API USA Blog

Saturday, May 7, 2021

Greetings from Nairobi!

It is 4 am here in Nairobi and both Kim and I are wide awake so I thought I'd make the most of the inevitable jet lag.  Kim and Laurel and I left Wednesday from SeaTac to Amsterdam and then Nairobi. Between the three of us we had seven full suitcases, three carry ons, and our personal items.  Fortunately Laurel's husband Ron has a big crew cab pickup and he took all of us to the airport.

Not a lot of people seem to be traveling internationally these days so we had lots of room on the 9 hour flight to occupy whole rows of seats to take a horizontal snooze on the plane. So I think we arrived fairly rested in Amsterdam where we met up with our other American team member, Jay McBee.

We arrived late Thursday night checked in and went to our rooms.  Kim and I went up to ours to crash as it was around midnight.  I opened the door and was fumbling for the light when we heard a woman's voice from the darkness, "Who's there?" Apparently the desk had given us a room that was already taken!  I was so startled all I could say was "I'm so sorry!" and literally ran out of the room. Eventually we got to bed around 1 am, and after a short night we met for breakfast and morning devotions in the dining room.  I'll be asking the clerk if the room is already occupied from now on when I'm checking in.

It was great to be able to share with each other the stories of God's faithfulness toward each of us.  We have been praying this past month that the five county Covid restrictions would be lifted so that our trip would be without travel restrictions.  And Sunday the Kenyan president announced a loosening of the travel restrictions including domestic vehicle and air travel.  Jay's pastor, Tim Bourgeois shared with me God's amazing provision for Jay on this trip as he needed $4,125. As it happened, the offering that was taken for this trip came to...(wait for it!)...$4,125!! I don't know why we are surprised by God's incredible provision but we always seem to be taken aback every time it happens.  And in so many more ways God has proven Himself faithful on this journey that we could spend the rest of this blog telling you about them all.

But the rest of Friday was spent getting the necessary supplies for the rest of our trip - malaria meds, bulk hand sanitizer for the conference, packing and repacking books and other materials, and of course, heading to the Maasai Market. Baskets were big on the shopping lists.

We also visited John Kamau's family estate where his wife and mother and family welcomed us for chai.  John is one of our API Associates in charge of Logistics and Media.

Tomorrow we head out to Majengo.  Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

Pastor Joshua Lemuya in traditional wedding finery at his friend's wedding.

Sunday morning Frank and I left Bondo and traveled to Majengo to preach at Pastor Luvanga's church.  Afterwards we ate lunch at his place and spent some time talking about the ministry he and Maurine have in the community. And taking pictures of their cute kids!

We also delivered the ultrasound machine we brought from the U.S. Needless to say, both Reuben and Maurine were overjoyed to receive such a gift for Agape Care Net Clinic. This ultrasound was donated to Agape Care Net by the 4US foundation here in the U.S. and we are grateful to them for their generosity.

They are relocating the clinic to a much larger space to accommodate the growing ministry.  You can see the new space below where both the pharmacy (on the right) and the counseling centers (on the left) will be. 

Reuben is investing in a pharmacy to provide the means to offer free counseling and ultrasound services in the center. This young ministry has already been a big blessing to the community and the county of Vehiga. The unplanned pregnancy rate and incidents of incest have really skyrocketed during this time of pandemic and shutdown, and Agape Care Net has been getting many requests for their services. One of the services Agape Care Net offers is free sanitary pads. This may not sound like much to us, but for young Kenyan girls, these pads are a commodity that are difficult to obtain. To even earn money to buy pads, some girls have resorted to selling their bodies. API donated the first round of sanitary pads to the clinic, but this is an ongoing need for the community.

Please join us in supporting Agape Care Net and the sanctity of human life by giving to this project. To give securely online for this, please visit the Summit Christian Fellowship website here and choose 'API Kenya: General'. Your gift means lives transformed.

From Majengo, we traveled to Matete where Pastor Moses and his wife live. We ate dinner at their home and spent the evening catching up and planning future events.

Finally the next morning we traveled to Eldoret where we caught up with Pastor Shadrack at his church.

Pastor Shadrack is our API Director of Education in Kenya, and our API Conference Director.  We spent some time planning future events and discussing ways to put a concrete floor in his church.  The government here has come out with a new directive that bans services in churches with dirt floors.  I'm not sure how that works in places like Turkana!

Tuesday, Frank and I drove back to Nairobi to wrap things up for this trip and fly out on Thursday.  However, when I got to the check-in counter early Thursday morning, I was informed that my flight had been cancelled! So I got to spend another night in Nairobi and fly back on Friday.  Thank you all for keeping this ministry in your prayers. God has been exceedingly gracious and blessed us abundantly throughout this long trip.

