A hole in my heart

Sitting in class today, wishing I was sitting on a plane on my way to see my babies. It's been a long week, but I can't complain. I'm sure Mama Mongla is washing all of the orphans clothes, waking up early in the morning to cook for staff and children, and I'm sure they have worries for things greater than I. Things such as "where is our next meal going to come from". Every time I get frustrate with situations that happen in my life I constantly have to remind myself that I am blessed beyond measure. I barley have anything to worry about. Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you.

Building the new orphanage!

The orphans are getting a new building! It is currently under construction and it will be a new home for both the boys and girls. God has blessed SBO so much because just two years ago, the Orphans lived in the church. In one room. Now they are living in a building that was donated by anonymous givers. The Lord is so faithful! He continually provides and he is a refuge for those who seek him. Some encouragement for the day: Seek Gods will for your life. He's gonna show you exactly what his desire is for you and soon enough, his desire will become your desire.

Mutinda (Orphan Bio #1)

 

This is Mutinda. He is 6 years old.
He has one sister at the orphanage.
Both parents have died, therefore leaving him in the care of SBO.
I first met Mutinda in 2011.
He was frail and very skinny.
After a year of care, I came back in 2012 to find him taller, stronger and not as frail.
Mutinda is extremly smart. He is one of the top students in his school.
We taught him some english words this summer and he caught on very quickly.
Loves froot loops.
Loves to be held.

Psalm 139

You discern my thoughts from afar.
You are aquainted with all my ways.
Even before I say a word, you know it.
You lay your hands upon me.
Where can I flee from your Spirit?
Even if I go to the depths of the sea, You are there.
Even the darkness is as light to you.
You formed my inmost parts.
Your works are so wonderful.
My frame was not ever hidden from you.
Every day of my life was planned out before I was born.
God, your thoughts are so precious to me.
Your thoughts towards me are more than the sand.
Search my heart and try me oh God.
See if there is any wicked way in me.
Lead me in the way everlasting.

Red Clay

"Even though the dirt will eventually wear off my feet, Kenya will never leave my heart. <3"

         Kenya 2012

If you know anything about me, you know that I love food. Some may think that being in Africa for 6 weeks would cause you to loose weight...Well in my case, you either stay the same, or gain it. The reason is becuase THE FOOD IS SO GOOD. I am not even kidding. The picture above is of me devouring the worlds best corn. I kid you not, this corn is so delish, I would eat it at every meal if I could. It is nothing like american corn. The kernals are really big and the texture is more chewy and hard. Sounds weird, but trust me. Its heaven.

Samosa

Samosa's.
The best snack. Hands down.
Fried. Beef. Seasoning. Triangles.
Delish.

Chicagoooo

2011 was my first time flying to Kenya. Our team flew from Knoxville to Chicago and then from Chicago to London, and from London to Kenya.

21.

Hours.

It is the longest flight EVER and by the time you get done traveling, all you want to do is curl up in your own bed and sleep for days. It is so exhausting. Thankfully, I adore flying. Taking off and Landing is exhilerating for me.

When our team landed in Chicago, we missed our flight- therefore we were forced to spend the night. We were all a little frustrated that we couldnt just fly straight to London, but God knew what he was doing, because we ended up seeing a homeless woman come to know the Lord. It amazes me how God works. His wonders never end. <3

 

 

Isaiah 42:5-8

"Thus says God, the LORD who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes form it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it; "I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open eyes that are blind, and to bring prisoners out of bondage. I am the LORD; that is my name. My glory I give to no other."

Eunice

My favorite pictures of Eunice and Mutinda and I. Eunice, the girl on the far right, grew up in SBO. She is 18 years old and now goes to a 'highschool' (boarding school) for all girls. She is so smart and loves to learn. She asked me all kinds of questions about America when I went to visit her at her school. Eunice loves 'Mama Grace' and Gideon. They treat her as if she was their own child. The love that is shared between them is so great. One super cool thing about Eunice, is that she loves to sing. She has the voice of an Angel and she uses it solely for the glory of God. At one point in our conversations, she explained that she had a dream at one point in her life and it was God telling her the words of a song to write. So she wrote down all the words and the next morning, she woke up and sang the beautiful lryics. Gideon had her preform the song for their church the next sunday morning, because he was so blessed by it. I cannot even imagine the way that God is planning on using this sweet girl in His kingdom. She will be a blessing to so many people.

