AN EVENING TO REFLECT

A quiet evening alone, yes alone.  John has traveled to Kakamega to look in on the project for the last time before baby arrives and his focus will need to be exclusively here for a while.  Please keep him in prayer that things go well.  So for me it is a quite evening alone.

Just about an hour ago it began to rain pretty hard here and being on the fifth floor apartment it's nice and loud.  The power just went out about 15mins ago so I have to finish this entry quick before the laptop battery dies out on me.  Forced candle light evenings are one of the many joys and frustrations of living in Kenya.  Sometimes, like tonight, they are welcomed.  I'm looking forward to falling asleep to the beautiful lullaby.  

Though I do miss John terribly, I'm enjoying the time to reflect.  Just today I was working on filling out a pregnancy journal my midwife gave me as a Christmas present.  As I filled in the story of how John and I found out we were pregnant I was blown away again by God's amazing timing and precious gift of life.  Oh how good it is to look back and remember.  Below is what I wrote. 

I thought I might be pregnant because:

I was a few days late and every month I hoped & prayed that I was pregnant.  Every month was so hard when the reality that I still wasn't pregnant would hit all over again.  So being even a few days late was such a mix of emotions.  I tried so hard not to get my hopes up, which was impossible.  I was scared to take the test coz I didn't want to see yet another negative.  But on July 6th I was for days late and couldn't wait any longer.   Early that morning while John was still asleep I peed on the stick.  Seeing those two lines was indescribable, a rush of emotion.  I burst into the room and woke John up by waving it in his face and and just kept saying, "Look, two lines! You see two lines right?"  John insists that it was 5am but I'm pretty sure it was more like 7 or 8.  Either way, it took John a few minutes to realize what I was saying. I think we were both overwhelmed with emotions we didn't really know how to respond.  After losing two pregnancies we felt the need to guard our hearts from more disappointment.  In the back of our minds the all too real knowledge that a positive pregnancy test doesn't always mean a healthy pregnancy and baby.  Yet in spite of all that, how could our hearts not fill with excitement and joyous anticipation at the thought of this being the answer to our many tearful prayers.  Once some of the initial shock wore off we held hands and prayed.  It was such a raw and honest prayer.  We committed everything into God's hands.  We committed our fragile and aching with hope hearts into His will.  We embraced whatever His will in the matter would be, whether this meant a healthy pregnancy or not, we knew it was in His hands.  We surrendered our will and hopes to Him. We prayed He would guard our hearts and minds from fears, anxiety or doubt from the past experiences.  Then we made our requests known to Him and prayed that this time things would be different and we'd have a healthy pregnancy and baby.  We prayed a hedge of protection over my womb and body and committed our little one into His care.  We decided to go to the hospital to get an HCG test just to confirm the home test.  The whole time even at the hospital we both felt such peace and engulfed in God's care and presence.  We both felt convicted that this time we wanted to walk in simple faith in God alone and not put our faith in man or the medical system.  Not that we wouldn't be wise and involve the medical system where necessary, but not walk in fear like our experience with the ectopic pregnancy.  With the ectopic pregnancy we went every other day for another HCG test which caused us so much anxiety and a roller coaster of emotion. And honestly in the end we had no control over what happened anyway and it robbed us of being able to rest in God's sovereignty.  The reality is that life and death are in God's hands.  Only God can protect and knit together the baby in my womb.  When we got the results and confirmed I was pregnant we were overjoyed and our faith journey began.

 The Publish for All Initiative

 Life-changing resources published anywhere in the world today, available everywhere tomorrow

John recently got new responsibility working with a new Bethany initiative called Publish 4 All or P4A.  

Some of P4A's books

  
Why is this amazing?

• Creating books, study guides, tracts, curriculum
• Publish by uploading files to the publish for All secure global network
• Share files with other ministries across the globe
• Ministries produce (print) resources on demand and according to their specific needs
• Together we can fulfill the great commission (Mathew 28:19-20 )and see lives transformed

An Awesome Mission Tool:

P4A has the ability to empower the African and  global church to upload content to the cloud (internet), access and share this material anywhere in the world, and print the resources on a low cost print on demand system. As a result, the global church, regardless of its size, geographical location, and limited budget can now afford and access desperately needed life-changing resources and make them broadly available.  Check it out Here.  

This gives authors amazing flexibility and opportunity and empowers God's people to write and publish.   

How are we involved? 

John has been trained to do the IT technical side of things mainly formatting. He also helps in the promotion side and distribution of materials.  

 

As for my role, well, I do a pretty good job of cheering John on and looking over his fine work =)

Interested?


If you, someone you know or your church is interested please let us know and we will connect you with the P4A nearest you. 




