Jeff and Jan in Africa

Chavakali - Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him

2009-06-23T07:47:00.015+03:00

This past weekend we took another evangelistic trip to Chavakali. Chavakali is a very small town located about 6 hours from Nairobi in western Kenya almost to the Uganda border. Driving there we passed through Kisumu, which is the town where Obama's grandmother still lives, but we missed seeing her. We arrived Friday night, checked into our motel, had dinner and headed to bed.

Saturday morning we went straight to the Chavakali Baptist Church and met with the pastor and some of the church members. We divided up into teams and headed out into the town to visit in homes.

We had many great visits. In one home, we met four sisters who were living with their widowed mother. They were explaining to us how difficult life was for them with no men in the house. We shared Bible stories with them from creation to Christ and all four sisters prayed to receive Christ.

In some homes the family members were already saved but they would always want us to stay and pray for them and their needs. Here is a young lady who was caring for her elderly grandmother.

Jeff was fascinated by this grinding machine. People would bring their maize here for the owner to grind into meal. Their main staple good is called ugahli and it is made with ground meal and water. They eat this everyday and it is very filling.

All of the children loved to follow us around because they rarely see a "mzungu" which is a white person.

After lunch we gathered back at the church for a time of reporting. Among all the teams there were a total of 37 people who prayed to receive Christ through the home visits. Praise the Lord!

The afternoon was spent in Bible teaching. Pastor Mike led the local pastors and church leaders. Dee taught the women how to sew an apron and a handbag hoping they might could make some in the future and sell them. Jeff and Jan worked with the children. We had over 80 children gather in a field under a tree where we taught them the story of Noah and the ark.

After the story, we gave each of them a picture of Noah and the ark to color. Apparently they do not have the opportunity to color very often and they loved it. We were limited on our crayons and it was such a joy to watch how they all shared the crayons with each other.

When the story and craft were finished we resorted to play time! We brought a jump rope and 4 bright colored Frisbees. The girls did the jump rope while the boys chased the Frisbees everywhere.

We gathered them back together again at the end of the afternoon and Jeff led them in singing some songs and then he told them a few more Bible stories.

But the day was not over. As the evening approached, we set up a large screen in the field and prepared to show the Jesus Film. We began showing the film around 7pm with around 50-60 people there. But by the end of the film hundreds had gathered to watch. When the film was over 77 people came forward to pray to receive Christ. Please be in prayer for these new believers as the church prepares to follow up with them.

Sunday morning the church was packed to overflowing. Jan and Dee had SS for the children, while Jeff led the youth, and Danstone shared with the adults. Then Pastor Mike preached during the morning worship service. As usual there was plenty of singing and the children did a wonderful dance routine for us.

After church we hit the road to head back home. It was a rough trip and we saw many tractor trailers that had crashed along the side of the road. This is a Petrol truck that had overturned.

But there was also beautiful scenery as we went up and down over the mountains. We traveled through many lovely tea plantations along the way. We also saw some of the tallest corn we have ever seen!

All in all it was another wonderful weekend in the Lord. Please continue to pray for the people of Kenya.

Machokos - He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear

2009-06-04T10:35:00.002+03:00

This past weekend we traveled with Mike and Dee Dameron to a small town in the Machakos district. We left early Saturday morning and arrived at the church around 11:00AM. After the usual greetings, we divided up into teams to go into the town to share about Christ. This trip was a little different in several ways. This church was located in a small town instead of in the bush and the church was much larger with cement floors instead of dirt, real wooden benches and even had electricity! Our teams were much larger this time. Besides the missionary and their interpreter, we also had about 6 others to go with each team to observe how we were doing evangelism. This was to help them learn how to do it on their own after we were gone. Another thing was we went into the market place in the town instead of going to individual homes. Many people would tell us they were too busy to stop and listen. But there were others who stopped their work to listen to the Word of God. At the end of the day there were 35 new brothers and sisters in God's Kingdom. What a praise.

We returned to the church for lunch and had the usual meal of goat stew with rice and cooked greens prepared for us by the ladies of the church. In the afternoon, Pastor Mike lead 3 hours of Bible study teaching for local pastors and church leaders.

On Sunday we met back at the church for Sunday School and worship service. Dee and Jan led the children through the creation story and a craft while Jeff led the youth through a session of how to do Bible storying.

Before Pastor Mike preached the sermon, we enjoyed different groups as they praised God through song and dance. The children were amazing as they performed precision movements along with their songs, sometimes even using tambourines and drums.

The guys did a quick set up and following the worship service, everyone stayed to see the Jesus Film presentation. It is always fascinating to observe how people respond to different portions of the story of Christ. Many times at different parts of the movie when Jesus does one of His miracles, the entire crowd will break out in applause. God is so good and He speaks to His people in so many different ways!

Homa Bay - Tellin' The Story

2009-05-14T07:37:00.006+03:00

This past weekend we traveled to Homa Bay en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homa_Bay on Lake Victoria for a weekend of sharing Christ's love with those who have not heard.

We traveled over Friday, stopping in Ogembo to deliver the new bunk beds for the orphanage. On Saturday morning we were greeted at the church by several local pastors who were going to be our interpreters for the weekend.

Jeff made friends with the children right off the bat.

Jeff and Jan being introduced to the pastors.

We were then introduced to our interpreter for the day, Moses. Moses is a pastor in the area and also the associational leader for the Baptist Convention.

The morning started off well as we shared with this gentleman, his wife, and friend. All three prayed to receive Christ. After we prayed with them, we encouraged him to get involved in a church and told him to come see the Jesus Film that night. We also told him that now that he knew about Christ, he should share the Good News with others. He then asked us if we would go with him and tell his brother's family what he had just heard!

After we shared with his brother and his wife, they too prayed to receive Christ. What a wonderful way to show how much he loved his brother. How exciting! What a lesson for all of us. Once we have heard the Good News, we need to tell others, especially those we love.

One of our stops during the morning was to meet the lady who opened her home to the church before there was a church building. As the church was forming, they met under this tree in her yard.

We used the Creation to Christ Bible stories to share. Jeff is a wonderful story teller. He did wonderful job of keeping their attention.

These three young men all prayed to receive Christ. We only had a few Bibles to hand out so we told them they would have to share.

After a very productive morning for the teams, we returned to the church where the ladies made us a wonderful lunch of rice, ugahli, sukuma wiki, goat, and pineapple.

After lunch we divided up and spent some time in teaching the adults and children. Later on we showed the Jesus Film, which is always a blessing. At the end of the film, Pastor Mike issued an invitation and 13 people came forward to pray to receive Christ.

This sharp young man is Victor. We met Victor first thing in the morning on the road. He said he already knew about Jesus but we invited him to come and see the Jesus Film later on in the day. After viewing the film, Victor was one of the ones who came forward and prayed to receive Christ as his Savior! We love watching the way God works. He also came back to the church on Sunday morning and Pastor Mike gave him a Bible. We hope to hear more about Victor in the weeks to come.

Sunday, we went back to the church and held Sunday School. Jan and Gail worked with the children while Neal led the adults. Sunday School was followed by the worship service which is always preceded by plenty of singing and praising.

Jeff sharing with the church.

Pastor Mike Preaching with Moses interpreting.

This is Pastor Kenneth, the pastor of the church, with his wife Evelyn. Please be in prayer for them as they have much follow up to do with the 114 people who made decisions for Christ over the weekend!

Sweet Dreams at the Orphanage

2009-05-12T07:56:00.005+03:00

This weekend we had the privilege of delivering a wonderful gift to the orphanage in Ogembo. You may remember reading about this orphanage when we went to visited there back in February. Well some friends from Heritage Hills Baptist Church in Conyers, GA read the article and were moved by God to do something to help the children. Since 24 children were sleeping on three twin beds, we felt the best thing was to get them more beds. Since the orphanage has a dirt floor and termites are a big problem here, we had bunk beds for both the girls and the boys dorm made of metal. Brand new mattresses were bought for the beds and then the gift was topped off with new blankets for everyone.

We were able to load everything into and onto a four wheel drive Land Cruiser which worked well since the trip up the mountainous dirt road was a rough one. Even though the ride was rough, the scenery at the top of the mountain was magnificent.

The lady here with the blankets is Evelyn. She is the primary caretaker for the orphans.

We were not able to get a picture of the beds assembled and in place because we were on our way to Homa Bay for the weekend and we still had to get back down off the mountain and travel four more hours before dark.

But we did have time to go into the church and listen to the children from the school and the orphanage sing us a couple of songs before we left.

Many people from the community came to greet us and thank us for such a wonderful gift. Thank you so much Heritage Hills friends. We only wish you could have been there to see the smiles and receive the hugs we received on your behalf.

Just for Giggles and Grins

2009-05-06T08:28:00.003+03:00

After a limited survey (my four children), the consensus is to share this on the BLOG.

If you’ve been keeping up with the BLOG, you may have seen the post where the ladies went on a retreat a few weeks ago. While the ladies did their thing, Neal and I rode around the country side. We came up on the "Taidy's Restaurant" in Eldama Ravine. I picked up this brochure. It would appear that someone pulled out the English dictionary and went to the "make me sound smart by using big words" section. Hope you find this as humorous as I did.

This is Africa (You’ll have to add your own Ryan Seacrest voice).

The hotel featured a Mother Theresa wing, a Kofi Annan wing, a Nelson Mandela wing, and (drum roll here) a Barack Obama wing. With the many Barack Obama things seen here in Kenya, you’d think he is the president here.

Evangelism/Medical Clinic in the bush

2009-05-04T15:53:00.010+03:00

Last weekend three missionary couples traveled into Maasailand to share Christ's love. The ladies returned to Oltinka Baptist Church in Emali to conduct a medical clinic and AIDS awareness seminar. At the same time, the men traveled out further into the bush to share stories of Christ with different small groups.

