Today is the day! I barely slept last night and am feeling sick this morning. Trying to relax and trust God to take care of me and heal me in these last hours before we leave.
My morning prayer time with God brought me this message that I am taking to Africa:
Proverbs 4:25, "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you."
As this day has come closer I have already begun to wonder what will be for me when we get back. And I know while I am there I will think about that and might begin to worry about our finances, I am already worried something will happen while we are there that we can't get back for, and I am sure there will be things happening there that will distract me as well. Yet God is asking me to simply "look straight ahead". To look at what I am doing, what HE is doing, right in front of me and be part of that. No looking back home at what is happening. No worrying about the future and what is to come. I will fix my gaze directly before me as I step forward on this path he has laid out.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Transitioning - Dan Fine
I woke at 6:30 this morning with jumbled thoughts..."remember to pack the malaria medication", "I forgot to send an email at work yesterday," "don't forget to turn the thermostat down," "make extra copies explaining the gospel bead bracelets we're bringing," "let the body shop know I'll be unreachable by phone".....
Pray that we'll be able to transition well. That we won't get bogged down by the time difference, shock of a culture with a different language, food and smells, things lingering back home....pray that we will be able to make ourselves fully available for God to work through us.
Pray that we'll be able to transition well. That we won't get bogged down by the time difference, shock of a culture with a different language, food and smells, things lingering back home....pray that we will be able to make ourselves fully available for God to work through us.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
A prayer as we go to Kenya
No institution is free from the insidious arm of corruption, at home and in fields afar.
Who will succor the homeless, the orphans, the starving, those cast aside by decisions based on greed?
Who will speak up on their behalf?
Let all with faith-filled hearts rise up with Love!
Clothe us in the dress of your peace, and the stronghold of your mercy, that we might bear the power of Love;
Let us walk in shoes of integrity, and don the mantle of truth.
Let us shed tatters of envy and fear, the rags of anger and greed, and say
"We shall seek only the Truth which will set us free!"
O Beloved, let all that is unholy within us be cleansed, erase as chalk from a slate.
As fire consumes the forest, as the flame reaches up to the heavens, let the refining Fire of your Love reach into the hidden places within open hearts!
Forgive us and let the deep regret of our souls rise up as contrite offerings.
Let the people seek your Word, let the nations turn from violence and destruction.
Let them know that You alone, You who reign with Love, are the Most High over all the earth.
Nan A. Merrill
Who will succor the homeless, the orphans, the starving, those cast aside by decisions based on greed?
Who will speak up on their behalf?
Let all with faith-filled hearts rise up with Love!
Clothe us in the dress of your peace, and the stronghold of your mercy, that we might bear the power of Love;
Let us walk in shoes of integrity, and don the mantle of truth.
Let us shed tatters of envy and fear, the rags of anger and greed, and say
"We shall seek only the Truth which will set us free!"
O Beloved, let all that is unholy within us be cleansed, erase as chalk from a slate.
As fire consumes the forest, as the flame reaches up to the heavens, let the refining Fire of your Love reach into the hidden places within open hearts!
Forgive us and let the deep regret of our souls rise up as contrite offerings.
Let the people seek your Word, let the nations turn from violence and destruction.
Let them know that You alone, You who reign with Love, are the Most High over all the earth.
Nan A. Merrill
Monday, August 3, 2009
Almost ready - Cheryl Witham
It feels in many ways that the trip to Kenya began months ago. God has already called and affirmed his calling in these days of preparation and provision. I am so grateful for the confirming support we have experienced as friends and family have offered their blessing and an commitments to pray for our time. It has been such fun to see Sammy and Mwende's enthusiasm for our going to the place they call home.
Thank you Derek W. for you timely words yesterday. "Go without expectations, but with great expectancy because we serve a great God." I thought was doing a pretty good job of managing my expectations, but needed your word of how to be - expectant!
