Pictures of Faith

After her sunrise Baptism our last morning in karen.

When you first meet Faith she has an incredibly shy smile. Her lips sealed tight, one side of her mouth slowly starts to turn upward as the other attempts to remains straight laced. As if she is embarrassed she usually lets out a small laugh when she surrenders to her smile. I pray for the day when she lives in constant surrender to her beautiful smile.

Pleading Faith's Case

We met Faith our last week in Kenya. We came to the Karen property (orphanage) on a Saturday morning when the girls’ relatives were invited to visit. Faith had only been at the orphanage for 5 days at that point and had no visitors that morning. Consequently, Bethany and I sat down with Faith, and decided that we would act as her family members. Faith captured our hearts within moments. Though her story is heartbreaking, it wasn’t anything particular she shared with us that turned our hearts toward her, though she has a shining personality it was not her open heart that opened ours up to hers, for by the time we heard her story and got to know her personality I believe God had already planted within us a deep concern and love for Faith, God was indeed planning something. We feel certain that part of this plan is sharing her story with you.
Faith is a fourteen year old orphan. Her mother died while she was still an infant and her father passed away when she was four. Though young when her father died, she can still remember that she looked like him and that he excelled in math like herself. She has been living with her aunt and cousin since the death of her father. Almost immediately after sitting down to lunch that Saturday, Faith told me that her 20 year old cousin had been raping her, and her aunt had neglected and physically abused her. What do you say to a little girl that shares such tragic circumstances so matter of factly? I said I was sorry and took her hand. A little while later I asked Faith about her likes and dislikes, her dreams and fears. She loves playing netball (volleyball) and basketball, her favorite color is red, and she likes to dance to Michael Jackson’s older music, most of all though, Faith loves school. She told me if she could finish her education she would be happy.
She excels in her studies, but her aunt doesn’t want her to continue her schooling and so her aunt refused to pay for her school fees, claiming that her education was too much of a financial strain. Faith is at the top of her class excelling especially in Mathematics and English. One of Faith’s teachers had compassion for her and decided to pay for her education. With school fees no longer an excuse to not allow Faith to go to school, Faith’s aunt began to complain that she simply could not afford the money for the bus rides to and from school. Determined to stay in school, Faith decided to wake up at four in the morning each day so that she could walk to school with her best friend, who is also orphaned and alone. The girls’ teacher paid for both of their lunches, and sometimes that would be the only food either girl had that day. Faith’s aunt would often refuse to feed her and would occasionally beat her. The aunt did nothing about the sexual assaults of her son. When Faith told her of the abuse she refused to believe it, claiming her son would never do such a thing. Faith’s showed up at her teacher’s house after running away one night. The following day the teacher reported the abuse to the government and Faith was then temporarily placed in the First Love orphange, She is to remain there until her court date (which is yet to be announced,)
Faith has not known much love in her life, her reactions to giving her quality time along with some of our clothes made this obvious. Her face expression when given compliments made me doubt she has ever been told how beautiful or special she is. I don’t believe she has never had a shoulder to cry on a truth my jeans, which had been soaked with her tears when she cried in my lap for a solid hour, confirmed. And she has never had her own Bible, this I know, because when we gave her one she held onto it as if it were the most precious of jewels, because when she said “I’m going to go get my Bible,” she would look at us with anticipation waiting for us to confirm yet again that it was indeed hers, and because when all her “sisters” were watching a movie she would sneak out 30 minutes before it was over so that we could read scripture together. She loves the Lord, and in Him she is finding hope.
Bethany and I were anxious to know whether she would be able to stay at the First Love girls home permanently after the court case was closed. We asked Karen (the house mom) what the possibilities were and what role we could play in making sure she ended up in a safe and loving place. We were told that after her case goes to court, (assuming her cousin is justly convicted) the likelihood is that she will be relocated to a government-run home. This is not what we want to see happen, we desperately want her to remain at the Karen property where she has so easily come to find family in the other 22 girls in an environment that shows her the Love of Christ, and exposes her to the truths of His Word. Bethany and I would like to plead her case to anyone who has been touched by her story. The impediments to her staying in Karen are purely financial. Another set of bunk beds needs to be purchased to create the needed bed space, and she would also need to be sponsored to stay at the property (sponsorship covers food, school fees, clothes etc.) We would love to hear from anyone who is interested in financially supporting Faith in any way. Even if you do not personally have the resources to fully fund her, there are many ways that even a small donation would go a long way in providing for some of her basic needs, like clothing. Thank you again, please keep this precious girl in your prayers. She made me promise that I would tuck her into bed each night with a prayer when I wake up in the morning, Im sure she wouldn't mind a few goodnight prayers from all of you as well :)

