Laurie's Update

Hi there,

Bruce and I got back from Kenya around 11:30 last night. We quickly discovered that our plans to send lots of email updates were futile—we were definitely off the beaten track most of the time and internet access was rare. When it existed, it was often interrupted by power outages. (My flashlight came in handy as we finished both evening marriage seminar sessions in pitch black except for my light on the speaker!)

I know I say this every time that I get back from a missions trip, but it really was an absolutely fabulous trip—I’m so glad we went! Kiswahili is Kenya’s national language but English is Kenya’s official language, so many, many Kenyans speak fluent English. Since we traveled on the local bus inside Kenya, we came in contact with number of English speaking Muslims. The “Good News Bracelets” we wore turned out to be a powerful and effective way to share the Gospel. I shared the Gospel with a Muslim woman and man who acted as translators for me while I was taking histories for a medical outreach. My female translator was delighted that she could have the bracelet if she could tell me what each bead stood for—she learned it in a flash (as did the man who was listening) and wore the bracelet proudly. Later I got to chat with a Somali woman on the bus to Dadaab who was going to a refugee camp to visit her family. When we started talking she asked me where I was from. I answered “Pullman, Washington” and she got really excited. She replied that she was from Washington State. It turns out that she was relocated out of the refugee camp to Seattle 10 years ago and has been living there with her children ever since, except for occasional trips to Kenya to visit her mother and brother who are still in the camp. It really is a small world! We chatted about her struggles to learn a new culture and I asked about the Muslim prayer beads she wore around her wrist. In response she wanted to know the meaning of the bracelet I wore, so again I got to share the Gospel.

Other things I got to do included preaching the Sunday sermon on “Reaching Higher to Win the Battle” at two different churches in Garissa, speaking on deliverance at two different “Encounters with God” (one in a church of Ethiopians and Somalis in a UN refugee camp in Dadaab—80 Km from the border to Somalia—and one to members of a variety of different churches in Garissa) followed by amazing prayer times, and speaking on love and respect at two different marriage seminars in Garissa (one for pastors and their wives and one for their combined congregations). Scattered between teaching and traveling to Dadaab were visits to schools to distribute the books we brought (which were received with great excitement and gratitude) and two different villages for “medical camps”.

The medical camps definitely were NOT what I was expecting! Ken, the Kenyan missionary in Garissa who we were working with, had arranged for a nurse practitioner to buy the necessary drugs and accompany us to the camps to do the diagnosing and prescribing. Once word got out that we were there CROWDS flocked to the huts we used as a dispensary. The first day there wasn’t a door on the woven stick hut and it immediately became jam packed with people to the point that no one could get in or out and the air temperature rose from hot to sweltering. (Eventually we shut down the operation and told people they had to go outside or we wouldn’t start up again. To our shock it took an older woman with a stick—who wasn’t afraid to use it to get compliance—to disperse the line so we could empty the building!) At the second camp we were wiser and the hut had a door, so Bruce became the “bouncer” controlling when and who got inside. To my surprise medications were dispensed based on history alone, without any physical exam. Most people (including little children) suffered with symptoms of malaria (night sweats, fever, chills, headache…) and shortly into the second camp we ran out of antimalarial drugs and antibiotics for diarrhea. On the whole though, the people were much healthier than I had anticipated—the adults and children generally looked adequately nourished and hydrated with no open sores. Mothers did talk to Eliza matter of factly, though, about sometimes going 2 to 7 days without food due to lack of money.

After 10 days of ministering in Garissa and Dadaab, half our team returned home and Bruce, Eliza, and I went on safari (which means “traveling” in Kiswahili). Roads are a challenge in Kenya (understatement) so we spent a lot of time bouncing into potholes and ruts and breathing dust (on the major highways), but after a 6 hour bus ride to Nairobi from Garissa, then about an 8 hour (including breakdowns) 4 wheel drive van drive south we arrived in the dark at an incredible “tent camp” in the Maasi-Mara National Game Preserve. I say “incredible” because our “tent” was the size of our living room with 3 canopy beds complete with ruffled mosquito netting, an attached fully tiled bathroom, and Simon our room steward (who straightened our shoes and neatly folded any clothing we left lying around). The compound where we stayed was surrounded by heavy duty electric fences to keep the wild animals out, but both evenings we were escorted to our tent by Peter--our spear toting guard. (Upon questioning he admitted to never actually having to use the spear, which was reassuring.) We were awakened in the early mornings by the sounds of elephants, lions, and hippos! The first morning out we saw two lionesses finishing off a meal of fresh wildebeest while hopeful hyenas prowled around then, two male lions on the hunt, and herds of zebra, giraffes, wildebeest, elephants, and innumerable different kinds of deer. That evening we visited a small Maasi village and were invited inside a dark, smoky dung covered hut. The Maasi we met throughout our stay were unfailingly friendly and the women do beautiful beadwork (including around the earlobes which are pierced with a red hot poker at age 13 and are eventually stretched to a fashionable 3-4 inch length.)

