Sisters On A Mission

Hello from the States! This year Jody & I are selling hand-crafted necklaces made from recycled paper, beaded bracelets, wooden bracelets, soapstone carvings, scarves, and many more hand-crafted items from Kenya and Tanzania.  They are made by local artisans and we are raising funds needed to send our teen aged orphans back to school in January.  Esther's story We met Esther this summer after her auntie asked us to disciple her.  She had just prayed to receive Christ shortly after the death of her beloved father left her an orphan. We found she was eager to learn about her Heavenly Father and was excited to know He had adopted her into His family and that He had the power to heal her broken heart. After spending time with Esther over the summer, we learned that she was at an abusive government run boarding school.  That sent Jody, a 17 year educator, to battle to get her into a better living and learning environment.  Through much prayer and building of rela

"Speaking Kiswahili is as important as drinking water."  “Unaanza na Kiswahili ya huonusa maji.” Jody, studying her Kiswahili Lesson. That’s what the pharmacist who was assisting me with my meds told me as I practiced Kiswahili with her.  And she’s right!  After our watoto (children) discipleship class over the school break, Jody and I realized how much we needed to know the heart language of our children. So we enrolled in a full time language school.  We have since been eating, dreaming, drinking Kiswahili and already it is paying off!  It has brought us into the hearts of our Kenyan house-cleaner, teacher, the local vendors and neighbors!  Suddenly a cultural barrier which was locked to us has now been opened wide! We are not only beginning to understand Kenyans better, but they are opening up more to us! Thank you for your generous giving, unwavering prayers, and faithfulness to the Lord! May you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Hey Friends, after finishing our summer program with the soccer team in Kibera, we had Vacation Bible school with our neighbor's nephews and nieces. From left: Philis, Moody, Evans (in the back), Benjamin, and Dennis (Esther & Eva not shown) We met for two hours every day to teach the children about their foundation in Christ.  They asked some amazing questions.   Here are some of them: Philis: Does God love people who do witchcraft? Eva: Why did Jesus come as the Good Shepherd instead of a general or a manager? Esther: In Genesis 4 God says, “Let us make man in our own image.”  Who is “our” referring to? Our friend, Samuel, came to share his story of growing up an MK in South Africa.  The children laughed a lot especially when he shared how he thought he was African until he saw an Asian image starring back at him in the mirror. We always ended our time together by  sharing a cup of tea and cookies. Mealtimes symbolize forgiveness and reconcilia

Twenty hours ago, I wrote an email to friends sharing frustrations over discovering moldy walls, mice, and an empty house with one carpet for décor and comfort. But since that time, God has used my Kenyan friends to change my perspective entirely. I hired a taxi to pick up my things a friend had been keeping for me while I was in the U.S. As we were driving back to our house we talked about how white people are perceived in Kenya as having lots of money and the means to make the suffering of the poor go away.  I told him that if we had money we would be living in white people's neighborhoods and not in Jamhuri Park. But in his perspective Jamhuri Park was where the rich people lived! He added with a chuckle, "If you were poor, you would be living in kwawangari” the second largest slum in Nairobi, where people live in mud shacks. Then tonight we had a friend over for dinner at our friend Connie’s house (we are house-sitting for her while she is in Canada).  We took her o

"...the Lord your God..went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents." Duet 1:33 Hello Friends! After moving around to various temporary missionary housings, we are now house-sitting for Connie, my roommate from last year.  God also led us to our own place just two houses down from Connie's!  This is an amazing answer to prayer, because I didn't want to spend weeks searching.  I just called up Connie's real estate agent and he found us a place that day!  It's the downstairs of a three story house owned by an older lady.  Her house is surrounded by an iron gate and her live in maid maintains a gorgeous garden on the compound!!  It is quiet and very well kept.  (Most apartments are full of roaches and mice, because of untidy tenants, but they left this place clean.) This cracks me up, the mosquito is dead even after wearing a gas mask. We are actually living in what they call the "servant's quarters" as

