My Inspirations

I come from a family of six including my amazing parents. I have two older sisters and a younger brother. My sisters have both inspired me to become a stronger man in Christ. My oldest sister has always told me that we are on this earth to love as God loved us. My other sister was the one to help me put it into action. A year and a half ago, my sister and I was given the chance to fulfill this commission from God in one specifically life changing. She was 23 and I was 16 years old, when we embarked on a mission trip to Kwabekenya, Africa.

Our church, Watermarke Church, had formed a strategic partnership with this small community outside of Kenya, Africa. This community was in dire need of a new school building, and Watermarke Church knew that we needed to form a team of able and willing Christians to fulfill this need. So, on September 14, 2007 a team of 7 men and 7 women, including my sister and I, boarded the longest plane ride of my life, which consisted of 18 hours in the air and a 2 hour layover. Once we landed in Nairobi, we were informed that we were only tourists from that point on and we were to write that on all of our papers. I didn’t fully understand why until we drove away from the airport and saw the government officials bearing AK-47’s. From then on, I knew we would need God with us on our trip for us to be able to do His work. When we arrived at our building, we all collapsed after a much too long plane ride. The next day we rode a bus down the bumpiest path for 2 hours and at the end of this path was the small community of Kwabekenya. As we rode in, everyone within the 4 acre area gathered around our bus, and they were dancing and singing. As they celebrated our arrival, our whole team felt the same thing, “This is what heaven must be like.” Inspired by the children voices, we all walked to where the school building was being built. Here we played with and loved on all of the precious children, who could look at your oddly white skin forever. After we saw exactly what was needed we came back the next day and we began the hard work. All the guys used wheel barrels to move 60 pound boulders to the location of the new building. Then once we dropped off the boulders, the children boarded our newly vacant vehicles and we raced around the school yard. After this back breaking labor, in altitudes our lungs had never experienced before, we played tennis volleyball with the kids. The next day we arrived to find out we could drive to the school, due to rain the night before. Instead we trekked down a path covered with 1-2 feet of mud, feces, and urine. Once the children saw our struggles, they came to our sides and helped us through it. This made me think of how angels help us in our walk through the muck of this world. After we got within the school yard fence, the kids began to chase us all around in a game of tag, which was very straining on the body, due to the lack of oxygen rich air. We continued to do that until the elders handed us all shovels, at which we started the laborious task of digging up weeds around the property. We didn’t get the opportunity to help with the school building until the last day of our stay. On that day we unloaded desks and chairs, as the other half of the team cleaned the floors with towels and pine branches. Then on 9.21.07, our team officially opened up the new school building and everyone in the community had a smile on their face for the next few hours. Our entire team wished we could stay longer, but we had to say good bye to our new friends. When we entered the airport, there was no dry eye among us. If it wasn’t for my sister’s encouragement to gone on this once in a lifetime mission, I would not be who I am today. Now that I have seen the difference I can make within one community, why not every community I join?