Monday, Oct 25th, 2010 -- The Wheels on the Plane Go Round & Round (unless one goes flat!)

Today’s expectation of a low-keyed day went right out the window at the airport! We’ve said all our goodbyes and run all our last-minute errands. Pastor Isaac has prayed with us and left us at the air strip, and we have just been informed there is a delay. The plane in Lodwar which is to come to Kitale and pick us up has a flat tire. Naturally, the most expedient way to repair it is to fly a new tire from Nairobi to Lodwar and then send the plane from Lodwar on to Kitale to pick us up! The “good news” if there can be any when one has been informed of a flight delay, is that we are being treated to lunch at the Kitale Club courtesy of Fly540 Airlines. So instead of a 1:50PM departure, we end up with a 6:15PM departure. I learned to say something in Swahili this trip which I am also learning in my heart – at least while I’m in Kenya. “Haraka haraka haina baraka” means “hurry, hurry is no blessing!” Loosely translated, it simply doesn’t pay to be in a hurry because you can usually count on Mr. Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame) to show up when you’re in a hurry!

Sunday, Oct 24th, 2010

Today we visited the LCM church in Sibanga where we finally got to hear young Pastor Timothy Mahindu preach. Seemingly shy and quiet in his place of business, he was transformed by the Spirit of God as he preached about walking in the world or walking in the Kingdom of God. Afterwards the women of the church prepared a meal of beans of rice – and coca-cola, of course – and we enjoyed good fellowship with one another. Beatrice, one of the original members of the Sibanga church saw my notebook full of Swahili words and began writing words for me until she had filled three pages with things she thought I should know how to say! What a people full of desire to help others!

As the adults were led away for a meeting, Ellen and I remained behind where we were given the opportunity to watch the children’s program of memory verses and songs taught by their youth leader, Gilbert. He has done an excellent job with them and is an asset to the Kingdom of God in Sibanga. We ended by making peanut butter sandwiches and passing out fruit treats from America.

Sat, Oct 23rd, 2010 -- A Classroom in the Marketplace

Around 10:30 this morning we made our way to the Sibanga marketplace where we found Rose Mahindu at her spare parts shop and sat we down for a visit. I whipped out the English to Swahili book Grace Gikonyo had given me along with a pen and a notebook and started asking how to pronounce words, adding words that we are using frequently which weren’t in the book. Ellen bought a round of sodas for Rose and her friend as well as the two of us and we continued to laugh as I struggled to hear the words the way they are pronounced. We had quite a crowd gathered around us by the time we were finishing up and everyone was enjoying the outdoor classroom. In fact, several people were pitching in to help me with pronunciation as well as to add words they thought I should know. What a great morning!

After taking lunch at our old friend the Iroko Boulevard, we began walking toward the Watergate Cyber Café and met Samuel Wafula, someone who had connected with Joyce Strong in August during the AIC women’s conference. Samuel asked us to go and visit his father at the IGEM an interdenominational ministry which was just a few minutes away so we agreed, even though we had a meeting scheduled with Isaac Gikonyo just an hour from now. We took a cab to the office, spent about 15 or 20 minutes visiting and praying and were then driven in their ministry van back to Kitale. It seemed like another God appointment since we had just “bumped into” Samuel.

We returned to Iroko to take tea with Isaac who had requested a meeting with us. We thought Isaac might want to meet with us to discuss some business but it seemed all he wanted to do was wrap up our time together and thank us for all we had done. As we chatted, I finally figured out today that when Isaac calls us every day to see how our day has been, he is really checking to make sure we are safe. He doesn’t want us to take any chances with Kenyans we don’t know or be taken advantage of. How sweet! We are truly building relationships here as many of our friends do the same thing.

The word is out that I have been passing out Bibles! We found Sebastian (our taxi driver from the Kitale airport on the day of our arrival) and negotiated a price for him to take us back to the shamba. He said his friend Peter had told him I gave him and Bible and he was wondering if I had one for him! What a great way to make friends! At the entrance to the shamba, I left him with shillings for the transport and manna for his soul.

Friday, Oct 23rd, 2010--It's Only Flat on the Bottom!

Although today did not have a heavy agenda, it included a lot of time traveling Kenya roads. Zippy’s driver had arranged for a taxi to take us to the Cherengany Hills and then cross back through Sibanga and go on to Mois Bridge. Who would have predicted that the “taxi driver” Gideon arranged for us was none other than the landlord of the building where the Watergate cyber café had first been established!

