What goes around, comes around...

Graham chasing new friends on 1st Sunday in Kenya

It was Sunday, January 30, 1999 - our first Sunday in Kenya, as a family.  We had just arrived in Kenya two days earlier - still shaking off the affects of jet lag.  We were excited as we anticipated our life and ministry ahead; we watched Graham, then just 2 years old, running around chasing and being chased by Kenyan kids as we stood in the church compound, wondering what life will be like for him as he grows up in Kenya.

Standing in front of platform pretending to play guitar!

At that point, Agape Fellowship Center, the church we had chosen to join, met in a large tent.  While Nancy and I stood talking to the Pastor outside the tent - having never stepped inside the tent yet - the worship music inside started up - singing, backed up by guitar, keyboard and drums could be hear throughout the church compound.  Graham ran up to us and said, "Dad... music!!"  He turned and ran, straight into tent, which he had never been in before, straight up the center aisle, and stood in front of the platform where the worship team was playing.  For the next 30 minutes he stood there pretending to play guitar!!  He was absolutely enthralled!!

His love for music has not changed!  Over the years, even while still just six, seven or eight, he would often hang out with the worship team during the services.  Often the team would put an un-needed guitar on him, and he would strum away, not knowing it was not plugged in.

About six months ago, Graham started teaching himself to play guitar in a serious way.  Every spare moment he is strumming the guitar in various patterns, writing songs, and generally just improving his capacity to play.

Playing officially as part of Worship Team for first time.

This past Sunday, he joined the Worship Team at  Agape Fellowship Centre, where we have now attended for the past 12 years.  Yes, he is playing guitar!  It was really cool for both Nancy and I to see him up there with the church team, playing with great confidence... and all the while, we both were thinking of the little 2-year old who had run into the church all those years before and stood in front of the platform pretending to play.  Now, he was there for real!

It was a great moment for us... and we look forward to seeing him grow and develop in his capacity to serve the Lord in this way in the years ahead.

We've uploaded a brief video of a portion of a song from last Sunday.  (Sorry that the quality of the video is not very good - it was with our digital camera.)

Half a Year in Summary

Half a Year in Summary

How do you sum up months of ministry activity with so many great things going on that there is not time to write... and now months have passed, many milestones been reached or are approaching... without overwhelming the reader?  Well, truth is - you don't!  So, as a pure sign of mercy to you... I am going to make a series of "short" posts about many different events in our life and ministry that have occurred over the last 6 months.  In the upcoming posts, you can expect to read about:

• Building Foundations... literally
• My Six "Wives"
• Grandmas on the Go
• Training African Church Leaders for Missions
• Interns Go.... Missionaries Come
• 80 on the Go Together
• This Slab's for You
• Reunited after 23 Years
• New BA-Level Missionary Training Programs Launching Aug 16th
• Lions on a Hunt
• Many Missionary Training Programs... One Vision

As you can see, there are so many exciting things happening... keep checking back for the details on each of these and more over the next several days.

Two Teams, One Plane

Happy New Year - with a quarter of the year gone, is it too late to say that, even if it is our first post of 2010?

Well, back when such a greeting would have been a bit more warmly received - such as mid-January - we had the pleasure of receiving two separate teams from the USA, by chance arriving on the exact same airplane.  One was a team of 14 American medical personnel (6 doctors, 6 nurses, 2 pharmacists) coming for a one-week medical outreach to NE Kenya.  The other was a group of
7 new Bethany interns arriving to begin their 16-month internship in the same location in NE Kenya.  Also, along with them was one former intern under us (now a graduate) returning to work as one of the team leaders in the internship program.

After allowing both groups two nights to rest, shop, get oriented, we loaded up vans, a bus, my Nissan X-Trail, our Pastor's Toyota pickup and headed to NE Kenya, along with 14 Kenyans from our home church here in Nairobi.  Thus began a very complicated, but successful, week of running two teams, with very different objectives, simultaneously.

Dr. Kabachia, our pastor, oversaw the medical outreach team, which was in the country for the purpose of one-week of providing medical attention to very needy people.  The Bethany interns were in a one-week orientation to begin their 16-month stay, which was being overseen was Jason and Harrison, our Bethany team leaders in the area.  Myself, together with Jason as well, moved back and forth between both groups being sure that all details in each were running smoothly.  Everything, on both sides, went perfectly throughout the whole week.

On the medical outreach side, the medical team provided medical attention to at least 1,200 people in their 4 days of clinics.  Three of the days the clinics were done right in town.  One day, however, we went to a village 15 miles out into the desert, where Dr. Kabachia had been a government teacher 32 years ago, and was the one who started their school.  This village has been very forgotten, and so we were very well received by the Chief, the Sheikh, and all the other village leaders.  As a result of that outreach, relationships were built for us to continuing finding opportunities to help this village in the future.

