The Last Day of 2007

It was a very interesting day. The fighting is spreading throughout Kenya. I am ready to go if I need to, but for now I am just laying low in my house. I woke up today and everything that is going on here in Kenya finally hit me and then came the flood of tears. I think I just needed to cry out what I had been bottling up inside of me. After that I was fine and started preparing my lesson for junior church next Sunday. We are starting a new series on “Living God’s Way”. While working on that stuff I continually heard gun shots.

This evening I went across the street to my neighbor’s house, Kathy is a single missionary who came to Kenya at my age. We had homemade pizza and played a game. While playing I heard screaming, but there are many kids in our neighborhood that like to scream as they play. So the first few times we dismissed it, till it became more of a scared cry of help. There was another missionary couple also with us. We ran out only to find that right outside our houses a girl was just about to be raped. The other missionary man told the guy to get off of the girl, but he would not move. So we called the security guards in our neighborhood. Before they got there the mother of the guy came and pulled him by his hair off the girl and with the security guard marched him home.

As I came home later on tonight I found myself singing a song that I had learned while working at Camp Lukenya, “God Can Do Anything”. I found it to be a real comfort to my soul as I thought about all the fighting that is going on here. When I get a chance I will write the words.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!! It is now 2008 here in Kenya!

Some of my Favorite Pictures

This is one of my favorites from when my parents came to visit

This was taken last Sunday at Church

The Travis Family

My sister and her husband and their four children.

(Adam, Jennifer, Esther-4, Jonathan-3, Deborah-2, Caleb-9 months)

Hallelujah!

We had a special service in church yesterday. We had Bro. Johnson, former pastor of Cleveland Baptist Church in Ohio here visiting. We don’t have an exact number total yet, but there were over 10 children saved. One little girl had to be sent back to the service because she firmly believed that she had never sinned. Mrs. Novak said to her, “If you believe you are not a sinner than you don’t need to be saved.” The Holy Spirit is still working on her heart. It was exciting to see some of children that we have had coming to church for a long time finally realize their need of a Savior! Next Sunday I am hoping to get a picture of all the ones that were saved. If I can get them together and get their picture I will post it.

Continue to pray for my 4 year old niece, Esther. They have found that the cancer she has is stage 4. We covet your prayers for her and my sister and her husband, Jennifer and Adam Travis. I would also like to ask you to keep my parents in your prayers as well. They still have 5 children living at home ranging from 19 down to 11 and now they have added three grandchildren to the house ranging from 3 down to not yet one. Their small busy house just got smaller and busier.

Adam and Jennifer's home church has set up an account to receive any monetary gifts people may desire to send. The address is:

Southeast Baptist Church

1402 S. Memorial Drive

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74112

(918) 836-6617

Pictures

Beds for sale along the side of the road

Dad rebuilding the carberator on my Land Cruiser

Our Kenyan Goodwill (used clothes shop)

Dad, Me, and Mom on our last Sunday together in Kenya

The Lord is Good!

Hi Everyone! It has been so long since I have been on myspace. I feel like a stranger. Things have been busy here in Kenya. After language school finished I started preparing for my parents first visit to Kenya. In the process of getting the guest room ready I fell through some boards and broke my foot. Leave it to me to be the first one in my family of nine to break a bone. =) Needless to say seven and a half weeks later the cast is still on and I am getting tired of hopping around. Lord willing I only have two more weeks!!!!

I guess I better go back and fill in what all has taken place during the last seven and a half weeks. My parents came for their visit and we had a wonderful time. Dad got his international drivers license and got to experience driving in another country where everything is backwards from America. I had a wonderful time introducing them to some of the churches I will be working with. We did a lot of visiting, sharing of memories, and we did get to do some sightseeing and shopping. Mom and I enjoyed shopping at the Maasai market and we all enjoyed going to the Giraffe Manor, a place where you can feed giraffe out of your hands. I have been there many times with different people, but this was the first time I have ever seen someone get bit by a giraffe. That someone was my mother! Thankfully it did not break the skin and it only swelled.

The two days after they left were some of the most difficult days of my life. I cried my heart out and did a lot of talking to the Lord. Folks, missionaries do get lonely and they do miss their families.

Because I broke my foot I can’t drive or get out of the house on my own. It has been a great time for me to get organized and translate my teacher training notes into Swahili. That has been quite a challenge, but I am having a lot of fun translating. It has also been good for the continuing of my study of the Swahili language.

