Headed to Laredo, TX

In just 5 days a small group of us from Winfree Church, Michael Dupree, Dan Gayk, Frankie Gayk, Claire Benjamin and myself, are headed to Laredo, Texas for a mission trip. We will be partnering together with El Salvador Baptist Church and a new church start out of Sante Fe Baptist Church. We anticipate doing Vacation Bible School - type work with children, raising awareness of the churches in the community, distributing school supplies and perhaps doing some light construction also. We will fly out on Sat. AM, July 31, and return on Fri. PM, Aug. 6. Please pray for us and Mario Garcia, our primary contact person in Laredo.

Monday AM

This will have to be quick and short. My missionary friend, Sam Harrell, will arrive in a few moments and we will head out to western Kenya. First to a Child Development Center he launched to check on it and do some manual work, and then on to the city of Kitale. I am excited to be moving on to the next phase of the trip here.

Over the weekend I went to Parklands Baptist Church, near my guesthouse (hotel). It is one of the 2 large Baptist churches in Nairobi. They have 2 service is a spacious sanctuary and 2 services for youth and youth adults in a large circus-type tent. It appears to be a healthy growing congregation with many ministries.

On this first leg we will pass through the area which is famous for developing the incredible distance runners which Kenya continually produces. I have this fantasy that I will see small children jogging along, passing the truck we are in! :) On my morning jogs I have noticed the altitude change, but we are moving even higher and to thinner air. oh yea!

Please continue to pray for us. If I can find a computer cafe of some kind I will try to make others posts. But don't count on it. If this is the last one until I return, thank you for all of your support and prayers.

Thursday Recap

Nairobi is a bustling, vibrant metroplex of about 4 million people.  Yesterday I did not have any set appointments so I plunged into the city.  

I found a magnificent new mall in the "rich" part of town; 4 stories with an open atrium, a food court and a cinema.  I had lunch at the food court - Chinese food.  One difference is that when you wander into the area various representatives offer to seat you in the common eating area and offer you a menu.  In my case 6 of them brought menus for me to browse.  Then they turn in your order and bring your food to you.

After lunch I walked closer to downtown and visited the National Museum.  A 2 story facility filled with various stuffed animals of the country, a little art work, a display of various human fossils showing the "progressive development" of humans.  There was a fascinating display which tracked humans, specifically Kenyan culture of course, from birth, through various stages, including childhood, youth, initiation rites, marriage and "transition."  Unfortunately the Snake House was closed for renovations  (sorry Evan).

I trekked through Nairobi University and into the heart of downtown.  The urban center is a teeming mass of people, jammed traffic, shops for tourists, food markets, businesses of all kinds and government offices.  After picking up a couple of items I decided to complete my cultural immersion by riding back to the guesthouse in a matatu, the most common form of local transportation.  Matatus are minivans which have been converted into people carriers- supposedly for 14, but at times more than that.  I located the main matatu departure station and it was swarming with people, minivans in various states (all of the older) and diesel fumes.  With only a small amount of difficulty I was able to locate the matatu for my route, jump into one and off we go.  Ok, well not exactly off... we spent about 15 minutes creeping along, jammed into traffic for half a dozen blocks.  Then we were able to make some progress.  PS.1- I was the only Anglo I ever saw during this whole time.  2- "Lanes" don't mean anything.

For dinner I popped into a fast-food chicken kind of place, where for about 3 dollars I got a somewhat scrawny 1/4 of chicken, a huge plate of good fries and a Coke in a glass bottle.  The rest of the evening I put my feet up and read in my room.  The accumulation of fumes over the day had taken their toll and I just needed to chill a little.

This was not a day full of "ministry," but I do think it is important to get some kind of handle on the culture and daily life.  We cannot share God's love with people if we do not understand them and their lives.  For us to be Christ incarnate requires involvement.  Of course one day in a big city doesn't mean I understand anything.  But it is a start.

Day 2 recap - Compassion visit

It can be truly overwhelming. Visiting a slum area in a Third world city is unlike anything else. There is an assault on the senses from the smells, the sights, the sounds. But most of all, it is overwhelming in the sense of wondering "Where do you start?" and "How could you ever make a difference?" Thank God for Compassion International and the committed staff who are working here.

Today I was privileged to meet the child we sponsor, Stephen Omullo, and most of his family. Stephen is 9 and is a part of the Compassion project that operates out of the Dandora Baptist Church Child Development Center. At this center Stephen is given comprehensive attention, assisting him academically, vocationally, socially, spiritual and medically. His parents are also given support through parenting classes and education. Stephen, his mother and baby sister, Michelle, were there to meet us at the center. I got a thorough briefing from the staff about Stephen's progess, which has been encouraging, and a tour of the compound which holds everything from a kindergarten to a beauty salon/school to a computer school/internet lab for older teens and young adults which teaches computer basics up through web design.

We then bumped along through the area to Stephen's home. In a very small space we sat around and looked my pictures and some of theirs, talked about the family and drank a Coke. I shared the gifts I brought for the family and she gave me some of their (precious) pictures. Stephen's father was not able to be with us. He is a day laborer in the city. We took pictures and told stories and finished with prayer together.

