Thika Part 1

So it’s been a few days! This is Courtney, and we’ve just gotten back from Thika, a rural area right outside Nairobi. There are 5 churches in Thika who work with LIA on numerous projects, many of which I’ll talk about! I titled the blog Thika part one because we have visited 2 churches and will head back to Thika for the whole of next week (We’re in Nairobi for the weekend).

So after the prayer time on Monday, we went to the office on Tuesday to help out with some things, work on the newsletter, and go to the hardware store. Quite a successful day. Wednesday was when the fun began and we headed off for Thika. We first went to the guest house where we were staying and dropped some things off before heading to the first church, Christian Church International. The pastor, Rose, was excited to greet us and led a large group of small children up to shake all of our hands. We learned how to say ‘hello’ in their mother tongue and they shyly smiled as these strangers spoke a word of their language. They led us down to their church building which was doubling as an Early Childhood Development Center. The community had banded together to provide these kids porridge – a staple food – to sustain them through the school day. Several of the kids did not have lunch because there was no food at their homes. These rural areas are suffering very heavily from droughts. Well they introduced us to all of the children and we had what I like to call a ‘song exchange’. The kids would sing a few songs that they knew and then we would do a few. Funny thing is, we looked a little ridiculous dancing around in front of them while they had no clue what we were saying but they laughed at us and we laughed at us and it was wonderful! Pam had something great up her sleeve, though. She pulled out this awesome song called ‘Glory train’ and we all paraded around, kids and teachers included, making train noises and following Pam. After that we had some time to play some different games before heading out. I know we all enjoyed seeing the kids and playing with them, they are OVC (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children) and some are HIV+, and it is so encouraging to see these churches wrap their arms around these hurting children and their families. Be in prayer for the church, they are in need of good school chairs/benches in order to conform to government standards. We have decided as a team to commute from Nairobi each day to save on lodging costs and are prayerfully considering how to use these extra funds. We have some ideas for creating good school benches but are waiting to visit all the churches and pray through what God would have us do. Please join us in that. One quick story to hopefully bring a reality to us all before I move on to the next church – when we left the church we gave a little girl a ride to her home which was about a 15 minute car drive away. She walks this distance each day, barefoot, to go to this school, which is free. The government school is closer to her house but she can’t afford to go to it because she needs a uniform and school fees. A school uniform costs about around 50 shillings. That’s about 65 cents. My friends I don’t even think we fathom this kind of poverty.

We came back to our guest house that night and enjoyed our time as a team discussing ideas for the benches and making a new friend, Wycliffe. I think Wycliffe is probably one of the sweetest men we have ever met. He was the head chef of the dining hall where we had dinner and breakfast and what a sweet spirit he had. He was so excited to cook for us and let me tell you, it was incredible. Highlight: Wycliffe brought us ice cream for breakfast. I think that was a first! We chatted for a while about what we were doing and he had us promise to come say goodbye before we left. I don’t think we wanted to leave because we all wanted to see Wycliffe each night and morning!
So today, Thursday, we got to visit another church called Redeemed Gospel Church with the pastor, Julius. This place is a true testament to the effects of wholistic ministry, community cooperation, and God’s grace. Within the last 6 months this tiny church has been able to start a gardening project, chicken project, OVC care, and a small feeding program for the kids. We looked out over the span of land that was being cultivated and there were a good 2 acres of crops, a strip next to a stream waiting for banana trees, and another 2 acres waiting for corn to be planted. They were growing tomatoes, collard greens (they call them ‘skuma week’ which means, ‘carries one through the week’), peas, and zucchini. For the chicken project, they have around 30 chickens that they use to sell eggs and meat. They sell these crops, eggs, and meat at low costs to the community and the money supports the OVC program. There are 24 children total in their program, most of which are orphaned. In the field, we got to help prepare the zucchini block for irrigation, Ben and Daniel helped water the plants with water pumped from the river, and we all helped transfer some new skuma into fresh holes. In between all of this we had plenty of time to play with the kids. They were precious and were so ready to play. They spoke the same mother tongue so we only knew how to say hello. But, as my campus minister and great friend says, the international language for kids is the same – play! My favorite game was when I walked to come say Hi to them after being in the field and they ran away, wanting to be chased and tickled! The best was when they ran into the church/schoolhouse and as I acted like a monster of some sort, all 18 of them crowded in the corner, hiding and giggling under a desk that couldn’t have been much larger than a few feet wide and deep. I just lost it, it was so cute and so funny! That game bonded us all and we got lots of hugs and smiles before we left. God is doing so much in that place and it is obvious that His blessing and His hand is all over the church, pastor, kids, and so much more. It touched us all.