The trip to Cherengany Hills was to visit with Pastor George Mufoya, one of the Kitale LCM pastors. It’s not all that far from Sibanga but the roads are atrocious, even by Kenyan standards, and it was recommended that we make this a morning visit in order to avoid being stranded there by the afternoon rains. The road to George’s home was so bad that we stopped the car to help a poor little “punda” (donkey) who had gotten his cart stuck in a large mud hole! We had a wonderful time sharing with George and his wife Jessica and of course, couldn’t be allowed to leave until we had shared a meal with them! Little did I realize during the ride back to Sibanga that someone had put a life chicken (cucu) in the back of our car! The car had so many rattles and shakes that if that poor little chicken HAD been squawking, no one would have been able to hear it! Flat tire number 1 occurred right at the end of the lane leading to Zippy’s shamba (farm) so we walked to the house and waited for our driver to fix the tire and pick us up for the second leg of our trip.

On to Moisbridge where we met with Timothy and Faith Nyongesa who have planted a new LCM church in this largely Muslim town. The church seems to be doing well although the family, like many in Kenya, is struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis. After a sharing a meal with the Nyongesa’s, Dawn left to meet two new friends; someone she met on the internet through World Gospel Mission. It was good to exchange cultural observations and to learn more about each others ministries. Returning home, we came through Kitale instead of going straight to Sibanga because one of Dawn’s new friends lived there and we offered him a ride. Not far outside of Moisbridge was where flat tire number 2 occurred. Imagine our surprise when the drive pulled out the “spare” which seemed to be showing almost as much belt as rubber and was sporting a bulge on the side about the size of a golf ball! We were convinced an angel was holding up that side of the car all the way back to Sibanga!

Thursday, Oct 21st, 2010

We got ourselves to Kitale and waited at the Iroko restaurant for Pastor Isaac to meet us. It was during this wait that we received a call from our friend Leonard telling us that he had an uncle and a friend who also wanted to know our Jesus and asked if we could meet with them on Sunday after church. Seeing no need for them to wait until Sunday to meet our Jesus, we encouraged them to visit us at Zippy’s shamba (farm) this evening. What a great way to start our day!

Once we joined up with Pastor Isaac, we were taken to the Bishop Bireech Bible College in Kitale where we blessed Steven (the director) with the gifts given by Ekklesians to assist their library. He was visibly moved by the generosity of people he has never met. After taking chai (tea) in Steven’s office we toured the partially constructed women’s dorm. It seems there are many women who wish to receive training at the Bireech College but the school is wisely only building as they can afford rather than going into debt. Unfortunately, they ran out of funds before the metal roof could be attached and the rainy season has been so severe that there is now the possibility of erosion of the brick and mortar. We stood inside the shell of a building and prayed for God’s blessing not only to complete the dormitory but to fill it with women who would impact their communities for the Kingdom of God.

Next stop, the Tumaini Orphanage (Children of Hope) to deliver clothing generously donated through Ekklesia. A beautiful work is being done here but in two visits we have only seen the system in place to help the children. The children have been attending school in town (their schooling is not received at the orphanage). We need to plan a visit some other time for a Saturday so we can see all their beautiful faces and bring them encouragement from the United States.

Bishop John Musilla of the Kakamega congregation of LCM learned that we would not be making a trip to visit his churches this time so he made the three hour trip to Kitale to share lunch with us. We invited Pastor John Nabruk to join us and had a great time talking about the work the Bishop and his people are doing with the orphans from the tribal warfare of a couple of years ago.

Score one for the enemy when Leonard showed up at the shamba (farm) drunk. We knew alcohol was his battle in becoming a believer in the first place but had been in prayer that he would be able to overcome it. His friends drink and Kenyans are very social people so in order for Leonard to socialize, he thinks he can spend time with his old friends and just not drink . . . or not drink as much. Which didn’t work out well for anyone tonight since his friends were calling us on the phone and sounding drunk while Leonard was standing right before us trying to conceal his condition. We talked for awhile and then sent him on his way; no point trying to talk rationally to an irrational man. We would speak with him again when he was sober.

Showers of Blessings...Weds, Oct 20, 2010

We are feeling pretty comfortable in Kenya these days! While Ellen met with the cyber cafe consultant, I walked the town of Kitale running errands. It's still a little confusing figuring out which way to look before crossing the streets, since they drive on the "other" side of the road here, but it is coming slowly. Another thing that is coming slowly is our Swahili! We have started making a list of common words and are trying to work them into conversations whenever we can. The Kenyans usually laugh when we do it, but we are told they do this because they appreciate us trying to learn their language.

Please pray that our Swahili will improve so we can break through communication barriers.

Lunch was taken at Pastor Gikonyo's (Issac's) home. We enjoyed their company, some very good stew and pleasant conversation. Before we left, Pastor Issac was presented with a laptop computer, which was donated to him by a member of Ekklesia. He had asked us to pray with him about whether he might be able to purchase a used one. When this laptop was donated, we decided to surprise him with it (he didn't know anything about it until we arrived!). He was very blessed (Bariki Sana!)! The Gikonyo's daughter, Louise, attends boarding school so we stopped to visit with her on our way back into town. Mom, of course, had brought a "care package" for her little girl and plenty of pictures were taken.