I would ask those who are praying for us to ask God to remind us often to look up and out, into his face and the face of those around us - those on our team and well as those we will partner with in Kenya. Thanks for your presence and your prayers. Cheryl
Thank you Derek W. for you timely words yesterday. "Go without expectations, but with great expectancy because we serve a great God." I thought was doing a pretty good job of managing my expectations, but needed your word of how to be - expectant!
I would ask those who are praying for us to ask God to remind us often to look up and out, into his face and the face of those around us - those on our team and well as those we will partner with in Kenya. Thanks for your presence and your prayers. Cheryl
Prayer for the trip--Christian Ruch
This is Christian writing. There are obviously many ways people can be praying for us on this trip, but one way in particular that I would ask you to pray is for spiritual protection. One big goal that we have for this trip is that we would build long lasting partnerships with churches and people in Kenya (that's why we're calling it Pamoja, which means 'togetherness'). But we know that when we work for unity in the church, it results in spiritual attack. We have an enemy who hates unity and hates the church and wants to bring division in the Body of Christ. So please pray for our protection and our unity as a team as we seek to build strong relationships with our brothers and sisters in Kenya.
Swahili Lessons--Melanie Hardacker
As we have been preparing for our trip our group has been meeting regularly. Mwende has spent time teaching us some of the language and a couple songs. Here are some of the words we are trying to learn before we go:
Jambo--Hello
Chakula--food
maji--water
Tafadhali--please
Kwaheri--goodbye
Jina langu ni--My name is
Bwana asifiwe-Praise the Lord
Psa ngapi-How much is
Asante-Thank you
Pole-sorry
And in case it isn't obvious enough: mimi ni mgeni--I am a visitor
Swahili is basically a phonetic language with similar sounds to English so you just have to sound the words out. The main thing to remember is the vowel sounds:
A-ah
E-eh
I-Long E
O-Long O
U-ooo (short u)
So use those vowel sounds with normal consonant sounds and you can make those words all happen.
Our family has been practicing the songs quite a bit this summer. At first they feel like tongue twisters but now that we have the rhythm it is starting to come together.
Song one is "God is so Good". Of course there is a twist on the tune that I keep forgetting but the first part is the traditional tune.
Mungu yu mwema, mungu yu mwema, mungu yu mwema yu mwema kwangu.
God is so good, God is so good, God is so good he's so good to me.
The other song goes "Jesus is mine He is Lord forever". African songs are very repetitive so you just repeat that verse over and over with variations on the tune or just the ending "He is Lord Forever". And usually you are repeating what someone else sang so theoretically it is just about following along.
"Yesu ni wangu wa uzima wa milele".
OK no problem now sing it fast and in tune. :) Now that I have it I am enjoying learning to praise God in a new and fun way. I am falling in love with the African music we have heard and really look forward to this aspect of the trip.
Here are a couple versions of Yesu Ni Wangu I found on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNEy3oDt4fo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmdu_iShL5s
Jambo--Hello
Chakula--food
maji--water
Tafadhali--please
Kwaheri--goodbye
Jina langu ni--My name is
Bwana asifiwe-Praise the Lord
Psa ngapi-How much is
Asante-Thank you
Pole-sorry
And in case it isn't obvious enough: mimi ni mgeni--I am a visitor
Swahili is basically a phonetic language with similar sounds to English so you just have to sound the words out. The main thing to remember is the vowel sounds:
A-ah
E-eh
I-Long E
O-Long O
U-ooo (short u)
So use those vowel sounds with normal consonant sounds and you can make those words all happen.
Our family has been practicing the songs quite a bit this summer. At first they feel like tongue twisters but now that we have the rhythm it is starting to come together.
Song one is "God is so Good". Of course there is a twist on the tune that I keep forgetting but the first part is the traditional tune.
Mungu yu mwema, mungu yu mwema, mungu yu mwema yu mwema kwangu.
God is so good, God is so good, God is so good he's so good to me.
The other song goes "Jesus is mine He is Lord forever". African songs are very repetitive so you just repeat that verse over and over with variations on the tune or just the ending "He is Lord Forever". And usually you are repeating what someone else sang so theoretically it is just about following along.
