The day started off with some fabulous worship and a time of orientation to our hearts into the spirit of awe and wonder at what we will be experienceing over the next couple days. We start with a theme for this week "Get your hopes up" lead by Angela Lear. In Romans 15:13 it says "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope". That is what we are doing this week, bring hope to the children and any others we encounter, but also to ourselves. We have this hope. In the greek this word hope means a confident certainity, and expectation. My hope this week is a word from the Lord.
We learned today that this is the very first ever vision trip to Kenya. Kenya started receiving shoeboxes in 1996.
We are to be encouraged, educated and equipped in our callings to be able to go home and share what we have experienced. I am writing this after my first outreach event and words cannot describe the joy on the children's faces. We are to remember the deeds of the Lord, reject any anxieties we may have, wipe away any preconceived ideas that we may have about outreach events. Don't just search out the "story", live in the moment. Get down on the ground, play with the kids, help them understand what is inside their boxes.
We are to be curious.
We are to be relentless in journaling, write down everything, because the memory will fade and events will run together.
We are to be that eye witness to the goodness of God and what he is doing here in Kenya.
We are to gather everything together and present in a beautifully God ordained message to those at home.
Did you know? BASBO boxes are featured here in Kenya. Kenya has a very strict customs imigration laws and they are strict as to what can and cannot come into the country. Kenya is know to be a hard to reach area for shoebox gifts getting in. We are literally being the hands and feet of Jesus this week by handing out the shoebox gifts.
So.
Outreach event number one took place at a school of 800 children. However, there were 300 chosen to receive the gifts this year. Why only 300? I'll tell you in a bit, but first, I want to share with you about the children that attend this school. When the school began it started with eight students, two of which were the founders children. This schools aim is to provide spiritual, academic and business training. The children face many challenges in life, many come from homes where parents are alcoholics or drug addicts and the entire family will live in a ONE room home. The children range from three to fourteen and have their spiritual, mental and physical needs meet. The school day typically will go from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm. The school began in 2006 and in 2018 tragedy struck when part of the school collapsed and 8 children died.
As we were driving to the school, we drove down areas of desolution, markets on the street, a huge caravan of people walking to a soccer game and had an aroma that was that of burining oil. Reminded me of growing up and going to my aunt and uncles home and being on the farm where he would work on old trackers restoring them to take them to the Fly wheelers events.
While driving to the event, Mike shared three scriptures with us: Collossians 3:23, John 6:27 and Psalms 90:17. We were reminded that many times ministry is gritty and sweaty. We recieved green sweat bands to remind us that we are doing the gritty work of the Lord.
The road was smooth until it was time to turn the corner to the event, then it was extremely bumpy. We were asked ahead of time for our safety to not be taking photos when we were in route to the school, it took about twenty five minutes from the hotel to get to the event, where we were greeted with a pink, white and red balloon arch.
Once we entered the ballloon arch we were to stay in the back of the room while the gospel presentation was given. The children were so focused, attentive and respectful during this time. The gospel is presented in a way that they can fully understand, hand motions are used in many of the stories. When we put motions and words together, I think it tends to stick a little more.
When it was time for our group to particpate we each had jobs, today I was the box cutter opener. It was my turn to open the cartons and slit one side of the tape on the boxes. Some handed out the greatest gift booklet. Some handed out the shoebox itself. Once we were sure that all children had received a gift we counted down 3, 2, 1 and the mayhem insued. The squeels of joy. The sound of laughter was everywhere. Some were even crying out of pure gratitude for her shoebox gifts. We were constantly told THANK YOU.
Upon leaving we met with Moses and Fresha, the founders of the school. He reminded us that while we may never make it to Kenya again we will one day see each other in heaven. We met in the room which was the cornerstone for the school where in the beginning days the children would sleep in that room. We were the first ever group to visit the school and to say it was overwhelming would not even begin to describe how we felt. The overflow of gratitude of Moses and Fresha was palpable.
We returned to the bus to debrief as we returned to the hotel. Some shared that one little girl when she opened her box, there was a letter with a photo. The little girl just started and intently read the words BEFORE looking at any of the gifts within her box.
One had a soccer ball that she was saving to give to her brother.
One was disapointed that he got a yo-yo, when others around him received harmonics. The boys switched gifts and the elation on their sweet faces said it all. They were so happy. One little boy showed me his toothbrush. We saw many giraffe stuffed animals, harmonics, yo-yos and soccer balls. Just about every box had a soccer ball and all the kids were so excited, they began pumping air into them immediately.
As I was walking thru I saw one little girl with tears running down her cheeks, I asked what was wrong and the other said that she was so happy, she was overwhelmed by the love and generosity for those that packed shoeboxes.
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