Most of us believe God is at work around the world. Many of us pray for missionaries by name. We sing about every tribe and nation. But often, the global work of missions can feel like it's somewhere "out there." We know how important it is, but it can feel distant from our everyday lives
Sometimes it takes standing in a schoolyard on the other side of the world to see how close it really is.
That is what happened for Matt and Jodi Girden and their three teenagers, Micah, Clara, and Jeremiah, when they traveled to Kenya together on a CAMP-of-the-WOODS mission trip this fall.
Jeremiah, Micah, Matt, Clara, and Jodi Girden
Saying Yes
The Girdens came to COTW as a family in the summer of 2018. They have returned every summer since, except during Covid. For them, it is a week set apart, a time together as a family and with the extended family who join them.
This year, all three kids are in high school, and the oldest, Micah, is a senior. Matt and Jodi had already been praying about taking a mission trip together. Then an email arrived about upcoming COTW trips, including the Kenya Mission Tour.
"We reached out to Tim Trezise (COTW Missions Director), and prayed about it, and felt that this would be a very meaningful trip to take together as a family," they said.
Welcomed by Strangers
Some of the trip’s most lasting moments happened at schools.
In many Kenyan communities, children don’t get enough to eat, and hunger makes it hard for them to learn and grow. Kenya Kids Can, a ministry started by missionaries with Africa Inland Mission (AIM), partners with local schools to give students a hot meal during the school day so they can learn at their best. Many students walk anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours to get to school, and they bring firewood to help cook the meal.
At one of those remote schools, Clara found herself surrounded.
Clara Welcomed by Girls at a Remote School in Rift Valley Kenya
“So many of the girls gathered around me, holding my hand and smiling at me,” she said. “I was really moved by how warm and joyful they were toward a complete stranger.”
Nearby, her brothers played soccer with the Kenyan kids. “I’m so glad I was able to bond with my family on this trip together,” Clara said.
For Micah, the visit showed what faithful ministry looks like up close. “I loved seeing the passion that Mark (a missionary with AIM) had for the children and the feeding program and getting to see the impact that this ministry has had in so many lives.”
Watching Them Serve
Mark and Jeremiah Teaching Middle Schoolers a Bible Lesson
For Jeremiah, the day that stuck with him began with a flight north to the remote village of Korr. There, he and his dad taught middle schoolers the story of David and Goliath, showing how God used David’s years as a shepherd to prepare him to face the giant.
Not every meaningful moment happened in a classroom. Micah also reflects on their visit to a retreat for persecuted believers, where the family played volleyball with Somali Christians, then prayed with them and encouraged them as they navigate following Jesus in the face of persecution.
Matt and Jodi treasured watching their kids take it all in. “It was really powerful traveling with and being with our kids as they encountered a developing nation, and as they saw overseas missions firsthand,” they said. They watched their kids listen closely to the missionaries’ stories, connect easily with the Kenyans they met, and lead team devotions.
Spiritual Wealth
In communities marked by poverty and persecution, the family expected to see need. What surprised them was the joy.
Children at Remote School Supported by “Kenya Kids Can” Feeding Ministry
The believers they met had little by the world’s measure. Matt and Jodi said it was humbling to see “the joy that God has given to his children in Kenya that live in poverty but are spiritually wealthy.”
They saw that same joyful faith in the missionaries who had given their lives to serve in Kenya, and in believers who had faced intense persecution for following Jesus.
Watching them, Matt and Jodi came away with this conviction: “God is at work all around the world and will use those that are available to be used, no matter where they live.”
The Same Kingdom
That truth followed them home. “We came home from this trip with a greater awareness of the Kingdom of God around the world,” Matt and Jodi said. “We were challenged to continue to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world.”
COTW Kenya Mission Tour Team
Seeing missionaries live by faith each day also inspired them to look for more ways to live on mission in their own community. In Florida, they found a place to start: a local Christian ministry that provides housing, job training, and counseling for about 20 men who would otherwise be homeless. Once a month, the family serves lunch there together.
“We decided to take a small step,” they said, “but hoping it grows into more opportunities in the future.”
Something shifted inside the family, too. "I feel that it really drew each member of our family closer together, and closer to Christ," Jeremiah said.
For years, COTW had been the place where the Girdens rested and reconnected each summer. This year, it also became the place that sent them out.
The girls at that remote school did not need to know Clara’s name before they reached for her hand. The students in Korr, the believers enduring persecution, and Mark at Kenya Kids Can did not need a visiting family to bring God to them. He was already there, giving joy where the world sees only lack.
The Girdens brought home a deeper understanding that God uses whoever is available, in a Kenyan village or at a lunch table in Florida. His kingdom isn’t only “out there.” It’s right here, too.