What's this "Go Ye" stuff all about anyway?

I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl

She was standing in the corner on the other side of the world

And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my heart

Didn't you say you wanted to find me?

Well here I am, here you are

So, What now?

What will you do now that you found Me?

What now?

What will you do with this treasure you've found?

I know I may not look like what you expected

But if you remember this is right where I said I would be

You've found me

What now?

And I saw the face of Jesus down on Sixteenth Avenue

He was sleeping in an old car, while his mom went looking for food

And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my soul

Didn't you say you wanted to know me?

Well here I am, and it's getting cold

So, What now?

What will you do now that you found Me?

What now?

What will you do with this treasure you've found?

I know I may not look like what you expected

But if you remember this is right where I said I would be

You've found me

So, come and know

Come and know, know me now

Come, come and know, know me now

Come and know

Come and know, know me now

Come, come and know, know me now

What will you do now that you found me?

What will you do now that you found me?

What now?

What will you do with this treasure you've found?

I know I may not look like what you expected

But if you remember this is right where I said I would be

You've found me

What now?

What now?


("What Now" by Steven Curtis Chapman)

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)

"Go Ye" looks different than I have always thought it to be. My worldview collided with God's view and I don't think I will ever be the same. As I worked in Kenya with the church it became so crystal clear to me the command of "go ye" and what that really meant.

Simply put, "go ye" means just that. God does does not put boundaries on it or a specific location. I had so he challenged me on it. What we did in Kenya can be and needs to be done here in Colorado or California or New York or another country. "Go ye" is a universal command. The neighbors across the street from me need Jesus just as much as the people in the slum of Mathare do.

I have a confession to make. Almost a year ago Mikaela went with some friends and served the homeless in a kitchen downtown. Ever since then she has been begging Lanny and I to go back and we kept putting it off. God told me as I arrived home from Kenya to stop putting it off and do it. His command to minister isn't reserved for special times or different locations. It is to be part of my life. He says in James that we are to look after the widows and the orphans. In our world today that expands out to anyone who is impoverished in any manner. My neighbors across the street are well off financially but they are impoverished because they do not know the riches of Christ. What am I doing about it? After transitioning I walked over and introduced myself. It's a start and as God leads I will reach out and begin to share Christ without saying a word about him.

I love St. Francis of Assisi's approach to "go ye". He said, "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."

"Go ye into the world..." Go ye, Beth, across the street to your neighbor's house, downtown to the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, to a coffee shop with a friend who is struggling, to your kids school and their teachers, to the people you work for, to the person across the sanctuary who is distressed, and yes to Kenya or China or El Salvador or wherever I ask you to go. Beth, go ye.

What's YOUR definition of success?

Our week at Mathare Worship Center started with my quiet time early Monday morning. I was led to pray Proverbs 16:3 for the team that morning. "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." What freedom the truth of that verse would prove to be later that day.

Upon arriving Monday morning at the church we immediately had a few switches. Kenny and Penny were still in the waiting room (i.e. sanctuary) of the clinic talking with the people who came in to be seen. Hillary, our resident med student, was still in the Clinic. The preschool team was not going to be running a VBS-like program as we thought and prepared for. School was still in session and the church had started a school two months prior. Kids were in class and we were now going to be assisting the teachers in the lessons. Robert got drafted into teaching higher education and Nick got put into a classroom with mid-elementary aged kids! The rest of us divided between preschool and kindergarten aged kids. It was chaos for just a few moments. Trying to switch gears from being the lead to assisting the lead. I smiled and whispered a "thank you" to God. He was teaching us a lesson. Kevin and Rachel had already been introduced into the preschool classroom and Kevin was sitting in a corner surrounded by kids. For the rest of the week as soon as he showed up Teacher Fridah ordered him to his corner. I wish I could have captured on video the sight of this giant man crawling over kids and a table to squeeze into the corner that would hold him captive for the majority of the day! He loved every minute of it. Sara, Nick, and I ducked into an empty room in those first crazy moments to pray. We asked God for his plan, his way, and his direction. This wasn't about us, it was about God. I don't believe it was even 5 minutes after we prayed that Isam came to me and pulled me. Mama Beth was needed elsewhere.



