This trip we had planned ahead of time for me to get to meet with the street boys for about half of the time I was here. We are two weeks into our trip today and I haven't met with the street boys once because for all of you who don't know, things never go as planned in Kenya. As frustrated as I was tonight I started thinking deeper about it and realized maybe that's what I wanted for this trip but that's not what GOD wanted for this trip. Maybe all along He had in mind that I would gather information, research, etc. about what it means to be a missionary and to actually run a home that houses orphan children. I've been to a couple of different homes now: the Nakuru Children's Remand Home, Okoa Mtoto (street boy holding facility), and a girls probation center. At each place I have been able to see what works and what doesn't work and unfortunately for one place nothing is really working. I have learned that for me success is not measured in the number of street boys that come through and leave but getting to see each boy change, grow up and be free from their former lifestyle.
Tomorrow I get to actually meet with a group of street boys, well if all goes as planned. Another obstacle that has been in the way that I forgot to mention is the Government just recently did a "clean up" of the streets and tried to get all of the street boys off of the streets which at first I thought was encouraging and later I realized where some of them have gone and it's not so great. Point being that it's been way harder to meet with them because many of them don't hang out in the town as much because they're afraid of getting caught. Hopefully tomorrow goes well and I get to meet with them again on this trip, but I'm giving it all to God now because it just doesn't work when I try and do it on my own.
P.S. Prayers are always appreciated because working with street boys is never easy and not always the safest work out there.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
We're back!
I know it's been a while since I have updated this blog, it's been so long that I completely forgot my password and other login information. Anyway, we're back and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for us while we are here. Every time I come here I realize more and more that this is the direction God has for my life, I don't know what it is about this place but something just pulls me closer.
Knowing that I feel called to be a missionary after college, Tom has decided that he would make me very busy while I am here so I can't wait to share with y'all what all I am doing! Here is a little taste of it: this next week I will be at the Virginia Children's Home every morning and then in the afternoon I will be spending it with the street boys of Nakuru seeking out ministry there, next Tuesday I have to have a thirty minute lesson prepared for a group of high school students, more encounters with the street boys that same week, a weekend prepared for the interns at the Virginia Home, and many other small tasks here and there. It is definitely a lot to take in and prepare for but I am very excited to be busy!
I'm jumping around quite a bit and this should probably have been posted first. But I am so happy we have arrived safely. We made it in late Wednesday night and had no problems going to bed, only problem was sleeping in. Maybe because of jet lag or maybe because of excitement. We got all of the "boring stuff" out of the way early Thursday morning (i.e. currency exchange, internet modems, blah blah blah) and then made our way to the delicious Art Caffé where I had this delicious BLT:
and then we continued on our journey and have made it here to Nakuru!
I'm very excited for this month I get to spend here and very excited to share with y'all the work God is doing here!
Lastly, I am awakened by this verse, "Be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." Hebrews 13:5. So, what more do we need?
Knowing that I feel called to be a missionary after college, Tom has decided that he would make me very busy while I am here so I can't wait to share with y'all what all I am doing! Here is a little taste of it: this next week I will be at the Virginia Children's Home every morning and then in the afternoon I will be spending it with the street boys of Nakuru seeking out ministry there, next Tuesday I have to have a thirty minute lesson prepared for a group of high school students, more encounters with the street boys that same week, a weekend prepared for the interns at the Virginia Home, and many other small tasks here and there. It is definitely a lot to take in and prepare for but I am very excited to be busy!
I'm jumping around quite a bit and this should probably have been posted first. But I am so happy we have arrived safely. We made it in late Wednesday night and had no problems going to bed, only problem was sleeping in. Maybe because of jet lag or maybe because of excitement. We got all of the "boring stuff" out of the way early Thursday morning (i.e. currency exchange, internet modems, blah blah blah) and then made our way to the delicious Art Caffé where I had this delicious BLT:
I'm very excited for this month I get to spend here and very excited to share with y'all the work God is doing here!
Lastly, I am awakened by this verse, "Be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." Hebrews 13:5. So, what more do we need?
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Coincidence?
Coincidence: A remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.
God is a sneaky guy, either that or we're just oblivious to some of His signs. I think the word, coincidence, is a very common excuse for Christianity. It seems to me that non-believers all think that whatever happens even if it is something so obvious as a billboard on the highway that reads "I am here -Jesus" that it is all just a coincidence. But I see it in a completely different way. I believe God has very clever ways of popping up and sometimes you can only see it if you're thinking about it.
