1st Month Update

Wow, one month has passed by already! Each day has been unique and rewarding.

The first week, I was blessed with an opportunity to visit my boyfriend in Mozambique. It was the first we’d seen each other in 7 months!! Jerry is a missionary with New Tribes. My friend, Kate, introduced me to him 6 weeks before he left to serve in Mozambique. We have continued to build a relationship long-distance. I loved meeting his Mozambican friends and his friends that are serving on the field with him and seeing their ministries. The entire week was more than amazing…it was perfect!!!

After visiting Jerry, I headed off to meet my church group in Kenya. Arriving in Kenya, I felt happy and at home. There was a group of almost 30 from Fox River Christian Church. We spent our time going to the villages of Vipingo and Bomani serving the children and reaching out to the community. We did lots of activities for the children, interactive lessons, art projects and games! The children sang beautiful songs for us. We love that so much! We had a medical team and dentists working during all of these activities. The children had their teeth cleaned and examined. They all learned how to brush their teeth with their new tooth brushes. Many of the children had teeth pulled. I was surprised when I learned that many children use sticks to brush their teeth because that is all they have.

We also had two community outreach days where thousands of Kenyans attend. Fox River provides food, entertainment, soccer tournaments and most importantly a message of faith, hope and love to the community. The people in the community look forward to this day for a long time! For most, it is the best meal they will eat all year and may be the only opportunity they have this kind of fun and to hear that kind of encouraging message. At the end of the outreach day, we hand out bracelets. I’m amazed at how much a small gift means to them. Here is a blog with tons of pictures and details of all the time we spent at the centers http://frcckenyatrip2010.blogspot.com/. It was truly an enriching time for all of us from Fox River, the children, the staff and the community.

When the Fox River team left for the states, there were 6 people that stayed an extra week. We were officially named ‘the residue team’ thanks to Jim…lol. We gladly took the title. That entire week was jam packed with different experiences and projects. One of the best things was helping build a mud hut! I was so interested to find out how that is done. The frame was all ready for us. It was sticks found from trees in the area. The sticks were bound together with long, dry tree leaves. We started by digging a hole in the dirt. The hole was filled with dirt, and then we added water and stepped in the dirt/water to mix and make mud. Then we gathered rocks from a big pile and started building. First we lay the rocks down, then put a thick layer of mud on top of it and keep adding, more rocks and more mud. It took a few hours with about 10 people at work. The family we were building for said it would have taken them at least 3 days to do on their own.

This family has 18 children! WOW! Some of their kids go to the school in Vipingo. The family is so proud that their children attend there because it has resulted in them gaining a lot of knowledge and learning morals that they would not have known. The children who attend Vipingo’s school have set a new standard for the entire family… they choose to do the right thing, follow God, pray and study hard! The parents also noted that it helps their family so much because the school feeds the children and that is less food they have to provide for them. You see, these parents are unemployed without job opportunities. The entire family benefits so much more than we could imagine from the center in Vipingo.

My other favorite day was teen outreach day. This group of teens are also located in the village of Vipingo. We talked about sex, drugs, peer pressure, serving God and responsibilities. All the teens put together a skit on one of those topics. They were creative and funny!! These teens really have a heart to learn about God. They seem to want to do the right thing. I can’t imagine the things they go through, though! One of the girls gave an example of what one of her friends goes through and asked for advice. Her friend’s parents sell drugs, this is the only way they have found to make money and survive. The parents sell the drugs to her friends. However, the teen in this predicament wants to serve God and do the right thing. She does not know how to talk to her friends about not doing drugs, while her parents are selling them and pressuring her to sell them. When I first heard that, I thought to myself, wow, how do you even give advice in that situation? I’ve never been through something like that. Our friend Pastor Paul was actually in the situation himself when he was a teen; he was able to advise her from his experiences. That is just one example of the struggles these teens face. Thankfully they are plugged into the church at Vipingo’s center and want to follow God.

Well, that was just two of days that the ‘residue team’ served. As you can imagine, there was much more we learned and experienced. They all left yesterday and I’m missing the Fox River crew!! It’s been such a blessing to spend so much time with them these past three weeks.

Now, I will start working with the missionaries to build the bridge…. Very exciting!!!!