Due to road closures we had to return to Nairobi before moving on to Amboseli, our next game park. There we stayed two nights in a beautiful bungalow with grounds patrolled by Maasi warriors in traditional clothes. We got to know “Sami” who had to be at least 6”5’. Like any proud papa he told us about how well his children were doing in school, and about his cattle and goats. We talked, too, about how culture is encroaching on traditional ways of doing things. As a rite of passage he killed a lion at age 15 and got a new name, but now the government won’t allow lions to be killed unless they have been preying on the cattle or goats. While Maasi Mara was a savannah, Amboseli varied between dry salt flats and swampy watering holes. The swamps were full of water buffalo, hippos, ostriches, and elephants with playful little babies. We had a great time wildlife watching, taking photos, and getting glimpses of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Then it was on to our last park—Savo. For the trip to Savo we had to meet up with a “caravan” which had a machine gun toting guard in the front vehicle. (During our entire stay in Kenya we never had any problems or saw anything worrisome, but it most people we talked with had sad stories about the violence that occurred this spring. The tourist trade has been heavily impacted and the first two places we stayed were at about 10% occupancy. Lack of business is starting to really hurt the pocketbooks of the tour operators, resorts, and the locals who work at the resorts and who make and sell crafts to supplement their very small incomes.) To our surprise, if we didn’t know that we were in Kenya we could have sworn that we were on the way to Wenatchee as we drove through the terrain in Savo and looked at the rock formations, bushes, and mountains in the distance. The hotel we stayed in wasn’t that special, but they had two strategically placed watering holes that were lit at night about 30 feet away from the open air bar and restaurant. The balcony of our room overlooked the holes as well. About six p.m. the animals started heading in. First deer, then water buffalo, then herds of elephants blustering for dominance. At 6:30 a staff member hung up a hunk of meat in the center of a frame made of tree trunks with hopes of luring in a leopard. At 7:15 the leopard showed up for his meal. It was an amazing experience to sit there watching elephants and a leopard from 30 feet away, then go to sleep with elephants slurping and snorting right outside our balcony!

My big worry about this trip was that I figured I wouldn’t like African food. Unfortunately that wasn’t a problem and I haven’t yet gotten on the scale yet because I don’t want to see what it says! Ken’s wife, Eunice, fed us amazing meals as did the Ethiopian women at the refugee camp and the teacher at the Canadian Baptist Mission compound where we stayed in Dadaab. Dinners or lunches generally included a savory stew (generally goat meat) with potatoes and other vegetables, delicious sautéed cabbage, hearty chunks of ugali (Kenyan polenta), fruit (usually slices of tree-ripened mango) and chapattis (Kenyan tortillas). At the refugee camp we were served anjera (a thick Somali sourdough tortilla) instead of chapattis.

All in all, we had an amazing time meeting, talking with, seeing how they live, and ministering to so many different people. The game parks were just icing on the cake. Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, and financial support.

Love,

Laurie

Update from Dadaab, Kenya (UN refugee camp)

I got a phone call from our team in Kenya this morning with an update. They didn’t have access to internet to update the blog, so they relayed a message over phone. Their cell service was great…insane – they are in a refugee camp in the outer reaches of Kenya and have cell service; I can’t get cell service in my living room in Las Vegas.

It’s night there – 10 hours ahead of Pacific Time – and things are going well. One of the team members, Lupita, was not pretty ill and went to the hospital in Garissa, but after treatment/medication/prayer, she is feeling better. They are now in Dadaab – approx. 60 km from Garissa/3-6 hour drive via bus.

Bruce said the bus ride was incredibly packed, standing room the whole way, and none of the Muslim women that packed the bus wanted to stand near the Americans.

