Hi friends! On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will begin part 4 of Joy’s faith journey. For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below. As a recap, part 3 ended with Joy and her family doing a one-month mission trip to Kenya. There they had the opportunity to pour into that community while preparing their 3 daughters for what they believed was the next step of moving out to Africa long term. While there, they built beautiful relationships with others and wonderful memories; however, there was also something else bubbling underneath the surface. Joy began to sense that something was off about the children’s home near the medical clinic. Today we will hear about certain events that altered their initial plans, but how the Lord still used experiences they had while in Kenya to create a new path for them to pour into the Kenyan children. If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below. With that, let’s dive into part 4 of Joy’s story. Enjoy!
The children’s home in Kenya was being overseen by a pastor. He was also an amazing carpenter. Many believed that the pastor was on the up and up. Early on, he appeared to be the best one for the job at the home.
Despite how things looked superficially, my discernment indicated something was off. Just as it was when I was younger, I still had a spiritual sensitivity to things. I could not shake this darkness that I felt over the children’s home. I knew it shouldn’t be there. I told David, “Something is not right about this man.”
It was tricky because the man who had the vision to build the children’s home was close to the pastor. It was difficult to tell at face value that anything was off. However, during the time we were there, we began to uncover some things that we’re taking place. The pastor had some terrible addictions that led to actions that were awful and damaging. They were horrible things, so I won’t go into detail about them, but suffice it to say it accounted for the darkness that I sensed there.
Our month in Kenya had ended and we headed back home with the girls. After seeing that our children handled the short-term period of being in a new country fairly well, our plan was to go back to the U.S., pack everything up, and then return to Africa long term. At least that was what we thought we were going to do.
As the Lord would have it, we were not to go back over full time for a while. After we left Kenya, we received word from a native man that we knew there. He warned us that we were not to return. Apparently, he discovered that the pastor said he would kill us and our children if we came back. It was no longer safe to return to Kenya.
We knew that things had to change before we could go back to Africa as full-time missionaries. We let the man, who had the vision for the children’s home, know that things were not as he thought they were. The oversight of the home had to change hands before we could safely go back. The pastor had to be pulled from that position. At the time, we did not have a specific person in mind that was a candidate to oversee the girls there, but we felt that it would need to be a woman.
With everything that was going on at the children’s home, David and I worried about the kids there. Thankfully, we knew another couple that was called to move to Kenya and become long-term missionaries. They went to oversee some of the feeding programs in that region. Although they lived outside of Awasi, they were still able to keep an eye on the situation there. We were grateful that they were able to lead in a different way and monitor things in the hopes of getting ahead of situations before they developed.
The Lord gave us so many beautiful and impactful relationships with people that shaped our path. During our month long stay in Kenya, we had also connected with a different couple, Chris and Sarah. They were long term missionaries from Atlanta that were living in Kisumu, Kenya. They oversaw an orphan day school in that region. It was a place where kids living in the slums nearby could come and receive breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Chris and Sarah also tried to teach them a little bit. At night, the children returned to the slums where they often lived in cardboard boxes. The school provided a daily reprieve from that life.
One day, Chris and Sarah asked us if we would like to come to their home in Kenya to have respite for a day. Crazy enough, that invitation sounded amazing. At the time, we were living in the back of the medical clinic and had very little electricity and only some running water. We gladly accepted the offer and headed over to their home to spend the night.
When we arrived at Chris and Sarah’s place, we met two boys they had taken in. Both were connected to the orphan day school. Their names were Iddy and Oscar. David and I fell in love with them. They had such beautiful hearts and high hopes.
Both boys had so much potential. Oscar tested as one of the smartest kids in the country of Kenya. To help him get a better education, Chris and Sarah decided to send him to boarding school. Oscar later went on to the University of Nairobi to attend business school. Iddy also tested well, but he preferred to live with Chris and Sarah. So, they put him in a day school instead. He ended up becoming one of the translators for Vanderbilt when they sent teams to do surgeries. It’s crazy, but when we met them back in 2011, I told David, “If I ever owned a store, I would name it Iddy and Oscars.” That was how much they touched our hearts.
