Shauna Niequist writes in her book Cold Tangerines that "Africa is nothing if not evocative...and you will never for the rest of your life be able to wash away what you see and hear there." Now that I have spent a bit of time actually living in Africa and not just hearing about what it is like, I can completely understand what she means. I was dying to know before I left exactly what it is about Africa that is so evocative and inexplicable, and what I've come to realize is that it's EVERYTHING. The smells, the tastes, the sounds; the warm, welcoming faces of literally everyone you meet; the expansive, gorgeous views of Kenyan fields and mountains that seem to go on forever and ever into the distance. There absolutely IS something about Africa that seeps into your skin and makes the experience of it difficult to explain words - it's so...unique. colorful. tangible. raw. real. People who have been to different parts of Africa also tend to say that Africa isn't at all what you expect - that you will be completely shocked once you actually experience it. That I have to disagree with. To be honest, Kenya is pretty much exactly how I imagined it would be. It looks how I pictured it, feels how I thought it would feel, and the people act and interact how I expected they might - joyful, warm, and more hospitable than you could even imagine. I don't know if I'm just really good at guessing or if God was preparing my heart for contact with the culture and the people, but either way, I love it here. Praise God for that!
This past week, for 8 days, we lived in the town of Rare (rah-reh), among a village of people of primarily the Turkana tribe (and some Kikuyu and Maasai as well). It's about a 45-minute drive from Kijabe, and Pastor Simon is currently planting a church in this area, so we set up our tents in the church building and traveled (either walked or took a Matatu - Kenyan bus/taxi) into the village each day to spend time with the people, get to know them and hear their stories, pray for them, and build relationships with them. I was consistently struck as we went house to house by how grateful and optimistic the people we encountered were - even though many of their situations included hardships - sickness, a meager source of income, more children than they could provide for - the vast majority possessed a hope and a joy in the Lord that I had never before witnessed. Many had prayer requests and rarely turned down prayer or the company we offered, but they often stressed how they trusted in God to provide and recounted how He blesses them constantly in their daily lives. I have already learned and gained so much from these people - their hope in the Lord is inspiring and their joy is absolutely contagious.
What day-to-day life looked like this past week: We woke up each morning around 7:30, ate breakfast together at 8, studied a chapter from Ephesians each morning in our smaller ministry teams (our group is split up into 3 smaller groups), and headed out into the village around 9, returning home anywhere from 3-5. At night we would eat dinner and have group discussion on a chapter of the book Radical by David Platt (a must-read!), and then just talk and hang out until bed. A couple of the days we also spent time at 2 different primary schools, playing with the children, singing songs, and teaching them Bible stories. I have to tangent briefly to talk a little about the children. Each and every child I have met - and let me tell you, there are TONS of them - is absolutely filled with pure and unabashed joy, and is overflowing with excitement and energy. Their eyes and smiles radiate, and you can't help but catch their contagious laughter. They'll see you walking towards them from 50 ft away and start sprinting towards you, shouting and laughing, and when they finally reach you they jump into your arms (which you better hold open for them to jump into, otherwise they'll knock you over!) to greet and embrace you. If this isn't the most beautiful picture of God's overwhelming, unconditional, crazy love, then I don't know what is!
Overall, I saw God move in incredible ways this past week. I wish I could tell you all every individual story, but I promise when I get home I will share details and specifics with each and every one of you if you would like :) Until then, here are some highlights from this past week living in Rare!
- playing games with the kids at the schools - "paca paca pana" (cat cat mouse) and having the girls play with my hair and singing songs with them - in English and Kiswahili!
- hiking up the mountain behind the place where we stayed - absolutely breathtaking view from the top
- meeting Regina and Jackson - an elderly Kenyan couple whose joy and trust in the Lord brought me to tears
- the food - basically, it's amazing and I want to eat it for the rest of my life! - some staples are fried dough (taste like doughnuts, we eat them pretty much every morning!), pancakes with butter and jam, all different kinds of fresh fruit, rice and stew and veggies (also, on our last night there, we actually got to slaughter a sheep and make a FEAST of stew, curry, ribs, rice, etc...it was TO DIE FOR)
- using squattie potties, a.k.a. a hole in the ground...very rustic :)
- bonding with my team - we're already a family and I love them all so much!
- smiling and dancing with Sylvia (7 yrs old) at the worship services on Friday and Saturday - she touched my heart so much
- learning phrases of Kiswahili! Some of my favorites: Wewe ni rafiki yangu = you are my friend; Mungu anakupenda = God loves you! Tutaonana = see you later!
- helping Maria (an older Turkana woman) build a mud hut! We would pick up handfuls of mud and slap it right on there...if that doesn't make you feel like a legit African, I don't know what will!)
- praying and praying and praying for RAIN for this village which hasn't had sufficient rain for their crops in weeks (maybe even months) and then seeing it come, and not just sprinkle, but POUR every afternoon or evening for the next four days. PRAISE GOD! (ask me about this story later because it's way cool but I can't type all the details right now :))
- meeting and building a relationship with an elderly man named Awillo - it was amazing to see how he slowly opened his heart to us and let us into his life.
Much love and tutaonana!
Bethany
Thanks for such a full and interesting blog entry! It is great to hear of God's answers to prayer already. I'll have to check out the book, too!
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