Hi friends! On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will begin part 5 of Joy’s faith journey. For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below. As a recap, at the end of part 4, Joy and David established an accessories store, called Iddy & Oscar’s, as a way to sustain their ability to send Kenyan orphans to school. Their family had made all the preparations they could in the U.S. for the foreign mission field. Joy and her family were now heading over to Kenya to stay as long-term missionaries. If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below. With that, let’s dive into part 5 of Joy’s story. Enjoy!
When we first moved over to Kenya, we were exposed to things I had never seen before. In my previous eight years of going there, I had never experienced that type of darkness. Not even once. As we drove up to the village we were moving to, we saw a man being punished for a crime he had committed. The people were burning him alive. Later, we came across a woman who had been beaten to death and pulled into the street to be run over. It was intense to say the least.
Beyond witnessing some of these horrific things, there was another kind of battle going on. There were some nights where a darkness seemed to roll in over our house in the village. Often it began at about 10:00 PM. When it happened, I grew anxious and was unable to sleep. Instead, I stayed awake and prayed continually until 4:00 AM when I felt like the darkness had lifted. Afterward, I slept only a couple of hours before I got up at 6:30AM to prepare to go out on medical missions. I knew the enemy was trying to wear me down.
Later, I discovered another layer to what was happening on those nights. It turned out that the pastor that had previously threatened to kill us was still living in the area. Twice a week, he hired witch doctors to throw curses onto our house, which accounted for the darkness that I felt. There was intense spiritual warfare happening on those nights. Although it was scary, the same discernment that the Lord had given me as a child was now being used in this battle. It was a gift that I was not fully comfortable with, but it was one that He knew I needed.
Despite these challenging moments, there were so many wonderful things that the Lord did in Kenya. Initially, when David and I moved out there with the girls, we thought our roles were going to be related to our professions. Something medical or construction related since I was a nurse and David was a civil engineer and contractor. However, the Lord pulled us into something different.
Our true roles in Kenya were not revealed overnight. Rather, it was in the stillness and drawing near to the Lord during times of joy, and moments of being scared to death, that He opened something new. What we ended up doing was far more beautiful. It turned out that we were mom and dad to the orphans that stayed at the children’s home, mentors, and friends to the widows.
We took on tasks that were unexpected but also fulfilling. For example, David taught some of the high school boys how to drive a car. If you have ever experienced driving in Kenya, you know that it can be terrifying and hilarious all in the same breath. I will never forget it as long as I live. It seemed like a small thing, but David helped those boys obtain their driver’s license. He was a part of something that was significant to them. That made it amazing.
Things were not always easy. There were a lot of moving parts. We were still trying to raise our own kids, David tried to homeschool the children, we hosted short term teams at the mission house in between medical camps, and continued to pour into the community. It was hard but it was so incredible. There were times where we thought we couldn’t do it or that we were not equipped. That was when the Lord seemed to tell us, “But I am. You’re just my vessel.” In the moments when we wondered what we were doing or if we were crazy to do this, the Lord kept us going with His presence while we were there.
Being in Africa could be challenging mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, but at times it also took a physical toll. In July, my oldest daughter, Ella, contracted malaria. Thankfully, we often treated malaria in the medical camps that we did, so I was able to get her the medications she needed. We treated her and within a week she was back to being comfortable.
Although Ella was doing better, I was the next to fall ill. At the end of that week, while away on a medical mission, I contracted malaria. It was the worst pain that I’d ever felt in my life. It was so bad that I prayed to die. I don’t even remember 3 or 4 days of that week. Thankfully, somebody at the medical camp took care of me during that time and I recovered. About a month later, David was next. He contracted malaria and was the worst case in our family. He went into multisystem failure.
David was admitted to the hospital in Kisumu, which was terrifying in and of itself. Thankfully, he appeared to recover while he was there. The Lord also used his hospital stay to help save someone who was in the ward with him.
