As I write this email, I am sitting in a session with some of our leaders who will shortly be heading out to lead summer mission teams. The last few weeks have been all about getting leaders and teams ready to come to Georgia for training camps and then out into the field for the summer. We have already sent out the first wave of 140 into the field and we have two more groups to send out by the end of the month. Although there is a lot going on right now Lisa and I knew that we really needed to let you guys know what we have been doing and what lies ahead.

Since we last wrote we have been to California, Kenya and Home again. Lisa attended a ministry conference that blessed us tremendously as a family, she as well got her tonsils out which in the long term will be great but in the short term was not fun. Luke is growing fast and just celebrated his second birthday. He is learning to express his needs and wants J A couple weeks ago he took a big tumble and fractured his upper jaw but he is on the mend!

For my part, I want to share a couple things and then Lisa will follow up next week with a family update.

Training Camp

First, the next couple weeks are going to be really busy for me and I selfishly wanted to get an update out so that you all could be in prayer for AIM, me and our family during this time. Although I am in town, I am not really home. I leave around 6am and get home late in the night. It is a great time of ministry and the Lord is so faithful to take care of the needs at home while I am away. I would appreciate your prayers as we train leaders and teams to head out on mission trips this summer.

I would specifically ask for prayer in the following areas:

·         Pray for insight as we coach leaders and prepare teams to head out. Pray that as problems are identified we would have wisdom in how to deal with them.

·         Pray for the missionaries and pastors that will be receiving these teams. Pray that the teams will be a blessing and would serve and honor them and those that they are ministering with and alongside.

·         Pray that Lisa and Luke would do well with little interaction with Husband & Daddy.

·         Pray that Scott would have strength, wisdom and a true reliance on the Lord as he invests in these teams.

Sabbatical

The other thing that I want to share with you is that AIM has graciously granted us a 3-month sabbatical this summer beginning the second week of July. After almost 12 years of ministry with AIM, we look forward to taking some time to rest and to spend concentrated time with the Lord. I'm sure as we slow down and sit with the Lord, He will lead us places we don't expect, but we look forward to the journey! We would love to have you join us as we walk through this process; we covet your prayers and insight. We will endeavor to share regularly and invite you into our lives as much as possible. Here are a few things we are praying about:

• As we are in a new season with a young child (and hopefully children!) we are asking the Lord to show us His vision for our family and ministry.
• Scott feels the Lord may be leading him to pursue some further training to sharpen his ministry skills -  we are asking the Lord for confirmation and if so, the timing, specific program/school, etc.
• That we would rest in the Lord and wait on His leading during this time.
• We will continue to be a support to the Kenya staff working at the school and the orphanage during this time. Please continue to pray for strength for them as they work in a very demanding location. Also, a praise - we have been fundraising for both ministries and the Lord has faithfully provided some new avenues of funding – whoo-hoo!

You each are such a blessing to us – Thank You!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to check in with one of the people that we were able to help with some funds during the riots. Her name is Monica and she runs a feeding program for orphans and needy children in Kibera. We wandered through the slum meandering up and down for about 15 minutes before we finally reached her house; a small eight by eight room. There I found a sick girl who was about seventeen that she had snatched from the streets, I prayed. Next we met some of the kids that are "just around." Most weren't hers but a few were. Finally she pulled back a sheet that divided the room and she said, "I have had this baby since she was two days old. Her mother died and I didn't know what to do with her." The baby is three months old now.

There is so much more to say about Monica. She doesn't have anything of worldly value. She started feeding the children from a sympathetic heart once her husband left her. One of our past teams got to know her eldest son who is in secondary school and that is how we found out about Monica. She is a woman of faith. Full of hope that God will provide and she has seen him provide for her. I was cautious when I wrote the last sentence because when you see her it doesn't look like God has provided; not how I would imagine His provision. But that is a lesson I often relearn here, God's provision is what we need not what we want. He knows better than me how to provide what His people need and still I continue to imagine what will bring joy and contentment.

Monica feeds 250 children every day at a church that she rents during the week. Her house isn't nearly big enough to accommodate these children. But God continues to provide as the feeding program and her adopted family grows.

I will write more about Monica and some of our other friends when I get home and have more time. The stories are backlogged in my brain but I haven't been able to get them out yet. I am still trying to take it all in and process it myself.

Today is my last day here. I fly out tonight and today is still a very full day. Here is the agenda, at least what I know of the agenda. I am sure God will change this as the day continues.