Last Wednesday, I wrapped things up in Lodwar, said goodbye to all my friends, and flew back to Nairobi.  

Thursday, Frank and drove down to Olulaimutia, where we were to have had a pastors conference this past April. We met with several of the pastors to plan the next conference.  One of the leading pastors in this area is Daniel Sayiaton and we spent one evening at his home with his wife Jane.

We took the opportunity to see the progress of the church in Kijirijir that we helped to build through the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund.

We also visited Pastor Stephen Muntet and his wife Beatrice who have been big supporters of our pastors conferences in the Mara, and great friends for the past four years.

Tentatively we are looking at the first part of December this year for our make-up conference in Olulaimutia. 

Saturday morning, Frank and I took off through the Maasai Mara Park on our way north to Bondo. We thought by transiting the park we could shave a couple hours off our trip, however we ran into the reality of Kenyan roads and ended up adding an hour. But we were rewarded by the grand vista of the annual wildebeest migration, and the migration this season has been one of the biggest in recent years.  

We arrived in Bondo some eight hours later and met Pastor Fred Akello, along with a group of pastors he gathered at his church who are very interested in having us bring the API training to them. We shared a bit about our recent conference in Lodwar and then took some time to tell them about the API School of Ministry.

Pastor Fred has been a great addition to our API Kenya team and we are happy to have him with us.

Please pray for Bondo Baptist Church and the pastor's fellowship in Bondo as they stand firm in the gospel and share the goodness of God with the people of Bondo.

Monday after the conference we traveled to the Kakuma Refugee camp #4 where Pastor Stephen Lobolia has established a church among the South Sudanese refugees.  Most of the congregation are Toposa and Jie from South Sudan, but there are a few refugees from Burundi who attend.  Last December we partnered with this church, The Ateger Baptist Church, to build their first building.  I was supposed to be back this past spring to join the dedication service but the pandemic prevented that.  So it was with great joy that we finally got to meet this thriving church and attend the postponed dedication service.

There was a lot of celebration and singing to go along with the preaching.

Pastor Lobolia explained that Ateger Baptist was so named because it is a unifying name among several tribes that speak a very similar language.  The Toposa, Jie, Turkana, and Didinga are usually feuding and fighting amongst themselves as separate tribes.  Cattle rustling and thievery, as well as blood feuds are common. But when they use this term, it tends to bring them together.  One of the goals of Pastor Lobolia is to have a church that brings the tribes together instead of keeping them apart. In the camp, as well as throughout Kenya, tribal affiliation is the norm for churches, and Ateger Baptist is working hard to break that stronghold and unify the tribes through the gospel. 

Pastor Lobolia, in addition to pastoring this congregation and new branch of Ateger Baptist he recently started in another location in one of the camps, is a tireless missionary to people in the remote areas outside the camp.  To help him in this work, we've donated a video projector and portable generator in order to enable him to show the Jesus film out in the bush.

 Please pray for Pastor Lobolia, his wife Patricia, his children, and Ateger Baptist Church as they shine the light of the gospel in the Kakuma Refugee camp and beyond.

Sunday, 16 August, 2020

We finished the conference on Friday and then took some time for pictures, book handouts, and maize distribution. Due to the shutdown since March, most of these pastors have had a hard time feeding their families.  So we cooked up a plan with Pastor Shadrack, who shipped the maize he had from Eldoret up to Lodwar and we handed out over two tons of maize for the pastors and their families.  

It was a very full week from morning to evening with presentations by seven different teachers throughout the week, including Pastor Tim Bourgeois via pre-recorded video. It was evident from the outset that the Holy Spirit was at work in the attendees through all the messages. And it was especially evident the evening Pastor Tim spoke on the church as Salt and Light in the world.  Just before that we had quite a long and vocal question and answer session over the many issues of culture influencing and corrupting the church.  After Tim spoke on the church as salt and light, everyone was sure that he had been listening to our question and answer session, even though Tim is still in the U.S.  One of the pastors spoke up and said, 'Pastor Tim answered all the questions!' 

One of the great things about this conference is that we had five local pastors doing a lot of the teaching sessions.  One pastor told me that 'It is so good for our people to see that we have capable ministers and teachers among us'. 

I just want to take a moment and give a great big shout out to my team, Pastor Moses Biketi, John Kamau, Pastor Shadrack Murimi and Pastor Reuben Luvanga.  These guys did most of the work and really helped to make this conference a success. 

Saturday morning, Pastor Boniface, Pastor George and myself traveled about 3 hours south to a village called Lokori to visit the church which we had given funds to build their first church. This is St Matthew, an Anglican Church of Kenya. When we arrived we were surrounded by a jubilant crowd of singing women, welcoming us to the church.

After the dedication and the ribbon cutting (actually untying the rubber cord stretched across the door!) we went inside for a short service.

