February
20, 2011 TMSC,
Kenya - Day 7 – Sunday
I can’t
believe that the last day of our ‘A Dollar A Day Challenge’ is already here. In
some ways it feels like this week has flown by but in others is feels like it
has been the longest week of my life.
I woke up
pretty early this morning (before the sun) to a crinkling sound on the floor.
It sounded like someone was crinkling a Nakumatt bag. Thinking Amanda was
stirring around, I said, ‘Amanda is that you?’…When she sleepily responded,
‘No…it’s not you?’ we knew we had a problem! There was something in our room
and we had NO WAY of knowing what it was! Our lanterns were on the floor and we
had NO idea where the matches were! Luckily, we were in our mosquito nets. Then
we heard what sounded like purring from the other side of the room. We came to
the conclusion that the purring was our snoring rooster on the other side of
the mud wall. But still we have no idea who our mystery visitor in the Nakumatt
bag was :/ I’m not sure that I really want to find out!
Rewind-
It was hard for us to fall asleep last night so we decided to sing! We’ve been
without music all week and we both miss it a lot. We started out just goofing
around and then it turned into us sitting up in our beds praising God. We had a
full on worship service under our mosquito nets! Bwana Asifiwe! I have such a
sweet friend in Amanda and I will forever be thankful for her!
Fast
Forward- Natasha woke us up at about 9 o’clock this morning. We did our video
blog just in time to have some tea and head to Sunday school. The kids sang
loud and so beautifully this morning that it made my heart smile. They are such
a blessing to me and I love each of them dearly. This morning’s message was
about how God is our Shepherd and our Protector. Praise God for that! Amanda
and I had a special offering this morning. Our tithe for this week was 56ksh.
That’s 10% of our daily income. We also gave an extra 6ks each as our love
offering. Our regular tithe belongs to God…we kept it all week but knew that it
wasn’t ours to spend. That extra 6ksh was a love offering to God. It could have
bought us another mango, but we chose to give it back to Him. It was amazing to
give every last cent that we had. Thank you Father for being our Provider!
Since
today is the Sabbath, we chose to rest today. We wanted to rest and enjoy all
of God’s creation today. We journaled some and just enjoyed each other’s
company. We were invited to a surprise dinner at Rose’s house (the guest
house)! In Kenyan culture it’s considered rude to turn down an offer like this,
so we graciously accepted! We weren’t going to have our first meal until
tomorrow (Monday) morning, but that has changed! This afternoon we helped
prepare the meal. As I peeled vegetables and Amanda rolled out chapati, my
hunger overwhelmed me. I was so hungry at this point that I would eat anything
that was put in front of me! About an hour later the meal was served. Rose
prayed for us and it melted my heart. As she prayed, she thanked God for us and
for what we are doing – she gets it. I’m so thankful that what we’re doing is
translating – even here. God you are SO GOOD! As we feasted on our meal of
chapati, chicken, and potatoes, the fellowship was awesome. It was so good to
be surrounded by these people again. We laughed and smiled for a long time –
then it was back to poverty…one more night. I can’t believe that this Challenge
is over…but I guess it’s not really
over. I am taking so much back with me into my ‘real life’ that I could have
never imagined. This week has challenged me. Poverty has changed me. I am
forever changed. Praise be to God!!
Day 7 Complete
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