A new year brings new opportunities

Jambo!

Hppy New Year, I hope your new year is off to an increible start.
I have had lots of requests to keep this blog going and share the needs and answered prayers related to Kenya. I am happy to share with you that the opportunity has presented itself for me to share something incredible happening right now and you have the opportunity to be a part of it.

Recently I sat down with Bishop David Thagana to talk about what can I do here to help with the needs of GOA (Glory Outreach Assembly) more to come here later but check out the website www.goaweb.org. During our time together he shared some great stories of how God is moving and it is my plan over the coming weeks and months to use this forum to bring those stories to you so make sure you subscribe to this blog because you won't want to miss a single story.

During my time with the Bishop he shared that his theme for 2009 is "Growing in the faith that pleases God" the text Hebrews 11 and specifically verses 6-8

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (NIV).

In the Tumaini Orphanage (one of 6 that GOA sponsors) the children have completely embraced this message. So much so that they came to the Bishop prior to his coming here to say "we believe that God is going to bring us a bus dad." We have prayed about it and believe He will bring us a bus so that we will no longer have to walk to school in the cold and so that more children can come to our school.

Lets just stop and pause for a second -- if you have never been to Kenya you need to know that the roads are treacherous at best. You also need to know that the children walk everywhere and without supervision. I was in shock and awe when I was there - to see preschool let out and the 3 and 4 year old children walk the 3-5 miles home...alone. However, I never once heard any of these children complain. Schools are so important in Kenya and the children recognize the value and will walk any distance.

So the kids heard the message and are trusting and have faith that this bus will be theirs soon. But wait, the story doesn't end there. What they did next still moves me several days after hearing the story. They said to the Bishop, Dad we have the faith and feel strongly that God wants you to go ahead and order the bus. And for those of you that know Bishop David it won't surprise you to know he has ordered the bus!

The Tumaini kids decided to get the word out that they would put together a CD of their music and to raise funds for this bus. The CD is only $15 and the music is great. For me it's so great to hear those little voices -- they are beautiful.

Over the next few days and weeks I will keep you abreast of the stories and we will track together the fundraising for this bus.

So if you recall in the beginning I said there would be an opportunity for you to get involved and there is:

1. Purchase a CD

They are in the book store at RUMC -- if you are not a member of RUMC you can send me an email rite2rc@yahoo.com and I will make sure you get one.

2. Pray for Tumaini and the children as well as the leadership -- on Wednesday we will talk more about Tumaini and it's story.

3. You can tell this story or point your friends to this blog.
There will be more opportunites to get involved coming soon.

If you have any questions, please comment here or you can email me at rite2rc@yahoo.com.

We have exciting days ahead and I can't wait and I will keep you posted! Enjoy your day.

Finally Safari Pictures

As promised...here's the slide show with some of the safari pictures. I still can't believe I was there. This is the trip that keeps on giving. These pictures take me back and I miss it. So amazing that I could feel so at home in a place I have never visited. This is just a sliver of the the Masai and the wildlife I hoipe you enjoy it. It's set to Nanci Griffith's performance of From a Distance sung at the Atlanta Olympics.

http://www.slide.com/r/YFwoQ6sU2z9SPo4lbq-hsLnMDWSexmpb?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Time passes so fast

Wow, time passes so very quickly. It's so hard to believe that I have been home 6 weeks. It feels like I just got back and the lessons I learned still seem so new. One of the lessons I learned is that there are tiny moments that can change your view on your universe.


There are so many things we take for granted. For instance I can grab a bottled water anytime I want. Water is a big deal in Kenya because it's hard to find and for the folks who live in the bush it's even more difficult. You know of the struggle for water in Ngaamba and how important the water project is to their community. It will mean life or death, it will impact the famine. But Ngaamba has 410bridge who's come a long side them to help with the water situation.

But what about the Masai shepherds who spend their day trying to find water food for their cattle? On our way from Amboseli back to Nairobi on our last day we stopped on the side of the road to have lunch. We were out in the middle of nowhere and miles to go before we would see civilization. While "picnicing" we came across some Masai moving their herd. This snippet of time has forever changed my view of Dasani as I will always see this shepherd trying to figure out how to open this bottled water...something I have always taken for granted.


What simple things are you taking for granted these days?

Ngaamba - Nothing but good times

Here's my slide show from Ngaamba. This little place taught me so much about love. The needs are great here, the bellies are empty but rest assured the hearts are big and full. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would love it so much.

Our time here like Havilla was far too short. I saw kids who had no lunch for a couple of days play joyfully while their classmates enjoyed their lunch. I met a 3 year old Ruth and her sister Faith 4 who loved me in ways I couldn't imagine. I ran after a 4 year old boy on a soccer field who took off when he heard a tractor - when I caught up with him I realized he was running ot look at the tractor so I said "tractor" and he said "no...Tinga" I said no tractor, Tinga and he threw his arms around me and hugged me.

I learned many silly songs that I still find myself humming today songs like fruits I like, head and shoulders knees and toes. I long to hear the little voices saying so politely "teacher, teacher." These kids loudly proclaiming when we asked during the Noah and the ark story is it possible that God would not keep a promise and everyone of them said no! Some interrupted God always keeps his promises.

The teachers -- Charity, Purity and Mary. Three women so committed to God, their kids and their own education. Their excitement about us being there wanting to learn from us but the fact is we learned more from them. All of them took those of us who did preschool to their own classrooms and talked us through their hopes and dreams.

