LAST BUT NEVER LEAST 

This is the last post featuring one of the members of the Kenya Team, and it is about Virgil.  Virgil is last, but he is NOT least.  Virgil is not a teacher, he is not a pastor.....so why he is an important part of the team??? Because he is willing.  He is willing to do anything that is needed of him.  He holds kids, he teaches sessions, he carries equipment, he loves our friends from Kenya.  

Isn't that what God really needs from all of us......willingness?? Willingness to serve him in whatever way we are asked?  Willingness to stand beside the least of these?  

The first lap to be filled up with kids that need to be held is Virgil's.  Virgil loves any child that needs to be loved and held.  He is willing, simply willing.  

Pray that each of the members of the team will be willing.  Willing to serve, willing to be flexible, willing to learn, willing to be stretched.  Pray for the willingness of their students to be stretched as they receive the training the team will bring them.  

Pray our team will be willing to realize that they are "poor in spirit" and they can not do this without God leading them.  

Are you willing to pray?  Your prayers will make a difference!  

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE!! 

I would like to share the story of how a retired Human Resource Specialist took her first steps in changing Africa for Jesus.  

It started in 2009.  Carolyn Inman and I were committed to go to Kenya and do a discipleship training for church leaders.  We felt like we needed one more person on our team.  I felt God not just speak to me, but tap me on the shoulder........He had a plan!! CALL REGINA AND ASK HER.  I listened and life as Regina knew it.......as our church knew it......was never the same!  

Regina joined us on that trip and served as our administrator.  She was amazing.  What was truly amazing is what happened when she got back.  She started lighting little fires all over our church.  Fires of excitement for vulnerable children, for a partnership....she  turned our church upside down.  

So Regina will make her 5th trip to Kenya next month.   Some people would hesitate to go to a developing country in their retirement years.  Regina not only went, but she brought along other

retired members of our church!

Pray for Regina as she takes care of the administrative details of the trip.  Pray that all of the travel details go smoothly......flights would go smoothly, connections made, visas obtained.  It is a job with a lot of variables that need to be prayed over.  Please pray for all of those details, because they directly relate to the success of the mission the team has.  

If you are retired, or you are approaching retirement, I challenge you to think about what you might do to turn your community upside down for God's kingdom!  

What A Legacy!!

WHAT A LEGACY!! 

In 2013 the Inman family reached an interesting milestone.  That was the year that everyone in the family of 5 could say they had served in Africa.  Carolyn Inman is the leader of this years team to Kenya.  This will be Carolyn's 5th trip to Kenya.  Carolyn has been a brilliant teacher, and leader.  She has led in sports camp with hundreds on Kenya's soil.  She has gone without diet cokes with ice and has taken bucket baths with no complaint.  To me the most amazing fact about Carolyn is that over the years all three of her children and her husband have served in Kenya, following in her footsteps.  What a legacy!  

That is what we are trying to achieve in Kenya.  We are trying to raise leaders that will inspire their whole family to go out and make more disciples.   It does not matter where......down the street or across the world.  We want parents to lead children and children to lead parents to know, serve, and love Jesus in ways that turn Kenya upside down for Jesus!! 

Will you pray for that?  Will you pray that our team is so effective in their teaching that amazing things start happening for Jesus through the leaders that they train?  Will you pray that leaders will be transformed?  Will you pray that WHOLE families will love and serve God together as a result of this training?  

Why would you do this?

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?? 

This week let me introduce you to one of the 2015 Kenya Team members, Melissa Bowhay.  

This is Melissa's second trip to Kenya.  Melissa has a career, a family and limited vacation.  WHY WOULD SHE WANT TO MAKE THIS TRIP AGAIN??? 

She wants to make this trip again because God has asked her to do this.  She desires obedience.  She desires a chance to make a difference.  Melissa desires to be a role model of service to her children.  

She does not have to go to Kenya to be a role model of service to Christ.  She also does that as she serves in OCC and HRW.  However, she did have to go to Kenya to be obedient.  I am picturing the bed time conversations that she has had with her kids.  "mommy why do you have to go to Africa"  "I am going because God has asked me to".   What an amazing conversation to have with a child.  As Melissa goes, she does not just shape the path of discipleship in Kenya, she shapes the path of discipleship in her own children.  THAT is why she would want to make this long trip again, leaving her family, using her vacation time.  It has eternal consequences in TWO countries!!  Will you pray for Melissa as she goes?  This may be an act of obedience, but it is not easy!  Pray for her and her family as they prepare for her absence.  If you have a minute during the trip, ask Brian if he needs any help.  "Mommy/Daddy why are you taking your time to (fill in the blank) for Brian and Kazu and Miko"? " Because God has asked me to"