I hope that you guys will continue to partner with us in praying for these churches and I know that we can’t wait to share some amazing stories after interacting with this community more after next week! Be blessed!

Just monkeying around...

So today is Monday. That means a day of prayer and fasting with LIA, which has come to be one of my favorite parts of the week. I love being able to listen and learn what God is doing in the lives of the LIA staff members and what they are hearing and learning in reference to their ministry as a whole. It's definitely the part of the week where I learn the most and try to just listen as much as possible...

But today was an extra exciting day. It was the last day of LIA's "quarter", and so we went with the staff to an arboretum about 10 minutes from the office. Just picture every amazing tree that you have ever seen in National Geographic, add about 20 more different kinds of trees, and then put them all right next to eachother in a big forest. It was beautiful. We each spread out a towel on the ground under a tree and were able to have personal God time for about 4 hours. It was awesome. It's pretty easy to worship Jesus when you are surrounded by the most beautiful trees you've ever seen and monkeys are just hanging around. (I know... bad monkey pun, I couldn't get them out of my head all day. Hey hey there's the monkeys... no more monkeys jumping on the bed, the list keeps going...) But yeah, it was definitely a great day to completely devote to reading and praying and worshipping. I'm definitely going to have to incorporate that into my pharmacy school curriculum somehow.

Also a cool part of the day was that Gus, an awesome LIA staff member who pretty much smiles all the time, graduated with his masters in Sociology last week. So we went back to the office and had a big celebration for him... he put on his graduation gown and we at cake (obviously the fast was over) and it was great. There was so much encouragement from the LIA staff, it was really cool to see them all hanging out and completely enjoying eachother's company.

This week we are going to Thika, but we don't leave until Wednesday. So prayer for our trip would be much appreciated. We're not really sure what we are going to be doing, but LIA has a number of partner churches there so we will be helping them out as much as possible. Also... continued prayer for health would be much appreciated as we continue our journeys and endeavors. And shout out to our Poland-mates, because they are just stinkin awesome and deserve a shout-out. We can't wait to hear all the cool things you are doing there!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support, as always. I think I can speak for all of you when we say that we love you guys and are so glad that you are supporting us in this amazing experience.

Mungu aku bariki!
Lauren

2 Timothy 1:1-2 reads:
“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

We attended a graduation unlike any I had ever seen before. LIA hosted a 10 day training session for pastors wanting to effectively minister to their communities spiritual AND physical needs, as well as developing leaders in a simultaneous Training of Trainers course. We had the privilege of helping them celebrate their achievements. It was more like a worship service than a commencement. Each graduate had a testimony to share about the fruits that were already being harvested in their local congregations. What an awesome time of fellowship and witnessing strong Christians become qualified to teach others.

During the event, all I could think about was the need for the American church to employ these same principles of holistic ministry. We do satisfactory jobs at tackling either spiritual, in church, or physical, on missions, but rarely do we put it all together for the average seeker. Yes you can find exceptions in homeless ministries and other likewise services for the monetarily poor. What is the Church doing about climate change? Child neglect? The recession? Abortion? Lack of health insurance for 60+million people? These burdens are intensely physical, but are affecting more people than need to be forgotten. These are not alone, they are endless. How do we 'incorporate scripture and ministry into these needs? That is what I’d like to explore more in the long term, maybe if you could think about these things and collaborate with our team when we get back.

My thoughts on this started when we had a great discussion with Pam and us Mi2ers about her work ministering to Islamic Somalis. She indicated the difficulties opposing their ministry, because what they teach in Islam is easy, do these 5 things and you will be a good Muslim. Christianity is hard, it takes faith, perseverance, and yet you are not guaranteed a prosperous earthly life. What we have that they don’t is hope (and so much more like grace, forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, etc… but let’s focus). And when we stop spreading this spiritual and physical hope, we miss the opportunity to spread the Truth and the people can fall into temptation that Christianity is not for them.
~Dan "ain't very tan" Bachman

