I came a couple weeks after the rest of the interns arrived in Kamulu so I am actually writing this after only being here a little over a week. But you don’t have to be here long to know that this place is special. 

I am starting my senior year at Pepperdine University studying marketing communication and nonprofit management. I had heard about Made in the Streets from my classes and a couple of friends who supported the organization. I never would have dreamed that I would get to see their work firsthand in Nairobi.

I read something in a book called The Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen a couple years ago that changed the trajectory of my life forever. He writes, “God knows that the powers of darkness and evil can manifest themselves into real things. And while never neglecting or subordinating spiritual needs, Jesus calls his people to respond to hunger with food, to nakedness with clothes, to imprisonment with visitation, to beatings with bandages, and to injustice with justice.”

I understand the fact that I did not need to travel halfway across the world to respond to this calling. My relationship with Jesus changes every interaction I have, whether I am in Malibu or Nairobi. My prayer will always be that I lead a life of love and obedience. I daily ask that Jesus is between my lips and the words I speak, in my mind and the thoughts I think, and in my eyes and His people I see. That being said, I find this season of my life so special because I get to learn from new people who are committed to that same calling in a different part of the world.

Since a lot of my first week has been navigating my new role with staff, I want to express my gratitude and admiration for the people dedicating their lives to these kids. If you have never had the chance to see the ground work firsthand, let me encourage you with this — the heart of this organization is beating hard, fast, and strong. They give so much of themselves to the work being done here. Their time, their energy, their prayers… with Christ at the center of it all. Even in my short time here, it has been an honor to watch them live out Jesus’ calling on their lives. I believe that leaders have a huge impact on what a group is able to accomplish. As I have received instruction from the teachers and administrators on how to do my job, I have loved getting to watch them as they do theirs. I only just arrived and my flight home seems too soon, but the people running this organization are committed to long obedience. They are moving forward with legs and lungs of endurance. They are showing up. How special it is to get to learn from them. To all the MITS staff, thank you. 

​Hopefully as the weeks go on, I will be able to put more words to my thoughts and events happening here. I am sure there will be big things, small things. Good things, hard things. But just this for now. Thanks for reading.

i had heard a lot about mits before this summer. from personal stories of different peoples’ experiences in kamulu and eastleigh to information that i found from the media, i had heard a lot about mits before my feet even touched the ground here in kenya. so, in beginning my two and a half months here, my ears had already heard of mits.

​my ears had heard of the constant football, or soccer, games where students showcased their skills. but my ears had not heard the shouts of sheer joy and the “dorm 3” chants that came on a normal saturday night to celebrate a sweet victory.

​my ears had heard of the many street children that had found a home as a mits student in kamulu. but my ears had not heard the names of the stephen’s, the gloria’s, the charles’s, the faith’s that are more than just passing faces in a picture on a media platform. 

​my ears had heard of these children that loved to dance and definitely knew how. but my ears had not heard the simple fun that learning how to “crank that soulja boy” or take silly snapchat filters  would be for a group of girls just wanting to know more about the world like we all do.

​my ears had heard of the mornings in chapel and the time dedicated to praising God together. but my ears had not heard the innocent voices lifting declarations to heaven saying “you put a song in my soul and i want to let it out” as they give no hesitation in letting that song out.

​my ears had heard of the different foods, of the ugali and rice and the chapati with chai. but my ears (and my hands) had not heard the sizzling oil in the pan that would grill (very hotly) the chapati to a wonderful golden brown.

​my ears had also heard of children that loved and knew jesus. but my ears had not heard of a young boy, obed, nicknamed “the young preacher” simply because he loved to give encouragements in chapel or a girl, corazone, who would be writing me notes telling me “never lose hope in your dreams God will make them success.”

​my ears had heard of students that had come from the streets and had brought a story and a past with them. but my ears had not heard the students’ wrestling between bringing their past into their present and future with questions in class of “how do i forget my past” and “how do i know God even when i leave mits.”

​my ears had heard a lot about mits before this summer, but the truth is that there is so much that i had not heard.
 
but that is part of the beauty in coming and doing life here in kamulu: i have the gift of hearing more of God’s presence here at mits. because before this summer, my ears could hear information and stories of shouts of joy and names of students and heavenly praises and testimonies of jesus and hard questions, but they stop at stories. and they stay distant as stories. but here, in this month of life in kamulu, my ears could hear the real thing. and everything that i got to hear this month only allowed me to hear more of the realest thing: jesus. 
 
because that is also what happens with jesus. we hear about Him, and we can hear stories of Him. but everything changes when we hear Him in our lives, when we hear Him personally calling to us saying: my son, my daughter, my child, I love you. it becomes personal, it becomes real in those moments, and that is how i have felt here at mits: that it has all become real.
my ears had heard of you, mits, just as my ears had heard of you, jesus, but as i hear the real thing, i cannot help but fall in love with these people and this home here in kamulu, in eastleigh, in kenya, just as i have fallen in love with jesus. 
 
because my ears also still continue to hear you, mits. and all i can hear is jesus.