Makueni

Hello to everyone! Sorry this is the first blog in a while, but we were out in the bush with no internet for a few days this week…

Anyway, we (Both us and the vision team) left Monday for Makueni. After about a three hour drive with a lunch stop, we arrived at our destination. The Vision team stayed in one place (called Lau Lodgings) and we stayed in a place called Lodgings. This place was unlike anything we had seen before! There were squatty potties and buckets for us to use when bathing… We had mosquito netting and bottled water to use when washing our faces and brushing our teeth. After dinner at the LIA office in Makueni we headed for bed.

The next morning came early as Sleeping in new surroundings can be difficult. We had a yummy breakfast and then headed out to our first village. We arrived at the church after driving on some interesting dirt roads for about half an hour. We were greeted by the Pastor and other members of the church who then led us in a time of prayer and then introduced us to the work that they are doing in the community. We were treated to some Kenyan tea, which is a milky sweet hot tea like drink. Zach went to help with the construction on the church while the rest of us were split into two teams and taken on house visits. After the house visits, we had a very late lunch and a few minutes of rest before the evening activities commenced. That evening we were able to participate in a showing of the Jesus Film in an area where it had never been shown before. It was amazing to say the least – 40 to 50 people accepted Christ that night! After a time of worship, we headed back to the lodgings and crashed for the night.

The next morning was somewhat similar, except we went to a very different village down another long dirt road. When we arrived, the combined congregations of many churches were singing praise songs and we were privileged to be a part of that. After introductions to the many pastors that had come, we were able to hear the testimonies of some of the pastors and hear how God has been working in their lives. We had another late lunch with the pastors and were able to ask them questions and vice versa. We were split into four teams (three people each) for the house visits this time, and each team only visited one house. Once all the teams had arrived back at the church we went back to the LIA office where we had dinner and were able to debrief with the leader of the Vision Team, JJ.

After an interesting night of sleep, ask Bailey about that, we woke up the next morning ready to visit an AIDS support group meeting. We were able to meet with some people from the surrounding areas who have AIDS and had formed a community in which they provide encouragement spiritually, physically and emotionally. It was wonderful to be able to meet with these people and to mutually encourage one another. After that meeting ended we shared a meal with them and were presented with some gifts which included: maize, a basket, a melon, and a live duck (which is at Gus’ house right now…). We left for Nairobi late in the afternoon. Once we arrived in Nairobi we had pizza for dinner at a yummy place! After another time of debriefing with JJ, we showered (very thankful to have a shower) and went to bed.

The next day was declared a Rest Day for us (the Mi2 team) and we took that very seriously and did some sleeping in and lots of laundry. Jacob and Evie went to Nakumat (a Kenyan Wal-mart) with Gus for some groceries and experienced a Kenyan taxi, a mutatu. That evening we said goodbye to the Vision team over dinner. That was rather hard as we had truly become one team during the few days we were together. We have been greatly blessed by the Vision team and truly feel like their being here has made our transition into this internship much easier. Vision team – we miss you all already!

Evie’s thoughts on the week: Wow. Where to begin? I have been so humbled this week by what I have seen God do. It is truly amazing to me that God would allow me to join Him in His work… I think the most amazing thing for me was on the second day in Makueni. When we went to the church, I was expecting one congregation, maybe two. Not so. There were over eight congregations working together to meet the needs of the community physically so that their spiritual needs could also be met. These eight congregations were all different denominations getting along and working towards one goal… There was no I belong to this church or that church – it was the body of Christ in this village working together to spread the WORD of God. How amazing is that?! And yet that is how the body of Christ is to be all over the world. This week has not been the easiest of weeks for me. I missed home and almost everything I was used to was not there. But God was there. And I saw Him at work in the lives of people in Kenya. And it was incredible!

Zach’s thoughts on the week: Well where to start? This Last week was one that both stretched and taught us a great amount. God is so amazing in that He provided a team from CA to go with us and experience Makueni with us. On Tuesday our team did multiple house visits, but I volunteered to stay behind and help the workers finish work on the church that they were building. This was a really fun because I got help to put in two windows and three doors…while wearing my Koch Corp shirt (yes mom, I did get pictures). The day was really hot and really hard work but it was such a cool experience because it was work that was physically building the Church for Christ. That night we showed the Jesus Film to the people who lived around the church. It was amazing to see the response and attention to the story of which has been told to me so many times that I needed this to almost remind me that it truly is the greatest story ever told!

