Over the past few weeks we have witnessed the power of a story, and how it can bring hope to a hopeless situation.
Diana is a 13 year-old girl from Mombasa who we met at Bethany Kids in the hospital one Wednesday while praying with patients. Diana had been struggling with sickness since October 2008. In August of 2009 Diana was diagnosed with Hydro-Cephalous, fluid trapped in the brain which can cause severe brain damage. Within three weeks she had three surgeries attempting to drain the infectious fluid in her brain, but nothing was working. Even after going home for two weeks, she had to once again travel ten hours back to Kijabe, this time with an Abdominal Aneurism. On October 22nd she lapsed into a coma, after already suffereing weakness on the left side throughout September and October. Even after two more surgeries to release the pressure in her brain, the doctors had little hope in medicine to heal Diana.
But the faith of Diana's mother Florence never wavered. Florence was a mother of three who knew what it ment to trust in God. Even when the doctors were giving her no earthly hope, she trusted in her savior to be the ultmate healer. She never gave up believing that God was going to heal her daughter.
On the 31st of October Florence woke up to find that Diana had moved in the middle of the night. She went back to sleep, not sure of what she saw, but woke the next morning to Diana sitting up in her hospital bed. At that time Diana could not speak, but was able to give slight movements and respond to doctors. Within two days time, she was able to speak again. By the time that Sarah and Alyssa met her on our Wednesday hospital visits she was able to greet them, and even sing a song. The doctors were amazed and the Chaplins called her a living miracle.
When we first met Diana and Florence it was just four days after Diana's unexplainable awakening. Within three weeks we made four visits to Florence and Diana each time coming to love them more and more. Each visit was better than the last as Diana improved and Florence radiated of God's faithfulness. We personally grew in our own faith as Florence shared with us hers. We discovered that faith in God's healing is something that can grow each time you tell a story of God's mighty hand. We found ourselves longing to go back simply to listen to the wisdom that poured from Florence's mouth. As we began to tell the team and our family and friends back home of Diana's story, the faith inside of ourselves began to grow. The story of Diana began to impower the team in faith, to believe that healings could and were going to happen.
This is just one example of the power of a story, and how it can bring hope to a hopeless situation.
If you are facing a hopeless situation let this story rise up inside of you. Let it bring hope to your life, to your situation, to your story. The Jesus that raised Lazarus from the dead and healed those who were sick is the Jesus that is living in each of us. His power is alive and at work, we just need to have faith!
Our last visit to the hospital was bitter sweet as we found that Florene and Diana had gone home to Mombasa. We continued with our visits and met a woman, Winney, who was also facing an impossible situation. Her son Allan who was 6 and had C.P. had been suffering from severe pneumonia. He was first diagnosed in Nairobi a month earlier, but the doctors in that hospital had given Winney little hope during Allans stay in the ICU. When she came to Kijabe she found it refresshing that although the doctors were at a loss of what to do, they ultimatly trusted God and encouraged her to pray. After she told us Allans story we began to encourage her with the story of Florence and Diana. Immediately her face lit up because she knew what God had done through Diana. Florence had visited her the day that she arrived at Kijabe to encourage her faith in God's healing power. We were able to just talk of God's faithfulness and how he was going to do the same work in Allan.
As our time here in Kijabe comes to an end, we want to carry these stories of faith with us back home. Like Florence and Diana, our leaving Kijabe will be bitter sweet. We miss our family and friends from back home, but we will greatly miss the love and kindness of the people here. But we know that God's faithfulness will continue, and we expect that these stories will also.
Indeed, Happy Thanksgiving from Africa! I hope everyone is doing well
and I am excited to be back in 13 days! It's weird. I definitely can
explain this as bitter sweet. I mean this isn't just a mission trip
anymore..it's my life. I live here. I have friends here. It's
definitely not what I thought was going to happen, this is not how I
expected to feel...but I am thankful for EVERYTHING. It's been so much
more wonderful and I am so thankful to our Father in Heaven. He is
GOOD. He has been changing me and shaping me into the person He has
planned. One of my dear friends said to me the other day, "You are who
you are...but not who you will be." That stuck with me because it's so
true. I am who I am, God made me Sarah Rose Denning. He made me who I
am and He doesn't want me to sit here and wish I was someone else, or
that I had a different life. He made me me, and He did it with
knowledge and a plan. But at the very same time, this is just me
now...this is not who He wants me to be tomorrow, or next week, or next
year. His plan for me is for me to grow. To grow in Him, to grow in
knowledge of Him, to grow in relationship with Him, to grow. He does
not want me to be the same tomorrow as I am today because He wants so
much for me and my life. He loves me and wants to see me being
challenged and so much more. So very quickly..all in all I urge you to
take that quote from my friend, and take it for your life. Because
it's true, you are who you are, but not who you will be. Be who God is
wanting you to be.