Makueni Special; It's all good in the hood.. entitled by Pamella Bukatchi

It is begginning to seem as if you drive over an hour in any directiron away from Nairobi you will end up with a surrounding complete unlike the witnessed previously. This week our travels have brought us on a 4 hour drive to Makueni, which is one of the dryest experiences yet. The river beds have all dried up, the grass is reminiscent of a Texas ghost town, and the flies/mosquitoes don’t even bother coming out. Our mission here is to prepare ground for the medical camp that will be held here in August. African Inland Church has an old missions hospital here that has never been used besides for the dispensary. The good news for the medical team is that the hospital here is very spacious and will have plenty of room to operate and serve the community. The bad news for us in the meantime is the condition of the hospital as every room is extremely dusty and has old, unused materials clogging the way. Daniel and I have taken on the mission of designing a shower that can be used in the guest house to supply the 30 people coming with a place to refresh in the mornings. Shower actually may be an uderstatement as it will more than like just serve the purpose of dumping water on the individual. Everything else here is going well so far as we have already cleared out the rooms that will be used for the clinic and designated each room to a specific task. We have created areas to hold an eye clinic, dental clinic, triage center, registration, pharmacy, HIV testing, immunizations, and consultations. Even though there is a lot of work left here, our outlook is looking up as things are moving quickly towards the way we are dreaming them to be. It has been so great to see how evident God’s hand has been in all things we have done so far from our travel to the work that he has done through us. To those who are reading, please pray especially for Makueni as we try to prepare everything exactly how the medical team needs it to be so when they arrive there is no wasted time in preparation. In Him, Ben

Reflection

We are back in Nairobi safe and sound! This week yielded two main inferences that I have made. On top of great yet short relaxation, we had some extra time to read and reflect on the many thoughts that being in Africa has provoked.

First, the trip to Fort Jesus was awesome. However, it was almost stalled twice, once by the guards wanting to charge us the tourist price of 800 Shillings, which Beth negotiated down to the Kenyan resident price of 100 Shillings ($1.33). Then we got inside and they were going to let us look around on our own. If you have ever been to a historical site, it really lacks significance when you don't understand the landmarks or the meaning behind what you are looking at. This closely parallels confusion to our Christian walk. When ever you have a tour guide, or a mentor, it makes understanding the intricacies much easier. Luckily for us, there is a good example of this in the story of Paul’s relationship to Timothy. Paul gave many words of wisdom to Timothy, and it was reflected in his spiritual growth. Maybe if you are getting older, but aren’t too old to stop learning, you should have both a Paul and a Timothy in your life, that you can gain wisdom from and pass that on to a younger follower of Christ. I thought it was a neat connection, but as I’ve learned, there are few people on my wavelength so I’m sorry if I go on a Daniel tangent.

Secondly, give it all. Give all of yourself, all of your time, all of your effort, all of it. Frida touched me. She spent two days with us, talking, listening, and being with us. She left her awesome household to shepherd us, since we ‘needed’ a guardian. She made sure all of our needs were met, being a local of the area, when we probably could have made it on our own. Then she invited us in for dinner the next day, showing even more affection. The food was awesome as usual here, but they gave us more than what it looked like they could afford. I felt as if I’m not giving enough, when someone can do so much with so little. Inspiring. While at her house, she mentioned she was ashamed of the size. I tell you, if I am living in those conditions, with the amount of love that was shown by this family, the size of the house would be my last concern, God has expanded their boundaries in more meaningful ways. They had quality, that’s what I liked so much. They have five beautiful and ambitious children that could each light up the room with their smile. They have a God priority, shown by the way the children respect one another and their parents. These things just don’t come when you are foremost living the American dream, and they don’t come on accident. This is good parenting, in what most of us would call poor circumstances; however there is much we can take from what they do right.

Daniel

Ps: Please pray for me. I am making a tough decision on how to pay for medical school, loans vs Army for those who don't know. I want to hear what God has to say on the situation, but I'm being confused by what I want. Thanks so much for all your guys prayers and support, it means a whole lot to all of us!

