Back in Nairobi -- John Hardacker

As we return from Kitui, we have been able to travel to a couple tourist type activities. We went to 'magic mountain', a local restaurant in Machakos, a big mall (it felt close to home and I think we needed that as a team today), the market, and a wood carving wholesale "plant". It was fun to step outside what we have been doing and see more of the beautiful country of Kenya. The mountains and valleys were breathtaking.
The entire time we were traveling and exploring Kenya, I couldn't help but think of the people we left in Kitui. Even the people we were driving by on the road. We were able to step out of the poverty (not the dust) and have a different experience than before. The Kenyans can't. We have to keep track of how much drinking water we have so we stay hydrated while riding in the cars, they have to walk kilometers to bring barrels of water home on their backs or bikes before they boil it so it won't make them sick. Poverty is ugly. It makes me tired thinking about the strength it requires to continue on through it. Drinking is a big problem here. You can see why someone might give up and drink themselves blind (literally). The only thing that seems to be able to keep them going is hope. Not hope in the comming rains because that has been years and still no sign. Not hope in the government, they seem only to care for themselves and their careers. No, the hope that makes change is Hope. Hope that is more than a dream but hope that brings peace. Hope that restores people, relationships, familes, countries, and sometimes even land. That hope is God.
This trip for us (me at least) has been about helping the people of Kenya, growing in my relationship with God and growing in my family relationships. The team helped build part of a building for the Viviti ministry, fed hungry children, fed hungry families, delivered computers to a school, and unknown other little things. I have grown in my faith. My family relationships have been strengthened also. The thing I pray we have done the most is, brought hope to a place that needs it more than many I have seen.
There is a man that lives near the church we worked at in Kitui. He is an older man, and relative of the Arch Bishop. When I say he lives near the church, I mean he lives across the road. He has never been inside that church. He said it was because he had never felt the love of Christ in the church until these crazy Mzungus (white people) came and spent so much time with the children and people of the area. We didn't do anything special. We just went where God told us he was working and did what He said to do. I think we had nothing to do with him feeling the love of Christ. I think it was that we were there when his heart was finally ready to hear. If that is the hope we could 'bring' with us, I think this is a job well done. I can't wait to hear what God does with that hope. Or who he brings with him to do the work. Maybe it could be you :-) I can tell you from personal experience, it is worth all the work you might need to do to get there, and more!