The Road Map

Greetings Team Kenya 2012…

 

I miss all'y'all soooo much!!

 

Provided below (and as I promised) is the responsive road map (plus a little extra) that I suggested at the trip debrief last Thursday night. Please know that I love all of you deeply, that I treasure each of you more than you probably know, and that I look forward to seeing how God continues to invite us to come hang out with Him in Kenya.

 

Your friend and brother,

 

Dave

 

THE MAP

 

Part A: Scriptures

 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

 

1 Corinthians 12:4-6: There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

 

Philippians 2:12-13: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work within you both to will and to do His good pleasure.

 

Part B: A Few Ground RulesSuggestions

 

While strict obedience to what I provide below is not necessary (or, even, recommend), I do recommend that you consider the following suggestions as you think of, feel, and pray through the many things that have arisen within you as a result of the 2012 trip to Kenya:

1.     Take all of these things slowly; please give yourself some time over the next few days, weeks, months, and (it is my hope!) years to work through these things.

2.     Please know that God is a Perfect Gentleman and that He is not at all interested in destroying who you are as a person. In fact, He's so interested in you as you are right now that, even though He does wish to bring about change in your life, He will do so in what I like to call an aggressively unaggressive manner. Through the mighty working of His Spirit within you (within your desires and within your intentions), He will mold you into the person He intends for you to be without destroying who you are or overriding your will in any manner. The ability that He alone has to do these things is truly extraordinary. With this in mind, I urge you to adopt a posture of surrenderedness, and I urge you also to pursue God with all that’s within you...just as He passionately pursues you.

3.     Don’t make any significant life-changes (for example giving notice at work or selling your home) for at least 30 days (before Halloween), okay? Again, please just give yourself some time with all of this. Relax. God's not in a hurry, so, chances are, it's probably not necessary for you to be either. :o) Caveat to this suggestion: If you're engaging in anything you know to be a significant area of flagrant sin or disobedience, go ahead and make a change today by confessing your sin to God, by confessing your sin to another person, by asking the one to whom you confessed to pray with you for your healing (see James 5:13-20), and then by beginning the process of laying that sin down and walking away from it completely and forever. Please know, though, that there are some chains of sin (addictions, destructive/abusive ways of relating, etc.) that can be extremely difficult to break. If you struggle with an addiction or an abusive pattern of relating to those around you (note that these two often go hand-in-glove), seek out the counsel of a godly person skilled in helping others to find freedom and healing from such things. If you don't think you know of someone, please contact the church as they maintain a list of godly, professional counselors that may be able to help you find what you need.

 

Part C: A Suggested Road Map for Responding to the Haiti 2012 Trip

 

Exercise One: "Telling Your Story"

 

To aid you in answering questions like "How was your trip?" and "What did you do?", I suggest writing out the following:

1.     A one-sentence answer;

2.     A two- to three-sentence answer;

3.     A two-paragraph answer; and

4.     A two-page answer.

By having these answers, you will, I have discovered, be able to more effectively move from one answer to a more detailed answer depending on the interest of the person asking you the above questions (or ones like it). By having such answers already written out, it will, I believe, help you to be sensitive to and to accommodate (within your own heart and mind) the varied degrees of interest/disinterest in those around you. And, through preparing such things in advance, it may also help you to adopt a posture of forgiving in advance those who will hurt you (through their interest [or lack thereof]) even before they do so. To aid me in such things, I adopted a personal slogan a few years ago, which reads "You are forgiven...even before you act."

 

I write all of this because I can guarantee that most of you will experience at least some degree of emotional pain from those who reject you over the next week or two. Jesus once said, "if the world hated me, it will hate you as well." He also urged His followers to rejoice in persecutions (see Matthew 5:11-12). So….with all this in mind, tell your story with great joy, and allow God to pour His love through you to everyone you encounter in the coming days and weeks...irrespective of his or her response.

 

As you begin to write your story, think about what you saw.  More than likely, your eyes were opened a little bit more on the trip.  In the U.S., it's really easy to live with your eyes closed.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1.     What did you see in the people?