While David was in the hospital, I brought him a random bag of snacks. Little things like peanut butter crackers and some apple juice. The funny thing was that David did not drink apple juice, but I felt prompted by the Lord to throw it in with the rest of the snacks when I was shopping. I did not know the reason, but I added it with the other items anyway and dropped them off at the hospital. Even our small steps of obedience can be vital for what the Lord is doing.
The older gentleman in the ward with David was a pastor who had lived in Kenya for many years. In the middle of the night, his blood sugar began to severely crash. He was a diabetic. The canteen, where food was available, was closed. The man tried to communicate with the nurse what was happening, but she couldn’t understand what he was asking for. The situation was clearly heading the wrong direction.
David overheard what was happening. That night, he ended up stepping in and sharing the bag of snacks with the pastor, including the apple juice that I had dropped off. When the pastor stabilized, he said “You do know that you saved my life right?” David responded that it was God, not him, that saved his life. The pastor replied, “I know God saved my life, but thank you for being present. Thank you for hearing my conversation with the nurse and for taking action.” It was an unexpected opportunity to move on God’s behalf.
When David came out of the hospital, there were no detectable parasites in his bloodstream. However, within a week he started having the same symptoms. This time it was not malaria. David had developed typhoid fever and his lungs started filling up with fluid. His body was already compromised from his malaria infection. David had developed malarial hepatitis and his liver was shot. The doctor in town told us, “If you want to see him well, you need to get him out of here. Get him back to the States for treatment.”
As sick as David was, he still was reluctant to leave Kenya. He said to me, “We’re just now making headway. We’re developing relationships.” It was true, we really did feel we had created many bonds with others in the community and were getting somewhere spiritually among one of the cults there. It was a hard choice, but I reminded David that he could not serve when he was that sick. I needed to take care of him while he was ill, so neither of us would be serving anyway. I told him, “Let’s go, get well, and then we’ll come back.” With that, we made the difficult decision to load up our family once more and head out of Kenya.
I thank God for the relationships that we built with the native people in the village during our time there. The very same friendships that made it difficult for us to leave were the ones that helped us in our time of need. David couldn’t drive, and I was too scared to. Our native friends stepped in and drove us not only to the doctor’s appointments but also the airport when it was time to leave. They were really the hands and feet of Christ for us. Although we came to Kenya to serve them, in the end they also served us. It was amazing and humbling all in the same breath.
As we traveled to the airport to get David treatment, I prayed for the Lord to help us. I felt like if I could just start him on some American antibiotics, like a broad spectrum one, it would be a lifesaver. I knew it was not something that we had access to in Kenya, but I prayed anyway. At some point on our way back, I reached into my purse to find something. My hand hit something else and I pulled it out to see what it was. Out of nowhere, it was a pack of Levaquin, an antibiotic from the U.S. I immediately gave it to David. To this day I still don’t know how it got in my bag.
Once we arrived in the States, we were air evacuated to Emory, in Atlanta. After we got there they took blood to do some tests. Later, one of the nurses walked into our room with tears streaming down her face. She came to us with a copy of his current blood work versus what was drawn the previous day. She said, “He’s a miracle. I want you to see this.” It turned out that his system had already started to heal. He was making a turn for the better.
When David was finally released, he was still very sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed us that he should not return to Africa for at least a year. His body needed to recover, and he could not risk re-exposure to malaria while it healed. We had some very hard choices to make and met with the organization to discuss our next steps. Again, we were grateful that a couple of long-term missionaries that were already there were able to step up. They handled things in Kisumu and were able to potentially help us at Awasi as well. So, we decided that we were going to have to hang back as directed by the doctors. It was time to heal and pray over where the Lord wanted us to be once David recovered.
Even though we made our decision and we knew that things could be handled in Kenya, I still could not sleep. I was still so worried about the children at the children’s home. I kept asking the Lord for guidance on how to care for them and to send someone that would love them like their own. As I prayed, the Lord showed me a woman’s face. I did not really know her, but she kept coming up over and over again. I began to wonder if this was the person that He had for the children’s home.
To be continued.
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