Last night while sitting in bed I was thinking about how much I would really love to read a chapter out of 1 Timothy but unfortunately I had no lamp beside my bed and I decided that the next day (today) I would get a reading light. Well a while back my mom ordered me a lamp that I had completely forgotten about because it was several weeks ago when she ordered it and today it came in.
A lot of people, even Christians, would say that in this situation it is just a coincidence but if you ask me, God just wanted to let me know that He wants me to keep readin'. Moral to the story is, if you think God doesn't make His presence known in your life, maybe you're not looking for Him hard enough or maybe there's just a casual connection that you're missing but I promise you, He's there.
Coincidence? I think not.
God is a sneaky guy, either that or we're just oblivious to some of His signs. I think the word, coincidence, is a very common excuse for Christianity. It seems to me that non-believers all think that whatever happens even if it is something so obvious as a billboard on the highway that reads "I am here -Jesus" that it is all just a coincidence. But I see it in a completely different way. I believe God has very clever ways of popping up and sometimes you can only see it if you're thinking about it.
Last night while sitting in bed I was thinking about how much I would really love to read a chapter out of 1 Timothy but unfortunately I had no lamp beside my bed and I decided that the next day (today) I would get a reading light. Well a while back my mom ordered me a lamp that I had completely forgotten about because it was several weeks ago when she ordered it and today it came in.
A lot of people, even Christians, would say that in this situation it is just a coincidence but if you ask me, God just wanted to let me know that He wants me to keep readin'. Moral to the story is, if you think God doesn't make His presence known in your life, maybe you're not looking for Him hard enough or maybe there's just a casual connection that you're missing but I promise you, He's there.
Coincidence? I think not.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
It isn't easy
I've recently become obsessed with a show, thanks to netflix, called "Life Unexpected". It's about a girl who was born into this world by her teen parents, put up for adoption, raised in foster care, and then through a series of many different, not to mention odd, events, ends up with her parents where they begin their new life. Of course, I finished 2 seasons of the show in the span of a week. I can honestly say I'm not proud that I watched 26 episodes of a dramatic television show that only lasted 2 seasons but hey, life happens and I learned something through this show.
I learned that love isn't easy and it's never going to be easy, there will always be things that come up, stuff that happens, or harsh things that life decides to throw at you. For example, these two people, from the television show, who weren't expecting to be parents as they thought their daughter was going to be adopted into a good home, well life decided it would throw a pretty big obstacle their way. They got a daughter literally at their doorstep, not what you expect when you open the door, at my house it's usually a couple of packages from the UPS man who sadly enough knows my mom on a first name basis, can't imagine what she would do if some long lost daughter showed up at her door... Anyway, back to the point, they weren't expecting to get this daughter but when they did they didn't push her away instead they changed their life, they accepted the challenge and most of all they showed her love.
God has made His presence known in many aspects of my life, one being through my parents. I struggled for several years, struggled with who I was, who my friends were, and what my passion was. I thought my place in this world was actually a waste, as if I had nothing to offer. Life got hard and I fell right in to the devils trap, I made horrible decisions and I pushed away anyone and everyone who cared about me, including God. The thing that stands out the most though, is how my parents fought for me. They could've decided to give up on me and let my life go straight down the drain but they didn't. My parents fought for me, they cared so much about me that they sent me away because they knew I needed help. Through those years of hardships my parents never stopped loving me and looking back on it now, with a fresh attitude, Gods love was shown to me through them. I am blessed beyond belief to have parents who love me the way they do. They don't expect me to be some superstar athlete or some math genius, they just want me to try my hardest at what I'm passionate about and to follow my dreams so they can be there to support me all the way.
I hope and pray to God that I am half the parent to my kids as my parents are to me. Love isn't easy, God knows that. He puts up with our constant betrayal but He has a desire for us and more than anyone else He's backing us up 100% of the way.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23) Love doesn't get much better than that.
I learned that love isn't easy and it's never going to be easy, there will always be things that come up, stuff that happens, or harsh things that life decides to throw at you. For example, these two people, from the television show, who weren't expecting to be parents as they thought their daughter was going to be adopted into a good home, well life decided it would throw a pretty big obstacle their way. They got a daughter literally at their doorstep, not what you expect when you open the door, at my house it's usually a couple of packages from the UPS man who sadly enough knows my mom on a first name basis, can't imagine what she would do if some long lost daughter showed up at her door... Anyway, back to the point, they weren't expecting to get this daughter but when they did they didn't push her away instead they changed their life, they accepted the challenge and most of all they showed her love.