2.     Which of their needs are most vivid?

3.     What aspects of their lives impressed you most?

4.     What did you see in the country that was different from your expectations?

5.     Is there a mental picture that comes to mind?

6.     What keeps you from "seeing" in your world?

 

"Seeing" is a discipline.  It's the first step in making a difference in our world.

 

Exercise Two: "Recalibrating, Part 1: Stream of Consciousness Exercise"

 

Allow yourself over the next few days to begin to think about the things on your mind and in your heart concerning changes you’d like to make in your life in response to the trip.

 

Do you remember "stream of consciousness" writing from your high school lit classes? Briefly, to engage in stream of consciousness is to sit with a pen and note pad in-hand, focus on a specific theme or idea, and then write down (almost explosively) whatever crosses your mind about that subject. When engaging in such an activity, it's very important to do your best to turn off your judging and editing functions so that what's inside you can come out freely. This, of course, takes a bit of discipline, but, speaking from personal experience, you will get better at it with practice. The key here is to let your mind think whatever it wants to think (and not just what you think you're supposed to think or what you think God wants you to think), and to let your heart feel and want whatever it wants (and not just what you think you're supposed to feel or want). Let your hand write whatever crosses your mind and heart, and, as you're writing, don’t critique, edit, or try to organize it in any fashion. This, I think (and, yes, this is just me), may be one small aspect of what Jesus meant when He said, "Don't let the left hand know what the right hand's doing." For such a thing can lead to paralysis or vanity.

 

With all that's within me, I want to encourage you to engage in this exercise for I can almost guarantee that the experience will be exceedingly illuminating and liberating. I write of this from my own personal experience. I’ve engaged in this kind of thing many times in my life, and each time, I was surprised (even shocked sometimes) at what emerged. When you let come out what's genuinely living inside you it's hard to argue over its validity. And this is exactly what I want to encourage you to do: To let out what’s inside you; to let out that which you really want where developing a surrendered, missional life is concerned. That way, if you know what you want, even if what you want changes a little along the way (and it most likely will), at least you’ll know you're heading in a direction that's congruent with who you are and with the person you wish to be someday.

 

The Exercise – Part One (20 minutes)

 

1.     Grab a pen, a tablet of paper, a small handful of 3x5 cards, turn off your cell phone, put on some relaxing music, and sit comfortably at a table or desk where you have room to do some free-hand writing.

2.     Before doing any writing, allow me to urge you to say the following prayer (or something like it): Lord, I wish to live the way you desire me to. Lord, it's really You Who's the One working within me to give me the desire and ability to please You. As I begin to get in touch with what I truly want in life (basically, what You've already put inside me in terms of how I wish to live and to conduct myself), I ask, O God, that You help me to get at what I’m really feeling inside. I ask You, too, to give me a vision for what living a surrendered, missional life might look like for me. I invite You, dear God, to come and join me as I explore such things. Again, please just help me to get at what’s inside me. I give us (You and me!) this time, Lord. In the Name of Jesus I pray...amen.

3.     For the next ten to fifteen minutes or so, write down anything and everything that comes to mind with respect to changes you'd like to make in your life as a result of the Kenya 2012 trip.

4.     Do your best to lay aside any filters or judgments of what comes forth. In fact, welcome whatever arises with a kind of unconditional friendliness—much the way you might welcome a dear friend that you haven’t seen for some time.

5.     Read over all that you’ve written.

6.     Read over it again, please.

7.     Put everything aside for a few days or so before engaging in Part Two below. Transformation takes time, so do just that: Take your time, okay? Please consider that living a surrendered life is a lot more like running a marathon (in fact, one marathon right after another) than sprinting the 50-yard dash.

 

The Exercise – Part Two (60 minutes)

 

1.     Read through what you wrote in Part One.

2.     Now read through it one more time, but this time, rank each thing you wrote down in terms of its value or importance to you. As you do this, use only three rank distinctions: Somewhat Important (S), important (I), and extremely important (E).

3.     Go through everything again, and make sure that the way you ranked things is representative of how you really feel inside. Make any changes you feel are needful.

4.     Identify all your Es, and rewrite them again on another sheet of paper. This time, edit what you wrote, combine similar items, and expand or expound upon those that you feel need additional substance.

