Hollenbach’s Trip to Kenya

The following is a report from Michael Hollenbach’s trip this past April.

 

 

Days 1 & 2 – A Deer in the Headlights: 

·         As many of you know, the 1^st few days of any trip to a different culture can be very hard… to a 2/3^rds world culture it can be overwhelming.  Since I have experienced this phenomena a number of times I don’t think I was overwhelmed, but it certainly was difficult and shocking.  Nairobi, Kenya is a large city with all the modern amenities you can imagine – of course technology and electric can often be down, roads and highways are in disrepair, many homes and other buildings seem run down, and the reality of poverty is ever present through the numerous panhandlers who accost your car during rush hour.  Now I paint that picture not to put down the city or country, but actually to express to you the immediate work of the Holy Spirit which was working to reveal the narrow minded, self-righteous and isolationists tendencies of my heart which want to make me, my needs and my comfort the arbiter of the entire universe… ugh, I hate that in myself!  The humbling had begun…

·          I Peter 5:5-9, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

 

Days 3 & 4 – Welcome to the Slum-gle (a play on Guns and Roses “Welcome to the Jungle”) 

·         Wow… 1 city… 199 slum areas with more than 1.6 million of the city’s estimated population of 3.5 million people… Kibera being the largest with 700,000 people in 3 square miles… yikes!  At our destination in Ongota Rongia, one of the slum areas, Lois and Kimberly taught about 15 of the local women at one of the church plants about good nutrition.  After Lynn shared her testimony with the ladies, Pastor Joel, the Kenyan church-planter, took me for a house visitation.  In the home, though it resembled more one of my childhood forts, lived Faith and her 5 children.  Faith was a single mom who was in denial about having HIV.  Sitting in her living room, Joel encouraged me to ask her some questions.  God wasn’t done humbling me yet… I couldn’t think of one appropriate question.  All the questions I could think of… all my crafty ways of making small talk… all my ways of trying to make people feel comfortable… felt bankrupt and just wrong – What do you do for a living?  Where did you grow up?  What are your hobbies and what do you like to do? – none fit, and so I just sat silently… finally confessing not being rude, but ill-equipped to really love people… double ugh, I hate that in myself also!   

·         Sunday brought renewed hope as I was given the opportunity to preach at the church plant in the Mukuru slum (of course through translator Pastor Julius… my Swahili was not that good yet!).  About 15 people, mostly women, heard me preach about us being children of God through our adoption in Christ!  The people seemed very appreciative and I even got them to interact with me at one part of the sermon.  It is at this church plant where the Kianga Kid’s ministry is starting.  Kianga Kids has a vision to express the gospel of Jesus Christ through health care and education – word and deed in tandem.  It is at this church plant that the large team from New Life, 12-15, will put on a Vacation Bible School and build a jungle gym this coming November.  This vision and ministry gets me really excited, and we are praying that the Lord would bless it abundantly!  If you are interested in hearing more about this, seeing a DVD, or getting involved, let me know!

·          Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

 

Days 5-6 – Faith in Unexpected Places

·         It was because of the political unrest back in January that the large New Life team postponed their trip to Kenya till next November.  It was because of the violence related to the political unrest that more than 150 people were killed in Kenya.  And it was because of the mayhem related to the political unrest that 500,000 were displaced from their homes and into IDP camps (Internally Displaced People).  After being unable to travel to the Nukuru area due to some stoning and burning of vehicles (resulting in a number of deaths),  our next 2 days were filled with ministering in 2 of those camps. 

·         In the 1^st camp there were 14,000 people living on about 5 football fields worth of land.  I have described it as a health crisis waiting to happen.  At that camp we (Robert, Lois, Lynn, Sara and Kimberly) were able to hear stories (unbelievable stories), share the gospel and pray with people who had been driven from their homes and who had been living in this camp for over 3 months.  Many people at the 2^nd camp had begun to return home (it was a more rural area and not as prone to violence), but Lynn, Lois and Sara were able to use their nursing skills in the health clinic that had been set up by the local Assemblies of God church.  While they were ministering to physical needs, I had the opportunity to preach to a group of 20 displaced people still in the camp.  Pastor Joseph, the church planter in the Nukuru slum, translated for me.  It was a real blessing and encouragement as we also prayed, sang songs with children and just connected with hurting people. 

