My Heart's Desire...

Hey All! Here is a video that Shelby and I put together to capture some of our favorite moments from our trip.  The song is called My Desire by Jeremy Camp.  I LOVE this song and thought it would be perfect for our video.  Thanks to ALL of you who have helped support us and donate for our trip.  It means SO SO much and we truly are grateful!  Enjoy the video! We hope you like it! :)

Uganda & Kenya 2011 from ShannaBahn on Vimeo.

Day 12--Saying Good-Bye...

This morning was one of the hardest mornings. So far on this trip I have encountered a handful of times where my heart was hurting and where I was dreading the situation, which was having to say good-bye.  When we were in Uganda and we went to the Children’s Prison. I felt sick to my stomach and I didn’t want to leave those kids there.  There were all so young and so lonely and hopeless…many of them saying that our time there with them was the BEST day of their lives.  The BEST day they had ever had before—just because we took the time to notice them…to play games with them…to give them love and attention. I did not want to leave.  Driving away on our bus my heart was SO heavy and SO sad. Then, when I met Richard the following day…I had this special bond with him…and I knew we were only going to be able to spend a few hours at that baby cottage and I was nervous…I was dreading having to leave him and say good-bye.  I didn’t want our time to end.  I had just fallen in love with him and I felt like I had known him forever—why do I have to leave him?? …And why couldn’t I just take him with me? I would love him? I would provide for him…And now, this morning.  I woke, with that nervous/sick feeling in my stomach again and my heart very heavy.  These children are precious…they really are PURE JOY.  They appreciate our time and are just yearning to have our affection…I want to spend more time with them…why is every single person on our team so in love with this place and all of these children—why are we exactly feeling this way?  It’s not just me…it’s not just one of us…WE ALL FEEL IT.  This place has had a deep and special impact on all of our hearts…And now we have to say good-bye.  Our time went so fast…

Our team gathers to have breakfast together…we are all in a quiet mood…Everyone feeling the same thing. I walked outside to go back to our room…and here were the kids standing below…waiting for us to come down and play with them…Oh how I’m absolutely dreading having to say good-bye to them.

I just feel like I can’t sit still…In a way I want to spend as much time with them yet this morning as I could…but at the same time I just want to get this hard part over with…We only have a little bit of time, so our team heads down to be with the kids.  We enjoy spending our last moments with all of the children…all of us trying to put on a happy face and to be strong for these children.  Yes God Loves them.  YES He cares for them…YES He has GREAT plans for them. He does…we believe it and are confident in it…But yet, our hearts are breaking for them…for what they have been through…for that one on one attention and love that they all want so badly. I tried to make the most of our time left…trying not to show my emotions…trying not to “think” about it.

As we are hanging out together…I keep having so many children come up to me and hand me their letters.  A few of the children I’m familiar with—the ones that spent time holding my hand on our walk last night…I feel bad because I don’t recognize or remember who each and every one of them are.  They all got a chance to know me during our time playing What Time is it Mr. Fox.  But still…I feet bad that I wasn’t able to give them all the attention that they need. Below is a picture of Grace.  She’s a sweet, sweet girl.  I feel so bad because I hardly remember seeing her yesterday.  I just remember last night she came up to me and smiled and said she was going to write me a letter.  I smiled and said, “Great! I can’t wait to read it! Thank you so much!” She smiled and ran away to start working on my letter.  All of the other kids were laughing…playing together…taking pictures with all of us. And here, sweet letter Grace sat…the whole time…working so hard on my letter…I could hardly look at her because it just broke my heart. I could tell by how hard she was working on this letter that I somehow…someway…made a big impact on her life.  I just stood there…holding in my tears and focused on this little girl and thought to myself… “Somehow she must have remembered me, right? When did she see me or spend time with me? …Why can’t I remember?”  

