July 18, 2012

Just a Few Stories :)

Well I have so many stories I really do not know where I would be able to start. After telling my family stories for hours and hours I realized how much I did while I was there and how much God taught me.  So here are just a few stories to start off and you probably will hear these stories again some time:)  Here is a video of the kids teaching me Swahili :)  


While we were there we did a few odds and end jobs. Such as cleaning "bathrooms", painting, milking cows, making meals, and most definitely play with the kids:). I want to tell you a little bit about cleaning the bathrooms. They have two main bathrooms for everyone to use and because these children and workers are so used to living in mud huts and on the streets they do not use toilet paper but instead their hand. This seems "gross" to us but it really is their culture and way of life. Karissa and I went into one of the bathrooms and cleaned it for 6 hours. It was well worth the hard work because when we were done it smelled like lavenders:) haha! It was definitely one job I never imagined doing in my life but we did and it was well worth it because it gave the workers a break and helped clean up the place a bit!! 

While we were there we did a few odds and end jobs. Such as cleaning "bathrooms", painting, milking cows, making meals, and most definitely play with the kids:). I want to tell you a little bit about cleaning the bathrooms. They have two main bathrooms for everyone to use and because these children and workers are so used to living in mud huts and on the streets they do not use toilet paper but instead their hand. This seems "gross" to us but it really is their culture and way of life. Karissa and I went into one of the bathrooms and cleaned it for 6 hours. It was well worth the hard work because when we were done it smelled like lavenders:) haha! It was definitely one job I never imagined doing in my life but we did and it was well worth it because it gave the workers a break and helped clean up the place a bit!! 

 I also got to milk a cow which was very different for me. I am not much of a farm girl but this was kind of fun in a way...lol I might as well get used to it especially if I move back there someday :)   

In the left picture is Francis. Mike had met Francis 4 years before who was wearing the same outfit the day we met him as he was when Mike first met him. Mike led Francis to the Lord 4 years earlier. As we were walking through the market Francis came up to us and said hello and began to tell us about how his family had no food and were starving. We bought him food and then had him walk us back to his home so that we could make sure that his family actually got food.  What we found was eye opening his home was in a small row of mud huts and all the people started gathering around wanting to take pictures of us because in Kenya if a white person walks into your village or home it’s a high honor.  We were able to come back later that day and tell Francis we had a job for him back at the orphanage. The people  wanted to take more pictures.  

This lady on the right was the mother of Francis. She kept telling me how her back hurt and it was hard to understand her because she spoke very little English but then she talked about how bad her feet hurt her and she was looking down at mine so I decided to let her try my shoes on. So she did and they were a perfect fit. She was so excited but then she took them off and was giving them back but I told her no no you keep them…and she started screaming and yelling saying “this is my first pair of shoes ever” and everyone was cheering  and she began to dance. It was amazing to think that something that seems so small to me to give away made such a huge deal to her. I was so honored that God was able to use me to spread Jesus’ love to this woman.

These are just a few stories. God did amazing things and was able to use me which I am so humbled by. The fact that God would use me is mind boggling. I am so thankful to those of you have kept up with my journey and I hope will continue to pray for me as I seek out God's will for my life. 
So full of life and happiness all
because of Jesus :) 






 "You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving." – Amy Carmichael


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