God has made His presence known in many aspects of my life, one being through my parents. I struggled for several years, struggled with who I was, who my friends were, and what my passion was. I thought my place in this world was actually a waste, as if I had nothing to offer. Life got hard and I fell right in to the devils trap, I made horrible decisions and I pushed away anyone and everyone who cared about me, including God. The thing that stands out the most though, is how my parents fought for me. They could've decided to give up on me and let my life go straight down the drain but they didn't. My parents fought for me, they cared so much about me that they sent me away because they knew I needed help. Through those years of hardships my parents never stopped loving me and looking back on it now, with a fresh attitude, Gods love was shown to me through them. I am blessed beyond belief to have parents who love me the way they do. They don't expect me to be some superstar athlete or some math genius, they just want me to try my hardest at what I'm passionate about and to follow my dreams so they can be there to support me all the way.
I hope and pray to God that I am half the parent to my kids as my parents are to me. Love isn't easy, God knows that. He puts up with our constant betrayal but He has a desire for us and more than anyone else He's backing us up 100% of the way.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23) Love doesn't get much better than that.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The Little Things
It's not a common thing where people go out of their way to be nice, unfortunate but true. As Christians aren't we called to go above the norm, to stand out and do something unexpected? Now I'm not here or making this post for any sort of recognition but yesterday as I was leaving the parking lot of my school there was a girl who was trying to get over in my lane, and for all who don't know, the traffic entering/leaving my school is always ridiculous. Knowing that it was going to make me wait even longer to exit the school, I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. Why not help someone out when you can? You might just make someones day.
I'm not saying that we should make it a complete inconvenience on ourselves but why not just be nice and help a person out when the opportunity presents itself. Romans 5:8 says this, " But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Christ died for us even though we pretty much slapped Him in the face with our sin and betrayal. Aren't we called to be imitators of Christ? Would Christ hold a grudge? Would Christ reject someone for their looks or actions? Would Christ purposefully hurt someone? The answer is no just in case you couldn't figure that one out. Christ wouldn't do any of those things. Christ loves us, with everything, He truthfully loves us and cares for us.
I just really feel that the nicer we are, the better we show our faith to others. Be different, and don't just hide in God's gift, show others what it looks like.
I'm not saying that we should make it a complete inconvenience on ourselves but why not just be nice and help a person out when the opportunity presents itself. Romans 5:8 says this, " But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Christ died for us even though we pretty much slapped Him in the face with our sin and betrayal. Aren't we called to be imitators of Christ? Would Christ hold a grudge? Would Christ reject someone for their looks or actions? Would Christ purposefully hurt someone? The answer is no just in case you couldn't figure that one out. Christ wouldn't do any of those things. Christ loves us, with everything, He truthfully loves us and cares for us.
I just really feel that the nicer we are, the better we show our faith to others. Be different, and don't just hide in God's gift, show others what it looks like.
Monday, August 20, 2012
New here!
I'm new to this whole blog thing, but I feel like I could really get into it. Anyway, on to my post:
As I'm sitting here in my room learning more Swahili through an online course I got completely distracted. ADD is awesome, huh? Not so much. But I guess in this situation it was...
I got to thinking, and when I start thinking about something, I REALLY think hard. I was thinking about the street/glue boys that I met in Nakuru, Kenya this past visit. Speaking of Kenya let me just give a brief story of my life and Kenya, then I will get back to my thoughts...
My freshman year of high school, I was not making good decisions and finally when I was confronted about my poor decisions by my parents, we got some advice regarding what my family should do from then on out from my youth pastor at the time, Tom Stickney. He recommended that I go live with him in Kenya for a year or so, as he was leaving his job as a youth pastor and heading to Kenya as Executive Director of African Christian Outreach. My mom immediately said "No, that's not going to work" because she couldn't have me go to a foreign country where she had never even visited before. Starting my sophomore year of high school I was still not making good decisions. That following March my parents decided that it might be good for my family to take a step out of the norm and go on a mission trip to Kenya. Returning from my trip to Kenya, after falling in love with 75 or so orphan children from the Virginia Children's Home in Nakuru, it definitely changed my heart. My family and I realized when we got home that our trip in March was not going to be our only one. We've now made several trips since then.