The men made their first stop at the home place of a man who introduced them to his three wives. As Neal began to share Bible stories using the Bible Storying Cloth, a small group formed to hear what he had to say. (Because most of the lost world does not read, the storying cloth is used by missionaries to teach people by telling them the stories of the Bible chronologically from creation to Christ. Learn more about the storying cloth at http://www.imb.org/main/lead/page.asp?StoryID=5892&LanguageID=1709

One of the goals of these trips is to help disciple the church leaders. Three members of Oltinka Baptist went with the men to interpret and to learn how to better share their faith. Here you see one of them taking notes on what was being shared.

You have heard of living in mud huts before, well here, that is truly how they live.

The Maasai women are exceptionally beautiful women. We just love this shot.

After sharing at the first home place, the men moved on to another site that was a church beginning to form under a tree. At this location, Mike preached and Jeff sang. One man prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.

The men also carried some Bibles with them to give to those who needed them.

They also carried a rubber ball and some Frisbees. Unfortunately the acacia thorns ended the ball fun very quickly, but they were able to teach them how to throw the Frisbees.

The men ended the night by showing the Jesus Film, using a generator and a large screen they took with them.

Back at the church the ladies were setting up the medical supplies for the clinic. Stephen Juma, the medical director at Brackenhurst Conference Center in Nairobi, came along with us on the trip. He examine patients and administer medications. A couple of the men from the church were there to organize the people and interpret. Each patient would come into the clinic where Jan would take their blood pressure, pulse and age. They would then go see Stephen with their medical complaints. Dee worked with Stephen to measure out and administer any medication that needed. Then Gail would give every man, woman and child a dose of de-worming medication.

We stopped about 30 minutes for lunch. When we returned, Stephen led a seminar on AIDS awareness. Everyone was very attentive and some even asked questions. Their best question was, "When are you going to come back and test us for AIDS?" So now we are trying to obtain some AIDS test kits to return and test them.

After the AIDS seminar, it was back to seeing patients. The men were so gracious to allow the women and children to be seen first, before they came into the clinic. The last patient was seen right at dark. In all, 103 people were treated that day. The youngest was nine months and the oldest was 78 years old. It was a great day in the bush!

The Great Vitamin Caper

2009-04-30T07:46:00.011+03:00

This is a funny story describing typical third world Africa bureaucracy.

Last week, Jan's Sunday School class at Heritage Hills sent us several packages loaded with goodies. Two of these packages contained vitamins.

When our courier went to the post office, they would not release the package because it contained pills, heaven forbid. They sent him back with a card asking the strength of the pills and how they were to be taken. We sent back a message that they were daily vitamins. They then sent back word that a doctor would have to see the pills and release them. After waiting a few more days, we decided to go to the post office with our courier and see if we could help negotiate a release of the hostage pills. So, this morning we rode downtown to the post office and with the help of Sammy we tried again. Now they were saying the doctor had seen the pills and was requesting a letter from our doctor with a prescription stating what the pills were and how they were to be taken (Are you kidding, they’re daily vitamins!). We again stated that they were only vitamins and there was no prescription for them. She said sorry, it was out of her hands and we would have to go see the doctor to get it cleared up!

After pleading some more, the clerk finally took us to her supervisor. Jan brought a bottle from the house that contained exactly the same vitamins. She showed it to the supervisor and tried to explain that they were just vitamins. She agreed to send us to the custom's supervisor and let her decide. Once in the customs office, we opened one of the packages and showed her that the pills in the baggies matched the pills in the bottle. She said, “Oh they’re supplements”. We finally found the magic word. She wrote out a letter for each package and sent us back to the original supervisor. Now a value had to be assigned to each item in the packages. So, they sent us to another lady who emptied out both packages, wrote everything down, and assigned the value. Now it was quite obvious she was just pulling the values out of the air because she never used any reference material. Who cares, we’re finally making progress. We then took the slip she gave us to the custom's cashier in the post office. She then gave us yet another slip which must be taken to the bank to pay the customs fee. Kenya has to limit the number of people who handle money because it has a habit of not making it into the till. We walked several blocks through downtown traffic to the bank. Sammy stood in line and paid the fee and then we walked back to the post office with the receipt. We thought we would be done then but, noooooo, that would be way too simple. We had to stop at the custom's cashier again. We then went to the station to pick up the actual packages. Then we had to stop at another station to pay another fee. Who knows what that was for. Three stations later we were headed out. But wait, we had to stop at the exit so the guard could verify that our many slips matched the packages. Quick, run, we have our SUPPLEMENTS! We ended up visiting with 10 different people before we got out the door. It was a true adventure and really made us appreciate all Sammy does for us at the post office on a regular basis. The whole procedure, counting getting to and from downtown, took us almost three hours.

Jeff just keeps muttering something about how broken the system is and how this is just one example of why this country will stay a third world country for a long time to come.

Mombasa - Missionary Delivery

2009-04-20T08:19:00.007+03:00

As you saw in our previous post, we were able to go to the coast and enjoy a couple of days of rest and relaxation. We have shown you some pictures of the rough places we have stayed, so here is a shot of the nicest place we have stayed, the Milele Beach Hotel in Mombasa. It is actually the Presbyterian Guest House and they give missionaries a discounted rate.

There were two pools. This is the one right outside our room. Since we are so close to the equator, the water was on the warm side but still refreshing from the brutal heat.

Jeff did his customary thing of rising early to get pictures of the sun rising on the Indian ocean.

One of our friends in Nairobi had told us about Akamba Handicraft village. As a matter of fact, he had brought us back a couple of wooden carved elephants the last time he was in there. Akamba is a carving village located in Mombasa, so we went there to check it out. The village was started years ago by a missionary who was doing evangelistic contacts through business adventures. They now have an agreement that allows missionaries to shop in their wholesale warehouse. We were overwhelmed by all the carvings and the great workmanship that we saw.

Jeff searched and searched among the carvings and got himself a few more elephants to add to his herd already started at home. We also purchased a carved giraffe with a little baby with her. Jeff particularly like this one because it's head is tilted up like it is eating. He wants to place it next to a plant.

After we made our purchases in the warehouse, we went out back to watch some of the carvers at work.

We also watched as the packers would wrap up these huge carvings that were going to be shipped, literally, all over the world.

Since we do not have air-conditioning in our home, we enjoyed just resting in our air-conditioned room during the heat of the afternoons. Most of our meals were provided with the room so we enjoyed the Kenyan foods without even having to leave the hotel. We did get out and take a couple of walks on the beach. There were no sea shells to be found, but there were several outcropping of rocks. So you know us, we had to collect rocks instead.

Maersk Alabama

2009-04-15T16:18:00.004+03:00

Today we had a real treat! We had to make a trip to the coast to escort a new missionary family to their assignment near Mombasa. We decided since we were at the coast, we would stay a couple of days and get some rest. Jeff got it in his head that we should try to find the sea port to see if, by any chance, we could get a glimpse of the US ship Maersk Alabama that was hijacked by Somalian pirates last week. We wandered around town for a while, into some pretty scary areas, looking for the port. Then we came up on a secured area with guards and police. Jeff was determined to be found trying, so we drove up to the gate. The Kenya Port Authority Police stopped us and Jeff asked him if the US ship Alabama was docked there and if it was could he take a picture. The police asked for our ID. We were pretty sure he was talking about some journalist ID but Jeff handed him his Kenyan resident ID. We parked and went into an office where they gave us permission to walk to the docks! As we walked, Jeff stopped and asked another officer where the Alabama was and would she escort us to the ship. She agreed and walked us about half way there where she turned us over to another officer, who quickly became our friend, Mike. Mike walked us all the way to the ship and let us take all the pictures we wanted.

While Jeff was taking pictures, we saw a film crew there and he asked them if they were doing a news story on the Alabama. They said yes. When he asked who for, they said for NBC and the story would air on the Today show today at 2:00pm. They asked Jeff if he was also doing a story and they were surprised that we had been allowed to come in and take the pictures since he was not. I guess God knew how determined Jeff was and just paved the whole way for us.

As we were headed back out, we were stopped by an officer that was not happy that we did not have an official pass. Fortunately Mike was still with us and he shared that we were missionaries with the Baptist Church and the officer’s attitude changed. Then Jeff began to witness to him, and he asked us many questions about Jesus coming back to earth again. It turned out he was already a believer but apparently had some questions. We left him all smiles. Then Mike walked us all the way to our car talking to us the whole time. It turns out he has worked as a Port Authority Police in that port for 22 years! Before we left him, Jeff asked him if he had prayed to receive Jesus Christ and he assured us that he had, but he also had questions. What started out to be one of Jeff’s crazy ideas, God used to bless us and two Kenyan Police Officers.

Check it out!

Ladies Bible Study Retreat

2009-04-08T08:40:00.004+03:00

Every Thursday night, Jan meets for Bible study with a group of ladies who all live on the Baptist Mission Compound. Most of them are Kenyan ladies who work on the compound, three are missionaries. We have been studying the MasterLife program together. We have Bibles that are in both English and Swahili so that everyone can understand what is being said. One Thursday night a month, the group will work on crafts. The crafts are sold to help support missions and supplies for the group.

The proceeds from the last sell were used to fund a Bible Study retreat for the ladies in Nakuru. On Friday afternoon eleven ladies and two gentlemen escorts loaded into a van and headed out. Three hours later we arrived at an IMB owned home that is being rented to a former IMB missionary, who was presently in the states. As you can see, the house was a large house and when we entered, we felt like we had just stepped into a page of a "House Beautiful" magazine. It was beautifully decorated and finely furnished.

Friday night Jan led a prayer session for the ladies. We are always humbled by their sweet prayers for others.

There are two domestic workers who live at the house and they prepared all of our meals for us African style. They also provided chai and homemade cookies twice a day. Each meal was served a nicely decorated table and we felt like royalty all weekend.

Saturday we had an open forum where the national ladies could ask the missionaries any questions they might have about children, families, school or health issues. Then in the afternoon, Laura Lee, an IMB missionary who speaks fluent Swahili lead a Bible study for them in Swahili which was a real treat for everyone.

