Pure Joy

So as you might have noticed, I didn't post at all while we were in Kenya.  We had very limited access to wifi and I didn't want to spend my time at the school staring at a screen when I could spend it making some of the most precious memories of the trip.  So, as promised, I will be blogging this week to share stories, photos, and moments from the trip that completely changed my life.  I started to organize my posts in the most simple way, a day-by-day description of what we did each day.  But instead of making this a diary of our every move, I've decided to take a different approach.  For this first post I'm going to share some highlights and in the rest of the posts I will focus on a specific area(or a few areas combined) or a specific part of the trip to give you a better idea of the many ways the Lord is using Freedom Global and the people in Kenya for His Kingdom's cause.

Painting outside the classrooms at Uhuru Academy

Since returning, several people have asked me to give highlights of the trip.  I'm guessing they think I'm either too jet-lagged to share too much or they know I will go on for hours if they don't limit me.  I am tired, but far more than being physically tired I am emotionally exhausted because I quickly grew to love so many beautiful faces in Kenya and then too quickly had to say goodbye.  Which means highlights are hard to give because the entire trip was a highlight.  God was using each and every moment and experience to teach me something about him.  So to give highlights is a difficult task, but I'll share a few of the most special moments of the trip.  There are many, many more highlights to come in later posts and ones that I would love to share about in person, so please stay tuned and feel free to ask me anything.

When I wrote about the song "Signature of Divine" in my pre-trip post I had it all wrong.  Or at least didn't have the complete story.  To refresh your memory on those lyrics I wrote of prior to the trip, it begins with "Cathedrals have tried in vain, to show the image of your face.  But we are, by your design, signature of divine." While I first wrote about how crazy it is that we are created in his image and get to be called "his" and focused on the amazing opportunity before us to be the signature of divine in Kenya, which is all true, it turns out God had so much more to reveal to me about who he is and who we are in him through the people I encountered in Kenya.  I saw the image of God's face in a way I've never experienced before when I looked at the students at Uhuru Academy.

For just over a year now my mom, my aunt, and I have been praying for and sponsoring a scholarship for a student who attends Uhuru Academy.  Her  name is Loise Wafari.  Last Wednesday, I finally got to meet Loise and my heart was forever changed.  We attended chapel at the school that evening, which I will share more about in another post, but after chapel I was called over to meet Loise.  We quickly connected as we shared stories of our families and talked about our favorite subjects in school.  Loise is a Form 2 and will graduate in 2018.  (Their academic year ends in October/November.  Their closing ceremony for this year is Wednesday.  So Loise will graduate in late October 2018.) She loves history and math, but dislikes chemistry.  Loise wants to be an accountant. Did I mention that my mom also helps sponsor Loise? My mom, the retired accountant, who continues to work long hours crunching numbers as a "part time" accountant. Loise loved that. I took photos to share with her of my family and a photo of Pilot Mountain to show her where I was from; her eyes lit up as I told her about my parents, my sisters, my aunt and uncle, and my home.  In those first few moments of embracing her, hearing stories, and sharing laughter together, the Lord revealed a joy and love that can't be described.  Yes, it was a cool moment to meet and talk to the girl who I've been sponsoring, but it was so much more than just that.  It was full of pure joy and grace and a moment where I experienced the deep love of our Heavenly Father.  Here I had come thousands of miles hoping to meet her and be the hands and feet of Jesus to her, but turns out the Lord used her to completely change my heart.

Margaret (left), Loise (middle)