The day we brought lunch for the preschool when Mary announced no one will going to the playground everyone is eating today. Handing out our recycled water bottles to the kids and their excitement.

The leaders of Ngaamba led from the front and by example. They worked alongside us everyday leading the way, They knew every detail about the engineering and the plans for the water project. The fact that this villiage is in famine and fed us upon our arrival in Ngaamba. Their incredible patience with us.

Phoebe our 410 leader jumping into every situation and assisting us whether it meant, translating, starting a song, coaching us on culture, working on the water project or just a hug on the day you so desperately needed it.

Simon our driver who developed his own following not only with us but the people in Ngaamba. He had the patience of Job. He and Phoebe were always there for us with a smile.

These are just some of my pictures and a few of the experiences. Ngaamba is a place that will always be etched in my heart. So simple yet so rich. I hope you enjoy these slides.

http://www.slide.com/r/Nn4TBvyf7z9kIw-gMvTqsAYRjlBP7yE7?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Two full days -- Lake Nakuru and Havilla

I have been asked by many of you to keep adding my updates so that's my plan -- I won't take you through the details of each day but will definitely provide the highlights and add some of my pictures.

After a few minutes of brief introductions the kids were divided into 3 groups and we divided into our travel teams (3 groups) and we loaded into the 3 buses. My group included Clay, David, Zack, Mary and me. We had some little ones on our bus and the oldest boy from Havilla in our group. Immediately upon boarding the kids asked each of us to sit with them.

http://www.slide.com/r/9bSdYHYg4D9ZUrSzdB4JWgu7xq3aou5e?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original


We started out on our journey and it's about an hour and a half to the game ride. Our bus is filled with chatter, laughter and after a little bit singing. And some of the most beautiful singing I think I have ever heard. Every child was singing and we were all mesmerized we knew the songs but listening to them was inspiring. Some of these kids rotate in and out of the Daraja Choir so their voices are like angels. One little girl in particular Lucy was singing her heart out and even after the group stopped she was just staring out the window singing.

On the way and during the game ride we learned many of these kids had never seen these animals except for in pictures...something we all had in common. So every now and again we would hear from the kids....
Monkey! Zebra! Antelope! you get the idea --- every chant was simply incredible. Later we learned that this game ride was a dream come true for many of these kids...and me too for that matter.

The next day we made our way to Havilla after church and I still struggle to find the adjectives to describe the day. It's just amazing to see these kids come together to sing, prepare lunch, do their chores. Their living conditions are simple and lacking yet they are so incredibly proud of them. Tiny rooms with 8 or 10 to a room, dirt floors yet they love it.

We spent the last half hour at Havilla with the kids performing and I caught it on video - I hope to get it loaded up here soon. Every minute of this day I tried to savor - I found my self overcome with all kinds of emotions. I know I will miss this as I already do. Those kids are really in my heart- please pray for them.

Day 1 Lake Nakuru

So now that I am home and have my computer and some pictures I will go back and try to provide a little more detail about each day. So we arrived in Nairobi minus one (our leader) and made our way to the guest house and retired for the evening as all of the events of the last days traveling were tiring. We woke up on Saturday and Joel had been able to get a new passport and join us. His story of how God moved and he was able to get a passport is pretty incredible and I will share with you later.

So we all hopped on our bus with no idea of how much time we would be spending on this bus over the course of this trip. I took a picture of us standing around getting ready to load here it is. As you can see the day started out a little overcast. The plan for this day was to take the kids from the Havilla orphanage on a game ride at Lake Nakuru. We were meeting them on the road to Lake Nakuru as we were coming from different directions. On the way we saw monkeys and cattle...lots of cattle. We drove for what felt like forever but I am sure that's just because we were so excited to be on the ground and get this party started. Our drive was a little over an hour. The ride was bumpy but nothing like what was in store for us. On the way I had a lot of emotions and thoughts. It's overwhelming to be living out a dream that you never thought would come true. And I was also hoping I would be able to connect to the children, what will they be like, how are we all going to connect.

Finally we pulled over and it was a place where tourists can stop and take pictures as well as shop and I use the word shop umm loosely. Here are the pictures I took of the view:

Isn't it gorgeous? It was quite a site. So now we are here waiting, for the kids and the men and women who own the little huts with various items are some of the most aggressive sales people I have seen in my life. It's a little off putting but some of their items are quite gorgeous. I did not buy anything here as a matter of fact its one of the few places I didn't buy anything.

A few more minutes pass and two buses pull up with lots of children and before we know it they are off the bus and running over to us. All of our concerns about connecting literally vanished in the blink of an eye. These kids are just simply put magnificent. They are open, loving, incredibly well behaved and excited. I had no idea at this point how much these kids would mean to me over the next couple of days. Here's the first pictures I took as we greeted them even before we got back on the bus. In these pictures it a close up of some of the children and a group shot that includes Leslie our co-leader and Joel's wife and Simon our bus driver. You can see some of the shops from this stop in the back there. The little girl is the front is Grace and I will give you more info about her later.

Can you believe the excitement on their faces? The joy, the excitement and these pictures were taken just minutes after they got off their buses. So after a few minutes we divided into three groups because we had three buses and we divided into three groups and we loaded up to head to Lake Nakuru.

Ah Paris

Bonjour!
We made it to CDG and have 2 hours til we board. We are tired and grimey but all are present and accounted for. This is the last leg of this journey and the end is bittersweet.
Next update will be from US soil. I am looking forward to posting from my computer and giving much more detail. Au revoir

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