Day 6: Exodus 15:2

"The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him."

-Exodus 15:2

Tuesday; July 5, 2011

4:35 P.M.

Today: 3 houses, 3 people SAVED!

So when I journaled yesterday I completely forgot about 2 conversations I had with the hotel's bartender manager that welcomed us and serves us our meals every night. What incredible people! I had to journal them before I talked about today's events because I never want to forget.

Boaz, the "bartender" I guess you could call him, served me and Alex when we went to get a soft drink. We stood and talked to him for about 30 minutes. He talked about his country and the state of poverty it's in. He said even with prayer it will never go away because the men are dying so young due to war, malaria, AIDS/HIV, and it's leaving their wives and children helpless. He told us about a man that had 40 wives and over 200 children (polygamy is legal I'm guessing). He died a couple weeks ago from AIDS. Because of his death from AIDS, he has left all of his wives with literally no where to turn. Leaving them with two choices: marry anyone that will take them, or die alongside her children. Obviously the women only see it as one option: to marry any man they can with money because of their desperation. This does help save them from starvation and abuse due to their vulnerability from their unprotection, but it also spreads the virus to the next husband and will eventually increase the number of children to care for. Then when that man dies, it will leave her and even more children helpless yet again, looking for anyone to turn to that will have them. And the cycle continues. He says that is why poverty will never go away. The number of children are increasing. The number of parents are decreasing. Resulting in poverty. A devastating kind of poverty. A helpless nation with their only hope being a miracle.

The woman that was the owner of the hotel (or I think she was...she was the one we went to with all of our questions and concerns) told us she was a widow and that she has two sons. She said she works because she has the ability to, and it helps her with her physical wellness. What an anti-American way of thinking. They aren't asking for handouts. Just a chance at an opportunity.

She was very friendly and smiles a lot. She too talked about the poverty here and said that AIDS/HIV and malaria are the two things that are killing their people. It is so sad to hear people like these talk because you know inside they feel powerless against these kind of death sentences. Yet they stay so positive and genuinely happy. I legitimately don't understand it.

Maybe it's just the culture, maybe it's the absence of all the distractions we have in America, maybe it's the Lord. Who knows. But I want that. Even as a Christian, I want what they have.

Yesterday Alex and his crew went to build their house, and after the dedication ceremony they met some children. Six kids.
All living in a house by themselves.
No food.
No animals.
Nothing.


Their father died two months ago from malaria and their mother died two weeks ago from birth complications. The kids hadn't eaten in two days.
And here's where my heart breaks even more in half: the oldest child, the one taking care of all of these kids, is nine years old.

Nine years old.

The youngest is five months. Alex said his crew wept and wept as they drove away. Rob called some people from IWC and made it possible for them to receive a house! We won't be building it, but they should be getting it within the next week or so. The house they were currently in had 3 holes in the roof. Rob and Kent had some bread in the truck and brought it to the kids. They said the kids ate the whole loaf within 3 minutes. The three month baby who should still be on breast milk, was devouring bread. They're working on finding an orphanage for the three month old because it can not survive without any stability. I just can't believe it.

None of the neighbors or families in the area are able to help because they have so many children themselves that are just able to get by.

It's like I know things like that happen here, but you don't truly understand it or realize how surreal it is until you are here. And you see, smell, and touch it.

I truly believe God didn't allow it to be my crew that went because I could not have handled it. I couldn't have. Driving away knowing that those kids will only be living within the next month. And if they make it past a month, it'll be by the grace of God.

So. That was yesterday. A hard day to say the least.

This morning we woke up around 5. I checked my phone and saw that I had a missed call from my dad! I haven't talked to him (or anyone from my family for that matter!) since I've been here! So I called them back and started to tear up as soon as I heard his and my mom's voice! I hadn't realized how much I miss them! We talked until like 6-ish and then me and Amber just laid in bed and talked until we had to get up! At 6:30 we got up, ate some breakfast, and left for our new site by 7:30.

We got out of the van and went straight to a school. The kids were absolutely precious. (I feel like I say this about every child, but it couldn't be any truer!) They were so welcoming and SO excited. They sang, recited poems, and danced for us!

We shared a testimony, introduced ourselves, and then broke up into four groups. Mrs. Linda was with the youngest kids, Kaelie got the younger group (probably grades 1-2), I had the 3rd-4th graders, Amber the 5th and 6th graders, and Linda was with the oldest ones. My group played duck-duck-goose and then played a little dancing game. THEN the kids decided they wanted to race. They get SO excited about racing! I asked them for the fastest boy and told them I wanted to race him :)

.....he won.

Haha, after that, I went to visit Amber and her group, and we tried to teach them Red Rover. It was successful for a few minutes! The first boy to go, got CLOTHES-LINED. Like, straight up.
It was so funny, but I felt so bad! He just got up and brushed himself off! I know it embarrassed him more than it hurt him. It was too too funny. They taught us some games and dances, and it was a lot of fun!

There were two girls, Martha and Franny, who knew the most English out of all the students I had talked to. Franny was 12 and such a beautiful spirit. A big group of us played for a while and then decided to go sit in the shade. They all sat on the ground and brought me a chair to sit in, like I was royalty or something. I told them no thank you, that I could sit with them in the dirt! I wanted them to know that we were just like them! So me and Amber sat on the ground and talked about our lives as they asked us questions about our country and family and in return I asked them what words were in their language, Luo. They were so, so nice and joyful.