Okay, now that I've explained all of that, back to where I was headed about the street/glue boys of Nakuru. So when I made a trip to Kenya in March, 2012 I really began to notice the glue boys around Nakuru. I especially noticed them because one, who was obviously very high from the intoxicating fumes of the glue, opened up our van door while we were waiting for our driver. It was very disturbing and very saddening to see such lost and burdened kids. I was in the airport on the way home and I was really thinking hard about these guys, and I began to realize God obviously never wanted me to get involved with the wrong crowd and make the decisions I made but He's turned that around for me and He's showed me that I can use the struggles I went through to help these guys. I told Tom all about that because I was more than excited that right then and there God hit me with a strong desire to change the lives of these guys who are walking around, lost and feeling hopeless, because at one point I was headed that way too. From that day at the airport I have never lost that desire, and on this recent trip it was set up where I actually got to sit down and meet them.
The time that I got to meet them, was probably one of the hardest things I've ever witnessed. When I first got all of them in a group to sit down and talk with them, I had no idea what I wanted to say. But then as I asked the first question, which was, "How did you get here, where you are right now?", the questions just kept popping into my head. Their stories honestly broke my heart. I could see it in them, how much they want something different. I know, even though they may not know it, that they need the Lord more than anything else. After giving them food, I noticed one boy in particular, Daniel Ngonga (15 years old), who made sure everyone had food and milk before he got any. He pushed away the older kids to make sure the younger ones got food too. I saw in him, that God has a plan for him. I just know it. After that day it only made me realize more that I want to help these guys. So that's where I'm headed now... to college to most likely study psychology and after graduating college to be on my way to Kenya, to hopefully, with God watching over me, to reach out and provide a home, family, and an education to as many of the street boys as I can and to live by this verse "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." (Galations 5:13)
As I'm sitting here in my room learning more Swahili through an online course I got completely distracted. ADD is awesome, huh? Not so much. But I guess in this situation it was...
I got to thinking, and when I start thinking about something, I REALLY think hard. I was thinking about the street/glue boys that I met in Nakuru, Kenya this past visit. Speaking of Kenya let me just give a brief story of my life and Kenya, then I will get back to my thoughts...
My freshman year of high school, I was not making good decisions and finally when I was confronted about my poor decisions by my parents, we got some advice regarding what my family should do from then on out from my youth pastor at the time, Tom Stickney. He recommended that I go live with him in Kenya for a year or so, as he was leaving his job as a youth pastor and heading to Kenya as Executive Director of African Christian Outreach. My mom immediately said "No, that's not going to work" because she couldn't have me go to a foreign country where she had never even visited before. Starting my sophomore year of high school I was still not making good decisions. That following March my parents decided that it might be good for my family to take a step out of the norm and go on a mission trip to Kenya. Returning from my trip to Kenya, after falling in love with 75 or so orphan children from the Virginia Children's Home in Nakuru, it definitely changed my heart. My family and I realized when we got home that our trip in March was not going to be our only one. We've now made several trips since then.
Okay, now that I've explained all of that, back to where I was headed about the street/glue boys of Nakuru. So when I made a trip to Kenya in March, 2012 I really began to notice the glue boys around Nakuru. I especially noticed them because one, who was obviously very high from the intoxicating fumes of the glue, opened up our van door while we were waiting for our driver. It was very disturbing and very saddening to see such lost and burdened kids. I was in the airport on the way home and I was really thinking hard about these guys, and I began to realize God obviously never wanted me to get involved with the wrong crowd and make the decisions I made but He's turned that around for me and He's showed me that I can use the struggles I went through to help these guys. I told Tom all about that because I was more than excited that right then and there God hit me with a strong desire to change the lives of these guys who are walking around, lost and feeling hopeless, because at one point I was headed that way too. From that day at the airport I have never lost that desire, and on this recent trip it was set up where I actually got to sit down and meet them.
The time that I got to meet them, was probably one of the hardest things I've ever witnessed. When I first got all of them in a group to sit down and talk with them, I had no idea what I wanted to say. But then as I asked the first question, which was, "How did you get here, where you are right now?", the questions just kept popping into my head. Their stories honestly broke my heart. I could see it in them, how much they want something different. I know, even though they may not know it, that they need the Lord more than anything else. After giving them food, I noticed one boy in particular, Daniel Ngonga (15 years old), who made sure everyone had food and milk before he got any. He pushed away the older kids to make sure the younger ones got food too. I saw in him, that God has a plan for him. I just know it. After that day it only made me realize more that I want to help these guys. So that's where I'm headed now... to college to most likely study psychology and after graduating college to be on my way to Kenya, to hopefully, with God watching over me, to reach out and provide a home, family, and an education to as many of the street boys as I can and to live by this verse "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." (Galations 5:13)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)