Nairobi, Kenya - "Jambo!"

A memory from Kenya - 

 We all met in front of a church right outside of Nairobi, Kenya. It was May, and the weather started out cool; later on, I got a sunburn even with my sweatshirt on, but this was one of the most beautiful days I've ever experienced. 

"We will break you all into teams; you will each get a street and then talk to as many people as you can," said the pastor that was hosting us. His thick African accent made it hard to understand every word at times, but thankfully our friends from Kubama (the ministry that we worked with the most) translated whenever we needed it. There was a mix of Americans and Africans in our huge circle of volunteers. "Today, we get to share the gospel with the families living in the slums. There is a lot of drug abuse, broken families, and hopelessness where we're going today. So just love on these people and show them the hope that they have in our heavenly father." 

And then we left. In my group, there were three of four women from Kubama, and then a few of us from SEU. I didn't know what to expect, so with my camera around my neck, and my team around, we headed down the first street that we could find. We encountered a few women doing laundry first, they washed everything by hand and then hung it on the line that was tied between the two houses (or rather huts) that made up the neighborhood we walked through. There was trash all over the place, small fires burning here and there, and chickens running around us. We met a small group of children as we walked; I tried to say hi and talk to them as much as possible. "Jambo," I said! An informal greeting that I was taught by my friend Tabitha, an incredible woman who was one of our guides during the week. 

We walked up and down the streets for a little while; some of the Kenyan women on our team had begun talking to an elderly woman and her daughter as they were sitting outside of their house. It was made of mostly dirt, the tin roof didn't make for a super sturdy shelter. And the only door that they had that I could see was made out of curtains. As they chatted with them I had better luck connecting with the kids who spoke about as much English as I spoke Swahili. The little girls came around me and loved to touch my hair, their's was so beautiful and curly - so it was unusual for them to see a white girl with long mostly straight hair. 

Before I knew it I was sitting on the dirt road with six kids around me. They began braiding my hair  - I was being pulled in every other direction, but if I provided a bit of entertainment for them I didn't really mind. After a while, we kept walking on the street with a gang of kids (that had become our friends) walking alongside us the whole time. 

There were kittens running all over the streets, goats and sheep everywhere you looked, and dogs running between the huts as we wandered. There was a small school that had bible verses on the outside that we walked by, and there was a teacher and a few kids on the inside. And as we reached the end of the street we had a group of almost 20 kids playing with us. "Do you guys know any songs?" I asked, and they then began to sing songs that I had heard way too many times! Songs like "baby shark", and "He's got the whole world in his hands," and then we got to teach them a few that we knew. 

My friends, Kylie and Josh, got to lead the little group in some zone songs, they loved the dance moves and quickly caught on to everything we were teaching them.

As the end of the afternoon rolled around we headed back to the church, our whole group still following! Some of us had kids on our shoulders, a few had one child on each leg as they trudged along, and a few of us just held hands with as many kids as we possibly could as we walked back. They were truly some of the kindest, most beautiful kids that you'll ever meet. While they didn't have a lot, they had some of the most joy that I'd ever seen.

We shared the story of Jesus with them, but so many of them already knew it. They told us about Jesus, and about what he did for them. How he loves them, how he died for them, and how his father created the whole earth. This is think blew me away the most, I was expecting to come and meet people who knew close to nothing about Jesus, but on the contrary - I encountered a country and a people who knew Jesus. Who's faith was embedded in their culture and whose hope was undeniable. And while, glory to God, there were people who were saved that day during our day of street ministry, I think that they inspired me and encouraged me more than I ever could have imagined. 

On this trip, while we got to see over a thousand people come to know Jesus while we were there, GLORY TO GOD, I think what inspired me the most was how much these people love God. I encountered a country with the most loving, most inspiring, and most joyful people I've ever met. I encountered poverty, I encountered sickness, and I walked into a church that had to be guarded by officers with massive guns every service. I encountered missionaries who have a passion for their people to know and serve Jesus. I learned that our work is never done, that we are God's hands and feet, and that I have so much to be grateful for. 

Asante Sana Kenya! (Thank you so much) I love you so dearly, and can't wait to return!