The team is staying at the only Christian church/compound in Dadaab – a Canadian Baptist church. They will be doing an Encounter for a handful of Christian refugees (Ethiopians, Somalis, etc…).

Check back often for more updates!

monday photo update

Things are going well. We've been really busy and had a lousy Internet connecting so slow updates. Tomorrow we leave for Dadab until Friday so probably no Internet there. But we will have a little more time so we can type up the blog and updated it when we get back.

For now just these photos.

Checkout Sean's blog at: http://chewyinkenya.blogspot.com/

Please pray for Sean and Lupita both are battling colds, and Lupita is battling intestinal issues.



Ken told me some of the comunitity members would haul our stuff. I figured theyld be at least 16.



Laurie nosing in to home (we were invited)


Ken and Sean checking out the inside of a local tribal home.



Post celebration. and heading back to building for medical support and distribution of solar oven, cooking supplies, plates, spoons.


Youths at Life frontier school receiving books.


Our reception in one of the classrooms


this is lunch at school beans and corn it was pretty good and very healthy.


Ken demonstating a solor dryer

The shop where the solar ovens are made at Ken's Life Frontier School.

our first day Friday June 6

30 hours of travel since Pullman, we’ve arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. Everyone is well and pretty tired this first day. It is cool in the 70’s in Nairobi. Ken picked us up at the airport and we are staying one night in Rosa Mystica Spiritual Center, a Catholic run guest house. It is clean and does the job. Breakfast, at the guesthouse was followed by a visit to the local ATM, the Nairobi National Museum, and the Nairobi National park where we saw a great many African locals. See Pictures below.
My sprint phone is working here but the sprint simm card was useless. I bought local Safaricom simm and we are buying minutes so you can expect calls from us. If you really need to contact us the new number for the Safaricom simm is (Kenya prefix from US is + 254 I think) then 0713957884 from the us you don’t dial the preceding ‘0’ most USA cell phones don’t have international service so try a land line.

And we are off

Bruce, Laurie, Lupita, Eliza, Sean and Caleb.

We all leave in just a couple hours from Pullman for our 30+ hour trip to Kenya.

We arrive at 6am on Thursday (Kenya time) in Nairobi where we'll recover and buy some of the supplies people donated money for. We'll leave the next day for Garissa. We want to thank everyone for their abundant generosity--not only were all individual financial needs met, but we received donations for nearly all of the sharing tree tag items--including the well! For those of you who included a legible email address we'll send an email to you when we donate or use your item. We'll also include info about how the donations were used on posts about the trip along with photos in this blog. We don't know how available internet is there so the blog update may be sporatic, but we'll try to have an entry per day.

This is for sure the most printed materials we've ever taken on a trip as we have plans to put on both an encounter and a marriage seminar for Ken. I hope they have good photocopiers in Garissa :-)

Everyone is really excited--we can hardly wait to get on our way. We'll have a lot to report on in terms of the spirirtual and financial blessings we'll be able to share, so keep checking the blog. We know that God plans on doing great things in and through us during our time in Kenya.

God bless you all!

Team Kenya (Bruce, Laurie, Eliza, Lupita, Caleb, and Sean)

May update #2

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings from a cool Garissa—the weather here cant be any better and we are enjoying every bit of it.

Thank God for evangelism and discipleship class that we started a few days ago. We are glad that key Christian leaders including pastors from different Churches are trainees in this course. Our desire is that those same leaders will start the same training in their churches after they have graduated.

During the training for the next ten weeks, we will be going out to share the gospel with people around us. It is our hope that a strong spiritual movement will emerge out of this.

Pray for the following:
1 The trainees will be faithful in boldly sharing their faith
2 The trainees will capture different concepts in the training such as follow up, leading discipleship groups, Movement building, Spiritual multiplication, “M” evangelism etc
3 Pray that the trainers will be good models to the trainees
4 Thank God for those that have already come to the Lord through the ministry of the trainees—pray that they will stand firm in the faith
5 Pray for Protection upon us as we will be sharing with “M”. Pray that the truth shall set them through
6 Pray that we will honor God both by our life style and the words of our mouth.

As an organization, we have heard to move from our office. We have decided to relocate to where the School is. This is a temporary measure we are taking. The owner of the place kept increasing rent arbitrarily and we felt like we were not needed there. Being very strong Muslims, they have been uncomfortable having us around and we know that there concern is genuine given the kind of pressure they get from their own people. Pray that we will adapt well in the new environment. Pray that we will get a permanent solution to office problems.

