Kids Singing I Have Decided to Follow Jesus in English and S

Singing RVA VBS Camp

Samburu Warriors Song and Dance #1

Samburu Warriors Song and Dance #4

Samburu Warriors Song and Dance #3

Samburu Warriors Song and Dance #2

Teaching the Kids My God is So Great Song

More Baseball with Kenyan Men

Playing Baseball with Kenyan Men

Playing t-ball with the kids

Bumpy Ride in the Overland Vehicle

"Firsts" done when in Kenya

Saw Samburu slums where over 1,000 people live
Slept in 7 different beds in 14 days
Held a Dik Dik (small antelope)
Danced with Samburu warriors
Held baby goats
Drank chai made from camels milk
Spent the night in a hut
Worshipped the Lord in the dark with Samburu people
Petted a cheetah and also a lion
Used a squatty potty (hole in the ground)
Made sand bags out of my tee shirt
Kissed a giraffe
Saw a male circumcision
Had food taken out of my hands from a monkey
Diverted a creek to free our truck from the mud
Saw a goat slaughtered
Witnessed a blood-letting
Roobed of a coke by a kid
Went to sleep listened to Samburu warriors sing
Spent $120 on Samburu bracelets
Swallowed a fly
Played Kajabi Kan Kan with Samburu people
Taught Samburu men how to play baseball
Slept all night in a truck being filthy dirty and hungry
Shopped from local Kenyans
Witnessed shock therapy on a scorpion sting
Saw a 4 seater plane land on a dirt airstrip
Held hands with a Kenyan woman while dancing
Drove on the left side of the road
Drove on such a bumpy road that my teeth hurt

Stay tuned.....

Yes, the Kenya Team is home in San Jose but we wanted to make sure you keep up with the blog as we will have some video on here soon. Stay tuned. We have to catch up on a bit of sleep first! Thankful to be home...now just to get our luggage which went to San Jose and not San Francisco.

Finally Home!

To finally make it home, we were able to transfer planes in Minnesota. Our plane was not going to get to Salt Lake City in time to make the transfer to the plane going to San Jose. We were able to catch a plane going to San Francisco. Took an extra hour to take off after leaving the gate. Pretty good snowstorm starting and they had to de-ice the plane first.

But a few more pictures of our final day. After getting unstuck in the mud and driving all night in mud caked clothes, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise!


Finally we arived at the game reserve we were supposed to spend the night at, and after getting showers to clean off the mud, we looked across the river and saw 5 crocodiles sitting on the bank!

When we reached our breakfast table we were greeted by a little friend. This was our first meal since leaving Karunga the previous morning.



One last delay on getting back to Nairobi. A flat tire!

Greg and George at the Equator. Great bonding experience were developed challenge made for a great Hillside/Hume team!

We are back in the USA!

We have landed safely in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A snow storm is coming in and we are hoping to get out and get home safely before it hits! Please pray!

Above is a picture of the vast expanse of God's creation! This is on the way from Karunga to Nairobi early Sunday morning and where we learn to depend on God's Mercy and nothing else as we were about to find out. (see blog below!)

Stuck for The Day

In crossing one of the river beds on Sunday, our big blue truck got stuck. Our ACTS drivers and crew tried to get the truck out, but could not. Thus began a day that changed all plans and expectation. After early attempts to extract the truck using sand straction plates and a tow line to ACTS 4WD Land Cruiser resulted in burrying the rear axle and spare tire, an all hands effort began. The are no amount of words to fully capture the challenge of fixing this problem, but here's a quick summary: After an initial attempt to dig out the wheels and use the sand boards failed once again, a trench was dug, and earthen dam built, and the river was rerouted. This was all done with two shovels, a machettie, and a pick axe, oh, and every eating plate and bowl we had. The dirtyist part of all had the same guys that keep the road to Hume Lake clear in the winter, crawling in the mud under the truck, digging out the axle, spare tire, etc. Finally, after about 8 hours, the truck was out of the river bed. Unfotunately, it immediately became stuck in the deep, dry sand. And at this point we learned from the Kenyan police officers that ACTS driver drove 40 Kilometers to hire for protection, that the road ahead of us was washed out, requiring us to recrosses the same river we'd just crossed. No one had eaten, it was dark, and we were finding scorpions in the sand. We found another place, to cross the river, cut down tree branches, filled in sand, and got the truck and all the luggage and gear we had removed from the truck loaded up by about 10:00 p.m. Throughout all of this, throughout the discouragements, we prayed. While this was not what we had hoped for, we were blessed by this experience.