Despite the wonderful relationships we had in Kenya, we knew we had to wait in the U.S. until things became safe for us to return. However, distance did not mean that there was nothing to do. David and I began thinking about how we could continue to help Kenyan children from afar. In all my comings and goings to Africa, I saw that there was a whole generation lost to HIV and TB. As a result, kids were left on the streets and had no way to finish their schooling. Some would get through primary school but had no way to finish secondary school.
David and I saw the impact education had on the future outcome for these children, so we started with one child. We sent him to school so he could get an education and go through college to become a teacher. He even ended up being one of my translators when I went on medical missions. It was so beautiful to watch how he had become self-sustaining. Today, he’s working as a teacher in a predominantly Muslim school and sharing Christ with these kids. He is changing lives.
Over time, we became responsible for sending more children to school. Some were kids that we met at medical camps that could live with the pastor of that village. While the pastors were doing well enough to feed them, they could not afford to send them to school. So, we came alongside of others who were supporting the children in different ways and provided a means for them to get an education.
Over time, things finally started to move at the children’s home in Kenya. It took a little bit, but eventually the government got involved and removed the pastor from his position. Once he was gone, we felt like it was safe for us to go back. Our period of waiting was over.
David and I began the long preparation process for our return to Kenya with our girls to become long term missionaries. One of our mission pastors advised us that we should sell everything except our home. He told us that if we could afford it, it was better to rent it out so that we had a little money coming in. Since we were going to be mostly living on private donations as missionaries, David and I became worried that we wouldn’t have the funds to send all our sponsor kids to school. We knew we wanted to find a way to sustain our ability to provide for those children.
One day, David said to me, “What if we started a little shop that could be a benevolence fund for these kids? It could be a little accessory shop that you open and then have somebody that you trust run it while we are away. We could use those funds to send these kids to school.” I thought it was the craziest idea I had ever heard, but I loved it. So, in 2015, we opened a small accessory store. It was, of course, named Iddy and Oscar’s. The whole purpose of our store was to be able to send Kenyan street orphans to school.
Today, Iddy and Oscar’s is still in existence. We have expanded from an accessories store and continue to use the proceeds to help give children a brighter future. Currently we have around 30 kids in schools across the country of Kenya. Some are in day schools, other boarding or trade schools, and a couple of children with cerebral palsy are in special schools. One is getting physical therapy and learning to walk, with assistance, for the first time in her life.
As a nurse, I had no clue that God would bring me all the way out to Kenya to make me aware of the need for education. It was not just about medical care as I initially predicted. David and I just continue to pray that that we don’t get in the Lord’s way. It has been beautiful to watch His goodness bring these other things to fruition.
By 2016, we were ready to pack everything up and move over to Kenya. My oldest was going into 6th grade, our middle was going into first grade, and our youngest was going into kindergarten. I think any human would say it was crazy, but it was also a calling. It was obvious to me that we were supposed to go long-term to Kenya. Callings are crazy most of the time, but you’re confident of them. There was no denying it. As upset as my mom was, as crazy as people called me, as nuts as it seemed to take three young girls to a remote village in the middle of nowhere Kenya, I had no doubt in my mind.
Even though I knew the Lord wrapped us in His arms the entire way, it was still difficult to fully prepare our family and our hearts to be on a mission field. I remembered talking to full-time missionaries years before, when I was in Honduras, about what it was like to be somewhere long-term. I distinctly recalled being told to be prepared because Satan would attack your family. At the time, I felt pretty solid and almost had a mentality of, “Bring it. I’m ready for the mission field.”
When we went out to Kenya it was beautiful but also a different level of intensity. I don’t often talk about how challenging it was when we went to Africa. I think it’s partly because it sounds so scary that many people don’t want to hear it. Others don’t even want to believe it. However, I will say that I would never have been prepared for the spiritual darkness that came over us when we said “Yes” to Kenya.
To be continued.
For those interested in checking out Joy’s store, Iddy & Oscar’s, please click on this link. They have so many beautiful offerings there. If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with others by hitting the share button. If you are not already a subscriber, consider doing a free or paid subscription so you don’t miss any content and to support my work. Thank you!
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We Are His Hands and Feet: Joy's Faith Journey- Part 4