Words Can't Even Describe....

Wow, it’s hard to even explain the amazing opportunities and experiences I’ve been blessed to be a part of throughout the last week. Some of the plans regarding our team’s journey to Sombo in Northern Kenya ended up changing a little, and only five of us ended up getting to go: Sandy, Heidi, Kisha, Shannon, & myself. Heidi, Kisha, and Shannon stayed in the village of Sombo while Sandy and I went to Gabatu (an extremely remote village 6 miles away from Sombo through the bush, desert, and river beds. We left a day later than planned and made the six hour drive in the STL Land Rover with our awesome driver, Wilson. On the way, we got to see some of the incredibly beautiful mountainous landscape of Northern Kenya. We also had some crazy experiences on our journey, including one flat tire (which caused us to break down in the middle of the desert) as well as hitting a 5-foot tall stork and shattering the passenger window! Hope that bird’s ok! As we got closer to our destination near the Somolian border, the terrain became extremely sandy and dry. About one hour before reaching the village, we turned off the main road and went through the bush to reach the village. Sombo is an extremely remote place in the middle of nowhere., and some missionaries have started a school for the village children in the area. Some walk many, many miles every day to get to the school. Most everyone is of Muslim heritage and some are Somolians who have migrated over the border. The teachers are able to share about Christian religion in the school, which is the first any one in these unreached people groups have been able to hear about Jesus Christ. Most of the people there are folk Muslims, meaning that they do not actually practice Islam as we know. It’s more of a family heritage religion. Many are illiterate and do not even have a copy of the Koran. There is still much opposition to the Gospel; however, the teachers and missionaries are definitely making inroads in the community as they provide proper education to these people who are so thankful to be able to learn English and other regular subjects. The conditions in Sombo are extremely rural and rustic, so you can imagine the village Sandy and I stayed in 6 miles away!

Sandy and I were taken by some of the missionaries to Gibatu where we were warmly greeted by the tribal Wata people of the village. The Wata people are exactly what you expect as a tribe. They live in mud and grass huts and basically have extremely little resources. The children carry machetes and the people eat very little. They drink water straight from the river and many of them are scattered throughout the desert and back in the bush, which looks like a jungle! Nobody but a very few selection of people speak some scattered English. Most of them don’t even speak Swahili, Kenya’s official language. They speak Wata, their native tribal language. They are all of Muslim descent and no nothing of the world we know of. There is no electricity, no running water, and many of them have never traveled outside of their village. It’s a completely different world. I’d never seen anything like it. However, this world is SO beautiful. Regardless of the fact that we are Christians and some of the few white people (Mzungus) they’ve ever seen, they greeted us with such warmth and friendliness that I couldn’t believe it. The children danced and sang, and the people were all excited to shake our hands and show us their home.

There is one missionary in the village of Gabatu named Mary. Mary is a Kenyan missionary from Nairobi who now lives full-time in this village. She is the only person there who is not a member of the Wata tribe. Sandy and I received the opportunity to stay in Mary’s mud home for the next five days and share in her incredible ministry. She came to the village to start a school for the children in Gabatu who are either too young or physically unable to travel the six miles to school in Sombo (mainly ages 2-9ish). These kids have a little mud building with no floor except the sand where Mary teaches them English and songs five days a week. It took her a while to convince the people of the village to allow their kids to come to school, but she has been making great progress. She now has 52 kids who regularly attend!! When she came to Gabatu this past June, the children didn’t know any language except Wata. But, in six months time, she has taught them a good bit of Swahili as well as a little English. They have learned many basic colors and numbers, as well as their ABC’s. She uses rocks on the ground as a blackboard. It’s amazing everything she has accomplished! She has taught them many songs in English, which they eagerly dance and sing to. Every one of the songs is about Jesus! Therefore, she is ministering to the community in ways they don’t even realize at this time. The kids sing and dance with such joy. They love to sing worship songs about Jesus and show us their native tribal dances with grunting and jumping as well. They are known to break out into drumming, dancing, and singing both inside the classroom and outside as well, even the 2 year olds! All ages love music in the tribe. Therefore, it’s an excellent tool to bring Christ into the village. Mary has also had the opportunity to visit the 40 huts in the community and make relationships with many of the parents, regardless of the language barrier. The love she has shown them is building bridges between herself and the Wata world.