Never stop praying for your missionaries. Within the last week the Lord has been working on my trust factor. It is one thing to say with your mouth you trust God, but the real test comes when bad things happen. It seems to me that I am getting my fair share during this time of my life. It started with last Sunday when I called my family only to find out that my 14 year old sister was in a bad bicycle accident which involved her flying over her handlebars and hitting her face on a rock. Her beautiful face is now covered with stitches as well as the inside of her mouth along with a gouge in the forehead and the bone under her right eye being broken. We only found out a couple of days ago that she can still see out of that eye. The doctor has told us that just maybe she will be able to smile again. I thank the Lord that my little sister is still alive.

I just found out today that my soon to be 5 year old niece is in the hospital with a large fast growing lump by her pelvic bone. She was taken in today for a biopsy and I still have not heard what the report is. I don’t think I have ever felt so helpless, but I am not hopeless. God is still God and all I can and will do is trust my family in His care. He is an Almighty God who created us and He is the Great Physician! Everyday each one of us faces different things in our lives. We need to remember who God is and never forget it.

I trust you all are doing okay. There are some great things coming up here in Kenya, an all night Youth Fellowship at my house and three weeks of camp during November and December. There is nothing like having youth camp in December! I am praying for all of you! I will try to get some pics from my parents visit downloaded. Have a wonderful day!

Prayer Request

Hello everyone! School is going great. I can read so many things and understand what I am reading. I am also speaking to people in Swahili now. One of the projects I am working on is putting my testimony into Swahili. My teacher is Catholic. He has agreed to check my testimony after I translate it into Swahili. I asked him to do this because I thought it would give me an open door to talk about Christ.

I have some other prayer request. I have made some wonderful friends there at school and I would like to invite them to church. It took me a while to figure out where each one lives. So I am now working on finding a church in that area. I think I found one that was started by some missionaries, the Weavers. I will be going to the Weaver's house for the 4th of July and so I am going to get directions then. Please pray for me that I will have the boldness to witness to my friends there at school.

I also would like for you to pray for a specific guy that I have met. I just found out the other day that he is Muslim. He is a very talkative and funny guy, but I am nervous about witnessing to him. I have never talked with a Muslim or ever had a Muslim friend.

As you pray, please pray for my friend (from Tanzania), my friend (from Ethiopia), and my muslim friend (from Somalia). I have made many other friends, but these are a few of the ones I would like to really reach out to and win to Christ.

Thank you for your prayers! I will let you know how things go.

Pictures from our 2nd VBS

Children being counseled. We had 10 saved that day!

On the last day we had over 100 children in attendance

Language school is continuing on. I am learning so much. Are weekend was extra long this time. Yesterday was a Kenyan holiday. Britian released them to become their own country so many years ago. Yeah! I know how I feel and how excited I get when celebrating our Independence Day. In two weeks we will have are midterm break. I can't believe lang. school will soon be over. Got to keep learning. :)

A couple of weeks ago we had two ladies come forward at invitation time and they got saved! Praise the Lord!!!! We are giving out sweets (candy) to the children in Junior church if they bring visitors and the adults have been challenged as well to be bringing visitors. We have had a large number participate in this and in these last two weeks we have had quite a few first time visitors in Church and Junior church. In fact, that is how those two ladies were there to hear the Gospel. They had been invited and were visitors.

We are going through a series in Junior church on the Fruit of the Spirit. We started last week and this Sunday I get to teach on Joy. I need to go make sure everything is ready. I will try not to wait so long before posting another blog. Have a good weekend!

VBS and Language School

We just finished our second VBS of the year. It was done over a period of two Saturdays at Faith Baptist Church in Athi River. The first Saturday we had 107 very wild natives. ;) Yesterday we had 81 in attendance, but 90% of them were new. They were very well behaved and in the end there were 10 saved. Praise the Lord!!!!

Well, last week I started language school. I am absolutely loving it! After all these years of coming here and being able to read but not understand, they are over!!!!! I can now read and know what I am reading. I can not explain the feeling it gives me and to know that I will soon be able to converse with the Kenyans in their own tongue. What joy and happiness is in my heart! :)

I get to come home on the weekends. So, tomorrow is back to school for me. I hope everything is going well for all of you. If there is ever anything I can pray about for you, let me know.

Pictures of VBS

First Day of Vacation Bible School

Bro. Jerry Novak teaching the Bible lessons

Mrs. Novak playing our songs for us

Our puppets Kevin and Kamal

More Pictures of VBS

Snack time for the Preschoolers

Game time

Each Child received a small color booklet that we made of the

Ten Commandments. They love to color!

Vacation Bible School

We had are first Vacation Bible School for the year. It was great! The theme was on the Ten Commandments. We had 48 in attendance the first day and that was with it raining. Usually here in Kenya if it is raining they will not leave their houses and walk anywhere. Surprising enough, the kids still came! The second day we had 63 in attendance. That day the rain didn’t come till after we had played our outdoor games. It was fun watching the kids play and cheer for their teammates.

