Scripture in Matthew 28 that tells us to "make disciples of all nations" actually applies to EVERYONE ;) This was the last command Jesus gave his followers before he left the earth. And it wasn't a request, it was and is a command. I hope and pray that my experiences of evangelizing in Kenya will encourage me to be better at fulfilling this command from Jesus.



Several of us from our team bought the book Radical before we left so we could read and talk about it on the trip. Reading that book while in Kenya could not have been better timing. I encourage every Christian to read that book. I will tell you that it is not a "feel good" book but please don't let that keep you from it. The author can seem a little extreme at times, but for the most part I think he is right on with what we have done with Christianity. He talks a lot about God's call for us to "make disciples of all nations". While not everyone is called to move over seas and become a missionary, we are all clearly called to have a part in spreading God's word from here to the ends of the earth.

In the afternoons, children from all around the villages near Jericho Baptist would come to the church. We sang songs, played games and told Bible stories. They amaze me. Children as young as 3 years old would sit on the bench, quietly, and listen to us for an hour straight. The kids are all so well behaved and so easily entertained. We brought bubbles one day and I think it was the first time most of them had ever seen them before. They laughed and chased bubbles until we ran out and you would have thought it was Christmas in America. And even the older children were not too cool for bubbles. I love how simple they live and how happy they are with what they have. There are no TVs, no video games, no computers. No spoiled brats! They play with what they find in the bush-sticks, rocks, grasshoppers, dirt, you name it. While we were waiting for more children to come one day, I gave them paper and pens to draw. Again, it was like Christmas. Paper and pens people. It's that simple with these precious children. And they even take turns on their own-imagine that!