We also had some time to relax on the peaceful grounds that were covered in beautiful plants and flowers.

We told the ladies to come in very casual comfortable clothes to relax in, but instead they all dressed up and wore beautiful outfits the entire weekend. Here is a picture of Jan with Rose in her traditional Kenyan outfit.

While the ladies were having their sessions, the men took off and visited the interesting country side. They stopped at the Menengai crater and were awed by God's creation. http://www.webkenya.com/eng/safari/nakuru.php#see11

They also stopped so Jeff could have his picture taken standing on the equator!

After our session on Saturday, everyone was given a beautiful Kikoy wrap. Here is a picture of all of the lovely ladies in their new wraps which can also be worn as a shawl.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we again loaded up the van and headed back to Nairobi, refreshed and revived. God was so gracious to not only allow us safe journeys but also a great time of sharing His Word and each other's company.

Emali Discipleship Weekend

2009-03-31T08:18:00.007+03:00

This past weekend we traveled into Maasailand to work with the Maasia people there. We went to Oltinka Baptist Church for a weekend of discipleship training for pastors and elders in the area.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and began by setting up the generator, projector and sheets for the Jesus Film to be shown at dark. The church is a small simple church with dirt floors and wooden benches. As you can see they have decorated it with their best efforts.
Right off the bat, we began to meet the hard working and beautiful women of the church. Here is Gail helping the ladies in the tin kitchen as they prepare our goat meal for Saturday.
This is the house where we stayed for the weekend. The house is located behind the church out in the bush. The house of course has no electricity except by a generator and batteries. Even though it was very hot all weekend, the house was situated where a nice breeze would blow through most of the day. The missionaries that were living here just recently had to return to the states for medical purposes. Please pray for Jim and Linda Sellers, as Linda will be undergoing two surgeries on her knee.
The Maasai people are herdsmen and follow their cattle and goats around as they graze. Unfortunately, lately there has been so little rain there is very little to no areas for grazing and the livestock are beginning to die. Please pray for rain for Kenya for there are many areas where even the people are dying from starvation.
Friday night we showed the Jesus Film and God drew two more ladies into His Kingdom. Praise the Lord.

Early Saturday morning the discipleship conference began. Pastor Mike set up in the church with the pastors, elders and leaders from several local churches. Many of the leader of the churches were women as the majority of the church members are women. Please pray for the Maasai men to come to know Christ. Pastor Henry interpreted as Pastor Mike led the discipleship conference teaching about church doctrines and ordinances of the church. Pray for these pastors and church leaders as they continue to learn about God's Word.
Jeff and Neal led the young men of the church, while Dee, Gail and Jan worked with the children. Fortunately, the children and young men could all speak and understand English.
The conference went all day with a break for lunch when we were served goat stew with rice, which was very tasty.
On Sunday we attended worship service with them. Since many of the pastors and leaders had traveled a long way to get there, most of them stayed overnight and worshiped with us as well.

It is not every day that you meet a baby donkey on your way to church services. Isn't he adorable?

Even in Maasailand there are hymns to be sung throughout the service. Notice the glasses? We brought with us dozens of pairs of reading glasses to give out to those who needed them. It really blessed us to see them already in use.
Besides the hymns there was a special number done by the youth choir (of two) and the ladies did several songs along with their traditional dance moves. It was a small taste of heaven to hear them sing in their native tongue.
Pastor Mike preached the sermon with Pastor Henry interpreting.

After the service, everyone was so grateful for us having come to spend the weekend with them. Several of the ladies took their traditional beaded jewelry off and placed in on our wrists and around our necks. Please begin to pray for the people of this lovely fellowship, that they will grow in their walk with the Lord.

The Maasai women are very beautiful and very colorful. We thought you might like to see a few of the faces that you will be praying for.

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

2009-03-23T08:34:00.004+03:00

Unfortunately many areas of Kenya have been experiencing severe drought. People have been unable to grow their regular crops due to the lack of rain and therefore many are going hungry. The church we attend, Ridgeways Baptist Church, partnered with another local church, Parklands Baptist, to collect food items to carry folks living in the dry areas. Ridgeways is a church that was planted by IMB missionaries. This year as the church celebrated it’s 21st anniversary, instead of having the usual dinner on the grounds, we were encouraged to bring in bags of maize meal for the food distribution. A great mission minded idea. The church collected 2652 bags of flour! This flour will be used to make ugahli, a very common and filling staple food eaten here in Kenya. Parklands Baptist contributed beans and oil.

On Friday, two large trucks were loaded with about seven tons of food. Then early Saturday morning we headed to Makueni to distribute the items.

Our truck was driven by Christopher, one of the mechanics at the Baptist Mission compound.

Makeuni is about three hours southeast of Nairobi and there has been no significant rain there since 2006. The closer we got to the area, the dryer things got. We observed that most of the rivers and all of the creek beds were dry. The roads were very dusty and dry and where we were headed was at the top of a mountain. Our mission truck did fine but unfortunately the second truck go stuck in the thick dust several times trying to get up the mountain and the men had to push it out.

When we arrived at the first school, there were already ladies gathering there. As we waited for the second truck to make it up the mountain, we began to sing songs with the ladies and before we knew it we were surrounded by many of the school students who ended up singing songs for us.

Jeff was moved by how many of the children had worn and tattered shoes if they had shoes at all. But there were plenty of smiles none the less.

Once the rest of the group had arrived, we met with the chief and had an official greeting and time of prayer together.

The group formed an assembly line and quickly unloaded a portion of each of the trucks and soon the room was full of bags of food.
Most of the group stayed there to distribute the food, while we traveled further down the mountain to another school to finish unloading our truck.
While the guys were unloading the truck the crowd began to gather.
Then suddenly several of the local women began helping to unload the bales. The African women are very strong and this was no big feat for them.
By the time the truck was unloaded a large crowd was gathered and waiting patiently in the shade. By the end of the day, it was reported that 1000 families had received some much needed food.

Ogembo Evangelism Trip

2009-02-23T08:30:00.007+03:00

Valentine's weekend we took a trip to visit an orphanage and school in Ogembo, located in western Kenya. We traveled with Mike and Dee Dameron, IMB missionaries who manage Brackenhurst Conference center near Nairobi and with Neal and Gail Alford, our supervisors here at the Baptist Mission of Kenya.

We left early Friday morning and our first stop was to deliver a new bicycle to a national pastor. His church is a five hour bicycle ride from his home. The rough roads had worn his old bicycle out. Pastor John was delighted with the new bicycle which had been bought with funds donated, for that purpose, from two ladies in the states.

We arrived in Ogembo late Friday afternoon and checked into the Rhockland Hotel (the only hotel in town).
Our room was modest....two twin beds and a bathroom.

As can see the shower had a "widow maker" that was precariously wired. Well the next morning, Jeff was taking a shower when there was a loud explosion and sparks started flying! Needless to say there was some shouting that went on before Jan was able to get the widow maker turned off for him. But it made for a great way to start the day by praising the Lord that he was still alive!

After breakfast, Pastor Robert met us and we traveled up the mountain on a rough dirt road to get to the orphanage and school. We had been told that there were around 20 children in the orphanage, so we had brought around 60 snacks and crafts for the children. Well, we quickly found out that there was a school next door to the orphanage and there were 192 children at the school. So as we traveled we worked on plan B.

The country was beautiful and was covered with sugarcane, bananas, coffee, tea and sweet potatoes growing plentifully on the steep hillsides.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the orphans singing to us.

Then we walked around back of the school to be greeted by the rest of the children attending the school. Many of them were still drinking their morning porridge provided by the school.

We quickly divided into teams with interpreters and headed out to visit with those living in the area. This was a very mountainous area and we did a lot of hiking up and down through fields and the thick brush around them.

As we went from home to home sharing Creation to Christ, we met many interesting people. Some were already believers and some prayed to receive Christ and became our new brothers and sisters in Christ. We talked with this family while they were planting sweet potatoes in their field.

We also shared with this group of women caring from their small children and each of them prayed to receive Christ that morning. We were fascinated to watch these men boiling up sugar cane and water to make into brown sugar. This grandmother had many grandchildren she was caring for. She was already a believer in Christ and felt we had been sent to her that day to pray for her family. She had a son in the mission hospital and a grandson whose ear had been cut off in another hospital. She told us she was blessed by our visit. We were blessed by the joy on her face.
When the morning was over and we returned to the school, each team gave a report and it was discovered that over 150 people had prayed to receive Christ during our visits. Our translators were invaluable during this time. Most of them were young pastors or church leaders in the surrounding churches. They wrote down the names of everyone who prayed and will be doing follow up discipleship with them in the following weeks. Please pray for these young men as they serve the Lord in an area where travel is so difficult.Our translators were Simon and Paul, two fine young men. Simon and his wife have twin nine month old babies, a boy and a girl.

After we were served lunch by the ladies of the church, we gathered all the children into the church to tell them the story of Esther. As Gail told the story and Jan showed them pictures, the children hung on every word. Then Jeff set up his computer and a projector powered by a generator and we showed them the Veggie Tales movie of Queen Esther. They loved it.

We had brought 60 copies of an Esther coloring book and plenty of crayons. So after the movie, we started tearing off pages of the coloring books and giving one page and a couple of crayons to each child. Even though we were disappointed at the smallness of the gift, the children were delighted.

Next it was time for the adults to watch the "Jesus Film".

As the movie was being shown the crowd continued to grow and grow until there were actually people hanging in every window trying to watch from the outside.

It appears that God has truly annointed this film and when it was over, there were around 30 people who came forward to pray to receive Christ.

While the adults were watching the film, we took a look at the rooms where the children stay at the orphanage. It was simply two rooms. Boys on the left and girls on the right.

This was the boys room. It had two twin beds and a set of shelves. It slept 14 boys laying crosswise on the beds.