5.     Put everything aside for a day or so before engaging in Part Three below.

 

The Exercise – Part Three (30 minutes)

 

1.     Read through your rewritten Es, and identify those that you believe to be the top three in terms of their importance to you.

2.     Using your stack of index cards, rewrite your top two or three Es as prayers to God. Let's call these your Visioning Prayer Cards.

 

The Practice

 

Over the next three months, pray through your Visioning Prayer Cards at least once a day. Praying in this way will put your desires center stage before you and God. This, my friends, is a little of what beginning with the end in mind is all about.

 

Exercise Three: "Seeking the Fruit of the Spirit"

 

Complete a study on the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), the love passage (1 Corinthians 13:4-8), and the beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). Completing a comprehensive study of the ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) is recommended as well.

 

Galatians 5:22, 23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

 

Matthew 5:1-12: Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

 

Exodus 20:1-17: And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

 

Exercise Four: "Reacquainting Yourself with Yourself"

 

Ask yourself (and answer) the following questions:

1.     What were your dreams as a child?

2.     Who were your heroes as a child?

3.     What are your dreams now?

4.     Who are your heroes now?

 

Take a spiritual gift inventory. If I recall, newhope church still offers one on the newhope website. There are, though, several offered on-line that I think will be very beneficial to you. One such inventory can be found at http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/.

 

Exercise Five: "Recalibrating, Part 2"

 

Ask yourself (and answer) the following questions:

1.     Where are you now?

2.     Where do you want to be a month from now? And what will you do to migrate toward that place?

3.     Where do you want to be in three months? And what will you do to migrate toward that place?

4.     Where do you want to be in twelve months? And what will you do to migrate toward that place?

 

Exercise Six: "Beginning with the End in Mind"

 

Ask yourself (and answer) the following questions:

1.     Where do you want to be in five years?

2.     How do you want to feel in five years?

 

Allow the revisioning of this part to draw you like a huge magnet toward the fulfillment of what you envision.

 

Part D: A Few Things I'd Like to Learn from the Samurai

 

Provided below is something I wrote a couple of years ago…

 

A Few Things I’d Like to Learn from the Samurai

 

For most of my life, I’ve been fascinated by the warrior classes—especially, by the ancient Samurai of feudal Japan. To say they were a paradoxical people is a bit of an understatement.

 

The Samurai trained in the arts of life and death: they studied and practiced haiku and swordsmanship…the tea ceremony and field applications of archery...gardening and submission grappling. They prepared for the future, but didn't wait for it to happen; they lived in and for the moment as though tomorrow didn't exist—because, to them, it didn't. They had children, and yet raised them to live as though Mom and Dad might not be around an hour hence.

 

Theirs was a way of life so utterly simple, and yet incomprehensibly complex. They cultivated an almost unnatural naturalness in nearly every aspect of life, and they lived by an ancient, internal code that simply reminded them...be present and devoted completely to your current experience...for there really is nothing else.

 

I recall a story I heard many years ago about a martial arts instructor, who posed the following question to his adult students: "If you discovered that you had only twenty-four hours left to live, what would you do with the time you had left?" The answers he received were varied, as one might expect. Some spoke of how they would spend their time with their families; others of how they would visit places they’d always wanted to see but never did; and still others of how they would devote themselves to some form of service to humanity.

 

After listening intently for a few minutes, the teacher beckoned his students to stillness and then spoke of his disappointment with the answers they’d all given. "No one answered with what I would consider the best answer possible," he began. "And that's this: I wouldn't live any differently than the way I'm living right here, right now."

 

In the United States alone, more than two million people died last year—many from things unexpected. Just like some of us will, too, someday. Perhaps, even, today or tomorrow.

 

I’d like to ask you the very same question the instructor I mentioned above asked his students so very long ago...

 

If you had only twenty-four hours left to live, and knew it, how differently would you live that last day than the way you'd lived, say, the previous 365 days?

 

Take some time, and really give it some thought. Perhaps, even, write your answers down, and then go and live mindful of the possibility that tomorrow may never come.

