Jennifer and I left Nakuru, Kenya around 2 PM Sunday Kenya time (7 AM Eastern). After a 3 hour drive to Nairobi, flights to Amsterdam then Detroit and finally Tampa, and layovers of several hours in each airport, we finally made it home around 6 PM Monday Eastern time (1 AM Kenya time). That works out to a 42-hour trip.
My body, however, seems to be making the trip even more slowly. Tuesday I think I was on British time. Last night I went to bed at 8:30 PM and woke up at 4 AM, so I think today I’ve made it to Icelandic or Greenland time.
First thing I noticed back in Florida… there are an awful lot of white people around here. What’s up with that? Anyways…
Jennifer and I are still processing everything we experienced on the trip, but a few thoughts…
Life is hard in Kenya. Most people struggle to get the basic necessities for life – food, clothing, shelter. Few people have cars, which means getting anywhere – to church, school, a market, a doctor – takes a lot of effort. People face death every day. Most Kenyans are either on the verge of death themselves or have someone close to them that is. Killers such as AIDS, food shortages, malaria, and TB are common.
Small amounts of money can make a huge difference. When we visited the school, we found out one of the boys there has a 2-year-old brother with a severe hernia. It’s so bad the boy can no longer walk. Unfortunately, the family could not afford a hernia repair surgery. Cost? $50. It just so happens that one of Jennifer’s friends who is a nurse, gave $50 to put towards whatever we thought would help the most. Arrangements are now being made for the surgery, and within a few weeks this little boy should be able to run around like a little boy again.
Molly and Joe are doing so much more than building an orphanage. At my church, Cypress Meadows, most of the attention has gone to the orphanage Molly and Joe are building. If that were all they are doing, that would be a wonderful accomplishment that will change the lives of dozens and eventually hundreds of boys and girls who have lost their parents. But the orphanage is only a small part of what Molly and Joe are doing. They are showing God’s love and compassion to people at the hospital, people living at the landfill, boys and girls at a school, boys living on the streets of Nakuru, They are supporting pastors and churches, visiting people with AIDS in their homes, and more.
Small amounts of money can make a huge difference, but only when it’s administered with love and discernment by people who have direct contact with those being helped. That’s what Molly and Joe are doing.
There are some amazing people in Kenya. The problems in Kenya are huge, but clearly God and the hearts of those who follow Him are even bigger. I can’t tell you how inspiring it was to talk with people like Victor, Daniel, Tony, Dorcus, Isaac, and Pastor Chochoi and to see how committed they are to serving God and serving others despite their own challenging circumstances.
The bottom line is the needs are great but we can make a difference with small amounts of money and by supporting those who are serving there.
Where do we go from here?
The last thing that I want is to come back from this trip, get back into the busyness of life, and end up with no noticeable change in our lives. So, what are we going to do?
1) Springs of Hope Night. Friday July 31 at 6:30 PM at Cypress Meadows Community Church in Clearwater, FL we’ll share more stories, pictures, and video from the trip.
EDIT 7/23: For more details and to RSVP see the Facebook event.
2) Go back to Kenya next summer. We’ve already decided. I want to experience it again so I can be reminded again of what the people of Kenya are going through and how much of a difference we can make. I also want you to go with us so you can see and experience it for yourself.
3) Support Joe and Molly financially. They are doing such great things over there and they can use all the financial support they can get.
4) Pray for and encourage those we met. We’ve been able to connect with many of the people we met in Kenya through facebook or email. They are facing some really difficult circumstances. Satan is doing his best to derail and discourage them, so we are going to support and encourage them the best we can from here.
5) Live more kingdom-focused lives. If one of my kids was dying and I needed to raise $100,000 for a life-saving medical procedure, do you think I would do everything possible to save and raise the money? Of course, I would! And you can be sure I wouldn’t be spending money on plastic surgery, expensive vacations, or jet skis. I would even think twice before going out to dinner. And I might even have a hard time spending a day at the beach when I could be networking or fundraising.
None of my children are dying, but many other children, children who are created by God and just as important as mine, are. It’s not that I’m never going to eat out or take a vacation or go to the beach with my family ever again. It’s important to spend time with my wife, kids, and friends to strengthen those relationships. And I’m definitely not going to change the way I live because of a feeling of guilt or obligation. That would be the absolute wrong motivation.
