Surprisingly, that's my favorite music video from Kenya. I love the 90s. And like I've said before, driving in Kenya is exciting but scary. After we left the clinic, most of us packed into one one of our worst Matatu experiences. Later, we were told how silly we were for complaining. Apparently, we had been blessed with good drivers. This one however, reminded me of some of the worst teenagers that drove me around Springdale, AR; I vaguely remember one person driving over 65 in a residential area. Our driver went way too fast on a narrow hilly road, got stuck on a curb, and his vehicle died in the middle of the road. It was less roomy than our other vans because this one was overdoing the flare theming. There was at least a TV to distract myself which played some African music videos and Mr. Bean. I never knew that Mr. Bean was such an influence in the world. Several times throughout the trip I caught people watching that show. In fact there was one woman who was hysterical over him.
Anyway, this was not good for me considering my recent car wreck. I was trying to be strong about it, but after thirty minutes I ended up trying to hide that I was crying. If anyone noticed they didn't comment on it, and later I said something to April about it and she hadn't noticed-- she normally catches everything I do. I don't think I was the only one who felt this ride was too much. It might have affected other people's stomachs or nerves just as much as it perturbed me. Mr. Bean wasn't of much help either.
By the time we got to the Ufungamano house I was light headed. I went back to my room and had a short 20 minute break before heading to the Journey's Friday worship. Our team had been anticipating their service all week since we had heard so much about it. The organization is new and they've been growing at an alarming rate. It was cool that we got to experience a campus ministry that was on a completely different continent.
Before going to the service Eric and I looked to see if we could find a verse that might go with Everlasting Father 13:21. So, we went through every book until we got to Hebrews when we found: 20"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
I would say that was a pretty close match. Just for your information the word "ever" in the New International Version appears in 1,386 verses. Love appears in 697 verses, Money in 114, God in 3,930, Jesus in 1,276, Satan in 47, Heaven in 606, Hell in 14, Angel in 291, Devil in 35, Demon in 80, Man in 2,723, earth in 733, life in 589 verses, death in 452 verses, and Christ in 531. Now, just because certain words are used more doesn't mean they are anymore important because I imagine the word that appears the most is something like "a" or "the." But I find this all to be interesting.
When Eric and I walked into the auditorium my team was already sitting together. There weren't any seats left so Eric and I sat in front of everybody. April was directly behind me-- that's the most I can tell you. Andrew and Florence from my small group earlier in the week were singing in the Journey band which had a couple more singers and a guitarist, bass, and drummer. Some of the songs were in English while others were in Swahili-- or they were a mix of the two. In a couple of the songs everyone danced; it was like taebo. Their worship service's message was about money. They had a short video introduction asking people if money was everything. I actually ended up being interviewed and I of course said it isn't everything and that plenty of people have proved that you can live a life contently without it. It was weird seeing my face on the screen. It was weird being a spoiled American college student hearing a lesson on money in an African campus ministry. I hadn't seen near as much poverty as people around me. Some of the people in this ministry may have had more money growing up than I did, but of course it was worlds of different. I didn't know what was around me. It was hard to know what to feel. I had no perspective on where I stood, except that the country that I'm from is one of the richest in the world. Granted, we still have poverty but we don't have near the inflation Kenya is dealing with and from what I've seen our government is not near as corrupt.
I think what was hard is I basically haven't had money in my hand or a bank since I've started college. I've stretched myself thin looking for pocket change, odd jobs, scholarships, and begging family. It hasn't been easy, and I have not had any school debt yet but there's still two years to go. I don't want debt with the way the world is looking. I have a bad feeling about world politics and maybe that's just because I'm in school and world issues are thrown at students all the time-- but I think it's more than that.
Sevo did a sermon on money and the changes he went through in trusting God. Sevo basically gave a short version of what it was like to leave Kenya to go to the United States for school. After the service, the visitors were asked to follow some members of the Journey to be officially greeted-- the words they used were much more casual. They took our whole team, plus a couple of other visitors, upstairs to a conference room. They gave us free sodas and we played a couple of games. The most memorable part for me was when we were introduced to Immanuel. As soon as he began speaking I could see that in every person from the Journey that they had sparkles in their eyes. All of them were smiling as well, so I could tell he had a huge heart and that people loved him. He said he felt that he had to share something with us that had happened to him recently. I can't remember the story word for word but it went something along the following lines.
He was going to school and feeling proud. As he was traveling on one of the Matatus he ran into an old man. He said he was a strange old man that at first carried a creepy vibe with him. The old man kept laughing. He asked Immanuel where he was headed and he politely said school. The old man laughed and it made Immanuel feel uncomfortable, like he was the joke of something. Somehow the old man got onto the subject of religion and asked Immanuel if he was a Christian. Immanuel of course said he was. The old man asked him what that meant. Immanuel told him it meant that he believed that Christ was our savior and that by his grace we were saved because he died for us and took our sins away and that God had created all the earth and heavens. Immanuel felt he had given a great answer, but the old man laughed again. The old man asked him to try again. Immanuel was getting frustrated, but he still tried. This time he said something like it's about a close relationship with Christ and learning how to love one another because of what he did for us. The old man laughed again, and Immanuel was beginning to get annoyed-- what right did this man have to laugh like this?
Then the old man said what he thought Christianity was. It was like being a baby who is constantly crying out but has no sense of what's happening to him. The baby cries and cries for what he wants thinking it won't be given to him. Yet, God holds us in his arms and rocks us gently to comfort us and makes all the bad things go away. And the entire time he's whispering to us "I love you."
I know I didn't tell that near as beautifully as when Immanuel told us. That was the first time I had met Immanuel, and maybe it will be the last. But I'll always remember him for his humble spirit that instantly grabbed a whole room's attention.
After finally experiencing the Journey's large worship, Brent took us to another Indian restaurant. There were a lot of people that were sick by this time, at least a third of our group. Nicole and Josh were by far the most sick; they ended up having to stay at the YMCA instead of doing the activities planned for Saturday. Anyway, at the restaurant I had the best tangerine juice. Someone put it quite justly when they said, "When you have pulp running down your face and you don't care you know it's good juice." We had potatoes that were like fries but very flat and spicy. Our orders were a little messed up because somehow most of us got extreme spicy chicken. We talked about what we witnessed at the Journey, and most people were talking about how excited they were that Andrew had rapped. Also, at this point, several people were having nightmares. In fact, about four or five people in our group of fourteen had nightmares that night. There is a possibility that this has to do with the malaria medicine being taken.
I didn't know this until I came home. At my cousin's wedding I was talking to his sister about Africa. She was incredibly excited because she would be going to Swaziland in a few weeks. She was telling me about when she was getting her malaria pills that they were trying to give her Doxycycline, but she refused it. Apparently, it gives you hallucinatory dreams. This drug might also explain why I had the clearest skin I've ever had in my life. Although, I wasn't having any dreams while I was in Nairobi, which was really strange for me, I did start to have wild dreams when we were in Butula; all kinds of strange things were happening and to be honest I'm not sure what was real and what wasn't. But that will just have to wait.
I never had malaria, that's for sure. However, several people on the trip may have and they were on the same prescription. I thank God and all the people who were praying for me. At some points, even though this may sound unbelievable, it was like I knew someone was praying for me and that through their prayers I was all the more protected. Of course, everyone had people praying for them; God knows what is best for each person's experience. For the most part, I was healthy through the whole trip except for being exhausted and occasionally hungry.
By the way, before there was Simba there was:
Joel 2:28-29
And afterward I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
No comments:
Post a Comment