This is the girls room. It had only one twin bed and slept 10 girls, some on the floor. Please pray for these 24 children living in these tight quarters in Ogembo. If you met them, you would be surprised to see their beautiful smiling faces. God has been good to them to provide for them a home with a place to sleep and food to eat.

Even though we did not speak the same language, the game of Hokey Pokey still translated!
Sunday we traveled back up the mountain for church. As we traveled, we saw many sights to reveal what life is like for these people. The women and children were washing their clothes in the river.
Small children were caring for babies.

The children start carrying water from the river at a very young age. Please remember to thank the Lord today for your many blessings and modern conviences.

When we arrived at the church, it was already packed and the children were excited to see us. Every age group performed a special musical and dance piece for us.

The church quickly became over-crowded and we had to move everyone outside. It was awesome to have the children continue to perform outside while we observed God's beautiful creation in the background.
Even though it was very hot, Mike did a wonderful job of presenting God's Word with Pastor Robert translating for him.
Mike ended the service by having all those who wanted special prayer to come forward and he prayed for them.
It was a long hard weekend, but very rewarding to see God work in so many wonderful ways! Please continue to pray for the people of Ogembo, especially the new believers.

Tulipelika Malori (We delivered the trucks)

2009-02-17T14:16:00.012+03:00

Last weekend Jeff and our supervisors, Neal and Gail, took a road trip to deliver two new vehicles to Lokichogia, Kenya which is located in north west Kenya near the Sudan border. The journey took two days but allowed them to see some beautiful scenery along the way.

They also traveled through some hot dry not so beautiful scenery.

We used to think we had some large ant hills in Georgia, but take a look at this termite hill. It was at least 25 feet tall!

Some of the roads traveled were so rough it was smoother to ride on the shoulder.
Other times there was almost no road at all.
They also encountered several different kinds of animals along, or in, the road.
But Jeff's favorite was the large amount of camel seen grazing alongside the road.
As the area got more remote, there were no buses traveling the route and people would have to pile into the backs of trucks to get from place to place.
They carried bags of Ugali flour, a main staple good in Kenya, with them. When they would see a lady traveling down the road alone, they would stop and give her a bag of the flour. Most were receptive but some were even too scared to come near the car.

Here is a shot of the two vehicles they were delivering at a police check. It was here that the policeman told them they should not travel any further without an armed escort. The route they took is very dangerous because of bandits. But, with God's hedge of protection and the prayers of many, they were able to travel in safety.

The people in this North western corner of Kenya are the Turkana people. They are very colorful people who live a nomadic lifestyle. Please pray for the Turkana people as they still follow their traditional religion and have a nonchalant attitude toward Christianity.

These are some of the dome huts that they call home.

After the trucks were delivered, they had an interesting flight home on an eight passenger plane owned by AIM (African Inland Mission). Just as the wheels were about to touch down back in Nairobi, a fuel barrel on board decompressed with a huge “bong”. It scared everyone pretty bad, including the pilot, until they figured out what it was.

Super Bowl Party

2009-02-17T08:41:00.003+03:00

Even though we’re in the land of futball (soccer) it does not mean that we don’t know what’s going on in football world. We got together on Monday night with some of our missionary friends and watched the Super Bowl. We recorded the game so we didn’t have to stay up all night. Almost everyone was good to avoid the internet so we could watch it without knowing the outcome before hand. We used an LCD projector and showed it on the wall to get the big screen affect. We used my Bose speakers, turned it up real loud, and had a great time. It was almost like being there ;>)

Kiswahali

2009-01-24T17:08:00.003+03:00

Jambo, harbari yako? Tuna nzuri. Tuli jifunza Kiswahili kwa tatu jama. Tunapenda kula Kenya chakula. Tunataka wewe kuja katika Kenya. Hakuna Matata.
Kwaheri ya kuonana.

Translation:
Hello, how are you? We are fine. We have been studying Swahili for three weeks. We love to eat Kenya food. We want you to come to Kenya. No Problem.
Good bye until we meet again.

For the past three weeks we have been attending Kiswahili classes at the Anglican Church of Kenya Language School in downtown Nairobi. We attend class from 9:00 AM until 3:30PM. We have four different instructors who have been working hard to help us. The classes are tough, especially for those of us who haven’t attended any schooling in so many years, but the traffic getting to class in the mornings has been the major stressor. The morning commute takes us around one and a half hours and it is only about 10 miles. It is just simply bumper to bumper the whole way. The road we live on is the busiest road around. It takes us one full hour to go the first three and half miles from our house! Needless to say, this has been “driving” Jeff crazy and not been good for either of our nerves. Friday we were able to convince the school to send one of the instructors to our office to teach us. We are so excited about this. We will take next week off while they make the arrangements and start back with classes on February 2. Thanks to so many of you for your prayers in this area. Please continue to pray for us to learn enough of the language to be able to communicate. God can and does still work miracles.

As for those of you who have been asking how Molly is adjusting to Kenya, we think this picture says it all.

Wall Construction

2009-01-24T16:46:00.003+03:00

As we mentioned in previous post, the road in front of our compound is very busy. The city has decided to widen the road and will be taking down our present shrubbery and fence. This is a huge security concern, so the mission is having a new block wall constructed across the front of our property. ALL of the work is being done by hand.

This is a picture of the ditch for the footer for the wall. Here you can see men inside the ditch that they dug by hand. When completed, the length of the wall will be about one quarter of a mile. As you can see in the photo, the footer ditch is about five and a half feet deep. Here in Africa you can use manual labor to accomplish a task at a fraction of the cost of machinery.

Celebrating New Year at Amboseli National Park

2009-01-10T12:16:00.015+03:00

To celebrate the New Year, we took a camping trip with some friends to Amboseli National Park in Southern Kenya. We woke each morning to see the sunrise at Mt. Kiliminjaro. It was beautiful. We would go out each day on game drives to see what animals we could see. We thought you might enjoy seeing some of God’s awesome creatures in their natural habitat.

This is Mt. Kiliminjaro.

One creature we saw plenty of was the elephant. We even woke up one morning to find an elephant in our camp ground.

This is the big bull who decided to visit us in the campground.
This strange looking creature is a Wildebeest. One day we saw three cheetahs surround this herd of wildebeest. They made a short run for them, but then stopped abruptly and laid down.

This is a spotted hyena. We were surrprised at the size of these animals. It's difficult to tell because there is nothing in the photo to give it perspective but, they are much larger than a large dog.

Another plentiful animal was the Zebra. We were able to observe them, walking, running, lying down and even one rolling over on it’s back!

Giraffe

Guess what this one is.

Fish Eagle

We came across these cute little creatures and had to look them up in our animal book. We discovered they are Bat eared foxes. A car drove up just as we were looking at them and asked what we saw. We decided to have some fun so, in his best British accent, Jeff told them “It's a Bat Eared Fox, just there, behind the bush”. To our surprise, in her genuine British accent she replied, “Oh reaaalllly!” By her response, you would have thought that she had been waiting her entire life to see a Bat Eared Fox. We laughed about this for days.

These beauties are called Grey Crowned Cranes. God gave them beautiful colors.

These are Superb Starling. The were all around our campsite.

Two different days we saw lions in this same area. On this day there were two lions on each side of the road. We stopped to take photos and video. While we were there, two lions crossed the road to the side where the others were resting. All of the sudden the two who had crossed the road attacked the two on the other side, one at a time. The dust and paws were flying and the roars were awesome. This was a rare treat for any group on a game drive. We were in awe.

Hippo

Cape Buffalo. These animals can be incredibly hostile. One attacked another missionary’s car in Nakuru National Park a couple of months ago. It didn’t work out well for the buffalo.

Wart Hog with babies

Water Buck

Grant's Gazelle

Nairobi - Kids of the Street

2008-12-29T09:59:00.018+03:00

For the past few weeks, we have been attending Ridgeways Baptist Church here in Nairobi. They are a very mission active church fellowship we have really come to enjoy. We volunteered to help out with a Christmas mission project to provide help for the street boys in downtown Nairobi. We tried to meet their immediate needs with food and a blanket but we also tried to meet their eternal need with prayer and the gospel as well.

RBC has many ministries to minister and evangelize the community. Through another ministry, several people, in a nearby slum area, recently prayed to receive Christ. When we met Tuesday afternoon to make homemade items for the boys, eight of those people showed up and volunteered to help. We were so moved by the commitment of these new Christians and RBC,s commitment to missions

First we made butter sandwiches to eat along with the hot tea we were taking them the next morning.

Then we rolled out and cooked around 200 Chapatis. A Chapati is a flatbread that is eaten with many meals here in Kenya. Even though it is only flour, water and salt, it is quite tasty once it is pan fried (Anything is delicious if you fry it, it’s a southern thing).

Chapati recipe: http://www.justkenya.org/kenya/recipes/chapati.asp

Other things that were cooked for them were beef sausages and Mandazis. A Mandazi is a delicious donut like pastry. We made up the dough, rolled it out, and cut it into triangles before frying them in deep fat (Jeff almost ate all the dough before we could get it fried). Yum! Here’s a link to a Mandazi recipe: http://www.allthingskenyan.com/food-mandazi.html

We met at the church at 5:00 AM and headed downtown (Those of you who know how much Jan loves mornings can really appreciate this). When we arrived, the boys were already waiting on us, lined up seated orderly against a wall. The first thing we did was to serve them hot tea and the butter sandwiches. We then began passing out the rest of the goodies as well as a new blanket for each of them.

After everyone was fed and the goodies distributed, we divided ourselves up among the boys and shared our testimonies, and their stories. Here, Jan is sharing with two boys. One said he did not want to be on the streets anymore and would I please pray for him to find a way off the streets. The other said he wanted to be able to go back to school. After we talked, the one on the right prayed to receive Christ. What a praise! When the other one was asked if he wanted to pray, he said “I’ve done that before, but Jesus keeps letting me down.” Needless to say this was very heartbreaking.

These boys lead a very tough life. As you might figure, most of the boys do not have adequate clothing or shoes.

