{"id":1973,"date":"2023-06-24T11:52:38","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T18:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jessup.edu\/globaloutreach\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2023-06-24T21:20:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T04:20:44","slug":"update-6-east-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jessup.edu\/globaloutreach\/2023\/06\/update-6-east-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Update #6 East Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The CLA (Courage Leadership Academy) girls took us to the Memoria market to do some shopping. They seemed to take delight in helping us find specific items and haggling with the vendors on our behalf. I loved being able to experience more of their world. This outing allowed us to further connect through conversations and experiences. It also gave us the opportunity to see and interact with the incredible people of this city. We were graciously welcomed (karibu) and we did our best to use Swahili\u2014some of the team are doing really well with the language. I appreciated the opportunity to see a new part of the city and to depend up the CLA girls for guidance.  (It would have been overwhelming without them and we no doubt would have gotten lost.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then spent a couple hours at CLA where we ate another amazing Swahili lunch, played card games, talked, and got to watch Bella enthusiastically play with the CLA kids (it turns out that the language of preschoolers is universal\u2014and Bella speaks it fluently).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then had the opportunity to take the CLA girls swimming at a local hotel (thank you, Redeemer Covenant Church!). They were very excited to get to swim. We were able to provide swim lessons and teach them \u201cMarco Polo.\u201d There was also time to converse and relax in the beautiful hotel setting (and I may have fell asleep on the grass in the shade).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I can speak for the team in saying that our lives are being changed through the relationships we are building with the Courage girls\/women. These are some of the strongest, most joyful, kindest, friendliest, most talented people we\u2019ve met. For (about) two weeks we get to live life with them and\u2014I know that this might sound a bit dramatic\u2014 it is sacred. It\u2019s like entering holy ground. And because it\u2019s sacred, any words I use to describe it are inadequate. But it\u2019s real because God (ultimate reality) is present. As I\u2019ve watched them dance, sing, worship, laugh, serve, play, learn, teach, support one another,  and love each other\u2019s kids as their own, I cannot help but see the self-giving love of God.  God\u2019s image shines beautifully and clearly in this sisterhood called Courage House. And we are blessed to experience it. But it\u2019s not just the girls\u2014it\u2019s their kids, the incredible staff, and the fieldworkers (J, St, and Sa). God is at work and is present in and through Courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also see God\u2019s image reflected beautifully and clearly in our team. From day one they\u2019ve fully entered into this relational ministry and have developed a deep love these Courage girls. They\u2019ve been vulnerable, generous, outgoing (even the introverts), creative, committed, flexible, humble, open, and compassionate\u2014even when feeling tired, sick, and in pain.  It\u2019s a privilege for me to watch each one sacrificed love in ways that are both life-giving and physically draining.  We also have a lot of fun together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re still reading this, then you probably won\u2019t mind if I add a little more. Over the past week, I\u2019ve thought a lot about the apostle Paul\u2019s words in Romans  1:11-12\u2013 \u201cI long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong\u2014 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other\u2019s faith.\u201d The \u201cspiritual gift\u201d Paul refers to is the activity of mutual encouragement. A charisma or \u201cspiritual gift\u201d is Spirit-directed activity,  and Paul envisioned a Spirit-directed activity of mutual encouragement when he visited the Roman Christians (he strengthens their faith, they strengthen his faith). I feel that kind of mutual encouragement on this trip.  When we\u2019re with the Courage girls and staff, there is mutual encouragement, learning, giving, sharing, teaching, and supporting . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also can\u2019t help but think of this Thomas Merton quote that describes this kind of Spirit-directed mutuality: \u201cWhen the Love of God is in me, God is able to love you through me and you are able to love God through me. . . . Because God\u2019s love is in me, it can come to you from a different and special direction that would be closed if He did not live in me, and because His love is in you, it can come to me from a quarter from which it would not otherwise come. And because it is in both of us, God has greater glory. His love is expressed in two more ways in which it would not otherwise be expressed; that is, in two more joys that could not exist without Him\u201d (\u201cSeeds of Contemplation). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is this mutual sharing of the love of God  with each other that has motivated us, sustained us, and is changing us.  Yes, we are on holy ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those reading this (still!), you\u2019ve likely supported us in this endeavor. We humbly say Thank You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(And to my family, yes, I typed all this on my phone.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Matt Godshall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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