 

Part E: Some Final Thoughts

 

The purpose of the above exercise conglomerate is to provide you with a road map for responding to the Kenya trip in a way that's generative, life-affirming, and life-giving. I believe with all my heart that if you really do work at it…prayerfully…you and the kingdom of God will benefit greatly. I speak of this from my own personal experience.

 

Part G: One Last Thing

 

As I wrote above, aside from making a decision to pursue Jesus with all your heart (and to lay down your participation in grievous, know sin), don’t make any significant life-changes for at least 30 days (specifically, before Halloween 2012). If, though, there are significant life-changes that you think you’d like to make, add them to your list of recalibrations, and let them marinate with all the others. :o)

 

Peace out, y’all, and have fun with all of this (for having fun is, I believe, half the point!).

 

Also...please, please, please let me know if I can be of any help or service to any of you in any of the above (or anything else, for that matter). Again, I love you all so much that it hurts inside.

 

CU...

 

Daver

 

Day 8 and Day 9
Both these days started out as the ones before with breakfast and devotion all together.  However, these days were ordained for relaxation, regeneration, and transition.  Part of this time is meant to get us ready to go back to what used to be our ordinary life.  However after experiencing Kenya and village life, how could any of us go back to life as before.  We have all had very individual experiences as well as experiences as a team.  God has dealt with our hearts and will continue to deal with our hearts for a very long time.  There is no way that a person can go on a mission trip and not be changed forever.  Thank you Father and thank you supporters for sending us out to serve.  There are just no words that can explain what is in all of our hearts.

For fun, the team finished up our time in Kenya with a two part Safari.  First we spend some time on Lake Naivasha observing nature at it's best.  We say lots of birds, Giraffes, Zebras, Water Buffaloe, Rhinos, Gazelles, etc.  Just the sheer beauty of this lake is more than proof of the existence of God.  How could anyone see and experience these things and doubt???

We then drove to Lake Nakuru and a land Safari where we saw and experienced even more wild life in their natural habitat.  Just as the sun was starting to go down, the storms once again came dumping an abundant supply of rain.  Off we went to our last night in Kenya.  We stayed on the preserve at Lake Nakuru in a rather nice place.  All of us were a little sad that we could not spend more time in the village but knew that it was getting time to prepare for our return to home.  The hotel hosts a nightly show with Kenyan music and dance.  This was a great time as some of our team members took up the challenge and participated with the festivities.  Following the 'party', we enjoyed a great meal, had our debrief, and went to bed exhausted. Friday and travel was fast approaching.

We awoke to a beautiful morning with plans for more wild life then off to the airport.  Of course, we did have a little shopping to accomplish as well.  You can't NOT go shopping!!!  And, Muchai was an expert at finding the best places.  We stopped at a few places and did some bargaining but the best was when we stopped a Kazuri.  This was a wonderful experience as we learned how the clay beads are hand constructed, hand painted, glazed, fired, and compiled into absolutely beautiful jewelry.  Look it up on the internet.  This business was started on the outskirts of Niarobi by 2 single mothers to help support themselves and their families.  In a very short amount of time by business standards, it have grown to over 300 employees (mostly single mothers) and ships all over the world.  Now that is a successful business.  We could learn something from these entrepreneurs.














We also went to the Giraffe center where we were able to hand feed Rothschild Giraffes and observe their interaction with humans.  These are the most marvelous creatures I've ever seen.  I repeat myself.....
           how can anyone doubt God's existence after seeing these creatures???

Pizza, don't know who thought of it.  Doesn't really matter but oh, my what a treat!  Imagine pizza at a "shopping mall" in Niarobi, Kenya.  Following our 'last supper' together as a team, we were off to the airport and subsequently home.

FINAL NOTE:
Just want to say thank you to everyone that supported the Hope Missions International Kenya 2012 team whether monetarily or in prayer.  This has been an experience of a lifetime and as a team our sincere wish, prayer, heart desire is that we have been the hands and feet of our Savior.  That we have been the voice, speaking God's love.  And, that we have shared the heart of the almighty.  Our lives are forever changed!

Day 7--Wednesday
Sorry, folks!  We are actually home now, so I must catch you all up on the happenings of the past few days.

