Heri kwa sikukuu ya Pasaka! (Happy Easter!)

Easter is my favorite holiday of the year, even more so than Christmas! I believe Easter is my favorite because I love pastel spring colors, spring is my favorite season, baby animals are everywhere, THE CANDY IS THE BEST SEASONAL CANDY OF ALL (peeps and Cadbury cream eggs), and most importantly, it's the day my identity and life became validated 2013 years ago when Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death!! I mean everything I base my life and identity on is validated through this act by the Living God to raise His son from the dead. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, I would still be dead and captive to my sins. The crucifixion would have been nothing but a punishment that resulted in death of a teacher but instead it was the fulfilment of a prophecy and covenant from God to His people!

THE DISCIPLESHIP SQUAD and my family away from family! (Lydiah, Christine and I)

Being in Kenya, I did not know how this Easter was going to be, not being with my friends and family or my hometown church, not getting my usual favorite Easter candy I look forward to, etc. but most importantly, was the impact of the resurrection going to be as powerful as it would be, had I been in my comfort zone celebrating?

I don't know if this was the Lord hearing the secret worries of my heart because I am pretty sure I hadn't prayed about this at all before Good Friday, but when Good Friday came at 6 am, time for me to get up and get ready to clean and package lettuce, I was vibrant with belief of this truth. God had given me an understanding of what Good Friday meant and why it had to happen in order to free me from bondage. I not only felt the weight of my sin but I felt joy because I realised how much God had to love me in order to endure the worst punishment in the history of the world.

So, later that day, the church the students attend down the street was where we began walking to participate in the Good Friday service. I was excited because it was going to be my first African church experience! I got to walk and talk with some of the girls the whole way there and of course the service was delayed 30 minutes because the pastor got held up (such is life in Kenya) so the students, myself, Christine, Caitlyn (an
Uhuru child staff teacher at the school), and the matron took a seat in front of the church and read from the bible about the crucifixion. It was awesome to be able to emphasize the importance of that day with some of these girls who have grown up with such a skewed view of Christianity. I mean there are just so many false teachings I would need a whole nother blog to write them all out but I think they just lacked a sense of personal relationship with their Father and that He loves THEM, not their works. So, while Caitlyn read the story and asked some questions to the girls it really helped me too to fully grasp the sacrifice that was made for me on that day and see just HOW BIG MY GOD TRULY IS AND HOW ABUNDANT HIS LOVE IS FOR HIS PEOPLE. While meditating on these characteristics of God, we were told the service was to be in Kikuyu, not Swahili or English. Kikuyu is the most prominent tribe in Kenya and we surely did not know the language so Christine, Caitlyn, and I left. The next day we found out they changed the language because they saw we were coming and I was upset because I missed out on my first African church opportunity!! I'm not too discouraged though because I'll be here for the next 22 months!

Saturday, our school was scheduled to show "The Passion of the Christ" to the girls. Lydiah, Francis, and Kelvin brought their home entertainment equipment and we basically set up a theatre in the dining hall that afternoon. To my knowledge, none of the girls had seen it before and so I was curious to see what their responses would be. Because lets face it, that movie is not only a tear jerker but gut wrenching and heart aching. I have only seen it once and that was in 6th grade so I thought it was about time I visualised the crucifixion again, especially since I wanted to be able to truly appreciate this gift this holiday season of eternal life. Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the room. And the crazy thing is, yes what Jesus went through in the movie is horrible but it's not even able to depict half of what He went through. I had to let that sink in and just thanked Jesus throughout the whole movie to myself for what he had done. I wasn't crying because of how gruesome it was, I was crying because of the godly sorrow I felt, realising how terrible I had to be for Jesus to have to go through all of this to redeem me. But also how big my God was to be able to do all of this for humanity who hated Him. I fell head over heels in love with Jesus all over again. I think for the first time, some of the girls who had a skewed view of the gospel, fully understood the weight of their sin and had a personal revelation of what the gospel means for their lives. After the movie, Francis shared some scripture and spit the gospel to us. It finished off the movie really well and I think the girls really had to question themselves and what they believe about Jesus to be true. We challenged them to come talk to us or pray with us if something was weighing on any of their hearts but I think they needed more time to really think about the implications of what that movie were.

Everyone gathered in our make shift theatre for the afternoon!

Our movie theatre! It worked out quite well and we even had pop corn!

Christine and our Kenyan Uhuru Staff Member Lydiah :)

But you could tell, they were moved beyond belief and in awe of the God that was tortured, separated from God, and crucified willingly on their behalf. So moved that kelvin began to play some Swahili gospel music (which is up beat danceable music with music videos to go along with them) and the girls began to make a joyful noise to the Lord with their voices and bodies. I mean I have never seen so much enthusiasm and joy from them before, even when we play soccer! One girl, Ann Gathonie, did not stop dancing the whole hour and a half we played music. Not even to eat dinner! She was the one girl who stayed seated after the movie, even when everyone went and got dinner because she was just hit so hard by the sight of the gospel. She finally got up and started praising God for His love and mercy toward her! And didn't stop until we turned off the music!

Mary, Ruth, Ann Wangui, and Ann Gathoni

"Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!" Psalm 95:1-2

Then, came Easter! Oh what a happy morning to wake up and realize that JESUS WAS NOT DEFEATED AND OVERCAME THE GRAVE SO THAT I MIGHT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! Our sermon was about proving that Jesus indeed rose from the dead and that the resurrection is the turning point of Christianity that makes everything we do and believe true. It was soul replenishing! And my favorite contemporary song is "In Christ Alone" and of course we sang it at the end of the service and I was just overjoyed with my God!! Honestly, it was THE most joyful day I believe I have spent in Kenya so far! And it was all because of God opening my eyes and my heart to His glory! I was almost brought to tears as we sang about the gospel. God received the worship and praise He deserves and my King is seated at His right hand where He rightfully belongs!!


Then we went to village market to pick up somethings for a potluck Easter dinner Joe, Caitlyn, Christine, and I attended and at first I could not find ANY Cadbury eggs and was disappointed but moving on because I was still joyful. But then, as we entered in to another grocery store called zucchini I found them!!!!!!!!! They may have been 2.35 dollars a piece but I bought 6 and am enjoying one everyday this week!! Also, I am expected to have some peeps delivered to me in about 3 weeks via my boyfriend who is coming to visit so the Lord is easily showing me Easter is not about the location or the people but His love and mercy for me whom He died for!! Even in these small blessings.

This is my God and Father and I could not be more proud or unashamed of who He is or what He has, is, and will do in my life because of the gospel! I mean really?! It didn't get much better than it did this weekend and this has to be by far my favorite Easter!

And to think I was worried?? God definitely showed me!

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever." Psalm 23:6