Something else that was very special about this place is Duncan.  I’m not sure what it was or how to even begin to explain it…but Duncan felt like he was my cousin or a good friend…or something? I just felt like I was related to him or like he was somehow apart of our family.  It was just this special friendship that we had—all three of us…Me, Shelby and Duncan.  We could all feel it and it was weird because I didn’t really say anything right away…I just let in my soul but Shelby and I mentioned it together and she agreed….Then Duncan had said, “I don’t know what it is. Out of all of the visitors that we had come see us…all 22 of you…I especially feel close with you and your sister.”  I just smiled…because he could feel it too!  It was such a special moment…but one that made my heart hurt even more.  Last night, when I was so sad…I talked with Duncan and explained how much I care for him and for all of the other children here…and I told him that I wish so badly that I could stay and so them my love and support for them.  I was just crying…I couldn’t hold my tears back any longer…I promised him that I would always remember him and pray for him when we got back to America.  He asked about my family…I told him I had a mom and dad named Alan and Gina…and that Shelby and I had an older sister, Stephanie.  I also told him about Patrick…my boyfriend who I would one day marry. I told him how Patrick and I have a heart for helping others and that one day he too wanted to come to Africa.  Duncan told me his story…his childhood…what he had all been through…It was so nice of him to tell me his story…afterwards we talked about how our family always wanted a brother and Shelby and I decided that we now had a brother.  He was in Africa—but he was our brother in Christ. He smiled and agreed. J

Together we met on the hill and sang a few of our songs…It was so hard to sing when I was fighting my emotions and holding them back…at least until we got on the bus…Below is a picture of my friend Caitlin and a little girl she fell in love with…They both stood there holding each other…and just let the tears role down their faces…

We were all so thankful for our sunglasses because they could hide our tears…

It was time…time to say good-bye…time to leave these precious children behind…when in all reality…I did NOT want to. I said good-bye to as many children as I could…I said good-bye to Duncan and shed a few tears…I felt so bad leaving him behind…I felt like he was part of my family—why do I have to leave him behind? He should be coming with us…I continued with a few more good-byes…and I noticed I didn’t see Grace. There were so many children that it was hard to find here and I wondered where she was…where did she go? ….when all of a sudden, she came walking over to me…tears rolling down her face…she wrapped her arms around me…and we just stood there…holding each other. This is when I lost it…this is when I let the tears come. Her friend beside her began to cry as well…so I hugged her in close and we all three cried together…I said my last good-bye and I went on the bus…Below is a picture of the children waving good-bye.

Duncan is in the middle waving...if you look closely you can see in the botton left corner Grace and her friend are crying...

More kids...waving good-bye!

 Sweet Grace, looking up at me...We both just look at each other and cry...

 The kids running after us as we left...ouch...ouch...ouch...My heart.

We were leaving…we were on our way…all of our team…crying their hearts out…all of us hurting for those children…we were emotionally tired and our hearts had never hurt so bad…but we still had one more place to go to…as we sat there and cried…I thought to myself, “How are we going to have enough energy and excitement for the next group of children?”  …Yes they deserve it and yes I want to give that love to them…but after this…I just wanted to sit there for the rest of the day and cry my heart out for the children at Fiwagoh.

We were just about to go out the gates when I noticed John standing there. In the middle of the emotions and with saying good-bye…he was one that I missed and I didn’t know where he was.  Then I saw him…I was so happy to be able to wave good-bye to him one last time.  Sweet John was at my side through the whole entire walk last night…holding my hand…taking pictures…and answering all of my questions…I told him my secret words that I do…I squeezed his hand 3 times…and that was me saying, “I…Love…You!” …He loved this and through the WHOLE walk he kept squeezing my hands—3 times each time.  As we got to the gate…I was on the window side and I smiled out at him…he looked so sad…and he looked so hurt…Like how could we leave? …As my tears continued to come…he mouthed, “I love you.” I smiled and said, “I love you” back to him…(John is the one leaning against the wall.)

My heart is broken...