Please pray for Issac and Grace, who are trying to figure out a way to increase their savings so their children can stay in good schools.

Later in the afternoon, Ellen and I met up with a young man who came to know Jesus during our last visit. Leonard was working in the Daniel shop (kinyozi) as a barber when we met him and shared about the Lord. Today, Leonard is working as a teacher in a town near Sibanga and says he has only missed attending worship on one Sunday. Leonard was accompanied by his younger sister, Doreen, who was smiling from ear-to-ear. It seems she was so distraught by Leonard's former life that she didn't like to be around him, due to drinking, so she would not travel anywhere with him. Today, when Leonard told Doreen he was coming to Kitale to meet the American friends who led him to the Lord, she said she wanted to come with him to meet us. She told us she has received her brother back and she thanked us for our part in that gift. Doreen is a Christian but said she did not have her own Bible, so we gave her a copy we had brought.

Please pray for Leonard that he will remain strong in his faith and that he will influence his unsaved friends to make the same, life-changing decision that he has. Also, pray for Doreen who says she is a Christian, but sometimes feels like she may be backsliding.

Tonight was a very special night back at the farm (shamba), as our chef, Joseph, had managed to get fish (in a land-locked country) for our dinner. This was by our request and it took Joseph three days to find someone who knew where fresh fish could be found! After dinner, we retired to our house and sat in front of a blazing fireplace to enjoy the quiet of the Kenyan night.

Continuing Ed...Tuesday, Oct 19th, 2010

Today's first opportunity came when Pastor Issac of the AIC church in Sibanga arrived to pick us up and take us to a prayer meeting where other AIC church department leaders gather every Tuesday morning. We saw familiar faces, like Filda, the secretary, Peter, the groundskeeper and Pastor Titus, who helped orchestrate the August women's conference (which was very well attended). Eli was a new face to the group, and reported that he was attending in place of Eliud, the man who was in a car accident just prior to our visit in May. Pastor Issac tells us that Eliud's doctor says his leg is healing but he should still not be putting much weight on it.

Please continue to pray for Eliud's complete recovery so that he can return to his position as director of the orphanage in Kitale.

After prayer time, Pastor Issac, brought us back to Sibanga where we shared a feast of cucu (chicken) and chipati (similar to flour tortillas) with our friends, Timothy and Rose Mahindu. Also sharing the meal with us was Paul, Rose's brother, who finished his high school training in 2007 and is now praying for the opportunity to attend a Bible college...ANY Bible college in Kenya! Please remember to pray about this for Paul. This lunch was an opportunity for Ellen to continue her Business 101 course with Timothy, but now with Rose present as well, in order to benefit her own shop in the marketplace.

Ellen remained with the Mahindus to teach while I left in oder to meet with Pastor Titus, who had given an invitation to speak to some high school students where he is the chaplain. Exams for the 12th graders will be held Thursday and Friday and there have been some student uprisings, so this was an opportunity to invite calm into their lives. Titus arrived on his boda boda (motorcycle) and away we went, stopping first at the Elmas Academy where I had the opportuntity to meet Gerald and Mary, Titus' children who are in the primary grades.

Then, onto the Kimoson High School to speak to students and teachers. First, we met with the eight teachers who were on campus, giving each of them their own copy of the Bible. After all, how can you guide young people without a guide of your own? Each teacher expressed appreciation for the gift and said it would be very useful in helping their students. Next, we moved to the dining hall where over 100 students were gathered to receive encouragement from this visitor. I told them how fortunate they are to be able to talk about God in their schoolds because it is something we are forbidden to do in America. I told them the problems they face in school are no different than the problems American youth face: drugs, alcohol, peer pressure. And I encouraged them to do well in school, but most of all, I encouraged them in the importance of spiritual growth, which requires them to spend time reading the Bible, praying and being in the company of other believers. We closed with a time of questions and answers, which was very challenging. Here are just a few of them....

• Do American schools use paddling as a form of discipline?



• Why do Kenyans leave to go to school in America and then not return home?



• Why do Europeans come to Kenya?



• What is the difference between the Kenyan school system and the American one?

Rock the House!....Sunday, Oct 17th, 2010

The AIC Imani Sirwa church of Sibanga was surprised to see us today because Pastor Issac did not tell them we would be visiting! What a great time of praise and worship we had with them! We even did a fairly good job of faking Swahili as we read from their songbook. We were able to persuade Pastor Issac to allow us to just bring greetings from America so that we could hear him preach and he gave a great message based on Psalm 100 about walking, standing and sitting in the company of sin. Powerful!!!

