It's less than a week left for me here. So strange, I'm praying to value each moment. Yesterday Chelsey left - the other intern. I went to her good bye party. So sad to say good bye, and, though sometimes I really miss my comfort and communication I have in Kaliningrad with my family or in LCC with my friends, I know that this experience is changing my life forever. God is opening doors of new opportunities for me. He is showing me what He sees and feels while looking on these people and their struggles. And one cannot be ignorant once he or she saw Africa through the eyes of God. My life is a tool which God will use how He wants. And He wants to do so much for these people!
You know, I see my life now not like a combination of random events, but a goal-centered logical path where everything happens for a reason. My life is planned ahead for me by God. And it's not like I don't have a free will, but rather free to obey Him and come into complete satisfaction and happiness, or search for something till the rest of my life in the pursuit of things which don't matter in the long run. So, I am open to obey God, and do the work He planned for me. You know, we can do incredible things! We can change the world and give the glory to God!
Yes, I'm leaving in a week, but I'm taking Africa with me in my heart. And though I really enjoyed seeing animals on the safari, Africa is not about them. Like I've already said, Africa is people. I've been thinking a lot about our differences and simularities lately. Yes, I am and I will always remain a mzungu (white person). I guess i know how black guys feel back at LCC in Lithuania when everybody stares at them. Yes, people stare, and point fingers screaming mzungu sometimes. But there is more to it. I've heard a saying - God is colorblind. I wish we ourselves would forget about our colors and expectation of the society and community, but look on ourselves theough the eyes of God 'cause we are created according to His image.
There are many cultural issues I've been observing during my time here, one being how women are treated. It is astonishing. Yes, culture is on the first place in the lives of Kenyans. And to change their lives one would need to change his/her approach toward Kenyan culture. I could speak hours about that 'cause it's in my heart right now. But for us, I just wish we would not be ignorant of the world around us for now. It's a first step in a change that will take lifetime.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Chelsea Bentley: The End of the Beginning
It is so hard to believe that I only have two days left here in Ilula. I had to start saying my goodbyes Sunday in church, and my brief goodbye at the end of staff devotions today had me holding back tears. I am going to miss this place so much. It has absolutely become like a second home to me, and the people here have become my family. Though I am very much looking forward to seeing all my family and friends back home, I can't even imagine what life is going to be like without 50 smiling little Kenyan faces and hugs every morning and every night. And what will it be like to have something besides ugali almost every night for supper? I think I may actually miss ugali, and I know that I will miss drinking chai all the time!The past week has been really wonderful. I have spent a lot of time just enjoying the company of my kids, and I have learned a lot from them. It is hard to believe that I have only known them for six weeks. The days of feeling like a complete stranger here are long gone - these children are my brothers and sisters now, and I absolutely love them, their parents and all of the staff here. I love laughing with them. I love dancing and singing with them. I love praying with them. I love talking with them. I love serving them. I love serving God with them. I love them!
God has taught me so much in the past six weeks, and above everything else, I think this journey has really cemented the desire and drive in my heart to spread the gospel and bring the hope of Jesus to those who have lost all hope in this life. I don't know exactly what shape this calling is going to take or where the path is going to lead me, but I know these six weeks were only the beginning of a lifetime of international cross-cultural ministry. I praise God for the beauty and the diversity that he has created all over this earth. While on safari this weekend, I was able to really see some of that beauty in nature, and I have seen even more of it every day in the hearts and the faces of the people of Kenya.
God has been so good to me, and I cannot praise him enough for the blessings I have received from him during my time in Kenya. I pray that he will continue to use me and mold me as I return to my "comfort zone" with a completely transformed outlook on the world around me. Bwana asifiwe!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Chelsea Bentley: Heartbroken and Hopeful
This week, I discovered what it really feels like when God breaks my heart for something or someone. I thought it had been broken for Africa and for the lost a long time ago, but this was a whole new experience. I met a family of four neighborhood children face-to-face for the first time on Friday, but Adele had told us all about them a week or so before that. If you want their full story, you can look at her blog. It brought me to tears just hearing about the conditions these little ones were living in, but they completely captured my heart after seeing them and interacting with them for just a few hours on Friday.
When Olesya and I went to take them their medicine on Saturday evening, we found only the two young boys in the house. The boys are only four years and eighteen months old, and they had been left alone in a dark house with the embers of an open cooking fire still glowing on the floor in the corner. As I was giving the boys their medicine, their father returned. He had been out looking for the two girls, whom he hadn't seen since he arrived home from work. We waited a few minutes at the house, hoping they would return, and when they didn't, we went back out onto the road and tried to look for them. Their dad went with us, and we asked neighbors and people we met on the road if they'd seen the girls. By the time we made it back to the ELI compound, there were still no signs of them.