Fiwagoh!!! =)

Day 11

We are at FIWAGOH!!:)  This place just has something special about it.  I could feel it as soon as we arrived and all of the 180+ children were singing their hearts out to us…and I felt it as I woke up this morning.  It’s so crazy to think of the many children…and the many places we have been since arriving in Africa. But since arriving I sort of feel this peace and this “at home” feeling.  Something about Fiwagoh seems perfect and I woke up this morning with excitement of getting to know these precious children even more.  Below shows a picture of the Fiwagoh Home & Orphanage.  This is the view of the home when arriving through their gates.  They have so much open land and the background is absolutely beautiful.  I tried taking pictures but they really don’t do it justice…When I woke up this morning and looked out the window as I brushed my teeth using my bottle of water…I had this overwhelming feeling of JOY in my heart…as I looked at at God’s creation and the beautiful mountains…and as I listened to the sweet giggles coming from the girl’s rooms…This was such a wonderful moment where I had to just stop and thank God again for bringing me here…Who would have thought?? All I ever wanted to do was to go to Africa—And NOW I’m here! I’m experiencing it and I’m LOVING it all…and more importantly, I’m falling IN LOVE with all of these precious children.

Below are pictures that are seen from my window as well.  The men working are SO talented and are such hard workers.  I kept looking down at them and thinking how long the process of building and doing construction must take here…I thought of my dad…and how much he could help them!  …I always brag about my dad and how he can do and fix ANYTHING…and as I looked down as these men working so precisely…I just thought of how much my dad and other men here in America could help these guys…and help so many villages in Africa.  This men don’t have nice equipment and tools…they seriously do it all by hand!

We spent the day worshipping together with all of these children and oh my, let me tell you, their voices are BEAUITFUL!  So beautiful!  They sing with their whole heart—holding nothing back!  It’s captivating and so inspiring. After this we went to their BIG backyard. We had different stations set up where the kids played soccer, kick ball, did relays and played other fun games.  The game I was in charge of is called “What Time is it Mr. Fox?”  I played this game with my preschoolers in Mankato all of the time…and I thought of how the children here in Africa were and I just knew they’d love this game…Yes, they are much older then 4 & 5 year olds…but they appreciate SO much and their smiles explained just how grateful they were for having us there and for spending some time with them. Here’s how the game goes: Caitlin and I stood at the front with our backs toward the kids. The kids would yell, “What time is it Mr. Fox?!” We would then yell out a time, such as 5 o’clock!! …The kids would then take 5 steps toward us and would stop and then ask us again, “What time is it Mr. Fox?” We continued to call out times until the children were right next to us and were as close as we could get them.  Then when they asked us what time it was, we would yell LUNCH TIME! …And we’d turn around and try to tag them.  Whoever we tagged would come back with us and would help us tag the rest of the children. OH MY GOODNESS---PURE JOY!!! They LOVED this…We were ALL SMILES…Our team leader even had to come over and tell me and Caitlin to try and keep it down because we were distracting the rest of the kids in the other groups…they were all looking over at us and were watching and wondering what we were doing…then our team leader smiled and said, that’s ok—they’re having so much fun and they deserve it. So we smiled & continued to play!:) We also were just sweating…we had been standing outside under the warm sun and had been running and chasing these kids for like 2 hours and Caitlin and I would just look at each other…wipe our sweat off our faces and call out another time!  Yes, we were tired from traveling the day before and from getting to bed late and from waking up early and from running around in the warm sun…BUT, we also knew that these kids DESERVED it and that we could catch up on sleep when we got back to America…So we kept smiling and calling out times!:)  …But while I was playing this game I kept thinking to myself, oh my goodness, I’m so thirsty—water would feel SO good…Our team leader went to town to buy more bottle of water since our whole team was out…so we didn’t have any…and that was fine…because just about as soon as the thought, “Oh, I’m so thirty” came into my mind—I shot it right back out…Because these children go through this EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! …They are CONSTANTLY THIRSTY AND HUNGRY…and never mind clean, pure, healthy water.  They have to drink what they have…and never mind having a variety of food…they get the SAME thing…DAY…After day…after day…Beans and rice…beans and rice…BEANS AND RICE.  Let’s just say I no longer felt thirsty…but rather my heart broke for all of these precious children that I was falling in love with…that I was getting to know…that I was becoming friends with…we were becoming a family.

