Border to Border

Kurtis, a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend (who has now been upgraded to a friend) was here for about a week and a half.  He's been in Africa for the past three months, in Ethopia, Sudan and Kenya, via a couple of missions trips, visiting family, and meeting and becoming apart of the Rapha House.  So last Monday, we decided to take the day off, rent some motorcycles and go for a ride.  We started heading south, first to visit his sister who works at YWAM.  We hit the road again, for an unknown destination.  After about and hour and a half, we stopped to check our gas.  I pulled out my phone, and realized that I had a new text message welcoming me to Tanzania.  Tanzania!  Holy Crap!  Had we really gone that far?  How far was Tanzania from Mombasa?  (Stupid metric system -  I had no idea how far we had really gone, even though it was about 75 kilometers.)  So we asked our friend on the side of the road, and was told it was only 12 more kilometers to the border.  We were pretty stoked to be able to go to another country (or at least see the border since I didn't have my passport with me).  So we went to the border, saw the Tanzanian flag, and then headed back to Mombasa.

Border to border.  This phrase is used quite a bit by the boys in the house.  They use it to mean they've been all over the country.  They've seen most parts of Kenya, traveling from one city to the next because they're wanted, or because of "friends" or because they're tired of that city.  For whatever reason they from city to city, they eventually ended up here in Mombasa, and in the Rapha House.  They've seen and experienced so much during their time on the streets.  Experiences that I can't even imagine.  Abuse.  Drugs.  Prison.  Police.  Sex.  Violence.  Loneliness.  Homelessness.  Starvation.  When they say they've been 'border to border', some say it with such pride because they've been all over the country.  Sure I would probably take pride in that as well, but along with their traveling comes lots of baggage.  Unfortunately most of their traveling is due to necessity instead of pleasure.

Our hope here at the Rapha House is that these boys will one day experience the Kingdom of Heaven.  That they would experience the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven, like they have experienced the fullness here in Kenya.  The one place where there is never any baggage, or anything to chase you away, but has everything you could ever need.  Several of the boys are coming closer and closer each day.  They've made a conscious decision to change their life.  They're not necessarily at the point of salvation, but they've seen the wrong in their old lifestyle of drugs and lies and sin, and have a desire to leave all of that behind.  Some more than others are slowly realizing that there's more to life than the next high, or the next girl.  As appealing as Satan makes that to them, and even to me, it only leaves us wanting more.  Step by step, these boys are slowly coming out of the darkness.  It's a slow process.  Much slower than I had ever expected, but the Lord has been faithful.  And as I've been here for almost 4 months, I look back at the beginning and see change in all of the boys.  Two in particular - Mario and Allan.

Prayer:
 - Mario and Allan - they've decided to leave behind their former life to live a more moral life.  They've heard that just doing good doesn't mean their a Christian, but only through complete faith and trust in Jesus will they true become saved.  And they still haven't taken the step of faith, but they're taking steps in the right direction.  Pray specifically for their salvation.  And also that they would be able to continue in the right direction, despite temptation and ridicule by the other boys in the house.
 - my attitude - I know we're told that we would suffer for the sake of Christ, but sometimes I feel like I can't take anymore.  Day after day of verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse is wearing.  When Jesus tells us to give up our burdens and to take His yolk, because it's light - well that's what I've been trying to do.  Sometimes it's hard, to even give up all these burdens the boys put on me, because I'm trying to prove to myself that I can handle it.  Stupid way to think eh?  But because of so, sometimes I have a poor attitude towards the boys.
 - safety - we're traveling to Nairobi this week for Thanksgiving w/ some missionaries we've never met (some relatives of Carly and Whitney).  Now we all know what happened last time in Nairobi, so prayers for safety and relaxation as we're gonna be gone for a few days.