Launching a Vision, Pt. 2: Puzzle Pieces

One of the things I feel like God has been teaching me on this trip (among many things) is that all along, from the very first visit I made here to Kenya so many years ago and even before that, God had a plan and it is much bigger and more beautiful than anything I could have ever dreamed up on my own. He gave me the opportunity to form a bond with the people of this area, develop a love and a burden for the women in desperate situations, and play a small part in helping to bring about change, restoration, and hope in their lives.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with some key people in Masii. We were able to take part in a conversation that begins to flesh out this vision for bringing hope to the hopeless, especially the women who are most broken and desperate.

As it turns out, Mary, one of the ladies that I first met here in Masii on my first visit, has been carrying the same burden and around the same time that I felt God stirring in me to move forward, she was even experiencing the same. Mary is a very savvy business woman and she now owns and operates the newest and largest hotel and restaurant in town. I remember her as the first person to be the cook for our Vision Trip teams when we came here. At that time, she owned a very small restaurant in town. To see her now, it is clear that her good business sense has paid off handsomely. Come to find out, it is this same Mary who has been feeling broken hearted for the poorest of the poor in her community—the street kids, the outcast women, the prostitutes. She has out of her own resources been helping to feed and clothe and encourage these same people, and has been praying and looking for ways to involve others to participate and bring hope and healing to “the least of these.”