The church was very grateful for this gift of a building and I want to thank all of you, especially Joyce Pederson, for your generous contributions to the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund in making this happen for the people of St Matthew. 

The service was followed by a big meal of nyama chomo (BBQ goat) and roasted liver, kidney, and other organs. I politely declined the organ meat, but gorged on the nyama chomo!

Tomorrow I head up to the Kakuma Refugee camp where I'll be visiting Pastor Stephen Lobolia and the Ateker Baptist Church.  They received help from the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund to build their first church last year and I was prevented last December from visiting because fighting had broken out in the camp. But there are no reports of trouble this year. Thank you all for your faithful prayers during this trip. God has been gracious and kept us all in health and the ministry of the word has been powerful.

Monday, August 10, 2020

2020 has been a crazy year which makes for crazy pictures. This worldwide pandemic has forced a lot of changes in our normal routines and behaviors, not the least of which has been in our sartorial choices. Here in Nairobi you can actually be arrested for not wearing a mask. So if you must mask, at least you can choose your own look.  Frank, our API Logistics Director and I have our own unique fashion sense.

I arrived in Nairobi last Wednesday for the 7th annual Pastor's Leadership Conference in Lodwar, August 10-14.  I came a few days in advance to oversee and set up the countless details for this conference.  I have been looking forward to this time back in Kenya with my brothers and sisters after our last scheduled conference had to be cancelled this past April. By faith I purchased a ticket for August 4th, not knowing if the international flight restrictions would be lifted, but God intervened on our behalf and international travel to Kenya resumed August 1st! I was told that our flight into Jomo Kenyatta airport was the first one to have Americans back in the country after the closure in March. 

On Sunday, I traveled up to Lodwar with our API Associate John Kamau. 

John wears a couple of hats for API. John has been one of the leaders for our medical team for several years, and as part of our Pastoral Team, he is in charge of media production, along with Pastor Reuben Luvanga.  I want to thank Rob Hostager, Executive in charge of Media productions for API, for having the foresight to train these guys in media production because this year was the first year Rob couldn't be with us for the Lodwar conference.  But we are not skipping a beat in terms of media as these two men do a fantastic job in Rob's absence.

Although it was an uneventful trip for the most part, our landing at Lodwar airport was a little exciting.  I thought we were coming in to land a little hot, and my fears were realized as we hurtled down the runway and the pilot wore out the brakes trying to stop. We eventually stopped, but well past the tarmac. At the end of the runway tarmac, there is about 200 yards of gravel, and then a fence. We managed to use most of the gravel but stopped short of the fence. (Huge sigh of relief)

I met the rest of our team that afternoon as they had traveled up from Western Kenya the day before.  Our API Conference Director, Shadrack Mogesi; API Media Coordinator, Reuben Luvanga; and API Associate, Moses Biketi.

Sunday evening we had our annual joint API/Lodwar Pastors Fellowship Executive Teams meeting and dinner. The Lodwar Pastors Fellowship is the organization that first welcomed API to Lodwar and we have become fast friends as well as fellow workers in the church of God. 

This year we invited the Honorable MP for Turkana Central, Lodepe Nakura, to join us for the conference and he graciously accepted. He is the founder of SHARE International, a missions organization to the people of Turkana, where we are holding our conference this year.  He also still considers himself a missionary, as well as politician to his people and will be one of our speakers. 

Thank you for your prayers for this conference.  I'll try to keep you all updated as things kick off this evening with our first session.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Tomorrow is the last day of our conference here in Lodwar and it has been a very rich time for both attendees and presenters.  Around 100 pastors and church leaders have gathered from all over Turkana to attend this year, in spite of the fact that this week marks the most important cultural festival for Turkanans known as Tubong'u Lore.  Loosely translated it means 'the coming home', where Turkanans living in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and other parts of Kenya, come home to Turkana to celebrate their culture. It is a three day festival attracting tens of thousands of visitors with a program that offers a blend of traditions and modernity. Traditional dance, performances of well known Kenyan singers, a trade fair, a market and a huge choma zone (barbecued goat) are included. We took in the opening day of the festival for a short time during one of our breaks to see the sights.

One of the unforseen impacts of holding our conference during this week was the arrival of some prominent political figures in Kenya. One of those was the former Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga who commandeered both Rob Hostager's and my rooms at St Teresa's.  Rob and I were booted out of our modestly comfortable bungalows to more humble appointments further down the row. 

This year we have added breakout sessions to our main plenary sessions with two different tracks.  One track is Biblical Counseling taught by Jay McBee, and the other is a pastor's topical track where we are teaching things like Teaching and Preaching the Word, Biblical Theology, Understanding Jesus' Use of Parables, and many other topics intended to equip these pastors.

