June 22, 2017- Day 5

This morning was tough with being sick. I cried. After staff chapel, Steve (one of my teammates) asked Joseph (the manager of Each1Feed1 in Tharaka) to pray, as well as another one of my teammates, for me. He quoted the Scripture that says where two or more are gathered, ask anything in Christ's Name and He'll do it. It was nice to be prayed for.

The verse/phrase that keeps coming back to me is "No weapon formed against me will prosper."

9:30 p.m.
Despite starting the day in tears, it ended with laughter. I still don't feel too well, but I'm pushing through. No weapon formed against me will prosper. It is my anthem. It's the song that came to me while stuck in customs in Nairobi upon arriving in Kenya. I will walk to this beat....

We have had a lizard in our room for a few days. I felt scared of it at first. Then, I named it Victor. Since naming it, I find myself looking for it, hoping to find it. Today as I looked for it, I thought to myself, "If you are scared of something, just give it a name; it takes the scary away." It's true, you know!

I had the chance to talk to Juliana tonight (missionary to Tharaka for two years). She shared that Baraka (meaning 'Gift from/of God') was abandoned in a forest. They think something must have happened to his mother. They also think she may have been 'special'/mentally ill. He was found with a bag of bras. In a few days, they will age Baraka by his teeth. Until then, we suspect he is around age 3. But you'd think he's not yet 2. He can't speak yet. When he arrived at EOFO (Each1Feed1), he couldn't sit up. He had hip dysplasia because (they think) his mother kept him on her back all the time. He also was malnourished. Knowing all of this, it's amazing to see how happy Baraka is and how much he can communicate, even without words. He's such a sweet boy.

In pre-K today, it was so fun to see the kids doing the Tap, Tap song after I was done teaching it to them. I also loved tickling Susan and Douglas and Antony and Faith and hearing them laugh and squeal and really belly laugh. It made my heart soar.

A hard part of today was watching as a hundred or more students pre-K to eighth grade started their walk home after school. Some come from very far away. There are dangers of being attacked by wild animals and other predators (human).

I missed the Kaguni (Benevolence) group when they came for food distribution yesterday, as I was serving in pre-K. I heard from my teammates that these AIDS stricken women walk 7 miles to get here to get 50 lbs of food that they then put on their backs to walk the 7 miles back home. And I think my life is hard?

Lord, do what you want to do in and through me here. Let me be used by you. Let me be your hands and feet. May I become less so you become greater....

Beginning the walk home after school

Precious Baraka

Baraka

Victor

Teammate Steve

Baraka