High School Visitors

As a follow-up to my last post, I'd first like to report that I survived my visit from the high school crowd and got to see God do some really cool things with them in the short time that we had together. On Thursday, I drove into town with Duncan and picked up the leader of the group, Mike Titus, who also happens to be one of the CFA board members. We made our way to the airport, where we hung out for a while and picked up the team of 11 juniors and seniors - and ALL of their bags. Turns out they had brought a bunch of missions supplies, so we had our car and two vans packed FULL of stuff for the trip back to Limuru! We made it back to the house at about 11:30pm, ate a great dinner that Jane and Kevin prepared for us, and then waited for the group to get tired...which took until 2am. I was amazed at how much energy they all had, especially after being on planes for the previous two days!

We eventually managed to get some sleep, and after breakfast on Friday we split the team into two groups and took each one to a center - one to Banana Hill Baptist Church and the other to Kamirithu Assemblies of God. I went with the KAG group, and I was thrilled with how excited all of the kids were to see the center. They all took turns sitting in with our spiritual counselor, Paul, and our physical counselor, Eunice, and they did an awesome job of talking to the clients, asking them questions, and praying for them. While they weren't in the sessions with the clients, they got the added bonus of playing with a group of kids that were at the church for a kindergarten program - so much fun!

After about an hour of observing the center, I went with three of the team members and Paul to see how home visits work. We walked around the densely-populated, hilly Kamirithu area for about an hour and a half, stopping in two of the clients' homes to talk and pray with them, hear their stories, and try to encourage them. It was so amazing, as it always is, to see the joy that this brought both to our clients and to these high school girls. One of the clients, Margaret, kept talking about how happy she was to have visitors all the way from America and practically begged us to let her make tea for us while we visited!

Later in the afternoon we took the team into the city so that they could prepare for the next steps in their 2-week trip, so it was a short visit, but I am so thankful for what I got to be a part of during that time. I was so impressed by the genuine love that these kids demonstrated toward our clients, and I believe that they all got a new understanding of the HIV/AIDS crisis and how we are called as Christians to respond to it. Furthermore, this was the first American group to visit our newest center at KAG, so it was a bit of a test for Paul and Eunice. They passed with flying colors, though, and I'm incredibly thankful for the amazing job that they did of welcoming the visitors, engaging them in their work, and explaining to them all that they do. We really are blessed with exceptional people on our staff, and all the praise for that goes to God!

Please continue to pray for this group from Landmark Christian School as they spend the next week or so in Kenya, traveling around to schools and churches, performing dramas and musical evangelism. Pray that God would move through them and give them an experience that impacts both the team and all of the people they meet in a profound, lasting way!