Another highlight was intertwined with the first highlight of meeting Loise.  This highlight was a girl named Margaret.  I first met Margaret on the football (soccer) field on Monday.  We joined the girls for sports on Monday and despite my limited soccer skills I decided to join that game.  There were lots of brief introductions on the field during periods where the ball was being retrieved from the volleyball court or from the bottom of the hill.  One of those brief intros was with Margaret.  The meeting where I really began to get to know Margaret though happened shortly after I met Loise.  As Loise and I were talking away from the crowd after chapel, another girl walks over and sits down next to Loise.  Meet Margaret.  Turns out Margaret and Loise are best friends.  They have a friendship that reflects the love of Christ in a beautiful way.  Watching them together and hearing them laugh with one another was yet again a moment of pure joy.  The next day we did a ropes course and had a field day with the girls (another portion I will share much more about in another post) and Margaret was on my team.  I would love to say this gave me the chance to pour into her (and I hope the Lord used me to do that), but it was she who really poured into me.  During our longest conversation, as we walked back to the school after the ropes course, Margaret says, "I think you know my sister."  At first I was a little confused, but she then explained that she is the younger sister of Gladys.  I met Gladys three years ago when she was a young Form 1 student.  Gladys is now a Form 4 at Uhuru Academy and about to graduate.  I was able to see her, hug her, and share a very special moment on the soccer field on Monday.  But the Form 4 students didn't get to hang out with us very much because they were focused on reviewing for the KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education), which is the Kenyan version of the SAT on steroids.  So I didn't get to see much of Gladys.  But I got to spend a lot of precious time with her sister Margaret.  Margaret wants to be a pilot.  She loves sciences.  She shared with me about how her sister was the only one to believe in her before she arrived at Uhuru Academy.  That even she didn't believe in herself.  But Gladys continued to encourage her to come to Uhuru, that with God's help they were going to change things for their family.  I have no doubt the Lord is going to use Margaret and Gladys in mighty ways.  Their faith is unshakeable.  After the 2007 post-election violence their family spent seven years in a tent with ten people sleeping on a queen size mattress.   The Lord provided a way first for Gladys to attend Uhuru Academy and then for Margaret to attend Uhuru Academy and both to receive a quality education.  He then used the students of Uhuru to begin to change their family's physical circumstances.  The Uhuru students visited their home and then decided to give up meat for two months in order to save money to help build a home for Gladys and Margaret's family.  A true testament of the Lord at work through this ministry.  Along with the educational and physical needs, he is also very clearly at work in their lives spiritually.  Margaret  passionately shared with me that first and foremost she must keep God first in her life.  That he has provided for their family and she knows he will continue to do so.  One day Margaret is going to fly herself to my country to visit me and then fly me back to visit Kenya.  I am praying for that day, would you pray with me too?

After the intense football (soccer) match.  Gladys is next to me in the middle with the shirt that reads "Blue."

The last highlight will be a brief overview because I'll share a full post on it later.  I spent my birthday in Kenya.  I have been blessed with an amazing family and friends here in the States for my entire life and thanks to you all I've had some awesome birthdays.  But I have to say that this year was THE BEST birthday.  It was spent playing field games, encouraging students on the ropes course, building new friendships, getting "watered," and visiting a vocational school for girls with disabilities.  But the thing that stood out far more than what I "did" on my birthday was the genuine, deep, pure love that I was showered with (both literally and figuratively) throughout the entire day.  Girls I had hardly even met were coming to give me huge birthday hugs. There were many renditions of "Happy Birthday" sung, a lot of water thrown at me, and a continuous joy stirred in my heart.  Pure joy that only comes from the Father.  Our Heavenly Father was so gracious to me as those girls revealed how deep his love is for us.  And once again, my heart was forever changed. How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure.  I pray that He continues to be glorified because the sweet love and joy I experienced on my birthday was not about me, but about the relentless and beautiful love he has for us, which he reveals through others.  For me, it was clearly revealed in the eyes, words, songs, hugs, and smiles of 77 incredible Kenyan high school girls.

With Loise on my birthday.

We sang "Amazing Grace" several times on our trip.  The words are such a true depiction of not only what I was able to experience this trip, but also the reason I was able to experience it all.  What amazing grace Christ has shown me to save me, that I might share in the pure joy and love that he desires for me.  What amazing grace he has given to those beautiful girls.  And what amazing grace that one day we will all get to bow at his feet together, worshiping him forevermore.  I pray that Loise and Margaret and the many others who you will hear more about, always know how much they are loved by me.  But much more than that, I pray they will always know how much they are loved by our Heavenly Father and how sweet his amazing grace is for them.