My World Became Smaller this Week

My world became a smaller place this week. I had the privilege of going on a mission trip to Kenya the past 10 days. After 34 hours of travel, all 18 of us from Carmel Baptist Church made our way to the small village of Kandaria. It has a population of about 7,000. The terrain is rugged and steep.

The people of Kandaria were so wonderful. What thankful hearts! During our home visits, the people thanked God for all that He had provided them. Many of them had never had a white man visit in their homes before. It was an honor to be one of the first.

During our stay we were able to assist the people in expanding their new water system. A giant water tank had been built just a few months before we arrived. Our task was to continue the water pipeline down the mountainside. Once completed, the villagers will be able to get water from the pipes without the long trip to the stream.

My favorite part of the trip was meeting with the teachers at the Kandaria public schools. The village has two primary schools (classes one through eight) and one high school (classes nine through twelve). Ms. Lillian is the principal of the Akada Primary School. She was my hostess for the week. The motto of the Akada School is "Excellence is Our Desire". How exciting to work with educators who want the best for their students. I was able to share my passion for Christian education and Biblical Integration. They were encouraged by my vision of sharing God's Word in all content areas, not just religion class. Many of the teachers told me by week's end that they would be using Biblical Integration in their lessons.

My prayer is that we will be able to assist the schools in some way over the coming years. There are many needs. We will be able to prioritize the needs to see how we can assist them. What a great opportunity we have to help.

As we drove to the city of Kisumu each night we passed many people who do not know of the love of Jesus. Our world needs a Savior. I asked myself the question: What am I doing to reach out to that world? I want to be a part of the solution. What are you doing to help? I encourage each of us to examine why we "do church". I encourage the American church to re-examine our priorities. I think we can do a better job.

I encourage all of us to be a part of a short term mission trip. It will hopefully change your prospective on how the rest of the world lives, as it did mine. It will hopefully change your view of a dying and lost world who desperately needs Christ.