I went to find Adele to tell her that the girls were missing and found her with the team and some of the staff as they were finishing supper and debriefing time with prayer. I tried to be respectful and join them in prayer, but I just broke down crying as my thoughts continued to dwell with the kids. Adele took me outside, and I told her that we couldn't find the girls. She said they were probably sleeping in a field somewhere, and it completely broke my heart. We prayed for them, and there was nothing more we could do. I felt completely helpless. I went and said goodnight to my kids, and when I returned to my room I continued praying for little Nancy and Joanna out there alone in the dark.
On Sunday morning, I was given the opportunity to dance in church. It was a dance that I had done many times before, but I have never felt so completely connected to it as I did on Sunday. I was nearly brought to tears as Ray Boltz' "Watch the Lamb" played and I danced and acted my way through the story. Thoughts of the kids were still laying heavy on my heart. Adele left in the middle of church to go get them. The girls were not home yet, but she brought the boys to church for the first time. Toward the end of the service, the girls showed up, and my heart was completely rejoicing.
Our kids from the children's home really reached out to all four of the children. One of the most incredible sights I have ever seen was that of a small group of our girls taking Joanna, the oldest girl, and washing her hands and feet for her. WOW! How much more like Jesus could they have possibly been in that moment? The children ate lunch with the team, then Alisa, Adele, and I took them home.
Yesterday, I took the kids their medicine in the morning. I was still quite a distance away from them on the road when I saw Nancy and Joanna sprinting toward me with wide open arms and huge smiles on their faces. I thank God for the joy and healing that he has brought into their lives in just a short time. I have learned so much from them, and God has really put them in a very special place in my heart. I hope and pray that someday I will come back to Ilula to find them completely healthy, educated, and, above all, loving Jesus. In the short time that I have left here, I intend to do all I can to be God's hands and feet in the lives of these little ones. God has brought me here "for such a time as this," and I intend to make the most of it for Him.
I only have about a week left in Ilula. My kids and my house parents are already begging me to stay longer, and there is a big part of me that wishes I had the resources to do it. However, I know that God placed me here for this short time so that he could use me and teach me and mold me into the person he wants me to be. I have learned so much from the people here, and I pray that I have been able to bless them at least half as much as they have blessed me. I pray that God will continue to use me as the time speeds by and my departure from Kenya approaches. I pray that he will make me a blessing to the children here, to the staff, and to the community and that I will have an impact for Him that will last far beyond the brief time that I have been here.
When Olesya and I went to take them their medicine on Saturday evening, we found only the two young boys in the house. The boys are only four years and eighteen months old, and they had been left alone in a dark house with the embers of an open cooking fire still glowing on the floor in the corner. As I was giving the boys their medicine, their father returned. He had been out looking for the two girls, whom he hadn't seen since he arrived home from work. We waited a few minutes at the house, hoping they would return, and when they didn't, we went back out onto the road and tried to look for them. Their dad went with us, and we asked neighbors and people we met on the road if they'd seen the girls. By the time we made it back to the ELI compound, there were still no signs of them.I went to find Adele to tell her that the girls were missing and found her with the team and some of the staff as they were finishing supper and debriefing time with prayer. I tried to be respectful and join them in prayer, but I just broke down crying as my thoughts continued to dwell with the kids. Adele took me outside, and I told her that we couldn't find the girls. She said they were probably sleeping in a field somewhere, and it completely broke my heart. We prayed for them, and there was nothing more we could do. I felt completely helpless. I went and said goodnight to my kids, and when I returned to my room I continued praying for little Nancy and Joanna out there alone in the dark.
On Sunday morning, I was given the opportunity to dance in church. It was a dance that I had done many times before, but I have never felt so completely connected to it as I did on Sunday. I was nearly brought to tears as Ray Boltz' "Watch the Lamb" played and I danced and acted my way through the story. Thoughts of the kids were still laying heavy on my heart. Adele left in the middle of church to go get them. The girls were not home yet, but she brought the boys to church for the first time. Toward the end of the service, the girls showed up, and my heart was completely rejoicing.
Our kids from the children's home really reached out to all four of the children. One of the most incredible sights I have ever seen was that of a small group of our girls taking Joanna, the oldest girl, and washing her hands and feet for her. WOW! How much more like Jesus could they have possibly been in that moment? The children ate lunch with the team, then Alisa, Adele, and I took them home.
Yesterday, I took the kids their medicine in the morning. I was still quite a distance away from them on the road when I saw Nancy and Joanna sprinting toward me with wide open arms and huge smiles on their faces. I thank God for the joy and healing that he has brought into their lives in just a short time. I have learned so much from them, and God has really put them in a very special place in my heart. I hope and pray that someday I will come back to Ilula to find them completely healthy, educated, and, above all, loving Jesus. In the short time that I have left here, I intend to do all I can to be God's hands and feet in the lives of these little ones. God has brought me here "for such a time as this," and I intend to make the most of it for Him.
