4 While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: 5 John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” 7 Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
At the airport as we prepared to leave for Kenya, I told our team that my hope was that I would be able to bless the Kenyan people as much as they would bless me. Well, once again I failed at this goal-maybe. The Kenyan people are such a blessing. They welcomed us wherever we went. They smiled, they waved, they sang, they even danced. I wondered out loud to Steve (who was a team member) how the church in America could grow if we welcomed guests and people that were different than us like the Kenyans welcomed us? What would happen if we treated outsiders the way the Kenyans treated us.
One of the major projects we did while we were in Kenya was to build an AIDS orphan home. Building the home takes some adjustment as they are not built in the typical way we would expect. It’s a 10x20 house with two rooms, one for the males and one for the females.
The AIDS orphan homes are built through a partnership with the Maua Methodist Hospital and are put in the name of the youngest child, whether it's a boy or girl. The hospital even petitioned the government to allow land and homes to be in a females name. To date, over 300 homes have been built through this partnership. We built a home for a 13 year old boy named Tecklus and his grandmother Ruth. He has lost both of his parents. He was overcome with emotion at the house dedication because he was sad that his mother never had a house of her own.
So why is it important to do international missions when there is plenty to do close to home? When Jesus leaves the disciples he says they “will be his disciples in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” To put that in context for our time: Jerusalem (Joshua), Judea (Texas), Samaria (US), and of course the ends of the earth is the ends of the earth. The disciples were given instruction by Jesus himself to be disciples to the entire earth.
I think a major reason that missions outside of our own community is so important is not only about the work of service but also gives us the opportunity to be disciples of spreading Christ’s messages while at the same time experiences a perspective and culture that is different than our own.
For example, these homes cost 3 million Kenyan schillings to build which converts to $3000 US dollars. This amount includes the materials for the house, the pay for the foreman Charles and his team, insurance for the entire family for a year (which costs only $60 a year), two mattresses, two blankets. As I said before, it’s a 10x20 house with two rooms and has concrete floors, and four two windows on each side of the house for airflow. The US dollar goes a long way in Kenya-quite frankly-$3000 can change the lives and fortunes of an entire family in Kenya. And we can always send money, in fact St. John the Apostle gave $6000 (3000 of which was donated by the youth group) so that two homes could be built. We built one last week and another home will be built in the offseason when mission teams don’t visit Kenya by Charles and his team. Had we just sent money we would have missed out on so much more.
Charles continually had to tell me: pole, pole-which means slow down. Had he not told myself and the team to slow down from time to time we would not have been able to get to know the homeowner (who is 13) and others in the small community as well. During this pole, pole times I could be found building structures with the small pieces of wood or playing soccer with the neighborhood children.
You probably can’t tell by this picture but their soccer ball was a cloth bag stuffed with other cloth and plastic bags tied together with twine. In fact while playing the kids occasionally had to rewrap the twine. It didn’t matter that the kids didn’t have a soccer ball to play with-they made due with what they had and still had a lot of fun. It’s simply amazing how resourceful the Kenyan people are with their resources. They have Jesus and faith in their lives and continually praise God for what they have (no matter how little that is).
One instance of this praising God was when we were welcomed at the Karurune school where we assisted the hospital with a medical camp. The medical camp involved us giving the 900 plus people there deworming tablets as well as screening them for blood pressure, malnutrition, and checking their eye sight. When we arrived at this school we received a welcome like no other. We were welcomed with a young child singing a poem she had written about being an orphan and being rescued by God through the help of the Clark Early Education Center School which I have visited all three of my trips to Kenya. This school actually celebrated their 10 year anniversary yesterday and this young girl sang at the celebration to sing of her gratitude.
In fact there was a nine year old boy that visited the medical camp who had lost one eye and was couldn’t see well out of his other eye. He was able to get an appointment at the hospital on Monday and due to a $48 donation from the church was able to get screened and receive a specialized pair of glasses. Did I mention the American dollar goes a long way in Kenya?
There were so many moments that struck a chord with me and I’ll be sharing those on my blog over the next couple of weeks-I wasn’t able to do that on the trip due to spotty and often no WiFi but maybe that’s because God was telling me to chill, be in the moment with friends, and wait to share the stories once I got home. But I’d like to end with this.
The day we were finishing the house I was slowly carving my name into a block of scrap wood with my pocket knife. Tecklus looked me straight in the eye, smiled, and quickly ran off into a small house in the community and returned about a minute later with this tree branch that was hot to the touch that had a charcoal tip. It’s really a primitive pencil when you think about it. I quickly wrote my name on the piece of wood and gave it to Tecklus, he in turn gave me this small piece of wood from his house with his name etched on it.
Anytime I look at the small piece of scrap wood that Tecklus gave me, I will be reminded of three things:
1. The resourcefulness of the Kenyan people and
2. The time I got to spend getting to know Tecklus
3. Tecklus saw I was struggling and provided an easier and different solution for a problem.
I can only hope that each of us can reach out and show God’s love to people who might be struggling. To be able to reach out to those who are different than us. That’s what I would have missed out on had I just sent money and not gone “to the ends of the earth.” It’s important for us to serve those in and around Joshua AND throughout the world. When you have the opportunity to travel 1/2 across the world on a mission trip I encourage you to do so. Go so you can see how other cultures live and experience the blessings that other cultures have to help you grow as a disciple.
Grace & Peace
Kevin
