Faith Presbyterian Church

The cliche that “there is no place like home” holds true no matter how amazing a trip away has been. Kenya was as beautiful as ever. Most people forget that July is the winter month in Kenya and that Nairobi and the Ngong Hills are close to 6,000 ft. This translates into temperatures in the low to mid 50’s at night and high’s during the day in the high 50’s and low 60’s. None of the churches in the Kikuyu Presbytery have HVC and most are open structures - they are cold even in the daytime. Three wool blankets at night help and getting up before the sun is a chilling experience.  We didn’t see the sun for the first five days and then things cleared and we experience wonderful days of beautiful clouds and bright sun.

During the first days of acclamation, we visited with friends and staff of the hostel where we stayed and visited the Renguti School where we distibuted school supplies and books. We also had some cash gifts that we were able to present in the graded classrooms for which the money had been collected. In a brief little ceremony in the classes we presented the gifts to the children and then the children gave the money to the treasurer of the church that runs the school. Songs of welcome and greeting were sung and conversations with teacher had and relationship renewed and some begun. The joy of the children and staff was palpable and the presence of God tangible.

We spent one day going to the Kizuri Beads factory to see the great work being done to provide jobs for single mothers so that they can support their children and provide money to pay for their school fees. We also had a chance to purchase items that the women created. We also went to the Jaraffe Preserve to see and feed several very hungry animals.

The bulk of our time was spent putting the walls on the new sanctuary and painting the doors, window frames and touching up any scatches or damage  of the Nachu Congregation. We were able to work with members of the church and Presbytery as well as taking along about 8 boys from the Karai School for Boys. The boys were orphans who had been moved to the new school from the north central part of Kenya where their other school had been burned down during the violence following the Kenya elections almost two years ago. It was a great joy to work with these boys and to be a positive part of their experience.

After finishing our work we were able to visit another outlying church at Gatune and then visit the Kibira slum which is the largest in Kenya with over 1 million people. We visited a church and vocational school that is being build after the violence that burned down the church and pastor’s home. Much work is being done to make positive strides in this devistated area. We have been inspired to engage and interact with these project and will hopefully participate in future trips to assist in their ongoing operation and success.

We dedicate the new sanctuary on Sunday, July 12. During a worship service that lasted 2 1/2 hours, followed by a wonderful meal and the symbolic planting of trees, our task was officially over. We were sad to say goodbye to our Kenya friends and yet overjoyed that we were able to work together to assist them in building their new sanctuary. We discovered once again the powerful blessing of being in the midst of a people that praise God with great joy and abandon and live a life of faith that speak of a richness that is gained through relationships and not through material possessions. We look forward to keeping our mutual prayers going and experience they joy of knowing every day that our Kenyan brothers and sisters are praying for us even as we pray for them.

Shalom - Chris

Next up will be a vision for our future involvement in Kenya.

Our trip to Kenya has begun with a fly by to Madrid to visit our son Tyler and his wife Julie who are missionaries in Madrid with Mission to the World. We also had to come by and see our oldest granddaughter Ellia Ann - she was born October 7 last year. Needless to say we have been enchanted by her and we were able to take over the parenting job for a couple of day so that our kids could take their first (hopefully of many) little trips to remind themselves that they are in love. They are here with a team of six from the US to help build relationships with native Spaniards who might be willing to help start churches in their own communities. Tough task given the history of the Roman Catholic Church and the ties to politacal realities. They are amazing at what they do. Martha and I managed, in spite of being sick to make the trip to Madrid easily and have had a chance to “get better” while here. Trying to pack for Madrid - mid to upper 90s and for Kenya - in the middle of their winter and in the 50s has been a trick. Plus getting the 15 paintbuckets and the lap top in the suitcases was a task I wouldn’t want to repeat, but it all fit and came in under the max weight allowed. We will certainly enjoy the lightened load coming home in the middle of July. We have managed to get out a couple of times a day for walks aroung central Madrid and to take the kids out for an anniversary dinner (June 19, 2004) at a great little place just a couple of blocks from their appartment. They have no car so we use our feet and the wonderful mass transit to get pretty much everywhere. We have to admit that we have walked ALOT!! We will be visiting Segovia before we leave EARLY Friday morning. We will fly to London and then catch a flight to Nairobi arriving at about 9:00pm. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn in Nairobi for the night and then going back to the airport to join Mary Margaret Allen and Paula Carmack who arrive early on July 4. The access to the internet is VERY limited in Kikuyu, but I will try to post something once we get our act together at the Kikuyu Rehab Hospital Hostel where we all will be staying. Our plan is to spend Sunday July 5 at one of the six congregations in the Njumbi (pronounced Jubie) parish, probably Ruthigiti and then visit some of the other congregation’s weekday meetings on Monday and Tuesday. We will pick up Joe Huffaker on Tuesday morning and then on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday join members of the Nachu (pronounced Nashu) congregation to erect their new 300 seat santuary made from steel framing for the sturctural support including door and window frames. The framing will be done before we arrive, by a team that works in Kenya called the Outreach Foundation. We will be adding the walls and roof using a material they call mabati which is a treated metal sheeting that does not weather or corrode. Once this is done then we will be painting the whole thing. The team from the Outreach Foundation says that with our five people and the local congregants that it is a three day job - boy I hope so as we are scheduled to dedicate the new sanctuary on Sunday, July 12 - should be quite a celebration. I will speak more about the Nachu Congregation on my next posting. Please keep us in your prayer and those who will be traveling to join us. Faith Presbyterian Church has worked very hard to make this a reality and it is only with God’s help that a small church like ours has the opportunity to do something as amazing as this. God’s blessings abound for all!!!

Shalom,

Pastor Chris

Just a quick note to update everyone about the trip to Kenya. Martha and I will be arriving in Kenya on Friday night, July 3 (after spending 10 days with our son, daughter in law and our granddaughter Ellia in Madrid) and spending the night in a local hotel and then meeting others from our church to go to the Njumbi Parish where we will be working with the Nachu congregation to build a new sanctuary. This is the culmination of a two year relationship with this particular congregation. The church is about an hour drive outside of Kikuyu Town near the rift valley - basically out in the middle of nowhere. We would covet your prayers for this trip as many unknowns have arisen. The pastor that we have been working with over the past two years was transfered on May 1st and we have not been able to contact the new pastor. Our trust is in God who will walk each step with us and make sure that we accomplish what is needed for the  wonderful people of the congregation. I will be trying to keep up to date with what is transpiring in Kenya as we work with our friends there. Please pray that we can be God’s servants in all things while we are there.

Shalom,

Chris

This is Pastor Chris - I am learning how to use this software and will be updating my blog soon. Sooner than later I hope!!

Shalom,

Chris