 

Our Kakamega Project

As missionaries we work with Bethany International and are involved in many exciting ministries.  Our Kakamega Project, as we like to refer to it, is one such ministry endeavor.  When John's father, Peter, passed on over 10 years ago he left to his children, among other things, a half acre piece of land in Kakamega Western Kenya.  Kakamega is where both John and I grew up and where we met over 15yrs ago.  The land is located in a very strategic part of Kakamega town right in between two University campuses.  

How it all started. A humble tin shack on an undeveloped piece of land.

After many years of seeking God and feeling strongly that this land would one day be used for the glory of God, John entered a business partnership with a close Christian brother, Samora, to begin developing this land.  They began construction of student hostels to rent in July 2011.  Up to now 8 units are complete and 8 units are in progress.  As with any such endeavor we have faced our share of set backs but the conviction that God has a great plan for this land has kept us going.  We see such a great ministry opportunity to reach college age students with the Gospel and see this project as a strategic way to do so.  We eventually want to see student prayer and Bible groups begin and our hostels be the safe place for these to happen.  But our vision doesn't stop there.  As God continues to mold and shape our vision, we see a possibly of it becoming a training facility for missions and so much more.  All we know for sure is that God has given us this land for a reason and it is to advance His Kingdom and bring Him glory.  We hope that one day the finances that this place will generate will be funneled back into funding local mission endeavors and local missionaries. 

John and Samora while construction continues

John and I hard at work as well

Planting grass

So, how you may ask, does our Kakamega Project affect our daily lives and how does it fit into the overall ministry vision and with Bethany as our mission organization?  Well, practically John makes frequent trips out to Kakamega, about an 8hour drive by bus to keep tabs on how construction is going etc...As for the over all vision and Bethany, it fits perfectly.  The Bethany ministries here in Nairobi we are involved in are all to do with mobilizing the Kenyan Church for missions and reaching the unreached.   We see our Kakamega Project doing just that, mobilizing the community for missions.  

Completed units behind us

A glimpse inside a finished unit

The Distant Boat Movie

Some of you may have already heard about The Distant Boat.  The Distant Boat is a feature film about Africa, Missions, The Church, and our responsibility to reach the lost.  It was shot and produced by AIM (Africa Inland Mission) right here in Nairobi, Kenya.   

A nice number showed up for the launch

Being part of FTT (Finish The Task) we have had the privilege of being on the movie's steering committee and helping to head up the distribution of this film in a strategic way. The hope is that this movie will stir the hearts of the Kenyan people and help mobilize the Church toward missions. There was a tremendous turn out at the movie’s premier with many church leaders acknowledging a need to start mission programs and to mobilize their congregation for missions.

 John & I at the Movie Premier rocking out during a mini concert

We have also helped FTT in the development of study guides for the movie targeting specific groups to optimize it’s effectiveness in church mobilization.  To view the trailer Click Here or visit the FTT website to download the full movie.  FTT is a big part of what we are involved in and what we do here in Nairobi. John is in charge of the FTT website so if you have questions please let us know.  

 We are so excited to be part of this movie.  It is the first of it's kind here in Africa and truly is a great tool for mobilizing the church for missions.  It tells the story of a Kenyan man who hears God calling him to be a missionary and the real life struggles anyone wanting to be a missionary would face here in the African context.
 

I was helping to "man" the FTT promo 

display table at the Movie Premier

It just had it's premier in Minnesota at Bethany Church.  If you would be interested in showing it at your church please contact us and we can give you more information. 

Africa Center for Missions (ACM)

Many of you are already familiar with ACM.  This has been John and I's ministry focus area for most of our time in Kenya so far.  But for those who are not so familiar I thought it would be good to share what ACM is.  

ACM or Africa Center for Missions is a ministry of FTT or Finish The Task which Bethany Int. has partnered with. It is a missions training program that offers degree level training in missions.  Our target is first Kenyan nationals and then Africa as a whole.  For the longest time Kenya has received missionaries from the West which has yielded much fruit.  However, the Great Commission is Christ's mandate for all believers, the entire global church to actively participate in. And lets face it, the West is not able or meant to evangelize and reach all the world by itself and with the ever shifting global scene that would be unrealistic anyway.  Kenyan Christian nationals are much more equipped to reach the still over 20 unreached people groups withing Kenya's boarders. It is much more strategic for Kenya to be a mission launch pad to reach into other African countries then it is for the West, not the the West should stop sending missionaries.  

ACM's last graduation - 2012

ACM offers three degree programs:

1) B.A. in Strategic Missions

For individuals who feel called 

to be missionaries

2) B.A. in Mission Leadership

For Church leaders to get a firm

 foundation in missions and learn

 how to make their church a mission

 sending church.

3) B.A. in Intercultural Education

For already on the field missionaries 

who feel the need to get more 

mission education.

Accredited by Bethany International University, Singapore this training builds upon Diploma and ministry experience already attained. 

 

What part do John and I play in ACM?  John is the IT Director in charge of the website and is working on getting ACM online.  I work behind the scenes doing a lot of administration type work such as communications and also help to promote ACM at events.