Asante Sana!

"Thank you very much"

Thank you for all your prayers, concerns, and encouragement throughout this entire trip. Here are some more fun highlights of my time here in Kenya...

The Kindergarten Class

The Second Graders

Emily and I ran in a "Fun Run" (4K) and watched all the incredible Kenyan marathoners, including the Olympic Gold medalists run their race. (FYI: We did not run in our skirts... haha)

We showed the movie, "Cars" on a projector and the children were in awe and thought we were magic because we made "talking cars show up on the wall." My favorite quote of the night was, Brian Chibet saying, "Auntie Kori, that movie was saweeet!" (Not typical lingo from a Kenyan) I laughed for awhile about that one!

Stefany, Mary, Sharon, and Tabitha getting ready to perform a song at church. Adorable. :)

There are many more stories and pictures of my trip, and when I get home I plan to post an album. But, for now you can look on Emily's blog at and another mini missionaries blog where there are excellent pictures and videos. Their blogs are listed on the side of my blog. 

See you soon!

Flowers of Grace

There are many flower stands along the roads of Kenya and the flowers are more than beautiful. So, last weekend Emily and I stopped to buy some for a friend’s birthday. We were amazed at the beauty and happy that we had money left over after we had bought such a big bundle.

As we were walking back to the car I noticed a girl around my age who was sitting quietly and seemed as though she was weary and tired. I felt like the Lord was telling me to hand her the money I had left over and talk to her about Him, but I disobediently kept on my journey and went on my own way. Needless to say, I beat myself up for the decision I had made the whole car ride home…

Later on this week I was doing the Asbury Journal and was answering the question, “Where has Satan attempted to ‘stop’ you recently?” based on 1 Thess. 2:18, when Paul, Silas, and Timothy are trying to get to the Thessalonians so they can speak with them and encourage them, but “Satan stopped (them).”

As I was thinking back on my weeks here I immediately thought of the precious girl at the flower stand and could not get her off of my heart. So, I decided to confess my disobedience to Emily and told her what had happened, when Emily realized which girl I was talking about, she too confessed that she had felt like the Lord was telling her to talk to the girl as well.

Once we realized how disobedient we were and how we had given into the enemy, we knew we had to try to go back to the same flower stand and find the girl.

Fortunately, we were able to get to the stand this afternoon. But to our dismay she was not there when we arrived. So, we asked around and her co-worker, Edward, informed us that she was just on her lunch break and would return very soon.

As, we were waiting for her to return we decided to look for some flowers and asked Edward what the girl’s name was… And, of course, her name was Grace…

Grace returned to the flower stand and we were able to talk to her. We also were able to give her an envelope (that she opened after we left) with some money that she greatly needed. 

Although we went to bless them, we were by far, NOT the ones that were doing the blessing. We left the flower shop with bundles and bundles of flowers that were given to us without them even knowing why were we there.

In the midst of our disobedience, the Lord “Flowered us with Grace” in so many ways.

So, how has Satan attempted to "stop" you lately? Ask the Lord to reveal it and then let the Lord shower (or flower) you with His grace…

School Time!

Every day I wake up, go to devotions with all of the staff members of Rafiki, and then head off to school! I am helping in the Kindergarten and 2nd Grade classes. In each class I work one-on-one with the children who are a little bit behind. We work on reading, hand-writing, and math. It has been such a blast and such a privilege to work with these precious children.

My favorite student is Onesmus. He is in the kindergarten and struggles with reading, but we are working on it! Here are 2 pictures to show how precious he is...

 

Games Week was a blast!

So, all week I was the escort for the 2nd graders for "Games Week." As I said earlier it is very similar to VBS. We have sports, arts & crafts, enrichment, and music. The children love it when it is "Games Week" and my 14 children were a blast to be around. Here are some pictures of the activities throughout the week! Thanks for reading :)

"Frez-bee?"

I am loving these children! They are such a joy to be around and have truly been saved from darkness. The word is being engraved into their hearts and they are learning so much from the teachers and their given mamas.

This week is "game week" (which is very similar to VBS) I have the second graders who are so precious and very needy of attention and love. So i give them plenty of it!

Today I got to go on a "play date" with 4 onery, funny, preciou

s boys! On our play date I taught them how to play frisbee... But, first I had to teach them what a "frez-bee" was :) They learned very quickly and had an absolute blast! Here is a macho picture of them showing me how strong they are...

Their names are Aaron, Onesmus, Moses, and Amos

and below is a picture of us resting.

Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement, and support. Please pray that the Lord will provide more funds for this ministry, "Rafiki Foundation"- the electricity has doubled in price and is causing some stress on the financial side of things. And, continue to pray that these little precious ones will grow up in the Lord and become great leaders in their country. 

Love to all of you! 

Daily Bread

So, I am in Kenya! It has been amazing already. I love the precious children and the sweet workers here in Rafiki and was so extremely happy to see Emily. 

There is such a great need for love, food, and shelter here.

I want to share a story that I will never forget:

The first day I got here we went to see a house of one of the Rafiki workers, Joyce. She walked us through the town of the dirt roads filled with children, goats, and pigs. As she led us the sweet children stared and screamed "how are you, how are you, how are you" trying to mimic Americans. It was pretty adorable.

When we got to her house we were struck by the poverty even more. Joyce, is pretty well off in her town yet has very little to survive with. As she was hosting us in her 5x8 living room she humbly asked us to pray for her, that the Lord would provide her family the daily bread they needed. 

The next morning we had devotions with Rafiki Staff and Missionaries. I sat by Joyce. As we were listening to the devotions, thumbing through our bibles trying to keep up with the teacher, I came across a laminated bible verse that I had never literally been able to relate to but Joyce does everyday. The verse was Matthew 6: 25-28 which tells us not to about worry about our lives, but uses worrying about food and clothing as the examples. I gave this to Joyce and as she read this tears filled her eyes and she gratefully accepted it and immediately put it in her pocket.

I have never worried about if I was going to eat or drink or have clothing and shelter. I have more than enough daily bread, and I was humbled to know someone who worries about that very thing everyday.

Let's be grateful of our blessings and look for ways to share them. 

Jehovah Jireh

 Every time I prayed about raising support for my trip to Kenya I felt like the Lord didn't want me to ask anyone for money, I felt like He was saying "Just let me do it." After a lot of prayer and although I was still pretty doubtful, I obeyed what He wanted.

Throughout the passed couple of weeks the Lord has laid it on different people's hearts to give me money to go. I almost have every dollar covered... Praise the One who is faithful and will always provide...

I have been completely amazed once again of the Lord's provision.

Going to Africa!

I am going to Kenya Africa! I will be going with an organization called Rafiki, who raise and educate orphans through the love of Jesus and I will stay with one of my very best friends, Emily Sharp. I cannot believe that I get to go to Kenya, the Lord is so good and faithful. I leave October 3 and get back November 8. I hope to learn so much and hope that I can love on those children with my whole heart. 

Prayer requests: That I have confidence that the Lord will provide the funds I need to be able go, and that I will find clarity in where He wants me in the near future.

I love everyone who is reading this! Seek Him first and follow after His footsteps...

I have a blog now...

I have never had a blog before today- this is pretty fun. I am sure I will use it a lot in the near future as I am planning on being overseas!