Patty's blog update

Let me take you back to Wednesday night. We divided into 3 teams and were taken to 3 different areas. We had flashlights but they got turned off after the walk.. Picture the only light was the moon, anywhere from 40 to 100 in a group, everyone sitting on the dirt. Kids laying right on the dirt, listening to a language we don’t know. This was out of our comfort zone but it was a once in a lifetime experience. First they sang which was absolutely beautiful. Then a man told a Bible Story to the people. Everyone sat on the dirt except the story teller. Then the Bible story teller asked them questions. He ended with asking for prayer requests and then he prayed…maybe 2 hours total. One cool thing in our group (Patty’s) was that there was an Elder of the tribe there and he told Ben our story teller, to tell us that they would be praying for us while we are on our journey to the US. Everyone pretty much agreed that this was the highlight of the trip. To think that they are worshiping the same God and hallelujah! …one day we will all be in Heaven together and we will be able to speak the same language! Mike got a little of the singing on video so we hope to get that on the blog.

Yesterday was our day of introducing baseball to the people here. Through Mike Sodergren, we got baseball equipment from the SF Giants including 50 hats and 50 shirts. We all walked maybe a mile in the hot sun to Karungu Primary School. The older guys got into teams and they played baseball. The younger kids played tee ball (actually they just hit the ball off a tee) and then they all played catch with us. Then we sang songs and played a game they taught us similar to duck duck goose. We had so much fun with the little kids and the older guys had a blast too. One team wore the hats and the other wore the shirts. We of course played in the dirt and heat and seem to always be filthy but what a great day! Thanks Mike for contacting the SF Giants!

Since Pattie and Sandy just got back from their evening with their families, and I chatted with them for a minute, I can tell you Sandy didn’t sleep a wink, the others not much at all. They said it was very hard and uncomfortable trying to sleep on a very hard surface but they all got thru the night with God’s help. They look very tired. I hope Sandy or Pattie have a chance to get on the blog later today and you can hear their stories. They need to eat something and then go to bed because they are all exhausted.

Karunga

Here are some pictures of the time we have spent here in Karunga. Below is Mike with some camels he now thinks he owns.


Becky, Patty, and Terry under the wing of AIM airplane. We are loading some of our stuff to take back to Nairobi. As you can see it is a community gathering event when a plane arrives.

Morgan and Stepanie playing in the tree house outside Rick and Carries' place. This gives you and idea of where they live and what their place looks like.

Rick is giving batting lessons to the S.F. Giants shirts team. Rick earlier wowed them with a 375' blast over the left field school fence!
Hats team in the field chasing down a long hit by one of the shirts team members. The Kenyans were very fast on the base paths. This picture also gives you a shot of the beautiful mountains surrounding us.

This is a early Saturday morning shot after the night Terry and Mike spent the night in this hut with this family. Rose Nasinkon Lesaale is making Chai tea with sugar and milk from the family's 17 goats.

Outside of typical tribal home. One son is in charge of the goats, one son is in charge of the cows. All the other children are in school. This family loves Jesus and made us feel very welcome.

Samburu Warriors doing their traditional dance for us near Rick and Carrie's place.

Packing the ACTS bus for our early departure tomorrow morning. We will be heading to the Sambura Serena Game Park.

We Made It!

We have made it to Karunga! It was a fantastic journey! I will show you a few pictures here and below that I will give you an update and prayer request! Below is a picture of the long journey to Karunga. You can see Rick Maples Land Rover Defender loaded with all of our gear. It was great to have his truck to haul all of our stuff! (You can click on the picture to get a bigger view).


