My first time out of the country, my first mission trip, thousands of miles from home; my trip to Kenya was life changing.
My eyes were opened to more of God’s wonderful creation, from the mountains, landscapes, and animals, to the love, kindness, and faith of the people I encountered. Each of the days in Kenya I visited orphanages. From the first time I stepped out of a van children and guardians stood around us and danced and sang welcoming songs in their native Swahili language. Delighted “Jambo”s exited smiling mouths. Little ones arms reached up for me to hold.
How often do we see our friends or family and not appreciate their presence and take them for granted?
The Keyans are avid worshippers. The goat-clipped lawns of the appropriately named “House of Hope” probably houses more worship in any given week than any worship hall in a church. Children and adults alike sing, dance, and praise Jesus 24/7. Mrs. Kim Hendrix put their ways into words by saying, “Life is worship, and worship is life.” I had the pleasure of sharing some of my own worship music at our Vacation Bible School for the children and at the African Inland Church in Molo. Before the trip, I found a verse of a praise song in Swahili that can go with Amazing Grace. I also was blessed by meeting a young man my age named Shem. He was very anxious to learn more from me about music, as he plans on being a worship leader. The blending of our praise praise served as a metaphor for our unity through Christ. We can be from opposite sides of the globe but we all share the love of God.
Matthew 28:10 says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Being with such a great group of our missions team and the workers through Mescal’s and Project 82 helped grow my relationship with Jesus by welcoming him into our day and guiding us. I learned that asking God to lead you in the direction he wants you to go will ultimately be beneficial, and the only way to do this is to be persistent in prayer and remaining in his word. On this trip, God not only had a plan for us to be on a mission for others, but he had a mission to do great things in my own heart.
