I have wanted to for awhile now write down my experience in Kenya or at least scrapbook but neither have happened until now. Now I'm not the type of person who is afraid to leave home, in fact I love being away from home! Millions of miles away from my nagging sisters?! Sign me up! lol jk But since I was young, my mom and I always talked about going to Africa on a missions trip and in 2008 we we're blessed enough to go on the trip. By the way huge thank you to all my family and friends who sponsored me! Couldn't of done it without you.
It all started August 10th, 2008. We enjoyed a long 18 hour flight and then we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. We go to meet some of the staff (Francis, Maggie, Elzbeth, Anne, Sella, Michael, and Joshua)that we we're going to work with through an organization known as CCP or Chosen Children of Promise. They gave us a tour of the slums and at that moment I realized just how blessed I am. As you drive down this red dirt road you see such poverty. People living in little tin rooms the size of out-houses, little 3 year olds walking around bare foot, lots of stray dogs feeding off the trash in the road. Most people don't even own a bed. It was just shocking to me. Words couldn't describe the feelings I felt. But the amazing part about all of that, is that these people are more grateful than anyone I have ever met. That's actually kind of sad if you think about it cause the one's who have nothing are appreciative and the one's who have everything aren't. Lesson of that day: Never take anything for granted. Anyways we got the privilege of praying with these families in their homes. Such an amazing moment cause you really saw the hearts of these people and the rawness of their lives.
Our 3rd day in Kenya we really got to see the beauty of Gods creation by going on an incredible safari through the African plains. We saw pretty much every animal from the Lion King. lol It was so crazy to me seeing animals out in the wild with no gates in between us. Kind of scary but definitely more exciting!
I'm not going to write down every detail of our trip but I definitely want to talk about the main reason we came to Kenya. We came to spread the Word of God and show love to His people and we did that by running a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the kids in Nairobi. Before we came on the trip our team divided into 4 groups: Bible Stories, Music, Games, and Art&Crafts. We all worked really hard in preparing fun things for these children to do while incorporating the message of Gods grace and unfailing love. I think the kids really enjoyed it and our whole team really bonded well with these kids. It was sad when it was time to pack our bags and say goodbye to these people we had grown so close to in our short time there. People were trying to hold in tears but I'm glad we could make an impact on their lives, cause they definitely changed ours.
