Faith Promise Blog

Today our team divided into 3 seperate groups…here is an update from each group:

GROUP ONE

One of the best things we do on a 410 Bridge trip is to spend a day in the life with a family from the community. Today we got to spend a day in the life with the family of Warutere. Warutere is 84 years old, and he had 11 children.

We were greeted by his granddaughter, Irene as we arrived at the neighborhood, and she led us to her homestead where we met her mother, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was already working in the small cooking shed beside their home, boiling water so that she could make us all coffee. When she found out that we didn’t all drink coffee, she quickly went back and warned some milk to make tea also. That is the kind of welcome we get everywhere we have gone in Kenya. Each place where you enter, they welcome you with a smile and the phrase “Karibu”, which means welcome. They always want you to feel like you are home.The cooking shed had a custom built cooking area in one side, and the other side was a storage for plates, cups, and wood for the fire. Kind of like their pantry.We took a walk out to the fields to meet the grandfather, Warutere. Warutere was taking the sheep out to graze for the morning. After they were all tied up, we all headed back to the house.Back at the house, we continued to prepare lunch for the day. We cut up some carrots, onions, garlic, and peppers to add to the beans that were already cooking. We also cut up some pumpkin and zest of a lemon for the Chapati bread we were preparing.

While the rest of the team went and toured the neighboring farmland, I stayed back and continued to make the Chapati bread with Irene. We kneaded the dough, made with mashed pumpkin, lemon zest, all purpose flour, and a little sugar, then added a little oil and left it to rest while we went back to work on the stew.The beans for the stew had been cooking and were now soft enough, so we put some oil in a pan, added the onions and garlic, and finally the carrots. When that had cooked a while, we added the beans to the mix and covered it to let it cook. We were told this stew was something they only made for special occasions, such as weddings.

In the meantime, the Pumpkin Chapati bread was ready to cook. It is rolled out so that it is about 1/4 inch thick, then placed on a very hot pan. Once a side has been lightly cooked, some oil is spread on it and then it is cooked some more until it is done on each side. It seemed like we were making a lot, so I asked her if it could be saved for later. The look I got from her is hard to describe. It was a little like what you would expect if you told somebody we should save the hot Krispy Kreme donuts to eat later, and when she gave me a taste of the first one, I understood why. She assured me we would eat them all, but maybe we could save some to take with us when we left. When I asked, she told me it was her favorite food.The rest of the team was back by then, so we each took turns rolling out the dough. Finally, with the bread done and the stew finished, we stopped to have lunch. The stew and bread was served with fresh avocadoes that they got from a tree in their yard. Irene never stopped serving us, and didn’t finally sit down to eat with us until we had almost finished.Once we finished lunch, we went for a walk and Irene and her grandfather showed us around and pointed out the many different crops and plants they had on the property. We saw corn, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, macadamia nuts, tomatoes, cabbage, and an aloe vera plant. There was also a clearing where many tea tree plants were located.Eventually we arrived at the home of Irene’ s aunt, who was also named Irene.I don’t know that you will ever see a greater smile than this one. This is the look of a grandfather holding his five month old granddaughter who is named after his wife who passed away, Tamal.We stayed there for a long time, talking about Kenya and asking lots of questions. We played with Tamal, and laughed with our new Kenyan friends.After we left Irene’s aunt’s house, we headed back and brought the cow in to water before taking it to a new area to graze. Then we sat down for another cup of coffee and tea before having to say goodbye.Before we left, we gathered the family together to thank them for treating us so well, and to pray over them and their house before we left. I don’t think there was anything more they could have done to make us feel more at home, and we learned so much about them during our time there. Family is very important to them, and they love each other deeply. But more important than that, when you are in their home, they extend that same love to you, and for that time that you are with them, you feel like you are family as well. That is a lesson I hope we never forget.

GROUP TWO

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GROUP THREE

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A People Carrying the Hope & Joy of the Lord

What a day in Irigithathi, Kenya. Today we worked at the school, repairing one of the classrooms, and we had the privilege of sitting in on one of 410 Bridge’s Business classes with some students in the community. Today would be seen by many as a “work” day. It was a work day, as so much work was done on our hearts through the people of Kenya.

We arrived at the school and were given a brief introduction of what was expected of us while repairing one of the classrooms. The #1 rule was not to work all day, which was odd because that is what we thought we were there for. The expectation was to work a little, and then go play with the kids or go hangout with some of the leaders. The heart of the Kenyan people is so pure, never focusing on what has to be done and always leading with the hope and joy given through connecting with people.

Following the work at the school we got to sit in on a Business Startup Training class that 410 Bridge provides through one of their 5 pillars of a community’s development. This Class is focused around the spiritual, economic, and social approaches to business. The greatest moment in the class was when people began to share the breakthrough they have experienced when they put God 1^st and take hold of seeking knowledge and the resources around them to pursue success. There were stories of people getting off of the streets, begging, and coming together to be a blessing to their community through investing in what they already have. The hope and joy of the Lord that these people embody was so inspiring to us.

My heart is fully captured by the Kenyan people. The way that they trust God, the way that they love people, and the way that they care for not the success of themselves but the success of their people. From our view they don’t have much, but from their overflow of hope and joy they show that they have everything they need in the Lord’s provision and timing. I have been filled up way more than I could ever pour out to the Kenyan people. Each one of them have been preparing for us, I believe before we started or even thought about preparing for them. The Kenyan people are passionate and purposed, truly believing and living in Romans 15:13.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” -Romans 15:13

– Brittany (Brooks) Pollard

Today’s experience was an amazing one to say the least. We attended a local church in the Irgithathi area called the African Church of Kenya, ACK. The service was a life changing experience full of music, laughter, deep prayer, and thorough sermons on Isaiah and 2^nd Timothy. Though we couldn’t understand the local language we enjoyed the sound of their native tongue and loved the thought and time that they put into the entire thing. The music was sung by the locals and consisted of songs about God and the amazing power and love that He shares with the world. Half way through the sermon everything was stopped for the auction of a chicken and a bag of beans. Those in the local community were thrilled to see such items up for grabs, but we were looking in awe as a chicken hung from the hands of the auctioneer. It was definitely something you wouldn’t see on a normal day in America.

Our group leader, pastor Kyle Wall, actually bought the chicken to much of our amazement, but kindly donated it back to the church stating,” I don’t think I can take this on the plane.” The sermon continued as if nothing had happened and afterwards Kyle gave a quick sermon and we concluded our service. The church they had was an amazing thing to see. Just a run down, tin shack with plastic chairs and cheap metal on the windows, but the great truth that made it so amazing was that it was a place of worship.

With faith you don’t need a fancy church and a huge audience. All you need is the gospel and the love in your heart for Jesus Christ. This trip keeps getting better and better with all the people I am meeting and all the members I came here with from Faith Promise.

 – Chase Perry

Day 1 was travel, travel, travel.  We left Knoxville after a flight delay at 5:30 pm and arrived in Kenya on Friday night at 10:20pm. After going through customs and getting our baggage, we finally left the airport and traveled about 20 minutes to our stay for the night. We got to bed around 1:00am.

Day 2 started early at 7:00am with wake-up followed by breakfast and devotion then traveling 3  1/2 hours to our location.  We had an incredible opening/welcome ceremony at the Primary School with the local community. Then we took a tour of the school grounds and followed that with a meeting from the Leadership Council.  After the meeting, we drove to our accommodations for the week and had dinner and some time to process and talk about the day. We are still very tired and going to bed early tonight!

– Katy Creasman, Global Missions Administrative Assistant