It's Time...Kenaya Look Back

                       I don't think I'll ever be fully over the emotions experienced on this trip. The emotions, the feelings, their unexplainable. My heart is heavy as I think back to the trip, to look at the pictures, and to re-read what I wrote in my journal.
                       I struggle a lot, just in everyday life with finding my place. Feeling like I belong some where. At the beginning of the trip I didn't feel as if I truly belonged, I couldn't seem to find my place, my spot so to speak. When I thought I finally grasped my place, I was quickly told it wasn't. So then, it was back to the drawing board. Those are the kind of things that stress me out, not a whole lot of order or organization. I spent some one on one time with God, and He repeatedly told me over, and over, and over, "Courtney, relax. Trust me. I've got a plan." I had to grasp on His reassurance, and rely on the fact that He's got me, He's got everything!
                      We visited Nairobi Chapel on Sunday morning of the trip. I went into service expecting it would be totally different. But just about in everyway possible, it was exactly like church here back home. I sat next to a woman namedTophister Amoit.

 She lit up the sky with her smile.She became a believer back in March, but was only stopping through Nairobi to try and find some money. She is one of 21 children! She told me that I was an answer to her prayer, because she had been praying to have someone to sit by in church. My heart quenched. Me? An answer to someone's prayer? And then, my heart broke. I had this feeling that she had to be crazy because we couldn't possibly develop an earthly friendship. But then, then everything inside me stopped, because even though we can't have an earthly friendship so to say, she is one of my sisters in Christ. As sisters in Christ, one day we'll be reunited in Heaven.
                    

                      God laid the word simplicity on my heart. Through out the entire week; simple, simple, simple. Enjoy the simplicity.
                      We played football (or in American's case, soccer) with the secondary school aged kids, all about our age. We played boys vs. girls the first day, and man do they have skills! I'm a very competitive person, so I really got into the games; it was the realest, most authentic fun I have had in a long time! To see the smiles across their face with just kicking a football (soccer ball) around made

me more happy than I can explain. I began to wonder, why can't we have this same contentment and happiness here at home, in America. As a friend of mine once said, "the poorer are richer," it is true, that less can be more. The next best thing can't possibly satisfy happiness. It's like an endless circle of unhappiness until we take a step back. The realization that material things don't make us happy because He is the one who created us, and only He can fill the God shaped holes that are in our hearts. And once we allow God to fill that hole, we'll be the happiest we've possibly ever been.

                Less is more.

                Simple is better.

                Take a step back.

                Robert & Rose Gitau. A couple with hearts of gold, and compassion. Words can only explain a little bit of their joyous smiles, giving hearts, and love for The Lord. I connected with Robert a bit, because like him, my dad was an alcoholic. His story blew my mind. He became a street kid a short while after his parents divorced. He said he was into to alcohol, but barely/hardly into drugs. Then one night, a man came through town with his guitar.  A guitar, and a passion for Christ that would soon change the course of Robert's life as he knew it. The man with the guitar could hardly play, and hardly sing either, but he played and sang regardless.

                        The words he sang, the cords he played grasped Roberts heart. "Where should I go but to the arms of The Lord?" The Lord isn't looking for the capable, He's looking for the available. Those who are willing to dedicate their lives to Him, and give Him their time. Robert sat there on those lyrics for a while, and then the next day, he went down to the river, just him and God, and gave his life to The Lord. Realizing that the way He was living wasn't where his heart was at.
                         I think back to this story constantly. If that man with the guitar didn't take up the opportunity The Lord placed before him, would Robert have repented? I then I think of my everyday life. How many people am I missing in my everyday life of bringing to the kingdom of God because I didn't take that chance, or because I was scared of what people may think of me.
                         I go to a school with over 5,000 students (10th grade - 12th grade),; how many of them actually know The Lord, and have a personal relationship with Him? How many of them could have a relationship with Him, if I wasn't so scared about stepping out of my comfort zone? Its mind boggling! I am guilty of hindering the kingdom of God because I am too worried about what others may think. No more. It's time to get real.
                       

