Kenya captured my {heart} Part 6

Tune my heart to sing thy grace. This song Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing comes to my mind when I think back to Shangilia Orphanage. Shangilia Orphanage is a private orphanage and school that is located just outside of Kangemi slum. The children live and attend school at the center.

The minute we walked into their center which is shaped exactly like an “O” you could hear the joy of the children and then we got to see the joy of the children on their faces. They were anxiously waiting for us to arrive! J They couldn’t wait to teach us things, talk with us and play with us. Every afternoon they break into different clubs and we had the privilege of being a part of the clubs! There was an art club, environmental club, skateboarding club, girl’s and boy’s scout club, and music club! And I was placed in the music club. So my college class Music for Teachers exactly came in handy and was used. Emmy and I were asked to teach the children a worship song with motions. Was I ever thankful that Emmy was there!? She quickly thought of a song and motions. We taught “Here I am to Worship”. It was a joy to see these children worship God. We then asked them to teach us a song in Swahili! They laughed and laughed with us as we learned the dance and motions. We sang and danced for an hour worshiping God. His presence was so felt. After about an hour all the clubs gathered together and each club had one person tell what they did in the clubs. Little did we know that we would have to perform our song in front of everyone! Oh, dear! The performance was “beautiful” and then we had the opportunity to teach all kids the song.

 

I think what stood out to me the most while being at Shangilia was the joy that these children had. No matter what their circumstances were/are they were filled with JOY! They count every blessing they have and walk in thy grace of God.

 

Oh, how easy my heart is prone to wander in hard circumstances. Oh, how easy I try to take charge instead of binding my heart to my Savior who lifts my eyes heavenly ward instead of self-ward.  These children have experienced more pain, grief, hardship then I have, but they still choose to express JOY. These children were far more of blessing to me than I am sure I was to them. God used them to minister to my heart and remind me that my JOY can only be found in Him. Yes, my heart is prone to wander, but I pray that it will be sealed for thy courts above! That my eyes will turned heavenly ward and my heart will overflow with JOY no matter what circumstance comes my way.

 

Let’s seek JOY this week in all that we do. No matter what comes our way. Ask God to overflow you with a deep JOY that can conqueror anything!!!! Seek JOY!

Love, Daniella

P.S My mama coming to Korea this week so everything is going to just be great and it is soccer tournament on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And here is the whole song if you want to sing it or just read it:

COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING
Robert Robinson, 1735-1790 

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 5

It is amazing to think that it has been over a month since I travelled to Kenya and got my heart captured by it. Times just keeps ticking, but the memories are staying- the good ones and bad ones. They are continuing to teach me, grow me, overwhelm, stretch me and bring healing to my heart.

Kenya wreaked my life in a good way and bad way. There is still so much to think through and figure out how to move on with all that I saw, experience and felt. Some days I am doing great and other days I ready to cry or scream or just be angry. To be honest I am having more angry days then good days lately. My heart just feels so unsettled with where I am. I just want to be anywhere, but where I am. I keep trying to find ways to leave or change my circumstances, but I was challenged this week that our circumstances don’t matter to God. He just wants me to be completely focused on Him. He wants me to completely trust Him with where He has me. He wants me to rest in Him and in Him alone! He wants me to susurrate my soul in His word and cling to the truth that He has given me, but my heart and mind are fighting it. Ah!

Now that I allowed you to see what’s going on in my heart I want to share with you the moments I had at the New Life Home Trust. This place is a wonderful and peaceful baby orphanage located in Nairobi. Well, there we were able to play with babies and hold them tight whispering to them how much they are loved. How beautiful they are and speaking truth into their little ears. I started out with a cute little girl who just nestled right into my arms. She was about 7 months old. She loved to stand up on my legs and dance except that her stomached couldn’t really take because she kept spitting up every time we did.   Poor little sweetie. She has a hard time keeping her milk down one of the workers told me. Eventually they took her away from me because she kept spitting up. She was such a peacefully baby and I pray that she will know/experience the deep love of her heavenly father as she continues to grow. I ended my time there holding a little boy who was very sleepy, but couldn’t go to sleep because they are all on a strict schedule. I had the challenged of keeping his eyes open! Oh, what a cute little smile he had. I pray that he will grow up to be a man of God and light to those all around him.

 I also had the opportunity to talk to another lady who was volunteering there. She volunteers about twice a month. She was about my age and she works for a news station. She shared her story with me and I was amazed and touched how God open up a door of hearing a beautiful story of His grace with a stranger I had never met. It felt like we had known each other before. What a beautiful thing it is to be in communion with other believers. They truly are your brothers and sisters in Christ. This was something that placed upon my heart as fellowship with this lady.