Two of our young men at church willingly did our puppet skits each day. I do believe that was the highlight of VBS. Kevin and Kamal, our puppets were learning about the Ten Commandments along with the kids.

The top 10 kids that have the most points will get to go home with their own copy of a Ten Commandments poster that is in Swahili. Of course they received points for good behavior and singing, but they will also receive points for learning the memory verse Romans 8:20 and for memorizing all of the Ten Commandments. Because we assigned them all that memory work and the VBS was only two days we gave them an extra two Sundays to get it memorized and said to a teacher.

In those two days we had many new kids that do not go to Bible Baptist Church of Noonkopir. It will be exciting to see how many come back and continue coming back. The other exciting thing is even though none were saved at VBS, seeds were planted and some heard the Gospel for the first time!

The kids and I at the Kitengela Baptist Church
Our Lone Zebra!

Out to the bush we go!

This Sunday we went out into the bush again to a place called Kitengala. It wasn’t out as far as we went last month. Kitengela Baptist Church was the first church Bro. & Mrs. Novak started here in Kenya. We had a good service with a wonderful time of fellowship afterwards. Mrs. Novak and I also got a time scheduled to start training their Sunday school teachers. Right now they have one girl that teaches but she would like training in how to teach. There are also two other girls that would like to be teachers.

On the way home we saw some thompsons (one of the many types of dear that we have here in Kenya) and a lone zebra. We stopped to take a snap and he got spooked and started running. So with the zebra running it became a race between the zebra and the rover. We managed to get some snaps and to out run him only because he slowed down to look at us. =)

God is right there with you!

"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Psalm 139:9-10

Pictures

Four of our Sunday school boys quoting Psalm 136 in Church!

Driving the “1974 standard Land Rover with no power steering”.

Are you toasting or roasting?

It has been a scorcher of a week. Wither your inside or outside you feel like you are roasting, baking, or whatever you want to call it. =) The Lord gave us another wonderful Sunday service. Each Sunday we have new visitors. The church was finally able to put their sign up on the corner of the main road. That was a very exciting event for them!

I helped out today in the 3-5 year old Sunday school class. There were 19 of them and what a cute group they were. Since they don’t speak English at that age it has been great using the little Swahili I know on them. In Sunday school each month we have a different character quality that we learn about and we pick four Bible lessons to go with each of them. Last month the theme was Generosity and this month is Courage. Something I could use more of. =) I also got to join the church choir today. It will be good practice for my Swahili since they sing mostly in Swahili.

Well some of you know this and others don’t. I start driving lessons tomorrow, Monday. Since I have driven for the last ten years of my life it’s just a refresher course. Basically the course is for the benefit of learning to drive a standard transmission on the opposite side of the road with everything flip flopped in the car. Saturday I drove the Novak’s automatic car around the neighborhood and then switched over to driving the 1974 standard Land Rover with no power steering. =) Well, today I drove part of the way home in the one and same “1974 standard Land Rover with no power steering”. Mind you this time I was not in the neighborhood but out in the typical third world country traffic. Everything went great and I braked for the crazy drivers, the pedestrians, and the bicyclist, without stalling one time. I actually feel ready for my driving course to start tomorrow. =) Have a good night!

Romans 13:11-14 A portion God gave me in my Bible reading time this morning.

A verse God gave me for this time in my life

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26:3-4

The shipping container has cleared customs, but customs will not release it till they see my entry permit. It has been a month since I applied for my entry permit. Normally it takes up to three months for it to be approved. A few have gotten it in a months time. We are doing all we can to try to get them to process it much quicker. Please pray that my entry permit will be processed quickly and continue to pray for the shipping container as it sits in customs waiting for my entry permit.

The Latest in Style! ;)

Here are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago of the lastest in Sunday school buildings. It was built using a shipping container. It has provided several new classrooms so that we may split the Sunday school children up into groups, Youth, Juniors, Primaries, and Preschool.

Sunday News

We've been getting a lot of rain these last few weeks which is unusual for this time of year. This morning the sun was out and it was a beautiful day to go to Church and worship the Lord with my bothers and sisters in Christ. Because I was going to be helping in junior church I got to sit in on the adult Sunday school class. The lesson we heard was really good. It was on “Living in a World of Confusion”. Some of the scripture references that were used were James 3:16-18, Philippians 4:9, and 1 Corinthians 14:33. The Lord knew I needed to hear this message. What a blessing and comfort it was to my heart. There was another neat blessing this morning. Four of our junior boys got up in front of Church and quoted a portion of Psalm 136!