My time at Fiwagoh was absolutely WONDERFUL…And going back to when my mouth was dry and I could have used some water. After leaving there I received many letters (I plan on sharing some of them with you in the future!)  Here is one letter I received from a sweet little boy named Alvin. (Remember their English isn’t the best, put for all that they’ve been through and for the education they have receive, they do a GREAT job!)

To Dear Shanna,

How are you? I hope that you are fine. I want to thank you for coming here in this mission and being my friend. These is one thing that I have learned about you and that is kindness. Thanks very much for the games that you taught us. They were interesting and made me to forget that I was hungry and thirsty. Your influence really impressed my heart. I mostly enjoyed one game and that is soccer ball. Even the scripture songs that you taught me and my fellow students. God sent his son to save the world and teach how to keep the Sabbath Day holy. And God inspires even children to do his good work. And I wanted to tell you also that Jesus denied himself to relieve those who suffered to be needy than he.   

From Your Friend,

            Alvin

…Welcome Again…

 Ouch…my heart continues to hurt…It continues to want to MAKE A DIFFERENCE…. It continues to think and pray for those children…Don’t believe you can change the world and make a difference?  Think again!  …Going to Africa and spending time with all of those kids was HUGE for me…I’m a difference person because of it…But so are they…and this is the most important part.  Coming to Fiwagoh, we brought them JOY…LOVE…and HOPE! And we DID make a difference…and I pray that God continues to use me to make a difference for all of the precious and lonely children all over the world…That truly need SO much…But who want one simple thing: Love.  

Does your heart hurt? …Mine sure does…But I keep finding my hope and rest in the Lord, knowing that HE DOES have a GREAT PLAN for these children…and I truly do believe that with my whole heart…and I’m so thankful that these kids are Fiwagoh know their Heavenly Father…Because I do know that no matter what happens here on this earth…I know that here…now…It’s all just temporary. We won’t live forever…some time we’ll leave this place…and when we do…I’m more than certain that I’ll be in Heaven with Jesus…and with all of these precious children that I met…singing and worshiping our God just like we did in their concrete kitchen in Kenya.

 

 Below is a picture of Duncan! :) Aka, our brother in Africa!



After our afternoon of fun and games, the kids wanted to take a little walk. We thought oh FUN! A nature walk with all of the 180 kiddos—Perfect! And it was just that…PERFECT!:)  But I must say, a little walk to them turned into like a 6 mile hike! J This was also one of my most favorite times of the whole trip…Walking hand in hand with all of these children…and getting to know them each a little bit more. Oh, and might I add we saw Flamingos & Monkeys! …Then after going on this hike and having such a wonderful time…we went back and ALL of our hearts were SO heavy…we were in our rooms…and so many of us just starting breaking down…These CHILDREN…these PRECIOUS…and GORGEOUS…and LOVING…and BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN. They all had been through SO much…and we were all falling in love with them and NOT wanting to say good bye in the morning…After having a “moment” in our room..I headed back down stairs, and my eyes were puffy…and my heart was heavy…and I just wanted to lay in bed and cry out to God to help them…and to be with them…and to ask WHY? I don’t get it…these children are all so perfect and wonderful…Why do they have to live like this? And why were they betrayed by their loved ones? ….And why and why and WHY? …But, I knew I needed to spend more time with them—even though it was so hard for me to fight back the tears and to put a smile on my face…But I knew I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible, for morning would come way too soon…and before we knew it…we would have to do what we all dreaded…

…Saying Good-Bye.  

Listening and Following God's Word...