We were not allowed to take pictures at this orphanage, but I can still see the smiles of the babies. The sweet care of the care ladies. The cleanliness of the rooms. The peace that overflowed and the joy that was heard.

My heart is burdened for the millions of orphans around the world.  There are so many beautiful lives longing to be loved and in a forever family. Will you join me in taking one day out of your week and praying for orphans around the world? Here are 7 seven ways that you can pray for them:

Don't just pray in the month of November, but pray year around!!!

 

My soul is reminded that I was once an orphan strained in sin, but my Savior adopted me and pulled me close with His never-ending, always forgiving, full of grace love and promises to come. (John 14:18) Let’s be a voice and love for these loves that have experienced way too much for their little age. Please join me in prayer!

I ran a 10k this weekend to raise funds for adoption!!

                                                                                                                        Love, Daniella

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 4

New Hope School in Kibera Slum

Desires.  A wish. Long for. Crave. Want. Yes, God has placed desires on my heart and I believe that He places specific desires on each of our hearts to draw us closer to Him and bring His kingdom to Earth. There are a few desires that God placed on my heart at an early age like the passion for education and teaching and as I have gotten older He has continue to put desires on my heart. And on this trip to Kenya God clearly showed me some tangible ways to live out a desire He has been growing in my heart for a few years now…

An awesome school in Kibera Slum

We had the privilege of attending New Hope Initiative (New Hope Academy) which is an elementary-middle school in Kibera slum (this slum is one of the largest slums in Africa!!!!) that accepts boys and girls from the neighboring communities. The school feeds the students twice a day and also has a high school and college scholarship program. They also provide a source of income for the students’ moms through Project Biashara which is amazing jewelry co-op.  You should check out their products and buy yourself something beautiful… hey maybe what you get was made by me … continue to read to find out how! J And we had the awesome opportunity of working with these moms! Oh, how I love it!  

This is how they take attendance each day! :)

Another thing I love about this place is that the school is run by a Kenyan director and all the teachers are Kenyans. They are supported by a church in Houston and have an on-site overseer who helps the teacher with professional develop, helps the school with their goals and just serves as guide with wisdom and knowledge overall (the lady working there now is super sweet and great!) And this is something that God has been placing on my heart to do some day! I would LOVE love love to empower teachers in remote places. I would love love love looovvveee to support, encourage and train them to be the best they can be. I love that this place is empowering Kenyans to change their nation through education. It just makes my heart sing! La la la! (And I think my dad would be proud because they are living out community development to the T!!)

An amazing Kenyan teacher with a heart of gold!

We had the opportunity to visit the different classes and be put out of our comfort zones by impromptu teaching “lessons” for a few minutes in each class. We just kind of said whatever came out of our mouths. I remember in one classroom I taught the difference between saying “hi” “hello” and “hey” and pointing out that “hey” is homophone because you also have “hay” that animals eat… oh, my! Now thinking back about it I am embarrassed! J

It was a joy though to walk into these classrooms and see that these beautiful students were learning so much. Their teachers showed deep dedication and excellence in teaching. It sadden my heart to see that they don’t have awesome supplies… they have a chalkboard and a few of the lower elementary classes had some posters that were homemade. Oh, how I wish these classrooms could be full of color, but to these kids they were just so thankful to be getting an education. My heart wrestles with thinking about these differences?! How can one place have so much… technology, poster, ect and other places so thankful for something so simple like a chalkboard.

Their classroom posters

God really blessed our time at New Hope. We ended up visiting the school on the perfect day to hang out with the mom’s and their jewelry making business. They meet about 6 times a month at their co-op. They start every gathering together with a time of worship in Swahili. Wow! How awesome is it to hear believers worshiping God in another language. It felt like I was in heaven for a few minutes. I can’t wait until the day that every tongue and every nation will bow down and worship God with their native tongues! We got to dance and clap and try to sing along with them. My heart felt so full and overflowing!!

Beautiful time of worship

 After worship time we sat down with the moms and helped them make wooden salad spoons and bead beads. It’s a joke on our team that someone in the US is going to order salad spoons thinking that they are made by a Kenyan woman when they actually were made by an American teacher teaching in Korea. Haha! Anyways, right after worship one lady called me over and was so excited to sit, show me how to make a wooden spoon and talk to me! She had oh, so many questions!!!  One question she asked me was first “was I married?” and when I said “no” she said “would you be willing to marry any man of any race?” Oh, did I laugh and then response with “if he is a godly Christian man who loves God with His whole heart and loves me deeply His race doesn’t matter to me”.  She smiled at that answer. We are pretty sure that she had some Kenyan man for me! Oh, dear! Another question she asked me that strike me and was hard to answer was “how much money do I make being a teacher?” I really didn’t know what to say because even though according to worldly standards I don’t make a whole lot, but I sure do make a lot compare to the people of Kenya! It is really something to think about and put into perspective!  It was a joyful morning working with these beautiful mamas who are trying their best to provide for their families and get them out of the cycle of poverty!

