Firstly we arrived to a kings (well princess's) welcome. It was amazing. After spending some 15 hours on the worst road in the Africa, or make that the world, we arrived in sunny Kenya.
The bus screeched to an emergency stop and all of a sudden armed police men entered shouting "Mzoongo, Mzoongo". Of course I immediately elbowed Lorna, who was obliviously picking dead cockroaches off herself, and told her that the police had pulled us over because white people were on the bus. Doh! In actual fact the police had stopped us because Nancy and her crew had asked them too. Next thing we knew beautiful Nancy was calling to us to get our bags and get off the bus.
So we did. The first thing we noticed were their beaming smiles and the number of people who were waiting for us. It really was a warm and totally unexpected welcome. Although still slightly sleepy eyed and whip-lashed from the bus we learned our hosts names relatively quickly:
"Hi nice to meet you," the mzoongos chorused.
"Hi I'm Julius"
"I'm John."
"I'm Jamilick"
"I'm Geoffry," they replied, arms outstretched to hug us.
'N' just when we thought we were all J'd out another voice piped up, "I'm Betty, but you can call me Joyce!" At this point Main had a moment. Giggle tastic!
Ok so we'd met the team, well some of them, and we were taken to Nancy's stunning home where we met her husband...James!!!
Oh how we chuckled.
The first thing we noticed was the volume of chairs in the sitting room. The room was full of beautifully patterned couches and it was very welcoming. Aswell as the couches I noticed some other chairs stacked in the corner. Later we discovered that all of the homes we visited had several chairs in them, crammed around the walls in their living areas. We questioned Nancy about this and she told us that they were for visitors and that they often held church meetings and groups in their homes. We can certainly testify that these people expect visitors. The prepare themselves to have them and they make entertaining them and being hospitable to them part of their lives. Yes I know we all love to do that but you'll see that there's a slgiht differnce to the way we entertain and the way they do it: Kenya style!
While I was talking to Nancy I realised why we had received such a warm, "princess's" welcome. I explained to her that we had never experienced anything like this and that we were actually very humbled and slightly embarrassed to be so joyfully received. "It was like you were receiving royalty," I explained.
As soon as I said it I realised why they had acted this way. "You are God's daughters," she remined me. (Of course we are daughters of the King.) "And so when we welcome you we are welcoming him into our homes and we would only give him the best!"
Of course. It all made sense. For those of you who know us well you will know that we, well I at least, are in no way a princesses (far from it) and we are still not quite sure that we deserved the hospitality we received. However, we are sure that God did and they were right: each time we entered one of their homes we prayed together, we shared together and in everything God was at the centre of it all. So thank you to all our friends in Kenya. We know you will be bountifully blessed because you blessed us so much.
Then, after eating some goat (yes we did a lot of that), we visited the church on Sunday morning. The minister (Robert) wasn't preaching that morning but Lorna and I soon made up for that. Nancy asked us to say a few words, little did she know we like to talk....and talk...and talk. Anyway everyone seemed to enjoy it and even understand our funny accents. We later learned that the reason for Robert's absence was that he is the minster for the parish. Yes, most ministers are you may be wondering what's my point. Well the point is that the parish is so full and so vast that there are actually six congregations and and they are spread over many miles. Wow can you imagine the church in Scotland having so many members and lovers of God that there aren't enough ministers to accommodate them. I can!
That Sunday afternoon we met the youth group, whom we would be sharing and teaching for the rest of the week. We absolutely adore this group of young people. We say young but in actual fact some of them were older than us (ages between 16-30). We spent the rest of the day singing, dancing and doing drama with them. That week we got to know them a lot better. Nancy kept saying you must spend time with the youth and I see why. They are so passionate about God and he is really real to them. They rely on him for everything. I could see why us spending time with them was so important for the church, the same reason that everywhere we have gone people have asked us to focus on the children and young people: they are the future of the church. They are the next generation and as Marylin Skinner recently pointed out they are the next leaders of the country.
Having taught in Scotland (although only for a baby amount of time in comparison to some) I appreciate the importance and emphasise we place on education and exam results. I know that you already understand how important it is to be educated, because you are. But what I have seen in each place I visited in Africa, including Kenya, is that yes it is important to educate children but I saw how important educating them about God is too. How much more confident these children are when they know that they have someone that loves them unconditionally and that God has a plan for their lives. We may think at home that our children don't need this hope, they have other things to distract them, computers, alcohol, fashion. Yeah these things may be satisfying...for a little while but ultimately they want something long term. Something that relates to them, someone who understands them (the way their parents and peers don't') eh... try the gospel!!! So that's a little (only a tiny part) of what we learned from the youth there, as well as how not to paint! If we're ever invited back I guarantee we will not be asked to paint the church again although we had lots of fun doing it!
The youth group then took on the monumental task of taking out my braids and before we knew it, it was time to leave Kenya. We cannot express how much we loved every second of our time there, how much we learned and how much fun we had. We laughed...and laughed...and laughed! We know that our partnership and friendship with them is just at the beginning and it will be lifelong. We pray that you too will get involved in the work of their parish. One of the many things they do in their community is pay for local children to go to school. We had the privilege of meeting some of the children (young people) whose education is paid for by the congregation and they are not necessarily children who attend the church or are even associated with it. It terrifies me to think that there are so many other children, even some of the youth we met, that can not go to school simply because their parents can't afford the fees. I know that it seems we are always asking for you to support our brothers and sisters abroad, well we are visiting them for the next year so perhaps we should get used to it, but we would not ask if we did not see that it was doing some good. Infact a huge amount of good. Giving someone food for the day is keeping them alive, giving them an education is giving them a life and a future. Please get involved. Contact World Without Walls to get in tocvh with Nancy and the J team tehy are waiting and would love to hear from you!
God Bless and much love, the Soul Touchers
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