Gracie

This woman,  is the strongest, most loving, selfless, God-fearing woman I have ever met. Grace and her husband Gideon started the orphanage just a few years ago. Gideon is the pastor of Salama Baptist Church. Grace and Gideon started a medical dispensary and the orphanage both through faith that God would provide the means necessary to complete these difficult tasks. They rescue children whose parents have died due to AIDS or any kind of illness. Basically, Grace and Gideon are the parents of 42 beautiful little children. They know each by name and love them with the love that a father or mother would give them. My life goal is to become half of the woman that Mama Gracie is. She is a light. Plain and simple. You look at her and her life and her ministry and you don't see Grace. You see Jesus. What a beautiful picture of what we as believers are supposed to look like. We are supposed to reflect our creator in every aspect of our lives, and worship Him as our Lord. Not just on sunday mornings at church, but in our normal everyday tasks. Our number one mission in life is to glorify God in all that we do. I don't think that we will ever get to the point where we 'arrive' at this place of perfectly glorifying God. I think that it will be a process, a way of our lives. To desire Christ above all else is the most beautiful thing to me. The longing of my heart is to know him in a much deeper and personal way. Matthew 5:!4 says: "You are the Light of the World. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." This reminds me of Grace. She shines so brightly for Jesus.

41 days, 6 weeks

I had the oppertunity to travel half way around the world with these two beautiful women of God. Savannah and Devin. They were such a blessing to me in so many ways. As a team, we expirenced life as a Kenyan. We spent countless days in prayer with eachother, encouraging one another and lifting eachother up in prayer. I don't think I could have survived living for 6 weeks with anyone but these girls.
 

I have had the privilege of knowing Sav and Dev since my family started attending First Baptist Church of Powell, 10 years ago.
Devin is one beautiful friend. Her love for Christ overflows into everything she does. Our personalities are a lot alike...Strong Headed, Opinionated, Outgoing...we really do have alot in common in that aspect.
Devin is able to relate to me in alot of ways regarding my dad. She lost her sister just a few years ago. We cried and laughed and shared many memories of our loved ones. I know that God specifically placed Dev in my life during these weeks to help my grieving process. God is so good! He is able to heal our broken hearts. 

 Savannah's love life is basically identical to mine. Non-existent. Haha, but really. We struggled with this alot in Kenya. Wanting a relationship, but also wanting and willing to wait for God to bring the one HE has for us. We came to the conculsion that we would be fine if  the next person we dated, we married, I know this sounds a little crazy and radical but we both just really desire for God to control every single aspect of our lives. And if that means staying single while we accomplish the missions that the Lord has planned for us in our singleness, then we will gladly take it. Savannah's soul is so beautiful and I was extremely blessed by her heart and journaling abilities this summer. :)                     

"Gringos"

One of my favorite pictures of all of us "Gringos" together with the beautiful dark skin of the people who we love so dearly. This picture was taken in 2012 right in front of the offices of the Salama Baptist Church Ministries. Look at the faces of these people. They are so incredibly happy and in love with our God.




Below is a photo of our team with the Orphans.

The Drink of All Drinks

Pineapple Fanta. Quite possibly the best drink in the world. While in Africa, we are not allowed to drink the tap water because of possible parasites. Bottled soda's are 100% safe. There is alot of different kinds of sodas, like one that is made from ginger root, and one that taste like lickerish, but Pineapple Fanta is by FAR my favorite drink. It tastes like a mix between a fresh sweet pineapple and a pixie stick. It is quite the treat for Americans and Kenyans as well.

For those of you who are Geographically Challenged

For those of you who are geographically challenged, here is a map of Africa. Can you find Kenya? Its the small little country at the very right of the map. The bottom of Kenya touches the Indian Ocean.

So obviously Africa is really far away from America. It takes 21 hours to fly to the airport in Nairobi Kenya. Both of the times I have traveled to Kenya, we flew from London to Kenya. The flights are long, the food on the plane is normally terrible and there always seems to be that screaming child in the seat behind you, but it all seems worth it when you step off that plane into the warm climate of Africa. 

Meeting the Orphans

My heart melted as I stepped off the bus and onto the red dirt road in the small town of Salama. I was in tears as I looked around me and saw the faces of 42 precious little children. Orphans. The love that overtook my heart was so overwhelming and so different from anything I had ever felt before. I knew that this is where I was supposed to be. In a lot of ways, my heart found its meaning. Our entire team flooded the children with hugs and kisses as we lifted them into our arms and held on tight. The children, ranging from the age of 3-17, had clothes that were dirty and most of them did not wear shoes, but the way their white smiles looked against their dark skin was something that would attach itself to my heart and never leave. Joy. Unexplainable joy. We all introduced ourselves to the orphans, and handed out the goodies that we had brought them. Small candies, 'biscuits', jump ropes and soccer balls. The smiles on their faces was contagious. They gathered around as we all ate our first meal in Africa. I can't remember exactly what we ate, but it was probably something along the lines of Chapati, 'Peas', rice, and some goat meat. I didn't know exactly what to expect when I tried the food for the first time. Our whole team had brought a huge bucket of food from america just in case there was someone who absolutely hated the African food. I ate SO much Chapati. Chapatti is like a tortilla, except for ten times better. So needless to say, I was in love with the food.