Below is a Ann and Patty with the children at the home of Andrea, one of the bible story tellers in Karunga. Notice the umbrellas. Rick and Carrie asked for prayer for rain in this drought stricken part of Kenya. It poured today!


Becky and Patty with some of the children. Carrie is in the background.

Rick is explaining the ministry/teaching strategy while watching Andrea tell of his faith and story telling ministry.

Paul, Muchai, Daniel, and Reuben. They are our marvelous drivers, guides, and chefs with ACTS (African Christian Tours and Safaris).

This is the team that is from Hume Lake staff this is with us.

Great story to share: When we were at RAV doing VBS for the kids,
several of us met a lady at a little store. She told us that recently she was very
depressed because she had no money. Then a missionary came into her store.
She said the missionary prayed for her. Just days after that, this
conference started and we all showed up of course ready to spend money. Her
eyes teared us and she said God took care of her by sending us to her. We
were all very touched. She is a sweet lady.

Prayer requests: tomorrow night (Friday) several of us are spending the
night with the families of the village that the Maples minister to. Pray for
sleep to occur. They basically sleep in a thatched roof hut and it is small
and there is even a fire going in the other room so it is a bit smoky. Pray
for health for all who do that.

Today we took a long walk to the village and you'll see the pictures of us
with umbrellas and all the people. It rained hard and we got wet and that
brings on the humidity but we all did well.
Tonight we are dividing up into 3 teams and are going to different places to
see how they tell the Bible story to the people. They do this of course in
their native tongue. Should be an exciting night.

Here are more pictures taken on the last day. Today, Tuesday, we are traveling all day heading out to Rick's place. Please pray for our traveling. Below is Greg's group parting of the Red Sea.




Patty hanging with some of the kids.



Tricia and Morgan teaching the trust walk game.


Joyce teaching her small group.



Patti hanging with some kids.


Terry with her group.



Pam with her group.


Morgan and her group.

We took some pictures on our last day of VBS and here are a few. This is Greg and his group.


Terri was our bible teacher and here she is with some of the kids.

Anne with her group.

Patty and her group.


Having fun playing games.

Here is the school where we held the VBS. Notice the heart on the map of Africa.

The view of Rift Valley from the school.

More Pictures from Africa!

Terry is leading some songs and below Patty is going over the bible verses.



This is one of the small groups.


Below is Daisy (Patty) with the leaders a few of the students.


Sandy and Pam with a few of the kids.

Sunday Night

It is Sunday night and we've completed four Vacation Bible School (VBS) session with one more tomorrow morning. Our audience is 75 children (first to sixth grade). We have some fun characters such as our emcee Daisy, her inquisitive Skeeter, and Cousin Clyde with his pet crocodile, and even a fussy Pharaoh who just didn't get it that he should have let the Israelites go (one plague after another).

We are having such a great time with these wonderful missionary children. They are blessing us daily as they are learn, play and sharing really amazing things about their lives. Some have lost parents, many are living lives with few or no friends in the villages where their parents are serving. Many of the parents have commented on how much fun their kids are having. And, tonight was a very special night. The kids put their sins in a bags that the leaders draped over a cross at the front of the room to symbolize how the light of Jesus can be blocked out by even little things we do like not following our parents direction. One our actors played the role of Jesus, walking up the theater aisle, removing the bags from the cross, and letting the light shine again. What a great visual for the kids....and us.

Tomorrow morning we are looking forward to our last VBS meeting with the kids and then we have a movie night with them tomorrow night.

We leave Kijabe Tuesday morning and head for Rick and Carrie Maples home in Kurungu. That will be a two day trip by truck over unpaved roadway so please pray for clear roads and for safety. We are going to spend time with a nomadic people group that has no written language. We are bringing a ton of baseball gear from the S.F. Giants that Rick and Carrie say we came play on their air field.

We hope to send another blog soon. We are taking a lot of pictures and will enjoy sharing them with you when we get home. Thank you again for being a part of our prayer team.

In Christ,

The Kenyan 2009 Mission Team

Here are a few photos over the last couple of days. This first one is of the team around a pool table in a team meeting doing last minute planning for VBS.


This is the stage set up for the VBS Crocodile Dock.

