Mission Accomplished!

We have returned from Kenya!  Our trip went amazingly well and there are stories to tell.  I will attempt to give you a day-by-day account but the posts will be slow in coming.  David is on his way to England and we will be sharing writing duties - with the time difference and the amount of work he is facing there, posting may come slowly.  Be patient and I know you will be blessed.

We were extremely blessed on this mission.  The team worked well together and everyone seemed to embrace a servant's attitude throughout the trip.  It all started with airports, of course, but even in our waiting time, I saw God at work.

For instance, we flew out of Houston, which is a 3 hour drive for us.  We arrived in time to eat a little lunch then sat around waiting for our first flight.  We all wore our Bondo team t-shirts and this young African man was sitting nearby.  Dave started chatting with him then he called me over.  I was introduced to Sean of Nigeria as the "author of the blog".  You see, he saw our shirts and wondered what Bondo was so he googled it on his i-phone and this website appeared.  He asked David about it and he told Sean that he was, in fact, married to the "author" of that very site!  This led to talk about our mission, etc. and before we finished visiting, this young man spoke blessing in God's name over our team and over the work we were heading out to do. 

After 9 hours or so on that first flight we found ourselves waiting in the Amsterdam airport.  Since we were headed to Nairobi there were many Africans waiting for the same flight.  One larger group had just finished a convention in Las Vegas (yes, the epitome of the impression you don't want to leave as an American) and they were passionately discussing the oil leak in the Gulf.  Because of our t-shirts, they struck up conversation with some of our team members about where we were headed.

[A quick shout-out to John Powell of Print This, San Marcos TX for the shirts that got our conversations rolling!]

I hadn't slept well on the flight so I felt zombie-like and kept quietly to myself, but what I observed in that room was a team of people already embracing the African people.  It was really beautiful to see how engaged many of our team members were in various conversations.  At one point, a man from the Vegas group grabbed David by the hand and drug him to the other side of the room to introduce him to the "Minister of Immigration" for Kenya who apparently had some connection to the Bondo region.  Dave said he was introduced then left alone with the man to visit.  Before it was all said and done they had discussed the mission and David was handed a Christian book that some man there had written about Joshua.

After another 8 hours we landed safely in Nairobi.  It was great to see Aidah and Morris again and to hug their necks on their home turf.  We were also happy to see two of our favorite drivers, Jimmy and Moses, who were scheduled to be with us all week.  It was a happy reunion there in the dark of the airport parking lot!

We were taken into Nairobi to the Methodist Guest House for the night.  It was there we ran into a *Mzungu couple that had been on our flight.  Dave and I, plus Tom and Brenda, sat down with them at dinner to discuss why we were all in Kenya.  They were school teachers from NYC who were headed into the slum of Kibera for the week. [check out http://www.kslum.org/aboutkibera.htm for more info].  Not only did we talk about mission work, but we also discussed homeschooling and we were hopefully able to answer some of their questions.

I suppose what I'm trying to emphasize is that the mission work wasn't limited to Akala, Kenya - it began in Houston and continued throughout our travels.  Scripture tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ and like earthly ambassadors, you just don't travel unnoticed.  If you're in the public, you are "on" doing your ambassador thing.  It was so lovely to observe the friendliness of our team in action throughout our travels.  I went to bed that night anticipating that this trip would be one of the best.  God would soon exceed my expectations!

Until next time -

Julie

*Mzungu = White person.  You'll be hearing this word alot from here on out.

A Must Read!

My friend Brandi just returned from a trip to Uganda with I Choose You Ministries.  Her team had an incredible time and God did wonderful things through them for the lives of the Karamajong people.  The team stayed at a hotel which provided internet access so Brandi had the unique opportunity to maintain a blog throughout the trip.

Please take the time to read her blog.  It isn't terribly long, but it is so wonderful to read a first-hand account in real time of the work God is doing there. 

FYI, I Choose You is a ministry birthed through members of our church in service to the impoverished people of the Karamajong tribe.  Mama Aidah (Pastor Morris' wife) serves an intregal role in loving on the children of her country.  Not only do Morris and Aidah sponsor teams throughout the summer who serve the new church plants, but they helped to start and run the Lulwanda Children's Home, the Bible College and the primary/secondary school that so many children are able to attend thanks to I Choose You.  Even though the exact work isn't the same, I Choose You and the trip we are taking this summer are related through the involvement of Morris and Aidah.  They are an incredible couple!

I can also personally guarantee that if you are interested in sponsoring a child in Africa, the money you send through this ministry is used 100% for your selected child.  This is a trustworthy ministry well worth checking out, but don't take my word for it...read Brandi's blog.

