SO here is the promised blog. This past week, I was on my outreach in the village of Mutai. It was the best experience ever. Where to begin. On our drive to the village, which is usually a 30 minute drive, took us around 2 hours. Why you may ask… well that would be due to the riots that were on the main road. We literally almost drove straight into one if we weren't warned about what was occurring.. The people of the villages along the main road were protesting the governments refusal to pave the road( after driving on it , I'm not surprised as to why, the road was terrible!) and so every car that drove on the road, they would throw bricks at. You would think hearing this that it would be something that would scare you away , but it just made the adventure have an epic beginning!!
So, we arrived at the compound in which we were staying at, and the compound was off of a little road and not blatantly in the middle of the village. I then noticed our sleeping accommodations. This was a tent. I was super stoked about sleeping in a tent in africa none the less. And it was enjoyable. Except for the rocky surface in which our bodies would try to find comfort in at night, that would have to be the downside to sleeping there. I could not have asked for a better group of people to be with at this time. After settling in ( which wasn't that hard), we went out and went to do a school ministry( in the top 2 of my favorite ministries). When we got there, ALL the attention was on us. Not a joke. The students that were in class all turned their heads towards us, and those who were already outside started swarming the car that we were in. ( it's our entourage). We couldn't manage to get our generator to work, so we had no sound system aka no music/dancing… we had to improvise. This involved us getting all the students to form a huge circle around us and then having us essentially yell when we would be sharing. I was told I was going to share for this time. I was nervous. Judith ( my roommate) prayed over me when she could sense my nerves. I then felt so empowered by God, saying "Have peace, for I will speak through you." It was crazy how true that was. I felt so comfortable going out in front of all of them, I even started walking while I was sharing ( big deal for me, I usually just stay put) and the words just flowed out of my mouth. I felt the attention of the students( aged 7- 19) all on me, but it didn't freak me out. After i finished, i got a well done handshake from members of my team, nice touch. Then, since we were unable to perform the dances or sing, we conducted what i like to call "strength exercises". What this entails is where my leader ( Masiu) and his brother ( Leki) do certain things that show the kids that these can only be done when you have peoples faith and God is the one who can give you the strength. These demonstrations would be having two iron bars duct taped together, with a towel in the center to not hurt your head. And then you placing your arms at both end and trying to bend the bars into the 'fish' shape. It blows me away each time they do it. When they did this, the kids were blown away by it ( as anyone would be). After that we would conclude and then depart in our separate ways. Then we would go back to where we were staying and relax until around 7, which is when the village dance party would begin. Literally, people of all ages would come to where we were staying and we would play music ( VERY LOUD) up until around 11pm. yikes! but the skill level of some of these kids and adults is ridiculous. After a while of dancing, we would receive our dinner at around 9pm, still playing the music I might add. It was a really fun time.
Every day would start out with us having our breakfast ( brown porridge and g-nuts… usually) and then getting ready for door to door ministry ( not my favorite). What door to door is, is when we break off into small groups and literally go house to house and preach to them about the Word of God. It is a very interesting experience you can only fully understand, once you have gone through it. We would do door to door for about 3 and a half hours. ( in the scorching sun) and then come back for lunch. After lunch we would get ready to go to a school to do our ministry. Same thing would occur at the schools as before but we would do our dances and skits when we had the generator working. I thoroughly enjoy going to the schools. At one of the trips to the schools, I absolutely fell in love with this little girl named Joann. I first met her when we were trying to distract the kids from noticing the fact that we couldn't get the generators to work. What better way to get their attention than by having a muzungu trying to African dance right?! Well that was me. I was in the middle of a huuuuuuge crowd of kids, they would sometimes come one by one and have a duel with me. ( they usually won, but I had a positive attitude :) ) I was trying my very very best to shake my hips like these little girls, and I am getting pretty darn good at it, i might add. Joann was one the little girls who has the most sincere faces I have seen, she is down right beautiful. She would smile at me through the crowd and then came and danced with me. Then we returned to the same school, and I saw her again and told her to come over to where I was. The first thing she did when she got there was she got down on one knee to show respect. Then I got her on my lap and she got the biggest smile. I held her for about half an hour before we had to leave. She stayed by the car until we couldn't see her anymore. Ah my heart soared.
Another instance when my heart soared was when we met a man named Geoffreys. Geoffreys was a man who was 25 years of age and would come and eat food where we ate. Geoffreys has the most joy out of everyone we have encountered. Geoffreys had very bad malaria at one point and it affected his mental state. Also, he has jiggers. For those of you who don't know what jiggers is ( I didn't), it is an insect the crawls into your skin and drinks your blood. They are usually found in dusty,dirty places. He had so many in his feet, legs,arms and hands. Well, on our last day in Mutai we decided to dedicate a day to helping Geoffreys. We went to where he stays and was blown away by the condition of his house. He shares a house with his founder brother (22 years) , but his brother is currently going to University and is unable to be around to help for the most part. So when we entered his house, it had a stench that was crazy. So we went and sprayed anti pesticides in his room and hallway to get rid of any pest that would live there. We also saw his mattress, which you could tell was secondhand, then me and masiu went to the nearby town to go and buy him a new mattress. When we returned with a new mattress, his smile was the biggest ever. Then, the two other guys on our team, Leki and Gad, went to bathe him and clean him up. This involved taking out the jiggers. I have not seen God shine through two guys so much as He did through them. Their spirits whilst cleaning him was so amazing. I was in awe. While they were cutting his nails and taking out the jiggers, Gad asked Geoffreys if he was feeling pain and Geoffreys response was "yes, but I know that God is going to heal me" when I heard this is made me cry. We then brought him new clothes that actually fit him, and then we prayed over him. Nearly everyone in our group of 7 was crying. Geoffreys had touched each of our hearts in a way we didn't know how to express. I felt changed by this experience, seeing how someone going through so much in his life, can have more joy than someone who is 100% healthy and has money. Such a different perspective.
We then returned home to people greeting us and saying "welcome back" a thousand times over. That will never get old. It is our family that we are coming back to and when you leave your family they will miss you. We all were on such a high the day we returned. Would go on another outreach like that in a heartbeat.
but fun fact!!!!!…. my parents come and visit in exactly 18 days!!!! ( that is the day that I will first see them) So excited!
Well I don't really know who all is still listening to my blog but yea, it feels so freeing to put all of this down on paper regardless of it people are reading it or not.
Love you all,
Tess
p.s. The picture is of me and Joann
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