A Worshipful Journey!

Here we are on the 4^th day of our trip.  Journey back in time with us and reflect on the Lord’s goodness.

Imagine, after 24 hours of travel across 3 continents, the North Pole, 8 time zones and the equator to finally arrive at our first resting place in Nairobi, Kenya.  All our luggage (57 bags worth including our carry-ons) arrived safe and sound and was loaded atop a matatu** (taxi…a BIG one) by Ryan, Dan and Brent passing 50lb. bags up to Michael standing on the roof.  (It was at this time we witnessed, first hand, Michael’s attempt at a genuine Kenyan accent. LOL! ) Our paparazzi aka Jennifer Hurt, emerged at this point. We all actually fit inside the matatu. Praise the Lord!! We paired off, like Noah’s Ark guest, two-by-two, except Ryan, our lone wolf.  We were grateful to rest at The Methodist Guest House, a clean, westernized, “2-star” hotel equivalent. How exciting it was to find a complimentary breakfast consisting of great omelets, bacon and red plum jam, enjoyed by Charelle, Pam R. and Lisa while Layne and Beth could eat their weight in homemade bread. De.Lic.Ous!! After breakfast, we were off to The Junction to exchange our currency, stock up on water, snacks and other necessities ie. dark chocolate, soda, gum, soaps and lotions. We could have easily mistaken The Junction for a DFW upscale strip mall, but for the small reminder from the heavily armed security officer that NO photography and video were allowed – even by Brent in front of the “Celebrate Dad- June 17^th “ Father’s Day sign or Stella who just wanted a video documentation of our trip to the Big  Capital City!  TANGENT: Bet you didn’t know Father’s Day was a holiday recognized in Africa. We didn’t forget you dads, husbands, granddads, brothers and uncles! Happy Father’s Day!

All stocked up, we headed down HIV highway toward Maai Mahiu , where Naomi’s Village is located. On our new matatu, Maggie initiated a 30-minute “quiet time”: time set aside for quiet, prayerful reflection and journaling before arriving to the children- not an easy feat for this group. Along the road we found ourselves at the top of the Great Rift Valley, believed by many Kenyans to be the birthplace of creation. It certainly looked like it could be! What a beautiful site. As we twisted and turned down a narrow two-lane, paved road with the valley on the left and the mountain on the right ( we are driving on the “other side of the road” and hence, cliffside) we descend into the Great Valley. 

Did I mention Noah, the ark and 40 days of rain already? Well, we saw and felt first hand the effects of what 40 days of rain in a barren land can do.  Everything was GREEN! Life was evident and there was little dust.  There were trees blossoming with yellow flowers, lavender flowers and acacia trees spread throughout. The rain also literally split open the earth. The roads were not only eroded but there are divides where raging rain water had formed rivers where the dirt road used to be.  The land was now dried but the evidence is still present: large parts of the road leading to Naomi’s Village were now a gorge and navigating around the enormous ruts with our heavily weighted down matatu was a course only a talented Kenyan could accomplish. There were even moments when we thought we would need to get out to keep the bus from tipping over into the wedge. At one point all 19 of us had to literally lean to the left, quickly followed by a lean to the right to keep our balance. We saw a donkey-driven carriage and motorcyclists conquering this amazing obstacle course created by “mother nature”.  And in time, we made it!

Seeing that beige, stone welcome wall /gate with the beautiful green and red NV logo was so exciting! Everyone started snapping pictures. Almost instantly we saw James (the NV groundskeeper ) and Dr. Bob approaching the gate to welcome us. This long awaited trip became real.  Coming through the iron gate and seeing the beautiful red clay shingled roof with the amazing mountains as a backdrop along with the luscious, thick green grass was a sight to behold. This was an orphanage in Kenya? What!? No, this was a miracle God had planned and created to rescue the hearts of many children and countless adults! We were greeted with such genuine love from James and quickly began orientation. After 90 minutes of orientation we were more than eager to lay our hands on the children. The children were overjoyed to see Ginny, Michael, and Amesha’s familiar, returning faces.  With toothpicks in hand Hayley, Megan, Auntie Stella, Pam T., Amesha and Charelle spent much of the afternoon unbraiding many of the little girls’ hair in preparation for washing and rebraiding on Sunday, while the others played various games and sports with the  boys in the courtyard. We debriefed as a team and the women went to their dorms while the men went to their dorms for unpacking and settling in. 

“…And there was evening and there was morning – the first day.” Genesis 1:5

And what a morning it was!!!! 17 diverse women sleeping in one open room reveals things of the heart. Beth, our resident “drug dealer”, administered a variety of sleeping aids due to such fatigue and jetlag. What we quickly learned were the side affects to “ sleeping” aids. JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!!! 2AM the day of wonderful noise began! Snoring and sleep-singing and sleep-screaming, tossing, turning, wood creaking beds and the screeching sound of dive bombing birds as they attacked another bird were just a sample of sounds that interrupted our much need sleep. Even earplugs were limited in their drowning out of such an orchestra. Talk about feeling like a zombie when the rooster sounded! Many of us did not sleep soundly and broken sleep is horrific sleep. But the noise turned to wonderful delight as we heard the worshipful singing of the children. And Maggie filmed it all, as our trip videographer. In turn, we attempted to bring a joyful noise to the Lord. I’m sure it was pleasing to His heart but not to His ears or the children’s.

After a sweet time of English and Swahili worship, Rebekkah delivered a God-centered lesson on the loving character of God, as seen in the redemption story of Joseph and his brothers. Lunch was served and after clean up 14 of our team members went on a walk outside the iron gates of Naomi’s Village to explore the surrounding land. After the hike, much of the afternoon was spent in true Kenyan fashion – a slow pace, worry-free, relational Sabbath! Dinner was served  - lentils, brown rice and a warm cabbage based slaw, along with green skinned oranges. That’s right – GREEN oranges. They’re that green!

Both nights members of our team have read bedtime bible stories to the children, translated by Auntie Ruth and go into the children’s dorms to pray with them and  tuck them in for sweet dreams. What a sweet privilege to have a hand in their spiritual development as parents would. The day was concluded with the beginnings of team members sharing their salvation testimonies and receiving affirmation and encouragement in response to one another. Dan and Jonell blessed us with their transparency and praise to God’s complete faithfulness to them during the course of their 44 year marriage. How sweet it is to have them on our team, in our lives and in the body of Christ! Megan braved the testimony hot seat tonight as well and her passion for the nations to know the one True God and obedience to His call on her life was contagious.

“….And there was evening and there was morning…..” 

-Charelle & Layne (your detail-oriented bloggers...we know you want it!)