30 Days of Thankfulness- Wesley's Visit

I thought I updated yesterday, but I was wrong! Oops!

I am thankful for the guest speaker we had in church yesterday. Wesley Korir came to our church and had a sort of interview thing with our pastor, Bill, during the service. Wesley is a marathon runner originally from Kenya. When we found out a few weeks ago that he would be coming, we were told this is a good opportunity to invite sports-minded friends, or friends who like to run, to come to our church. I was sitting there thinking to myself "shoot, I don't care about running- I care about KENYA!" Our newest sponsor child, Victor, is from Kenya, and I was looking forward to hearing whatever Wesley had to say when he came to visit.

The service was pretty amazing. Wesley had such a wonderful story to share. He grew up extremely poor in Kenya, with seven siblings and an alcoholic father. Poverty, large families, and alcholism- sounds like so many children sponsored through Compassion International. Wesley shared his persistence in trying to go to school, despite the fact that his family could not pay for it. A missionary noticed this determination and decided to pay for Wesley's schooling. He graduated and was able to get a scholarship to come to the United States, and actually wound up at the University of Louisville. In between classes and running, he worked as a janitor to send money back to help his family. Wesley has since won all kinds of marathons, including the LA marathon and the Boston marathon, and is always eager to give credit to God for his success. He "points to Jesus" at every race, and said in church that this is because he is thankful for every race he runs. He said that if he wins, people will say "yay, Wesley!" and if he loses, people will say "who is this guy? Get a job!" but Jesus always says  "well done, Wesley", whether or not he wins the race.

Everything he said was fascinating and inspiring. I loved listening to him talk. I fought back tears throughout half the service. Wesley also shared a few non-running related things with us. First is his foundation, Kenyan Kids Foundation.  Wesley and his foundation are striving to empower families to provide education for their children, so they can be released from poverty and have more opportunities available to them. He said that right now 45 children are being "sponsored" and getting an education, and hopefully next year that number will be doubled. I will be giving to the foundation sometime in the future and keeping my eyes peeled for ways that I can help!

The other thing Wesley talked about was politics. I know that statistically, Kenya is actually better off than many countries in Africa, generally having a more stable government and things like that (though there has been some turmoil over the past few years.) Wesley shared that greed and corruption are pervasive in his country's government, and that has a huge impact on the people of Kenya. People send all kinds of aid to Africa, and a large percentage of it goes to Kenya. So why is poverty so rampant? Wesley wants to change this, and said he has intentions of running for political office next year. He said in ten years, he wants to be president of Kenya. I wish I could vote for him! I will be praying for him and watching for his name in the news.

Wesley's visit to my church was particularly touching for me, since we have a connection to the beautiful country of Kenya through Victor. I connected almost everything Wesley said to our sponsor child. I prayed that Victor has a strong Christian influence at home, like Wesley has in his mother. I pray that he will be able to complete his education. I don't know if he plays sports (he looks like a runner!) but wouldn't it be fantastic if he could attend university in America someday? And wouldn't it be hilarious if he came to Louisville? I know it's probably not going to happen, but hey, it happened to Wesley!

I practically ran out of the service Sunday to meet Wesley in the foyer. I shook his hand and told him about Victor and thanked him for coming to speak to us. I told him I was excited about his foundation, and that I would be praying for him!