This is the classroom that Kevin and Rachel were in each day. The little girl in the pink jacket is Faith. She stole everyone's heart and made the rounds to whoever would hold her. We took turns!


Teacher Fridah handing out the jump ropes that we brought. The kids were fascinated by them! It made their recess a lot more exciting!


The parachute turned out to be one of the best things we brought. Teacher Sara from our team bought them for the kids. The kids and Teachers Grace & Fridah were equally happy about the bright colors and the motions you could make with it. We left it with them and now they pull it out about once a week as a treat. You can see in the picture that we popped balls on it and we also showed the kids how to run underneath it! It struck me that the parachute was one of the only truly colorful things in their world. You can see the contrast between it and the slum behind them.


Teacher Nick hard at work. Nick is awesome, he takes any job handed him very seriously and with a great amount of zeal. He did a fantastic job with those kids! He taught in Teacher Virginia's class. Virginia is the first person outside of Pastor and Mama that I met at Mathare Worship Center. She was teaching during the day and going to school at night to finish her own high school equivalent education. The first days we were there she was diagnosed with malaria and began treatment for it, so I saw how God provided Nick for that week so she could rest.


Teacher Nick with he and Teacher Virginia's class. That is Virginia standing next to Nick.

Robert with his students. Mercy, in the red, was there every day and she and Robert hit it off! She wrote him a letter sharing her story with him and he wrote her one back. She was an exceptional young lady and smart!

We brought crafts with us to do along with the bible lessons. We introduced glue to the kids and teachers. That was quite an experience. I don't know what the kids thought of the glue but Teacher Fridah didn't like it at all! One day she asked me if the craft we were doing that day involved glue. I answered that it didn't and she said, "Oh good, I don't like that stuff!"

We were kid magnets. At any point in time during the day all you had to do was look up and at least one of us would be covered in kids! They flocked to us and just hung on for the ride!

Hillary, who just graduated pre-med and is moving on to med school in Fall 2008, spent a lot of her first week there in the clinic. They were testing for malaria, TB, Typhoid, and ringworm - among other things. She learned a lot while there and was even given homework! Hillary spent a total of 6 weeks at MWC, after we departed she and Rachel, who spent a total of 4 weeks there, moved into Pastor and Mama's house and spent the remainder of their time in their care. The clinic slowed down considerably after we left so Hillary spent the rest of her time mostly with the kids in school.

I followed Isam downstairs and outside to the nursery. As we made our way he explained that there was only one woman in the nursery and many babies, they needed help. I heard crying as we approached the doorway and as I stepped in to the room my eyes took in the scene.

I found the crying baby and picked him up while focusing on another baby, perhaps 6 months old, propped up in a cardboard box. My brain put this image away for later processing and I moved my attention to the other woman in the room holding a baby. I could see movement from two others on the other side of the wall. I looked down and saw I was standing on a hard packed dirt floor partially covered by a bamboo mat. During this time I heard Isam explain to the woman that I would be helping her. She just nodded and he left, promising to check in on me in a little while.

Suddenly all of my attention was brought back to this crying baby in my arms. He was wet. A babies cry is universal. This wasn't hard to figure out. The woman stood and went to a table in a partitioned off part of the room and I followed her to get the baby changed. I looked down and saw a piece of foam covered with a sheet and a baby asleep on it! It was the crib for the nursery. Without thinking through the diaper differences I offered to change the baby. And it was then I discovered that this woman spoke no English. And I spoke no Swahili. Okay! Moving on to the universal gestures for "wet" and "diapers"! We managed. She fortunately took the baby from me. As she started to change him I realized they use cloth diapers there and I was unfamiliar with how to change those! She handed me another baby and a bottle. I understood that command perfectly!