Thank God for what is happening in the refugee camp. We are very glad that over a hundred of the Ethiopian and Sudanese refugees we trained have really been putting into practice what they learnt. Through their ministry, a few “M” have come to the Lord. The latest information I got from the refugees is that majority of them are in the process of being relocated to Canada and other countries. Pray that God will help us raise new laborers continue the good work in the camp.

As a family, we are forever grateful to God for you. As we keep saying, only eternity will reveal the reward God has for you for investing both your time and resources touching lives of people you may not meet this side of eternity.

Shalom

Ken
For Eunice, Tim & Ann

Your commitment to the work of the Lord will pay off even in this life and remember Revelation 22:3 "And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him."

Ken and Eunice in Kenya - update May 2008

We thank you so much for your continued support and prayers. God has been so faithful to us as a family and also as a team.

The School opened last week and we are glad to have all the teachers and students back in good health—we are praying for a fruitful second term.

Eunice is back from Uganda where she had attended meetings on a training called “Cross roads”---this is training on behavioral change among the youth. It was a great success.

Thank God with us for the community who have given us 30 acres of land for high School. We are not paying anything for this other than the normal government fees charged for surveying, gazetment and other documentation costs. Even though this is a Muslim community, they have seen our contribution in improving education standards amongst their children and they would want us to embark on high school also—thank God that even those that have been fiercely resisting us are becoming great allies in advocating for us to have more land. God is able to direct the hearts of kings just like a water course—to him be the glory!.

We are still trusting God to come through for us so we can finish repairs of classes and fencing the compound---the flood really wrecked havoc here

This week, we will be starting a three months course in evangelism and discipleship. This training is called New Life Training Curriculum (NLTC). Members of different churches here have been requested to join the training. I have decided to include Muslim evangelism course as part of this program. For the next three months, Trainers and Trainees will be going out to share the gospel as part of the practical.

PRAYER POINTS

NLTC
-Pray for the right people to join the evangelism and discipleship training
-Pray for the trainers that they will always be filled with the Holy Spirit as they give presentations
-Pray for many to be saved as the trainees and the trainers give a presentation of the gospel
-Pray for the safety of the trainers/trainees as they will many times be going back home at night
-Pray that the training will ignite revival as members of different churches take back the fire of evangelism and discipleship

SCHOOL
Pray that our standard eight class will adequately prepare for the National exam (KCPE)
Pray that our teachers will build relationships with the children that will allow them to easily share the gospel
Pray for Muslim workers in our school to accept Jesus as their Lord and saviour
Pray for believers to faithfully share their faith both in words and action
Pray that our love to the Muslims will always be unconditional
Pray that we will be the salt and the light of garissa

REFUGEE CAMP
Pray for “A”—he is facing many challenges from those who know he is a Christian
Pray for two new MBB’s—that they will grow in the knowledge of the Lord
Pray for salvation of more “S”


Thank you so much for standing in the gap
Blessings

Flooding causes significant damage to school in Garissa

We have once again experienced serious flood that has left quite some destruction in our school. Please, do pray that God intervenes as we seek his face on how to do reconstruction. Below are some photos that capture what happened on Wednesday.
Blessings
Ken

School compound and classes flooded with water

Concrete Pillars for our fence pulled down

More Pillars down


Our School compound in river

Children helping to rescue some of the things that were swept from the school



Our Children playground flooded

Boys’ dormitory full of water

Our Goat shed destroyed

Our Water pump destroyed

Ken's update for APRIL 2008

Head man” Salad making mud for the wall. I was glad that the community was involved in this. All I needed to do was to mobilize them and provide iron sheets, timber and nails





















Building ready for Children—they no longer have to read under tree


















Councilor Kunyo—Munyoywaya leader showing me their water pump. They have given us land for Agriculture next to the river



























“Banana in the desert”—this is in Kunyo’s farm. We intend to train farmers on modern Agricultural practices using the farm we have been given

























Our Jesus film team had great time in Mwingi---over fifty people gave their lives to Christ




People in attendance as our JF team present the gospel

PRAISE ITEMS

Eunice did organize a successful prayer seminar last Saturday. We had people from all the churches attend. The hall was packed with people who are hungry to seek the face of the Lord on behalf of “M”.

