Community/World | Serve somebody | Serve somebody

Hello friends, family, and supporters!

We arrived at Nairobi International Airport early Tuesday
morning…and with all of our luggage!

Exhausted yet excited after 36+ hours of travel, we loaded up the bus
and vans and drove through the heart of Nairobi to our hotel in Limuru
through heavy traffic and street vendors selling everything from
newspapers and soccer balls to a 3D version of the “Last Supper.”

Deanna Bjork, the founder of the Miracle House Orphanage and our host
while in Kenya, was a great tour guide as we drove north through the
city. The Nairobi University, Embassy Row, Parliament, and the sky
rises of Nairobi gave way to corn fields, rich red soil, and tea
plantations as we continued traveling north to our destination.
Monkeys in the parks and gigantic scavenger birds on billboards
reminded us that we were a long way from home.

We finally arrived at the Conference Center that we will be staying at
while in Kenya and were able to freshen up and drop our bags off in
our rooms before going through an orientation, led by Deanna and her
staff.

After a history of the Miracle House (which can be viewed at http://miracle-house.org) and some essential safety guidelines we prayed in anticipation for God’s guidance and boldness.

15 minutes later, as we were winding through tea plantations in our
vans, we rounded a bend and were confronted with the stark reality
ofthe Misri Slum.

The 10 acre shanty village is the home to a few thousand
residents…including roughly 500 orphans. We were greeted with broad
smiles and questions of “how-you?” as we navigated down the narrow,
red muddy roads on our way to the Miracle House in the center of Misri
(an appropriate name for the slum as it means Egypt – specifically the
Egypt in which the people of Israel were slaves and cried out under
the heavy hand of their oppressors.)

As we we reflected on the story of the Exodus, we were reminded that
God hears the cries of the oppressed and asks us to seek justice.
Isaiah 58:10, which I asked the high school students back home to read
daily while we were in Africa became very tangible as we stepped out
of the vans and into the slum. Orphans were everywhere running up to
us, holding our hands, and chanting over and over “how-you, how-you,
how-you?”

Over the next 2 hours we rotated as teams between leading children’s
programming inside the orphanage and walking the streets of the slum,
going door to door and talking with and praying for everyone we came
into contact with. Generally, people were thankful that we were there
and appreciated our prayers. A young Taylor named Jackson said that he
felt like our meeting was a divine appointment from God as he had been
discouraged lately. Our arrival, he said,   was a reminder that God
hears prayers.

The students on our team were amazing as they led prayers, asking
questions, giving hugs, and playing with the young kids.

It was apparent that their maturity and subsequent months of training
had prepared them for this moment. I was so impressed by each of them
and I am proud to be one of their leaders. I wish that each of you
could be hear to witness it all unfold.

Continued prayers are appreciated…everyone is healthy, happy, and
excited for another day of joining God in what God is doing here in
Kenya.

Drew

Tags: africa, Kenya, trip