Wednesday held a lot of the same experiences but was at a different church. In the morning we got to meet the church fellowship with 40 members who showed up, we were able to meet a lot of the people and sit amongst the church members. This was one of my highlights of my week because after meeting several men in the church they tapped my shoulder and told me that since we are now family you need to have an African name. I was floored by this and was really excited so I asked him what my name was and James (that was his name) that they picked out “Mutiso” for me, I asked them what it meant and they told me it means “the light one” or “Lightning.” I suspect it might have something to do with my skin tone, but hey that’s just me.

Thursday was a really fun day too. We visited the HIV/AIDS support group that was in the area and they were so encouraging to hear and talk with! The group was named, “Lift me and I will stand” They were so strong in both their faith and their encouragement for each other. I talked with two ladies who wanted to have a picture with me and when they saw my sunglasses one grabbed them and hilarity ensued as they took pictures with both pairs of my sunglasses on! The rest of the time this week was filled with traveling back to Nairobi and spending some more time with the Vision team who had become family to us. They truly were a complete God send! We love you all and miss you guys already! Thank you all for your continued support and prayer during the week! :D

Bailey’s thoughts on the week: It is so hard to sum up my feelings in just a paragraph, but know that our team experienced God in amazing ways this week. We met some amazing people during home-visits, and the day with the AIDS group is one I will never forget. We arrived not knowing exactly what to say or to expect. Gus quickly made everyone feel at ease when he announced we had not come to stare, but to hear their stories, to learn from them, and to encourage them. After talking to so many joyful people, I think it was the Americans that were most encouraged. One of the group members brought three of her children, and they kept all of us laughing. I do not think I will ever forget their smiles, nor that of their mother. The duck they gifted us was a surprise, especially when it relieved itself on JJ’s shoe. Fortunately, the duck was a good traveler and rode back to Nairobi with us like a champ. His ultimate fate has yet to be determined.

While we all grew accustomed to our sleeping arrangements, Evie and I had an interesting experience Wednesday night. Despite having a full-coverage mosquito net, I was awakened around 12:30 when a creature crawled its way across my face. I gasped, Evie screamed, she jumped out of bed quicker than I have ever seen her move, the lights came on, and we successfully woke up most of the compound. James (a pastor working with LIA and staying in the room next door) found our fear of creatures rather amusing, but humored us anyway and kindly searched the room. He assured us, “It was nothing but a lizard.” Yeah- thanks James. Nothing but a lizard. No big deal.

Jacob’s thoughts on the week: Wow, it is hard to describe my experience in our first full week of this internship. We got to spend some time with some truly amazing people who love the Lord with all their heart. My week started out kind of rough as I was still getting used to the culture and my surroundings but in those times I felt God really teaching me that I need to focus on Him. The highlight of our time in Makueni for me was seeing the response of people that came to see the Jesus Film and also the response of people who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior after the film. At that moment I was able to see the work that God is doing in this community. I really enjoyed the visit with the HIV/AIDS group on Thursday morning. I remember Gus telling the group that we did not come to just look at them but to talk to them and truly get to know each one of their stories. Each one of their faces had a huge smile on it after Gus told them that; absolutely amazing. That is all from me but cannot wait to share many more thoughts as the summer continues.

Robin’s thoughts on the week: This past week was so hard. The vision team was an absolute blessing though. Our first full day in Makueni I was so homesick and to make matters worse, I came down with the first travelers bug of the group. Fortunately I have an awesome team and an awesome God who helped me get through it all. Makueni was definitely a learning experience. House visits are so different from anything I’ve ever done before, but how excited the families are to meet us makes it worth it. I’m going to try to keep my section of this blog short since the blog in itself is HUGE. So my two high points of the week are what I’ll tell you about. On Tuesday, my worst day of the week, my day was brightened by the bare bottomed baby boy (whoa alliteration) I got to hold at a particular house. He was three months old and probably the most adorable child I’ve ever seen. Second high point: on the last day of our stay in Makueni we visited the AIDS support group and heard their stories. It was so encouraging to see these people with strong faith. On the flip side it was also heartbreaking. Two of the members of the group of infected people were three year old children. The little girl became my focus for the day. While we were watching the movie with the group she zeroed in on me (sensing that I would probably be the most likely to misbehave and play with her instead of paying attention). I did my best to behave but after the movie I ran at her, picked her up and started tickling her like crazy. She broke out into loud bursts of laughter, which I thought frustrated her mother, until she came and gave me a huge hug! I doubt many people play with her infected daughter. Other successes of my week include my being the first to successfully use our squatty potties, sleeping in a bed by myself while Bailey and Evie slept in the next room, and going out on house visits even when I was sick. This week was hard, but it has shown me that my only choice this summer will be to turn to God for strength and for that I am grateful. Please continue to pray. I love and miss everyone.

