Kisumu, Kenya for 2 whole weeks….YAY!!!!
We ended up leaving Nairobi a day early to get to Kisumu to help the LIA Kisumu staff prepare for the two big Short-Term Teams that were coming from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. The first of these, a leadership team from the church, was only here in Kisumu for 2 days…one of their many stops in Kenya in their short trip. The second team was from the College/20’s Somethings Ministry (the Post), who were here for the entire week. One of our responsibilities as Interns is to help host any short-term team that comes to Kenya with LIA. I was really looking forward to this because it is something I have yet to experience, being on the side receiving a team, instead of being the team that is received.
During out time together, we did a lot of fellowshipping, encouraging and praying. The first half of our week consisted of many home visits, splitting up into groups mixed with a few “Post-ers”, an Mi2, some TOTs (trainers of trainers), and a pastor. We were able to visit homes in the community of the slum, talk with the widows, share our own testimonies, give a Word (aka encourage them and/or read an encouraging passage of the Bible), and pray with them. Most of these widows were disowned by their families after their husband died…after their extended family came and took from her whatever belongings they wanted. Many of these widows are taking care of their own children, grandchildren, and children of other families. I believe they encouraged us more than we could encourage them! After our home visits in the afternoon, we would come back to the church to find the Leadership Team playing with 50-100 kids, all who gathered to play with the mzungu! (aka..white people). We all joined in to a massive game of duck duck goose…along with several picture taking opportunities.
On the Thursday of that week we mixed it up a little bit. In the morning we all went to the Kisumu Children’s Remand Home (refer to Sam’s blog for more details) and were able to sing and build relationships with those children. That afternoon we all visited a high school in the Dunga slum (refer to Molly Ray’s blog for more details) and shared testimonies of how faithful God is through the difficult times in our lives (a high school girl came up to us afterwards and said how encouraged she felt because she was under the impression that “white people” never struggled).
To end the week with the Post team…we had a wonderful game day with the LIA staff and our friends in the Kenya church. After a very serious volleyball tournament (congratulations to team Revival Salvation!) we had our first annual Kentucky vs Kenya Egg Toss! (congratulations Molly Ray and Kevin!) No need for clean up after that, thanks to the cows that roam the church grounds…oh the perks of being in Kenya!
It was such a joy getting to know these teams! (Especially for me, since I will be coming home to Louisville in August to over 20 new friends and church family!)
What God is doing in my life: I appreciate God’s sense of humor more and more every day, especially when He decides to push me out of my comfort zone and make me preach at church on Sunday in Kisumu. Oh how He loves to prove His faithfulness, it was definitely a Spirit led service. Coming back to Kisumu for the second time (the first time being 2 years ago) was an incredible experience. I was able to visit with people I already knew and become friends with some that I now consider family and will never forgot…and can’t wait to see again one day!
Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)
--Katie Lane
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