Word of Life Camp

Ok, i know its about time i update this blogspot....so sorry! Between the electricity being out and just life i haven't sat down to write much. But here it goes...so my last big entry was about going to the college camp at Word of Life. Thanks everyone for praying! It was a great week! Kristin and I went to be counselors for the girls. We lived with the girls in small door rooms with bunks..I was in a room with 6 other girls and was on the very top bunk NEAR THE one FAN in the room. The bunks were stacked 3 high...so needless to say those middle of the night trips down the ladder to the bathroom outside were a little scary, but i survived!! The theme for the camp week was Crisis of Integrity. We had one main speaker, Chris, the Kenyan director of Word of Life, who led our Bible hour in the morning. He spoke on the problems with integrity in the church of Kenya. As i listened agreeing with all he was saying i began to see the similarities between the church here in Kenya and in America. We have too many people in the church who are just church-goers and will say they are Christians but they dont' truely have a personal relationship with Jesus. Its very much the same here in Kenya. Many go to church just because everyone else does. The church is filled with few born-again believers. And the word "saved" is thrown around losely and very much associated with good works. Many come to church, sing, dance, raise their hands and say Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord), but as soon as they leave the church they forget Jesus and live like the rest of the world. Much of this is because there is little discipleship and a lack of knowledge about the TRUTH of God's Word. The importance of reading and meditating upon God's Word is not taught. And so many people here watch TBN and "worship" pastors like Benny Hin, TD Jakes, Joel Olsten, and others and listen and follow their teachings and not what God's Word says. And then pastors listen to these preachers and copy their messages. The prosperity gospel is widely preached and people think that when you get saved that life then becomes a life of wealth, success, prosperity, and no problems. These are all issues that Chris very boldly talked about each day. Every late morning we divided in discussion groups and talked about what we had learned during Bible hour and then each night in our dorms we had devotion times together further discussing topics like Salvation, assurance of Salvation, growth in the Lord, and rededication of our lives to Christ. These devotional times with the girls were some of my favorites. During these times we dug into Scripture, shared our testimonies with each other and learned from one another. I was particularly encouraged one night when I found out that one of my girls, Salume came from a Muslim background and she shared with us how she was the only believer in her family and how she is now very much shunned from her family and persecuted because of this. Because God has given me a heart for Muslim ladies my heart leaped with joy to see her perseverance and devotion to Christ despite the many trials she faces. I was able to spend more one on one time during the week talking and praying with her about the difficult life she faces each day. Please pray the Lord would provide for Salume's needs and encourage her spiritually!! I also met and built relationships with so many other girls this week as well. If the internet permits i'll post pictures of them as well.

Word of Life camp is located on one of the most beautiful Kenyan beaches, which just so happens to be very close to where i use to live in Diani beach previously. During the week we also had fun playing outdoor games, going to the beach and Sing N Fun, where the campers and counselors got on stage and entertained us with their singing, dancing and variety of talents! I joined some of the singing groups in worship songs and Kristin showed off her dancing moves on stage. Was lots of fun.On Friday night at the end of the camp week we all had a nice dinner together followed by a concert by some famous Kenyan Gospel singers. Guess who my date for the dinner was, my sweet Dennis himself!

Thanks everyone so much for praying for our week at Word of Life. God was faithful to answer all of the prayers i asked you to pray including our health. I was camp nurse for the week and despite some minor sprains, bruises, headaches, muscle cramps, stomach upsets, and minor surgery to remove sea urchins stuck in the foot we all stayed pretty healthy!!

(OK, ONCE AGAIN THE INTERNET IS NOT LETTING ME POST PICTURES ON MY BLOG...DON'T KNOW WHY...BUT WILL TRY AGAIN LATER)