As the children love more and more everyday to take my camera from me and run around snapping shots here and there, you never know when to smile for a picture! That’s evident in this picture where Faith is gnawing on a fresh carrot, Jamlick is half asleep, Doreen is daydreaming while she plays with my hair, Mercy is just hanging out with us drinking water that she’s put into an old bottle she probably found in a trash pile left by some Americans that visited us last week, and I’m in mid-laugh at James who is taking the picture...just laid back in the grass enjoying all my little brothers and sisters around me. The month of November has probably been the busiest month I’ve had here, but it’s also been the best.
A group of 10 Americans came to visit last week and spent Saturday and Sunday with us. Some members of their team were guitar players and worship leaders...so, Sunday morning we had a mixed worship time where the Americans sang along with the Kenyans. We didn't even get through the first verse of "How Great is Our God" and I was completely overwhelmed. I've only seen 2 people cry (over the age of 3) since I've been here and so I did my best to hold in the emotion as they aren't used to that....but it just didn't happen. I listened to the familiar American accents sing the familiar worship song and felt at home with the faces that look so much like mine...and then I looked all around me and see the even more familiar Kenyan faces of my brothers and sisters and hear the now familiar Kenyan accents sing and realize that we're all singing to the same great God. We're all in love with the same Saviour. We're all in the same family. Never before has God been so big to me. On top of that, it hit me that I truly do feel at home with both groups, both cultures, both languages. Hearing the different language all around me used to make me a little nervous. I still can't understand everything, but it doesn't seem so different and foreign to me anymore. I praise the Lord for that.
Laying in the grass with my little brothers and sisters who look nothing like me and sound nothing like me is so familiar to me now. I'm so thankful that we all serve the same God and no matter where I am, I can feel at "home" as the Lord is with me wherever I go.
"Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!...Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. Great is the Lord! He is worthy of praise!" Psalm 96:1-4
Much love,
Lindsey
