Upon arriving in Kenya I remember thinking "wow, I'm in Africa". A surreal feeling that never quite sunk in the whole time I was there. We went to work on a farm called Nehemiah whose mission is to raise up a generation after God's own heart. After 22 hours on two different flights and a 8 hour bus ride, we finally arrived at the farm in Miwani, Kenya.
Nehemiah has multiple aspects to it's ministry. 1. a church on the 200 acre farm property 2. a working dairy to a. support the ministry and b. have an apprenticeship program to train up young men to have a trade and be able to then go and start their own farm and be a light in their community 3. homes with Christian couples who take in orphan boys as foster parents - the boys are raised in a family setting rather then an orphanage, are sent to school, and discipled in the bible 4. they were just opening up a medical clinic on the property to offer aid to the community where people die because of what we would call minor injuries because they can't get to a hospital or pay for treatment. We got to be a part of each of them.
Every day was utilized to the max, and every night we hit the pillow physically exhausted but super blessed. We started out every day with devotions with everyone on the farm. Our team of 18 was split into 4 groups and each day a group would either stay and work around the farm (in the gardens, cutting silage for the cows, at the dairy, cleaning the clinic, slashing the grass), go out into the community (visiting schools, delivering supplies, playing soccer against a school team, grocery shopping for the team, visiting peoples homes to encourage them in the word/share the gospel/invite them to church, check up on people who had left Nehemiah to start their own farm), or be on a cleaning/meals team that stayed at our house. Then we'd come back and have a couple hours with the orphan boys to help them with their after school chores, mainly to build sweet relationships with them. The night usually ended with dinner, prayer, worship, or an event on the farm (potluck, various meetings, soccer, game nights...).
We were so blessed by the people and their super generous hospitality. People who have barely anything would slaughter one of their chickens (a very rare asset) and prepare a meal as soon as they saw you coming up the path. All for complete strangers. It was sweet to see the church being the church. Traveling to share meals with each other with the purpose to dig into God's word and encourage one another. True fellowship. We met people who were once Sikhs being persecuted by their family and friends and whole community for now being a Christian. Yet persevering and joyfully clinging to the Lord.
Thank you all who supported us financially and with prayers. Continue to pray for the orphan boys on the farm that they would be truthfully discipled from the word, and would grow in their walk with the Lord. Pray for the farm that they would continue to be a light in the community. Pray for the people of Kenya that they would not be misled by the many false gospels and that they would live their life as a result of what Christ has done for them, not just to earn merit on their own accord.
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