About the time I finished giving the baby in my arms his bottle it was tea time. Everyone breaks for tea time between 10-10:30 am and then again at 4:00-5:00 pm. All of the little ones who could walk plopped down on the floor, abandoned their play things, and accepted cups full of hot tea. And I watched, with jaw hitting the floor I am sure, as they drank from their cups perfectly - no spilling, no dribbling, no drops. I thought to myself, "Oh, when I get home Eliana is going to learn to use a fork all of the time!" I was amazed. When they were done they looked at me and silently handed me their empty cup.

As tea time came to a close I was sitting on the floor trying to engage a little one to play ball. I was having a hard time discerning the gender of these babies. They were all dressed with many layers and most of them were wearing girl style clothing. I found out from another woman who joined me and spoke English that they were all boys with the exception of one. I asked questions and she shared with me stories about the lives of the babies I was playing with and her own life.

The day was kind of a blur. At one point I was sitting on the bench holding a baby and getting him to sleep and looking around the building. The walls were rusted and falling apart; the toys available were things like rusty nails, bottle caps, deflated rubber balls, and bits of broken press board; the furniture consisted of a cardboard box and a piece of dirty foam covered with a sheet. I found myself praying and asking God what was needed to improve the environment for the babies and the women who ministered to them?

Just as tea time had ended Mama came into the nursery with a bundle of blankets and a weak woman. Everyone began talking in Swahili loudly while sitting the woman down and listening to her speak. I kept playing with the babies, I knew if Mama needed me she would ask. Eventually I figured out that the woman was sick. About this time Mama hands off the bundle of blankets to me along with the comment that he was about a week old. What did she say? And then I looked down and understood perfectly. I was holding a newborn baby wrapped up in the blankets. Oh, he was precious. He was asleep and had that newborn smell mixed with the smell of Kenya. I got lost in his face for just a moment. And then reality came back at me loudly...in Swahili. This weak woman was his mama and she was not well. After a series of conversations and gestures Mama left to go get the doctor from the clinic and the woman who spoke English told me that the mom was sick and they were going to look her over. I held that sleeping baby and prayed. After a few minutes the sick mama started breathing differently and they laid her down on the floor next to me. Then she started seizing. I prayed even harder. They called for the doctor to come quickly and Mama told me I needed to move because medics were coming to take her away. I stood up and after a moment wondered why I felt wet. I looked down and this little newborn was peeing all over me, right down the front of my skirt! I looked up at Mama who had covered her mouth and her eyes held laughter and question. I just shrugged. I've had worse happen to me, I'm a mom! They all laughed when they saw I wasn't bothered by it and they took the baby from me and urged me to go wash my hands. I met Isam coming in as I was going out, he looked down, saw I was wet and told me to go wash my hands. It is not my hands that got peed on! But to humor everyone I did wash my hands. After that Mama explained to me that the sick woman was HIV positive and the baby hadn't been tested yet so they weren't sure about him. The doctor at the clinic said that she was literally starving and that caused the seizures.

The rest of my day in the nursery found me sitting on the floor playing ball with the toddlers who had warmed up to me. I wonder if they had ever seen a white person before? They were all young, under or just over one, so it is possible that I was the first white person they had ever seen. Dennis was one of the babies who was about 6 months and spent a lot of time in the cardboard box. At one point I picked him up and held him on my lap to help me play ball with a set of twin boys in the nursery. And then I felt a familiar sensation on the opposite side of earlier that day. I lifted Dennis off my lap and yep. He peed on me. I just ignored it, what did it matter? I handed him off to be changed and kept on playing. At one point I looked up and found one of the twins chewing on a rusted coke bottle cap and the other was standing next to some press board nailed to the wall and chewing on it. Oh I just had to breathe and pray. And then I diverted them from those toys with the ball we were rolling back and forth to each other.

