Well for starters, the entire trip was, for me, a much needed lesson on the greatness of God, the smallness of me, and His great mercy. Staring even a few days before the trip, I was unable to get my visa because MasterCard locked my card from use by a foreign entity. So I had to go there by faith that I was going to even be able to obtain the visa once I got there. Judge (another man who was going from my church) and I by the grace of God, had raised $4,120.19 over what was required to go. However, when it came time to purchase the motorcycles in Narok, that was exactly the amount we needed (after converting it to Kenyan shillings), which was pretty amazing. It took 3 days to finally make it to the area where we would minister. There were no roads or power lines where we were at. It just so happened that the day we arrived, there was an area wide market going on, where the Maasai would setup shop to buy, sell, and trade. The chief of the entire area was there and after 86 of his people came to know the Lord--he gave us unlimited access to the entire region. Everywhere we went, the majority of people we encountered were converted. They said that they had believed in God but had no idea how to reach Him. They had no idea about Christianity and most had never seen a mzungu (white person). So we preached the Gospel, starting from "In the beginning" to the fall of man, the sacrificial system, the coming Savior, The life of Jesus, the crucifixion (we had to explain what a cross was and how it was used every time), atonement, the resurrection, ascension, and salvation through Christ. Without any prodding or pushing for them to make decisions, they wanted to be saved and asked us what they needed to do to be saved. I was in awe of what I was seeing the power of God do in these people. They did not grow up in church, but they responded in tears, in joy, and zeal. It was awesome to behold. Men, women, young, old, warriors, and shepherds--they all responded. On a few occasions, although not with every group of people, the Lord confirmed our word through healing--something I only knew to be theoretically true, but now have experienced first-hand. He answered our prayers for the people and sent rain after the work was finished. Some of these places had not seen rain in over a year and a half. I still tear up thinking about it. The terrain was extremely difficult and practically inaccessible; but the Lord saw us through. No one was hurt, even after Judge flipped his bike. All our flat tires (Kenya is covered in 2-3" long thorns) were confined to before we started ministering or after we were completely done--none occurred during our actual treks into the wilderness. We ran out of water multiple times, but by the grace of God, we always found clean water after everyone ran out--without fail. Though we struggled to rest--God provided strength. Although we had no idea where we were going, the Lord always showed the way. He was faithful--even to me, a man who went with some degree of skepticism. He shattered so much of my preconceived notions about the way things worked and replaced it with truth--all the struggles, all the hardships, and all the frustrations I carried about Christianity here in the states were cast aside and now I recognize that I serve a mighty God who is willing and able to move in the hearts of men. The same God who did all that is the same God who lives in me, who has saved me, and who was called us all to the purpose of growing His kingdom. He is more real to me than ever before. God willing, I'll be going back in April.