I see this as a great opportunity. Now that I see the challenges people are facing, and now that I see how much can be done with even just a little, I want to spend less and less of the money God blesses me with on myself and give away more and more of it to those who need it more and can benefit from it more.
How about you?
Is God stirring your heart? Do you you see an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives? Check out SpringsOfHopeKenya.org Join us Friday July 31 to hear more. And feel free to post any questions you might have about our trip, Kenya, Springs of Hope, or whatever below in the comments.
Thanks again to all of you who prayed for us, donated money, and gave things we distributed while in Kenya. God definitely heard your prayers and multiplied your gifts.
Day 8: Drought in East Pokot <– Kenya 2009
Thanks for sharing your followup steps. I think more mission teams need to integrate this into thier planning before scattering post trip.
We had a mandatory team meeting upon return to help people process through what they will do before settling back into a routine and forgetting their new friends.
I like what you are doing in your experience.
Chris W
EvangelismCoach.org
Chris, I totally agree with you on the importance of meeting and processing the trip afterward. I’m still trying to figure it all out, but I would lean towards some combination of individual devotions/journaling with a team meeting and and then encouraging some accountability partnerships beyond that to help people put their Spirit-led plans for change into action.
Thanks so much for writing this. We were so blessed to have you here with us so you and Jen could experience our world and the plight of the people we serve. We so much appreciate all that you did while you were here and we looked forward every morning to read what you wrote in your blogs. They were wonderful.
I hope you and Jen will inspire more people to take the leap and visit us in Kenya and we look forward to seeing you here again!
Love,
Molly & Joseph
Last January, I was in Nicaragua. Our team came met in Managua. Our team was made of members from 2 countries, and 3 states in the US. We had been meeting by phone and video conference to plan and pray.
We’ve mostly worked together before, so we were not entirely strangers.
The hardest part of the trip was re-entry — those from the US going back to the routine of their life.
Scattered to three states, there wasn’t an opportunity to collectively tell the story. Nor was there an opportunity to meet again as a team.
This year, next month, I’m going to Guatemala with a similar team, from two countries. But we are being intentional in trying to figure out how to tell our story when we get back… and plan that story telling ahead of time.
We raise support, so we can tell our supporters.
We can use Animoto for music driven slide shows to embed a link into emails.
Just thinking out loud on your blog.
Chris W
EvangelismCoach.org
Molly and Joe,
Blogging about the trip was the least I could do. Thanks for being such incredible hosts. You made it super easy for two people who don’t know the language, the culture, or people.
Most of all thanks for saying, “Yes” to God’s call to move to Kenya and for daily “taking up your cross” by serving in some very difficult conditions.
Jennifer and I will do everything we can to support you guys and to give others the same experience we did. It’s so easy to get caught up in the comfortable distractions of life in the U.S., to keep the harsh realities of life in the developing world out of mind, and miss the tremendous opportunities to make a significant difference in the lives of people who need it so desperately.
Chris,
I appreciate you thinking out loud here. Maybe I’m oversimplifying things, but maybe the best way to figure out how to tell the story is just to let the person most passionate about communicating the story run with it. On our trip, that’s what I did. We had conversations on the way home and over dinner each day, but we never planned collectively what I would blog about.
This was my 3rd trip to Kenya and each time i leave with a major paradigm shift in my own thinking. how can I make a difference, how can I push more of my own resources in that direction, how can i take more of my friends with me. How can God use me to make a kingdom difference. All of these things are finally beginning to happen, although slow, they are opening up. I hope to keep up with your thoughts and dream via twitter, hope you will follow my journey as well on my blog. Take care, get some sleep, and don’t forget those Malaria pills??
Next year in Kenya!
Hey Rusty, thanks for posting a comment. I took a quick glance at your blog and it’s eerie how much we have in common – Christ-follower, husband, dad, blogging, twitterer, Kenya trips, and recent marathon. I’ve subscribed to the RSS feed for your blog and will read more when I have a chance.
I too saw the commonality, pretty weird. Ive been on such a journey the last 10 years I know that nothing happens by accident. Perhaps we are destined to meet sometime. I will keep up with you via the net!
Feel free to email me anytime, I always love to talk about Kenya…
Paul,
small world! I too just got back from leading a team to Nakuru AND finished reading The Hole in Our Gospel. We should connect some time.
🙂 Drew
Drew, no way! Yeah, we should talk. Did you blog about your trip? If so, post a link.