·         What was perhaps the most amazing thing in these camps was to hear the evident faith of the people.  Chased from their homes, living in tents for 3 months, having lost loved ones and having their lives threatened… they still had faith… and it was a faith that they were sharing in the suffering of Christ… wow!  Funny thing was whereas I was impressed that they had faith in the midst of suffering and poverty, they were amazed that I (Americans) have faith in the midst of having everything! 

·         An overwhelmingly humbling experience came for me when in the larger of the camps I met  a 3 year old boy while walking through the tents alone.  When I saw him it was evident that his face had been burned… when I bent over I saw his hands had been deformed from the burning… when I reached out to touch him I saw his fear from being burned as he pulled back.  Without a translator, all I could do was cry… slowly rub his arm… think that no one would ever hold him and look at him again without horror… begin to stroke his head… tell him Jesus loved him… and that in eternity his scars would be beautifully glorified like Jesus’ – no more sadness… no more pain… no weeping… no more death!  

·          Romans 5:3-5, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

 

Day 7 – Work Hard… Play Hard

·         After so many intense days, Robert and Lois Carr, the World Harvest Missionaries in Nairobi, took us for a little R&R and debriefing at a local safari.  Since it was Spring time we saw baby giraffes, zebra and water buffalo, among hippos, monkeys and all kinds of other wild life.  It was awesome (though Judy, the boys and Kaira really needed to be there!).  Honestly the juxtaposition between the poverty, suffering and camps, was hard and more humbling, though at the same time caused me to be thankful for all of the good gifts I have both materially and relationally!

·          Genesis 2:19-20, “Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.  So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.”

 

Day 8 thru 10 – Urban vs. Rural, Different Place, Same Gospel Realities

·         The final part of our trip was spent in Bundibugyo, Uganda. A 737 from Nairobi to Entebbe… a 6- seater puddle jumper from Entebbe to a grass air strip in Bundibugyo and 3 hours later you have gone from radically urban to ultra- rural.  Now I am a hick at heart, and so there was something special about getting into the bush of Uganda, but at the same time the anomalies of this fallen world were present.  No sooner had we landed and were getting ready to attend a Ugandan wedding when the word came of the death of one of two week old twins and  the death of a 6 year old boy to Chris, one of Lynn and Paul’s Ugandan friends.  During the reception, (the whole service and reception were 9 hours long on wooden benches… oooh my aching gluteus maximus) we had the opportunity to go and “sit” (grieve) with Chris.  The humbling continued as I realized “sitting” with Chris just how much death and disease are a part of every day life – Chris has lost 4 children, his brother recently died, and his two youngest boys have sickle cell anemia and will most likely not live to be adults.  When death is that real and inescapable, although not making death and dying easy, it must make Jesus’ claims to have conquered death either amazingly comforting or unbelievablely offensive.

·         The next day, I once again had the opportunity to preach at a church plant in an even more remote area than Bundibugyo called Bundicura.  The worship at this church was awesome.  This congregation is also developing some micro-economic project for their community which includes making, firing and selling mud bricks and also renting some land to harvest cocoa beans, one of the major exports from the area.  This Sunday was a glorious day as I preached, rode the back of a motorcycle for transportation, observed the water project which one of the missionaries worked on to bring clean water to an area the size of a small city, and climbed  a 200’ waterfall and swam under its cascading waters… for me you can’t get much better than that!

 

·         The Ugandan part of the trip closed out with hanging with the missionaries – missionaries who have started Christ School and seen it grow from 30 to 300, who have planted 3-4 churches, brought clean water to the region, run a health clinic seeking to stem the spread of HIV and other diseases, and suffered through an Ebola outbreak claiming a number of their friends earlier this year.  Observing and seeing this team in action encouraged my heart as I really saw a picture of holistic ministry (word and deed) acting as a healing balm in this broken and fallen world of sin and death!   Thanks Massos, Myhres, Pat Abbott, Pierces, Heidi, Sarah and Amy.       

o        Missionary/Myhres Blog – http://www.paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/

o        World Harevst Mission – http://www.whm.org/news/ebolainuganda

o         Christ School – http://www.whm.org/project?ID=11024

 

 

·          I Thessalonians 5:16-26, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.  May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.”

Day 11 & 12 – I Missed You Guys

·         The best part of coming home is getting home!  I missed the family so much… it was really hard at times.  But, by God’s grace, I have hopefully come home more loving and sensitive than before… the kids have learned that though it is good having me around, I hope at least, it is their heavenly Father in whom they need to most rely on… and Judy and I have a deeper and rekindled sense of love for one another!

 

·          Ecclesiastes 4:94-12, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

 

Thanks again for your love and support!  As always…

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