I ministered at garissa medical college last Saturday. I was talking about “overcoming discouragement” and many indicated that they were blessed by the message---to God be the glory.

Thank God that the community has given us 30 acres of land for high school. This was done through full council approval.

Thank God for Tim’s good performance in school—he was 2nd best student in his class (just one point behind the best student). Ann is in nursery and they don’t get positions. Mary (our niece) whom we stay with was also position two in her class.


PRAYER ITEM

Pray for a very influential “M” who has challenged me for a discussion on both the Bible and the quran. Pray that I will not just win the argument but the soul.

Pray for “M” girl called “F” in our school who has a desire to know the truth. She has gone through painful experiences and is currently getting closer to the truth as a result of us being available to her in her time of need. She has requested for a bible—pray that she will have revelation as she reads it.

Pray for Land documents that we are currently pursuing with the government officers. We intend to start high school after getting these vital documents.

Our School is closing today and opening early may—pray for safety and protection of both teachers and students.

Pray that all our staff will have a burden to consistently share there faith with “M”. Pray against fear that holds people back

Pray for our Jesus film team that will be going for mission in Mwingi—many people to know the Lord.

Read Colossians 3:1-4.

The Lord richly bless you

Letters and Fundraising Information

Here are Microsoft Word files for various Letters and Fundraising Information.

Mission Partner Card

Sample Thailand 2008 Letter

Sample Africa 2008 Letter

How to Fundraise for Short Term Missions - Letter

Ken and Eunice Africa Update 2 - March

We do hope that Easter has provided you with opportunity to reflect on the great price our lord Jesus Christ had to pay for our redemption.

Josh (a friend of mine) and I went to the refugee camp to spend time with the refugees. We organized for the whole Gambela community from Ethiopia to gather for tea and celebrate Jesus. It was just great seeing smiling faces amongst these refugees who have gone through so much. Besides, they are still applying the training we gave them some time back. We have Somali people giving there lives as the Ethiopians apply the training.

Three Somali believers and I—two of them on my left are Somali Bantus. The Two of them are new converts who needs your prayer. They are H and M. Pray for A on my right to continue being fruitful.

This has been my “five star hotel” in the camp over the years—I love the place. The bed is raised floor made of mud—a good way to keep off orthopaedrician.

Tea being made for over two hundred people who attended the Friday meeting at the camp. Josh and I spoke during the three services.


Refugees giving their lives to Christ.

Beautiful Street in the camp.

Keep on praying that the glory of the Lord may cover this region as waters cover the sea.

Blessings
Ken & Eunice

Ken and Eunice Africa Update - March

It is always great to send you update. The past few weeks have been busy but the grace of the Lord has always been sufficient. We thank you for praying for our country. Yesterday, the parliamentarians past the constitutional amendment bill 2008 that will guarantee peace (humanly speaking)—we know that peace that surpasses human understanding can only come from Jesus—the prince of peace.

I decided that I could do something about Muslim children studying under tree at bula secondary---I organized for them to get iron sheets, few timbers and iron nails. Together with my friend Josh who is visiting, we decided to help the villagers in the process. We are likely to finish this project next week so the children can move in. Below is the sequence of events:

Children under tree

We are starting to put the poles up—I am really not an expert but when you are a missionary you can do everything—you know!

Salad—the head man hammering nails

We are just left with putting iron sheets and mud walls.

This morning, I had the privilege of showing hippopotamus in a river half a mile to a visiting friend (Josh). This is the picture he took. This river that is not far from home hosts lots of crocodiles and hippos.

PRAYER POINTS--Josh and I will be traveling to the refugee camp tomorrow—pray for fruitful time

• Pray that we will be able to finish building the class so that the children studying under tree may move inside
• Pray for Josh as he speaks this Friday at refugee camp and garissa teachers training college this Sunday
• Pray that children in our school may come to the knowledge of the truth
• Pray for all the workers with life ministry that they will live spirit filled lives and be focused in making Christ known.
• Pray for my discussion with one of the most influential Muslim here who has given me a challenge: he wants me to bring the Bible and he brings the Quran for us to know which is the truth. He seemed to think that I can become a Muslim—pray that the lord who revealed himself to Saul on his way to Damascus may reveal himself to “M’
• Pray for God to help us raise a spiritual movement that will see many coming to the fold of the master.
• Pray for the glory of the Lord to cover the land as waters cover the sea.

May the Lord’s face shine upon you