Some of you may already know this, but for those of you who don’t, I’d like to share with you that I am taking another short term mission trip!  As most of you know, I have always had a strong passion and desire in my heart for serving and loving the children in Africa—But I also know that God calls us to GO and SERVE and VISIT and LOVE ALL of the children around the world!  …A few months ago I had heard the news from my mom that a few people from our church, Living Word Lutheran Church, were taking a short-term mission trip to Ecuador.  As soon as I had heard this news…I just knew I’d be one of those people going along on this trip.  After I got home from Africa, I was having a hard time (and still do have a hard time) because I miss all of the wonderful children I met. During my time in Africa I felt like I had such a purpose in my life because I truly was making a difference in the lives of the children I met.  I could just feel it…and I could just see it in all of their faces…they appreciated the fact that I came to visit them and they were SO thankful for my time…to simply sit with them and by showing them they were important…So when I got back home…I missed that feeling…I missed the impact that Africa had on my life and I was ready to go back right away!  But, with school…and with the cost of the trip…I just knew it wasn’t quite reality for me to get back on that airplane to see all of those children.  I’d been praying about this…praying for God to continue to use me…whatever it may be…I just wanted His plans to be clear in my life…I just wanted to continue living out James 1:27…So as I was saying, as soon as I heard the news that our church was going on this trip to Ecuador…I felt like this was God’s calling—To GO and to LOVE ALL of His Precious Children…It doesn’t matter what the location is...It just simply matters that these children are His children!  AND, they are in need of love and care. So, who is responsible to live out James 1:27?  And who is responsible to LOOK AFTER these children? Who is responsible to SUPPORT and CARE and LOVE and VISIT these children? We are! As Christians, we are to read the Word of God and we are to RESPOND. So, after hearing about the trip to Ecuador—Right away I knew what I needed to do…what I WANTED to do…what I was CALLED to do…I needed to go to Ecuador to shower these children with love—just like I did with the children in Africa…I want to go to Ecuador…I want to learn and experience as much as I can about orphans and children in need…The more I know…The more I’m able to make a difference and to help these children…I also know I am called to go…how do I know this? By reading James 1:27—“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” So friends, I am going to ECUADOR!:) I’m SO excited and can’t wait to fall in love with the people and children of Ecuador—Just like I feel in love with the people and children in Africa!! Oh I just know this is going to be a great experience!! I’m so excited!! And just like I’ve been writing about my time in Africa, I look forward to writing and sharing about my time in Ecuador with you as well!  So exciting! God is SO great and is SO faithful!:)
I also wanted to share with you one way that I’m funding for my trip to Ecuador. As many of you already know, I am a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant and one thing I have always loved about Mary Kay is that we “Party with a Purpose!” You may be wondering what that exactly means, but when we say this, we are simply stating that when we work our Mary Kay Business and when we have Mary Kay Parties we have them for a REASON and we have goals to HELP and GIVE to others.  The Mary Kay foundation is GREAT and gives Millions and Billions of dollars every year to great causes and organizations around the world! So…just like the Mary Kay Company, I too have a purpose behind my business…My goal with Mary Kay is to work my business in a way so that I am better financially to help and reach out to orphans around the world…I hope, pray and dream about doing this by taking mission trips to visit these children, by donating, sponsoring and serving these children, and by also one day being able to adopt a child or children in need.  ….So, this Wednesday, October 5^th I am having a Mary Kay Party at the Country Club in Cottonwood at 6:30pm! And, I’m sure you already guessed it—But I am Partying with a PURPOSE! :) Here’s how it works—Each person that comes to my party, my Mary Kay Director, Rachel, will donate $1 per person to go towards my trip!  It’s SO easy to do and just by showing up you’ll be able to help donate towards my trip! So if you’d like to have a little girl time…and to be pampered…and to learn new makeup tips…and to try new skincare products…and to get great gift ideas for the Holidays…Please come join me! It’s going to be a great time and you’d be helping a great cause!  Just a reminder, here is the information:

What: Mary Kay Party

When: Wednesday, October 5^th @ 6:30 pm

Where: Cottonwood Country Club

Why: To have a great night with some great girls and to help support me on my upcoming trip to Ecuador!

