If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Kenya, allow me to do my best to try to put into words what an incredible life-changing experience that you really need to do at least once in your life.
I was recently blessed to travel to Mutirithia, Kenya with an amazing group of 20 other Christian men to serve the families in that community over the course of a week.
We prepared for weeks to make sure everyone understood the primary objective of the trip, which was to build upon relationships already formed in the community and to spread the Word to as many people as we could.
Allow me to unfold a day-by-day glimpse of what we experienced:
Day One – We arrived at a primary school where we were greeted by a phenomenal Welcome Ceremony by the children, teachers, community leaders, pastors, and families! There was lots of singing, dancing, laughing and rejoicing during our time together.
Everyone shared a bit about themselves, and we were able to hear from the Leadership Council all about their community, of where they’ve been, where they are, and where they are going – so enlightening and encouraging! It was such a great way to meet everyone and help us understand each other.
Day Two – Our time in the community began with us breaking into smaller teams to do home visits and spend a ‘day in the life’ – they were so appreciative and welcoming of us into their homes as we made chapati together, drank tea, shared stories and got to understand each other better.
There were several “God moments” throughout our time there and I was blessed to witness – we learned there was a rift between two brothers (one of which did not attend the visit). As we were walking back to transport, we saw a man walking through the trees towards the home. One of the men in my group approached him and began speaking.
My friend soon called for the rest of us to come over to him. He said, “this is the brother and we talked for a few minutes about everything and his walk with the Lord and he wants to accept and give his life to Jesus!” We prayed with him and invited him to join us that afternoon because we were showing “The Jesus Film” at a church.
Guess what? He showed up at the showing, prayed the sinners prayer, and even reconciled with his wife and brother! Tears were flowing and smiles were glowing – and continued throughout the week with them! It truly was a magical day.
In addition to that, as we were showing the movie to the women, children, and men who would come in (in their culture it is not often that the men join them for events like that), we gathered a large group of Massai warriors and my friend preached the Gospel to them – we saw over 50 men give their lives to Christ that afternoon!
Day Three – We started the day early in the community and gathered with a group of Massai men where we prepared a bull to feast on with the community later that afternoon (they absolutely loved seeing us get our hands dirty and doing that with them). From there, we divided into smaller groups and went to four different churches where we were able to experience Kenya church services and even bring a brief message. It was AWESOME!
From there, we went back into the community where we able to show the Jesus movie to more people, share the Gospel with everyone inside and outside the tents and saw more people come to the Lord!
Day Four – This was such a fun day! We were able to visit 82 kids in the primary school and participate in part of their Discovery Kids Program teaching one a Biblical principal, doing crafts with them, playing games, singing and just all around enjoyable and incredible experience! We also spent time with some people in the market to see how they conduct business and learn more about their way of life – so cool!
Day Five – This was our final day in the community and boy did we end it with an explanation point! They were so excited to welcome us back for the final day with a Farewell Ceremony, showed the Jesus Film again, shared the Gospel and saw more people give their lives to Christ!
We also were able to share solar powered Bibles that had been donated to make sure every person there was able to hear the Word of God in their own language (Swahili) and they were so thankful (we also heard many stories of people there who had received them on previous visits and they were sharing with us their favorite stories from the Bible and scripture they had memorized – absolutely incredible!
There was just so much, it is nearly impossible to put all of the amazing God moments in this one brief passage.
We began every day with a devotion led by a different member of the group and that really helped get us in the right mindset for what lay ahead of us that day.
We capped each night with a debrief sharing what each of us had experienced that day. Every ride to and from the community was filled with sharing each other’s testimony (sat with different man each trip) and we were able to grow together, learn from each other, and become like brothers.
We completed the week with an amazing safari seeing God’s creation in a part of the world most of us had ever been – and pictures & videos don’t do justice, it is a once-in-lifetime experience that was a great way to complete an absolutely life transforming experience that I would do again in a heartbeat and strongly encourage you to create space in your busy life to go and serve as the hands and feet we are called to be.
It will change your life.
