PEOPLE 128 • • I After nearly a year away from school, four juniors returned to campus in January to finish their education. Orris Nicholson, BenGerber, Mark Johnston and Nathan Hendrix spent 10 months '{olunteer teaching at the Chepkong'ony Secondary School in Chepkong'ony, Kenya. The men planned to stay until the end of November but visa difficulties changed their plans. When their 6-month tourist visas expired in July, they said they were unexpectedly told they had only a few days to leave the country. "We were supposed to leave in three days, so we started praying about it," Nicholson said. "We had a member of parliament for our area, and he made a way for us to stay there for three extra months." In Kenya, all the men stayed busy teaching English and Bible at the high school. Hendrix taught French as well. On weekends, they hosted youth rallies at local churches. The juniors said the majority of their mission work was not necessarily n t h e JUNIOR MARK JOHNSTON PREPARES to baptize anew believer, Raymond, while in Kenya working as amissionary with three other Harding juniors. The group spent 10 monthsteaching at aChristian school in Kenya. COURTESY OF KENYA MISSION TEAM Juniors teach in African school, forced to return early after visa troubles "The point of our going was to help people (orne to Christ' MARK JOHNSTON, JUNIOR evangelism, but encouragement. "When you think about Africa, you think about outreach," Hendrix said. "But in our area, there were just so many churches, so many Christians, even most of our students." Though the group gave up some luxuries, including running waterand plenty of electricity, the group said they did not feel they made any major sacrifices. "The point of our going was to help people come to Christ," Johnston said. While the four made some physical sacrifices, spiritual aspects were missing as well. "One thing we had to sacrifioe was good worship," Nicholson said. "} mean, we were the only Americans around, and no one had a really good knowledge of the Bible anywhere close to us. We didn't speak the language, so we became more dependent on God and each other." The men said that dependence helped them as they taught and encouraged those in Kenya. They said it even helped the team to deal with the unexpected. "A woman almost had a baby in our car," Gerber said. "It's just life. You never know what is going to happen." The four men said they planned to finish their degrees at Harding; however, they said they were unsure of their plans after graduation - a predicament some of them did not expect before going to Kenya. "} thought I would come away from Kenya with a clear view of what I wanted to do," Gerber said. "That's definitely not the case, but I'm OK with that. It's OK to just surrender. Ifs just up to God, and ifs something l'll be praying about." REBECCA KING
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