Wednesday was bittersweet as we started out the day with the knowledge that it would be our last day in the village.  But......this was meant to be the GREATEST of days.  Each of us were forging lifetime relationships with the people of Kiria.  Of course, this is a simple thing to do when you are spending time with such loving people.  We did start out with some bad news.  You just never know what you might face in this area.  Overnight, there was a break in at the school.  Apparently the robbers did not find what they were looking for but they beat the night watchman badly and left him for dead.  Muchai, our trip leader, thought that perhaps the robbers were looking for the chain link fencing that was being used to set up a parameter around the school property.  They did not find the chain link but took some of the children's school books as a measure of defiance.  The night watchman was taken to the hospital.  He is is going to recover but it will be some time.  This did put a damper on the enthusiasm for the morning.  But our team is so wonderful, we were all determined to have this be a fabulous day to spite the news.

Upon arriving at the primary school, we split up into two teams.

Some working on the manual labor of the fencing and others spending time with the nursery school.  We brought projects, crayons, coloring sheets, and all sorts of items to help with time with the children.  It is amazing to watch these 5 year olds color one sheet.  They are so meticulous at coloring in each area.  Some of these kids are quite artistic, quite talented, so intense!  More than anything else, I was impressed with how well behaved the children are, to be so young.  Whenever the teacher would speak, the children would respond respectfully.  It is truly a joy to watch the interaction and know that these kids really want to be in school.  These kids really appreciate what school can do for them.  Their teacher is a young woman who really enjoys the children.  It is evident that she is right where she wants to be.

After time with the little ones in the classroom, we went out to the field to spend time with ALL the kids.  The soccer balls, bubbles, jump ropes, etc all came out.  A fun time was to be had by all.  You should have seen the tug of war games.  It was amazing.  And.... a 50 cent bottle of bubbles provides hours of fun for these kids even up to the teenagers.  Speaking of teenagers, we split up and took some time with the teenagers.  Our male team members went with the boys and our female team members went with the girls.  In this type of culture, things about growing up are not discussed so we wanted to allow time with this age group for questions or discussions, if they felt free to share.  The girls are very reserved but our team was able to spend time with them and encourage them to stay in school, work hard, and love God.  They even shared some memorized scriptures with us.  The boys had a wonderful time.  After their discussion, Dave shared a little martial arts with them but had to teach them about not hitting/kicking for fun.  It was hilarious to see Dave with the boys. They were doing an exercise where Dave had them repeat "I will not hit, I will not kick",  Then, pandemonium broke out as all the boys started play hitting and kicking each other.  You had to be there.

We took a short lunch break prior to spending time with the adults.  The men played checkers and the women came one by one to have their nails polished by our team members.  This was soooooooo much fun.
These women really enjoyed spending a little time just being women, feeling pretty and pampered.  It is amazing how much personality comes out when women just get together to be girls.  Some of these women are quite spunky and fun.....playful!  Man oh man do these people love to have their picture taken.  Wish you could just hear their accents saying 'take one pikcha, please'.  I have no clue as to who had more fun, the women of Kiria or us.

As the afternoon went on, we realized it was time to wind down.  The leadership counsel wanted to have an assembly in the school courtyard to say farewell.  All the children and adults gathered around for the assembly.  Patrick, our driver, had allowed us to have a full day (our only full day) in the village.  He was determined, no matter what the weather, for us to be able to stay.  Patrick was wonderful in getting where we needed to go safely all week but he wasn't about to let the weather keep us from having a full last day.
During the assembly, we were able to show our appreciation of the hospitality of this village in word but some of us were very emotional.  It is difficult to leave a people that have welcomed you with open arms and open hearts.  But, we were all happy.  Just happy to be blessed to have this time.  Happy to develop these relationships.  Happy to learn of another culture that is so blessed and so close to God.  To have so little, but so much.  The lessons learned are impossible to describe.  I will forever be grateful to God for this experience.  My prayer is to be able to someday return to my new friends in Kiria.

