Akala at last!
Sharp-left = goats, dodge-right = children, hit the hole, gun the engine, beep the horn, dodge the bicycle then sharp-left, hard right BOOM, hit the hole! Roll down the window. I feel nauseous. Breathe in the diesel fumes and gag. Wow, look at that beautiful scenery!
Yes, we had a wild ride each and every day, but what treasures lay at the end of our journey. One pleasantly weird thing that happened was that as we passed the village of Holo we could see the church I had helped to start off in the distance. It made me feel like I was "home" in a weird way - like the feeling when you've been away from your parents for a long time and then you pull into their driveway. Weird to have such a familiar feeling for such a foreign place.
We arrived to the new church late, which meant we missed worship time (boo-hoo! Love me some African worship) but we were greeted by a roomful of familiar faces. It was so wonderful to smile and hug and visit with our African friends. Most of the translators this year were men, but we were blessed by the gracious presence of Zappora (whose name I'm sure I misspell). Zappora is the wise and gentle wife of Boaz, the head master of the Bible College. The last time I saw Zappora was as Brenda and I were being whisked away from a women's conference in Uganda 2 years ago. She had inspired us all with a teaching about the lineage of Christ pointing out the colorful women contained therein.
There was also Sosapeter, the pastor from Holo and Eliakim, a much loved young man who we were glad to hear was married and pastoring his own church. David greeted his translators from years past and introduced me to some of his friends that I did not yet know. While all this greeting was going on, I looked over the shoulders of the group I was standing with and saw a young man cautiously checking me out from the corner of his eye. It was my young friend, Martin, who walked the trails with me my first visit to Kenya! I went straight to him and asked if he recognized me and he said with his finest English, "Yes. Julie Jacobsen." How fun to see him after all these years. It was also an answered prayer since he lives right in the hot-spot of turmoil during the election violence of 2007 and I wasn't sure until that day if he were dead or alive.
We were then partnered with our translators. David was off to the prisons that day with a group of pastors, but I was partnered with my new friend, Peter, an elder of the Holo church. After everyone was paired up, Martin volunteered his services to us for the day so I was blessed with two translators instead of one! It would prove to be a lovely day.
Young Martin from Kisule and Peter from Holo Community Bible Church
Walking alone with a translator into an impoverished African village to share the gospel and invite people to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior is an intimidating prospect. You all know I'm an extrovert, but without fail I always start my trail days anxiously. I worry that I won't explain things well, or that I'll sound like a crazy person, or that I'll meet a crazy person, or that I'll somehow let God down by messing up the whole thing. As we started our work that day my mind was racing with pep-talk. I took a deep breath and thought that I'd just ease into thing a bit.
HA! God showed us his sense of humor that day. For Dave it was finding out the night before that he would be preaching in the prisons his first day in-country (not his favorite task) and for me - well, let me explain.
The first group we approached was a gathering of about 10 men sitting under the shade of a bus stop. Nothing like jumping in with both feet! They were very attentive and things were going well when all of a sudden, a drunk man named John started asking questions. I realized he wasn't in his right mind, but he asked some good questions. He stated that he wanted Jesus but he also wanted his drink. Not sure what came over me, but I became very direct with this man and told him that the enemy was using alcohol to destroy his life and that ultimately it was his own choice whether or not he chose Jesus or the drink. All this while the rest of the 10 men watched me intently. I figured I was just the visiting Mzungu so why not just go for it, right? Yep, I was in all the way now!
Our next visit was less intimidating as we enjoyed visiting with some women. Then we walked into farm fields and were invited into private homes. One older gentleman was eating outside under a tree, but when he saw us coming he left his food and invited us into his home. We had a good visit with he and his wife and they both received Christ. Then he told us the coolest thing. He said that normally he would not leave his food and his work behind to greet visitors, but he said he could sense our good character and saw that a Great Spirit was walking with us so he felt compelled to welcome us. How awesome is that?! I had prayed many times that the Holy Spirit would walk ahead of us on the trails and here was a man saying he sensed that very thing!
They were so nice and they asked me to stay for tea. I respectfully declined and here's where God's humor kicked up again...They offered me a thank-you blessing of avacados and not your run of the mill Haas variety that we find around here. No, I'd calculate that each of these gigantic avacados weighed at least 1 pound each and they gave me 11 of them!! Now, one of my worries was that I wasn't physically strong enough to walk the trails this year, yet here I was adding 11 additional pounds to my bakpack that I would have to carry for the rest of the day! Very funny God! Yet I was so honored by their gesture of thanks and almost felt like I had been "annointed" by the Avacados. It was a pleasure to carry them with me the rest of that day.
With one of the avacados I tried to save. It was shriveling by the time I took this photo, but it still wielded some weight to it! I had given away all but this one.
We visited with others that day, of course, some believers and others just choosing to believe. HEY LISA, I had 10 names on my list at the end of the day of people who made a decision to follow Jesus! Your donation helped to make a definitive difference in the lives of these people but all I did was deliver the message - it will be God who brings the change! Thank you again for your help.
The final bit of humor God threw my way was in regards to the children's ministry that afternoon. Running a fun kid's group is not my forte' but I had spent some time the day before getting ready. Problem was, I realized about an hour and a half before start time that I had left all the children's church materials behind in the van that morning and they were now enjoying a visit to the prisons! Yep - my whole team had to wing it without any resources at our disposal at all! That wasn't so funny, but we made it through.
It was a good first day on the trails of Akala. The people were welcoming and the work satisfying. We all survived and kept cheerful attitudes intact. Our prayers were answered and lives were changed. All the while I felt God's smile upon us throughout our day as if he took real pleasure in being with us. I'm also pretty sure I heard him laughing!
I hope you enjoy your own laugh with the Lord today!
- Julie
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