Final Reflections Part 2

Here's my much belated final update. In retrospect, a big thing I'm taking away from the time in Kenya is that I love worshiping God. I love knowing God spending time with him, talking to people about God, and being part of His family. I was encouraged by the way so many Kenyan Christians go into worship just expecting to meet with God. In a place where so many things were different, where no one cared about most of the things I spend time on at home, the Spirit of God was there just as much if not more. Kenya is a rich and diverse place and I feel privileged to have friends there now. It will be interesting to see what happens to the country in the next few years since the younger generation is more excited about the idea of Kenya and seem to be willing to invest more in the country. Thanks to all who kept up with what was going on and prayed while I was there.

Final Reflections Part 1

Hi everyone, Thanks for keeping up with what we were doing while we were gone. I have more pictures up on facebook and I'd be happy to talk about Kenya if you're interested. It's a wonderful and diverse and complex place and I feel blessed to have been able to spend time and make friends there. I'll plan to post once more this week...

Goodbye Kenya

We're hanging out in the London airport after relaxing and looking at amazing animals at Masai Mara game park (the Kenya side of Serengeti Park in Tanzania). Last night our final farewell with the Kenyans on our team and our host families. It was kind of sad but at the same time a celebration of what God had done over the past few weeks. The guys on the team came to the airport with us and here is my final picture with the three guys on the team, Joshua, Jerry, and Victor. I'll really miss all of them.

I was talking to our matatu driver on the way out about what a great place Kenya is and trying to soak up my last images of the streets. Several food sellers, including young kids were in the road selling us peanuts and sugar cane. We didn't get any peanuts but the sugar cane was a wonderful final Kenya food. Between the 12 or so in our car we got 5 bags and were spitting pith out the window most of the rest of the way to the airport. Here's a photo of our team now in the airport, sleeping, reading, etc. And now as I'm writing we're boarding...back to Baltimore.

Rest of the time in Nairobi

The last couple days in Nairobi were a blur for me. Sunday morning I couldn't believe it was already time to say goodbye to my host family. One highlight of the last couple days for me was meeting the people involved in the microfinance ministry. Here we are with two of the benificiaries of the loan program. The woman holding the child in the photo, Dorcas, is a beneficiary of the loan program. She used the seed money from the ministry to expand her baking business and has done well, paying back her loan and saving money while supporting a family of four. The woman in white to the left of her i also in the program and has a business selling vegetables. People with blue World Relief lanyards are on our team and other people are either staff for the program or members of a local church. A number of women in the program are HIV positive and single mothers like Consulata, who is a talented artist and makes crafts like the tree with the birds she's holding in her hand to sell.

The young women to the left of me in the photo are her daughters who she's been able to support through school so far. We met several small business owners like these, asked them about their business, and in most cases prayed with them. Their stories are inspirational, they have hard situations but make the most of it in large part out of love for their children.

The trip back

We drove back to Nairobi today. Here's Matt, James, and Lorelei in the front of the beefy truck we've been riding around in. We also crossed the equator on this trip.

Rendilles

These people up in the Chalbi desert were so cool. They herd goats and camels and are incredibly joyful, welcoming and generous. They were even welcomed me after I met them with the greeting of their enemy tribe. Their way of life is hard though, with a drought and recent mercury poisoning in their water. A camel skin is stretched out to dry in the first picture. The second picture is of a well where women have come to draw water.

Marsabit construction and Jesus film update

We spent each morning in Marsabit doing construction. Our two main projects were a concrete floor for this church and digging a pit for an outhouse.
Several people on my team have good pictures of these processes but I don't have them now to put up on the blog, sorry. The church is right next to this village, and we talked to some of the people in the village. One woman, Jeli, asked for prayer as she is a Christian but married to a Muslim. Hundreds of people from this cluster of homes

and surrounding villages came to see the Jesus film and several made commitments for Christ.

The Jesus film

We're watching it in Borano (the language of the local tribe in Marsibit) RIGHT NOW. Part 1 is tonight and part 2 is tomorrow. Please pray for people seeing it, especially those hearing the story for the first time. A teenager from the church I was chatting with before the movie started told me there was a good response in his village when the film was shown there last year.

Marsabit

We've seen all kinds of stuff in the Marsabit area. Some very happy herders who live in huts in the desert, an oasis that's supposed to have healing powers, a passionate church service in a building with a partially finished concrete floor (the one we're working on. Our driver was nice enough to make a special trip into town for me so I could catch a cell phone signal and get online. I'm supposed to be back in 2 minutes and we're stopped in the road while he gets something from a shop. Also there is a donkey standing in the intersection. None of this seems too unusual though. Blessings!
Jeff

I really like our team. Here’s a picture of one of our team building activities, transferring a bucket of water from one inaccessible place to another.
We’ve gotten closer playing games and solving puzzles together and we’ve had a great time learning about Kenya.
Hanging out with my host family has been a highlight so far. I’m staying with Allen, who works for World Relief, his wife Roselyn, and their children Mesi, Jonas, and Julia. They’re incredibly hospitable and I wouldn’t do anything for myself (iron my clothes, throw my trash away, pour my own water) if I didn’t insist I really didn’t mind. I have a lot of respect for Allen. He’s a good person to talk to, he cares about people and takes good care of his family. He and Roselyn are really loving and sweet to each other. Jonas and Julia showed me around their neighborhood last night and we played phase 10 when we got back (up to the third phase). When it was time for dinner they all (ok we all) begged Roselyn to let us finish the round. I offered to let them keep the game and Julia got a huge smile on her face. Here’s a picture of me with the kids.
Two evenings ago we went a University of Nairobi youth group (kind of like intervarsity would be). It was a fun and raucous meeting overall with great worship. People really go there to meet with God. Dancing or at least some sort of movement is a big part of worship there and for a lot of people here.
Here’s a few of the things that have reminded me of Indonesia: friendly people all over the place, tile roofs, buildings constructed with wood supports spaced a foot apart, Japanese cars finding a way to wiggle past each other on the left side of the street. They even have vehicles called matatus that look a lot like what we call angkots and serve the same purpose (little busses).

Schedule in Kenya

I didn’t even post a schedule last time so here it is…
June 24-28
Meet Kenyan students and host families, do various team building exercises, visit a local church and youth group.

June 29-July 8
Outreach in Marsabit
Outreaches include showing the Jesus film, going to a children’s home and hospital, and doing some construction (a latrine and a church floor).

July 8-July 13
Outreach in Nairobi

July 13-July 15
Relax together at a game park, Masai Mara.

We made it!

Kenya is great! It reminds me a lot of Indonesia except everybody speaks English. Some excitement so far: We ran through the Heath Row (London) airport quickly enough to lose all our bags and almost lose 3 people. I've already sent a lot of megabytes on my host family's internet connection so I'll wait to write too much until I get my own.