Day #7

From Mary Norris:

Jambo from Kenya!  (Hello)

Today was a day of Worship! We were special guests at Parklands Baptist Church. When I say special guest it is an experience that I am certain not one of us will forget. We took a tour of the Church earlier in the week and we were greeted with warmth and sincere affection. The Worship Pastor shared with us that their country believes a home with visitors is blessed. Today was no different in the warmth of the reception.

This is the day I have waited for all week. If you know me then you know I LOVE worship. I look forward to worshipping with every nation when that day comes and I anticipated this day to be a glimpse of that day. I woke up today with a very heavy heart. I have seen so much on this trip, things that will never be earased from my mind.  When you see such poverty it is heartbreaking.   

Before coming on this mission trip I was praying, studying scripture and listening to sermons daily. I knew God had prepared something very special for my spiritual life. What I discovered this morning is that I packed a few more bags than I realized to come to Kenya. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know I carried them with me until this morning.

During the first service I could not stopped crying, I had misplaced a Bible that did not belong to me and I was very upset with myself for doing that. During the first service worship music I could not open my mouth to sing.  All I could do was pray the words of each song. I was carrying so much with me this morning, the faces of the Mothers we had visited on our home visits. Mothers on the streets begging for money to feed their babies. We began our service with singing, "I'm trading my sorrows, I am trading my shame."  I was feeling so much shame, isn’t it just like God to do that? He heard my heart and was telling me to lay it down. Just in case I didn’t get that, we then sang I Surrender All.  Then the worship team sang the song in Swahili “Yote Kwa Yesu”  (I surrender all). This was the beginning of the Lord unpacking the rest of my baggage.

The service was truly an experience of what community looks like. We celebrated birthdays, weddings and condolences in deaths as a body. After worship the children were called to Sunday school and we prayed over them as a body before they left the sanctuary. The Missions Pastor came up and we prayed over the nations who do not proclaim Jesus as Lord. The Pastor spoke on Isaiah 55:1-13 and I am very thankful to know I can listen to that sermon again on line once we get home.

We  were served Kenyan Chai Tea and Mandazi (like a donut) then off to the youth service.  Pastor Jameson would be the guest speaker in this service. We started with worship once again. It was an amazing worship service! The words used to describe Church services today from our team were: Alive, long, firey, cleansing, amazing, lively, active, glorious, joyful, celebratory, igniting, soothing, worshipful and genuine.

We sang about letting the chains fall off: chains of unforgivness, chains of addiction, chains of all types of bondage. This is where God unpacked the rest of my bags.

God indeed had something for me on this trip, and I know in the days and weeks to come he will reveal more and more to each team member.

Baraka! (Blessings!)

Mary Norris 

Love you Mallory and Ridge!! (From Jameson)