ALSO: If you come to my party and bring a friend you’ll receive a FREE gift!!!:)

Thank you ALL…And if it works, I look forward to seeing you Wednesday Night! J If you could please message me or email me that you’re coming that would be great—Just so I have an idea of about how many people to expect!:)

*May you know the depth of God’s desire to bless you—His love is unconditional, His promises are infallible and the good things He has planned for you are unstoppable.*

Day 10: Head to Fiwagoh Orphanage & School!~

We are headed to Fiwagoh to go meet Pastor Benson, his wife and all of his 180+ kids that he has taken in as his own!  We are all sooo excited and can’t wait to go meet these kids.  So, we packed and loaded our entire luggage and we’re headed in the bus ready to go.  Since I’ve been in Africa I have seen so many new and great things as well as learning so much about this beautiful continent…One thing I found out very quickly is that “Africa Time” is very different than “American Time.”  In America, if we say we’ll be there at 5:30, for the most part we’ll be there at 5:30.  And if we’re running a little behind, it’s just by a few minutes—and it’s really not all that big of a deal.  Well, in Africa, one thing that we had to practice was our patience—which was another great part and experience of this trip!  First off, I may have already mentioned this in one of my first blogs—but the driving is CRAZY in Africa.  So many people…are going in SO many different directions…without any traffic signs and safety in mind.  Besides the traffic tending to be quite busy all of the time…we also learned that the places we were going to visit weren’t just 10-15 minutes from each other—there were always at least a few hours!  Although I would have rather loved to spend these hours on the bus with all of the children instead, it was a great time to soak everything in and to reflect on our trip so far.  So really, it wasn’t too bad—it was actually quite enjoyable and what I thought was so great about riding on the bus for such a long time is that I was able to see so much more of Africa.

Well, while we were on our bus ride to Fiwagoh, there were several times where a few of us would ask about animals or hoped that we could see some exciting animals—and ever since we got to Kenya, we had sort of been talking about this—just because, how COOL would that be?  Our bus driver in Kenya, Daniel, said that we would have a pretty good chance of seeing some animals—so we all crossed our fingers and hoped that we would.  So, here we are…driving along the middle of the open fields in Africa—not a whole lot to see besides wild life and random people here and there walking along the street.  …When all of a sudden, someone yield “Wait! Guys, LOOK!  A Giraffe!”  ….And theeeen, we ALL got excited!  Daniel immediately stopped the bus, turned around…and drove down into a little parking area—where we could all get off the bus to get a closer look at the animals.  MY OH MY—We all had a hay day!  Everyone was jumping off the bus with such excitement and joy! Running with their cameras to take pictures…GIRAFFES!!!  And trust me—they weren’t in the Zoo locked up with a fence surrounding them…they were WILD….RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!  ….It was super exciting, but nonetheless, a little scary at the same time!:)  We seriously were SO close to them! It was such a thrilling experience!!  

After we calmed down we were back on the road and heading for Fiwagoh.  I wasn’t quite sure what happened, but somewhere along the way, we ended up getting lost and had to backtrack quite a ways.  Our bus driver, Daniel, had apparently heard the wrong information and was headed in the wrong direction.  Sooo, this bus ride ended up turning into a way longer ride than we first had expected.  But that’s ok…we saw giraffes and we were on our way to FIWAGOH!:)

We continued to drive and drive and drive…and we still weren’t there yet.  Pastor Benson and his children had been expecting us for such a long time, we all felt so bad we were late…but clearly we had no control over the situation.  It started getting darker and darker out…and so many of us wondered where in the world we were?  Just out in the middle of Kenya, Africa…late at night…while it got darker and darker by the minute.  Something else that is quite different in Africa compared to America is that they don’t really have any lights when it gets dark—and it seriously is a little scary.  It’ll be 6:30 and we’ll be finishing up with supper and by 7:15-7:30 all of a sudden it’s just pitch BLACK out.  …So crazy how dark it seemed to get so fast and how they didn’t have any light…no street lights…no front porch lights…nothing—just darkness.  So, as we were driving, we came up to a gas station and Daniel pulled over to get gas.  As we pulled up it was so easy to sense what the rest of the bus was feeling.  Outside the gas station were quite a few men—hanging out…not sure what they were all doing? …Trying to sell some items to make money I’m sure.  Our team leaders whispered back to keep our windows closed and to not make eye contact with any of them.  So, as we pulled in and came to a stop…Slowly…slowly…they started to surround us.  Coming up to our windows…knocking on them…trying to talk to use and get our attention…I have no idea what they were thinking—but I can about imagine when they saw a bus with 50 suitcases up on top…a bus that was full of 23 American Girls…they obviously knew we had money and valuable items.  It was a little frightening, one of our good friends actually started crying because she got scared...having them all come up and surrounding our bus…One guy even started to climb up the back ladder…heading towards our luggage on the top of the bus….But while this was all going on…I just sat there and really wasn’t one bit nervous or scared.  Yes, the situation could have gone very badly…since it was late at night and we were all women besides our bus driver…but I still felt a peace and strength settle inside me.  I knew God was protecting us…Keeping us safe...He had already planned all of this out for us…and He would continue to protect us—I was sure of it…So as I sat there leaning on Him…Suddenly the owner of the gas station came out and got all the guys to back away from our bus…So, just like that, we finished filling up our gas and we were headed for Fiwagoh…still headed for Fiwagoh.

