Update #6 East Africa

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—some 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.)

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—and Bella speaks it fluently).

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 “Marco Polo.” 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).

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’ve met. For (about) two weeks we get to live life with them and—I know that this might sound a bit dramatic— it is sacred. It’s like entering holy ground. And because it’s sacred, any words I use to describe it are inadequate. But it’s real because God (ultimate reality) is present. As I’ve watched them dance, sing, worship, laugh, serve, play, learn, teach, support one another,  and love each other’s kids as their own, I cannot help but see the self-giving love of God.  God’s image shines beautifully and clearly in this sisterhood called Courage House. And we are blessed to experience it. But it’s not just the girls—it’s their kids, the incredible staff, and the fieldworkers (J, St, and Sa). God is at work and is present in and through Courage.

But I also see God’s image reflected beautifully and clearly in our team. From day one they’ve fully entered into this relational ministry and have developed a deep love these Courage girls. They’ve been vulnerable, generous, outgoing (even the introverts), creative, committed, flexible, humble, open, and compassionate—even when feeling tired, sick, and in pain.  It’s 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.

If you’re still reading this, then you probably won’t mind if I add a little more. Over the past week, I’ve thought a lot about the apostle Paul’s words in Romans  1:11-12– “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” The “spiritual gift” Paul refers to is the activity of mutual encouragement. A charisma or “spiritual gift” 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’re with the Courage girls and staff, there is mutual encouragement, learning, giving, sharing, teaching, and supporting . 

I also can’t help but think of this Thomas Merton quote that describes this kind of Spirit-directed mutuality: “When 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’s 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” (“Seeds of Contemplation). 

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. 

For those reading this (still!), you’ve likely supported us in this endeavor. We humbly say Thank You.

(And to my family, yes, I typed all this on my phone.)

By Matt Godshall