Well, next time I email you I will be emailing from the good ol' US of
A. Please pray for safety. Thank you so much! LOVE you all!
For His Glory,
Sarah D =)
PS..Happy Thanksgiving from Angie, Alicia, Alyssa, Isaiah, Judson, Megan, and Steph too!
In the couple of months i have been in Kenya, I have discovered more
about God and myself than i ever expected. I know that I will continue
to walk through hard times, I know that situations will occur in my
life that i won't understand and i know that if i lean on God during
those times and depend on His strength then only truth will be
revealed. I gave a message the other day and based it off of Proverbs
3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct
your paths." We dont have to battle through hardships on our own and we
definitely dont have to figure out the how and why things happen. The
truth is that sometimes we may never have answers. The beauty in the
unknown and unanswered questions is that God knows, He is sovereign and
He is all knowing. The times when i find myself wide eyed in search for
answers; and when i dig through all the knowledge in my mind attempting
to discover answers on my own, I fail every time. I've learned that its
in those times I've been blindly searching that the Lord sheds His
light in the darkness to reveal His truth. He has already won each and
every battle in my past and the ones i will surely face in my future.
The Lord is not an untouchable being sitting in the Heavens...He's not
just a God that we pray to when we need His help, He's not here to
condemn us, and He's not going to leave us to walk through life on our
own. He's here, in each of us and surrounding each of us. He cares and
He loves more deeply than we could imagine and He desires a
relationship, a unique, genuine, relationship with His children. Its
beautiful, its amazing, and its absolutely crazy that we are worthy of
that kind of relationship. One so intimate and special that God is
willing and able to carry the burdens of life for us. He not only holds
our hands through the rough patches on our journey, but He is there to
share and delight in the joyous and happy times as well. How incredibly
lucky are we? I was looking at the shapes of the perfectly white clouds
last week allowing my mind to freely wonder and be sucked in by the
vastness of the sky and an image came to my mind. We are all like
stones and God is our sculptor. We aren't clay that is easily molded
and smoothed...we aren't liquid that forms into the shape of any
container...we are like stones. God chisels away at us and shapes us
into the men and women He desires us to become. Sometimes its painful
and sometimes chunks of our lives fall to the ground...but God has a
perfect image in mind, an individual image for each of us. Sometimes
the sharp edges, issues that we thought were in the past, need sanding.
So God goes back to those problems, those sharp edges, and sands them
down so that He can create the curves and smooth surfaces that He
desires. Then He polishes us...He polishes the stone so that we shine.
We shine with His Love and handwork and we shine because of Him.
It's so hard to believe that we only have one more communication day after this..time is just flying. I am enjoying myself and the things God is teaching me so much and can't wait to bring them back to the states.
So on Wednesdays we usually work at the hospital, but yesterday I got to do something new, I got to work in the dental clinic. I have been interested in dental work for quite a few years, but have done nothing about it and had not expected to. For some reason thought I asked about their clinic and was able to work with them yesterday. Oh my goodness, I totally want to be working in a dental clinic someday. It was so much fun! I got to help clean and polish some guy's teeth, and I watched a tooth extraction. It was crazy. The girl I worked with (Naomi) introduced me as her assistant, Sarah. =) How fun! While Naomi was working to get that tooth out I kept thinking to myself, dang that much HURT! But then I kept reminding myself that the lady was numb on that side of her mouth. Something was there at the specific time to protect her from the pain she could be dealing with. Of course she still felt a small bit of pain, and she probably can feel it today, there is clearly a gap where her old tooth was and because of that gap she will always remember there was a tooth there and remember the pain she faced to get it out, but it doesn't hurt like it use to. It was something in her mouth that was bothering her and taking focus off of other things and if she would have done nothing about it, it would have only gotten worse, but now it was out and things are going to be fine. Thinking about all of that really just realates it to the Christian life. Sometimes we have things in our lives that can take our focus off of God, sometimes they are things that hurt pretty bad. Maybe we try to just deal with it and let it be, but truth be told, if we just leave it there it's only going to worse. But if we call on God to be our novocaine, to help us through things in our lives, He is going to help numb the pain. And not numb it in a way where we won't have to deal with it, but in a way where we can deal with it and get through the pain because God has made it less. We will still have the 'gap' when it's over, and we will not forget what happened, but I believe that's a good thing. I believe it's good to not forget, to move on, but know where we came from and what has shaped us in our past...what has made us who we are today. All in all, if we let God be our novocaine, things will work out, and pulling teeth won't be as excruciating as we all make it sound.
