Kenya: Take It From Someone Who’s Been There

As most of you know Daniel is planning a mission trip into Kenya this summer. What most of you don’t know is that his cousin Josiah has been there for the last two summers. Last year when Josiah posted during his trip I thought to myself, “This is good stuff, I’ve got to get this on my blog”, little knowing that Daniel would want to be in the middle of it one year later. Here is Josiah’s perspective:

“I think probably the most impactful thing about this trip so far has just been seeing all the injustice going on in Kenya. This trip has really opened my eyes to some very horrible and grotesque things going on in this world. Things that I know most of America is completely unaware of. Things that I don’t really like to think about much less write about, but nevertheless they are happening in the world that you and I live in. And that has been a huge wake up call to me personally.

“But yet, then I look around after hearing about these things and these people do have hope....and these people do have joy. I don’t pretend to know these people’s hearts, but I would argue that these people have 10x more joy than most of us living in America. And I’m not talking about a cheap fake joy either. The kind that simply embraces the good and ignores the bad (there is plenty of that in America). I am talking about a real joy that only comes from God. A joy not based on circumstances. A joy that only comes from trusting God in whatever trials that occur. I don’t pretend to understand this joy, but nevertheless I know I am not making it up because this joy is very, very evident in these people’s lives.

“We are going to see Kibera on Saturday. Approx. 1 million people live there and it is only 600 acres big. That is approx 1,700 people per acre. Most of these people have HIV/AIDS and there is absolutely no one who is not affected by it. Needless to say, people there live in extreme poverty. But one thing that is amazing is that after we walk through there, and all of us feel so helpless and so discouraged, the Kenyan ladies from church who are guiding us through can always turn around with hope in their eyes and say "But God is so much bigger than all of this."

“The Kenyan people we work with are really amazing in that they can look at something like Kibera, and yet still have hope, because they know who they trust in....and they understand how big their God is...”

There you have it from someone who has been there. It sounds life changing to me.