Kenya!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace.

Well, I made it safe and sound to Kisumu, Kenya. I have joined a team from Wimberly to plant a church in the village of Akala. Yesterday was my first day on the trail and I loved it! Church plants are what I am used to in Africa, so this felt so normal. The team is an incredible answer to prayer...it has been hard to pour out so much spiritually for the past month without getting a lot of encouragement from other people. It's an amazing blessing to be with likeminded, sweet, white people who understand me! I love African people dearly, but it is a huge treat to be with this team. They already feel like my family. I spent time praying with a few of them this morning and I feel so, so blessed. Thank you Lord!

Kenya isn't much different from Uganda, as I expected. People here in Kenya treat visitors a little differently...they always invite them into the house (there are actually houses here along with the huts!) and have a long conversation. Instead of the 20-something houses I would be able to share with in a morning in Uganda, we have visited about half that here. At first that disappointed me, but I actually really value that conversation time!

There are a lot of rumors floating around about the church. Aida says other churches in the area are spreading them because they don't want their members to leave and go to the new church. Every single person I talked to yesterday asked me if that church was for devil worship...AFTER I finished the gospel presentation. It seriously surprised me every time because I was thinking, "Why would I be talking about God and Jesus if this church was to worship the devil?". Very confusing. One man I talked to had a flashlight in his lap and I asked him how it worked. He said that he shines it in a dark place, like under furniture, and then he can see everything underneath. I told him that the light of Christ was the same way. The church isn't hiding in shadows, we are proclaiming our intentions and the good news of Jesus openly. I told him to come and check it out for himself, to "shed some light" on what he thought was surely a deep, dark secret. I hope he comes to the crusade today. Please pray for those rumors to be uncovered and destroyed.

I have one more trail day and then the first sunday at the brand new church. I will be back in America in 5 days!