My girls: Martha (left) and Franny (right)

Only after we left did I find out it was an orphan's school.


Those kids are so inspirational to me.
And they're 6 years younger than I am. I absolutely loved Martha and Franny. They were in 5th and 6th grade, but they had a maturity about them decades beyond their years. When you've been orphaned, I guess you're left with no other choice but to grow up fast. Such beautiful girls. Beautiful hearts.

While we were sitting in the shade, the kids asked me to tell them a story. I told them the story of Jesus calming the storm. They liked it and listened so well. Hanging in every word. I love those children. I mean literally. They have my heart.

I didn't want to leave the school. AT. ALL. 

As a matter of fact they told us we were leaving, and I said, 'WHY!" I was really unhappy! I asked if I could stay while they went back, but they decided that wouldn't be the wisest choice.

It was so awful leaving. 

After we left, we went back to the house. We sat in the van for a few minutes and ate our lunches. We stayed in the van so we wouldn't be in front of all the kids eating filling our stomachs. I ate my sandwich, half of my chips, and gave the rest away to the children when I got out of the van. I walked around to all the workers that were building the house with a bag of peanuts that were served to our for breakfast that morning from the hotel. They loved them! Then I went back to the bus and I got out my fingernail polish and painted some sweet sweet girl's nails. They. Were. Sweethearts. And wonderful. And beautiful.

To our surprise Martha showed up! The children of the school are released to go home for lunch and are expected to come back afterwards! Such a sweet surprise.

Then we went and sat under some shade the rest of the day with Pastor Joel, Allan, Linda, Amber, and Mrs. Linda.

There was a little girl named Ida (pronounced "Ee-duh") and she completely stole my heart right out of my chest. At first she was so shy and would only look at me and hide. Haha :) But finally she came close and climbed in my lap. After that, she sat there until lunch. I tickled her and played with her so much! Her smile was brilliant. She got a hold of my camera and took some pictures of nothing pretty much, but I'll never delete them. She was an absolute doll. If I were able to, without question I would have brought her home with me. Her little pot-belly and precious, precious cheeks! I will never forget that smile.

The food the ladies brought us for lunch was fish that had been boiled and then fried. It actually tasted good! It tasted pretty much the same, except raw(er?) They also brought us Ugali (considered African cornbread) and some soupy looking stuff that was made up of nothing but minnows. It was crazy! Needless to say, I just tried the fish. Haha!

Then came the house dedication.

Allan gave his testimony and it was absolutely amazing.

He was born in Kenya so the people naturally were drawn to him and wanted to hear what he had to say. They loved him very much. He talked about how he went to church with one of his friends one day and heard that Jesus loved him and that God created him so that he could be with Him one day. But that sin caused him to miss that mark. His sin separated him from that ability to live as one with God. And in order to bridge that gap he had to accept Christ as God's Son and allow His power to take over his life. Then Randy talked a little about how the house that had been built that day was a blessing from God and that there is an even bigger house to look forward to one day. God's house. He said that God's house has many many rooms. One for each of us. And that the house we were presenting to them would eventually pass away, but to dwell in the home of the Lord means to live forever. After Randy, Pastor Joel prayed. I love that man.

The end of the dedication meant it was time for us to leave. The little girl, Ida, held my hand as we walked out of the house and towards our van. We just stood there and swung our arms. I knew we were about to leave, but I just had to enjoy my last few moments with her. I hugged her bye and it literally tore my heart in half seeing her watch me as I left and keep watching as our van drove away. As we pulled away, I cried.

I've been writing this entry sporadically and it's now 8:30 P.M. and all I've done tonight is think about that little girl.

When we got back to the hotel some of us sat outside. Little children were near us and some of our girls were playing with them. We were told dinner was ready so we all went inside. They served spaghetti tonight and it was actually good!

During dinner, we realized that two people from our group, Kaelie and Jeff, were missing! They were outside talking to two of the moms of the children our girls were playing with before dinner. Somehow they began talking about faith and the women said  they wanted to make the decision to follow Christ! Jeff ran upstairs to get his Bible and ran back down and gave it to them. Kaelie prayed with them, and they were saved! How amazing. We thought our ministering for the day was over, but little did we know, even after our labor is done, the ministry part is never over :)

One crew's pastor's wife has been expecting to have her baby very very soon! Well, it looked like there were going ot be some complications considering she had been to three different hospitals within 48 hours.

BUT!

Tonight she had her baby! Some of the girls that knew the family and had been praying for them went to see her. Apparently it's custom for the person who holds the baby before the father to name it! And one of our ladies was holding it when the doctor pointed to her and said, "You will name the child." They said she was just in shock and that she basically had a breakdown!
After a few minutes of thinking, she decided to name it Ruth.

Today has just been a touching and incredible day for all of us. The Lord is working here like wildfire.

God has revealed so much to me the past few days and what it means to actually have Christ's love.

And it's made me realize how lacking that is in my life.

I never want to leave this place.

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Day 7.