Kenya - July 2015

Donald and I were blessed with the opportunity to travel to Kenya with a team from our church in July of this year. This trip wouldn't have been possible without a huge team of financial supporters, prayer warriors and kid wranglers. Thanks to all of you for the gracious sacrifice of your time and resources! Check out below for a snapshot of what our week looked like, a few of our favorite pictures, and a link to a blog post I wrote about our trip. Donald will be returning to Kenya in a couple of weeks. Please be praying for him and the medical team he is traveling with! Thank you!

Day 1 - Travel (Greenville to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi)
Day 2 - More travel (Arrived at 8:30pm Kenya time after 25 hours of travel)
Day 3 - Worship at Koinonia Baptist Church, Lunch with Bernard and family friends
Day 4 - Happy Day Academy
Day 5 - Happy Day Academy; travel to Karatina
Day 6 - Visit OVC families; lunch and afternoon with Bernard's mother and family
Day 7 - Aberdare Baptist Convention's Children and Student Ministry Conference
Day 8 - Happy Day (morning); Returned to Conference (afternoon)
Day 9- Travel to Sweetwaters (visited an OVC child on way)
Day 10- Safari; Travel back to Nairobi; Board flight for home
Day 11- More travel. Arrived to Greenville around 4pm

Now that I've thrown a bunch of names out there...

Bernard is a Kenyan pastor who we are partnered with. Koinonia Baptist is a church he founded, which is now led by a team of pastors. Happy Day Academy is a K3-8th grade private school that Bernard's wife, Mary, started in her home with seven children. It now has a campus with over 200 students. OVC stands for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (read more below or an awesome explanation here). Aberdare Baptist Convention is a group of pastors from all over Central Kenya that is led by Bernard. They organize and host the conferences and medical camps that our church is blessed to be a part of. 

Lots of things are going on in Kenya -- As our team leader told us, we were not packing God up in a box and taking Him with us!! As you can see, God is there and working in big ways through His people!

I had the privilege of being with this class for 2.5 days. Teacher Serah and her 30 first grade students were extremely welcoming. It was hard to say goodbye. You may have noticed their jackets and hats... It was upper 60's/lower 70's, but that is cold to them!

This is a container structure that the men on our team painted at Happy Day. It will be used as a cafeteria for the students who, prior to this, have always eaten outside.

We visited several people who were beneficiaries of the OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) Chicken and Goat ministry.  This program provides a goat and/or chickens to widows, widowers and children in need.

This is Manasseh. He is the OVC child that we were paired with around two years ago. Manasseh was born with spina bifida, and spends most of his time on this couch or in a wheel chair, yet his joyful laugh is contagious.  I was thrilled to get the chance to meet him (Donald has been able to visit him on previous trips).

Bernard and his mother. She is in her 80's and graciously cooked a huge meal for us (the life expectancy in Kenya is 61).

These are some of the women who attended the Children and Student Ministry Conference. During tea breaks and lunch, our team was able to get to know the men and women, which I absolutely loved. They had lots of questions regarding different ministries within our church and American culture in general.

Stanley was a little boy who attended the conference with his mother. Our team helped take care of the children so their mothers could listen to the speakers without distraction. Stanley's favorite thing to do was roll duct tape down the hill and then go get it with Donald.

This dear family served us lunch on Saturday. Two of the children are actually nieces, but they were adopted into the family after becoming orphans many years ago. Both this family and Bernard's mother killed a chicken to feed our team. Chickens are normally only used for eggs and are rarely used for their meat (maybe once a year for Christmas). Both families sacrificed tremendously by serving us chicken along with bountiful side dishes and tea.

This is James... a six-year-old boy who stole my heart and was the inspiration for my blog post.

This is Joseph, a widower who received this goat through the OVC Chicken and Goat Project. The goat will provide milk for Joseph as well as manure for his garden. 

Bernard and I on the safari. An elephant got on the road in front of us, and it looks like Bernard is pointing at him, but he was actually pointing to a giraffe to my left. It was such a gift to see God's creation in ways I have never seen before.

Home!! Reunited with the kids at the airport. xoxo

Our trip to Kenya was under the umbrella of Grace Church's Culturally Engaged ministry whose mission is "Growing the local church, here and around the world, by proclaiming the Gospel, investing in strategic relationships, and equipping people for a life of service that glorifies God." Please click here to read a post about how this mission has changed my personal thinking, and visit the Culturally Engaged web site for other related posts and helpful links aimed at equipping us to live on mission both locally and abroad.