They go around collecting plastic bags from garbage and sell the plastic. Unfortunately, many of them will use the money they make to purchase glue to sniff. We were told that the glue will cut the hunger pains. Please pray for these children.

This is a shot of our pastor, Pastor Wanje, and Eunice, a lady who works regularly with the street kids, praying with another boy to receive Christ.

I want you to meet another one of our new friends from Ridgeways. His name is Fred. Fred has been working with the street kid’s ministry for about a year and a half. You can see his passion for these kids. That comes from the fact that he was once one of them. Fred recently wrote out his testimony. It can be read under the “Stories and Prayers” section on the right. We are thrilled to tell you now, before you see where he has been, the direction his life is taking now. He has been called by God to work with street kids and teens. The Lord has also put the need for him to have formal training on the hearts of some believers. He started a three year course in November, concentrating on Youth Ministry, at the seminary in Nairobi. Please pray for Fred as well.

Freds story: http://jeffandjan-n-africa-prayers.blogspot.com/

40/40 Training in Zambia - Part 4 (Homestay)

2008-12-18T11:50:00.010+03:00

The last week of 40/40 we were blessed to stay in the home of David and Zelipa Banda for three days. David is a farmer and he and his wife have 5 children ranging from 2 months to 20 years.

Here is a shot of David and Zelipa in front of the house where we slept. This small brick and tin roof structure was actually divided into three small rooms. We slept on the floor on mats in one of the rooms and all of the Banda family slept together in the front room. The house was very hot with next to no ventilation. Sleeping was rough.

This is three of the children. David Jr., Agnes and baby James.

Our first day with the Banda family was very laid back. We watched the children play a game called Nsolo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsolo It was played in the dirt using seed pods for the playing pieces.

David had been through a program entitled “Growing God’s Way” and had learned some ways to help increase his crops. Here you can see Jeff helping him plant Musangu seeds in small plastic sleeves filled with dirt. http://www.conservationagriculture.net/assets/images/media/20070621_124428_Leaflet1-HowtoPlantandLookAfterFaidherbiaalbida.pdf When these seeds have grown to be small seedlings, he will plant them among his crops. As they grow and the leaves fall onto the ground, they will act as a natural fertilizer to increase the soil fertility.

David has to water the seedlings everyday.

After lunch we made a trip to the borehole. Here you can see Jan doing woman’s work.

Over the next couple of days we had many adventures just participating in the everyday life of the Banda family. We got up at 5:30am and after a little bed and tea we walked for 30 minutes to their field. Once there we hoed small holes and then dropped velvet bean seeds into the holes and covered them over with soil. These seeds would help to produce nutrients that were good for the soil. After planting, we walked the perimeter of his field and prayed over this year’s harvest.

In the afternoon we went to visit some people from the church we wanted the missionaries to come and pray for them. We visited and prayed with widows, the sick, crippled, stroke victims, women whose husbands were not treating them well, the elderly, and those with broken relationship.

Jan had the opportunity to pound maize and Jeff was able to show David that he did know how to milk a cow.

Sunday morning as we were preparing to go to church, we witnessed our lunch being purchased and then slaughtered. Zelipa was wonderful about cooking all of our meals but when it came time to eat, we would eat in the house with David and she would eat outside with the children.

We attended church and it was packed out. I think everyone got the word that the missionaries would be there this week.

We left the Banda family Monday morning and headed back to Lusaka where we spent our final three days at Ibis Garden and nice resort complex with air conditioning and a pool!!

40/40 Training in Zambia - Part 3 (Petauke)

2008-12-09T14:51:00.017+03:00

Halfway through our time in Zambia we took a 6 hours long hot bus ride from the seminary in Lusaka to a bush camp in Petauke.

At the camp, we stayed in tents and our meals were cooked and served from a camp kitchen.

Of course we had long drop potties and our showers were bucket showers using water that we pumped from a bore hole, burr.

Camping was a lot of fun despite some of the creepy crawly critters we encountered.

This time we were partnered together as a couple and had a new Zambian helper, Pastor Amos Mwale. Again each day we were given a Daily Field Assignment and we began by loading up in the back of a big truck and going into the boma (town). Our first DFA was to meet different city officials. Our group met with the District Commissioner. He was a strong Christian and spent most of the time encouraging us. It was a good visit.

Each day we would ride into the boma and met people in the market or in the nearby homes. We usually had a topic for the day that we would discuss with the people we would meet.

One day while we were visiting a family in the town, this little one tried Jeff’s hat on for size.

The second week in Petauke was spent walking to the homes in the nearby villages. We met many different people and heard many interesting stories about their lives in Africa.

One day we met with a retired school headmaster who had started his own business with a granary at his home.

Pastor Amos took us to his home to meet his wife and children. He also gave us a gift of ground nuts that he had grown.

Back at the bush camp we had classes each day about different aspects of African culture. One day the men went and met with the Chief and the ladies invited the Chief’s wife and the District Commissioner’s wife to the camp for tea. Other topics were driving lessons, cooking lessons, health lessons and auto maintenance classes. One day we also had a live demonstration on how to slaughter a chicken and how to slaughter a pig. Both were eaten for dinner.

The roughest part of bush camp was the HEAT! The temperature was over 100 degrees most everyday and got as high as 107. We found the best way to stay cool in the afternoon was to fill our laundry bucket with cold water from the bore hole and just sit with our feet in it. We would sleep with wet wash cloths on our chests.

By far the roughest adventure was the night Jeff passed his first ever kidney stone and had to be driven over an hour down rough bumpy roads to spend a night in the bush hospital. To read Jeff’s version of this experience, click under “Stories and Prayers” on the right. Here's the link: http://jeffandjan-n-africa-prayers.blogspot.com/

One of the beauties of bush camp was waking up each morning to look out the tent at the sun rising through the trees.

Jeff would go out into the fields most every morning and take these beautiful sunrise shots. Despite it’s heat, Zambia is a beautiful country.

40/40 Training in Zambia - Part 2 (Lusaka)

2008-12-01T15:13:00.010+03:00

Each day as we went out into the city for our DFAs, we would meet new people and continue relationships with others made earlier in the week. Each day Jeff and his partner Grant, would go into the compound of Kalikiliki to work among the people.

One of his adventures came early one morning at the bus stop when a young lady began to scream. It turns out there was a green momba. There was also a brave soul there who killed it and then showed it off for the camera.

Jeff and Grant met a man who told them his name was Jacob. Unfortunately, Jacob was an unemployed drunk man, but he was willing to listen to what the guys had to share with him. Each day Jacob would meet with the guys and they would share more. By the end of the week, Jacob had stopped drinking and had found a job. Another interesting point, after telling them his name was Jacob for the first three days on the fourth day, he confessed his name was really Isaac!

Jeff and Grant, along with their helper Austin, had many other opportunities to share with the people of Kalikiliki. On the day our assignment was death and illnesses, Jeff and Grant visited a woman who was dying with AIDS. It was a very tough and sad assignment and the next day the woman died.

Jeff and Grant praying with a family in Kalikiliki.

One day our DFA included eating lunch in the market. The little shops were very small and very hot and the food was very interesting but also very good. Jan’s team had beans, pumpkin leaves cooked with ground peanuts which tasted like creamed spinach. We also had the Zambian staple that they eat at each meal, nshema, ground maize meal cooked in water until stiff. The total cost for all three of us was $15,500 Kwacha or about $4.

Fish cooking in the market.

Nshema

Jan’s partner was Deb and their Zambian helper was Luta Nsofua from the Lamba tribe. They would go each day into the compound of Mutendera to share. Before going out, we were taught some Chechawa greetings.
Muli Bwanji - How are you
Ndili Bwino - I am good
Zikomo Kwambili - Thank you very much
Mwachoma Bwanji - How have you passed the day?
Nachoma Bwino - I have risen well.
Abambo - Sir
Amai - Mama
Papani - Sorry
Lesa - God

One day Jan’s team met a sweet young lady named Carol Kanyemba. She was 20 years old and very pretty. She had been attending the Business College but was now waiting to save enough money to take more classes. Another day, Jan was not feeling well and Carol invited her into her home to rest and visit while the rest of the team continued the assignment. She asked many questions about America and religion while Jan watched her iron her clothes on the table.

On Sunday we divided up into groups and visited different churches throughout the city. Our church was Venture Baptist Fellowship Church, a small church of about 50 people. The church was a block building with a tin roof and very hot. We sat on cement blocks with no backs, men on the left and women on the right. As customary, we as visitors were asked to stand and were greeted with a three clap greeting. There were a few announcements, some hymns, some special music and an offering. This was followed by more songs, scripture reading and a sermon giving by one of the church deacons.

Austin reading the scripture

After the service, everyone exited the church forming a circle and proceeded around the circle shaking the hands of every church member. It is a great tradition.

All the children love to have their picture taken. This is Sarah Maddox showing the children their picture.

After church, we walked to the home of one of the deacons where several ladies had prepared a wonderful lunch for us. We were served chicken, okra, nshema, tomato sauce, pumpkin leaves and eggplant. It was very tasty but the small room was crowded with 12 people and very hot.

Since all eating is done with your fingers, before and after you eat the host will bring around a pitcher of water for each person to rinse off their hands.

40/40 Training in Zambia - Part 1 (Lusaka)

2008-11-29T13:21:00.011+03:00

We spent the last month in Zambia going through some training to help orient us to the African culture. We will take our next few posts to try and tell you all about our month there. It was a great time to reconnect with some old friends we met at our Field Personnel Orientation in Virginia. We also met many new missionaries that quickly became friends.

Jeff with growing baby Abigail, daughter of friends Chris and Katie from Georgia, both glad to see each other again.

We flew into Lusaka and stayed for 10 days in the dorms on the Baptist Seminary Campus.

This is the dining hall at the seminary where we had our meals as well as our daily classes and debriefing sessions.

As you can see they did a good job of feeding us, to the point that we both gained weight during this month.