Mostly behind the scenes, Rob and Pastor Reuben Luvanga are hard at working making all the media stuff work smoothly and they rarely get noticed, until something goes wrong.  But we couldn't do what we do without the dedication and expertise of these guys.

I am always very interested in the impact our conferences have on the local pastors and so I try to find time to talk to most of them about their families, their churches and life in general.  One of the pastors who has been coming since we began holding this conference back in 2013, Pastor Peter Ewoton, comes from Lokitaung, a town in northern Turkana. 

As we talked one day this week, he started by saying, "In Lokitaung, we are really in the fire. Remember the conference titled, 'Standing in the Fire' where we studied 1st and 2nd Peter?  Well, I started teaching the church what I learned in that conference and now we are feeling the fire!  One of the ladies in my church was murdered, another one died from an ectopic pregnacy, and I started wondering if I should stop preaching this.  But it was so good what you taught us, that suffering is in the hands of God for His purposes and He is with us through the fire.  Thank you for coming again and again to teach us!" 

Turkana is a hard place, just like these rocks that litter the landscape. But these pastors are still joyful in the midst of trials and suffering, knowing that their loving Father has them in His gracious grip and will not let them go. Keep these pastors in your prayers as they serve in some very hard places.

Monday, August 12, 2019

It's August again so we must be in Lodwar. This conference marks the sixth consecutive year we have held the pastor training conference in Lodwar Town during the month of August. 

I arrived in Nairobi last Thursday after a delay-lengthened trip from Portland to Seattle to Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Nairobi. Rob and Dan arrived Saturday morning, and Tim and Jay flew in late Saturday night.  Sunday morning we took the early flight to Lodwar and arrived around 9:30.  Before we left Nairobi, we took a moment to get a photo of the Fab Five.  

One thing you must never do is fall asleep within range of the team photographer.

After a nice nap we arrived without incident to a sunny, 95 degree welcome to Lodwar, and after getting settled at St Teresa's Pastoral Centre, we headed out to the church at Lokaparaparai.  This spring we helped the church here to erect their first building.  However, the contractor they hired was less than competent and the work, in the words of my friend overseeing the project, was "not so excellent".  In short we had to tear off the roof and some of the iron sheets on the sides and rebuild a large part of the church.  That work was completed the day before we arrived and so we went out to see the result.

Above from the left is George Lokwawi who oversaw the construction, Martin Sasy, the pastor who planted the church, myself and Pastor Dan Mason. The rocks around the exterior will form the foundation around the whole building to ensure that water runoff from the hillside doesn't wash it away.  The church has also started digging the hole for the pit latrine.

Sunday evening we had our traditional dinner with the executive team for the Lodwar Pastors Fellowship before heading into the conference week.  The pastor standing and speaking is the chairman of the Lodwar Pastors Fellowship, Joshua Lemuya.

Please continue to pray for us as we head into this week.  Our theme this year is "Unveiling Christ in the Old Testament" and we are excited to dig into the word of God together with our Kenyan brothers and sisters.

It is Monday morning here in Kenya and I arrived in Eldoret last night.  Sunday morning I got to preach at the Free Pentecostal church in Lodwar pastored by Boniface Lokuruka.  Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures.  The day before, Saturday, George and Boniface and I traveled to three more villages, one of which was a little hard to find. It's not like there are street signs or anything, and everyone you ask simply says, "It's just over there", pointing vaguely in some direction. 

We did finally arrive at the right place, Kangole, where George and I had the seats of honor on the only bench under the tree, a fairly narrow rail that was less comfortable than simply sitting in the sand. But we were the honored guests and all.

As always, the Candy Man was one of the favorites. That is Roni our driver, who handed out lollipops, frisbees and soccer balls.

Our next stop was Lorugum where we had previously helped build a church.

At each place we stopped, Pastor Lokuruka would teach the people some English.  In case you can't quite catch the words because of the accent, they were saying, "Thank you.  Say hi to our brothers and sisters there in America. God bless them!"

Thanks again to all of you who contributed to this project.  We were able to deliver over 12 tons of maize, and salt, and nearly 1000 liters of cooking oil to these rural villages in Turkana.  

I arrived in Lodwar Wednesday evening this week to 99 degree sunshine and throat-clogging dust, but it was still good to be back with my Turkana friends.  Pastor Shadrack arrived the same day with the load of maize from Kuria that we are distributing to villages in the bush.  Before heading out each morning, we stock up on beans, cooking oil and salt to deliver with the maize.

Thursday and Friday we visited 9 villages to share what many of you so generously donated, including soccer balls and candy.

There aren't any signs to point the way to the different villages so sometimes someone met us to show the way.  In this case it was a young man on a motorbike you can see leading us to the next village.

 Everywhere we went, we were greeting by song and dance.