The interns successfully went through their orientation, and the day after we left, they began their three-month language learning phase.

It was an exhausting week, but a week that was so successful, we thank God for all that He did in and through us during that time.

Photo 1:  Dr. Kabachia and I with a village member who had been one of Dr. Kabachia's students 32 years ago.
Photo 2 & 3:  Medical personnel treating villagers.

Baraka wa Wageni

In Kenya, people will often refer to the Baraka wa Wageni - that is, the blessing of visitors.  It is truly believed that having visitors is an honor, and with them come blessings!  If that is true, we may be perhaps the most blessed of people!


          Below:  Introducing Mike, Tim & Matt to our Church
          in Nairobi.

• Four days after I returned from the USA we welcomed 3 close friends from our home church, Bethany Church - the Pastor Matt Hedrick, Mission Chairman Tim Freeman (also VP of Bethany International), and Mike Neterer an elder in the Church.  All three of these we have known personally from between 16 and 20 years, so it was great fun having them around.  They came specifically to work on a Partnership Agreement with our home church here in Nairobi towards a special outreach project in another part of the country.

• A few days after they left, we we welcomed a short-term team made up of individuals from various parts of the country, but led by Jim Levin, Director of a department of Bethany International.  We brought them to work with our Bethany team up in the desert, and they did several projects to assist with the work. 
• 
  
• While they were still up north, I returned home and a few days later we welcomed some Bethany colleagues who have served in SE Asia for the past 31 years.  They came to spend time with our Bethany team specifically to teach two courses to our interns.  My assistant, Kenneth, escorted them on bus to the north in time to escort Jim's team back to Nairobi.
• 
  
• We spent 2 1/2 days assisting Jim's team as they finished up their time in Kenya.

•                                                                                 Below:  Tim & Mike, with Becky, a volunteer 
•                                                                                 from their church who is living with us for a year...
•                                                                                 oh, and some giraffe too.

• The day before the team left, we welcomed Tim Kelly, who was a classmate of Nancy and I at Bethany, 20 years ago, and Mike Waldrop, a friend from his church in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Tim, and his wife Chrissy, who was a year behind us at Bethany, have led 4 teams from their church here over the years. They will be leading a construction and medical team in June, and will actually finish the project that Bethany Church will begin (constructing a girls' school our church here is preparing to open).  We had several meetings here in Nairobi, but then also brought them up north to work out details on the project.  Since they were with us for two              weeks, we had plenty of time for fun too!                  

• The day after Tim and Mike left, our Bethany colleagues returned to Nairobi to spend 2 nights before returning to Asia.  We were able to arrange a special night out for them to have a date eating Indian food at our neighbor's restaurant (they don't have Indian food in the country they live in), and I also took them on a wildlife safari, something they have never done before and were truly blessed by the experience.

As you can see, because visitors bring blessings, we must be the most blessed of all!  And truly, we feel so!  However, there is another Kenyan Swahili proverb - Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka - which means, essentially, that he who hurries has no blessings!  If that is true, we are hope that the "hurry hurry" of having so many visitors doesn't actually cancel out the blessings brought by the visitors.  :-)

In all seriousness it has been a time of real blessing!  Now, however, Christmas season is upon us... and it is time to rest as a family for the next 3 weeks and ponder the true blessings brought to us by the Christ child!

OFF the Road Again...

...It's so good to be OFF the road again!!

Yes, for those who didn't hear, through the gifts of many - and I mean many - our new four-wheel drive vehicle has been purchased and I can once again go OFF ROAD.  When I returned from the US, the 2002 Nissan X-Trail was sitting in our driveway ready for use - and, it was put to work almost right away.

Within a week of returning, I was in NE Kenya, with Cailin and some visitors.  Since that trip I've been up there two other times as well.

It has been so freeing having the flexibility to be able to "GO", whether around Nairobi for daily ministry activities or to the NE for special trips.  Truly our capacity to serve has been greatly increased!

We thank each and every person and church who gave towards this vehicle, and for all those who prayed for it to become a reality.  We received gifts from all over the US, various parts of Canada, the UK and even Germany.  Talk about being humbled, and seeing God provide at just the right time!

And now, for a few thousand words, via pictures of the Truck at work:

   

    On a roadside stop being passed by the bus I normally rode.

                                                                                         Off the road, where the bus doesn't go...

In the desert with friends from our home Churches in the USA and Nairobi

                                                                                    Passing through the Red Sea... I mean, Puddle.

                                                                                        

                                 You never know what will pass by...

So, thanks again to everyone!  You can see the Four Wheel Drive has already been put to much use... and it will continue to do so for years to come!