The infant & toddler nursery at MWC. It is a separate building from the church building. (The nursery got some updates! You do not know the joy in my heart when Hillary shared with me what had taken place, God answered my prayers very quickly with this. A few weeks after we departed Kenya an InterVarsity team came into the valley for a work day. One of their focuses was the nursery! They gave it a concrete floor covered with laminate that is similar to linoleum, they nailed up wood over the tin for walls that were safer and they purchased mattresses for the babies to sleep on. Yes, I cried when I heard. God is faithful to his kids.)

The twins I played ball with. They are both boys. The one in the pink hat is the smaller of the two and he was born sick in his chest I was told. I got them to smile and almost laugh!

This is John. I was told that he was born sick in his chest and still was. I never once saw him smile the entire week we were there. He could walk but I could tell something wasn't quite right with his legs either.

Another boy in the nursery. The lady who was in there with them daily would let them crawl outdoors and around the yard and eventually she would go and pull them back inside.

The baby was I was able to feed and then put to sleep. He was very sweet and very hungry! I sat there feeding him and thanking God for the universal things of life. Mama Beth knew what to do with a baby and a bottle!

God's grace doesn't always present itself or look like I think it should. That day in the nursery wasn't anything I had planned but God had purpose in it for me. It was his reminder to me that when I commit my day and my plans to him then he is the one I follow. What he asks me to do and where he asks me to go may not be what I have in mind but it is what he knows is best. Because of my day in the nursery he provided a challenge to my heart and my thinking later on that night.

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." (1 Corinthians 3:6-9 NIV)

In the nursery I was very much behind the scenes. I was seperated from my team, only Isam knew where I was. God showed me that evening through his word that behind the scenes is where some of his most important work gets started, it is the place where the seed gets planted. And you cannot grow something if the seed isn't first planted. Some may think I "just" held a baby that day but what I actually did was plant a seed of value into the life of each baby I touched in that nursery. That is the way of God, planting value into the hearts and lives of his kids - no matter if they are kids being held or the "kid" doing the holding. I call that SUCCESS.

Bwana Asifiwe!

I awoke Sunday, June 17 with anticipation. Today we were going to see Mathare for the first time. As we drove closer to the Valley you could visibly see the income level decrease. I knew we were close because the trash heaps were bigger, people were dressed poorer, the smells became stronger, the dirt more evident. Suddenly Alex pulled into a dirt area and there we were staring at Mathare Worship Center. Two images coincide in my mind from the first sight of MWC. One is of the church building itself, I did not expect the size of it. The second image is of Virginia, wearing a burgundy dress and a sash that told me she was an usher for the day. As we began to walk towards the main entrance of the church Virginia greeted me and leaned in for a hug. I will never forget her gentle spirit and quiet smile.

And then the most amazing thing happened, the dirt and the smells disappeared and I found myself walking into my home church yet I was an ocean away from Colorado Springs.

I feel honored that I was allowed to enter into worship with my sister church. It was a powerful experience. I honestly was holding no expectations for the day, I had determined in my heart to not expect anything so God could be honored, even in my worship. We entered into the sanctuary of the church and were greeted warmly. The service has many different parts to it and each one was so universal! This is the day that the universal parts of life and the Body of Christ really started to sink in and weave themselves into the fabric of my thinking. Pastor Edward was preaching a message to the youth that I needed to hear! Pastor Karau spoke a message to the adults that prompted me to take notes for reflection later on. The time of prayer opened my heart and eyes to another facet of praying together as a fellowship. Our time of worship made me realize that the mountain and the valley had come together to lift high the King of Kings, it was beautiful to look around me and see hands, white and black, raised together in praise to the God of all. Pastor Isam gave the main message that day and it all blended together so beautifully. I had the sense of home. I honestly forgot I was halfway across the world.