"Yesu ni wangu wa uzima wa milele".
OK no problem now sing it fast and in tune. :) Now that I have it I am enjoying learning to praise God in a new and fun way. I am falling in love with the African music we have heard and really look forward to this aspect of the trip.
Here are a couple versions of Yesu Ni Wangu I found on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNEy3oDt4fo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmdu_iShL5s
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Final Preparations - Dan Fine
Just 3 more days! It is amazing to think that in just a few days, our group of 14 from Hopkins, MN will set foot in Nairobi. Earlier this weekend, we received an email from Mwende Kieti who traveled ahead of us. My anticipation and sense of purpose grew even more as she wrote of how the drought has taken its toll on the people in Kenya.
The church sent us off this morning with prayers over us. I found it poetic that exactly 5 years ago, on the first Sunday in August, our church met in our building for the first public service. 5 years later, it feels great to have a group going out to Africa. For those not familiar with our church - we are actually under the guidance of the Anglican Church in Rwanda.
After today's service, the group and a few others from our church family met to pack the computers that Mollie Mosman worked with a friend to have donated - 15 in total! She worked with an organization called "E-Quip Africa". They have been refurbished and loaded with educational software that is greatly needed.
We packed the towers, monitors, keyboards and cables in boxes also filled with clothing, toys, books and a set of encyclopedias that were donated and curated from the church sale that we did as a fundraiser early this spring. In total, we are taking 14 boxes with us - using the 2nd
piece of checked baggage each traveler is allowed. The trick is that each box can only be a maximum weight of 50 lbs before the airline charges an additional $150 for it! After much strategizing for how to best configure each box to maximize our 50 lbs, we abandoned the logical "one set per box" idea and doubled up towers, threw in half inflated soccer balls for padding, added craft supplies and snuck in a couple letters of the encyclopedia set to equal 14 carefully calculated boxes of much needed items that got us 
as close to 50 lbs as possible. We found that Rector Christian has a secret spiritual gift for divining weight by sight. More often than not, he hit the target the first try as confirmed by our trusty bathroom scale (this skill deteriorated around box number 9 and his not-fed-by-lunch muscles got tired). Even these few hours felt great - seeing the group work together to pitch in however each individual could.
And so we begin. We meet as a group to embark on our mission at 12:45pm this Wednesday at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. We covet your prayers and eagerly anticipate what God will do through us and in us.
The church sent us off this morning with prayers over us. I found it poetic that exactly 5 years ago, on the first Sunday in August, our church met in our building for the first public service. 5 years later, it feels great to have a group going out to Africa. For those not familiar with our church - we are actually under the guidance of the Anglican Church in Rwanda.
After today's service, the group and a few others from our church family met to pack the computers that Mollie Mosman worked with a friend to have donated - 15 in total! She worked with an organization called "E-Quip Africa". They have been refurbished and loaded with educational software that is greatly needed.
We packed the towers, monitors, keyboards and cables in boxes also filled with clothing, toys, books and a set of encyclopedias that were donated and curated from the church sale that we did as a fundraiser early this spring. In total, we are taking 14 boxes with us - using the 2nd
piece of checked baggage each traveler is allowed. The trick is that each box can only be a maximum weight of 50 lbs before the airline charges an additional $150 for it! After much strategizing for how to best configure each box to maximize our 50 lbs, we abandoned the logical "one set per box" idea and doubled up towers, threw in half inflated soccer balls for padding, added craft supplies and snuck in a couple letters of the encyclopedia set to equal 14 carefully calculated boxes of much needed items that got us 
as close to 50 lbs as possible. We found that Rector Christian has a secret spiritual gift for divining weight by sight. More often than not, he hit the target the first try as confirmed by our trusty bathroom scale (this skill deteriorated around box number 9 and his not-fed-by-lunch muscles got tired). Even these few hours felt great - seeing the group work together to pitch in however each individual could.And so we begin. We meet as a group to embark on our mission at 12:45pm this Wednesday at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. We covet your prayers and eagerly anticipate what God will do through us and in us.
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