Day 2 - The Library and Mutonguni Secondary School

We woke up around 8am refreshed and ready to start the day. I cannot speak for the others, but I slept well because last night I was so tired, although satisfied, from worshiping, singing, and praying until midnight with the group. After waking up, we were excited and filled with anticipation in regard to how God was going to use us, what we were going to see and do, and whom we were going to meet. Moreover, I was pretty eager to start setting up the library. Word of Life, by God's grace, has so generously given so much money and a lot of great books for the library along with having supported the library through prayer. Therefore, I realized that I would see the fruition of all of our efforts, giving, prayers, and anticipation today when we would start setting up the library. I was excited. We were excited. Breakfast was simple but delicious. We had bread, eggs, bananas, and tea. We had some peanut butter and regular butter to go along with our toast! Delicious! In Kenya, they have a saying: “Every time is tea time.” Tea is popular in Kenya just like coffee is popular among Koreans. The breakfast was very “western”, which is good for me. However, I think all of us, Korean, American, and African alike, enjoyed the breakfast. Before eating, I had to use the bathroom outside in one of the outhouses. The lock was hard to use as it was a bit rusty. After trying to unlock the lock, I pulled on it really hard because it was being stubborn. I eventually was able to open it, but I cut my fingers in the process. Thankfully, Pastor Kim was able to apply first aid and put a couple of band-aids on them. Then came the showers. I was the first one to shower. Peter turned on the boiler to get some hot water. I got in the shower …. and ….. no hot water. Apparently, the boiler allowed the water to turn from cold to cool. Showering was not very pleasant, but …. it gave me a greater idea as to how people in Kenya have to live, which in turn made me grateful for the blessing that I have in America and Korea of being able to take hot showers. We decided to read Scripture by ourselves for about 20 minutes, think about the Scripture, meditate on it, pray over it, and come back together as a group. Peter asked Joo Il and Hye Yeong (Theresa) to share what they believe God told them through the Scripture, and thus they shared. We spent a bit of time praying and singing worship songs as well. Having finished our time of worship, we were ready to head over to the pastor's library. We were a little bit late, but it was not a big deal. In Africa, time is a bit more relaxed and people are often late and know that others will be late, as opposed to the west where “time is money” and people are expected to be punctual. Upon arriving, we met Pastor Erastus and a schoolmaster named Alexander. We were told that the library needed a good cleaning. Therefore, we started cleaning up the library. We dusted off the shelves and the floor. Also, we wiped down the windows, chairs, and the tables. After cleaning, we had to organize the books. Remember, about 200 books were donated to the library. We were required to enter the information of each book into the computers. For example, we had to type in the title of each book, its author, its IBSN number, its publisher, how many pages it had, etc. There were three computers. Two people worked at each one. One person would read the information, while the other would type. The work, although seemingly mundane, was very important for the creation of the pastor's library because the pastors will be able to find different books based on topic, issue, book of the Bible, book title, a lot more easily since more and more books will eventually be given to the library. Sometimes, others who were not working would volunteer to take over for a while so that those who were working could hang out on the street, play with the kids, and interact with some of the locals. Lunch time came relatively late, and boy oh boy were we hungry! Lunch was simple. We just used the bread, peanut butter, honey, and regular butter we had for breakfast and made sandwiches. We didn't care what we ate. We were just hungry. Furthermore, we had some bananas, too, so that was good. We ended up eating in a room with a table and many chairs that was next to the library. It was a time of good festivity, laughter, and joking around. We then proceeded to visit a secondary school. The Koreans were planning to do their song and dance, I would give my testimony, and Peter gave short speech to the Kenyans. We approached the school, and needless to say, we attracted a lot of curiosity and attention from the students. A female head teacher approached us and guided us. She gave us a little tour of the school, and she directed us to the location where we would be speaking and where hundreds of students were eagerly waiting for us and wondering what we were going to say to them and do. Unfortunately, she wanted us to be “very brief.” She kept on urging us to be quick and she dropped those subtle hints implying that we needed to finish quickly. Because of this, Peter thought it would be best to skip my testimony. The Koreans sang their song and performed their dance. Pastor Kim then played a Christian worship song on his saxophone. Finally, Pastor Peter gave a speech to the Kenyans. He gave his speech like he was preaching a sermon. He was speaking so loudly and passionately. He talked how God chooses to bless nations through people. He doesn't just stretch out His hand and bless a nation while its people do nothing. In other words, Peter talked about how God doesn't bless fools, such as people who steal from their dormitories, sleep in class, don't study, have bad character, make fun of their classmates, etc. Peter mentioned that about 60 years ago, Korea was poorer than Kenya. Now Korea is one of the world's economic powerhouses. Tying that in with Kenya, Peter explained how he believed it was Africa's, and Kenya's in particular, time to rise. If God will bless Kenya, he will do it through people. Peter encouraged and admonished the students to have forgiving, loving hearts, to study hard, to have good character, and to be leaders. Some students in Kenya might feel like doing the right thing is pointless because they might believe that they are always condemned to being poor and living in a village for the rest of their lives. Peter, aware of that, brought up the fact that God isn't going to waste a person's life if he/she works hard, is a good person, and seeks the Lord. Peter told the students a testimony about Mula and how he was poor, had no money, and was from the village, too. However, he trusted in God, and God paid for him to finish high school and eventually university. He has a bright future! If God can do it for him, Peter said, God can do it for all the other students. Pressed for time, he had to wrap things up and told the students to seek the Lord, study hard, and seek God's blessing for the nation of Kenya. The speech was so moving and inspiring; he certainly had my attention! After Peter's speech, the students left to handle their other business. We hung around the school for a little bit by the van. They were really interested in us. It reminded me of teaching English at a public school. It was like “being a celebrity” all over again. Some of us sang with the students and taught them how to do the dance. Others just talked with the students, and we sometimes goofed off with them and took a lot of pictures. Joo-Il even played in their field hockey game. Overall, it was a great time. After a while, we had to go back to the house where a delicious dinner was prepared for us.