(For photos of these children, click here.)
I only have about a week left in Ilula. My kids and my house parents are already begging me to stay longer, and there is a big part of me that wishes I had the resources to do it. However, I know that God placed me here for this short time so that he could use me and teach me and mold me into the person he wants me to be. I have learned so much from the people here, and I pray that I have been able to bless them at least half as much as they have blessed me. I pray that God will continue to use me as the time speeds by and my departure from Kenya approaches. I pray that he will make me a blessing to the children here, to the staff, and to the community and that I will have an impact for Him that will last far beyond the brief time that I have been here.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Olesya Boreyko: Karibu - Welcome Home!
Karibu is welcome in Swahili. And indeed, the welcome K received here was the most warm, loving and amazing welcome I've ever received in my life. I've arrived in Kenya on Monday, and it's been a blessing for me since. Today is Friday - my day off, so i have an opportunity to go to the town and use Internet cafe.
I cannot describe all the emotions I have from the last several days. I feel like I'm watching a movie with me in it because it's still so surreal and unbelievable that I'm here in Africa working as an intern in Ilula children's home with 50 boys and girls.
I've arrived safely to Nairobi, though it was a hard trip with three plane rides and one car ride of seven hours. In total, I traveled for almost two days, and when I finally came to Eldoret, I was exhausted, but happy that I'm here at last.
The most amazing thing was the greeting I received in Ilula. When I came there in the evening, I was greeted by 100 children and staff of this home. They were lined up singing songs and greeting me. I went from child to child, shaking their hands and hearing over and over again - Welcome home! That was so surreal, it almost made me cry because I was so overwhelmed. Africa, as one of me friends here said, is not animals - it's people. And that is true indeed. People I've met here are the most friendly, warm and loving people I've ever seen. They welcomed me to their family from the first day. Every child is been a great blessing for me, and the house parents are the huge encouragement and example of faith and love and strength.
I pray that i would do everything God wants me to do here, and I would serve as a channel of His blessings for these people. So far, I have been the one who has received love and care, and who has learnt a great deal from these incredible people.
I cannot describe all the emotions I have from the last several days. I feel like I'm watching a movie with me in it because it's still so surreal and unbelievable that I'm here in Africa working as an intern in Ilula children's home with 50 boys and girls.
I've arrived safely to Nairobi, though it was a hard trip with three plane rides and one car ride of seven hours. In total, I traveled for almost two days, and when I finally came to Eldoret, I was exhausted, but happy that I'm here at last.
The most amazing thing was the greeting I received in Ilula. When I came there in the evening, I was greeted by 100 children and staff of this home. They were lined up singing songs and greeting me. I went from child to child, shaking their hands and hearing over and over again - Welcome home! That was so surreal, it almost made me cry because I was so overwhelmed. Africa, as one of me friends here said, is not animals - it's people. And that is true indeed. People I've met here are the most friendly, warm and loving people I've ever seen. They welcomed me to their family from the first day. Every child is been a great blessing for me, and the house parents are the huge encouragement and example of faith and love and strength.
I pray that i would do everything God wants me to do here, and I would serve as a channel of His blessings for these people. So far, I have been the one who has received love and care, and who has learnt a great deal from these incredible people.
Chelsea Bentley: Joy, Love, and Peace
I usually write my blog entries on Fridays, but I just didn't know what to write about when it came to that time this past Friday. I had a wonderful week last week, but there was simply nothing stirring in my heart to write about. Now that a few more days have passed, I feel like I can write something meaningful.
Last week was full of all kinds of joys, and if I wasn't already in love with this place and these children, then last week certainly did it for me. The children and all of the people here are so loving and welcoming and such a joy to be around. I love working alongside them and even just being handed work to do for them, because I can see on their faces how grateful they are and how much God is using me to bless them.
I spent a good part of my time last week in the office organizing shelves and taking inventory of all the supplies. I also used some of the supplies that the APU team brought and some of the things that others had donated to make school kits for each of the children. I never dreamed I would sit on the floor of an office in Kenya surrounded by 1,000 crayons for 3 hours, but I did. And it was wonderful! The joy and awe on those children's faces when they opened up those bags and started pulling things out were worth every moment of the work that went into putting them together.
We said goodbye to the APU team on Friday morning and celebrated their time here with a big supper on Thursday night. It was wonderful to hear about all the work they had done and the little ways that they had blessed everyone. Personally, I was blessed by the simple fact of their presence, their smiles, and their constant encouragement. Thank you Zack, Diana, and the team for everything that you did. The kids are still talking about you guys and praying for you just like they said they would.
