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We Are His Hands and Feet: Joy's Faith Journey- Part 3
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We Are His Hands and Feet: Joy's Faith Journey- Part 3

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Hi friends!  On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will begin part 3 of Joy’s faith journey.  For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below.  As a recap, part 2 ended with Joy being placed on bedrest for her third pregnancy.  During that time, David, Joy’s husband, shared with her that he felt God was calling them out to the foreign mission field in about two years’ time.  The details of how that was to come to fruition were unclear, but they trusted in what the Lord had begun to place on their hearts.  If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below and consider doing a free or paid subscription.  With that, let’s dive into part 3 of Joy’s story. Enjoy!

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David and I were blessed with our third daughter, Eden.  She was full term and made it safely through pregnancy.  As soon as we had her, David and I began praying about foreign mission work.  Although our church was mission minded, their focus was on domestic and local missions.  So, we started asking the Lord to show us the people we needed to be connected to.  We knew David felt the Lord was asking us to be long-term missionaries in Africa in about 2 years, but how we got to that point was unknown.

During our season of praying, one particular connection came to mind.  Eden was around 6 months old at the time, so we had been praying for a while.  One day, David said, “Joy, what about Phil, the guy that you went to Honduras with?  The one that invited you to go to Kenya.  What if we have lunch with him? We could pick his brain to see if he knows of any organizations that might be looking for full time missionaries.”  I thought that was a great idea.  I reached out to Phil and we set up a time to meet the very next week.

When we sat down for lunch, I introduced Phil to David.  They had never met before.  Phil was excited to see us and asked us what was on our minds.  I told him that we wanted to hear what he was doing in Africa.  It had been years since he had invited me to go on that short term mission trip, but we were very interested to know what his organization was doing there. 

Phil began to tell us what was happening in Kenya.  He said, “Well, I just got back from a trip out there with Ryan, my son-in-law.”  He spoke about how his organization had been working out there for about 4 years at that point.  Much of it was done through short term missions.  On Phil’s most recent trip, Ryan, who was also a pastor, made a comment that made Phil pause.  He said something to the degree of, “I can’t figure out how you are even operating without boots on the ground.”  

What happened next shocked us.  Phil then said, “So, we’re actually looking for missionaries to move over and live in Kenya, but not right now.  We are looking for missionaries to go in the next two years.” Immediately I felt David kick me under the table.  I looked over and he had tears in his eyes.  I was also starting to get choked up.  It was exactly what David had heard from the Lord. 

I decided to get more information from Phil before sharing anything about our calling.  I asked him what skills they were looking for in their long-term missionaries.  Phil said, “Joy, I know you’re a nurse.  I’m not sure that you all are looking for full time mission work, but I need a nurse to run a medical clinic.” He paused and then added, “I also need somebody who knows something about water.”

Once again, I felt David kick me under the table.  What Phil did not know was that my husband was a civil engineer who specifically did water, wastewater treatment, and wells.  David asked Phil what he meant when he said he needed someone that knew something about water.    Phil replied, “Well, to be honest David, I need somebody that can dig wells and can coordinate those projects.  I need somebody that can teach pastors how to catch rainwater on their churches through gutter systems.  However, I also need somebody on the ground that can do construction to help build churches.”  Yet again, we were amazed at what was happening in the moment.  David was not only a civil engineer, but he also knew all about construction.  He had a dual license as a general contractor. 

The Lord made it so obvious to us that this was our connection to Africa.  It was so beautiful.  Everything lined up.  When Phil asked us how we were doing, David began to lay it all out there for him.  He shared with him what the Lord had placed on our hearts. 

David explained that we had a 6-month-old at home and 3 girls in total.  He told Phil that we did not believe the Lord was calling us to Africa in that exact moment, but rather in two years’ time.  Phil said, “Whoa! Are you sure you want to take these 3 girls out on the mission field?”  David replied, “Want to or not, we’re being called to.” 

After further discussion, Phil suggested that David and I go on a vision trip.  That way we could serve and meet the people that lived in the area where we were going to be based.  At the time, they were primarily working with a pastor in Western Kenya, which was their hub.  They were in the process of branching out to other regions of the country.  We agreed to go on the trip.

When David and I got back home, we went to ask my parents if they could watch the girls while we went on the vision trip.  We explained that we were feeling called to Kenya and that we were going to be moving there.  My parents were taken aback for a moment.  My mom even began crying and shared that she was having a really hard time with the idea.  I told her, “Mom, you always taught me that we do the Lord’s will.  I don’t think any sane mom would want to take her baby and her two other little girls to a mission field in a foreign country if it wasn’t a calling.  I’ve never been so sure of something in my life.” 

Phil’s organization had purchased some property in Western Kenya.  That was where everything would take place.  So, our vision trip brought us to Awasi.  It was located about an hour outside of Kisumu, in the Lake Victoria area.  It was really in the middle of nowhere.  There was nothing there but mosquitoes, which we would later learn. 

Phil needed boots on the ground in that region because they were going to build a mission house, a medical clinic, and a children’s home there.  The latter was essentially under the umbrella of Phil’s organization.  The children’s home was being spearheaded by another man from the United States.  He had a vision from the Lord to build one.  The hope was to employ widows to care for the orphans, and to raise them up so that they could self-sustain. 

During that vision trip, David and I fell in love with the people of Awasi.  After our visit, Phil asked me if I could return to Kenya in three months to go on a short- term medical mission trip.  Although it was going to be on the other side of the country, he wanted me to get more involved if David and I truly felt the Lord was calling us to be missionaries for the organization.  I agreed and once again went back to Africa, this time to lead a two-week medical mission.  While I was there, I still felt specifically drawn to Western Kenya, to the small village where we first went. 

Over the next year or so, I continued to go back and forth doing short-term medical trips with Phil.  David also went over several times to meet pastors and help construct churches.  The general flow of how the organization worked to plant churches was to first do a medical camp with evangelism.  This was done at a specific location where they bought land.  A man, who had been sent to seminary, pastored the church that was planted and constructed at that very same site.  Church feeding programs, where kids received meals of rice and beans 2 to 3 times a week, were then implemented.  The organization then went to the next village and repeated the process, resulting in church plants all over the country.

As the number of church plants grew, the organization needed someone to go short term to follow up with the pastors who were constructing the churches.  Additionally, they wanted to ensure that the feeding programs used to help sustain the children were going as directed.  David and I decided that it was a good opportunity to accomplish two things.  First, we could help with the follow up for the organization.  Second, we could take our girls out to Kenya short term to see if they could acclimate to a new country.  At the time our girls were still young, ranging from around 18 months to six years old.  Our hope was that when it was time to go long term, they would not feel completely uprooted since they had some experience living there. 

It was the first time that we went over to Kenya as a family.  The medical clinic in Awasi had been constructed, as was the children’s home, but the mission house was still not built.  So, we lived in the back of the medical clinic for the month we were out there. 

I think all their lives we have talked to our girls about those times and the beautiful memories there.  It was so special.  We really connected and bonded with the people in the village and the orphans in the children’s home.  During the times when the schools in Kenya were on break, David took the opportunity to teach the children himself.  Through those types of interactions, we really became close with them.  It was really neat.  At the end of the month, when it was time to go back to the US, it was hard to leave the orphans.  We really loved them as our own.  It was a love that they had not known before. 

However, not everything was as it seemed.  During our time in Kenya, I began to discern that something was not right.  God began to use the spiritual sensitivity that I had since I was a child.  There was a darkness over the children’s home that I knew shouldn’t be there.  By the end of our time there, we were confronted with how deep that darkness really was.

To be continued.

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