Please pray for this church that God will use them to reach their community!

In the afternoon, we attended a prayer fellowship in the home of Kipsombo, who is a member of Pastor Issac's church and also a worker on Zippy's farm. Kipsombo shared the plight of some of his neighbors and then we prayed for them.

Please join us in praying for...

* a neighbor who had two cows die in one day

* a neighbor whose child recently died and they are struggling with the loss

* Kipsombo's son, Kibet, who has been ill. The doctor has not been able to completely treat the symptoms.

When we returned from the prayer fellowship, we decided to take the opportunity to mingle in the Sibanga marketplace. What a fiasco this turned out to be! When two white people wander into a sea of black people, it is hard for those two white people to go unnoticed! On the way to the market we met Kayfa, who asked us for some shillings so he could buy food. We promised him that if he would walk to the market with us, we could buy him some food. After feeding Kayfa, we were followed by two drunks who made it difficult to carry on a conversation with our new-found friend. Eventually, we made our way to the LCM Sibanga church were Pastor John was just concluding an evening leadership training. We introduced him to Kayfa, and John invited our friend to receive Jesus, which he did!

Please pray that Kayfa's decision will be firm and that he won't be discouraged by the enemy to return to his old way of life.

As we walked the road back to Zippy's farm, it was hard to imagine a more perfect day than today...but there would be plenty to follow.

Convos in the Market

We have been in Kitale, Kenya for two days now. This trip is seeming very different from other ones in a very good way. We have been moving easily between our AIC and LCM friends. We were at the African Inland Church yesterday and we just finished a very productive time with Pastor John and Jane. I am optimistic that all the misunderstandings of previous trips have begun to help Pastor John to grow.

Pastor Titus visited us at the farm this morning. He very much wanted to show Dawn his motor bike. He asked us to pray with him the last trip that some how he could come by a motor bike to help with transport. Dawn prayed with him while at a funeral. Not long after a guy who isn't a believer came to Titus saying 'I want to sell you my motor bike'. Titus said "wow but I can't pay for it." The guy said "you pay me each month". Titus has only 8000 ksh left to go. We now how pictures of the bike that prayer brought!

Please join Pastor Titus in believing God to provide the balance to pay off his motorcycle, and also that God will continue giving him opportunities to use it to bless others as well as his own ministry.

We spent some time in the Sibanga market yesterday. We didn't really plan that but we had some down time and Dawn baited me with going to get a Coke. I really enjoy my daily Kenya Coca cola. So on the lane from Zippy's house we met Keffa. It was obvious that Keffa had been drinking most of the day. He asked for 20 kshs. From what we have learned through our church in the Short North we knew we could not make it that easy on Keffa. We invited Keffa to go to the market with us. We spent some time talking with Keffa getting to know him. We fed him and had him join us for a soda. Meanwhile we attracted quite a crew of other drunks. Dawn is so good at just diving in and challenging them. Some of the conversations we look forward to continuing when these guys are in a better position to understand. For Keffa, he seemed to appreciate that we took an interest in him. Pastor John had a conversation with him. We will be praying for Keffa to make some permanent changes.

So we are well and appreciating our time. No agenda!! Rolling where ever God sends us. And getting rest. I got a good 8 hours last night - haven't done that in some time.

Dawn is wandering so I will close. talk soon. ec

Landed and Laid Back

Hey eveyone! We made it into town to use the internet but I haven't felt the creative juices kick in to send updates for our blog so this is my first report.

This has been such an unusual trip because it has been very low-key. With no agenda, there has been no sense of urgency to rush from place to place so it has been pleasantly relaxing, despite the long flight. We made our Amsterdam connection this time so we did have opportunity to rest overnight in Nairobi before continuing on to Kitale. Saturday's arrival included a brief fanfare at the air strip and then we went to Zippy's farm to relax the rest of the evening. Sunday was spent worshipping God with Pastor Isaac and his congregation followed by a prayer gathering at the home of one of his members.

We finished up about the time I would be taking my ritual Sunday afternoon nap so I was faced with a challenge: take my nap or take a walk down to the Sibanga market and see if I would strike up some conversations. Two very pale people in a crowd of Africans has a way of drawing a lot of attention so it was sometimes difficult to talk, especially when a couple of people following us had had a little too much communal wine, if you know what I mean! Pastor Isaac happened to also be at the market and sent his young son Emmanuel to rescue us and take us to the newly relocated Daniel kinyozi barber shop. From there we walked over to LCM where a leader training had just finished up. We spent time with several of our friends and then they walked us back to the farm.