The Last Dollar

As I taught my biblically-based  mission message, entwined with photos from Africa, I surveyed the small crowd at this Wednesday night Bible Study.  It was certainly not the typical congregation that I spoken to over the years while visiting the US or Canada.  It was evident in some faces that there had been some hard lives, and for some, their clothes made it clear that those hard times had continued.  But, their eyes were alive as they followed every word and every picture with rapt attention.  These were people who knew and loved Jesus, and His love and grace was not something to be theorized about, it was obviously something they experienced in a real way.

As I concluded my message, the Pastor stood up, indicates for me to remain standing, and said, "Thank you Dan for that inspirational message....  ...Dan still has travels in the US before returning to Africa, and we'd like to take up a love offering to help him on his way."  With a few more instructions, and a chorus being sung, the offering plate begun to move through the group scattered among the pews of this North Portland church.

Suddenly, to my left, stood a young girl, about 8 years old.  In her hand was a crumpled dollar bill which she handed in my direction.  "This is for you," she said quietly, and then with a quivering chin continued, "It is the last money my family has."

In my mind, everything froze - all movement and music moved to the periphery of my focus.  All I saw was this beautiful little girl offering, on behalf of her family, all the money they possessed.  "How do I respond to that?" I asked the pastor, without him actually hearing me.  Suddenly, I did the only thing that I knew I could do - I pulled that little girl into a big embrace and humbly accepted their gift.

As the service ended, I looked for the father, and as I started walking towards him, he pre-empted my conversation by saying very firmly and with conviction, "Now, you don't worry about us - God is taking care of us!"  After introductions, he began to share his story.  Only 3 months before he was standing on the side of a bridge preparing to jump... but couldn't do it.  As he left the bridge in defeat, a young Christian couple stopped and picked him up, and in short, led him to a personal relationship with Jesus.  He then shared that from that point, God began providing for his family in very miraculous ways, including 10 months of free rent.  (The pastor later verified their story).

As he shared his heart, it was very obvious to me that I was in the presence of someone who knew the depth of God's grace in a way that I have only dreamed of.  He had been to the end of Himself... and found there a God who knew him and loved him personally and who drew him into a new life.  His face beamed with God's love and his voice resonated with the firm conviction that he was someone special in God's eyes - he was God's child.

I left that service deeply impacted - probably more than anyone else!

That night while talking to Nancy back home in Africa, I shared the story with her, and she in turn, at bedtime, shared the story with the kids.  Cailin was deeply moved, and said, "Mom, I have $13... can I give it to her?" Nancy informed me, and I put the $13 into an envelope, (and some extra as well) with a long note of encouragement to the father and daughter, and left it with the Pastor to give to this family.  This was a family who willingly gave everything for the sake of the Gospel, and I pray that God's blessings will be upon them.

I will never forget the little girl saying, "This is the last money my family has"... and I know that God won't forget it either.

5 Weeks of Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I have been back home from my North American jaunt for exactly 6 weeks (which may be better described as a "whirlwind")!  It has taken until now to be able to sit and reflect on that time, and be able to share a few thoughts about my experiences there.

My main reason for going to the US was to attend Leadership meetings at Bethany International (our Headquarters in Minneapolis).  On either side of the meetings, I was able to travel to several places in order to share our vision and try to raise some much needed support.  I had never been away from the family that long, but Nancy and I felt it a necessary short-term sacrifice (it didn't feel short-term in the midst of it).

In the 5 weeks, I visited:  Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Virginia, Minnesota, Vancouver BC, Washington State, Oregon, California and Texas.  Essentially the circumference of the USA ... and a dot in Canada. Plains, trains and automobiles truly describes how I got around the US and Canada.  I had many opportunities to share our vision in many different settings!  After travelling from Africa to the US, arriving in New Jersey, taking bus to Pennsylvania to stay with Roy & Kerri Goodman, I was up at 5:30 AM the next day to speak at a 6:30 AM Men's Breakfast in a restaurant.  And, from there, it continued day after day, week after week preaching on Sunday mornings, Wednesday night prayer meetings, visiting with individuals in their homes or restaurants, meeting some old friends I hadn't seen in over a decade, and making many new friends along the way.

One of the ministry highlights for me was being able to preach in my brother's church in Vancouver, BC where he is the Senior Pastor.  It was the first time he and I had ever been in a ministry context together!  He has an amazing church - made up of such diversity, with such a strong vision to reach out it was amazing to see.  But, being able to fill his pulpit for the morning was a huge honor.  If you are interested, the message from that morning can be heard online at:  http://www.richmondbaptist.com/grow/sermons and click on the audio link beside my name on October 18th.

There were many other highlights - too many to mention them all. But, the trip through the USA and Canada was a great opportunity to share the vision that God has given us.  I am so thankful to everyone I met who took time to listen to our vision - whether in a group or one by one. Likewise, I am indebted to everyone who hosted me along the way, providing me great accommodations, food, fellowship and making me feel at home.  Thank you all!