One story of the service that I want to share. It is a story of our worlds impacting each other. We had talked many times about the demeanor of the Kenyan people. They are a warm people but stoic until you know them. Pastor and Mama are not like this as much, everyone received hugs from them upon arrival. They know how "huggy" we are in America! So we were prepared for handshakes, warm smiles, and soft eyes. It is natural for me to hug and so I had prepared myself to not give in to that instinct. I wanted them to make the first move and feel comfortable with me. When Virginia leaned in and hugged me I was surprised. And then I looked around and saw other church members hugging our team members! During Pastor Edward's greeting he had everyone greet each other with handshakes but then he said he would like everyone to greet each other again with hugs like "our American friends did when they arrived here this morning"! So everyone laughed and started hugging one another in greeting. I imagine God must have smiled at this. Here were his kids loving on each other despite language barriers and cultural differences. It was beautiful.

After the service Pastor took us to the roof, which we hope will one day be enclosed as a third floor. From the roof you could see the valley spread out. Rows and rows of tightly packed metal roofs with 6 inches in between for sunshine to squeeze through if it could. Off in the distance smoke still rose from a recent uprising fire. We looked down and there were kids staring up at us waving. Any direction you looked you saw the poverty and yet here we were standing on the roof of a lighthouse in the valley. Mathare Worship Center is LIFE and brings life to those who reside in that slum. I was humbled, moved, challenged, and overwhelmed at the realizations seeping into my heart and mind. On the surface this appeared to be a place of certain death but I was looking around me and seeing life, both birthed and restored.

In 1 Kings 20:28 it says this, "The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because the Arameans think the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD.' " As I worshipped that Sunday with my brothers and sisters in Christ I witnessed the God of the hills and the valleys, he is moving in mighty ways and bringing deliverance in both places. He is the God of ALL.

I went to sleep that night with a new and growing impression on my heart, in fact on my life. And it would only grow more and drive deeper into my spirit as we worked throughout the week with the church. I felt like I had experienced the Body of Christ in living color for the first time. And I didn't know that in my heart I had viewed church in black, white, and grey prior to June 17. Our first Sunday at MWC introduced color into my thinking. I watched color enter in as God crashed through all boundaries. He crossed over all cultures, all skin tones, all languages. His truth is the same no matter the time zone or continent. What a rich, deep place we all have to turn to, whether we reside in Kenya or Colorado Springs or elsewhere in the world, the word of God is for us no matter where we are at physically.


The front of Mathare Worship Center. They hold a health clinic during the week, among several other organizations and ministries! The very top of the picture is the roof currently. One day the church hopes to enclose it and make it a third floor to expand the ministry.


Worship on Sunday, June 17

Pastor Edward worshipping. He is fantastic, in part because he would explain to us what the song was saying and meant in Kiswahili. He is Pastor Karau's right arm.

The worship was powerful and very God-focused.

Parts of worship were so much like home that I forgot where I was a lot of the time!

The kids prepared a song and dance that they performed that Sunday.

Pastor teaching the adult Bible Study before the church service began.

Pastor Isam teaching for the main service. His message proved God's word is universal, it is for all peoples.

Dominique translating for Isam, he did a great job. I found myself listening to him and feeling like he was the one actually preaching the message! He and Isam worked well together that Sunday.

"....from the mountains to the valleys hear our praises rise to You, from the heavens to the nations hear our singing fill the air...." (Hear Our Praises by Hillsong)

(Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, CO - seen from the rooftop of Calvary Worship Center)

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." (Psalm 126:2-3 NIV)

(Mathare Valley Slum in Nairobi, Kenya - seen from the rooftop of Mathare Worship Center)

Yes, God is the God of the mountains and the valleys!

Bwana Asifiwe - Praise the Lord!

This is MY now

(Grounds at Little Sisters in Kasarani, Kenya)

Our first day at Little Sisters (our guest house that became home) brought many realizations to my heart. The most profound of them being that in my heart I became settled that this time was my now. That God had, in his great love and mercy for me, delayed my arrival to Africa until the time was right. Although the deepest of thoughts wouldn't hit me fully until a week later, and even yet until weeks later, I did realize immediately that something had shifted in me. I was ready for the now that God had for me.