Junior church was packed out with kids. The teachers have been taking turns teaching a different color of the wordless book each Sunday. I had the joy, and I do mean joy, of listening to a boy say his entire Bible verse sheet today so that he could get his Swahili Bible. Any child or adult that wants a Swahili Bible receives a verse sheet of five Bible verse in Swahili. They must memorize them and then quote them in front of church or junior church and then they are presented with a Bible. We got to present two Swahili Bibles, one to the boy that quoted his verses today and then to another boy that said his verses last Sunday. We also got to hand out several English Bibles. I've been working on my Swahili verse sheet, but I only have two down and still three more to go. ;)

Monkey

Surprise of all surprises! The monkey showed back up, but in the Novak’s yard. Mrs. Novak went out to get her laundry of the line and “Tracie, come quick”! It was in the tree above her and had scared her really bad. Then of course we had to get our cameras and snap some pictures. =) Mind you, our typical laundry day doesn’t normally include monkeys.

Hallelujah!

The painting of the house is done. I have never been so tired of paint and painting. As soon as my container comes I can move in and then start on the next thing. Guess what that would be? That's right! Driving a standard on the opposite side of the road. =) I'm sure it will be interesting and I will have many stories to tell.

In the mean time, please pray for the container as it sits at the coast of Kenya waiting to be transferred and verified (opened up and checked). Pray that the container will be transferred and verified by the end of this week so that it can start on its way up here to Nairobi. The reason for the hurry, besides wanting to get moved in and settled, is that they are charging me for every day that it sits down there. Thank you for praying and I will let you know how things turn out. Have a blessed day!

More pictures of our Sunday out in the bush

The joys of Traffic

Today was shopping day! We pick one day and go into town and get all the things we need for the week. Well, on the way home we ended up in a traffic jam which lasted three hours. I'm not exaggerating, but very serious. The President of Kenya ws coming in from being in Ethiopia. Before we got to the area with the traffic jam we were trying to leave a round about and ended up having a guy on a bicycle run into the back of our car. He looked startled and rode off. We finally made it home by 8:00 and had supper by 9:00. Life can be so interesting here in Kenya.

First Sunday back in Kenya and in the middle of new friends!

The lady on the end is Ruth. She has become a very dear friend to me. The children are some of our Sunday school children here at Bible Baptist Church of Noonkopir.

Joe and the Novak's cat, Smokie

Monkey, monkey, look there’s. . . .

a monkey. I guess I should start at the beginning. Anybody dying of suspense? We, Bro. Novak, Joe, and I, went to my house today to finish up some of the repairs and painting. It should be done within the next two days. It's a beautiful house and a safe neighborhood to be living in. There is another single lady missionary living across the street from me and that is where all the excitement was taking place. As we were leaving to go back to the Novak's house people were gathering in the street and shouting, monkey, monkey, look there's a monkey! Sure enough there was a monkey sitting on Kathy's (the single lady missionary) roof. What an exciting end to a wonderful day! I just wish I had had my camera with me.

I guess I should also tell you who Joe is. He is the son of the assistant national pastor of Bible Baptist Church of Noonkopir. I think he is 21 or 22 yrs. old. He has been helping me for the last two and a half weeks with painting my house.

Carjacking

Some of you may have heard about the carjacking that took place here in Kenya a couple of days ago. There were four people in the car, but only two were shot dead. Two American ladies. We were told one lady was staff at the American Embassy and the other was the daughter of a staff person at the Embassy. Through this sad happening I learned not to hesitate when a carjacker tells you to do something. Just do it imediately. Pray for the families of these two ladies.

Traveling to Church in the Bush. . .

yesterday was quite an experience. An experience everyone should have at least once in their life time. The travel time was two hours one way. This was a church that the Novaks started years ago and is now being pastored by a trained national pastor.

We got there in time for the church service. During the song service they ask the visitors for testimonies, so of course being a visitor I got to share my testimony. I always enjoy sharing my testimony and one of these days I won't need a translator. Bro. Novak preached in Swahili and as always I sat there with my English Bible, Swahili Bible, and my Swahili/English dictionary. At the end of the service we were served a wonderful lunch that the ladies had prepared. Of course we didn't eat the meat cause the Rift Valley Fever has infected that area now. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and I got to meet some of the maasai women and took some pics with them. The church there as just started a school for preschool all the way to standard 2 (2nd grade). We had a super enjoyable time giving some school stuff to the children and their teacher. On the way there and back we saw all kinds of animals, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, gazelle, impala, and many others.