First we would like to thank ALL of our supporters, whether financial support, prayer support, giggle support, telephone support, Facebook support, etc......THANK YOU! A special thanks to our parents, The Park Church, The Mission Society and our monthly donors!
We continue to prepare for the arrival of the 2012 Kenya Mission/Men's Mission Team. On August 31, 2012, sixteen missionaries will arrive in Kenya, ready to serve. What an exciting time! But before we get to the details of the mission, allow us to share different parts of our journey up until now.
Preparing to serve cross-culturally, regardless of the context, takes a great deal of preparation and cooperation (prayer is a given). So here are a few items that we have been working on, simultaneously, since our arrival in April. You will see several bullet points more than once. This is an attempt to stress the continuation of the preparation process.
- Making personal cross-cultural adjustments
- Finding a place to live
- Making a house a home
- Meeting with ministry partners to prepare for the team
- Meeting new ministry partners for future opportunities
- Scheduling and attending the necessary meetings to prepare for the team's arrival
- Meeting old and new missionaries, from around the world
- Finding a Swahili language school to meet our needs
- Visiting the Maasai Mara (a friend made us go for sanity sake)
- Scheduling and attending the necessary meetings to prepare for the team's arrival
- Celebrating our birthdays (lots of surprises from friends and family members)
- Traveling to Isiolo
- Preparing for the medical camp in Isiolo
- Traveling to Kutus
- Preparing for the medical camp in Kutus
- Meeting old and new missionaries, from around the world
- Beginning Swahili language school
- Adjusting to Swahili language school
- Practicing language learning and laughing at ourselves (and others laughing harder)
- Scheduling and attending the necessary meetings to prepare for the team's arrival
- Showing up in offices, unannounced, to prepare for the team's arrival
- Providing respite for other missionaries
- Allowing others to provide respite for us
- And this week.......visiting SEVEN Kenyan governmental offices within a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR period to further prepare for the team's arrival
- Inviting governmental officials to meet us at one or all of our ministry sites
- Receiving invitations from governmental officials to minister in their constituencies, in the very near future
- Etc., etc., etc..................
While this IS NOT an exhaustive it looks and sounds exhaustING!
The team has been preparing in the US for cross-cultural service, through spiritual preparation, class training, team fellowships, team building exercises, outings and so much more. Team members are "volunteers" which means they ARE NOT paid for serving on the team AND they voluntarily take time off from work, and life as usual, in order to serve on the 2012 Kenya Mission Team. Each team member has raised 100% of his/her mission funds and some are still raising funds so it's NOT too late to donate.
What will the Medical/Men's Mission Team do this year? They will experience "reverse mission" right from the start. "Reverse mission" is when an individual or group anticipates serving others, with the hopes of giving all they have to give and instead they receive more than they ever thought possible - all for personal growth and development. Reverse mission is very closely related to culture-shock and one's humbleness, flexibility and intuitiveness determines whether the experiences are positive or negative. It all depends on the individual. The team will provide FREE medical services in three locations (Isiolo, "the bush"; Kutus, on the backside of Mount Kenya; and Nairobi, at a Boy's Detention Center in Kibera, the largest slum in the world). Along with medical services there will be evangelism with discipleship follow-up, personal hygiene education, HIV/AIDS prevention education, as well as specialized malaria education, testing, diagnosis and treatment. There will be games, singing and sports (football/soccer) for the children. That's it in a nutshell.
As you pray for the mission, please pray for the team as a whole, including the two of us.
We will provide updates while the team is serving in Kenya. Updates will be provided via this blogspot and our Facebook Page (Ken-Ya Believe It). Additional information can be found on our website at www.kenyabelieveit.org and in our monthly newsletter, also entitled, Ken-Ya Believe It!
Until we blog again.....
Until we blog again.....
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