After each meal, everyone would wash their own dishes by going through the washing station and then fanning them dry.

Each morning we would get up and walk the track around the campus and watch the sunrise.

Many mornings Jeff would see these parrots fly onto the campus and eat the berries in the tree. They would only stick around for about an hour and then they were gone.

The first thing on our agenda each morning was to meet with our POUCH group. POUCH is an acronym teaching us how to develop new church plants.
Participative discussion characterizes Bible teaching, centers on application
Obedience to Scripture by members and the group is the measure of success
Unpaid, often semi-literate lay people co-lead
Cell groups or small independent churches of 15-30 members are usual
Houses or storefronts, or schools or small local buildings (even under a tree) are typical meeting places

After Pouch, we would head out for our Daily Field Assignment (DFA) in the city. Each day we were given an assignment teaching us how to observe our surroundings and learn to strike up conversations with nationals. Some days our assignments included things such as handling sick visits or funerals, others included sharing our testimony or Creation to Christ Bible stories. We would go on these DFAs with a partner and a Zambian helper. We were required to ride on the city mini bus to a designated area of the city. Each day our teams would return to their designated area so they could build relationships there.

This is a shot of Jeff with his Zambian helper, Pastor Austin and few friends they made in Kalikiliki.

We would return to the seminary for lunch and then the afternoon was spent debriefing our morning assignment and discussing our DFA for the next day. Most of our afternoon classes were led by program director, Zambian missionary Kevin Rodgers, or pastor Ebby Musika.

Kevin Rodgers with the president of the Seminary

Pastor Ebby

With the temperature in the high 90s to 100 in Lusaka, the days were very draining. So the afternoons were usually spent resting and relaxing.

HEADED TO ZAMBIA

2008-10-22T04:15:00.002+03:00

Well, it's 4:15am Wednesday morning and we're leaving for Zambia for 30 days of training. We will be learning more about the African culture and how to best approach Africans with the gospel.

We will live and work in the city of Lusaka for 12 days and then in the village of Petuake for 12 days. We will then have the awesome opportunity to live in the home of a Zambian family for three days. This will give us great insight into the routine day of the people. Our final three days will be in debriefing at a nice resort area, yeah!

Please pray for our flights to be smooth and safe
Pray we will be open to learn all God has prepared for us
Pray we will be bold in our witnessing opportunities
Pray for our tolerance of the 95 degree heat of Zambia
Pray we will be a blessing to our interpreters and helpers as well as the people we meet each day.

We will be out of touch for these 30 days as we will have no electricity or internet access.

Thank you in advance for your prayers.

A FULL FRIDAY

2008-10-19T21:40:00.010+03:00

Last Friday we went on a tour of some of the places in Nairobi where the Baptist have been working over the years. At our first stop, we met pastor Euticuls Wambua at Baptist Chapel (Lakisama-Lucky Summer). The church is continuing to grow so they are in the process of adding more space. Pastor Wambua is a very busy man who wears many different hats. Not only is he pastoring a church, he is director of the Kariobangi Baptist Youth Centre (Korogosho) and chairman of the Nairobi Baptist Association.

Pastor Wambua (orange shirt) and headmaster Mutemi (blue shirt), headmaster of the school at the youth center

Baptist Chapel (Lakisama-Lucky Summer)

We also went to see the Kariobangi Baptist Youth Center and Academy. The center was started years ago as a place to teach locals carpentry and sewing classes. Over the years it has expanded to include hairdressing and cooking classes. There is also now a full time school there with preschool up through level 5 classes.

The children were such a joy to be around. When the director would take us into a class, they all would stand and say, “Good morning sir”. He would say, “How are you class?” They would answer in unison, “Fine, Sir”. They would then sing us a song or two complete with hand motions, each song told about the love of God. This went on in each class we visited. One class also recited a Bible verse for us.

The Center was literally built on the site of the land field for dumping garbage for all of Nairobi. You can look through the windows and see (and smell) the present land field. We watched as people were going through the garbage and pulling out anything they thought was of any value. Here you can see a collection of trash bags divided into separate piles by their color.

This is Virginia preparing a snack for the students. It is usually bread and butter, but because today is Friday, they will receive Jam and bread.We also went to the Baptist Children’s Home. Those who stay at the children’s home are orphans who have lost their family members to AIDS. There is a school, clinic, Chapel, Technology center and demonstration farm all on the same campus with the children’s home.
Our travels through the city took us through some pretty rough areas, but everywhere we went the children would smile at us and wave and say, “How are you?”

When we returned to the office, We had a Going Away Celebration for Roy and Dena Brent. Roy and Dena have been on the mission field for over 30 years and 25 of those have been right here at the Baptist Mission of Kenya where Roy has been responsible for the travel bookings and computer networking. These are the positions we are now in since Roy is retiring. The ladies in the office and on the compound cooked up a huge feast. We had roasted goat and chicken, Sumuka wiki (Incidently, sukuma wiki means 'to push the week' which implies that sukuma wiki is a food used to stretch the meals to last for the week. It is like collard greens), rice, guacamole, mashed potatoes cooked with pumpkin leaves with corn added and chipates. Everything was delicious and then the Brents were honored and given gifts.
After the celebration we had our first Swahili tutoring session with Hellen. Hujambo, Jina Langu ni Jan. Ninatoka nchi ya America, jimba la Georgia. Habari Yako.

Hello, my name is Jan. I come from America, the state of Georgia. How are you?

Jeff had to leave before the class was over to make an airport run to pick up a group of missionaries coming into town for a conference. The traffic is so bad in Nairobi, it took him over 4 hours to make the trip to the airport, drop the missionaries off and then return home. It is only about a 20 miles trip total! He had fun with it anyway. As the missionaries loaded into the van, he announced, “I have only been in Nairobi for 5 weeks, so you might want to tighten up your seat belts”. The lady sitting in the front seat quickly jumped out and went to the back. Upon arriving at the hotel, the gentleman who ended up in the front seat commented that he had made a hole in the floor board slamming on his imaginary brake.

As if that was not enough excitement for one day, Molly added to our excitement when we got home. She cornered her first hedgehog. They are so small and very prickly. We set it out on the sidewalk and left it alone until it finally unrolled and walked away. The perfect ending to a long day.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON DRIVE

2008-10-13T20:19:00.000+03:00

Well after being here for a whole month, Jan finally drove for the first time this Sunday. Sunday is the slowest traffic day and we went out of the city on a divided highway, so it was very easy driving for the first time. It was still very stressful and she is not looking forward to the day she has to drive in the city. It is like NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway (bumper cars at 80 MPH)!

The Bible study group that Jan is meeting with is using one evening each month to work on crafts. They then sell the crafts to raise money to purchase bibles that they then give away. This week they worked on rolled paper bead necklaces. They also began making a storying quilt to be used to tell the Bible in Chronological stories. It is going to be red, black and white, great Georgia colors. These ladies are very talented . We hope to send some pictures of the necklaces if anyone is interested in purchasing them to help out.

We have mentioned that our yard is full of beautiful plants and trees and one of those trees in a banana tree. This week we picked our first stalk of bananas and hung them on the porch to ripen. They are a small variety and very sweet. So for now it is bananas in the cereal, banana sandwiches for lunch and banana bread for dessert.

Funny story: Jan has been working with Shem, the volunteer coordinator at the mission. This week we had a meeting with the drivers who drive the volunteers on their trips. As Shem was talking to the drivers about identifying who was the volunteer team leader, he mentioned that all “wazungu” (White Men) look alike. He then laughed and said, and believe it or not the wazungu think that we Kenyans all look alike too. Funny but true.

The electricity is so expensive here, we do not turn our water heater on but about 2 hours in the morning. So, today we had a "widow maker" installed in our bathroom. For those who are not familiar with a "widow maker", it's a shower head with an 220 volt electrical wire running into it. Let's think about this. You're standing in a shower with a 220 volt electrical cord above your head. The husband must typically get the first shower, hence the name "widow maker". We are now able to flip a switch in our bathroom and have instant hot water whenever we want to take a shower. Yeah!

BUSY WEEK

2008-10-08T20:45:00.000+03:00

This has really been a busy week. We have discovered that much of the life of a logistic coordinator is spent on the road. Jeff spent the first part of the week working on getting internet service to the office where the media consultants will be working since they were due to arrive this week. He also made a presentation for improving the internet service for all the Baptist facilities here in Nairobi. Everyone was in favor of it. It will be implemented in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully we will be able to post more pictures more often in the near future.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent time with our Regional Logistics Coordinator as he gave us an orientation and his expectations from us. He is a very nice gentleman and will be great to work under. Jeff is still researching how to keep the network running and Jan is struggling through making travel arrangements for everyone. She will not receive official training in booking reservation until after we return from our trip to Zambia.

On Saturday we spent the day with Barry and Marleen Robinson. We visited the Giraffe Center and the Elephant Orphanage. The giraffes were very friendly and Jeff and Barry were brave enough to let them take a piece of food from their mouths! Check out the long tongue. The baby elephants were so cute and we learned a lot about their personalities.This picture is out of focus but you can see how long a gariffe's tongue is.

We also welcomed two new members to our team this week. They are two young ladies from the media department who will be working out of Nairobi. One is a photographer and the other a journalist. Today after church, we took them out for their first adventure at driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car. We took a trip out into the Rift Valley and saw some beautiful country side while they practiced their driving.

DAILY LIFE IN KENYA

2008-09-27T19:40:00.000+03:00

We have learned many new things in the two weeks that we have been in Kenya. We had been told that the traffic was terrible and that is a fact. Not many Kenyans actually own a car. They either get around by walking, riding bicycles or the public transport system which is 14 (always room for 3 more) passenger vans called matatus. These vans have fixed routes but not necessarily fixed stops or schedules. They will stop anywhere to pick someone up. Some are brightly painted to attract attention and some are equipped with stereos and DVD players. There is a driver of course, and also a conductor who takes the fares and hangs out of the sliding door of the matatu directing the driver in and out of traffic. The drivers are required to collect a certain amount of fares each day and then the amounts over that are theirs to keep. So they drive like mad men to get to the next stop. They will drive on the shoulders and on the sidewalks and make up their own “extra” lanes where ever they want to go. They will pull out in front of you or cut you off in traffic. They cause more traffic jams than you can imagine. Fortunately we have not had to ride in one yet, but it is our understanding that it will be part of our training next month is Zambia to get around using the public transportation. Pray for us.