That brings us to today, another laundry day, and leads us into next week, where we will be in Kajiato. To everyone back home, we love you all and will hopefully update the blog when we get back (depending on the internet of course…) Have a wonderful day wherever you are!

NPC, Vision team and the Massai Market

Hey everyone!

Well, today was our first Sunday in Kenya and as such we got to go to our new church home, Nairobi Pentecostal Church. We were picked up by Dr. Emily and arrived to the service on Africa time (which for those of you who have been reading the previous blogs is much like Gus time but it applies to everyone). Anyways, the NPC service was very fun with lively praise and worship and energetic preaching and prayer times. NPC is home to around 1,500 people with three services as-well-as a youth service.

After the morning service we met Dr. Emily's family and we all piled into her car and headed back to the guest house. We then went out to the Biblia Missions house to have lunch and meet Gus and the Vision Team, who are from California, they will be going with us to Makueni for the week starting tomorrow. After meeting the Vision team we took them to the Massai Market to do some trading and haggling for Souvenirs and trinkets. This served as a nice little team building exercise to help each team get to know the other team in preperation for a week together.

When we felt as though we had achieved our target buys at the market, we gathered together and discussed who got the good deals and who paid to much at the different "shop," (I believe I made it out of there pretty well using my past knowledge of last years trip with the Post team). We headed back to the Biblia Missions house to drop off the Vision team and then head back to our guest house for dinner and an early evening to rest up for our first week out of Nairobi.

This week we are going to Makueni to visit with the people there and we are told that we will be helping to roof some houses, which should be right up my ally :)

Well, that's about all that happened today, we thank you all for your continued prayer and support and now if you'll excuse me, it's time to go get some dinner!

We love you all!

Zach

Hello Friends! Jambo! Zach and Robin’s day started at 8am when they woke up to go for a run through Nairobi (well walk/run). It was completely eye opening to the reality of where in the world we were. The team was fully assembled, devotionals done, showered and ready at 9:45am when Gus arrived. He took us to the Kibera slum where we met the eight pastors of the area. They are such prayerful and faithful men. Their ministry is aimed at the children of the slums; their hope is that if they reach the children they will change a generation and reach the parents. Some background information: Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa. It “houses” approximately 1.5 million people and three quarters of the children on the streets are orphans. If the children are not orphans most children have parents who have AIDs. The houses are made of mud and tin and the sewage systems are the streams on the sides of the road. Sanitation and proper disposal of trash is non-existent. After we met the pastors our team of five was divided into four groups. Jacob and Robin went with two pastors to a church and Bailey, Evie, and Zach each went with separate pastors to the other three churches we were supposed to visit. The lengths of our walks varied but the longest were around three miles one-way. Once we got to the churches lots children greeted us. We passed many children on the walk as well. They love to say; “How are you?” They don’t know what they are asking but it is the English question that they know and they wanted to interact with us. Their word for white people is mizungu (check spelling). They love to yell it as we walk past so that more children can come to look at us. They also love to touch our skin. Each of us struggled to grasp what was happening around us. Bailey said that she looked around and couldn’t believe that these children were real until one took off his shoe, whapped his neighbor in the head with it and then proceeded to bicker...children are the same everywhere. At the church Jacob and Robin went to the children put on a show. They sang, recited scripture and one very special young girl even recited a poem. All of us helped to feed the children at the different churches. Each of our groups then walked back to the center where all the pastors met. They served us various soft drinks and some muffins. They asked us for words of encouragement for their ministry and all of us were so inspired by their actions that all we could tell them was that they were great men and how inspired we were. We then asked for their prayer requests, they are: new locations for their churches—no more rental buildings, for the faith and strengths of the pastors, for the temptations of the street kids including drugs, for the church projects such as preschools, education based on Christian principles, and for the general strength of the churches. We hope that you will join us in praying for their needs.

When we left Kibera we went back to the guest house and had a meeting with Gus and Pam. We reviewed the TENATIVE schedule for the summer and have learned that we will be very busy. We also looked over our budget and checked out the local grocery store where we bought and international calling card. As soon as we got home Robin asked to call her parents (all of us assuming it was an international card). We agreed that a 5-10 minute phone call per person would be reasonable. Needless to say (Mr. and Mrs. Clark you know you were cut off) no one but Robin got to call home and it was not an international card. The phone card ran out after approximately 5 minutes. Robin apologizes to the other parents profusely. The rest of the evening has been spent eating dinner, team building, and discussing the days events. Please continue to pray for us and in addition the pastors’ requests.