It has been just over two weeks since I left my amazing team in Kenya. I definately miss them and am praying for them as they have 1 month left.
Upon leaving my team i flew to Atlanta and met up with Eric, my boyfriend who went to India, we flew to Orlando and stayed at a hostel in Kissimmee. During our time there we had a much needed vacation, visiting medeivel times, univeral studios, Island of adventure and Aquatica, we even went to a few really good restaurants. We got home on Oct 30, and had a halloween party, I dressed as a Maasai woman an Eric dressed as an Indian.
We did find it a little weird coming from a place that has little and is poor to a rich place with theme parks, culture shock, but we chose to enjoy ourselves and talk about our experiences on the mission field. there was a lot and we have not covered all of them. I am glad I kept a journal for every day of my trip. Now let me share with you some memories and revalations of my trip.
I want to first thank all those who prayed and donated to my Kenya trip, it would not have been possible without you. I also thank those of you who sent encouraging messages while I was away, they were very uplifting.
As I sit here reflecting and drinking Kenyan tea and dreaming of Mandazi I know that the Holy Spirit is working miracles through my team right now! There was a day in Kenya (Oct 6) that made the whole trip worth every penny, sickness and hard work, it was a tuesday, the team went in our Matatu to the middle of no where, on a road that was carved in the grasslands. Kyle, Judson and I were put on a team to do house visits. We visited a woman named Alice Moloi, she welcomed us to talk to her outside undfer a tree full of thorns, her sons were also there, Kyle offered them a drink, the children all had Bible names so I assumed after talking with Alice through a translator (Salomon) that she knew Jesus. So I pulled out my Bible to share a word, I asked her if she knew who Jesus was. to my surprise she said "no" she said she lived traditional ways and had never heard of Jesus. So with her permission I read Matthew's account of the crucifixion and ressurection of Jesus. She wanted to know more so Judson explained creation, sin, forgiveness and how to have a personal relationship with the father, we explained how she can continue to learn of God, by going to Church. Alice wanted Jesus in her life so I through the holy spirit led her through the prayer of salvation. After this she said she had a peace she hadn't had before. She said she would let others know of the good news and we asked her sonsto teach there mother about God and take her to church. I welcomed Alice as my sister in christ. We prayed with her and fealt this wind that we knew was the holy spirit pouring into us. Alice told us that for some reason she fealt she was suppose to stay home that day and now she knew why.
that day was very fruitful, we visited another lady who had already been visited by some other team members ad was extremely joyful, hugging us and shouting. we god a picture with her.
This missions trip was a huge eye opener to the presence of the holy spirit, the needs of people and how easy it is to help someone with so little, even if you have little yourself. during my time there I was able to preach, give my testimony, hear some amazing testimonies, learn some African dancing, pray with hospital patients and there families, help at schools, feed many in an IDP (internally displaced peoples) camp, visit the Maasai for 5 days in Musul and help a woman Marguaret Njoki who I am still praying for who I think has Typhoid and is very sick (her eyes are yellow), she trusts God to take care of her, please pray for her.
My time in Kijabe was very blessed and my hosts pastor Simon, Marguaret and Vicky were absolutely awsome, the work that they do so selflessly for us to further God's kingdom here on earth will truly be rewarded in heaven.
I will be sharing excerps and stories from my Journal in the next couple days, I still have so much to tell you. I realize I fealt an amazing comfort and peace doing Gods work in Kenya and am now a little restless, I know that I will find that peace here as I find ways to be a missionary in my own community.
We had our mid mission trip debrief last week, and since then I have personally really been feeling the Holy Spirit work in my life. It is crazy how much He can do when we invite Him in, and EXPECT Him to do work! That is what I have been learning these last couple of days...to expect Him to show up, to expect fruit.
