Beautiful Mess

Hello from Kisumu, Kenya...

I have only been here but three days and it feels like a month has gone by. The days have been packed with so much, and i have something like five minutes to write an update.

The last two days have been a complete gift - to re-visit the communities that I met in august and to see the change in their communities because clean water has been provided for them by Blood:Water Mission’s donors. They worked hard as communities to make sure that they were a sustainable and responsible group - and so much has come from it. There was much joy - with dancing and singing and beautiful celebration. It was humbling and overwhelming to realize that change really can occur when we work together and allow God to move in incredible ways.

This trip has been much harder than the last two. I am actually living in a village with our friend and partner, Benjamin. The culture shock has been quite strong despite the fact that I have spent so much time here before. I guess the reality of bugs and going to the bathroom in a hole and eating really tough meat and no electricity and bathing with a
bucket and not much of a mattress... it's all so good as Atticus Finch has encouraged us all to walk in another man's shoes. I will never be able to truly understand what it means to live in extreme poverty, what it means to lose so many family members to HIV/AIDS... Benjamin's brother died of AIDS last week. But I can admire their strength and persistence in the midst of the struggle. It's so real. It's so terrible and there's still so much that needs to change here.

I'm being summoned to go. We will be back in the villages today to visit the new sites for proposed Blood:Water work. I am well. I am tired, but thankful to be here. God has humbled me in so many ways. Thank you for your prayers.

I hope to be back on again soon,

jena