This mama was SO great!!!

What we "helped" make!!!

Speaking of poverty- I have never seen such a poor place as Kibera slum. One it is absolutely huge!!!! I was blow away with how many shacks upon shacks there were. The minute we stepped out of the car you could smell the smells. There were no roads- just small dirt paths to walk along. We had to cross a filthy stream by stepping on stones then crossing a bridge that had many big holes in in it. The water was steadily running down the stream filled with mud, pigs, potty water and who knows what else. There is no running water or bathrooms in the slums. Everyone lives super close to each other, but New Hope is a bright spot in this slum. A bright spot of hope for the future generation to break the cycle of poverty! It really is hard to put into words what we saw at the slums, but I think the pictures can give you a pretty good idea of what we saw. Please pray for the millions of people living here that they were find a way to break the cycle!

 

 

Something I crave now is to go back to school and get whatever masters’ degree I need to be able to continue my pursuit in teaching teachers in improvised places how to be the best teachers they possibly can be! And now my favorite college ever, Taylor University is exploring the possibility of offering training curriculum for orphan and vulnerable children “workers”. This screams my heart! Right now I just feel like I can’t get started fast enough on pursuing these desires, but at the sometime I don’t even know where to begin! Ah!! I just have to continue to trust that it is all in God’s timing! J

God will guide your steps....

Oh, Kenya has impacted my heart and future for the good! And I am oh, so thankful! Don’t worry there will be more blog posts coming soon about the other ministries we visited… 4 actually!!

Love you all!

Love, Daniella

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 3

“You have brains in your head; you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know; you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” –Dr. Seuss

West Nairobi School

In Kenya we had the awesome opportunity of visiting our sister school, West Nairobi School. They are in the same network of international schools that my school Pyeongtaek International School is in. It was so fun because I actually knew a few of the teachers from our pre-field orientation. I loved being able to catch up with them, share some stories and hear how teaching in Nairobi is.  We enjoyed a yummy Kenyan meal from the school cafeteria (which was outside under some huts- SO AWESOME!!).  And our students had a fun time playing soccer with some of the middle schoolers during recess then we went around to different classes helping out with reading week and answering questions about our life/school in Korea.

Cafeteria

The best school lunch ever!

 

Something that I think is so amazing and why I started out this blog post with a Dr. Seuss quote is that no matter if you are in a school in Kenya or a school in Korea you can share some similarities… like celebrating reading week with Dr. Seuss. This is totally an elementary teacher thing to get excited about, but I loved it! I loved seeing second graders in Kenya learning which made me think about my second graders in Korea. I loved that the second grade teacher in Kenya had the same theme as me for our classrooms which is travel (I got some awesome new ideas to add for next year! J) I love that I got to talk to kindergarteners all about their favorite day to dress up that week which the most excitement was about wacky hair day! YES!

First Grader Fun

 

Kindergarteners are just TOO cute!

It was just great to see that students no matter where you are eager to learn, excited about life, have troubles, talk without raising their hand, and have so many questions! Teaching is more than the physical place you are at- it is about reaching the children in your class where they are at.  I loved being able to spend the afternoon observing and learning at West Nairobi School.  It was also super fun to hear stories about monkeys stealing snacks from the students’ backpacks and having lock-downs for baboons! J It was an awesome school! And maybe just maybe someday I will teach there- you never know- it definitely wouldn’t be a bad place to teach!

Great opportunities for monkeys to get a little snack...

Love, Daniella

 

 

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 2

3 weeks ago God called me out my comfort zone to lead 6 students to Nairobi, Kenya along with 3 other adults. Never did I think this trip would completely change my heart and expose desires that have been on my heart in a tangible way along with “sins” that have been hiding their way in my soul. I have grown up in missions and have learned/experienced what short term mission trips can be- they can either be a blessing, but always changing the person who came more than the person who was left or they can be a disaster and bring more hurt than good.  This trip changed me more than I thought it would. It has left me broken, exposed, hurt, clinging, questioning, missing, longing, and wondering. It has overwhelmed me to the point of having a hard time putting words to it and just wanting life to slow down for a little bit so I can get my feet under me again. Even though the past 3 weeks have been difficult I am so thankful for them because it is a tangible way for me to see that this trip in my life wasn’t just some trip that I will soon forget about like what happens to so many short term mission trips that people go on, but that this trip was a gift from God to grow me. There are many things that I loved about this trip and one of those things was seeing some many awesome ministries that are empowering Kenyans to bring hope and change to their country for God’s kingdom. Today I would love to share with you the very first ministry that we went to Joseph Kamgethe, Street Boy’s Center.