Back at the Dandora church, I had some beef stew and rice and visited with the assoc. pastor and sevearl others. We talked about everything from evangelism to the challenges facing families today.

I was truly impressed by both the church staff and the Compassion staff. They demonstrated a real sense of calling and commitment and obvious care for those they were reaching. It was humbling and inspiring. I might be overwhelmed. But if they are willing to step up in incredibly challenging circumstances and try to make a difference in the name of Christ (and they are!), then I must do my part.

Day 1Recap

Rev. Boniface Osoti laughed as he told me, "Next time your friends in America complain of a pothole, tell this about this. This is a real pothole." And we continued to bump along the road towards his church... road, ok I use that word in the most general sense possible. We went over, around and through things, following a route that would challenge most 4-wheel mudders in the USA; all this in a compact car.

Boniface and I met up about noon. We visited briefly in the office for his ministries, Victory Evangelistic Ministries, which is sort of an umbrella for his sports camp outreach ministries, his church, his weekly radio address and his role as a bishop giving guidance and support to over a dozen other ministers and their work. In a space about the size of 2 walk in closets they support all of this.

Before lunch we spent about 45 min. at a service led by "Bro. Joe," a highly respected minister in the country. Meeting in a rented hall across from the national High Court, there were probably 600-800 gathered for an encouraging message and a little singing.

Afterwards we went to the Kenyatta International Conference Center and paid to be escorted to the top floor. And I mean top floor, as in the helipad and nothing else, but from there, about 30 stories, there was an incredible view of this sprawling and magnificent city.

In the afternoon we went to visit Boniface's church. It is a simple tin-sided, pole supported structure that would hold a couple of hundred. Currently they are doing wonderful ministry in a low-income area, offering early education to about 45 children daily and a monthly Sat. program which reaches about 200 with a meal, some fun and Bible teaching. But this ministry is under tremendous pressure, needing to purchase the land they are using and secure the neighboring lots before the Muslims moving into the area are able to find a way to oust them and use the land to build a mosque. (Boniface says that many of the Muslims are Somalis who are able to buy land and build because of pirate money.)

That evening we spent time in the home, visiting with one of the pastors under his guidance and having a delightful meal with his family. It was my first opportunity to eat "ugalii," a Kenyan staple. It is a simple maize meal dish, rather like a dumpling or extra firm grits, except cooked in a single pot and scooped out. Kenyan runners say it is one of their main energy sources. We will see how I run tomorrow :)

Boniface shared from his heart about the needs of the various ministries, the need to hire more teachers for example. There are so many needs and opportunities for involvement. The question is where is God leading me/us?

Day 1 in Kenya

I am now in Nairobi!
Travel went as well as 24 hours of travel can go. On the last leg I sat next to a young man who was 1/2 Dutch and 1/2 South African. He had not been back to S. Africa in 5 years; working at a hotel in Holland. The rest of his family was scattered over 3 continents. Certainly different from growing up in the same town your whole life and living next to the rest of the family.

Traveling over Africa in the daylight was fascinating when the cloud cover allowed me to see below. The topography and landscape was incredible. Vast expanses of what appeared to be undeveloped land, at least no visible roads. The route took us over lots of desert, an ocean gulf and ancient valleys and mountains.

My missionary friend Sam had graciously arranged to have a taxi driver meet me at the airport with a sign. Tony is studying car mechanics and hopes to work in a shop soon and quit driving. We stopped at a 24 hr. market and bought a pair of Sprite Lights at my request.

This morning (and sunrise is very early here) I got up for an easy run, mostly to get the kinks out of my legs. The city was already busy and I sought out side streets to avoid the people and car traffic and pollution. Dodging potholes and mud puddles, I came back with a fair amount of red clay dirt on my legs. I saw a few other joggers and drew a few curious looks of my own. Mostly I was working to remember that they drive on the left here and I needed to look over the other shoulder for cars.

Today I am going to cross paths with Sam, to pass along some items I brought for his family and some ashes of a young woman who wanted them scattered in Kenya. I need to contact the Compassion office to let them know I am here. But the bulk of the day will be spent with Boniface, my pastor friend here in Nairobi, seeing his church and work with youth sports outreach.

In your prayers join me in: expressing thankfulness for little things like - all my bags arriving with me, warm shower, and a good breakfast.
Pray for: health (no one likes being sick away from home), my visit with Stephen (the Compassion child we sponsor) and his family that I can encourage him and share God's love with them, and most of all, that God will help me see ministry opportunities and how to step into them

grace to you all

Prepping for Kenya

In just 3 days I leave for a trip to Kenya. I am so excited... for a lot of reasons.

1- The overarching purpose of the trip is to establish a groundwork for a long term partnership between Winfree Church and something or someone. I am prayerfully looking for a situation which can make use of a wide range of the gifts and resources that can be found at Winfree; teachers, sports nuts, medical field personnel, "hands-on" types, etc.

2- For a number of years I have felt like I want to do more with my life. I think God can do more with my life. I love my church and am invigorated by what is happening here and previously at King's Cross. Coaching has been fun and fulfilling. But there is more to be done in this world... and I want to be a part of it.

More on the prep process coming...