Sent Out

Day 9 -

“Lord, I pray that You will completely break me and bring me back to You. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Refine me and allow me to surrender to Your will. This assignment will be challenging, but I am willing, so take me as I am. Take me as I am.”

            Bea and I immediately got together, processed our assignment news and read letters from previous GPers who went on the same assignment, with the same host family, exactly a year before. Their words were encouraging and helpful enough that I recalled their words often during my time in Kwale. After waiting for a week to hear where we were to be going for ministry, it seemed a little surreal to us, but we had more knowledge about what we were going to be doing on the coast. I was able to express my desire to be in a rural area to my small group and Bea. Growing up with horses on my great grandparents’ land where wheat is still farmed, I am not so bothered by rural conditions and I wanted to live differently from what I was accustomed to in the US (a country that seems almost sterile compared to other countries). One of my mottoes in life, “God made dirt, and dirt don’t hurt!”
            Kwale, Kenya is on the southern tip of the Kenyan coast, Southwest of Mombasa (a popular tourist city).  This area of Kenya has a very high concentration of Muslims – whether devout or culturally religious.  In terms of religious groups, Kenya is 80% Christian and the rest is split between Muslims and Hindus. We would be taking a bus from Nairobi with our host pastor (who had arrived at Watakatifu Wote Senta the day before to escort us) to the coast to meet his family and help in the ministry there. Pastor is the chaplain of a Christian school called Mwangaza Visionary School and pastor of the church there, both located in Kwale district. The school has around 300 students in attendance – most are from Muslim families. The goal of this ministry is to reach the children and their families by schooling the children and immersing them in a Christian culture daily during their time at the school. The church and school was planted by Mombasa Pentecostal church a number of years ago after many attempts to reach the Muslims in the area, but they encountered opposition from the residents there. Now, the Muslim residents are peaceful as Pastor and a team of teachers are teaching and preaching the love of Christ to young and old ears.
            At the time, Bea and I didn’t know what was expected of us, but we would be coming alongside (not taking over – a point that is to be very clear to all of you and to all my friends/family in Kenya) this ministry by giving devotions to the teachers and students, preaching on Sundays, and possible house visits to the families in the area to evangelize. My partner and I were the most nervous about encountering Muslims as neither of us had much experience talking or interacting with that particular religious group. However, I was most excited to work with children, play with them, and love them to my utmost capacity. Also, I was very content to see other parts of Kenya, a country that had captured my heart within a week. My journey would start the very next day at 5 am and my emotions were quite similar to the time I planted my foot on the plane that would take me to NYC – nervous, excited, and a whole lot of the unknown. That day, I read Psalm 51 that was written by a very remorseful King David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. God used that to calm my heart. There, David talks of his broken spirit and repentant heart where he offers them to God. The Lord only wants us to repent and give everything to Him. I prayed for God to take my whole self – all of my emotions, expectations, weaknesses, and everything else for His glory during the next three weeks in Kwale with Pastor.
            That very afternoon, all of us on the team were commissioned with oil. Each team of two knelt on the ground; a leader would trace a cross on their foreheads with the oil, and pray over them and their three week assignment. Bea and I knelt, hand in hand, as one of the wonderful leaders (Sara) anointed us and the whole team surrounded us in prayer. Sara prayed for Bea and I to bond as friends and as partners, that God would be our main focus, and that He would use us for His glory. I had a sudden feeling that I was about to embark on something I could only rely on God for and not myself. The feeling (which I have experienced here and there in life) of standing on the edge of a cliff, with invisible support or restraints, and having a choice – to jump, or not to jump. It’s that leap of faith when you know God is there but unsure of if/when He will show up. Brian and Debbie told us this is one of the difficult parts of this trip for them: letting the students go on their own to all parts of Kenya to learn and grow as they minister to people. It was this moment when all of us fully realized that the next three weeks were finally here and we would be without our “little America”. The honeymoon was over and the adventure/struggle of getting to know a different culture would be intensified. During and after this assignment of mine, however, I realized how much of a hand God had in placing me in Kwale.
            Pastor Felix was introduced to us that night and I was able to talk with him during dinner about the ministry and his family. He told me how excited his wife, Nora, was which put me more at ease. The center was full of the host families/parents of most of our teams at dinner time, and we got to hear from each one about them and their ministry. After the dinner speeches, we all gathered around to end the day with worship. I cannot express how much I loved worshiping every time we had a mixture of wazungu (white people) and Kenyan natives. Music is universal, and in the same way our God is everywhere. I said this before and I will say it again: when a group of diverse people come together and are united by one cause, one heart, one God, it is truly indescribable, beyond words, amazing.
            I said my goodbyes to my teammates, gave hugs, took photos and received instructions from Bea’s boyfriend to take care of her. My motherly instinct radar rose as I promised him I would. Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, I am such a mother in disposition. I walked with Silvia to our room for bed. She told me stories of her encounters with people from the coast, how wonderful and generous they are, and told me about some of their subculture in her sweet voice (which I miss so very much now). She was so encouraging when I expressed some nervousness about my assignment. Silvia would be going to “the bush” and ministering to the Masai people with a Texan girl on our team and we stayed up talking about our excitements before we fell asleep.