The Joseph Kamgethe, Street Boy’s Center is actually a government run center that is a very dark place with lots of “evil” things that happen. The boys center is located on the outskirts of Kibera slum, the largest slum in Kenya. The center houses “street boys” that are found around Nairobi. “Street boys” are exactly what you are thinking: boys who live on the street. They are everywhere in Nairobi, knocking on car doors and begging for food and money. Some of them are orphans, but most of them are runways that have left their abusive homes looking for better lives somewhere else. Nairobi’s City Council thinks the boys are criminals and sends men to drive around the city and capture the boys to drop them off at centers around town. The boys usually have some type of food and some type of bed at the center.



Our amazing hostess for the week, Emmy has been volunteering here along with three other Christian friends for the past two and half years. She focuses mainly on teaching English and trying to share the gospel with boys. They have also raised funds for 28 of the boys to go to school (many of them have never attended before because it cost $200). This $200 covers their school fees, uniforms, books and food. Can you imagine buying a pair of $200 shoes knowing that you could have used that 200 to change someone future for the better for the rest of their lives?  How easily do we spend $200? There are currently around 40 boys at the center so Emmy tries to teach the boys some type of school until they can raise the funds to send them as well. The boys can be ages 4-16, but right now the center has boys from the age 6-16!

While we were there we had the opportunity of going to the center twice. The first morning that we visited my heart and mind were overwhelmed. We pulled up to the center which is one “community center” building that has one room open for activities and such and then one room filled with metal bunk beds squished together. There were about 5 stray dogs hanging around which yes, I overcame a fear and didn’t let those dogs scare me. I had courage! J There were a few boys hanging around (not yet sponsor to go to school), but most of the boys were at school.

Their "bedroom"

Our first morning there we took on the task of washing the boys’ blankets- all forty of them to be exact. Their blankets had never been washed before. We had no idea what was in these blankets, but we didn’t let it stop us. Each team member humbled themselves and went right to work without complaining or saying a word of negativity. We had to wash the blankets by hand so we started an assembly line of some people filling buckets, carrying buckets, scrubbing blankets, rising blankets, wringing blankets and laying them out to dry. The minute a blanket touched the water the water turned completely brown. We scrubbed their blankets many times, but each time we scrubbed more and more came out of them. We had a limited amount of water so we could only wash the blankets twice and rinse them twice, but they were still filthy dirty. {I was hurting inside. I was frustrated. I was angry. I just wanted those blankets to be completely clean. God very quietly spoke to my heart that all I could do with my very best for this moment and that He would cleanse the rest. He asked me to pray over each blanket that I washed that the boy would feel He love and peace as he slept with the blanket that night. I repented of my emotions and abide in trusting God by praying.} We worked hard. We left soaking wet, dirty and unsettled in our hearts.

Filling buckets with water

Carrying buckets after buckets of water

Washing

Rinsing

Wringing water out

The next day we returned to the center in the afternoon so we could play soccer and games with the boys who were at school while we were there the other morning washing blankets. The minute Emmy told them we were there to play soccer with them and they came running out shouting with excitement! J Our students played soccer with them for a few hours and of course they were tens better than we were. We also set-up a little corn hole game which I had the privilege of playing with some of the smaller boys. My job was to be the cheerleader and celebrate with them when they made it and encourage them when they didn’t! J

Cheering at the corn hole game! :)

We learned many sad things about what goes on at the center-lots of abusive, stealing, and punishments from the director. The director is a very evil man who gives me the creeps when I looked at him.  He makes me so angry and I wish that he would just be taken away, but I was remind again even yesterday at church how God can take the most evil man (Saul/Paul Acts) and change him! I was convicted of my prayer for this man and this was something that Emmy taught me as well. She said “I first pray that God will change His heart and that he would know God and then she prays that if not he would be taken away.” Injustice like this makes your heart long for Jesus to come back and bring justice so much more intense.

