by Pastor Jerry Theckston
Yesterday we flew in from the Villages and our largest School in the Western Kenya area of Bukura! We are feeding about 1000 kids a day plus teachers and some of the parents who help with the feeding program!
When we returned Monday morning to Nairobi, we decided to take Sierra to the Orphan zoo because it was her last day! It is a collection of animals who were orphaned in the Wild and would have died if they hadn’t been rescued! They have developed an amazing walkway through this wonderful natural habitat! We had a special treat when we ran into a young giraffe whose mother had been killed by a lion!
These folks were the best part of it for me! We all ended up at the entrance gate together, with virtually no one else around! They were students who had come to Kenya from South Dakota to compete with others from around the world on new tech innovations and their sponsoring professor was with them. Two of them, the blonde girl and tallest boy are med students and the other works in Agro- economics!
They wanted to walk with us and after they shared a little about what they were doing, wanted to know about us… so it pretty quickly went to our faith journey and what we believe about following Jesus! They were somehow (by God’s preparation from all of your prayers, I think) anxious to hear about our travels, purpose in life, serving others and hearing God’s voice if we are really willing to listen!
This went on for about an hour while we continued walking, and at the end, everybody gathered around to talk about how this connects with their own journey and experiencing a personal relationship with God and not just a cultural one! It was an exciting ‘woman at the well’ kind of experience! A surprise to everyone but God, I am sure!
They all wanted contact information and wanted to grow in their understanding of what it means to know God’s leading and how to use our lives to benefit others and not just to accumulate for ourselves! We promised to pray for God’s leading in their lives from here and, as God wills, how we can continue to encourage one another in the journey ahead…
Throughout this trip I have been brought back again and again to the power of Prayer and that Ezekiel 22:30 should never be true of us! I am So grateful for those of you who pray faithfully, fast and intercede for all God wants to accomplish during these days! There has not been one wasted day or disappointment in anything God has called us to do! It has been amazing and miraculous!! Thanks dear ones for answering the call to stand in the gap and see what God can do when our whole desire is only to bring glory to the name of Jesus!!
A few more pictures...
A leopard in the tree above us who had lost one of his paws, but didn’t hinder his climbing prowess!
We were about five feet from this youngster, fortunately behind some pretty thick glass!
I think Sierra is ready to make her move if this guy decides to get any closer!
This seven year old giraffe, was pretty excited about lunch from Sierra’s hand!
I Samuel 12:23 is my theme verse - . . . far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you ...