How He Loves Us

We drove back to Marurui today.  I have fallen in love with that place.  As soon as we piled out of the van, the kids were already coming out to meet us.  They flocked around us, finding anyone with a free hand and taking it in theirs.  At one time, I had two kids trying to hold my left hand.  Another girl was  holding tight to my right hand with both of hers, as if someone else might come along and try to snatch it up. She kept tugging at the hair on my hand and on my arm and kept rubbing the back of my hand and pointing at my freckles.

Along the path, we stopped and Beth and Joby led us in How He Loves.  As we sang, I looked around and saw the beauty in of all of us singing.  Kenyans.  Americans.  Dark skin.  Light skin.  Men.  Women.  Children.  And I thought that it must be what heaven will be like.  But without the hurt, without the pain.

And we sang:


I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.


And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

 Beth and Joby leading us in song

We walked to one of the schools we had been at a few days before.  We pulled out the jump ropes and those kids went CRAZY!  It was like a mad dash to anyone holding a white Nakumatt bag.  To any kid who was lucky enough to be handed one of those jump ropes, it was like winning the lottery. It's so crazy that something as simple as a jump rope is so exciting.

 Passing out jump ropes at one of the school

 All the kids come to meet us

 Walking through Marurui

(An excerpt from my journal entry Saturday, June 11, 2011)