Before we left the center we had the opportunity to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste to each of the boys. Oh, how excited they were to receive such a necessary thing. The little boys ran over to brush their teeth the minute they received their toothbrushes. Seeing their toothpaste filled smiles brought joy to my heart knowing it is just the simple things of life that should bring us joy. We don’t need things- we need to know that we are loved, cared for and wanted and the only one who is the best at that is God!!! Emmy also told them who washed their blankets the day before and this is when I broke down. You should have heard their expressions and comments of thankfulness. “Thank you SO much I haven’t slept that good in a long time.” “My blanket smelled SO good.” “It felt SO good getting into bed.” How can this be? There was no way that we washed those blankets to the clean that “we” would sleep in and think smelled good. We couldn’t give them “our” very clean, but to them it was perfect. Words can’t describe how this moved my heart… it seriously brings tears to my eyes each time I think or tell this story. And it also showed me a tangible way of how powerful prayer is and abiding to what God lays on your heart! I pray that I will never forget this center and deep things that I learned from this place.

Melt you heart?!

If you would love to sponsor a boy so that they can attend school please contact me and I will get you all the information! Also, if you would love to please join me in prayer for the boys at this center, Emmy and her friends who volunteer here shinning God’s light in the dark places, the director’s heart to change and that justice would be brought! My heart has to just trust that God is in control and that His plan will always rule over the darkest even when we can’t see it!

Thanks for reading a little glimpse into my trip. There will be plenty more (exactly 6 actually) posts talking about the other ministries throughout the next weeks!

Love, Daniella

 

P.S If you missed reading Part 1 of my trip click here or want to see all of the pictures from Kenya, click here.

Capture my Kenya

It has been a very long process uploading on the Kenya pictures. We had over 1,000 pictures of our time there. I also wanted to add words to the pictures so that I would remember and so that you could understand a little bit more of what happened. I couldn’t write under each picture, but I tried to capture the most I could. I LOVED going through the pictures and remember the stories, love and brokenness from them. I will write more details with more blogs post to come, but for now here is the link for the pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153175839269289.1073741843.619224288&type=1&l=d86e101507 Also, please feel free to ask questions or talk to me about the trip. I would love it!

God's light overshadowing the darkness!

Love, Daniella

Kenya captured my {heart} Part 1 of many!

Words. I can’t really seem to find them as I think about what I want to say or write. There are just so many thoughts. So many things I want to tell you, but I just can’t seem to find an organize way to do it. I am exhausted and life has to just keep on going. I wish for just a moment that I could pause for a few days and process all that I experienced while in Kenya, but it’s not reality so I am trying to pause in the little moments of here and there and reflect, think through, ask questions, remember, and figure out how to hold onto what I learned and move forward. My biggest fear is that I will forget everything and life will go back to normal, but you see I don’t want that. I don’t want my life to go back to way it was- I want to live with the newness that the brokenness I saw last week did to my heart. My heart is broken, hurt and overwhelmed. To be honest my trip to Kenya was two completely different trips except for the small little fact that it actually was one trip.  Personally my heart was broken, captured by love and I just wanted to stay in Kenya for so many reasons. We served at so many different amazing ministries and so many different Kenyans impacted my life with their stories. I loved spending the week listening with my whole heart and serving wherever I could so that those there could just have a moment of rest from the day in and day out of ministry and life. I saw so much hurt, injustice, abandonment, but at the sometime love, hope, grace and determination.  There are so many stories and lives I want to capture with words and remember so over the next couple of weeks I will try write more details with specific stories as I continue to process! Feel free to read as many or as little as you would like I just want to document all that I saw so I will never forget! God laid it so clearly on my heart that this trip would/will impact my future and I am already seeing how some of it playing out. Oh, how I love my Savior who is so faithful and so worthy to trust. Trusting in Him these days is all my heart is holding onto because to be honest I have had a bad attitude the last couple of days. My mind, my soul, my heart and body want to be anywhere, but where I am. But it is not a choice. I am where I am because this is where God has called me for now and I am being reminded again by a wise man Timothy Keller that “Faith is not primarily a function of how you feel. Faith is living out, trusting, and believing what truth is despite what you feel.” So even though I don’t feel like being where I am. I am choosing to live it out, trust and believe in the anchor that is holding me together, my Savior.

 Thank you SO much to those of you who supported me through this trip either with prayer or financially. Your prayers were felt and much needed. Thank you! And I was financially all fundraised! Yay! Really I cannot thank you enough for your encouragement and prayers. One of the many things this trip taught again was the power of prayer. My hope is that over the next couple of weeks I will be able to share more details about all that went on. If it is not happening please kindly send me a reminder- I may need some motivation and push to continue to process everything! Thank you for being patience and loving me! J

Love, Daniella

 

This is truth that I cling onto and press into through this season!

 

p.s My next project is to get pictures onto facebook so you can at least "see" what I experienced!