Kenya

My church, Bethany Presbyterian, sends a group to Kenya every summer, where we work alongside World Vision to help with AIDS relief. We have actually established many long-standing relationships in Kenya: we sponsor over 175 children in the Soweto Slum (outside of Nairobi); many Kenyan families have spent time in Seattle and worshipped at Bethany while attending the U of W to earn medical degrees, which they use by returning to help with the AIDS crisis; and others from both Bethany and Kenya travel back and forth frequently to visit and share news from the front.

God placed this ministry on my heart three or so years ago, and this summer I have the opportunity to go. I attended the informational meeting last Sunday and I really really want to go this summer. Yet, I am not sure if this summer is the right time for me or not. I'm concerned with the huge transitions that are looming in the distance - graduation, finding a roommate and place to live, finding a job. The trip is in the middle of August, so I will have a place to live and roommate by then, but I don't know if I'll have a job yet. I certainly hope so. The other thing is the finances. Pastor Lynne (pastor of outreach and one of my mentors/dear friends) has told me that the church would mostly likely be able to fund 1/3 of my trip, which is really something to consider.

I would love to be able to travel to Kenya frequently. I know that a teacher's salary is pretty small, but it's my dream to be able to travel to Kenya close to every summer. I look forward to having summers off as a teacher, but I also really want to do something very worthwhile and meaningful during my free summers. I could help run summer school for AIDS orphans, administer assessments, help with VBS. God has truly placed the AIDS crisis on my heart while at SPU, and I honestly believe that this is the issue of our day; that when we stand before God on that final day, God will ask us what we did about the AIDS crisis in Africa. I want to go, I want to help, I want to wrap my arms around the children who have lost their families. I want to see it and experience it for myself, so that Africa and and the AIDS pandemic are more than just places and highlighted areas on a map.

I know I need to trust God. I know that God will provide for this trip if I am supposed to go this summer, and that's what I need to trust.