Day 4

To describe today in words would be difficult. It was by far the best day we have experienced since coming to Kenya. We left early this morning on public transportation. Fifteen Kenyan teenagers from the local churches joined us again today. We drove North from the City of Eldoret to Ziwa. This is a very small village where farming is a means of survival.

In typical African fashion we were stopped by the police twice and our bus broke down. While we waited for the fundi (mechanic) to arrive we walked down to a Kenyan home. The woman who lived in the home, Mary, and her baby were cautious but welcoming. We peered into her tiny mud home with a grass roof, and realized immediatly that she owned nearly nothing at all.

They slept in a pile of ash and one dirty blanket lay across the floor. There was a tiny chicken running through the courtyard. The only thing she asked of us the entire time we visited was for prayer. We prayed over her home and with her. She was thankful. I caught myself holding back tears most of the visit.

Once the bus was running again we headed to Ziwa where a brand new Church building has been built, Bondoni Baptist Church. Our team placed the final layer of mud along the outside of the walls. The teens and adults did not hesitate as they started layering mud from one end of the building to another. As you can imagine 25 white folks mudding a traditional Church would draw a crowd. Indeed, we drew a fairly large crowd of spectators.

After we had completed the Church building we went inside for a Church dedication service. The choir of young adults/children sang traditional African music. It was wonderful. After they sang we were able to share with the Church that as a youth team we had brought enough money with us ($400) to pay for the 2 tenths of an acre behind the tiny property. They would now own enough land to build and countinue to grow. They rejoiced, danced and praised the Lord for the land. This Church started as 4 believers and is now running 110. Tears ran down our faces as we shared in the service with them. The prayers humbled us. The music touch us. The faces burned images into our souls. The joy was intense. It was truly one of the most incredible days of our lives. We will never forget these people, their church for which our hands touched, or people we conversed with. We are so honored to purchase this land for them and to watch them leap as they rejoiced in what GOD has done!

I was dropping things in my room after we arrived back to our host home. Two of the teens with us were conversing in the hallway. I over heard one of them say to the other, "that was the most incredible thing I have ever done....better than playing any video game."

On the way home as we bounced along the road covered in thousands of potholes we saw two beautiful King Cranes. It was the cherry on top of our already incredible day. We enjoyed God's people and saw more of His amazing creation!

P.S. I have tried to upload pictures for an hour without any success. The internet here is not fast and so uploading pictures is difficult. We will share thousands of them with you when we return.