Kenya worship and culture center

Another day to worship! We attended Judy Mbugua’s home church, which we attended last year. It was an amazing time of praise! With several worship teams, choir and instruments, we joined in familiar hymns in English and exuberant worship choruses in Swahili. We’re thankful that Swahili is a phonetic language so that we were able to sing along with the words on a big screen. Then there was a series of worship songs in various tribal languages, beautiful and joyful songs of praise to the Lord. Our team also sang the song that has become the “theme song” of this team, “Cry Out to Jesus.” It truly was a great time of worship.

After lunch, Judy hosted us for lunch in her home. The Mbugua’s home is a revolving door, always open to visitors, those in ministry, and anyone needing help. One of the couples hosting us in Meru joined us, as well as several pastors and their wives. We thoroughly enjoyed our time of visiting and the great food, and then dashed off to the Kenyan cultural show called BOMAS.

BOMAS is a show highlighting the native dress, dances, and music of some of the 42 tribes of Kenya. Dancers and musicians demonstrate the variety of styles in colorful costumes with drums and other instruments. Of course, the prominent instruments were drums, and can they ever play them! One of the boys with us on the team, Josiah, is a drummer and was especially looking forward to seeing the Kenyan drummers. Unknown to us, Richard Mbugua had made arrangements for Josiah to be invited to join in with the drummers for the performance with the amazing acrobat troop. You can imagine his surprise when one of the BOMAS men came up to him and told him to come with him to join in! It was such a treat for Josiah, as well as for us, for him to sit side by side with amazing drummers who graciously showed him some of their styles. Definitely a highlight for Josiah. This acrobat act is incredible, shades of Cirque de Soleil, complete with fire eating and hat juggling, as well as amazing pyramids and tumbling. During the last act, one of the dancers enlisted Judy to dance with him and the dance troop, then urged Phil and his daughter, Samantha, onto the stage. They were great sports and enjoyed the rhythmic steps of the Kenyan music.

Now we are packing up for the journey to Meru, which is a rural farming community about 3-4 hours from Nairobi (depends on the condition of the pot holes and if we encounter rain). We have been blessed by dry days, having rains only at night, so rain hasn’t interfered with activities; we’re praying for the same in Meru.

This may be the last email before we return home; we probably won’t have access to email in Meru. We’ll be staying in the homes of our two hosts, Miriam and Leah, who work with Homecare Fellowship and the Pan African Christian Women’s Alliance, directed by Judy Mbugua. Miriam and Leah have spearheaded the ministry in Meru, their country home of origin. Please do pray for us and the people we will serve in Meru. After arriving in Meru, we will go to visit in the rural hospital where many AIDS patients, both adults and children, are treated. There are only 70 beds available, but they often have more than 200 patients. We know it is going to be an intense experience, but we will be able to visit with patients, share and pray with them, as well as the health care workers of the hospital. We are praying that we can encourage and bless each person we meet in the hospital. Tuesday, we will go to a rural school and have total access to the students. Isn’t it amazing that here we can go into a public school, present the gospel and share scripture and be totally free to pray and share! We are looking forward to having this time with the children and know that it will be a great time for both the children and the team.

Wednesday, we will have a special time with the women of Meru. They face many struggles and challenges, and we will share testimonies, messages from scripture, as well as principles of basic health and hygiene and child rearing.

We do covet your prayers for our time in Meru. It will be a different environment from the bustling city of Nairobi, but we know that God has amazing things to reveal to us. We are praying that our hearts will be prepared to serve, that we can be sensitive and responsive to every opportunity to minister, and that it will be a blessed time for all.

We have all been so impacted by the graciousness of all the believers we have met. We have been made to feel so at home here. They have expressed such appreciation that a team from the US would come to be with them; just “being” with them seems to be a huge encouragement, the importance of which we are learning more and more. We have been struck by the level of commitment of the Christian workers, their passion and dedication and willingness to give and serve sacrificially. They have challenged us to examine our own level of commitment and how much we are willing to give of ourselves to minister to those in need, whether at home or in another country. Our time in Kenya has certainly stirred up a lot of emotions and questions about what it means to truly be a follower of Christ and how we flesh out our faith. We’ve got a lot to pray about and think through……and it’s a good stretch. The Lord is speaking to each of us in different ways, and although we don’t have it all sorted out yet, we are grateful that He is shaping and molding us, challenging and changing us.

I’ll close with some of the words from our “theme song” that are so very appropriate for Kenya. As you read them, pray for the people of Kenya, especially the widows, orphans, and the millions suffering in abject poverty.

“To everyone who’s lost someone they love, long before it was their time,
You feel like the days you had were not enough when you said good bye.
And to all of the people with burdens and pains keeping you back from your life,
You believe that there’s nothing and there is no one who can make it right.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary, love for the broken heart.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing. He’ll meet you wherever you are;
Cry out to Jesus; Cry out to Jesus.

To the widow who struggles with being along wiping the tears from her eyes.
For the children around the world without a home, say a prayer tonight.

When you’re lonely and it feels like the whole world is falling on you,
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus,
Cry out to Jesus.