Tuesday I woke up and was like, "I really want to write a blog, but I have no idea what to write about. Maybe something will happen today, but I doubt it." Then after thinking that I was like, wow, I am not trusting in God to show up and move today. It was then when I changed my attitude and expected God to give me something to write about. He is so so faithful! =)
We did house visits that day and the first guy we (Steph, Vicki, and I) met was Kimani. He is not saved but kept saying he will be soon. After talking to him for a while he promised me he would go to church this Sunday with his wife who is saved. Then he asked if there was a chance he could talk to us more about salvation. It is scheduled for him and his friend James (who is also not saved) to come down to Kijabe (about 45 minuites by walking away from where they are) to talk to me and Steph this Friday at 5. In Michigan that is Friday at 9 am.
Then Wednesday we (Steph and I once again) went to the Hospital and met Norman. He was in there for a broken leg and he also told us how he is not saved, but will be one day soon. We pretty much had the exact conversation with him as we did with Kimani the day before about how now is the time and how we are never promised tomorrow...why wait?! Before we left he said that he is going to try his best to meet us at the church before we leave for America so he can talk to us about this more. Once again, God is so so so faithful and so so so good! I love him =)
All in all, I do believe this happened because I was expecting it to happen. Because I had faith in our Lord and Father to bring people into my life, and for Him to speak through me and work in any situation. He is a good good God and I praise Him. Until next time...Kwahari!
For His Glory,
Sarah Denning
Oh and if you could pray for Kimani and James as they come down to visit and talk with me and Steph Friday, that would be wonderful! Thank you all!
Bwana Asifewe! Praise the Lord! I write to you being offically half way over
with our trip. Hard to believe! Before I get started, I would like
to give some definitions on some lingo. Both for the blogs and also
for when we arrive home, so you can understand us a little better!
TIA!: This Is Africa!
Debrief : Nightly meetings on ministry
days where we discus the day, do feedback and plan for the future.
Feedback: A time of encouraging our
fellow team members. Asking the question, "Where did you see Jesus
in others today?" and then sharing it with the team.
Mid Debrief : After six weeks of
ministry. A time of refreshing, working out any team issues and
growing focused on Jesus once again.
Final Debrief: The end of our trip
debrief. A time to reflect, relax and process all we did before going
home.
Matatu : A Fourteen passanger van with
absolutly no leg room or storage. Our main sorce of transportaion.
RLK : Real Life Kenya
Well now that you will understand a
little better whenever we talk, let me fill you in on our mid
debrief! This debrief was especially needed by the team. Two of our
beloved team members, Jon and Cheryl, went home after completing
their 6 week trip. It goes without saying that we will and already do
miss them. Whenever you live in community with others, you grow to be
like family and we miss a part of our family. But just as saying
goodbye to all of you was hard, yet rewarding because we were
stepping into God's plan, so it will be for Jon and Cheryl!
(We love you two!! Choose In!)
So this time of getting away and
refocusing was greatly needed by the team! We went to Fish Eagle Inn,
on the water of lake Naivasha, and stayed in the camp ground there.
My favorite was all the birds and monkies that constantly hang out in
the camp ground! Another fun wildlife adventure for the team, Hippos!
RLK has a funny way of attracting rather large and potentially
dangerous animals! Our first night, we were enjoying sitting around
a fire for debrief when we heard some wood snapping. Being in the
middle of prayer, we waited before investigating. The inn has an
electric fence that turns on at 6:30 to protect the campground from
the hippos, so when hearing the snapping we asumed it was one
tromping in the brush close to the fence. After praying, we all
headed down to the fence to see what we could see. To our surprise,
we found the hippo very much on our side of the fence, within 50
yards of our tents and fire! Needless to say, we all backed up pretty
quickly and sought the inn staff. The hippo had broken down a section
of fencing and was simply munching away,minding his own business. The
inn staff preceded to shoo us further away so they could chase the
hippo with a matatu! TIA! We all felt safer when the staff informed
us that a guard would be watching the re-built fence so we could rest
easy. Well it happened again the second night and more hippo chasing
with matatus occured, great times!