This picture was taken on the road to Kijabe. Some awesome God made beauty!

Our fearless team leader on the road to Kijabe.

A picture of the Great Rift Valley.

One of the giraffes wearing the donated hats from the SF Giants!

As you can tell from the pictures that Kenya is very beautiful. The team is enjoying their time here and the weather has been excellent. VBS has been going very well and the kids are having a blast! We leave for Kurunga on Tuesday morning so this may be the last post for awhile. The team is having fun and please keep praying for us!

Day 1 of VBS

This is the first day of VBS and we are having a great time. There are lots of kids and things are really going great! Here is a picture from the first day. We were having problems posting so this is from Mike's iphone so the picture is small. Sorry! More later.
Thanks for your prayers!

Happy Thanksgiving from Nairobi, Kenya!!

We're here!! After 38 hours of travel time we arrived safely in Nairobi. It is pretty amazing that 37 of our 38 pieces of luggage made it also. And, praise God, the 38th was found and is being retrieved as I write!

Right now we are preparing VBS materials and practicing skits and at 1pm, Kenya time, Mayfield Guest House (our accommodations in Nairobi) is serving us a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. This afternoon the Team is heading out to the Giraffe Center and an animal park.

Tomorrow we drive to Kijabe to set up our VBS program. The conference begins in the evening and we are all very excited to meet our small groups for the first time.

We would appreciate continued prayer for adjusting to this time zone and for all us to remain healthy. (So far, so good)

Prayer Request

Last night we had our last Kenya meeting. Our first meeting was March 8th. On that day we each wrote down things that we were nervous about and needed prayer for. Last night we had a chance to reflect how God has been answering all of our prayers. We had many of our prayer partners come and join us for a time of prayer. Below are all of our current prayer request. We sure appreciate your prayer on our behalf.

• Pattie Zylka- Peace and contentment
• Sandy Cheney- Wisdom and Flexibility
• Terri Hannigan-Teaching the VBS Bible story. Dad in hospital with heart problems!
• Emily Hannigan-needs to keep current with school work. Worried about Grandpa in the hospital.
• Katie Zylka- Plane ride, Peace
• Morgan Brown- Sleeping the a hut, VBS small group
• Tricia Brown- Staying healthy, missing kids
• Ann Addington- Staying healthy, affective with VBS small group
• Helen Maples- Staying healthy, useful to the team
• Becky Kompelien- Staying healthy, sensitive to the Holy Spirits leading
• Jeannette Gundstrom- Staying healthy, sleep well, obedient to Gods voice
• Patty Haven- Needs to get over cold, anxiousness
• Pam Belgum- Anxiousness, health, safety, peace
• Greg Belgum- That everything will work out smoothly, school work
• Terry Sodergren- Safety and wisdom for girls, Mikes moms health while they are gone
• Mike Sodergren- Safety and health of family members, that God will do wonderful things through us.

6 days til take off!

Kenya Itinerary:

Tues. Nov. 24- Leave San Jose
Wed. Nov. 25- Arrive in Nairobi-Stay @ Mayfield
Thurs. Nov. 26- Sight seeing- Stay @ Mayfield
Fri. Nov. 27- Leave for Kijabe-set-up for VBS-Friday night Day #1VBS
Sat. Nov. 28- Day 2 VBS morning/ Evenin join the conference for Family Talent Night
Sun. Nov. 29- Day 3 VBS morning/Day 4 VBS evening
Mon. Nov. 30- Day 5 VBS morning/ Evening movie night with VBS kids
Tues. Dec. 1- Leave for Kurungu stay the night at Yare Campsite
Wed. Dec. 2- Arrive in Kurungu
Thurs. Dec. 3- Kurungu
Fri. Dec. 4- Kurungu (some of us staying with a Samburu family in their huts!
Sat. Dec. 5- Kurungu
Sun. Dec. 6- Leave Kurungu stay @ Samburu Serena Campsite (game drive)
Mon. Dec. 7- Arrive at airport leave @ 10:50pm
Tues. Dec. 8- Arrive @ San Jose airport @ 9:22 pm