Coming up...

The story and video of Faith's Baptism

Reverse culture shock: Life back in America

Slide show of first few weeks in Kenya

Hello everyone!
I want to apologize for taking so long to update you all! Coming back home has certainly been an adjustment, but we dont want to neglect sharing with you all how God is continuing to move, as well as sharing more of the stories we didnt have time to write out while in Kenya.
First off, thank you as always for your prayers upon our last request. Though Sarah never came back to say goodbye, we do not believe your prayers went unheard. We don't know what would have happened had she come, perhaps it was God's protection, whatever the case God's timing is perfect and we have faith that He will continue His work in her whether we are there or not. We are going to continue to try and grow in our knowledge of spiritual warefare, and pray that God would show us how to pray and move us as to when to pray for Sarah. God is good and we are so grateful that we would allow us to witness His power and mercy in such a tangible way.
One more thing- just because we aren't in Kenya at this moment, doesn't mean this journey is over, and we still have so much to share, we want to encourage you to still check out the blog from time to time as I am sure there will be a pretty solid stream of posts coming in for a while longer.
God bless,
Charlotte

Casting Out and Call to Prayer

We shut the door behind us and sit down in the small office. It’s just the three of us now, me, Bethany, and Sarah. It’s two o’clock and her mother is expecting her back by two thirty, we have half an hour to minister to a girl plagued by demons, knowing full well we may never see her again. We bow our heads and pray, we pray for wisdom, we pray for discernment, we pray for healing, we pray for strength, and we pray for protection, it’s our first battle, and we aren’t about to go in unarmed. Bethany picks up the bible, and I look at Sarah, “we are going to pray for you the way we all did when Rick was here, is that ok with you?” she agrees and I ask her to close her eyes. “In the name and power of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, I forbid any and all demons in Sarah to be violent, to throw up, to cause harm to her or us, to be showy, to try and scare us, to seek revenge…I forbid any outside demons from assisting or aiding any demons in Sarah…”

After laying some ground rules, I call the spirit to attention. I have previously and consistently felt that a spirit named Death was present, and so I acknowledge it directly. Her body slumps over, Sarah doesn’t seem to be mentally present anymore, she just sits there limply. “Look at me,” I command the spirit. We want to confirm who it is, what it wants, and who is in charge. “In the name of Jesus Christ, look at me…” I continue to command it, her eyes flutter and her head moves, the demon is present, it’s aware, but it’s being stubborn. I ask Bethany to start reading scripture, she keeps reading, and Sarah’s eyes glance over at Bethany multiple times, it doesn’t like hearing God’s word, its challenging her and she knows it. We had prayed before that Bethany and I would be unified as a team, that our deliverance session would be organized and when one is talking the other is praying, (she later told me that she needed to enter into the situation more fully and confront the spirit, and I confirmed that I felt that I needed to keep my pride in check and humble myself) and so we switch spots, I begin to read from a Kiswahili bible and she begins to rebuke the demon. As I continue to read it covers Sarah’s ears, Bethany commands it uncover her ears and it does, she tells it to listen in Kiswahli, she says firmly, “You have no choice but to listen to us, Christ has already defeated your master, you might as well save yourself the pain and tell us what we want to know sooner rather than later. I am not afraid you.”

