“All powerful, Untamable; awe-struck we fall to our knees and humbly proclaim, You are Amazing, God!”

 

Many thanks to Chris Tomlin to help me come close to explaining our reflections on Africa!  And many, many, MANY thanks to each of you for praying, giving, encouraging, and praying again for this trip.  We went to be whatever help we could in whatever ways we could; we return far more rewarded than we deserve!  Truly, our God IS an awesome God!

 

We saw the devastating poverty of post-apartheid townships in South Africa. We walked through Masiphumele township; through running sewage and ditches filled with garbage, past shacks made of cardboard boxes & plastic bags, carefully reaching out to 1 and 2 year old children whose primary occupation is picking through the trash piles to find scraps of food or eggs the chickens have laid.  And we were broken in humility when the 35+ member choir from the Masiphumele Baptist Church sang “Jesus, More Precious than Gold” during the concert intermission.  The depths from which they sang were unfathomable to us; the glimpse of Heaven they gave us was unlike anything we’d ever known.

 

Once in Kenya, we visited high schools crowded with 45-50 students per classroom in buildings without benefit of electricity or running water.  The students’ tattered uniforms were clean and tidy; as a teacher, I’ve never met students so eager to learn – traveling two hours each way to attend packed classes at a school that provides them with 3 meals and water to take home to the tiny siblings they’re raising, these young men and women lead worship for each other every day before classes begin.  The teachers – many of them men who feel God calling them to be the Baba/Daddy their students have lost – donate their time or are paid in bartered services; even the public school teachers make less than $300 per year.  We had the privilege of visiting an orphanage that is home to over 40 orphans, 15 day students, and four members of the best football (soccer) team in the province (they’re the only ones on the team who’ve been playing barefoot; we made sure they wouldn’t have to play that way again).  The couple that oversees the orphanage are responsible for over a thousand children in 12 orphanages spread over 4 provinces; they set each one up licensed with the Kenyan government (this ensures integrity in their homes and the best benefits for the children) and invite school teachers from all over the states to apply for summer volunteer opportunities (two teachers from a Jewish day school in New York city were finishing up a four week stay the day we were there). The couple’s own children go to school with the orphans each day. It was amazing to see the faith of the director & his wife, the house mothers who live with the children, the social worker who rescues the abandoned from police stations, city buses, tenant houses, and street corners (imagine a 3 year old girl, left on a city bus for over 4 hours before anyone, including the driver, realized she’d been abandoned). 

 

Over the course of the trip, we saw over 400 people come to know Christ and be put in the care of amazing churches run by their own neighbors who are now able to provide for their physical needs as well as the spiritual.  We gave out enough school supplies for every orphan at the orphanage and many orphaned teens scattered throughout the schools we visited.  We provided two large luggage pieces filled with clothing for the students we met; we were able to replace a dozen neighborhood footballs, made of rolled plastic bags & packing tape, with real balls that read “Jesus Loves Me” in every national language in the world.  We were able to provide enough funds for an entire school full of children to have their fees and uniforms paid for the year.  And probably what struck home the most, we were able to leave any clothing, shoes, Bibles, books, or supplies from our own luggage before we left.   Without meaning to sound trite, it was a joy to carry bags emptied of the things that don’t last in exchange for carrying hearts full of the things that do.  The students from our youth group were absolutely amazing; they brushed away tears from students’ faces in schools and flies away from babies’ hands in the orphanage without condescension or pity.  It was a privilege to serve with a group so young and yet so brave.

 

And just so you know, our angels had a WONDERFUL time while we were gone – they had VBS at my sister-in-law’s church and then daily swimming lessons, so we came home to two very happy little fish!  The sweetest moment of our lives was grabbing them up at the church when we got back and hearing them both talk 90-to-nothing about all they’d done and how they’d missed us.  We both cried and squeezed them in bear hugs and listened to the music of our babies’ laughter.

 

Again, thank you for your prayers and your encouragement.  To those of you who also gave us supplies and clothes, please know that your sacrifice brought huge smiles, silent tears of gratitude, and the freedom for hundreds of school children to continue their education (there are 15 year olds who are one notebook, one pencil, a change of clothes, and $30 away from having to forego an education and work street vendor jobs to support themselves and their families).

 

We are grateful; so very, very grateful!