In every church we visited out in the bush, I was struck by the increased number of men that were present.  When I had visited before, there were few men in the church but now they are coming. The churches still have many more women and children than men, but Turkana men, traditionally resistant to the gospel, are responding in greater numbers.

Travel in the bush is not without its difficulties. We have to cross many dry riverbeds that are just a sea of sand and getting stuck is always an issue. But it's a way of life traveling out here. Every vehicle carries at least one shovel.

I cannot say enough good things about my brothers who work so hard alongside me in this ministry - Boniface Lokuruka, Shadrack Murimi, and George Lokwawi.  I also cannot understand how they can sleep in the car between villages when the road is as rough as it is.

Today we are out again so I will post some more tonight Lord willing.  Keep praying for us and the people of Turkana.  We are seeing the good fruit of the gospel as we travel.

Megwara Conference Wrap-up

We wrapped up the conference at Megwara last Saturday after four very full days of teaching, fellowship, making new friends, renewing old friendships and enjoying the depths of God's word together with our Kenyan brothers and sisters.  I just wanted to share some of those moments with you in some photos.

First of all, I want to thank the whole API USA team that made this conference such a success. Everyone pitched in to go above and beyond in ministry to our Maasai brothers and sisters and I thank God for each one.  Every conversation I had with the attendees always came around to telling me what a blessing this team was to them.

Our Kenyan team of Pastor Shadrack, Pastor Luvanga, Frank and John were simply outstanding. The media crew of Kamau Njenga and Reuben Luvanga worked incredibly hard to record not only the plenary sessions, but also all the breakout and Q & A sessions.  Frank Maina was the mastermind trip organizer who kept us all on the right track, and our conference organizer, Pastor Shadrack, did a brilliant job of keeping things running smoothly throughout the conference.

Pics from the conference

Goat jams are a way of life on the roads.

Pastor Daniel on the left was our host and the lady in the picture is Esther, a fiery little preacher who loves God and His church.

Rich and Lynn flew to Nairobi on Saturday to visit Dave and Julie Pederson at Rafiki Foundation and preach on Sunday at Trinity Baptist Church, and then fly home on Monday.  The rest of us spent Sunday in Megwara and Oloolaimutia, Dave Thompson preaching at a church in Oloolaimutia, while I was preaching in Megwara. 

On Monday, the team spent the day in Maasai Mara game park where we witnessed the incredible display of God's majesty in creation.

Tuesday morning we drove back to Nairobi where all of the team except myself left for home, the Thompsons to Qatar, and the rest back to the U.S.  Thank you all for your constant prayers for us and please continue to pray as I head up to Lodwar in Turkana to distribute famine relief and the gospel to the churches there.

Childrens Ministry

by Dave Thompson

Coming to serve with Agape Project International (API)-Kenya for the first time, my expectations hinged only on the stories I'd heard from the Pulpit at Summit Christian Fellowship, videos on the API website, and dinner at Mike and Kim's home before we moved from Washington last summer. Like the stories from others who'd ventured into military basic training, marriage, and parenthood before me, there were many moments of epiphany as I recalled their Mike and Kim's stories. “Ohhhh … THIS is what they were talking about!”

My wife, Julia, and I were trusted to run the first children's ministry during the conference since it's inception 11-years ago. I was told from Ben, who was here on his second trip that “last year, the kids entertained themselves outside the church with screwing caps onto and off of waterbottles before you guys came”. Whatever we had planned would be an improvement, but we also take James 3:1 seriously... the role of teacher (even over little people) is a high honor and calling. We had no idea what age the children would be nor how many would come.

As with previous youth ministries in which we'd participated, Julia and I made a plan to keep the kids engaged throughout the day: a 20-minute introduction/craft/or review of a memory verse, followed by a 20-minute lesson on the old testiment, then a 20-minute game related to the lesson, leading into a 20-minute lesson on the new testiment connection to Jesus (to align with the overall conference theme), and finally a 20-minute game related to the second lesson. After that, we would serve Chai Tea and cookies to the kids and send them home to care for their livestock. Day one, minute 21 was the first deviation from the plan.

For first day's lessons, we planned to cover the creation story. During the intro time, the goal was to gave kids “create” a nametage by sawing a thin slice of 3-inch diameter tree branch, decorate it with their name, then use it on subsequent days to track memory verses successfully repeated over the next three days. It was also an easy way to help the Thompsons learn names quickly. Brilliant! Well, in theory.

Upon arrival, we met the 88 children who'd be with us for the day, ranging from barely walking to 12 years old. I grabbed the biggest 6, gave them nametags first, then tried to set up an assembly line. About an hour later, we had almost 20 done. I decided it was prudent to call it a day on nametag workshop, then went to find my wife and the other 82 children. Where did they go, anyway?