Throughout the next hour we battle, in spirit and in truth. We continue to tell the demon of our power in Christ, and the reality of the resurrection. The demon within her squirms at times like a child who can’t sit still during a dentist visit, her arms bend, her head moves, a muffled “ouch” is uttered and I feel her head, its burning. I place my hand on her head and command that the burning pain stop, her head begins to cool, and as it cools, my arm floods with pain, it’s not a familiar pain, it’s as if I’m being squeezed from the inside out. Bethany notices immediately and forbids that the pain continue any longer. As we speak to the demon, it begins to cover her ears again. We stop and pray for wisdom, I notice a water bottle next to me and decide to anoint it. Taking the holy water in my hand I make the sign of a cross on her forehead, she grabs her forehead as if in pain. Again it covers her ears, so I dab some water on her ears, her hands drop to her lap. I take a bit more and spread it over her eyelids, it rubs her eyes so much we pray protection over her eyes so that no harm would come. Finally after threat of more holy water I command it to look at me, it raises her head, and her eyes begin to turn upward and for a moment they lock with mine, her whole body jolts in one quick convulsion, fear overwhelms it’s eyes, I know it has seen the power of Christ within me.

We take turns questioning the demon we believe to be Death, we ask it what its name is but it shakes her head, when we ask it if it is a spirit of death it nods her head. “Are you in charge?” it shakes her head, “who is in charge?” it shakes her head, “is there another demon more powerful than you?” it nods her head. “Can you speak?” it shakes her head. After a long amount of time demanding it to give us a name, Bethany considers asking it to respond in writing. When she commands it to take the pen and paper it does so and when we ask it what its name is, it begins to write. We quickly realize it is writing in Kiswahili and Bethany leaves to find someone to translate for us. We bring in Anne, a Kenyan woman who works with first love, she says he wrote, “sorry I can’t speak, I am going.” We push harder, each command now being translated, the demon responds faster and seems more alert, “Pole naenda pole sana kwaheri,” (sorry I’m going sorry bye.) We tell it that it will only leave when we say it can leave, that we are in control. I ask it if it’s had enough and if it’s is ready to leave for good, it nods her head. We tell it to tell us who is in charge again, “I cant, Im going goodbye,” it writes back. We ask it where it is, it tells us it is nearby but not in her, it says that it is very tired. We finally cast it out, ask angels to come take it away and bring it to the feet of Jesus, we don’t want him waiting just outside the door, only to come back stronger. Her body slumps over again it what appears to be release. We call the spirit to attention to be sure it wasn’t lying or bluffing. We continue to several minutes to be sure command that in truth it answer if it is still present. No answer comes, Bethany experiences peace, and Sarah begins to wake up. We feel like we can start to talk to Sarah again. She starts talking about how tired she is, she asks if she has been there long and when she realizes she has been there for hours, she tells us that the last thing she remembers it eating rice. We take the time to explain to her what has happened, we tell her that the spirit of death is gone, and we do our best to equip her for how to fight them off and rebuke them herself. We tell her it is in the power of Jesus, and she believes that, and yet she cannot bring herself to make a commitment to decidedly choose Christ. Knowing we may never see her again, we give her two bibles, a small pocket sized New Testament and a full Bible, she is overjoyed and anxious to start reading on her own. We walk her back to her home and say our goodbyes, that night we pray that we will see her again one day, that we will see her come to know Christ, and see her free of all demonic oppression.

I must admit to all you readers that posting this was not easy, not because it’s hard to talk about, but because it’s a challenge to decide whether I can fully explain to you what it was like, and how it all happened, and how we are affected by it. I would prefer to have these conversations in person, but I also know that if I am asking you all to pray, I think it only fair you know what exactly you are praying for. Please don’t feel fear when reading this, God’s word tells us that perfect love casts out fear, and that Him who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Witnessing the power of God is amazing, humbling, and encouraging. Be encouraged not afraid, we serve a mighty God who wants to use us to set the captives free and bind up the broken hearted!