                          Now, being here back in The States, 28 days later...I'm still not over everything I experienced. I probably never will be either. This was the first trip where I was truly and deeply emotionally connected to those I encountered. I cried during our goodbyes, and if you know me, I HATE CRYING, especially in front of other people. I look around at the concrete roads, close my eyes, and picture the red dirt. This since of not belonging over floods me. That I'm not supposed to here.
                         I have this call on my life that God has given me to love the lost in places where others wouldn't typically go. This call to get down and get dirty. Constantly I have to remind myself, that my time will come. That God has me where I am at with the resources I have for a reason. And to wait, to wait for Him to tell when.

                         And so I will wait. Wait for when He sends my someplace. Until then thought, I have millions around me who have yet to encounter the same love and affection I have felt from my Daddy in Heaven.
  

A Passion; A Journey Extended

                            God has amazing, incredible things in the works! I am happy to FINALLY announce to everyone God's journey for me this summer overseas has extended to an amazing extent!
                             I've been working and praying for weeks now. Gathering information, praying, discussing, praying some more, brainstorming, journaling, and of course praying more for God to guide me where He wants me to be.
                            As most know, at a young age, God has made His call for my life evident in more ways than I can even begin to explain! He has given me a heart that breaks for the broken, hurts for the lost, and love for the unreached and the untouched.
                            It may seem crazy; however, it's just crazy enough! Crazy love!
                            I will still be heading to Kenya this summer with a team of 17 others. We will be painting at a local school whom one of the churches I attend, Chase Oaks Church, is partnered with. We'll get to love on the children there, and the community as a whole. I am thrilled for the relationships that will come from this! I am even more excited about how the kingdom of God will grow through fellowship. The seeds that will be planted and the Holy Spirit working with those seeds.
                           We depart for this journey on the 11th of July. Prayers for safe travel would be very, very, very appreciated! (Personally, I get a bit nervous...aka slight asthma attacks...about flying). My team will depart from Nairobi, Kenya on the night of the 20th, and land back in Dallas/Fort Worth on the 21st. I on the other hand, will not.
                           As my teams boards a plane on the night of the 20th, I will camp out at the Nairobi airport until the following morning and patiently await to board a plane to Entebbe, Uganda!
                          YES, UGANDA!

                           I am fortunate enough to be blessed through social media! A group of young women ranging for teens to twenties all with a passions unexplainable, not understandable to others, yet we understand each other and have come together in the body of Christ. We are each others shoulders to lean on, ears to cry to, guidance for all, but mostly, we are sisters, Soul Sisters. We go through life encouraging each other through loving words. We hurt together, we cry together, we rejoice together, and praise The Lord together. Praise him for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do. We share in love for the lost, and broken hearts for the broken.

                           With that being said, I am one of the youngest girls in the group. I am so fortunate to have so many women of Christ whom are living out their passions to look up to. They are incredible role models! I have never personally met any of these lovely ladies in person, and I have been praying to God that our paths would soon cross. I am happy to say, some paths are crossing! :)
                           Entebbe is the airport most near the capitol of Uganda which is Kampala. Two of these precious servants of God are living out their calling He has put on their lives to be the hands and feet in Uganda, EmmaLee and Kate.
                            EmmaLee is partnered with International Voice of the Orphan, and Kate is partnered with Kyampisi Childcare Ministries. For more information on these loves, visit their blogs and see the incredibleness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
                         

                                         EmmaLee Joy www.emonamission.blogspot.com
                          

                                                Kate Heroff www.katemarieheroff.com
                          
                            On the 21st of July, I will depart for Entebbe, Uganda and meet up with EmmaLee and Kate. I will stay with them and then depart back for the states on the 28th, arriving back fully on the 29th. I am excited to see the amazing things God is doing in and through the young women of God! Excited to see how the are working through everything, the good and the bad for the kingdom of God. But I am even more excited to join them, even if it is for a short period of time, to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Uganda.