We returned to Lake Naivasha for our last night there with only minor difficulty due to the roads.  PATRICK IS THE MAN!!!  Debrief included a talk by David from Brightpoint for Children an organization where you can sponsor a child in Kiria.  Look it up! https://www.brightpointforchildren.org/index.php  This is a fabulous way to help the children of Kiria from a distance.

Day Six Reflections:
At debrief last night and devotion this morning, we circled around team members to pray for health.  We have a couple of colds and some stomach issues that we wanted to lay at the feet of Jesus.  Getting on the road this morning, everyone was filled with faith that this was going to be a great day.  Today was going to be unique and eye opening as we were going into the homes of some of the villagers and to spend time getting to know one another.  The language barrier alone was going to be a challenge but 410Bridge has worked with the leadership counsel to have someone go in with us to these homes to assist.

We got to the village with only minor travel difficulties due to lots of mud but once again, Patrick, proved to be "the man".  First thing, we split up to do some manual labor.  Some slung hoes, some a machete, some dug holes, and some, well, if you consider playing with pre-schoolers manual labor, I just might have to share my machete with you.  During this work our goal was to build relationships with the people we were working alongside.  This is a pretty easy task here as the people of Kiria are friendly and open.  They want to know everything about us so at times, we had to jump in with quesions for them.  They have questions for us about family, home life and work life.  We talked about family and work life and believe it or not the language difference didn't seem like such a large barrier.  While learning to sling a machete to manually clear a field, I learned that the Kenyan village people have many children for very practical reasons.  One of the reasons there are so many children in each family is to assist with the work.  Milking cows, working in the fields, caring for the younger children, grazing sheep, herding cows........In Kenya, girls are a hot commodity for more than just being girls.  You see, when a girl gets married, the young man must present the girl's family with a dowry.  This can be in the form of money, cows, sheep......This is a monetary commitment to the marriage.  Girls bring in a higher dowry depending on the number of 'desirable' qualities they possess, such as dimples which signify beauty, a gap in the front teeth which helps in blowing the kitchen fire to get it started better, and a larger body size which assists in child birth.

After the manual labor for the day, our team divided into the 3 groups again.  Off we went for home visits.  At each home visit, we took supplies to make chiapati (a type of bread much like flat bread that is rolled out and fried in a cast iron skillet over an open fire) and chia tea (made with mild and sugar).  Chiapati is actually a special treat for these families as most can not afford to purchase the flour to create the bread.  Chiapati is generally only served at family gatherings such as holidays.  Each team shared the warm, overwhelming welcome that was received.  The Kenyan people treat you as though you are a cherished relative from afar.  Therefore, we all felt at ease as we began to develop relationships to spit the language differences.  At the conclusion of our home visit, we walked back to the primary school compound enjoying the local scenery and clean mountain air.

We enjoyed playing the early afternoon away with the school children prior to having to leave due to rain once again moving into the area.  Life here is so simple.  A place where children are happy with a jump rope, an old bicycle tire rim and a stick to push it, a bottle of bubbles, or even just a song........these are the things that we should all be able to appreciate.  Everyone, adults and children alike, love to have their picture taken here.  Only the more affluent can afford a camera but they sure do know what one is for.  The children say "take me one picture???" and then they want to see that picture.  I wish I could relay just how precious each
and every small pleasure is here.  And, how simple that pleasure is.  Oh, to be more content and happy without all the daily stress and clutter that our society acquires through what we call "success".

Short version is that we all had a fabulous day.  Mission team and villagers alike.    It is sad to say that tomorrow will be our last day in the village with all the people we have grown to love in a very short period of time.

Day 5--Monday
NEW EXCITEMENT:  The teacher strike here is OVER!  Oh, I forgot to say anything about that. There has been a teacher strike here due to low pay and no government changes to help that.  But praise God, it has ended and all the children, I mean ALL of them, will be back on Tuesday.  We are so excited to see the ones who have been missing.

