June Mission
Wow...June was a busy month and our 16 day Mission was no exception.
On June 14th, with the help of Joanna, Tabitha and Rachel, we packed up the truck (love the new luggage carrier!) picked up Amanda and started our journey “upcountry”. If your a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that the 8+ hour drive is rough and long...but with three girls in the truck there was lots of talking and story telling, so the trip went by quickly.
Upon our arrival in Kitere, we found that William had a full schedule planned and we had our first day of ministry Sunday June 15th at Kanga Boys High School.
Over the next 15 days - we conducted 12 in school ministry sessions, held a small two day info seminar to discuss Family Planning and other health issues for women and launched a new Income Generating Project for a group of local ladies.
On this Mission we were grateful for the participation of several “first timers”. Rachel Vineyard (University student from TN, who arrived in Kenya just 48 hours prior to traveling!) , Peter Murgor (from Nairobi) and Amanda Smith ( US missionary and nurse).
I love the way God puts a team together, using each persons gift and talents to support and build the whole body for His glory! For example, besides being a great speaker and teacher, Amanda used her nursing skills to minister and provide medical care for a young girl named Lilly (see above pic).
The day after we arrived we were shown Lilly’s arm which had received 3rd degree burns when her dress got to close to the open cooking fire. The burn area was quite large extending from the elbow to the shoulder.... and making matters worse toothpaste had been put on her burns (this is a local remedy that does NOT work) and had caused the whole area to become black, dried out and infected.
Amanda started treating the burn and used the opportunity to gently educate and instruct the mother & neighbors on how to care for such wounds. By the time we left Lilly’s arm was on the way to healing and she was once again laughing, running and playing........God is so good!
Another blessing that God gave our team, and the students we ministered to, was Rachel. How excited they were to hear from a fellow student, and someone their own age, talking about shared challenges such as sexual purity, academic success, and boy/girl relationships. Her willingness to answer their questions honestly and frankly along with her easy humor and contagious laugh -opened their ears and hearts to receive her message. Many young people were encouraged and transformed by “His message” given through Rachel. We will never know (but God does) how many recommitted in their hearts to draw closer to Him after hearing her personal testimony.
This Mission also marked our first time ministering to students’ at the Primary School age level. We found that speaking to children ages 10 to 14 is very different and that the attention span is much shorter than the older youth. To help engage their full attention we started including a short “icebreaker/introduction” time that allowed the kids to ask us questions they may have about Americas, and this turned out to be a most popular session.
Monday, July 7, 2008