Besides having fun with the man eating
hippos, this time was great to rekindle our love for Kenya. I know
for myself, ministry was becoming difficult, homesickness was in full
swing and not everyone was on the best of terms. Just so I am clear
though, this is completely normal for most three month missions
trips! Usually the half way marker is when the team has lost the
excitment and newness of Africa and living in constant, close
community begins to wear on you. But that's why we got away, to spend
some concentrated time with God. Having hours to just sit and talk to
Jesus, relax by the green colored pool, talk through issues with the
team and then just have fun relaxing was just what we needed! After
leaving, we all felt that God had rekindled the love we have for
Kenya, our team and more importantly simply doing the will of our
father. Please pray for the team as we head back into ministry this
week. Pray that our hearts would grow more and more on fire for this
place as we walk out the next six weeks. Thank you all for your
prayers and encouragment!
P.S. Everyone here would love to
receive any little note of encouragment through the mail that you
could! It is very difficult sometimes to have such little access to
the internet so communication through letters would be a great
encouragment to the team! Thanks! -Alyssa
well what can i say? 39 days down people!!! 54 left : ). I have had an interesting couple of weeks. Trips to african hospitals are always fun : ) We spent the last week out in the desert with the massai. I personally enjoyed it because the desert reminded me of home and shooting trips with big d. The stars were absolutely insane and the sunsets could never be captured in words or pictures. They were breathtaking. We saw elephants and giraffe's along with various other wildlife. Although I can honestly say if I never fall asleep with bats crawling across the walls outside my tent ever again, I will be okay. The people in this particular tribe have preserved their culture and traditions so we got to see some awesome displays of triabal dress and dance. It was good times. I wish I had more time to go into detail about everything thats going on here but I continue to learn more about myself everyday and I am so thankful for this experience. I love and miss everyone at home and I will talk to you soon : ) xoxoxox
Several days spent with the Masaai Tribe was an amazing experience, and
I'm sure one of the most memorable weeks of the entire trip. Sleeping
in a bat infested church building in the middle of the most interior
part of Kenya and learning how to use the bathroom in a hole in the
ground wasn't exactly pleasant; but the breath taking moments when God
was clearly present made up for all the uncomfortable living
conditions. Mornings spent on top of a huge bolder to watch the sunrise
opened my eyes to the beauty in the details of the African bush that
are hidden amongst the monotonous color pallet of the landscape.
Afternoons of excitement as we were able to see wild elephants,
giraffe, and buffalo allowed me to truly appreciate the variety of life
that surrounded us...I especially enjoyed the moment when a huge, angry
elephant charged our bus (yea they aren't friendly in real life...).
Free time spent exploring the area guided by two Masaai children might
have been one of the coolest experiences ever...we found a leopard's
den complete with two freshly eaten giraffe legs and a variety of bones
and animal carcasses spread throughout the area. I can't leave out the
fact that we definitely rode a camel and it was amazing...granted it
wasn't trained so some of the group struggled to the point of face
planting off of it (Stephanie); nevertheless, it was a great time. Can
you believe it gets better?? Better than all of our African Adventures,
are the people we met there. I think I could write pages about each
person and each encounter I had with them. However, for me, one
particular day stands out in my mind the most. The second day we were
there, Sunday, we attended their church service. I could not take my
eyes off of the elaborate beaded jewelry wrapped around the necks of
the
Masaai women and the brightly patterned cloths they draped around
themselves. I was blown away and completely excited to participate in
worship with them. Jumping up and down, moving there necks back and
forth and doing crazy things with their shoulders to make their jewelry
bounce was the tribal dance style I've been waiting for. An elder at
the church grabbed my hand and escorted me to the front of the church
and I attempted to participate in the dance with her...I'm sure I
wasn't doing it correctly but they didn't seem to mind. It was the most
joyful, exciting, Holy Spirit led, worship I have ever experienced. One
of the most challenging parts of the day was putting my nerves to peace
when I got up to speak. I remember sitting on a rock before the service
freaking out about what I was going to say....what would glorify
God...what does the congregation need to hear...Usually public speaking
doesn't phase me, but I get bothered at the thought of publicly letting
down God. Aside from the doubts of my flesh, I was slightly nervous at
the fact that I decided not to prepare a single note or have any idea
what I was going to say. I wanted to trust in the Lord to lead my
heart....GUESS WHAT...He definitely did! Praise God! I prayed right
before I spoke and as my voice trembled I prayed that the Lord would
calm me...then I just started speaking. I can't remember what all I
said and I can't even tell you if it made sense...but something must of
happened because I was told it went well! The pastor, church members
and my teammates were very encouraging and their positive feedback has
even further encouraged my trust in the Lord. AH!!! It was AMAZING!
