Matt: "Most of the World Lives Like This"

Today changed my life; today completely crushed my world view.
We woke up a bit earlier today and took off for the first slum of the trip: Mukuru Kwa Njenga. I had heard numerous stories of different viewpoints, but none of them gave me the picture I saw today.

We parked the bus at a gated auto center, prayed, and walked onto the dusty street. It seemed like all eyes were on us. We were the foreigners that were so out of place. As we walked, everything seemed to come to a slow. It was a scene of poverty. I looked to my left and saw two children playing in the mud with plastic cups. My heart broke for them. We kept walking and were consistently greeted by children asking, "how are you?" Such joy in a scene of poverty. I just didn't understand where that joy came from. Part of my was looking for an improved situation, but the picture never faded and the road never ended.

Suddenly, we found ourselves at the Comido school and were greeted by pastors and teachers. Once the kids arrived, everything seemed to change. Our faces lit up with the joy of the children. A lot of us took pictures of the kids and they would excitedly crowd around to find themselves on the camera.

The program began with several different groups of students doing dances, songs, and skits. They can move and dance like crazy. I cannot.

After their incredible presentation, we led them in a few songs, Kristine and Josh shared, Trenton gave a message, and we played more songs. In recap, Bekah did really amazing with the worship. She led with joy and a spirit of servanthood. That was REALLY cool to see. Kristine and Josh shared from a song each. Oh yeah, so our speakers began to smoke during our first song...(I hope Kelly Sakanashi isn't reading this...) We did "I Am Free" without any sound equipment, but then God delivered us with the speakers at the Comido school. Yike! But even when all of our sound equipment was stripped away, the Spirit of the Lord was still present, and we could worship him with all our hearts.

We got to serve them lunch: one scoop of corn and beans into a bowl. We found out that for many of them, that was their only meal each day. Our hearts broke again.

A big moment in the day was the dedication of the well. I was so amazed because we got to see the very thing that everyone at Lighthouse had worked so hard to provide. 10,000 miles away
and we got to see the fruits of Lighthouse's servant heart.

Looking back on the day, I am no where close to processed. Images continue to race through my mind giving me mixed feelings. When I was walking into the slum, I must confess, I found myself asking, "how, Lord, could you 'allow' this to happen?" And I now feel the Lord saying, "This is not the life I intended for them." When I think about the things in my life and the things I like to do and the things I complain about, I question my entire life. How can it be that while I live my comfortable, American life, that these people on the other side of the world live in utter poverty at the very same time? I don't know the answer to that.

God is calling for change. I feel called by Him to do something about it. Now that I have seen, I am responsible; faith without deeds is dead.

"Break my heart for what breaks yours. Everything I am for your kingdom's cause as I walk from earth into eternity."

Matt