I got to work on some more dances with some of my kids on Saturday. I am teaching them some of our old ministry team mimes and dramas, and they really enjoy learning and laughing at me as I am teaching them. They love to dance, but their style of dancing is so much different from mine that everything I teach them strikes them as quite comical when they first see it. They seem to be having a lot of fun with all of it, and I am hoping that we will be able to take it "on the road" somehow before I leave here.
Sunday was an interesting day. I was feeling really homesick and discouraged after church for some reason, and I ended up just sitting in my room sobbing and telling God that I was ready to quit and go home. I don't really know what brought it all on, but Satan was really trying to keep me down. I slept for a few hours that afternoon and didn't return to the kids until devotion time. That was when God decided to remind me why I am here and why I can't go home yet. The kids were just singing and praising God, and since the parents weren't around, I was in charge. I let them sing for a while and watched them, and I saw them through my Jesus-eyes and loved them so much for the way they were freely praising God. Later that night, all the kids were singing together to welcome a visitor, and I was so blessed again by their joy and their unashamed, undeniable love for God. I have felt his presence by my side in such a real way since Sunday evening, and I know that he is guiding my every step and using my time here in a mighty way to bless the Kenyans and to teach me more than I could ever have learned at home.
Last night when I received word from my mother about a death in our family back home, I was sad, but God was with me. He was holding me up with his victorious hand, and he has continued to do so throughout my day today. I have so much peace in spite of the fact that Satan is using every trick in the book to try to distract and discourage me. This is such a peaceful place, even in the midst of raging thunderstorms, and God is using his people and his Spirit to teach me about that peace. I am not afraid, and I am not letting Satan's lies interfere with God's voice of truth. I have a peace that surpasses understanding, and I am resting in the knowledge that God, who has already won the war, is fighting every battle on my behalf.
Last week was full of all kinds of joys, and if I wasn't already in love with this place and these children, then last week certainly did it for me. The children and all of the people here are so loving and welcoming and such a joy to be around. I love working alongside them and even just being handed work to do for them, because I can see on their faces how grateful they are and how much God is using me to bless them.
I spent a good part of my time last week in the office organizing shelves and taking inventory of all the supplies. I also used some of the supplies that the APU team brought and some of the things that others had donated to make school kits for each of the children. I never dreamed I would sit on the floor of an office in Kenya surrounded by 1,000 crayons for 3 hours, but I did. And it was wonderful! The joy and awe on those children's faces when they opened up those bags and started pulling things out were worth every moment of the work that went into putting them together.
We said goodbye to the APU team on Friday morning and celebrated their time here with a big supper on Thursday night. It was wonderful to hear about all the work they had done and the little ways that they had blessed everyone. Personally, I was blessed by the simple fact of their presence, their smiles, and their constant encouragement. Thank you Zack, Diana, and the team for everything that you did. The kids are still talking about you guys and praying for you just like they said they would.
I got to work on some more dances with some of my kids on Saturday. I am teaching them some of our old ministry team mimes and dramas, and they really enjoy learning and laughing at me as I am teaching them. They love to dance, but their style of dancing is so much different from mine that everything I teach them strikes them as quite comical when they first see it. They seem to be having a lot of fun with all of it, and I am hoping that we will be able to take it "on the road" somehow before I leave here.
Sunday was an interesting day. I was feeling really homesick and discouraged after church for some reason, and I ended up just sitting in my room sobbing and telling God that I was ready to quit and go home. I don't really know what brought it all on, but Satan was really trying to keep me down. I slept for a few hours that afternoon and didn't return to the kids until devotion time. That was when God decided to remind me why I am here and why I can't go home yet. The kids were just singing and praising God, and since the parents weren't around, I was in charge. I let them sing for a while and watched them, and I saw them through my Jesus-eyes and loved them so much for the way they were freely praising God. Later that night, all the kids were singing together to welcome a visitor, and I was so blessed again by their joy and their unashamed, undeniable love for God. I have felt his presence by my side in such a real way since Sunday evening, and I know that he is guiding my every step and using my time here in a mighty way to bless the Kenyans and to teach me more than I could ever have learned at home.
Last night when I received word from my mother about a death in our family back home, I was sad, but God was with me. He was holding me up with his victorious hand, and he has continued to do so throughout my day today. I have so much peace in spite of the fact that Satan is using every trick in the book to try to distract and discourage me. This is such a peaceful place, even in the midst of raging thunderstorms, and God is using his people and his Spirit to teach me about that peace. I am not afraid, and I am not letting Satan's lies interfere with God's voice of truth. I have a peace that surpasses understanding, and I am resting in the knowledge that God, who has already won the war, is fighting every battle on my behalf.
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