Each day, Sandy and I were able to help Mary in the classroom. I can’t even explain what an amazing time it was. The kids waited outside for us each morning hours early just waiting to shake our hands and welcome us into their little school. They are extremely eager to learn, whether they are two years or nine years old. Because of their community-based ways, many of the older kids help the younger children. All of the kids participated in everything and they treated us with great respect. We were able to build on many of the things Mary has been teaching and even incorporate some tools of our own. Sandy and I used UNO cards to show colors and numbers and we brought some posters to teach more English words and animals. The kids loved it! Many of these things they had never seen before. I also got to teach them a few new songs such as “This Little Light of Mine” and “Father Abraham” to name a couple. Mary told us that many of the kids came to her with great surprise and said in Wata “Teacher Mary, these Mzungus sit on the dirt just like we do.” We were so humbled to show these beautiful children the love of God.

It’s really hard to explain how incredible these children are. Almost every one of the children has ringworm all over as well as sores and many only receive one meal a day; however, they are the sweetest and most joyful children I’ve ever encountered. They loved on us and showered us with affection, both inside and outside of the classroom. I really enjoyed playing with the kids! They laughed so hard as I tried to do their tribal dances with them. I also loved showing them videos and pictures of themselves. Two days, I followed a few of them back through the bush to the river. Most of the village is very desert-like; however, as you get closer to the river, you travel through what looks like a jungle/rainforest, and it’s absolutely gorgeous! I followed the kids as they used their machetes to cut through the bush and herd their sheep and cattle through the trees and greenery. As you walk through the bush, you might see fire from a place where charcoal is being made, anthills, animals, kids peering through the bushes, and people sleeping under and protecting their mango trees. It’s truly another world. Two days in a row I was able to see crocodiles and hippos in the river. The kids laughed as we snapped pictures of their beautiful land. Each day the sunset was an incredible orange, yellow, and red over the landscape. As night would fall, I would sit under the overwhelming starry sky with no light but a beautiful fire in the cool night breeze and marvel at God’s beauty. Through the darkness, you could hear kids laughing and animals making noise. Sometimes we would eat in the mud house by a single oil lamp and discuss things of God and sometimes we chose to eat outside and sing worship songs under the night sky. The conversation with Sandy, Mary, and myself was always incredible. It was amazing to soak in God for the week with no worldly distractions or amenities. I didn’t shower in five days, except for two bucket baths. Every night I would search for bugs and other rodents with my flashlight as I would prepare to lay on the ground just hoping no scorpions, mice, or lizards (all things I saw by my bed!) would bite me in my sleep! The heat was indescribable and quite hard to endure; however, God protected us and sustained us as He always does.

I was intimated at first at the idea of being alone and unprotected in an unreached tribal village; however, God gave me such peace as soon as I entered the village. There was only one episode in which I felt a little uneasy (a long story involving some of the people trying to sell us some things for way too much money), but thankfully it was handled by a visiting missionary and ended up being ok. We had a couple of visitors throughout the week, including Mary’s supporting pastor (a very well-known senior pastor of a large church in Nairobi) and the director of the missions school she graduated from. Sandy and I made incredible relationships and attachments with the people in the village, especially one Wata family in particular. The Harun family helps Mary at her house. Arron guarded us every evening for the entire night, laying by the fire and making sure no one came near our mudhouse. Halima helps Mary with many of her meals and other tasks. This beautiful family has six children, three who attend Sombo and three who attend Mary’s school in the village. Normally, a Wata man can have up to four wives and choose to send his wives back if they cannot build a house or cook properly; however, Arron chose only to have Halima as his wife. He loves and leads his family in a way that is rare to find in the Wata lifestyle. The Harun family understands a very little bit of English; therefore, we were able to communicate with them some throughout the week as they ate and spent time with us. They are a beautiful and joyous family that we believe has an amazing future in the Lord. The last day we were in the village, Arron and Halima prayed with us to accept Christ into their hearts-the first converts in the village. I couldn’t even begin to describe this moment. Even though they couldn’t understand much of what we were saying, we really believe Jesus is revealing Himself to them as they continue to learn more from Mary about the Gospel. We also had a visitor named Lucy from Nairobi (one of Mary’s friends) who prayed with a man hiding back in the bush who decided to accept Christ. He said that he had been afraid of persecution but wanted to learn more about Jesus. It’s so amazing that God gave us the opportunity to witness three conversions in an unreached village which had never heard of the name of Jesus Christ. The enemy is fighting it hard. For instance, as soon as Arron and Halima prayed, their donkey began running after their children trying to run them down. Great opposition and attacks of the enemy exist in an area where demonic forces have been present; however, God is greater than the attempts of Satan. Christ will win, and we believe that these are only beginning inroads of a great transformation in the village of Gabatu. Many of the people aren’t even aware of what’s happening. Mary overheard a lady singing “My God is so Good,” one of the songs that she taught the children. The lady most likely doesn’t even understand the English words she is singing; however, the people are infiltrating the presence of God into their community. One lady even came secretively to pray with Mary to Jesus to ask for help with some health problems. She came back and told Mary that Jesus is real. Praise the Lord!! He is entering this place. Some of the children are also hearing about the Gospel from Sombo in the Christian and Religious education class. Even though they have not seen real conversion in Sombo, the kids are still expressing curiosity and bringing it back to their families in the villages. For instance, 12-year old Abdisalaam (one of Arron and Halima’s children) wrote “Jesus, loves very very, wonderful, wonderful word” on the blackboard in the village school with a smile. We were amazed. On the last day, Sandy shared with our village students a little cube that tells the story of Jesus on it. They sat in awe as Mary translated the Gospel story to them. Abdisalaam nodded with a smile. We truly believe that he has some kind of inner understanding of Christ and that God has a very special plan for him. We had to present the message as somewhat of a story rather than an evangelistic message for safety reasons, but we believe that regardless of ,the language barrier the kids gained somewhat of an understanding of what’s going on. God is incredible.