Today we spent over an hour visiting Timothy Mahindu at his car parts shop and Ellen, by way of a translator, gave Timothy a Business101 course! We met John and Jane Nabruk at the market and then drove into Kitale to share a lunch and talk about the blessings and challenges they have experienced since our last visit. Jane is also helping us learn some common Swahili words. Now we are just running errands in town, trying to get the feel for doing for ourselves instead of relying so heavily on our hosts.

God has given some very exciting experiences already but I want to put some thought into writing them and then getting them on our blog. Hopefully I'll get those to Joanna tomorrow and she'll have them on our blog soon. Until then, please continue to pray for us that we will recognize the opportunities God is opening up for us and make much of Him in every conversation.
In His Steps,

Dawn

First a friend; then a brother!

Our first day spent with Pastor Isaac began with a pleasant surprise. He took us to a barber shop in the Sibanga marketplace and introduced us to Leonard. Then he told us this young man's story. You see, Leonard has a tendency to hang around young men who influence him in negative ways. They keep him out late, he smokes with them, and they persuade him not to attend church. Pastor Isaac pays the rent for the shop in which Leonard works every day cutting hair. That generous gesture gives him less time to "hang around" and enables him to earn some income to support himself. To that end, Ellen took a seat in the barber chair and Leonard gave her a first-class trim! When we left that day, we had made a new friend in Leonard. We assured Leonard that before we left Kenya we would look forward to a conversation with him about his relationship with God. Our last day in Kenya, Pastor Isaac arranged for the four of us to meet in a cafe near the barber shop and we began a conversation which resulted in Leonard telling us he felt it was time for him to commit his life to Christ. He assured us he was making this commitment because he knew it was the right thing to do; not because he wanted to please us. After we prayed with him, Ellen gave Leonard a Bible and Pastor Isaac encouraged him to begin reading the book of John. Leonard promised us he would be in church with Pastor Isaac the following Sunday. Now he is our brother. Praise the Lord!

The barber shop has been Pastor Isaac's vision since we visited Kenya last October. He saw it as a vehicle to enable young people to earn some income and at the same time witness to their customers about the transforming power of Christ in their lives. God has taken that vision to a level Pastor Issac never imagined by using employment at the barber shop to impact the workers as well as the customers.

May 13, 2010

Entry Thursday May 13th, 2010
From Sibanga, Kenya
I am writing tonight in place of Dawn who is very tired. I have just erased many paragraphs about all the things we did yesterday. Once again I tend to get focused on what I can “do”. What I think I am learning is that there is a fine line between being a part of what God is doing and how He would have me participate. Getting into God’s flow is a little bit like driving into a roundabout. You have to get into the flow of the traffic or you will just sit idle and not go anywhere. We need to be connected to what God is doing or it is just idle effort.

Today as we tried to ease into that flow, we have visited two schools where New Life Hilliard and Ekklesia sponsor five children. I got to encourage all the children. While I was going to the schools Dawn was attending a funeral of a church member. The funeral was ‘cut short’ after 4 hours. Dawn was able to speak to the 500+ attendees and encourage them. Meanwhile I was praying with a retired Christian police officer who was ill, then spending time with a pastor and his wife listening to them talk about their lives and ministry. In the afternoon I met with the leaders of the Kipsonga Bead Ladies who live in the slum. I was listening to their situation and working through how the bead sales might help them. Dawn went on to attend the weekly fellowship with the ladies living in the slums. I went on to discuss with Justus how to effectively move the Watergate Cyber Café to Kitale so the revenues will improve. At that point we located a taxi and piled six of us in for the ride back to Sibanga. We bumped along while we tried to get our 2 year old friend Valentine to “kuja” come to us. We parted company with the pastor’s family to have a brief time to regroup before joining our hostess and sharing our days. We had tea, prayer time and eventually to bed.

This trip I have had a question constantly coming to my mind – “What is the church?” I hope we were the church today as we traveled in this place. I am seeing that the church is not a building, not an institution, not a program, and maybe not even a group. I am the root of the church. We are the root of the church. We need to be the walking, breathing church of God whether we walk the soil of Kenya or we are taking dinner at Chipotle. Kenya is a wonderful training ground to have God show me His church. ec

ARRIVING IN AMERICA

After logging more hours of flight time than I care to count and after a record-setting short time of getting through Detroit Customs, I (Dawn) arrived home to Columbus, Ohio at about 1:15PM on Wednesday. Exhausted but craving Chipotle, I made one quick stop to grab lunch before heading home to Riley and all the familiar things I left behind for two weeks. Upon arriving in Amsterdam, Ellen and I had prayer together and went in different directions. She traveled on to Sweden to meet with a new client of Daniel Logistics while I began to catch up on sleep and readjust to the fast-paced American lifestyle. The next few weeks will probably be the most difficult of our trip as we continue seeking spiritual wisdom to understand all we have experienced as well as where we are to go from here. For those of you who have never experienced the blessing of being part of a mission trip, the easiest part is moving through the events experienced each day. The hard part begins as you slow down and have time to actually reflect on what happened and what God is teaching you about yourself as well as what He is teaching you about Himself. Please do not stop praying for us and for Kenya just because we have returned to America. Here are a few things to add to your list:

• Pastor Isaac Gikonyo will be visiting American this June. Pray that God will provide the financial assistance he needs and fill his days with opportunities to minister to the Body of Christ here in the USA.
• Pastor John Nabruk is in need of spiritual wisdom as he continues to shepherd the leaders and church members of Liberty Christian Ministries.
• The Bishop Bireach Bible College is in need of current text books and reference books for its library.
• The Mois Bridge church plant pastored by Timothy Nyongesa is located in a largely Muslim community and has even been identified by Kenyan government officials as a high-crime area. It will take great spiritual strength for all the members of Liberty Healing Center to be a light in this community.
• What does the future hold for ministry partnership in Kenya? Each time Ellen and Dawn go to Kenya, members of New Life Hilliard, Ekklesia and Redeemed Community are involved in Kingdom building. Where do we go from here?

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

I am writing tonight in place of Dawn who is very tired. I have just erased many paragraphs about all the things we did yesterday. Once again I tend to get focused on what I can “do”. What I think I am learning is that there is a fine line between being a part of what God is doing and how He would have me participate. Getting into God’s flow is a little bit like driving into a roundabout. You have to get into the flow of the traffic or you will just sit idle and not go anywhere. We need to be connected to what God is doing or it is just idle effort.

Today as we tried to easy into that flow we have visited two schools where New Life Hilliard and Ekklesia sponsor five children. I got to encourage all the children. While I was going to the schools Dawn was attending a funeral of a church member. The funeral was ‘cut short’ after 4 hours. Dawn was able to speak to the 500+ attendees and encourage them. Meanwhile I was praying with a retired Christian police officer who was ill then spending time with a pastor and his wife listening to them about their lives and ministry. In the afternoon I met with the leaders of the Kipsonga Bead Ladies who live in the slum. I was listening to their situation and working through how the bead sales might help them. Dawn went on to attend the weekly fellowship with the ladies living in the slums. I went on to discuss with Justus how to effectively move the Watergate Cyber Café to Kitale so the revenues will improve. At that point we located a taxi and piled six of us into for the ride back to Sibanga. We bumped along while we tried to get our 2 year old friend Valentine to “kuja” come to us. We parted company with the pastor’s family to have a brief time to regroup before joining our hostess and sharing our days. We had tea, prayer time and eventually to bed.

This trip I have had a question constantly coming to my mind – “What is the church?” I hope we were the church today as we traveled in this place. I am seeing that the church is not a building, not an institution, not a program, and maybe not even a group. I am the root of the church. We are the root of the church. We need to be the walking, breathing church of God whether we walk the soil of Kenya or we are taking dinner at Chipotle. Kenya is a wonderful training ground to have God show me His church. ec

KOMING TO KAKAMEGA (Give me a break! These titles are getting tougher and tougher to come up with!)

Today’s mission was truly a divine appointment about six months in the making! When the team came to Kenya last October we traveled to Kakamega and visited several churches being shepherded by Bishop John Musilla.

The roads between Sibanga and Kakamega are very rough and it is dangerous to drive on them at night. Even many Kenyans try to avoid it. So we felt an urgency to leave without visiting one last church which had been added to our schedule as a late addition. Our trip today was dedicated solely to the members of Pastor Patrick’s church. We brought them greetings from the church in the USA and brought a message about “the fullness of time” based on Galatians 4. Afterwards Ellen and Dawn were AGAIN decked out in traditional Kenyan women’s wear (Seriously? Does the word “tomboy” translate in Kiswahili?!) We blessed the church with some food items for their primary school and they blessed us with fresh eggs, fruit and SUGAR CANE! Side Note: We were gifted with sugar cane during our last trip but gifted it to the children of the LCM pastors without saving any for ourselves.

As I sit typing this blog in the back seat of the car during the return trip to Sibanga, I’m considering if I can consume an entire stalk in the two and one-half days we have left in Kenya! (A stalk is taller than me!) Ellen and I will spend tonight recalling the events of the past two days and discussing all we heard in our conversations with our friends. Joseph will welcome us at the gate to Zippy’s farm and let us into the house. We’ll sit in front of a blazing fire in the fireplace and sip Kenyan tea while we wait for dinner to be served. We never know what we’re going to have but always know it is going to be good! Last trip Ellen and I both tried to sit as far away from Zippy as possible because she has a habit of putting extra helpings on your plate. This time, with just the three of us, we are taking our turns getting seconds . . . and thirds!