Jambo Africa!

My name is Sarah Mattson and a little village in Kenya, Africa called Salama, stole my heart away forever. This blog will document my journey of faith as I obey the command that God has placed upon my heart to go into all the world. Little did I know, 3 years ago He would call me to Salama, Kenya. Such a far journey from Knoxville, Tennessee and yet the most life changing place I have ever been to.

My heart skipped a beat when I was told 3 years ago that my home church was going to be taking a group of youth to Africa. It was the sole desire of my heart to go on mission to Kenya. The Lord has given me many opportunities to travel around the world, but I never dreamed that God would allow me to go as far as Kenya Africa.

                                      

My whole life has revolved around missions. My father was a missionary with the North American Mission board for 4 years before he passed away in April of 2012 of colon cancer. My mom and dad were both so supportive of my hopes and dreams of missions. They encouraged me more than anyone else to follow where I believed that God was calling me to go. At the age of 12 I went to a missions conference at my home church. It was here that I first felt the call of God into missions! I was so terrified of what this may bring for me in my life, but also very excited to see where God would take me. My parents let me go on my first in state missions trip when I was in 8th grade. I went to Ocean City, MD and my life was changed. I realized on this trip how much of an urgency there is for the gospel of Christ to be proclaimed to all nations. A year later, I was able to take a trip to Mexico. I fell in love with missions. All kinds of missions. I wanted to go anywhere and I was willing to go everywhere God told me to. After a few trips to the Dominican Republic, I knew I was ready to go somewhere further away. I thought that God was calling me to Thailand or even Brazil  but I felt such a strong peace in my heart when my youth pastor, Chad told us all to start praying about going to Africa.

6 months before the trip, our team of 12 youth spent every Thursday night praying and seeking God fervently about what he was trying to do in our lives. We were continually digging in the word of God, reading Acts and seeing how important it is for us as believers to be in fellowship with other believers and how important prayer was. I remember as a group, asking God to teach us how to pray. Teach us how to be men and women who shine your light in a darkened place. It wasn't easy. God revealed sin in our lives and He was sanding us down and molding our broken lives and hearts to be centered in him.

The prayer of my heart, for as long as I can remember, is that God would be glorified in my life. Whether by life or death, sickness or health, wealth or poverty, I want God to be my center. I want him to be everything I need. For my first trip to Kenya, the main thing I asked God to do in my own life, was that I would learn to trust Him with every little detail of my life.

 I am a worrier. I am anxious about everything and God simply tells us to come to him and lay our burdens at his feet, and he will give us rest. I didn't fully comprehend or believe this at all. I learned to be real careful what you ask God for, because when we touched down in Nairobi Kenya, we soon learned that my luggage, along with 5 others in my group, had been lost. Worst moment ever. I finally arrive in this foreign land, and I find out that all of my belongings are missing. I was 'uncomfortable'. Through out the two weeks that we were in Kenya, I wore and re-wore the three outfits that were in my backpack. I shared toothpaste, deodorant and went without my personal bible for two weeks. In Africa. I was devastated that my bible would potentially never be seen again. Day after day, I watched as everyone else's luggage arrived safely in Salama, and mine was still yet to be found. I prayed desperately to God, asking that his will would be done in my life during this time. But in my heart of hearts, I still did not believe that God was able to bring my bags back. I struggled with this so much. Finally, the day before we were supposed to leave for Knoxville, I released everything to God. All of my worries, my fears, my doubts, and mostly I told God that everything I had was his anyways, so he could do whatever he wanted with 'his' stuff. Not even ten minutes after I had been weeping and crying out to God, placing the entire situation into his hands, Chad comes into the room I was in and told me that the airlines had called and said that my bags were found- in London. Praise the Lord right?!! I was ecstatic and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had allowed this trial in my life to teach me the very thing I had asked him for all along. To trust him. I still have moments today, where I am like the Israelites and I totally forget all these little things God has done for me, but thankfully, his grace is so abundant that it covers over all of my stupidity and anxiousness.

This blog will be a testimony of how God can use something meaningless and make it into something beautiful. How his grace covers a multitude of sin, and how my life was forever changed by Africa. I am so excited to finally get to share all of my thoughts and some of my journey. Please feel free to share this with anyone who may be blessed by it.
Sarah