Today was a very exciting day with memories to die for.  We hope that everyone reading this will want to come after learning of all our fun.  The day started out with a Zebra sighting not far from our hotel. Patrick was accomodating enough to pull over so we could stop and take pictures.  There they were just grazing in a field, out in the open by the highway.  Well, one of our incrediblely comedic team members (John) decided to walk down to them, just as the Zebras decided to cross the street.  Our team member (John) took off running behind the Zebras.  It was such a sight.  You can only imagine by seeing.  Check out:  http://themollybuckley.com

So how do we top that for a day of fun?  Try fence building, gate building, play with the kids, lots of pictures, and lots of afternoon rain.  Our team has started developing deep relationships with the people of Kiria.  Adults and children alike.  Of course when you mix lots of rain with VERY bad MUD roads, hills to climp and descend, and curves to take, it can make for a very exciting time!  Before we had even gotten out of the village, we were stuck in the mud.  12 people on a 20 or so passenger bus in the middle of Kenya in the rain.  But we have the best driver in the world, Patrick, and he managed to get us out.  Off we went again.

Some time later, we pulled over for a 'squatty potty' break.  We noticed that we had a tire going flat.  Patrick said let us continue.  It is not that far.  It wasn't long before we realized that we would have to stop and change the tire on the road.  That was an adventure but with a little bit of entertainment from one of the nearby village gentlemen named
'Krees-to-far'.  He gave us the 'Lye-own' story.  See this amazing video on youtube, just search Christopher and the Lion Story.

Of course, there were many other things that have occurred along the way but you must come to be privey to those.  We returned to Lake Naivasha, our home away from home to an evening of fellowship and letting our feelings flow.

I want to close with just a few words about this mission.  I personally came on this trip with only one expectation.  That is to share the love of God.  However, I am receiving  more love than I could ever give.  The people of this country are so giving of themselves. The sense of family and community oneness can only be explained by the scripture Mark 12:30-31.  Abbreviated version:  love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  The people of Kenya......
what love they so freely give.

God is sooooo good!  All the time!

Another Blog to follow.

Check out Molly's blog for more on this trip and for pictures:  http://www.themollybuckley.comhttp://www.themollybuckley.com

Sunday:
Worship day.  Devotion and prayer got our day off to a fabulous start.  It was beautiful and we were really excited.  So we loaded the bus and headed out.  BUT, did not get far.  We were stopped at a police checkpoint before even getting out of town.  The police here are very corrupt (most of the government is).  It was a female officer and long story short, she commandered our vehicle for bad tires.  The officer took is to the police station by boarding the van and directing us.  This , of course, was after wanting a 3000 shilling fine on the spot or a 1000 shilling bribe to let us go.  Kudos to David Muchai and Patrick for saying no and standing their ground.  While at the police station, in typical New Hope fashion, we went ahead and started church.  We had praise and worship, scripture, and prayer rigt there in the back police yard.  There were quite a few onlookers, let me tell you.  Long story shortened, David refused to pay the fine because there was nothing wrong with the tires.  We were detained for some time as the attempted to 'make us' do what they wanted.  But soon, we were back on out way.  A little late to church but they saved plenty for us.

Our team of 10 was divided into 3 groups to attend 3 different churches.  We were prepared for anything as we had been told that it was custom for the guests to do something....sing, speak, read scripture.  New Hope can be happy that we all represented well.  All of the above were done.  Everyone had a fabulous time.  The worship was beautiful and pure.  Can I tell you, this was New Hope Kenya from beginning to end.  The welcome, the music and dancing, and the word.  I can't wait to come back.

Let's back up just a little.  We were asked just before leaving the US if we were willing to make a little change to our plans for Sunday.  The village wanted to have an afternoon crusade, where all the churches would meet at a central location and have 'church' again, together.  There were music and drums and preaching.  Even our illustrious Dave Brown gave a rock solid message.  The children all latched on to us and worshipped right alongside.  There is nothing like the hunger of these children for our company and our relationships.

Once again, we had to cut out and run for the lower elevation as the rain moved in quickly.  We had already gotten tons of rain during the regular worship time and the roa9ds were only going to get much worse.  I cannot relay to anyone how the roads are here.  You just have to come and experience the roller coaster of Kenya for yourself.  Off to rest and refresh we went.  Back down the mountain.

Dinner and debrief, then bed.  Exhausted again but very full of emotions and spiritual wakefulness.