Four Month Update

I’ve been in Kenya for almost four months, but in some ways it seems like I just arrived! I am still so thankful to be here, and I am still in awe of how God has worked things out for me to be here. I feel the same way I did when I first flew in on June 30th.

God has been reminding me of His faithfulness in the midst of life’s uncertain times. When I bought my ticket to Kenya in the beginning of the year, I had plans to stay with a friend near Nairobi. She was helping a family get an orphanage started. I was going to come to Kenya, continue my Bible studies, work on language study, learn the culture, and help my friend. Three weeks before I left, plans changed and she came home before I left for Kenya. God remained faithful through all those changes. He was the One in control all the time, and by the time I left for Kenya He had given me another place to stay and some people to work with.

So, through that first change, I had the opportunity to come back to Kitale, the same place I stayed in 2007/2008. The family who I came with last time helps a school in a slum in Kitale, and they offered for me to get involved in the school. I was happy to work alongside the staff at Graceway (the school), and help out with office work. I was able to spend time with Kenyans and get a better understanding of the culture. I was able to see how the school has changed over the last couple of years. And after almost three months of being involved, I stepped out of that work.

God has put a desire on my heart to teach the Bible, and I don’t know when opportunities for that will arise, but I am now praying and focusing more seriously on that. The last time I was here, I saw a lot of children being taken care of physically, but along with those needs is the need to be taken care of spiritually. I pray I will recognize who God puts into my life, or who God brings me to, in order to share His Word with them. Please pray with me regarding that.

Also, I have been continuing the Bible course I started with Paul and Jayne Carlson. It is a joy to be involved in the study after waiting for almost six years to start it! It is an amazing opportunity to go through the Bible and have God lovingly and patiently reveal to His children who He is, and I am thankful for this.

I started taking Kiswahili lessons when I first arrived, and that is also going well. God has provided me with a teacher, Daniel Juma, who not only teaches me Kiswahili, but he teaches me about the culture too. Most conversations that we have are insightful and so helpful to me, and I am so thankful to have this man as a teacher. He and his wife have several of their own children, and have taken in several orphans. They welcome me on Sundays to be a part of their church service. Daniel teaches his children at home. He started from Genesis chapter 1 and they read a chapter each week. It is beautiful to hear the children sing together, pray and read! He really allows and encourages them to get involved, and it is lovely to watch. I am thankful to be there, and I hope to learn from him how to teach children the Bible in another culture. I’ve also started teaching some of his children how to play the keyboard. They are fast learners!

Overall, my time here has been amazing. It is not always easy, or fun, but God is always faithful and good. Every single time I have opened His Word for the past few months, He has revealed to me over and over again, how faithful He is. He is constant, unchanging, and always with me.

Psalm 106 gives a brief history of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, and Psalm 107 gives a brief history of God’s faithfulness to Israel. The last verse of Psalm 107 says ‘Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things, and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love’. Let us be wise and remember our good God at all times. There is no one like Him.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Mungu akubariki (God bless you).