I have to share with you some exciting news, Thursday afternoon we were walking through a village market and I thought I heard Sarah’s voice, I turned around half consciously to see her standing there behind me. Over many laughs and hugs we asked her why she wasn’t in Tanzania, she told us that the trip was cancelled she wouldn’t be moving there and won’t be visiting until December! Praise the Lord! Tanzania is known for its dark magic and knowing she will be at the school with the First Love staff and not visiting some witch doctor is a huge answer to prayer. In addition we will get to see her one last time (tomorrow.)

We need you to be praying, we do not know if we will be confronting anymore demons but we need to be prepared. However, we do not only desire your prayers for protection and discernment, more than anything we want to see her make a commitment to Christ. It seems very possible that her inability to commit is a result of demonic influence, pray against that influence, and pray that God would break that hold on her through us. We will be at the school around midnight to 6 am California time. We know this makes getting people to pray difficult but we would really appreciate you committing to an hour, half hour, etc, during that time to back us up in prayer. We love you all, thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayers. God Bless!

I SAID do I look fat in this?

The last time I wrote to you all on this matter, I made known my assumptions about the Kenyan culture and its relationships with this age old question. The conversation at the dinner table last night leads me to expand on and confirm my previous thoughts. After Irene inadvertently called me a pig after my second helping, their son pascal told me not to feel bad because his sister would be coming home tomorrow and she is bigger than me. He said that after watching her eat I won’t have to feel bad. I proceeded to tell them that you would never be able to call someone fat in America, they all thought this was very funny, and Corrine (Irene’s 20 year old daughter) added that if she runs into old school mates they have no problem telling her that she has gotten fat. Again I told them that in my house had my brother called me fat he would have been sent to his room or at least moderately lectured. I also shared with them that after a friend at home told me, “You should do a few sit ups, your future husband will thank me,” he promptly apologized the next day, again they laughed and said no one would ever apologize for such a thing. Eventually they concluded that said friend must be part Kenyan, but that I shouldn’t worry because “you’re not fat…but neither are you thin.”

Bananas and Bride Prices

On Saturday the 18th Charlotte and I went to the market with Elizabeth, Irene’s niece. We walked from the house down the super duper bumpy road to the main road and hopped into a matatu. The door manager pretty much sat on me because my seat was the closest to the door. Charlotte and Elizabeth were sharing a seat directly behind me. My personal bubble was definitely popped. Fortunately, we didn’t have far to go, so the ride was not totally unbearable. At the market, we purchased sweet potatoes. The produce sellers kept telling Charlotte and me to buy their fruits or vegetables, despite the fact that we flat out told them we had absolutely no money with us and that it was Elizabeth who was buying things. They continued to direct their sales pitches to us, fairly ignoring Elizabeth. Talk about cheating yourself out of a sale. After we left the potato sellers, we searched for some good bananas. The men we bought the bananas from begged Elizabeth "For the love of God, tell them we are single!" It was pretty ridiculous. Chris was very optimistic about our prospects when we told him this. He thinks we could go back and bargain 24 cows apiece for our bride prices. I talked to my dad about it, and he thinks we should hold out for 25 cows and a chicken. It’s nice to be highly valued.

~Bethany

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

...to escape the bumpy car ride. Today someone gave Irene a gift of a chicken. Consequently, it had to come on the car ride home with us all the way from Raila, with a brief stop in Karen, and finally to Chris and Irene’s home. The poor chicken was very unhappy during the last league of the journey as we bumped our way down the dirt and rock street that leads to our house. It clucked its disapproval without restraint and made an escape attempt or two from its cardboard box. Several feathers were loosed during the traumatic experience. This adventure answers the question that I am sure no one in history had previously thought to ponder: would a chicken enjoy an amusement park? The answer, according to a hen whose eggs are now all scrambled, is a resounding NO!!!

~Bethany