coming back

As I write, I am in the Amsterdam airport. I will be in California in less than 24 hours. Amazing.

There are a flurry of emotions. First of all, I realize I have barely written about Vipingo. The last few weeks were intense and each day should really have a blog for itself, but I had no time to write then, so I will sadly have to rely on summaries that don't really do justice. Oh well.. pressing on to what is ahead. :) But mixed emotions also involve the grief of goodbyes, as well as the overwhelming excitement to see everyone.

okay, okay. Vipingo.
I think I said a little about it in the last post. We spent our last three weeks of outreach in Vipingo, which is about an hour north of Mombasa. On one of my free days, I went with Paul and some other people to visit his brother in Kilifi, which was a lot of fun too. (I can't wait to put pictures to all these names I keep mentioning.)
Anyway, Vipingo was pretty intense. We encountered some difficulty with team unity, exhaustion, and a lot of difficult situations with people. We also saw some amazing work of the Lord. Here are some examples:
- One of the people we met was 13 year old Reziki. Reziki has spent her entire life without being able to walk, and only recently has been able to form some comprehendable words. Yet, she has a joyful spirit and definitely responds to people. We went to visit her on 4 different occasions, and were able to pray over her, each time with many tears as the heart of our Father breaks for her. On the third and fourth times, we met with her parents as well, and it was so powerful. To see her dad carry her, bathe her, clean her up, and put her in the wheelchair from off of the ground. To see the faith of her mom, that she has made small improvements, and that God can still heal her fully. One of the things that we noticed is that she never bent her right leg. Her mom said that she would cry anytime they did any therapy with her with that leg. The last time we were there, we moved her leg out as we prayed, and Reziki didn't cry. She even kept it out as we left. It may not sound so exciting with my limited words, but we praised God for His healing work, and left believing that He is still working on her.

- One of the strongholds in this area are problems with pregnancy. Reziki's mom, as well as at least three other women had issues with bleeding abnormally during their pregnancies. We were able to pray with them, as well as over the issue in general. One of the women we met was Silvia, who had lost two children at a young age, as well as a pregnancy that has never brought a baby, but only blood for the past 10 years or so. We mourned with her, and prayed for her. She gave her life to the Lord, and was also healed! For the past 10 years, she had been unable to walk out of the house or even cook because of the pain and blood. But she was able to walk across town to church on Sunday. It was a miracle. (And a sidenote story - we were also particularly impressed with her husband who loved her so much. He came home from work just to cook her lunch because she can't cook. In a society where women are often beat because they are not cooking what their husband prefers, my Kenyan friends were particularly shocked to see this act of love. haha.. and the guys were inspired too.. hah.. GOOD JOB.)

I wish I had time to share more, but those stories I'm sure will come out with time. :) We had ministry right up until the very last minute we were there, including seeing a boy get healed of his hearing loss, a girl able to walk after 16 years, and good work with the kids at church.

We came back to the base last week, and have been doing some debriefing. Friday was full of tears and I was only encouraged by the fact that at least there will be no more goodbyes in heaven. haha. :)
One fun story to share though is that we took my Kenyan friends to the airport and it was a shocker to most of them. It was so fun to explain and show everything from how the wheels go up in the plane, to how to go through the security check, to what happens with the luggage. Some had never seen an airplane that close before (we were behind a fence, but still). Anyway, it was a good break of laughter amidst the pain of leaving.

So much more to share, but that will all be from California!!