Faith Bible Church

My name is Lauren Diener I have been attending Faith for about 18 years now. I haven’t been around recently because I am attending Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, TX. This summer, I got the awesome opportunity to go to Kenya with my school from July 2-23 and here is a little of what happened while we were there.

My trip to Kenya was such a blessing! I was nervous because we really had no idea what was going to happen. All I knew was that at some point I was going to teach women. When we first got there, we were at the disposal of the local people we met to do whatever they needed us to do (on Kenya time). My friend, Monique and I (the only two girl students on the trip) spent most of our time the first week with the kids at a place called Christlike Academy. The kids were so cute and all they wanted was to be loved on! So that is just what we did. The other half of that week we got to teach new believers at a local church.  What an awesome experience to get to pray and encourage many women in their faith!

My second week in Kenya started with a 2 hour plane ride north to Lodwar into the Rift Valley Provence of Kenya. We went from being in the greenest place I have ever seen to being in one of most desolate and dry places I have ever seen. I was struck by the craziness of this – to go from life so abundant to life so fragile and dry. This is an aspect of life in Kenya that God had me struggle with while I was there.

The first few days in Lodwar, we held a conference for pastors in the area. During this time, we helped Dr. Shaw (my professor at Wayland) by fellowshipping with the pastors, by leading small workshops, and working with the women that came to the conference. We also got the opportunity to teach the woman while we were there.  That was a true honor and blessing to teach such beautiful, hungry women of God! We also got the opportunity one Sunday to visit a few churches and see most of the pastors from the conference in action. I loved going to church in Kenya. They are such genuine people that love our Savior!

We then went out to the bush of Turkana Land on Monday. I was a little scared as we drove our 6 passenger Blue Mitsubishi packed to the brim with bags, food, and people (10 in all!).  All I really had to go on was the hope of spending the night in a tree house!   

And a tree house, it was -  kind of…ha! The women in the Turkana culture weave and make the houses themselves. I was so impressed with them - such strong women of so many talents and duties. Definitely women to be praised! We ate goat 3 different times and we had a lot of rice and beans. We went to a different district each day and stayed with a new family each time. On our last day of evangelism, we went to a house close to a dried up river and the man of the house pointed at me and said to Dr. Shaw “I want to buy her for 3 camels.” Dr. Shaw laughed and quickly said, “Oh no, oh no I need to bring her back with me. Her mother would kill me if I didn’t bring her home.” Dr. Shaw then looked at me and said, “Lauren that’s a good offer…haha!” What a funny experience!

The last week in Kenya we went back to Lamuru and we worked with the kids at Christlike all week. Those kids are crazy! We got to relax a little this week as they didn’t have as much for us to do. This was kind of frustrating to me because I wanted to help! But that’s when I knew I had to work on building relationships with the people we were working with and go with the flow. 

As I look back on my time in Kenya, the Lord taught me so much and its hard say what I learned the most. One insight that I recognized is how we, in the American church, can have a selfish faith.  It can be all about what I can get out of church and how much I am able to get out of the service or what God can do for me. God showed me that we keep our faith clutched so close to our chest. We, at times, don’t want to share our faith or are embarrassed to say we are Christians! Being in Kenya taught me that we have no reason not to share our faith.  God tells us to in Matthew 28:19-28 - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I want to thank those of you who prayed for me and my team while I was in Kenya! Your prayers where so powerful and meant the world to us! Thank you so much!  

Living to make Him known wherever God has me,

Lauren Diener