Julia was awesome. She had them listening to stories from the bible about half a mile away and behaving well. We were amazed at the older kids always tending to their younger siblings or neighbors. I use the term “older” loosely. Some 4-year olds were carrying and comforting yearlings. I high-fived Julia and got back to the “core curriculum”.

After playing red rover to help with name recognition, I let the majority without name tags know I'd make more during the coming days (a promise I didn't keep... day two our crowd grew to at least 175 kids! My arm could only handle making 2 slices at a time in about a 5 minute span with a 5 minute break). Then, we covered Genesis 1 and 2 in story form (acting out as much as possible to help span the language barrier through an interpreter—something we did during every lesson from there on out). We handed out lollipops to each child, and recognized some were coming back a second time and hiding the first in a pocket or up their sleeve. We tried to address it then, but revisited the next day in our lesson on the 10 commandments and the breaking of God's laws being the definition of sin. Our second game was relay races of various kinds that related to relate to Jesus being the beginning and end, the Alpha and Omega. We tied the same creation story back into John 1 and built on that foundation in the following days: Jesus the fullfilling the prophesies of the Passover Meal during the Last Supper, Jesus the Sacrified Son on Mount Moriah (or as Abraham would call the place that later took the name of Calvery, “The Lord Will Do It Here”, and finally the Parables of Jesus.

As a great finally to our time with the children, we got to recommend some “Who/What/Where/How/Whys” of Children's ministry to the men and women's break out sessions. Having some elderly men act out the parable of the Good Shepherd the same as small children had done earlier that day, then demo the game “What Time is it Mr Wolf” will stay with me for a long time! More than the fun that we had with the adults in recapping the week, my hope is that they resolved that day to carry the torch back to their own congregations of having a children's ministry that fills up their senses with the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches that are in the greatest story every written. (1 John 1)

Here is a post from Julianne Thompson.  (Dave and Julianne came with their children to lead a children's ministry during the pastor's conference. And as you can imagine, parenting while on mission can present special challenges)

Still Parenting on Mission

Today we went to an orphan elephant refuge. At the end of the presentation, my daughter, Cecelia, was looking at the items in the gift shop with Dave while I took Mary to the restroom. When we met up, I saw Cece with dangling elephant earrings. I was with the rest of our mission team and didn't want to go into detail, but I did say “Cece, it's not ok for you to have dangling earrings”. She pressed and I was tempted to say “For special occassions,” but then walked that back. She needed to remove them and put her ruby studs back in.

When we got back into the van, it was clear she was angry. She was sitting behind me, but I could feel it. She didn't want to speak to me.

As I spoke with Dave and John about the possibility of rain tonight, I knew I didn't want to ignore her feelings. Cece's too important to me and I never want to allow a chasm to form between us.

I decided to offer her 2x what she paid for the earrings. The currency here is Kenyan Schillings but I had that much in Qatari Riyals. She didn't want to accept the deal. I explained that while she was free to turn my offer down, I would still hold onto the earrings until she was older. I said 14, but then 16 was what I preferred.

She gave in, accepted the riyal and surrendered the earrings.

We had arrived at the mall for lunch and she was feeling a little better. She spoke up a little and said, “Mom, I can't spend the riyal here and I spent the last of my schillings on the earrings.” I told her that I would see to it that she had schillings and asked John about an ATM. I let Dave know that I was planning to pull some money out for snacks at camp and to keep a promise to Cece.

I think she was moved by this. She apologized for her anger and confessed to having known that dangling earrings were not allowed. I was so pleased by her confession! I felt close to her and I poured out affectionate words adoring her. I think this was the best possible outcome.

Lord, I am thankful that your kindness leads to repentence. (Romans 2:46)

I didn't care about the riyal or the schillings. Those only amount to a few dollars. What I wanted was for us to be close, for her heart to be soft.

It is Friday night here in the Mara and the team is relaxing in the dining hall at Manyatta just enjoying being together and winding down after a busy day.  Above you see the poster that was plastered all over this region and down into Tanzania.  It must have been effective because we have almost 380 people attending the conference.  

This afternoon we tried to gather as many of the attendees as possible for a group shot.  It is always difficult to get everyone together as any of them have animals and farms to attend to during the day. I thought I would just post some pictures from our week so far.

Here the ladies are dancing a traditional Maasai dance.  There were too many to dance in the building so the line went outside and back in again.

We want to thank all of you who lifted Ben up in prayer earlier this week as he arrived in Kenya very sick.  But as you can see, he has recovered remarkably!