We have also learned that Nairobi is very multi-cultural. There are many Muslim and Hindu families living here. The city is loaded with mosques and temples. This pictures show a Hindu temple we call the “Sand Castle”. We take our phone to be unlocked and the shop keeper has gone to pray at mid day. We see many women and girls walking the streets wearing their burkas. This month has been Ramadhan and we hear the public prayers being chanted even from our own home. We go out to eat on Friday nights in the Indian district and enjoy Indian cuisine. We have a whole division of our IMB team that works with the Asian population in town.

We are still learning how to purchase our food at the “Hawkers Market” where you go in and bargain with the vendors who are hawking their goods. We are getting some really good fresh fruits and vegetables but it is a learning process on how not to overpay. Our money system is in Kenyan Shillings, (Ksh). The exchange rate makes it work out that 100 shillings equals about $1.50. So as we are trying to barter, we also have to be calculating in our heads how much we just offered! Today we had our first “experience” going to the butcher to buy a few chicken breasts. The smell was delightful, NOT! Not to be too gross but it smelled like decomposing flesh.

Electricity here is very expensive so we try very hard to keep the lights off whenever possible and we only have our hot water heater turned on 2 hours a day to save on electricity. We do not have a clothes dryer because it would be too expensive to use. Our clothes are hung on the line to dry and then ironed. We have hired a sweet national lady named Grace to help out in this area.

All in all, we are adjusting well to the many changes and are enjoying our new friends that we are meeting each day. Please continue to pray for us as we adapt to our new culture.

HELL'S GATE

2008-09-20T21:39:00.001+03:00

After a busy week of working in the mission office learning the network system and travel booking, we took a day trip on Saturday up into the Nakuru District in the Rift Valley to Hell's Gate National Park. We saw many of God’s wonders, from awesome rock formations to all kinds of wild game.

We encountered zebra, giraffe, warthog, ostrich, cape buffalo, baboon, elan, gazelle, and dik-dik, a small deer looking animal that hops like a rabbit. There were also many species of different birds.

We hiked on the rock formations and up into an area of small caves.

After a peaceful picnic lunch, we were visited by some mama baboons with their babies hanging on their bellies. One decided she wanted a Tupperware container full of nuts off of our table. She walked right up beside Jan, snatched it and ran. After opening it and dumping out some nuts, she left it behind. It was too funny.. We were warned to watch out for our cameras, that they would take them as well.

We also hiked down into a gorge. There were several hot springs running out of the side walls of the gorge with very hot water flowing or dripping out. Down in the gorge, we met a young Massai boy named Jacob. He lived over the ridge in a boma with his father and his father’s two wives. The Massai people are herdsmen, so we asked what type of animals they had. He said they had 10 cows and 50 goats. While we were in the gorge it started to rain and we wanted to get out of the gorge quickly, so Jacob led us up a steep goat path to the top and we walked to the road from there. Hiking at an elevation of 8,000 feet proved to be very breath taking.

There were 6 of us on the trip and 3 of them had a GPS with them. The plan was to find a Geo Cashe located in the park. It was listed as not having been found in over one year, so we believe it must have been taken by someone because they never found it.

On the trip back to Nairobi, we stopped and got some roasted corn from a street vender. Some here refer to this as “typhoid on a stick”, so please pray we do not get sick! It was really quite tastey, just real chewy. All in all it was a great day spent with friends and enjoying God’s beautiful creations.

AFRICAN CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

2008-09-17T20:49:00.000+03:00

Today we went to the home of one of the Kenyan employees from the Baptist Mission of Kenya where we work. Her brother-in-law served in the military and was killed in a tragic truck accident that killed 5 others a couple of days ago. It was a humbling and educational experience. It had some similarities to our American funeral home experience but was quite different.

As we approached the home, we were greeted by singers gathered outside the home singing beautiful songs. These singers sang the entire time we were there. Each person that you passed greeted you, shook your hand and smiled. We all gathered in the front room of the home and were seated. The father of the young man came in and went around the room and shook each person’s hand. The mother came into the room and went around to everyone and gave them a big hug. One of the visitors that had come with us was asked to say a word of encouragement and then another one prayed. The mother then spoke and told everyone she was rejoicing eve though God had decided to take her son home now because He was a God who loved them. She was happy that she had raised her son in God’s Word and could be at peace with God’s decision. It was incredible to see this woman’s faith. The father also spoke praising God’s goodness. There were no tears because they knew where their son was now.

Next some of the family members served us all hot chai. Then someone came with a pitcher of warm water and a bucket. She went around the room and poured water over our hands so we could wash them off. Next the family brought out bread for us to eat with our chai.

Another one of the visitors with us read a scripture from the Bible that had comforted her at the time of her dad’s death and then Jeff prayed for the family again. We continued to sit and stay for quite some time until one of the Kenyan visitors that had come with us asked that we be excused to return home. Then there were more handshakes and goodbyes before we left.

I know that our presence was a comfort to the family, but we were the ones who were blessed the most as we observed the hospitality and faith of this family.

DRIVING LESSONS (YIKES!!!)

2008-09-16T22:10:00.000+03:00

The other day Jeff had his first adventure driving in Nairobi traffic. The missionaries here say driving in Nairobi increases your prayer life. Jeff just puts on his Nascar mentality and pushes his way on through. This shot of the traffic was taken on what is actually a two lane street. When things are busy, people will start adding lanes on the shoulders. We actually saw it go five lanes wide this day.
We headed to the “Hawkers Market” to purchase fresh vegetables and fruits. It was unbelievable how many items there were and how fresh the produce was. Everyone wants your business, so we were advised to pick a couple of guys we thought we could trust and continue to purchase from them. We purchased some items but have not had to use them yet as our new friends have all been feeding us dinners this week.

DAY TRIP TO NYERI

2008-09-13T21:45:00.000+03:00

Today we drove up to Nyeri, a small town about 200km north of Nairobi. The trip was to carry a lawnmower to the shambe worker (caretaker) of a property in the town that the IMB will be selling soon. We also pulled a trailer and transported furniture for Milka, one of the workers at the resource center here on the compound. Her mother lives in Nyeri and we took the items to her apartment there.

Along the way we saw plantations of pineapples, tobacco, coffee, mango, and many other smaller farms. We also saw large greenhouses where roses are grown. On the way back home, we stopped and I was able to buy fresh pineapple, mangos, avocados, eggplant and butternut squash. Yum, yum.

There were many other interesting sights along the way, including the local Home Depo. Check out the price of gas. This is by the liter, which equals around $6.24 a gallon.

HOME SWEET HOME

2008-09-13T21:31:00.000+03:00

Here are a few shots of our new home.

It is called the “Little Farm House”. The history is the house was the home of the plantation manager who ran a coffee plantation on the property where the Baptist Mission of Kenya is now located. It is a small two bedroom cottage with a full fenced in yard that Molly is really enjoying.
It has a small patio on the back and plenty of beautiful plants and flowers everywhere. I hope to plant a small vegetable garden as well real soon.

GO!!!!!!

2008-09-09T07:59:00.000+03:00

The time has arrived and we are finally ready to leave for Kenya. As we head to the airport this morning, we are overflowing with emotions. There is excitement, anticipation, joy, nervousness, and even some sadness on leaving family and friends. We are also overflowing with luggage. We have seven footlockers, two suitcases, two carryon bags, and two backpacks. Then there is the dog kennel and the dog. We will be leaving the Atlanta airport this afternoon headed to Amsterdam. After a short layover there, we are on to Nairobi, arriving in mid evening on Wednesday. We appreciate your prayers and support as we prepared to go and now as we head to the field, we petition your continued prayers.

Look out Kenya, here we come!

We will keep you updated

"Pit" Stop

2008-08-26T06:09:00.000+03:00

I am sure that many of you are wondering why we suddenly just disappeared off of the blog. The last few weeks of our orientation are sort of a blur for me. Since most of you are our faithful prayer partners, I am going to be completely honest with you. During a stressful part of our training, I (Jan) began to have panic attacks. There were many days that I was barely able to get out of the bed and put one foot in front of the other. My stomach was so nervous, I was unable to eat. I encountered sleepless nights and long hard days. We were able to finish our training and even go through our commissioning service, but due to my health, we lost our medical clearance. We were sent back to Conyers for me to receive treatment and to heal in hopes that we would still be able to go to Kenya at some point in the future.

God blessed me with a wonderful Christian physician. She felt a connection with me right away as she had just been asked to go on a mission trip to Kenya. After finding the correct medication, she then credited her co-physician, the Great Physician, with a miraculous healing. I now know that God had a few things He needed to reveal to me before I proceeded with His call to international missions. I am feeling stronger and more committed to missions than ever before.

To read the complete story of my healing, click on Stories and Prayers on the right side of the screen and go to “Jan's healing”.

Now, back to our last few weeks of training in Virginia. We want to introduce you to K, our final quadmate. K will also be going to Africa for two years on the Journeyman program. She will be traveling all over taking pictures of what is happening in missions across the world. She is a very talented photographer and I am confident you will be seeing her work in future publications.

Paul and Marlene McKay flew up to Richmond to attend our commissioning service and then drove us back to Conyers by way of a short stay in the mountains of North Carolina. It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for us. Thanks P&M, we love you.

Time Out

Since we have been back in Conyers, we have been staying in the basement apartment of our wonderful friends, Dennis and Julia McClendon. They have not only opened their home to us, but also their lives. They have ministered to us in so many ways over the past 2 months. There have been many others who have reached out to us during this difficult time with words of encouragement, acts of service, and prayers.