Mary needs help there. She needs someone to go back and help her teach so that she has more freedom to minister to and teach the adults as well and get some rest and relief. The heat is draining, and the place in general (as wonderful as it is) is hard for her mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally being there alone. The spiritual attacks are there, and the place is as rustic as it can be. But, the Lord is present. I have to go back someday. These people are hungry for the Gospel. They are also in need of many things such as food and clean water. It broke my heart to see children drinking dark brown water with pieces of things in it from the river. It also broke my heart for them to come to school with their plates hoping we would put food in it for them and having nothing to give. We gave all the snacks we brought to one family whose kids are so incredibly hungry that their bones are visible. We were told that Mary’s home church in Nairobi is hoping to send a medical team to put on a clinic for these people, which we are very thankful for. Even though they seem to be making it ok, many people have visible diseases and are in need of medical treatment they have never had. As we left the village, I cried my eyes out. I was so sad to leave these people, and they were incredibly sad to see us go. Arron apparently didn’t understand we were leaving and he was devastated when he found out. It broke my heart. Even though this was one of the most challenging experiences, it was absolutely one of the most incredible. Words can’t even express…I feel like I left a piece of my heart in that village. What beautiful people they are…Being a part of this experience was so overwhelming. I’m incredibly thankful and grateful to the Lord that He provided me the opportunity to play a small part as a vessel in His plan for this village. I can’t even think too much about the children right now or I tear up. Thankfully, I have many great videos and pictures to show people back home in remind them to pray for the people of Gabatu (and hopefully come to Kenya to minister to them as well! )

When we returned back to Nairobi, the rest of the group left for two nights to Olontoko to help the Masai tribe with some projects. Unfortunately because of logistical issues, the five of us weren’t able to go. The Suswe trip was cancelled as well. But, we will hopefully have the chance in a couple of weeks to go back to Olontoko as a whole team. The five of us who went to Sombo and Gabatu stayed in Nairobi and helped with the kick-off of a medical clinic opened by Nairobi Christian Center (one of the A/G churches here). We passed out rice packets to the patients and made great friends with a few Kenyan young people from the church. I feel like I’ve learned a lot more Swahili recently, especially last week out of necessity! I know very little, but I’m hoping to gather more and more in our remaining three 3 weeks here.

Throughout this week, we have been working here in Nairobi with our fuel briquette presses, the Convoy logo sign, and preparation to camp for ten days at a mission to another unreached people group in Marsibit. Part of our group will be coming back early and the rest will stay for the remaining five days. We will be paired with students from the East Africa School of Theology under the direction of Jeff Nelson. Our team will be spread out over six different locations in areas where the Rendille tribe is located. These Rendille people have syncretized their religious practices, mixing Jewish rituals with animism. East Africa School of Theology has already evangelized some of the area, as well as built a few churches; however, 1500 more converts are needed for the place to be considered a reached people group. We will be doing door-to-door (or really hut-to-hut!) evangelism throughout the mornings, open air meetings in the afternoons, and holding evangelistic services at nighttime throughout the region. Our conditions will likely be extremely rustic and rural again in this area, but we are praying for a mighty move of God to sweep over the Rendille tribe. Please pray for us as we allow the Holy Spirit to minister to these unreached people. After we return from the Rendille mission and work a few more days here on the compound in Nairobi, we hope to retreat in Mombasa in celebration of Thanksgiving weekend! Thank you so much again for your support, encouragement, and prayers.
God is amazing!