(The hallway at one of the many buildings on the compound. My bedroom door is the first one on the left. The big cooler you see is the only place we were allowed to get safe drinking water from. Every morning we would fill up our water bottles for the day from this cooler.)


(The inside of my room. The Lion King towel you see hanging was provided by the sisters for our use! Originally we were rooming with each other but when we arrived we found the sisters had decided to give us all our own rooms, it turned out to be a huge blessing!)


(My bed before the mosquito net covered it.)


(This is the room we would hold our team meetings and work sessions in. This is Saturday, June 16. We are redistributing supplies and organizing for the week ahead of us.)


(Working with some of the supplies brought. Kevin, at the top of the picture on the left hand side, bought little New Testaments and wind up flashlights and tied them together to hand out.)


(We washed our laundry in a room and then hung it out to dry. The lines were right outside my bedroom, which is where I took this picture from. Generally if you washed your laundry in the afternoon and hung it out to dry then it would be ready the next afternoon when we returned.)


(The dining hall where we ate our meals. LOTS of good times and laughter happened in here! We also took tea in here every afternoon upon returning from Mathare.)


(Some of us at breakfast our last morning at Little Sisters. Seated at table starting on the left is me, Isam, Kevin, Nick, Robert, Sara, and Hillary)


(The chapel at Little Sisters in which they held mass every morning - the most beautiful music came floating from inside these walls, I was really blessed by it.)

(Little Sisters grounds)

When we arrived with our boatload of luggage and ready to shower (okay well at least I was very ready to shower!) we were given a great gift. Instead of rooming with each other as previously thought, the sisters gave us each our own room! They had even typed up our names and taped them to the doors. Their hospitality was amazing. After getting our luggage into our rooms and figuring out keys to the doors, we had dinner in the dining hall with Pastor and Mama and then a short team meeting in our meeting room.


I felt very overwhelmed. I was on the verge of tears, the kind of tears that come from a heart overflowing with wonder and gratitude at God's work in your life. I stood in the shower kind of in shock, "I am in AFRICA." And yet what shocked me the most was the sense of home I felt. Things about it felt so familiar, so right. I didn't expect that. I picked up my Lion King towel that I found in my room and dried my face, tears of joy mingled with the water, breathing in deep the smell of Kenya weaved into the fibers and a thought came to me unbidden, planting itself deep in my heart (where it actually remains to this very day). As I breathed in Kenya, I breathed out Beth. She was gone, nowhere to be found. Beth, the American had been replaced by Beth, God's vessel. I wiped off who I used to be and with one swipe of my air-dried Lion King towel I wiped on the Kenya way of life for a season. And it hit me. THIS was my now.


Following on the heels of this realization came the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 where he says, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." So I took a deep breath and gave myself over to God again, it wouldn't be the last time I would do this.


The realization that this was MY now wasn't the last thought that would come to me unbidden, planting itself and the truth it presented deep into my heart. And interestingly enough, from that time on the "stink" of Kenya brought peace to my heart. I would come to understand fully what the now God had for me was, but that first night in Kenya I was content with breathing it in and letting myself go.


"There was a time I packed my dreams away//Living in a shell, hiding from myself//There was a time when I was so afraid//I thought I’d reached the end//Baby, that was then//But I am made of more than my yesterdays//This is my now, and I am breathing in the moment. As I look around, I can’t believe the love I see. My fear’s behind me, gone are the shadows and doubt. That was then. This is my now//I had to decide//Was I gonna play it safe?//Or look somewhere deep inside, try to turn the tide//Find the strength to take that step of faith?//This is my now, and I am breathing in the moment. As I look around, I can’t believe the love I see. My fear’s behind me, gone are the shadows and doubt. That was then. This is my now//I have a courage like never before, yeah.//I settled for less, but I’m ready for more.//Ready for more…//This is my now, and I am breathing in the moment. As I look around, I can’t believe the love I see. My fear’s behind me, gone are the shadows and doubt. That was then. This is my now. This is my now." (sung by American Idol 2007 Winner Jordin Sparks)