Hello all!  Jody and I had an excellent flight over. In all my years of international travel I can never remember being able to sleep the entire way over!  I slept most of the trans-Atlantic flight to Brussells and was completely out of it on the flight down to Kenya!  Jody, however, did not sleep in 36 hours.  She was feeling it when we arrived at the Nairobi airport. It was wonderful to be greeted by a van load of other missionaries boarding at the Africa Inland Missions Guesthouse. Our brief stay at the Guesthouse has given us connections with folks from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Engineers in Missions International, Missionary Aviation Fellowship, and many more.  They come not only from all over Kenya but all over Africa and their stories of trusting God through intense adversity, civil wars, hardships, and heart aches has strengthened our own faith. Jody also made some unique connections.  At church on Sunday morning Jody met Cathy, a teacher at an American school in Na

With less than a week before we return to Kenya, Jody and I have been busy wrapping things up here in Ohio, such as Jody finishing her teaching jobs.  Together we closed out the last day with the Northwood fifth graders with a day of Kenyan drama, dancing, and music. It was great seeing some of the girls jump out of their seats to  join in while others beat home made drums and clapped to the rhythm. Jody is working on keeping in touch with the kids so they can start to learn more about the work in Kenya and eventually become pen-pals to our girls in the slums. Thanks to Ms. Stacey of Sidney Middle School, we have been packing 25 soccer uniforms and 8 soccer balls! And in the midst of all the packing and seeing friends before we go, mom and dad treated us to a day at the races!!   Thanks to all our friends and family for your help, prayers, support, and love!  

I've been sorting through piles and piles of old papers (school term papers), files, receipts, and lots of other things.  I have to put everything I own in plastic boxes for my parents basement in preparation for Kenya. My thought, is that I will eventually make enough from cross-cultural coaching/consulting to pay for a place in the States for our home visits as well as rent in Kenya.  But for now, I'm scraping by for our place in Kenya and settling for my parent's basement. So back to the sorting!  It's like a nostalgic walk through my history!  I've been finding all kinds of "treasures".  Lately, I found this article that I had written about 12 years ago when I suffered from an illness. And even though it was 12 years ago, it still ministered to me! "Focus on Becoming, Not Doing" How many of us become exasperated because we just can't get it all done!  With my health condition and having chronic fatigue you can imagine how foreb

...coming up soon! Jody and I had just taken communion following the Maunday Thursday service and as we were filing out of the sanctuary, our pastor came over to us. "Are you in a hurry?  Can we meet real quick?" We followed him back to the church office.  As he looked  distractedly  through stacks and stacks of paperwork he inquired of us several times how much we had asked for in our ministry funding proposal to which he finally replied, "That's too bad, because we approved you for more!" The tension of ambiguity was broken and joy was shared all around. Immediately the Lord called to mind,  "The Lord replies, '...I have heard the groans of the poor.  Now I will rise up to rescue them as they have longed for Me to do.'"                                                                     Are we there yet?! A long interval can seem like an agonizingly slow uphill climb, but in the end it was worth waiting for! Jody and I are now a

I felt a wave of self-consciousness when I realized my brother wanted me to attend his staff work party. His manager was being transferred and it was her good-bye party. He looked across the car at me with those big brown eyes and said, "Family is invited too." I hadn't done much with my hair, which was frizzed out because of the rain and my eyes looked tired.  But Jeremy asking me to go with him was rare.   So with a quick once over with the lipstick, while Jeremy stated he could wait, I found myself following him into his party. Thinking about it now, I'm really glad Jeremy sat us across from a group of younger women who wouldn't even look at me, let alone talk to me.  It gave me the chance to do something this sanguine socialite usually doesn't get to do, be quiet and observe my brother. Among all the babies and food and chatter and balloons and an endless stream of employees, Jeremy just sat there silently watching everything, taking it all