After another hearty Kenyan breakfast, our team attended the church service in the chapel with the children and a 100+ delegation from the Salvation Army from the Kongo Corps. It was a lively service filled with lots of beautiful singing and gospel dancing from the various children choirs. We were so surprised to see that the passage the sermon was based on was Isaiah 6:1-8, which included the very verse we had chosen for our team T-shirts (Isaiah 6:8).
We can see God’s hand in orchestrating our visit on this very day to such intricate detail. After almost 2 hours of singing it was finally time for the sermon. The preacher was Lieutenant Nicholas from the Salvation Army who delivered a passionate and (very) loud sermon based on two questions from God: “Who will I send?” and “Where are you?”. The answer is a personal one, but a reminder that no matter our story or our circumstances, God has a unique plan for you to glorify Him and extend His love to those around you. It spoke powerfully to the fact that each child rescued at MCF has not only received the blessing of having their lives transformed but has been given the mission of being a living testimony for the transformative power of the gospel. We have the same mission. We will all remember Lt. Nicholas’ angel arms demonstration of the seraphim calling “Holy, holy, holy” as they spread their wings. The translation by a beneficiary of MCF was also very impressive as he was equally passionate and loud and switched between English and Swahili with such ease. The service was continued with Mummy Esther’s greeting and blessing upon the children and guests. Our team was invited on stage to introduce ourselves individually and share our two songs: Peace Like a River and God is so Good. We could not compare to the talent, energy, and passion of the children, but it was such a blessing to worship with them as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It was certainly the longest church service we had ever attended - 4 hours! It felt like a slice of heaven! Our kids did great in sitting through such a long service.
Following another hearty lunch with Kenyan delicacies of chapati (a pancake made of wheat) and pilau (a rice dish with meat), we were finally ready for our hike to Mully Mountain.
Our fearless leader Tom led our group up the mountain, and we were accompanied by a group of senior students who were our singing sherpas outfitted in sandals and flip-flops. The views from the top of the mountain were breath-taking. Elyse was pricked by a (unidentified) tree and suffered an allergic reaction, but thankfully it subsided. Our seven sherpas were from the evangelical choir, and they sang the MCF anthem for us at the top of the mountain (which we recorded).
It was so intriguing to see how excited they were to watch a video recording of themselves. On the hike back, we were blessed to have them serenade us all the way home. It was so lovely to get to know these young people on the hike! Kudos to Jenting for making the trek up and down the mountain!
It was almost dark by the time we made it back to MCF, and we went straight to the senior devotion time at the chapel. A senior girl opened the devotion time with a powerful prayer, and our team shared a slideshow of our time with the children over the past couple days. Despite the technical difficulties, the children loved seeing the pictures of themselves. It was followed by a fun and energetic time of singing and dancing. They are such talented singers and dancers! Many of us were brought up on to the stage to join in the dancing. It is clear that with the exception of Tauyee, the rest of us will need some dancing lessons before the next trip! We were sorry to have to leave early, because we had not yet had dinner. It was such a joy to see our kids interacting with the MCF kids. In fact, one of the boys was asked a girl if he would marry a girl from Africa!
Our late dinner back in the dining hall was a buzz of excitement from our long and eventful day. Tomorrow will be our last full day together as a team. We are excited to visit Yatta tomorrow!
Prayer requests
- The planned protests in Nairobi on Tuesday and Thursday have caused some of our team members to change their hotel reservation in Nairobi as well as their return flight.
- God’s protection and travel mercies on our trip back to Nairobi and to the airport
Written by Melody Lam
Praying for the team members who needed to change their hotel and flights!
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear you had such a memorable hike to Mully Mountain!