ENJOYING THE EXODUS

After enjoying a brunch with Zippy and Pastor Isaac, we learned that our plane due to depart Kitale at 12:30 was delayed and hadn't even left Nairobi yet. So we spent some time tagging along with Zippy while she ran errands and then made our way to the local airport to catch our 2:00PM flight out. Now we're sitting at the airport in Nairobi starting to unwind and process all that happened during this trip. Please be in prayer for us as we board our return flights. Making connections would be nice since we're tired! We're scheduled to split up in Amsterdam where Ellen heads to Sweden to meet with a new client of Daniel Logistics while Dawn touches down in Columbus and heads for the nearest Chipotle restaurant!

We're tired, but we have seen God at work and are grateful that He would allow us to witness His hand in Kenya.

BUTTONING DOWN BUSINESS

Monday was a day of conducting business. There has been much work involved in moving the cyber cafe from Sibanga to Kitale. No one could have foreseen the problem of a lack of internet signal coupled with the lack of consistent electricity in Sibanga. After prayerful consideration it was determined that the Water Gate House Cyber Cafe would better fulfill it's purpose (to be a vehicle for the Gospel and to provide a stipend income for pastors so they can focus less on financial needs and more on ministry) so a shop was rented and all the equipment and furniture was moved. While in town, Dawn decided it was time to apply for the equivalent of a "Kroger Card" and started the paperwork to make it happen. This way, we'll get points which can be cashed in for shillings on groceries during future trips.

There was also opportunity to meet with the bead ladies and purchase some more of their work to bring back to the U.S. for resale to help generate income for this group of women who live in the Kitale slum. All in all a productive day by Kenyan standards. We have come to expect to only get one thing done each day . . . anything else is icing on th cake because of all the speed bumps we hit along the way!

MERRY IN MOIS BRIDGE

On Sunday we visited Pastor Timothy Nyongesa who is beginning a new LCM church plant in Mois Bridge. This day was the launch of the new church although he has already established a "lunch hour fellowship". Ellen always describes by saying it's an oxymoron because lunch is not served and never lasts for just one hour!

After the worship service we stayed for a meal of beans and rice and also shared peanut butter sandwiches with all the children. It was a BIG HIT!

The highlight of our day was getting to sit down with the children of the four main LCM pastors and video tape them telling us what it means for them to be able to attend school. You may or may not know that New Life Hilliard and Ekklesia have partnered to provide tuition for several PKs so they can attend private school and receive a top notch education as well as some nutritional lunches. We'll enjoy sharing the videos with you when we return.

Fellowshipping with Friends

Today we began by visiting with Pastor John and his wife Jane in their home. John recounted the history of his conversion all the way through his meeting with Jamal Jivanjee in 2007 and then talked of how he envisions his relationship with us continuing into the future. Then Jane shared with us and we shared COFFEE! Isn’t this Kenya, the tea capitol of the world?!?!? We kept asking the Nabruks' youngest daughter, Valentine, to "kuja" (Swahili for "come") but she is still fearful of our pale complexions so she opted to stay near her parents.

We began to walk to Pastor Timothy and Rose Mahindu’s home but it started to rain so Pastor Timothy sent two boda-bodas (motorcycles) to pick us up! We shared a lunch of kuku (chicken), chipote (pronounced chi-pot-a, it is a thicker version of the flour tortilla) and Coke with them before walking into the market place to visit their new car parts shops and then go on to the fellowship which had gathered at the Sibanga church for prayer. After sharing some words of encouragement with them from Colossians 1, we walked the beautiful and serene road back to Zippy’s farm.

Another day for the history books, and one which we were humbled to hand back to Abba with praise for what He did through us.

Learning from the Leadership

This morning Pastor Isaac took us to meet with some of the AIC (Africa Inland Church) leadership for this region. We met with Pastor Titus and Rebecca who are working closely with Joyce Strong to prepare for the women’s conference she is leading in August. We also met McCray, who is over the schools, and Filda, who is the office worker. After singing some praise and worship songs we prayed with them about their work as well as specific individual needs.

From here Pastor Isaac took us to the home of Eliud, the director of the Tumaini (two-my-een-e) Orphanage, which we visited on Monday. Eliud was in a terrible head-on accident in which the driver of another car crossed over to Eliud’s side of the road and caused a head-on collision in which he and his passenger were killed. Only Eliud survived but he had a severely broken leg, which required metal plates to repair. Although he is home, his recovery is slow and he receives no income while he is away from his work at the orphanage. Eliud’s son and daughter are helping take care of their father, so a meal was prepared for us and then we prayed for Eliud’s healing.