We spent this time, attending many doctor visits and counseling sessions and hours of prayer, scripture reading and meditation. We had one very exciting day when our second granddaughter was born on July 16. Meet beautiful Miss Layne Eden Ross. She is now growing well and adjusting to her new family.

It has been a strange time of limbo as we waited to see if we were to begin packing our suitcases to go to the mission field or looking for jobs to stay here. God revealed so much to us about Himself and about His call on our lives. We are excited to tell you that as of today, we have received official medical clearance to go to Kenya. Jeff, Jan and Molly are scheduled for departure on Tuesday September 9, at 4:40pm! God is Good!

Get Ready Week 4

2008-06-14T02:56:00.000+03:00

Well, life is speeding by at a rapid rate and we are learning so many good things that will be of great use to us on the field! There have been some presenters here that travel all over the world training others. Some of our sessions have been on Chronological Bible Storying, Pioneer Evangelism, Universal Disciple, and Spiritual Warfare. This week we will be doing T4T, this is Training 4 Trainers, teaching us how to train new believers to share what they have learned with others and in turn train them. Many hours of sitting in classes but we also spend time practicing our skills we learn.

Last week we had time slots for working on our prayer cards, creating wills, signing legal papers and learning about filing taxes overseas! We also have classes on how to prepare for culture shock, how to handle conflict and learning skills we may need on the field like driving a stick shift on the opposite side of the road! Look out Nairobi!

We are not allowed to have TVs in our quads, so our entertainment has been quite different. Jeff had become intrigued with jigsaw puzzles and we play a little Bible Trivia. For exercise, Jan walks with other ladies and Jeff is still playing ultimate Frisbee with the guys. The past three days were 103 degrees with a heat index of 112, so most folks stayed indoors as much as possible. We have a few movies that we are required to watch that relate to our region and culture, so we watch them on our computer.

Three times during the training we are having “Special Lunches”. These are lunches that are possible foods we may be required to eat in different regions of the world. We are required to try everything. This week was a Mediterranean meal with meatballs, and a cucumber relish that had to be eaten with our hands using a flatbread that we torn into strips. It was really quite tasty.

Meet B and W! They are two more of our quadmates who are from Jackson Mississippi. They will be going to serve in East Africa. B is an engineer and will be participating in a water project in their region. They are great folks to be around and we have really enjoyed spending time together and learning how God has worked in their lives. We are excited to see how God is going to continue to use them on the mission field.

Get Ready Week 3

2008-06-06T01:29:00.000+03:00

A word of explanation; blurred faces are for security reasons.

We are having a wonderful time learning more about the African people and their culture. Our regional associate here in Richmond and his wife invited us to their home for an African meal. We were able to help prepare the meal and then enjoyed eating it together African style (with our hands). The ladies bow as they serve the men who eat first in a separate area. The ladies eat seated on the ground. We had ugale, made with ground cornmeal and water, cooked to a thick paste consistency. (This is called sadza in Zimbabwe). We also had turnip greens cooked with tomatoes and onions, coconut beans, chapattis (a flat bread made with flour, oil and water) and fruit salad made with mango, papaya, bananas and pineapple. The evening was finished off with a hot cup of freshly made African chai.

This Sunday’s cultural worship was led by our African teams. We spent the week learning 5 songs sung in 5 different languages. Africans are very active worshipers and so we had hand motions to go with each song. We held the service outside on a hillside with only a drum for music and no PA system. We dressed in our African attire and everyone sat on the ground, men on one side and women and children on the other. The sermon was preached in Swahili. While he was preaching, a breeze began to blow, the lake began to ripple and the tall grass in the fields began to sway. It was as if God was making His presence known among us. The scripture text was Joshua chapter one. As he continued to preach on, “Do not be afraid”, the wind began to roar as it grew stronger and the trees began to bend, the sky darkened but no rain fell. There was an awesome sense of peace in the midst of the storm!

After we had returned to our quad and the sun began to set, the sky lit up with a bright beautiful golden glow on the tops of the trees. This was followed by full double rainbow filling the sky. In the center of the rainbow were some powerful strikes of lightening. It was as if God was reminding us of His promises and that even in the midst of or storms, we were not to be afraid, He will be with us wherever we go.

Meet our quad mate, Sarah Maddox. She is a UGA graduate from McDonough, GA. She is part of the Journeyman program and will be going to Johannesburg, South Africa to serve at the Baptist International Missions Services office there. We call Sarah our social butterfly. She loves people and being involved in everything that is going on!

Get Ready Week 1 & 2

2008-05-30T03:12:00.000+03:00

Well we finally did make it to the International Learning Center in Virginia to begin our Field Personal Orientation (FPO). Due to two week delay we are being challenged to work into 7 weeks what normally takes 9 weeks. The first few days were very intense with classes going from 9-5 everyday! We had three days of training regarding Spiritual Warfare led by Dr. Jerry Rankin. It has really made us aware of the vital necessity to be on our knees in prayer and in God’s Word daily.

We are now living in a Quad. This is a house with 4 small apartments with bedrooms, a bath and kitchenette in each corner. Then there is a sitting area in the center. Our quadmates are two young couples and two single girls. One couple has a 5 month old baby. We will introduce each of them to you over the next few weeks.

Meet Chris and Katie Nalls and baby Abigail. They are going to serve as church planters in Mozambique. God does some interesting things: Katie went to Berry with our son Jeremy and Chris went to UGA with our daughter in law Jamie and also served in Mozambique as a Journeryman while Jamie was in Mozambique.

This is the group that we have our “House church” with on Sundays. We are joined for church by two other couples going to West Africa. One of these couples has two small children a one year old girl and a two year old boy.

Sunday night we had a mapping ceremony where each family came forward to introduce their family and tell where they were going. We would then place our picture on the map of the world in the region where we were going. It was an inspirational time to hear how God was calling different people to different people groups to do a multitude of different tasks.

One exciting aspect of our orientation is getting all of our SHOTS! We have already had two clinic days and have more to come.

We are also challenged to make sure we get plenty of exercise each week. We actually have to keep an activity log of our exercise. Jeff decided one night to play ultimate Frisbee for 2 hours! He was sore for 2 days!

Please pray for us to have strength and endurance as we are challenged to stretch beyond our normal learning curve!
Pray for discernment to prioritize our time as we have class assignments, physical assignments and goals to meet each week.

False Start

2008-04-28T04:15:00.000+03:00

One of the first lessons we learned about doing Cross Cultural missions is to be “flexible”. You never know when plans may change or go a different direction. Well, we were tested before we even began our orientation! On Saturday as we were preparing to leave on Sunday for our 8 weeks in Richmond, Virginia, we received a call that orientation would be delayed two weeks. Participants at the International Learning Center contacted a bad virus last week and they are going to have to close the facility to totally disinfect and sanitize everything! So the schedule will be pushed back two weeks and now we will be leaving around May 11.

Since we have sold all of our furniture and moved out all of our belongings, we will not be staying at our house. Some wonderful friends, Dennis and Julia McClendon, have offered us their downstairs apartment. Even though this has caused a little confusion, we see many blessings in the delay. We can’t wait to see how God is going to make all things work for His good through these events. His timing is always perfect!

On Your Mark

2008-04-20T20:45:00.001+03:00

Upon receiving our official confirmation, we immediately placed our house on the market and began making preparations to go. We have now had two large “Moving Out of the Country” sales and sold all of our furniture and many of our “treasures”. It was been a very humbling experience to discover how much “stuff” two people can collect after 36 years of marriage and 20 of those in the same house! Even though the house has still not sold, we are continuing to move forward in faith, trusting God’s perfect timing.

We have dispersed some of our belongings among our family and friends and the rest we are packing in large crates Jeff built to house our boxes. These will be stored in a friend’s barn for the next three years.

We will be leaving on Sunday April 27 for Richmond, Virginia where will be attend two months of Field Personnel Orientation (FPO). We will return to Conyers for the month of July as we await the arrival of our second granddaughter before we depart for Kenya on July 30.

Present prayer requests include:
Calmness and focus for these hectic final days of packing up and moving out
Our hearts and minds to be prepared for the assignment God has given us
Our families during this time of separation
The sale of our home

Answering the Call

2008-04-20T06:56:00.000+03:00

God has been doing a wonderful work in our lives over the past few years as He has been preparing our hearts for the call He would place upon us. After several mission trips to Zimbabwe, our hearts became burdened for the African people we came to know and love.

Our hearts also became connected with missionaries Barry and Marleen Robinson, who have given their entire lives to serving the Lord and the people of Zimbabwe. It was their dedication and example that inspired us to seek God’s direction for our own lives. As we began to pray, we felt led to apply for a three year term through the Masters Program with the International Mission Board (IMB) requesting to serve in the Central Eastern Southern Africa (CESA) Region.

After months of completing extensive applications, references, autobiographies, essays and examinations, we were invited to a conference at IMB for our final interview. At this conference we were matched with a position as the Assistant Logistics Coordinator (LC) for Kenya. We will be living in Nairobi, Kenya and will be responsible for providing the logistical support necessary to free up time for other missionaries to utilize their gifts and strengths in church planting activities allowing unreached people groups to hear the gospel and be discipled.

The position will allow Jeff to utilize his knowledge of carpentry, plumbing, electricity, auto mechanics and such. His previous management experience will come in very useful for working with the large number of national employees. His great trouble shooting and problem solving skills are most likely going to be used daily. So we can see that God has really been grooming him for this position all his life.

Jan loves her job description! “She is free to choose her ministry opportunities according to her gifts and desires.” She will help with the LC responsibilities such as travel arrangements and recording keeping but will also have many opportunities for working with women and children through discipleship, community health care, craft production, AIDS/HIV awareness and women’s groups. It is so easy to see how God’s hand has prepared her over the years! The great part is He is giving her the desires of her heart!