Ben also wrote an update:

This past week I traveled to the Christian Leadership Council for a week of training in Dallas then on to Kenya for with API to train pastors and speak on the Sanctity of Human Life and Sexual Integrity. On the way I got sick with an incredible chest cold and fever. The first two days I spent in bed and thanks to the crack nurses on the trip (Kim, Lauri, Lynn and Juliann) and Doctors Mike, Rich, Reuben, Frank, John, and Shadrack I will be able to present beginning Friday and finishing Saturday. Pastor Rich didn’t want me to get use to breakfast in bed. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.

The first two days of the conference, Pastor Rich spoke upon “Jesus throughout the old testament and “Patterned, Promised and Present of Jesus in the Old Testament.

Pastor Michael spoke on the beginning of Moses and day two “The Lord among us”. Each of the sessions were well received.

What a great blessing to have 350 adults in the adult meetings today and 187 children attend the children’s ministry directed by David and Juliann Thompson.

Tonight a great storm hit with lighting, thunder and a ton of rain. The kids loved it!

Blessings to you all!

In His Service,

Ben

Pastor Shadrack on the left has been in charge of all the conference logistics and has done a great job.  He is with Pastor Daniel who is the host of this conference.

We have one more full day of ministry left at the conference and the response has been tremendous and encouraging.  So many of those attending have taken the time to tell the team members personally how the teaching has revolutionized their thinking about the Old Testament and Jesus.  The women have been flocking to the ladies breakout sessions with Laurie, Lynn and Kim; and the men have really enjoyed the breakout sessions with Ben and Rich and myself. Many of them were particularly impressed with Pastor Rich's sessions on the Doctrines of Grace and Hermaneutics. Pastor Reuben Luvanga and John Kamau have probably worked the hardest of us all with the media, recording all the plenary and breakout sessions.

Thanks again for all your prayers for us.  Pray that we finish strong.

It is Thursday evening and we've just experienced an incredible thunder, lightening and rainstorm.  There was a virtual river running through our dining hall at Manyatta Camp and we all huddled under the one part of the structure that seemed to be rainproof. It was an awesome display of God's power and we enjoyed watching the show.

Every morning we begin with a great breakfast followed by prayer and the word at our outdoor dining hall. We can see animals moving in the park across the river as we eat.

We have had a great two days of teaching, fellowship and making new friends and catching up with old ones.  There are about 350 adults attending this conference and 187 children coming out to our children's ministry camp run by Dave and Julianne Thompson. 

The kids are enjoying a wonderful program filled with games, bible teaching, crafts, songs, snacks and making new friends.

Meanwhile the adults are taking in bible teaching from Lynn Hamlin, Laurie Akehurst, Kim Sandberg, Rich Hamlin and myself.

I know many of you got our urgent prayer request for Ben Edwards who arrived in Kenya very sick.  But through the prayers of many and the mercy of God, Ben is on the mend and wanted everyone to know. Tomorrow we'll post a blog from him. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers.  More to follow tomorrow.

                    In Swahili we say, "Amefufuka!  Amefufuka Kweli!

It is early Monday morning here in Nairobi, the day after Easter, and Kim and I are still jet-lagging a bit.  So I thought I'd catch you all up on what's been happening with us.

Kim and Laurie and I took off last Thursday from SeaTac, flew to Paris, and then to Nairobi.

We arrived in Nairobi around 8:30 Friday night and our API associates, Frank and John, picked us up at the airport.

Saturday morning, we met the Thompsons, who had arrived Friday afternoon, for breakfast at the ArtCaffe.  David and Julianne, who will be leading the Children's Ministry track at the conference, brought their four children along, Simon, Cecelia, Emilia, and Marilyn.  Because David is in the military, they had to stay at a different hotel than us so we didn't meet until that next morning. 

Saturday was spent getting conference supplies, buying bibles, picking up books for the conference, and a visit to the Giraffe Center.

Sunday morning we joined the congregation at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Nairobi for worship in the morning; and in the afternoon we paid a visit to our favorite basket hawker.

   Marilyn and Emilia 

                                                                     Cecelia

I think Kim was giving some bargaining advice to Simon. And Laurie was thoroughly pleased with her purchases, as were we.  

Today we will visit the baby elephant orphanage in Nairobi in the morning and spend the afternoon and evening repacking our gear and supplies for our travel tomorrow to Manyatta Camp in Oloolaimutia where we will stay for the duration of the conference.  Thank you for you continued prayers for us and for the conference.  Pray also for the rest of our team who will be arriving from the U.S. early Tuesday morning.

It is Tuesday evening in Kilgoris and we've got an impressive thunder and lightening storm going on outside.  I just realized that I forgot to tell you all about visiting the refugee camp at Kakuma last week so I'll catch you up.

