Early days

Dearest friends and family,

This is the first chance I have had to breathe since I arrived to Kakamega. I would like to share with you about the wonderful things the Lord is doing. So sorry that I haven't emailed yet and it feels very good to be able to finally do so! I have had so much on my heart to unpack and share with people who know and love me.

It has been the most unreal experience of my life. The Lord is stretching me and growing me in so many ways already. I have a much clearer understanding of what sacrifice truly looks like. When I met the missionaries (Dennis, Michelle, and their two sons are Joel and Eric), we had an immediate connection. The Lord truly set me up with like minded believers like you wouldn't believe. When I arrived they all hugged and kissed my forehead treating me like their own daughter/sister.They truly present their lives as living sacrifices and die to themselves daily. They pay the price of living for Christ, but they count it all joy. They admit that times can be hard and sacrifice may seem like too much, but the Lord fills them with grace and strength and always replenishes their supply as they give of their time, resources, emotions, physical strength. They give fully, knowing that the Lord will always fill them back up. It is so inspiring to see such strong believers in Christ.

Today, we went to the school in Kakamega. It was about a 40 minute drive (the "roads" here don't even deserve to be called roads). We got to a point where the mud was far too deep for us to drive, so we parked the van and took piki piki bikes the rest of the way. I hopped on the back of a piki piki with a Kenyan man in his late 50's. It is an excellent way for them to make money. Thankfully, Joel (the youngest son) rode on the same piki piki with me. He is 12 years old and I feel like I have a little brother. I read with him every night and we talk about the Bible and who Christ is for him. He is a sweet sweet boy with a definite calling on his life. Anyways, Joel rode with me and this made the 40 minute scary/bumpy/awkward ride much easier. He is so comfortable in the culture and has taught me a lot on how to interact with Kenyan children and adults. So thankful for him and I can tell he is thankful to have me around. I am officially his sister and he is starting to introduce me as his big sis. :) During this ride, I felt like I was on display. Kids, teenagers, men, women, and even the elderly would stop what they were doing as we rode by and look anxiously at us hoping that we would wave. I learned to say Jambo! Which means hello. I waved the entire 40 minutes hearing little children scream with joy and shouting "MZUNGU, MZUNGU!" which means white person, or not from here. Some of these kids have never seen a white person before, and I am sure that seeing a pale one such as myself with crazy fire red hair was a shock. Their smiles are absolutely contagious, I did not get bored of waving and I don't think I ever would. Once you wave their entire face would light up with joy. Something as simple as a wave and a hello could have potentially made their day. All I could think about during this ride was how much opportunity there is once you get to know these sweet people on a personal and real level.

So we arrived to the school and wow, was I overwhelmed. Dennis and Michelle had a board meeting, so they let me loose to do my own thing on the school grounds. I met a staff member of the school named Lynette. She toured me around and was so very sweet. We held hands as she showed me the classrooms. We arrived at the primary school which is the younger kids and as we were turning the corner she said "Prepare to have your space invaded" and no sooner than she finished her sentence I had 30-40 little children surrounding me and just wanting to touch my skin, hair, hands. I could hardly break free and didn't even desire to. I looked down at one point and saw probably 12 hands all over my arm. So many smiles and bright eyes. I could hardly keep from crying. I finally got them off of me and was able to get down on ground level to talk to them. Since they are so young, they did not know much English. So I just told them they were beautiful, that my name was Kayla Cooper, and Jambo! I must have said that word 1,000 times today. And I tickled them, took pictures of them, and hugged so many. At times like that you just have to put aside any fear of uncleanliness and to be honest it didn't cross my mind. Even though these kids are very dirty, and some disease ridden, I realized that hugging and loving these kids was far more important than my personal "space bubble" or physical comfort. I felt so blessed even though I was blessing them.

Then Lynette and I walked over to the co ed secondary school. (By the way, I was told that I was to start teaching the health education class next week). Well Lynette took me into the freshman's classroom and said this "This is Kayla Cooper. She teach you health class. Have fun!" And she walked out the door. I heard Michelle's voice in my head "Welcome to Kenya!" and I realized that this was a time to be flexible and count on the Lord. So I said a quick prayer and attempted to spring into action. Sadly, they struggled understanding me because apparently I have a "very funny Msungu accent". So I used the chalk board to communicate a lot and one of the boys with better English helped translate. They thought I was very funny and there were many times where they would speak in Swahili and bust out laughing, but I didn't mind. I started by telling them about myself, my home, friends, family, schooling -- they loved this. Then we jumped into review! We discussed ways to make sure our food is safe and clean. We talked about keeping our bodies clean. And then the big topic was talking about sex and aids. I enforced what Michelle and Dennis have been teaching about the roles of men and women and how God intended sex to be. This was difficult, but the Lord was providing the correct words and analogies on the spot as I was speaking. I was saying things that I had never previously planned or considered. I then asked them what they would like to learn from me. Here were some things on their list -- aids prevention, self-esteem, relationships, marriage, pregnancy, abortion (sadly, it is very common for girls who get pregnant and are unmarried to wear their skirts and belts very tight in order to kill the baby), differences and similarities between men and women, self-control, being faithful, etc. So next week I will start into full lessons with the kids. I will meet with them co-ed and then I will meet with the boys and girls seperately. I really do believe that these students are beginning to be impacted by the teachings and example of Dennis and Michelle. What is great about Dennis and Michelle is that they walk out what they teach kids. Dennis loves his wife and serves her just like she serves him. This is a very foreign concept in Kenya and much of Africa. Women are expected to work in the fields, cook, clean house, do laundry, a whole lot of it and they receive very little appreciation and love for it.

This has been an amazing experience so far. I truly feel like I am beginning to understand the calling God has placed on my life and I am so excited to see what he does. One prayer request, be praying for next Friday night (12pm your time). Dennis and Michelle are going to have 10-15 of the girls spend the night at their home with me and Michelle. Pray that this will be a time where Michelle and I can love these girls and show them Jesus' love for them. I really believe the Lord desires to bring healing to these very wounded girls.

Love to you all and miss you already.

In Christ,

Kayla Cooper