•  Check on a piece of land to use as a farm for the orphans and the school. It is about an hour outside of town.
• Connect with the lawyer about the status of our registration as a Non-governmental Organization
• Go visit an orphanage for disabled children. We are hoping to be able to help them when our teams are in town.
• I still have a couple friends to connect with, one being my favorite taxi driver Ronald.
• Visit a micro finance group that some friends in Kibera are a part of to see how it is going and to encourage them.
• Take a few more pictures and take care of a few other details from our Kenyan staff.

Thanks for your encouragement and prayers while I have been here.

Today was another day filled with activity. Without getting into the whole day let me share one thing and i will fill you in on the rest later.

I met with my friend again today but this time just the two of us. We did a very "unkenyan" thing today, we sat and shared very openly. I was able to share from my heart how our last meeting left me feeling and he was able to share how hard things have been for him. it was a sweet time. After ministering together for almost 10 years it was how I imagined our relationship should be. There were still some small questions in my mind as I left but it was nothing that can't be worked out as we move forward.

I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the Lord as we prayed together and parted ways. As I drove away after dropping him off I felt a renewed hope and I praised the Lord.

I still have allot to process and learn from the whole experience. I feel like there are a number of lessons that God wants to teach me as I pray, process and ask the Lord what he has for me in this relationship going forward. 

Thank you for your prayers of reconciliation, God is faithful.

We left Kijabe about 11am on Saturday and headed back to Nairobi where there were a number of meetings waiting for us. I don't have allot of time to go into this now since I am heading to church early to meet with Pastor Sheth but let me give you a short account of what happened.

Without going into detail I had one of the most disappointing experiences I have had in a long time. One of my long time friends in Kenya is desperate financially and he responded by formally confronting me with a number of people about how I need to "help out" the board members who work with us on the school. It happened in Kenyan fashion where we talked around and around until getting to the point but on a number of times during the conversation I just want to walk away.

I know that God can reconcile this and I am sure that with His wisdom we will be able to reconcile this situation but it hurt me deeply. I am sure I haven't done everything right here and both last night and this morning I have been asking myself what I could have done differently and how I need to respond. I want to help him and yet a part of me (probably the prideful part) just wants to walk away from that situation.

What I would ask is that you pray that God would be glorified and that He would give me wisdom as to my response. Please pray for His provision for his people. I think that this is a good picture of how desperate some of the Kenyans are after this crisis that they would risk years of relationship because they don't know what else to do.

I am going to meet with this pastor alone again before I go. Please pray that God would reconcile our hearts and that we would both have wisdom as we meet. I don't think he really knows how this conversation affected. Because of that I am really praying that God would give me clear perspective on how to proceed.

Thanks for your prayer!

So we made it to Eburru and Kijabe on Friday and had a great time. It has been a while since I had been to Eburru and I thought I needed to go this trip. Pastor Steve has tried to get me to go the last two times I have been here but when you are in country for a week it is a significant commitment. But it was worth the trip. They have really done allot since I have been there. There is now a nice clinic, fun rooms for people to stay in, a new church building and they are half way through with a small training center. The community also sold them this old British house (old but huge and really cool) and 10 acres of land to start an orphanage. There is allot of work to do before it starts but it is going to be pretty awesome.

We were able to travel around and to catch up with a few of the church members while we were there. After that it was down the mountain to Naivasha for lunch and then on to Kijabe for the night. With only a small delay after a radiator hose broke we were on our way again. We thanked the Lord because if the hose blew in Eburru we would have been out of luck for sure, but instead it broke just as we were leaving Naivasha and we were able to head quickly into town to get it fixed.

While in Kijabe we stayed with Pastor Simon and Margaret. It was a great visit and it was really good to be able to hear how they are doing and to see how God used them to minister to so many during the riots after the election. Simon has got to be one of the wisest men I have met in Kenya and I appreciate his council and I love to hear his ideas about the best ways to minister in Kenya. He always has so much going on!

There is a lot going on today. Lot's of running around trying to connect with people and just generally getting a feel for how things are now. I don't have a lot of time to type right now but I thought I would at least post a couple pictures and share a little about how people seem to be doing here.

Jason and I were walking around some today to see how things have changed. There are a number of areas that have been completely burned down. They are starting to rebuild most of them but it has completely changed the way things look. There is a big church near where we work in the area and it got vandalized and burnt by a group of thugs. I talked to one of the staff there today and he gave us the story of what happened. It was a beautiful church and now they have to completely rebuild the roof and window and other portions. If they didn't build with concrete the entire building would be demolished.

There is a major market for the slum that was burnt to the ground and one of the estates was heavily damaged by looting and fire as well.  I will try and take some more pictures later so that you can see how they are rebuilding.