Mombasa fun with Frida, Rose, and Seashells

So it’s been a few days! This is our last night in Mombasa and as Holly mentioned in the last post, it is just beautiful here on the Indian Ocean. This is Courtney by the way. So the first day that we were here we spent it on the beach, reading, talking, and exploring. We met a few friends, Frida and Captain Marco Polo. Frida is related to some of the staff at LIA and she was just so wonderful. She spent the past couple of days visiting and traveling with us. Captain Marco Polo made friends with Ben and wanted to take Ben scuba diving but he didn’t have any equipment.  So, Ben said No thanks. Our second day here we saw some of the sights and it ended up being a really busy day. First stop was Fort Jesus, an old Portuguese fort that was built in 1593. It was overtaken by the Arabs from Oman in the 1800’s and then Britain took over in the late 1800’s up until 1950. We got to explore all over and there was a beautiful view from some of the lookout towers. We had lunch outside the fort and then headed to Frida’s church for a midday service. Talk about hot weather, the church service in the middle of the day definitely made it hard to concentrate. I looked down the row at one time and everyone was just pouring sweat, and Lauren even pretended to dance in order to swish her skirt around and cool off! But the message was very heartfelt and I know I learned a lot. We got to meet some of the people and the pastor and then we headed to a hotel to meet another LIA volunteer, Rose, (she was a former staff and will be re-joining LIA in Nairobi in a few weeks and will be getting married to Gus, another one of our staff friends at LIA Kenya, in August) and she was just wonderful! She works at a beautiful hotel resort called Voyageur and we got to join her for tea, a tour of the resort, some great time of conversation, and dinner. It was very relaxing but a little weird for us considering we were hanging out at the resort, which to us looked like a very safe, stereotypical replica of Africa. It was lovely no doubt and apparently a great place for a honeymoon Rose said, but I think it just felt funny for us. So that was yesterday, and today we spent the morning on the beach and then the afternoon at Frida’s house. We got to meet her family and talk for awhile before heading back on motorcycle taxis! We squished two people on each bike and held on for dear life. Luckily they didn’t go too fast, and Daniel made sure to get everyone’s picture before they left. I think we were sort of allowed to be semi-tourists this week before we get ready to go back to Nairobi tomorrow. It’s been a nice rest and I think the favorite part of the trip was standing in the breeze and seeing the wonderful ocean. The funniest part of the trip – Ben and Daniel decided to fashion their own seashell necklaces and spent time collecting the shells, making holes in them, and threading floss through the shells. Then they wore them around and posed for pictures together! We were all a little concerned about the time and effort they put into the project. But, that gave us a whole lot of time to make fun of them. A picture is coming soon. Mombasa has been great, we’ll see you back in Nairobi!

Indian Ocean!

Hello blog readers! We arrived safely after a 8 hr bus ride to Mombasa. The Mi2 team is now stationed till Saturday on the east coast of Kenya, we’re going in the Indian Ocean tomorrow! We really didn’t do too many interesting things on the bus- there was a rather violent American movie playing for the first two hours, then some flashback to the 80’s videos played- I slept through most of the trip, as did everyone else. I apologize for not having a more interesting story!
Last night we met up with Holly Garret (LIA field reporter and friend) and a team of 10 people from all across the USA. The Americans we met last night had just arrived from Ethiopia, where they got to see first hand what LIA is doing in Ethiopia. They arrived in Kenya on Sunday, and we had the chance to sit down with them and talk about our LIA expeience so far. These people are members of churches that support LIA, and they were getting first-hand experiences of what LIA was doing so that they could go back to the States to help LIA with fundraising. Ben and I sat with two middle-aged women and we shared some of our Kenyan experience, and we also listened to their Ethiopia experiences. We didn’t have much time to talk- the other team had visited the Kibera and Mathare slums that day, so they had quite the poverty-overload on their minds. At the end of dinner, we got mom-hugs from our two dinnermates. I love mom hugs, they’re just so welcoming and soft! It was an enjoyable time for us to talk to others who had seen some of the same things as we had.
Then, we had a chance to debrief with Holly about how the trip was going so far. We told her lots of “you had to be there” stories, but she pretended to know what we were talking about even though she probably had no clue. For instance, I almost killed a motorcyclist with a jar of peanut butter. How? I will share with you: we were walking back from the LIA office after prayer on Monday. We had purchased a large container of peanut butter (for no-bakes and for the Mombasa trip). In addition to the peanut butter, the grocery bag also contained a couple containers of juice and a container of drinking chocolate powder. So, needless to say, the bag was fairly full. The peanut butter jumped out of the bag as we were walking back home, and it almost rolled into the water runoff ditch to our right. Then, after I placed the peanut butter back into the grocery bag, it decided to abandon ship again. This time, the jar rolled into the street to the left, and we all laughed for a split second before a motorcyclist rode by. The motorcycle was probably not more than 6 inches away form the jar. As soon as I saw the cyclist coming, I imagined peanut butter being splattered everywhere, and a very confused motorcycle driver. Everyone was safe, the peanut butter made its way into the no bakes and into our bellies, and Holly laughed at our story. Basically, talking to her was awesome. And we’re getting REALLY excited for the Post team of college-aged students from Southeast. They’ll be here mid-July, and we can’t wait to share a weeks’ experience of serving with them! Hi to you all if you’re out there reading!
That about wraps up our past 24 hours! We'll be spending the day relaxing on the beach tomorrow, we'll put on loads of sunscreen, so hopefully there won't be any burn stories in the upcoming posts. Thanks for continuing to follow us online, and we're praying that everyone back home is being ministered to during this summer!
Love you all,
Holly