Lessons in Hope: Encouraging Hearts
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I wish I could sit down for about 4 hours with each of you reading and take you on a visual journey of love through the photos and videos from my visit to Kenya. I really don’t think you’d get bored at all. The people are etched into my heart and the land is etched in my mind. I’ve never been someplace that felt so very different from my norm, yet so very much at home at the same time.
Though I felt God had ordained a mission for me to actively encourage hearts through this opportunity with AWANA International, something miraculous happens when you set out to encourage the hearts of others. God blesses in unexpected ways and you find yourself on the receiving end of being blessed as much as the giving end of being blessed. You might call it the Unexplained Phenomena of Encouraging Hearts. Or Biblical obedience. Whichever one suits you; they both work for me.
This last week in the series of Lessons in Hope, I wanted to dedicate the week to the AWANA Club at Bible Baptist Church where Pastor Edward Murila and his wife, Alice, have ministered for over 25 years. Pastor Edward gave me a tour of their ministry facility, including the little addition at the top of the steps, where 10 children sleep because they have no other place to call home.
One of the biggest needs for this AWANA club is simply to have a cement slab poured in the courtyard where they play games. When it rains, they have no place to congregate together and run the AWANA club games so they must try to improvise in the indoor space they have. While the Kenyan people are excellent improvisers, I was hoping that these sweet folks could get their wish.
The estimate to have concrete poured in the courtyard of the church/school facility is $3700. Frankly, I wish I could just pay for this beautiful platform where God’s Word will be memorized, quoted and enjoyed to its fullest. But at this point in the journey, I don’t have that capability. I do, however, want to donate $100 to this project from one ministry to another. And I’m just asking that if God would ask you to match that, or give any small amount, you’d do it.
The best way for us to donate this money is through the AWANA tax-deductible donation site in the care of the faithful AWANA missionaries and my friends, Benard and Agnes Litwachi. When you complete the form, in the box for “donor number”, please place the words “for Bible Baptist cement.” Any dollar amount collected over the needed amount will be further projected by Benard.
I really want the precious, faithful folks at Bible Baptist to know they are loved and appreciated… and that their work matters to us. And to God.
Will you DONATE HERE.?
Be sure to check out all the Lessons in Hope from the wonderful AWANA International mission trip I took just five weeks ago! God revealed himself to us in so many ways.
Bloggers, thanks for joining Whimsical Wednesday and I can’t wait to see what you are up to this week. It’s always a pleasure to have your Christian encouragement posts linked up!
Rachel
Wow – its stories like these that put it all into perspective, isn’t it? I serve in Europe and there are many needs here, but our needs are not so basic…..so raw. some of them are downright superficial in comparison. I’m so glad I stopped by to read this today!
I read your post late last night and my heart was broken for these people who I know you now call friends. We take so much for granted in the U.S. and just assume we will always have what we need. Oh how to live with so little but probably with a more grateful heart than we can ever imagine! Thank you for sharing your heart and these important stories from Kenya!