The three things that I noticed today were awe at how inhumane people were, hope that Kenya will be able to move beyond this and a hesitancy to trust.

A picture of the inhumane

One of our friends, referring to the time of all the violence and destruction said, "Not even animals would do this sort of thing to one another!"

A glimpse of hope

As Jason and I walked through the Toi market I was amazed at how the entire thing had been rebuilt. There is a lot of work to be done still because people lost a lot of their supplies, but to see the new construction happening brought a sense of hope that many have verbalized as well.

A hesitancy to trust

As I sat with an old friend today and talked about the last few months she told stories about how she has moved a number of times in the last few months in order to avoid the violence. As we talked and caught up I asked if she was going to move out of the area. Her response was this, "I can't leave this is my home! These days I just pray and hope that God will protect us."

Hopefully that gives you a glimpse of what is going on with us in Kenya.

More soon,

scott

Its 3:37a.m right now and once again I find myself the victim of "jet-lag." I am sitting in our apartment in Kenya, feet up on the coffee table with my nalgene by my side and my computer on my lap. Jason is lying on the couch on the other side of the room reading a book. It looks like we share the same fate tonight.

The good thing about being awake is that I have time, time to read, time to pray and time to write. Just a few weeks ago I told Lisa that I was wiped out. Not just physically but emotionally as well, I needed a break. There were things I needed to do that I just couldn't bring myself to do because I didn't have the emotional margin in my life. Later that week I was talking to my friend Robert and mentioned this same thing, his comment was, "let's go!" He said, "Buy a ticket we are heading to Mexico." He made all the arrangements I just got on the plan about two weeks ago and showed up. It was a great trip. I didn't surf, I didn't fish, I just rested and spent time with God and with my friend. It was a breath of fresh air that I didn't think I had time for. But then again, we never do.

Last week was a completely different experience. A couple that I have ministered with for the last 8 years at AIM was coming off staff. God was taking them a different direction. They flew in from New Zealand for the week. A time to process the past, Celebrate what God has done and bring some closure. How do you do that in a week? How do you take years of ministry and bring closure to it? My answer now looking back is that you don't. You remind each other how amazing God is. You celebrate what He has done. You make it clear that relationship isn't about being on staff with the same organization. So we renewed friendships, Celebrated the good and the hard times, prayed, and we thanked God for letting us serve Him with friends.

And then it was mother's day. It was a great day for me. I have both an amazing mother and an amazing wife. I once again find myself blessed beyond measure. Lisa and I stole a few minutes together to share and catch up after the last few busy weeks. Not nearly enough time since I was leaving the next day for Kenya, but the few minute we had were sweet.

And then the next morning I packed up and headed off to Kenya for a week. And that brings us back to where I am now; it's now 4:01am but the rest of the picture is still the same. Jason is still reading (I thought he would be asleep by now) and as for me, I am still sitting in the same spot with my feet up, nalgene by my side and computer on my lap. The only change is that now there is a pesky mosquito buzzing around me.

So what does this week look like? I am wondering the same thing. I needed to come to check on the school and the orphanage. I also needed to come to do some setup for the trips that will be starting up in September. I wanted to come and to see our Kenyan staff, to encourage them and to see what they needed. But the thing that drew me here more than anything was my desire to see how we can help pick up the pieces after the chaotic election. Now that the papers say things are "getting back to normal." Now that the government says "the differences are being worked out." Now that CNN is no longer covering the story I wanted to see for myself how things really are. To see how my friends are really doing. To pray with them, encourage them and to continue to do what I can, what we can to support them. The next few days will be interesting I am sure. I will try and keep my blog updated daily with what is happening.

In the mean time pray that God would direct our steps here. Jason, Denise and I will for sure have a busy week. Pray that we would have wisdom to make the decisions that we need to and insight to know what decisions can wait.

Pray for Lisa as she takes care of Luke without me. He is recovering from being sick so she isn't getting much sleep or down time right now. And pray for her as she fly's to California to help her family move into their new house. Pray that our squirmy little boy does great on the airplane. Pray for her safety and that she won't be afraid. Living in the slums of Africa has taken its toll on her and one area that the enemy likes to attack her in when I am away is with fear. Thanks for battling with me on behalf of my family while I am away. One of my least favorite things these days is being away from them.

Hello!

Scott just called to say that he arrived safely in Kenya :)

He will be in Nairobi for just over a week. He has many people to see, details to take care of and wants to see for himself how things are in the wake of the political problems this year.

Thank you for your prayers for him! He will be posting updates and sharing more details as the trip progresses.

Love,

Lisa & Luke (holding down the fort at home)