mission

Home

Well, we landed on US soil about 1 month ago. Thank you to all who prayed! We literally were held up & protected by the Lord through those prayers. No one else in our family got sick (including me, which was a miracle!), Tom recovered and was able to say proper farewells to those he had worked with at the hospital, and we survived a rather uneventful 26ish hours of travel back to America with our family of 8. It’s been wonderful to reunite with family and friends and our church. It’s also been quite an adjustment, with some very real culture shock and many emotional ups & downs. This has brought me to doing a lot of thinking about home. What is home? Where is home? Why do I often long for home?

For some of you more practical people who are asking…yes, we are pursuing and following God’s leading to go back to Kenya. We think that the work He has for us there is not yet done. We are in the process of applying with World Gospel Mission, which would be our long-term sending organization. If the Lord allows, we hope to sign on with WGM and go back to serve a 2 year term at Tenwek sometime next year.

It very much felt like returning home when we pulled into our driveway 4 weeks ago. We were so thankful to be able to walk into our own house and sleep in our familiar and comfortable beds…and to take a shower with some real water pressure again!! But we also now feel a void being away from Kenya. Life there became familiar in so many ways. As the faces of many run through my mind on any given day, I sometimes feel an ache for the loss of connection there. I still often look at the clock and think, what time is it in Kenya? There are also some very real unknowns in our future. Where will our home be a year from now? Or a few years? Truly, only God knows. Most people go looking for a house, finding the perfect things that will fit their family, and their own preferences. For us, though, this journey has become one of just trusting that God has a physical home for us wherever He wants us to be on this earth. I know the reality is that it might not end up always being exactly what I hope, or even the most comfortable place in the world. I am being stretched more and more in this and many other things every day.

I’m realizing that this burden of having 2 homes, or not really knowing where our earthly home is, can actually be a blessing. It makes me long for my true home, our eternal home, where I won’t worry about a comfortable pillow or good water pressure or decorations that make it feel “homey.” Christ is really the one who makes our home. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians. While he was talking about being at home in our physical bodies, I think it applies to that sense of home we all can have when we are in a place where we feel we belong. “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens…while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:1,6)

Maybe it comes down to making the best of whatever “home” God has placed us in on this earth. Serving Him, loving the people around us, sharing the Hope that we have. In my somewhat high-strung human nature, I am learning a lot about being content and at peace wherever I am. One thing that is beautiful about the Christian Kenyans we served with is that they always seem to be at peace. They are rarely in a hurry. They place relationship & fellowship above time. They approach God with a true sense of humility and worship, bathing everything in prayer and trust. And they almost never seem to worry. I am learning a lot from that. Maybe we all can.

” For we walk by faith, not by sight…So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please God.” 2 Corinthians 5:7-9

Posted: August 9, 2017
Under: Family, mission
By: Emily

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“Finishing” well

It is starting to be a reality that, at least for now, our time here in Kenya will soon be over. We will head back to the States and be so glad to see and spend time with family and friends. But we will also leave behind new friends, unfinished work and ministry, and a country that we’ve grown used to and even learned to love in many ways these past 6 months. It is hard to know how to bring things like this to a close. We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom in how to help the Kenyan families we’ve become close with. Prayers for how to spend our time in these last 3 weeks. Prayer for Tom to be at peace even though he knows there is much to do at the hospital (There is now a nurses strike in Kenya, and it is really affecting Tenwek. Please pray for quick resolution of that!). And how to minister to those the Lord has put on this journey with us. We appreciate prayer also for our upcoming transition, from this to that…from 3rd world to 1st world…from what we do here to what we’ll do there. We want to serve God faithfully wherever we are. We don’t know the exact path He will take us on this next year of our lives, but we do know that we can trust our God to be faithful, constant, and loving. We trust that He knows the future.

So we ask for your prayers. We thank you for your prayers. And we’ll see some of you very soon!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”~Proverbs 3:5-6

Posted: June 15, 2017
Under: Africa, mission, Prayer
By: Emily

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Stories in pictures

Ready to walk to church on Mother’s Day

A glimpse of how many MK’s reside here at Tenwek right now (the ones above age 5). All in their tie-dye:)

Mandazis (Kenyan donuts) on Friday makes everyone smile!

Examples of our “doorstep ministry”…the many times when someone shows up at our door selling something, and we pray we can bless them in some small way. (Pray for Grace, and for Amy)

Another visit to Dorcas’ family (see previous post about her)…pray for them to be strengthened in the Lord, and for Samuel (the father) to find a job to be able to provide for his family.
Moving firewood (yes, it is “winter” here right now!) with our friend, Thomas.

Our family table at the annual Tenwek MK Fine Arts Festival. The kids are sporting the “armor of God” since we studied Ephesians 6 this year.

On our way to visit our helper, Stellah, and her daughter at their home across the river. Pray for her also to be strengthened in her walk with Jesus and to be able to provide for her daughter. She is an amazing lady. We are so thankful for her!

And, as always, we can’t forget the many babies and children fighting for their lives at the hospital. Tom is busy up there, and there has been very very sick patients recently. We pray for healing, knowing that God knows and He sees each and every one. His will be done. His name be glorified. *And for those praying for Samuel, thank you! He made it through surgery and we continue to pray for his physical healing. Great news is that through a surgical resident last week, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. We praise God for that!!