We love you all.

The Mi2ers

Day One in Kenya...

After almost two days worth of travelling, we arrived this morning in Nairobi, Kenya - forty minutes ahead of schedule too! We were soon greeted by Rose and Gus who took us to breakfast at a place that is right beside our apartment. Then were able to take hot showers and a little nap (I personally had trouble sleeping on the plane and had had about 35 minutes worth since early Wednesday morning... so the sleep was wonderful).

Lunch was a yummy affair with some interesting food that was good - but I have no idea what it was. We then met with someone from SIM (another Christian group here in Kenya) where we heard about their strategy when working with aids patients.

We were then taken to a piece of property that LIA has acquired and were able to be there for the dedication service. It was amazing to see people whose praying shows that they believe that their prayers are going right to the king of heaven. We met with many of the people involved with LIA and who were friends of LIA.

After the dedication service came the trek back to the apartment and dinner.

Even though all this has happened in Kenya, I almost feel as if this is a dream - the reality of where I am and what I am doing hasn't quite hit me yet. I am so excited to see what God has planned for me and how He will change me....

Well, goodnight everyone! (Or good afternoon depending on your location...)

-Evie

Departure

We leave today (technically)! How amazing is that? God has been so amazing throughout this entire process. I know that each of us has an awesome fundraising story. God has made is so evident that we are going exactly where he desires. Today was great because we got to meet Holly, a wonderful woman who work for LIA, who briefed us on the culture of Kenya. I'm pretty sure while we are all SO excited about getting on the plane, we are also very nervous...except maybe Zach who is probably the most flexible and prepared person for what we are about to see.

Last night Bailey and I were discussing how completely unworthy we felt to be going on this journey. We discussed the possibility that we were mistakenly chosen to be going and that Will and Ben may have just not wanted to admit an error. However, today Holly gave us great peace by saying that if we weren't nervous there would be a problem with our mindset. Also, she was gracious enough to remind us that in our insufficiency God is sufficient. Today in our devotion time I read Phillipians 4:4-7 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

How many times have we, as Christians, read or heard that verse? It takes on an entirely new meaning when you realize that you will literally be guarding your hearts and minds with Jesus Christ as your shield and that you will be solely relying on his grace. Today will be an exciting day. Please keep your prayers coming. We appreciate them all.

Robin

The Beginning

Hello all,

We arrived in Tennessee or Georgia...we're not really sure...anyways, on Friday evening where we enjoyed the local entertainment of McCaysville and ate at a questionable mexican establishment. We're pretty sure Will and Ben thought we were mute because the entire seven hour drive to our destination was silence. Then we bonded over grocery shopping as our first team exercise. The first the girls made an executive decision to not be split up...resulting in the sharing of a king size bed.

Saturday was a very exciting day! We went white water rafting on the Ocoee River. You know how guides usually tell you exactly what NOT to do...we did that. Within the first minute of launching into the water we were lodged on top of a very large rock. After serious team building and a few prayers we made our way down the river. Zach proved himself to be the adventurous one when he "rode the bull" twice. Riding the Bull is sitting on the front of the raft using only a rope to hold himself on. The rest of the day was spent on curriculum (we do not like this term, suggestions for an alternate term would be appreciated) including the Truth Project, our strengths, and our seven ethics. We're pretty sure Will and Ben are trying to fatten us up before we leave because the entire weekend has been filled with food, fun, food, water, food, sleep, curriculum and more food.

Today we were surprised to find out that we were taking a second water adventure. We funyaked! Don't worry, we were in good hands, the lady in charge has been funyaking "millions of times." It was lots of fun despite the water being icy cold and a thunder storm. We successfully switched boats five times without flipping or getting in the water. SKILL. When we got back to the cabin our task was to find "something" to do with a raft Will and Ben bought us....so we all climbed in except for Zach who tied a rope to the boat and pulled us across the river behind our cabin which ended up being very anticlimactic. However, our lack of fun in that project was made up for by the 20 foot slip n' slide into the river that we constructed later in the day. After all of our water adventures we sat down and learned about our travel and covenant logistics. S'mores were wonderful around the fire after dinner.

The team is great so far. We are all very excited. Departure in 3 days Kenya in 5. We head back to Louisville tomorrow. Thanks for following our blog. We hope you keep reading.

Love,

The Mi2 2010 Team