Last Thursday, while Roger, Dan and Rob were still here, we took a trip to the U.N. Refugee Camp in Kakuma - a 120 km trip that took us three and a half hours each way because of the wretched roads. But we had a good time both ways with Pastor Lokwawi, Pastor Lokuruka, Pastor Stephen Lobolia and James, Lokwawi's son, taking time on the way to have a photo shoot at one of the ubiquitous termite mounds that dot the Turkana landscape.

We were invited to the camp by Pastor Ramsey who ministers in the camps and attended the conference in Lodwar. Pastor Ramsey is a South Sudanese who pastors a church in the camp and ministers to the South Sudanese there.  We were hoping to visit several churches there but we were delayed by the camp administration for a couple of hours when we arrived because the required papers weren't in order.  However we spent a couple hours with pastors in the camp gathered together by Pastor Ramsey.

We shared the mission and vision of API with them and heard about their work in the camps. There are around 200,000 refugees from all over Africa in these camps - Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Burundi, Congo, and many more, and the gospel is going out to them all.

We were hosted by Pastor Mubarak (pictured above) in his church there. And Pastor Lokuruka brought some bibles for his people. 

And while we were inside, Roger of course was outside with the kids.

Dan also made new friends.

Please pray for the pastors and churches who are laboring in the gospel fields in Kakuma in very tough conditions. And pray that we would be able to encourage and support these pastors with biblical training and resources.  Pastor Mubarak and Pastor Ramsey assured us that we would see many of these pastors at our next training.

It is Sunday morning in Nairobi and Stan and I are headed to worship with Trinity Baptist Church in Nairobi and then travel down to Kilgoris to see our Maasai brothers.  Rob, Dan and Roger left Friday night for the U.S. and Stan and I are on our own.  But before we left Lodwar Friday, Dan, Roger, Rob and I took some time to look around Lodwar Town and do some shopping.

Dan and I both found some hats and we'd like you all to judge who got the better deal.

Dan opted for the more traditional look while I found something a little more exotic.

This is the traditional hat worn by Turkana men and the feather is from an ostrich.

The boys enjoyed their last cold drink of Tangawezi (a powerful ginger soda pop) in our favorite cafe, the Kilimanjaro.  Which has the best kuku and chips around.

Saturday, Stan, Frank and I visited our friends, the Petersons, out at Rafiki Foundation where they work.

"Rafiki" means "friend" in Swahili. This captures the vision and purpose of the Foundation—to befriend orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27). To accomplish this mission, Rafiki established Training Villages within ten African countries, one of which is in Nairobi. These Villages provide orphan care, Bible study, classical Christian education, and teacher training through Rafiki’s five programs: ChildCare, Education, Rafiki Bible Study, Advanced Learning, and Widows.

Thanks again  for your prayers for us.   Stan and I will return to  Nairobi Wednesday for his flight home and I'll be leaving Kenya for the U.S. on Friday. 

Wednesday we traveled to the church in Nakorinyang that was planted about two years ago by my good friend Patrick Nacho who has a church in Lodwar.  (Every time I say his name I get visions of Mexican food!) It is a great location except that it happens to be right in the middle of a river bed, so when it rains, no church meeting.  Pastor George here is preaching the gospel using the audio bible and flip charts we brought to give to the church.

We also brought food as we have to all the churches we visit and it was joyfully unloaded.

We left Nakorinyang and set off for Eliya Springs, a fresh water spring on the banks of Lake Turkana. We spent the afternoon swimming in the lake and taking selfies.

However, some of us slept, although Dan insisted he was praying.

The spring itself is fairly warm water, but very clear.

This trip was a treat especially for the Kenyans who traveled with us as they rarely get the opportunity to enjoy this kind of beach adventure. Everyone swam in the lake except of course Rob, who was busy taking pictures.

It is early Friday morning and we are at the end of a great week.  Tuesday of this week we loaded up and headed out to Namagirat where the new church was built. Apparently Roger has this craving for ice cream.

We found the church building completed and full of people waiting for our arrival.

The celebration was extremely joyful as we dedicated this house to the Lord.

As always, Roger was in his element with the children.

He and Dan took the kids out to show them how to play frizbee.  None of them had ever seen one of these but they quickly mastered the technique.

The church was so grateful for the gift of a new building they reciprocated with goat for us. We named him 'Dinner'.

Namagirat was about an hour and a half southwest of Lodwar, and when we left there, we traveled back to Lodwar, ate lunch and then set off for Nakepokan, about two hours north east of Lodwar. To get there requires 13 river crossings, only these rivers only run when it rains. But crossing the soft sand is trouble enough.  Palm branches give pretty good traction here.

Two years ago, the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund helped Nakepokan realize their hopes for a church building and we found a vibrant growing congregation there.

As usual, the visiting speakers went on so long that sleep overcame some of the congregation.

Of course, Roger had his usual fan club surrounding him.

Roger is just a kid magnet.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for us and the people of Turkana.