Update from Trip to Kenya!

“I will live to carry Your compassion, to love
a world that’s broken, to be Your hands and feet...”

Friends and Family and even strangers that I don't know who donated money, supplies and supported us with prayers on our trip to Kenya-THANK YOU! Thank you doesn't seem to adequately express my emotions after coming back and processing this incredible journey God put Heather and I on. So, I'll try not to be too lengthy for fear of no one reading this, but I also want to express just a glimpse into the joy, the hope, the hurt, the healing and the transformation that we had first hand exposure to.

First off, all the prayers for our families, our/their safety and our travel mercies were answered. Thank you! We were overall very healthy, slept decently, had energy and our families at home were okay without us. Thankful we all survived. :)

Secondly, I wanted to give you an account for how we spent your money you all generously donated to us! Heather and I decided to put our money together and I tell you that God multiplied it. Here's SOME of what we used your donations for:

5 New Sewing Machines & Tables
Supplies for Cornerstone Orphanage (utensils, plates, bowls, cups, cooking pans, sheets, blankets, mosquito nets and more!)
Table and Chairs for the orphanage
Surgery for Faith (what we were told it would cost is not what it will cost as it's way more invasive than we thought, but we have received additional funds towards the balance and pray the rest will be covered through general donations)
Fixed the well on Cornerstone campus. Y'all, this was the best money spent as so many were without access to water and selfishly, I benefitted as I could use a more traditional toilet when needed. Praise God! :)
We will be repairing/preventing further damage to the roof of our Give Amore building. The building we use is in very bad shape. To fix it would cost thousands. We spent hundreds to patch it and to try to prevent further damage. This is still a huge need that we pray God will provide soon!
Diapers and Milk for Shaddy and Neville. Shaddy is the young boy who has severe cerebral palsy and his mom, Christian, raises him, her two daughters and her two nieces. Neville is her great nephew who is being raised by his grandma after his mom died during childbirth. This is the baby I held last year just days after he was born and his mom passed away.
A wheelchair for Shaddy!
School supplies for 36 8th graders at Ebulechia school as they need them to take their tests to see if they can continue on into high school.
Soccer Balls for Cornerstone children and Give Amore children
A large screen projector so we can continue teaching free computer classes to the community. The screen we used was stolen due to the roof access (hence why we need a new roof). We have since purchased more locks and more lighting.
Fungal medicine for the children in our program. We want to always have it on site as the children often have this fungus on their heads. If treated, it is minimal expense. If untreated, it can be very dangerous.
We paid for 2 nurses to come teach the community and our children the Heimlich and CPR as well as talk to the adolescent girls about sexual education.
Offering to Ebulechia church and school for their needs (flooring, desks)
We gave some funds to our amazing co-op that some of the moms/guardians of the children in our program started. They are planting crops, raising chickens and selling eggs, etc. They pool their money so it goes further and they support each other. Incredible!
5 Stools for our sewing program
Another sewing table and supplies needed for our sewing program
2 year college certification for Frida Abuti, a recent graduate from our program who wants to get her business administration certification.
High school tuition for Lena, Christian's daughter who is at risk of being sent home from high school for unpaid school fees though she's close to graduating.
Catering school for Alice, a recent graduate from our program.
And there were so many others we were able to bless with smaller amounts/gifts.

As you can see, we were busy! But God was so good to us and we had So. Much. Fun! It really is better to give than to receive. Because when we give, we end up receiving things that money can't buy-HOPE, JOY, INCREASED FAITH, and lots and lots of LOVE!

I couldn't have asked for a better travel companion than Heather. I've been blessed with amazing travel buddies-Stephanie Rivers, Melissa Sanchez and now Heather Duncan. Seriously, so much fun and such bonding happens on trips like this. A lot of TMI (too much information) is shared about bodily functions, sleep habits, thirst, hunger and more. Heather and I made up our own acronyms-IFJ (Inconvenienced For Jesus) which is entirely different than SFJ (Suffering For Jesus). We did not do any SFJ, but perhaps we were IFJ a few times. :)

On a serious note, we felt God's presence so profoundly there. I've always said that I love going to Kenya because I feel like I'm the best version of myself. Or at least a better version of myself. You learn to wait on Kenyan time (very different than American time) so you learn to just be. Not to rush. It's not about being productive but rather being present and in the moments when we were present and pushed aside our to-do list is when we saw God move. It made me realize how often I'm too busy doing my to-do list that I forget to see what it is that God would have me do. I also pray more there. When the problems around us are real problems (no water, no health care, no food, no school, abandoned children, abandoned wives, etc.) you are completely humbled and dependent on God and not how we can fix it. So, I just go to prayer. It's my only and most powerful tool.

We also felt the enemy trying to attack us. Big time. But we put on our Armor of God and prayed and looked up and surrendered our plans, our ideas and our emotions to God. He guarded us and honestly, my discernment was in high gear. My senses were on high alert and I was in tune to the Holy Spirit's promptings...to go, to stop, to retreat.

I wish I could update you all on so many things, but this is long enough. I'm working on a slide show of pictures from our trip to try to summarize 2 weeks of amazingness into a 3 minute tribute. I pray I can do it!

Lastly, this truly was a village effort. Heather and I had the support of our families and friends. We had so many people donate items-Laptops (2), iPhones (3), Androids (4), fabric, sewing kits, bandaids, Neosporin, watches, flashlights, stickers, pencils, paper, craft supplies, SHOES THAT GROW and so much more! I've never had so much luggage before! To everyone that contributed in some way-THANK YOU!

Asante Sana Rafiki. Mungu aku bariki we we. (Thank you very much friends. May God bless you greatly).

Christa Horst

“And I will give with the life that I’ve been given, to go beyond religion, to see this world changed by the power of Your name. -Lincoln Brewster”