By Martina Bastawrous
The youth from our church have been blessed with the opportunity to visit and serve in Kenya multiple times. They are led by the encouragement of Bishop Paul, serving and living in Kenya for over 20 years, as well as the leadership of Father Augustinous, giving up his time to look after the youth.
From previous trips, Kenya has been known to fill our youth and give them a fire to serve and praise our glorious God. From the moment they stepped off the plane and into the monastery in Maseno, they were sent off to serve; proving just how active and constant the service is.
Services in Kenya that the youth were involved in included home visitations, Sunday school, youth meeting, visiting prisons, building a church, and visiting orphanages. These services are accompanied by a number of talks, Bible studies and prayer meetings lead by Bishop Paul and other blessed Kenyan Fathers. The youth spend a couple of hours each day in solitude, giving them an experience like no other. Bishop Paul, seeing that many of the youth have come a number of times, decided to give an unusual experience of sending out groups to live in the villages of Africa and really experience “true service”, spending 3 nights in mud-built houses and serving different churches to get the community ready for the new year.
Anyone that goes to Africa would say they felt God’s presence and saw God working in everything they do. Christ’s love is evident in the children as they come to you and cling to you willingly. You can see the humility of Christ in the Mamas that serve the youth and priests tirelessly – they bring out feasts for the youth to eat just for visiting them. The light that Bishop Paul shines on each person he comes into contact with enlightens your understanding of who Christ really is. It is safe to say that spending time in Kenya is not just an experience, but rather a revival.