Africa Mission Trip – Day 10

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Well, it is with mixed emotions I type on this blog tonight for our ministry time here in Africa has come to an end. Tomorrow we do some souvenir shopping and then travel back to Nairobi to catch our plane back to America. It has been an amazing trip and I can’t wait to share some personal stories about our trip this Sunday and I can’t wait for you to hear how God has worked in our entire team on Sunday, June 30.

This morning was another early morning, but not quite as early as the past few days. Breakfast was served at the Smith’s house at 6:30 AM. We had some of the best biscuits and gravy I have ever tasted. We loaded up our busses and headed to Bible Baptist Academy of Olorian, the school connected with our missionary, Vernon Smith’s church. We made it to the school early enough to take part in their morning exercises.

Today we partnered with two other churches to facilitate a Day Camp for this school from kindergarten to seventh grade. The day consisted of five different “stations” that the entire school would rotate through. The stations included Bible story, music, games, crafts, and science. Our group was responsible for the Bible story and the music. Both Tammy and Craig did a great job of preparing and leading in these two areas.

I don’t know how Craig especially maintained his voice after leading these kids in singing new songs all morning long. They weren’t quiet songs either. The kids enjoyed screaming at the top of their lungs, “Praise ye the Lord.”

The rest of our group spread out and served in the areas they felt most comfortable.

Tammy reminded the kids that God can do BIG things no matter what size you are.

 

The Day Camp ended with a chapel service where several different groups from the school made special presentations.

Afterward our drama team was able to present The Redeemer one last time. Even after seeing it hundreds of times I still get goose bumps after watching that drama.

After chapel we enjoyed eating lunch at the school with the students. It was a very typical lunch day for them consisting of rice and beans. Makes me thankful for all those lunches that I have that I far too often take for granted.

After lunch all three groups loaded up into the busses and headed to downtown Arusha to play New Hope’s version of The Amazing Race. Every one had to divide up in teams of 4-5 and were given a set amount of money and a list of items written in Swahili.

The challenge was to translate the items needed and head across the street to the local market to barter and/or purchase all the products.

It was a timed event with points also given for completion of tasks and quality of products purchased.

I thought I would do good and picked a team with a couple of my good friends from Bible College that happen to be here as well. One is a pastor in the Dallas metro area and the other is a new missionary to Ethiopia. My strategy did not work out so well since my team came in second to last place, but it was a lot of fun.

After our afternoon game we made it back to our housing to rest for about an hour before church began at 5:00 PM. Wednesday night church here is basically how they do a traditional Sunday School hour. We met for corporate worship and greetings in the main auditorium along with their weekly Bible drill contest. It was boys verses girls. I wish I could say that the boys won but I can’t say that. Tonight we were able to just be attenders to church. We have been partnering with a small group from McLean Bible Church in Washington D.C. and they spoke in all the classes tonight. One of the areas that really stood out to me was the huge number of youth at church tonight.

After church we were very privileged to enjoy the hospitality of one of the church members as our entire group of almost forty were invited to dinner at their 10’x20’ home. We were told ahead of time that this family most likely lives on $200 per month and it would be close to $100 to feed this many people. This precious family has been a part of the church since it started here ten years ago. They have two elementary age girls that they taught to tithe and give from a very early age. For dinner we had rice and beef, boiled bananas, salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, and a hot sauce that my mouth is still on fire from.

After dinner we were asked if we could make a visit to their next door neighbor, that is also a member of the church, to pray over their daughter Esther. Allow me to give you a little backstory first. Allow me to introduce you to a young man named Luka. Luka was raised in a very traditional Maasai village. About four years ago Luka found his way to Arusha and Bible Baptist Church of Olorien where Vernon Smith is the pastor and was looking for work. Vernon offered him a job as a gate guard for the church and school and also took him under his wing. It wasn’t too long before Luka became a follower of Christ. He has gotten very involved with the church and has grown greatly in his relationship with Jesus. Luka heard about a year ago that his dad was preparing to sell his daughter (Luka’s sister) to the chief of his Maasai tribe (this is very normal practice in their culture). Luka’s heart was broken for his sister so he made a commitment to save every penny that he could. He and his wife sacrificed greatly but saved enough money to go and “buy” his teenage sister from his dad to prevent her from being sold to the tribal chief. Tonight I got to meet Saphina, his sister who now has a hope and a future. It was this families house that we visited tonight, but our reason for the visit had nothing to do with this history. The reason for our visit was to pray over little Esther. Two weeks ago she was helping prepare dinner which was over an open flame outside (very normal practice). As she was placing another log on the fire she lost her balance and fell close enough to the fire that her skirt caught a spark which then caught her nylons on fire. By the time they were able to get the fire out she had received devastating burns on both of her legs. Fortunately, the medical clinic that North Park supports heavily on a monthly basis was near by and they rushed her to see Dr. Byemba. He was able to help her but she has terrible 3^rd Degree burns on both legs, especially on the front of her knees. There is a good chance that if this medical clinic was not there that she would have lost both legs by the time she would have made it to a hospital. Little Esther still has a long ways to go. This happened two weeks ago and she just took her first steps since then today. She will have much therapy to continue to make sure her muscles function properly. All the pastors that were present made our way into this 10’x20’ home and around this beautiful little girl to pray over her. My heart sunk as I placed my hand on her shoulder and prayed over her. Would you pause right now and pray for Esther. She is five years old and has a very rough road ahead of her. Also pray for Luka, his wife and his sister.

After dinner we made our way back to the Smith’s house for our last night of wrap-ups before we leave. We sat in a circle for about an hour individually telling stories of how this trip has changed us. I am not going to go into details on this right now because I want you to hear it directly from them. This one thing I will tell you, if you have been praying for changed lives then God has been answering your prayers. I don’t think any of us are returning the same way we came.

The next couple days are going to be very long and exhausting days. I do not know if I will be blogging anymore until after I get back home. If this is it, then I say thank you for taking the time to read through it while we were gone. I pray that you feel as if you were a part of our trip. If you have been praying for us then I say, “Thank you.” You are a major reason why God worked like He did. I will be posting at least one more blog about this trip, maybe even by tomorrow, that is kind of a wrap up.

Please pray that we have safe travels the next 48 hours. (It is crazy to think in less than 48 hours we will all be back home.) Pray that this trip changes us forever, not just for a short time.

Until tomorrow (or Sunday) …