As we continued, it started to rain…lightly at first, but then the rain seemed to get harder and harder.  The roads that we were traveling on weren’t very safe…at least I didn’t feel like they were…And what continued to spike-up my fear was that every few miles we seemed to drive…we came across car accidents….one at first…then another…and another.  I sat there looking out my window…praying for those in the accidents…hoping they were alright…and praying for their families. …The more accidents we ended up seeing, the more my fear would rise up…I sort of thought we were driving a little too fast on these curvy and narrow roads—especially when it was wet and slippery…and obviously other vehicles were having a hard time too since many of them got into accidents…We saw four different semi-trucks on the side of the road, flipped over onto their side…Goodness, this drive was taking far too long…and all I wanted was to be at Fiwagoh.  The bus was silent…everyone I’m sure feeling the same emotions I was…then our team leader said something about how she thought Daniel was driving a little too fast…I agreed and said I was getting a little nervous…then a few of the other girls said the same thing.  So with that…we decided to sing some songs, to get our minds off of the driving.  We had song sheets printed off that we passed out to everyone…and for the next hour or two…we sat on our bus…in darkness in the middle of Kenya…singing songs about Jesus…and praising our God. ….We sang songs by Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, Kari Jobe, Michael W. Smith, and so many more—including some favorite bible camp songs…While we sang these songs, I prayed deeply that God’s name would be known in the country if Kenya….and that with this group of 23 women who have a passion for serving God, that we could help spread God’s truth to the many children and people we still had left to visit on this journey.  After singing these songs I was so excited to get there and to meet all of the precious 180 kids at Fiwagoh…Oh how I just wanted to LOVE them.

….Finally…we arrived to Fiwagoh…we were all tired and anxious to get off of the bus and to get into our beds (and to go to the bathroom!)….but as we drove up and our bus came to a stop…we heard the most beautiful sound ever…All 180 of these children…standing in the dark…singing in unison as they welcomed and thanked us for coming to visit them.  Our whole team stood up and looked out our windows…and as I stood there…I had tears stinging at my eyes….How precious was this??? ….Really? I mean, just to stop and think about it.  These kids had been waiting ALL day for us to come…they couldn’t wait!  What?—They were going to have VISITORS??? ….Why??? …To COME and PLAY and SING and SHARE with them!!  They couldn’t understand it or comprehend it I’m sure? …Why? Because they had been left alone SO many times before…they were left alone and abandoned on the streets…they were forgotten…they were left to starve…left to survive by themselves….BUT…because of God’s grace and His perfect plans…He had brought each and every one of those 180 children to come and live with Pastor Benson and his wife…God had a plan for each and every one of those children…and He had a plan for us to come and visit and bring them hope….And here I was…standing in awe of how precious and sweet these children were…They were SO SO SO GRATEFUL and with their welcome song I knew this place was going to touch me deeply to my core…And with that, I held back my tears…put a smile on my face…leaned on God’s strength again…and went to meet all of these children…I knew, God had great plans for us—That God had great plans for me…because I was living them…All my life I have yearned to come and to live out James 1:27 and to visit and love on these lonely and precious children in Africa…and here I was…Living out my heart’s desire…and how I was so thankful to have the children of Fiwagoh to be a part of this great and perfect plan…Thank You, God…For Your direction and Your perfect plans.