Mercy House

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you
    but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
 (Micah 6:8 ESV)

I'm writing to let you know about a ministry that is just getting started called The Mercy House. I am so excited about what God is doing, and can't help but share it with you!

Each summer, Student Life brings students to the United States through Compassion International to travel with us and tell their story to the teenagers and kids they encounter each week at camp. They are all graduates of Compassion's Child Development through Sponsorship Program and are now a part of the Leadership Development Program, which puts them through college (also through sponsorship).

The girl that traveled with my Student Life team last summer is Maureen Owino. She's from Kenya, and has a powerful testimony of growing up in absolute poverty in the slums of Nairobi. She was rescued from poverty because of the ministry of Compassion. The Lord is doing some really awesome things in and through her life, and during the summer, we prayed together about what God had in store for her after she returned home. I have to say that I don't know that I've ever been more challenged spiritually by any one person than I have been by her. Maureen knows and loves God's Word, and she believes it with incredible power and authority. I told her all summer that I wanted to be more like her, and it's because she so reflects Christ in all that she says and does.

"I thank God for poverty."

I overheard Maureen say this so many times this summer. 

She said that if it weren't for poverty, she wouldn't know Jesus.

"Your background does not determine your future, it shapes it."

Maureen's sponsors wrote this to her in a letter, and it's something that she lives by every day.

Maureen and me - Summer 2011

Backtracking, last year, Compassion sent a team of bloggers to Kenya, to blog about what Compassion is doing and raise awareness. Kristen Welch is one of those bloggers. She met and spent time with Maureen, and even came to visit her while we traveled last summer. Long story short, she and her husband felt led to open a maternity home in Nairobi, and God has made a way! They have achieved non-profit status, and are opening this year. Maurine is training in Ethiopia right now so that she can be the Executive Director of the Mercy House.

Here's where you come in. I'm trying to help Kristen and Maureen raise awareness for what God is doing in Kenya and will do through Mercy House, so you should definitely check out these links for more information and to see how you can be a part of what God is doing in Kenya!

Mercy House website: http://themercyhousekenya.org/
Kristen's Blog: http://wearethatfamily.com/
Maureen's testimony on youtube (from camp this summer): http://www.youtube.com/user/slblueteam2010#p/a

If you are interested in sponsoring a child through Compassion, click the link on the right or let me know! I would love to tell you more about it.  I have sponsored a little girl in Kenya for the last 4 years and it truly has changed my life.