--Dawn

Spiritual in Sibanga

Today was an awesome day of worshipping Abba with the members of the Imani Sirwo AIC church. The church building has progressed very nicely since the team was here in October. Where all they had was supporting pillars and the metal roof, today they have windows and brick walls. The building project will end with a “harambee” (pronounced ha-rom-bay) to raise money for seating.

We enjoyed worshipping with the children as they sang and danced to the Lord. One little fellow, around 3 or 4 years old, was trying to keep up with the big kids and it was beautiful to watch them patiently work around him instead of sending him back into the congregation.

Ellen did an awesome job of presenting Acts 1 & 2 and then challenging the body of believers to think about what the Church really is about. You can’t improve on perfection so I wrapped up the morning service with a blessing to the congregation. Once again we were presented with the traditional women’s dresses . . . wouldn’t you think by now these guys would have figured out that we just “don’t do dresses”?!

We visited the shops of a couple of church members on our way through the market and then went to the home of Caroline and Joseph for lunch and fellowship. Afterwards we had a time of prayer for specific individual needs as well as for the congregation as a whole. Afterwards we fellowshipped some more over tea. It was humorous because the conversation was slow at first; we were waiting for them to talk to us so we could just listen while they were waiting for us to do the same thing!

After this, Pastor Isaac took us to a nearby family’s home where a woman of just 40 years had passed away unexpectedly the day before. Ellen described it best as a “condolence service” where many members of the community came to publicly offer their sympathy to the widower. Zippy finally arrived home after a grueling weekend of playing 72 rounds of golf at a women’s outing. She’s already talking about playing more golf later this week!

It’s an early night as Ellen and I wind down. We’ve written in our journals, debriefed and are now sitting in front of a blazing fire in the fireplace of the parlor room reflecting on the days events. Tomorrow is another opportunity to listen and learn.

Prayer requests:
• Pray for the cyber café that was set up last trip. There have been electrical and signal difficulties that have not yet been overcome and need to be resolved in order for it to become a vehicle for the Gospel and a source of support for pastors
• Pray against strongholds of any kind; Dawn had a disturbing dream the first night here and wants to remain alert for disguised attacks from the enemy
• Ask God to keep us safe as we travel, whether by foot, by car or by boda boda (motorcycle). With all the rains Kenya has been having, it has been good for the maize crops but bad for the roads.

--Dawn

Aimless in Amsterdam

You remember the blockbuster movie, “Sleepless in Seattle”? Well, if we were filming a movie today I would call it “Aimless in Amsterdam”!

Our Delta connection from Detroit only gave us one hour to transfer once we arrived in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, our Delta connection was one hour late getting out of Detroit and the next flight we could catch from Amsterdam to Nairobi was at 8:25PM. So instead of getting to Nairobi in time to spend a restful evening in a quaint little bed and breakfast, we had ten hours in Amsterdam which we hadn’t planned on!

Since Ellen had been here once before, she thought I would enjoy getting out to see the city so we booked passage on a one-hour canal cruise. It was a classic case of the blind leading the blind when she turned it over to me to get us to the train station! I not only managed to get us on the metro instead of the train, but I also got us 1st class accommodations instead of the assigned 2nd class seating! It cracks me ups every time I think of the conductor looking at me and asking, “Foreigners”? Suffice it to say by the time we got back to the airport we had seen quite a bit more of Amsterdam than either of us planned on and parts of it resembled the Columbus Full Monty!

-Dawn-

KENYA WITHOUT AN AGENDA
Our past visits have always included a "major production" such as a crusade or a leadership conference. As a result we have not always focused on the more important aspect of building individual relationships in Kenya. To that end, this trip has no agenda and no event. Our schedule has been placed in the hands of Pastor Isaac Gikonyo of the Africa Inland Church (AIC) and Pastor John Nabruk of Liberty Christian Ministries (LCM).



Once we land in Kitale on Saturday we will join them for tea at our old "haunt", the Iroko Restaurant, and learn their plans for helping us develop the deep personal relationships we believe God desires for us to experience in community whether that is in Ohio or half way around the world in Kenya. Please check back daily for updates to this blog site!

In the meantime, please pray for us in the following areas:

• find the answer to the quesiton, "Why Kenya?" (why we are drawn back time and again)
• to see the hearts of the people with whom we interact (discerning attempts to distract us)
• to do LOTS more listening than talking
• for every speaking opportunity to be 100% God and 0% us

Practice posting...bear with me!

The road to Sibanga is really the lane to Mama Zippy's farm! It's a peaceful walk before we get to the hustle and bustle of the marketplace.

Ellen works hard on our Kenya trips!

Dinnertime in 2009

Dinnertime at Mama Zippy's home is an olympic event. Those who sit closest to her must be quick or they will find extra helpings of food on their plates!