news-record.com

Eleven high school graduates from Rich Fork Baptist Church in Thomasville spent part of their summer serving in Kenya — after having raised the money to get there.

This team of students dedicated much of their senior year to planning and preparing for how they would serve others in Africa. The trip provided many opportunities for the team to share their gifts and be an example of Christ’s love.

One of the team’s goals was to lead a camp for children in Kibera. The slums of Kibera are home to 1 million people in 1 square mile. The team led children through stations of basketball, soccer, team building and arts and crafts. In each station, the children were taught about the love of Jesus and his gift of hope.

Each day children came with their school to participate in the camp activities. One morning, 365 children came, the next day, 442; and by the celebration event Friday afternoon, close to 2,300 children walked into the World Hope Center.

The team stayed at the home of Chris and Lindy Thompson, friends of the team from Thomasville who serve as missionaries in Nairobi.

The team also visited New Life Homes, an orphanage in Karen, where they volunteered and played with the babies and toddlers.

Team members were Angela Cockrell, Lauren Craven, Caroline Crews, Matt Crumpler, Alyssa Cutshaw, Casey Hearn, Kim Hearn, Kevin Huff, David Hutton, Matt Jacobs, Lindsay Larison, Shai Snellings, Kara Teague, Felicia Whitley and B.J. Wilder.

Here’s what they did:

“This trip made me more conscious of the little things I should do to be a servant. Doing the dishes and trying to be more patient with people. I’m definitely a work in progress … but the trip truly opened my eyes to how blessed I am and how much I have to be thankful for. To be thankful for the powerful, amazing God that I serve.” — Lindsay Larison, East Davidson High School graduate.

“This trip changed me in many different ways. The biggest impact was to see how they live and the conditions that they live in in the slums. It also has changed me to realize how we as Americans complain about so much, about little things … then to see what they live with and they are not complaining.” — Kevin Huff, North Davidson High School graduate.

“I was at a school in the middle of Kibera and I watched a street boy stand in line for a long time to receive two pieces of bread. This was probably most if not all of his daily food, and the boy gives me and two other team members pieces of his bread. It was the best bread I’ve ever had.” — David Hutton, East Davidson graduate.