Enjoy the read!  http://ichooseyou2010.blogspot.com/

- Julie

Here's a picture of Aidah Ogenga...isn't she beautiful?

Day 9 - S*x Talk

Did you enjoy our little video yesterday? That pretty much sums up things on the food front around here.

We are starting to get into a groove. I actually made a bean-burger today served on flat bread...not homemade (thank you Cosco) but it was good and the kids felt like they were getting a treat. Remember, our boundaries during the week are African ingredients not necessarily prepared in an African way. Mid afternoons are the hardest for all of us so I'm going to need to work out a better snack situation. No other food interest to report.

I had a "teenagers and dating" talk with a friend of mine today that brought to mind a story I would like to share with you.

During our time in Africa, not only do we travel hut to hut sharing the gospel, but we also work with local student groups taking teams into the schools to have assemblies. How refreshing to have the gospel message welcomed in school as opposed to being censored like we do here in America! On Saturday of our trips, we participate in Student Conferences. These conferences are held in one school but attended by secondary students from a variety of schools in the area (High Schoolers). The schools perform for one another, officials make speeches and our team shares a message about living the Christian life. Both years I attended conferences, we have ended the day dividing the group into genders to have s*x talks and answer questions. The students are able to anonymously write down any question they have and we sort through them (for duplicates) and try to answer as many as possible.

My first year at a conference I had a wonderful, poignant experience that I hope never to forget. My second year was also profound, but in a much more humbling way, still, I hope never to forget it either.

You see, we had translator issues during our girls assembly and because of it, we weren't well understood. In addition, the translator was one of the female teachers and she seemed anxious to shut everything down so that the girls could get home before sundown. We did not get through many of the questions under these circumstances. It was frustrating and because I was the adult woman on our team trying to help younger team members through this experience, I felt like I had failed in some way.

I should stop to explain here that one question/comment was repeated numerous times in the stack of notes we were given from the students; it was a question regarding fear of s*x. It was asked in a variety of ways and I was all prepared to give a nice, neat, Christian answer for how s*x was designed by God and it was good within the context of marriage. Circumstances never allowed me to answer that question, which would turn out to be a good thing.

The girls session was ended abruptly and I was frustrated. As the students poured out of the classroom, I stepped outside for fresh air. I was irritated to see that the boys assembly was apparently going quite well on the other side of the school yard. Looked as though they were focused and embroiled in deep conversation. Boo-hoo for me (yes, my pity-party had begun).

Then a young lady named Agatha introduced herself. She explained that her question was never answered and she wondered if I might speak with her about it. We stepped aside for privacy as she explained to me how she had been raped earlier in the school year and was now fearful that she was going to die. She despaired that all of her parent's hard work to finance her education was now for nothing since she would more than likely die of AIDS. She then asked me if her rape meant she would no longer be welcomed in heaven.

I'm leaving out many details, but I assure you that her story was horrific. I did my best to assure her that she was the victim and that God did not pass judgement on her at all. I explained how faith in Jesus Christ was the way into heaven, pure and simple. Her salvation was secure. I tried to love on her and share God's love with her. I also encouraged her to seek counsel from a trusted female teacher at her school.

Now I understood more clearly all those "fear about s*x" questions. They weren't fearful of the natural act of intercourse, they were scared that all s*x led to physical death - literally.

I don't totally understand the reasons why so many Africans are still un-educated about safe s*x and the spread of disease. I do know a little bit about tribal practices and ridiculous superstitions that affect the s*x life of many African men - like the belief that if you have s*x with a virgin you will rid yourself of AIDS. This may explain why rape is so prevalent many places in Africa. I don't know. All I do know is that young Agatha is just one of many young ladies dealing with the shame and fear of being raped.

I pouted for a while after that conference and I believe God let me go through that process so I would better understand the difference between His agenda and my own. You see, my American view of success meant confidence, compliments and lots of students coming to the Lord. I left that experience feeling like an utter failure.

In retrospect I have to believe that no matter how poorly I felt like the rest of that day went, perhaps God had me there for that ONE. I know for a fact that God cares for that one girl and he knows her by name: Agatha.

As I recount this story to you I feel sad once again that my heart can sometimes be so contrary to God's and I feel sorrow for Agatha. However, I stand firm in believing that no matter what cultural differences exist in the world, there is only one true answer - one path to lasting change.

His name is Jesus.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17

- Julie

[FYI, I had to misspell the word s*x throughout this posting because apparently there are perverts who like to hijack other people's web addresses and use them for their own perverted purposes...ugh.]