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The second half of our time in Kenya was spent working with an orphanage called Springs of Hope and running a Vacation Bible School type kids camp.  The orphanage is a smaller one with only about 30 children.  Although it is a small number compared to many of the places we had been to previously. The children in this particular orphanage were babies so it was a bit different.  It was overwhelming to see how much work is involved in taking care of so many small children.  We bathed babies, washed clothes (by hand), changed bedding, and cleaned inside and out.  It was good to spend time with the kids, but it was hard knowing that these children along with so many other children all over the world lived in such rough conditions.

For four days we held a day camp for kids in a nearby town.  On the first day we had around 80 children and then every day after that our numbers were over 100 kids.  It was stretching for our team to say the least.  The children definitely would push the boundaries of our discipline.  Each day we talked on a specific aspect of God – Creator, Father, Savior and Friend.  We also had activities each day to relate to the messege such as the day over God as the Creator we made play dough and had the kids create whatever they wanted.  It was the first ‘organized’ event we had been a part of since all of Africa.  So often in Africa we had no idea what to expect for the day, but during the camp we had split into groups and organized what each day would look like.  It was nice to have a plan and over all the camp ran so smoothly.  It was nice to be able to do a new form of ministry where we were able to see the same children for 4 days in a row.  We were able to form relationships with many of the children and plant tons of seed.

Our views about church were again challenged in Kenya.  Sometimes it was hard sitting through hours upon hours of ‘church’ that was really just protocol for the service.  So many things in the churchs that we attended seems like just fillers of time.  The concept that a long service is a good service” was hard for some of us to take.  It was evident that those people loved God with everything they had and that they wanted nothing more than to be ‘good Christians’ so it was tough trying to decide on how we felt about the experience.

We were all very sad to leave Kenya.  We had formed such close friendships with the Kenya Y team.  There were many tears on the eve of our departure.  We will forever remember our time in Kenya and the inspiration and encouragement we received there.

Being in Kenya was such a breath of fresh air. When we arrived at the Y base we were exhausted from our journey so we were given so much grace and a day to catch up on our rest. It was great to be around people with the same vision as our group, “to know God and to make Him known.” Not only did they share our heart, but they also shared many of the experiences that we had been through in the past four months.

Our first three days were spent helping around on the grounds. It was so cool to see how other bases are ran around the world especially in places such as in Africa. We cleared paths, cleaned toilets (African toilets), and helped out in the kitchen preparing meals. Those days were definitely gifts from God because in the evenings we had free time to be able to let our minds begin to process the first half of outreach. After that time of much needed reflection and work with our hands we started back into ministry time.

We spent one day in a small village splitting up into groups and going door to door. In Uganda we had had some difficult experiences with this type of evangelism, but this time it went so well and the whole team was encouraged by what was accomplished. Almost everyone we met was either a Catholic or Protestant. It was so nice to be able to sit down with fellow believers and encourage them in their faith. We were able to pray for families, lost loved ones, and for healing. That evening we gathered in one of the local churches to hold a seminar. We used that opportunity to sit down with the youth in the village and talk to them about the struggles they face being a teenager. Our team stepped outside of our normal approach to the youth and it ended up being such a God orchestrated night. The teens really opened up to us and shared their struggles and fears with us. It was great to be able to respond directly to their needs rather than just coming in and assuming to know what they needed. The next morning we held the Sunday service at the same church. It was really the first time that we had the opportunity to follow up on the relationships that we had been able to build. So often in Uganda we would visit schools and only have a couple of hours with them. The service was a typical African service which means that we arrived at around 9 and we didn’t finish until lunchtime which was around 1. During lunch we also had another chance to fellowship with the people of the village.

Jessica and Cheryl with their team

Speaking with the Youth

Monday was our day off. We attempted to go to an elephant orphanage, but when we arrived we found that they are only open to visitors from 11 to 12 and it was about 5 minutes after 12. We were extremely bummed, but Jess just spoke out that God must have something else in store for us. We ended up getting to go see animals at the Nairobi National Park. It was pretty much just a zoo, but God had a special treat waiting for us there. We were about a ¾ of the way through the park when we saw that the lion with his trainer. After talking to the man for a bit we asked if there were any baby lion cubs. He said yes but they were put up. Of course we asked him if there was any way we could see them. He left to find out and then he came back and told us to follow him. We were led back past the employees only gate to this little shed. As soon as we walked in Bethany was handed a baby lion cub! Each one of us got to hold the cub as we were told to hurry up and take pictures. It was very apparent that what we were getting to do was way outside of the park rules. After everyone had a chance to hold the cub one of the guys grabbed the cub and ran it back to where it was suppose to be. It was such a super secret mission and that was part of what made it so fun and exciting. We also had a chance to go into Nairobi and have some french fries and a coke which is always a treat. Cities in Africa are always stressful and hectic but all in all it was a good day off.

Surprise!!!

Simba!

Cuddle!

One other gift from God that we received was the first few days we were at the base we had the chance to go on mini safari walks where we were able to see gazelle, impalas, zebras, wildebeest at one time we saw a herd of 24 giraffe! God is so good to us!

Giraffe - Mini Safari

Before we left for outreach we had pictured the bus ride to Kenya as being the biggest hurdle.  It was a stretch, but God never puts more on you than you can handle.  After getting to the base in Kenya we realized that the biggest hurdle hadn’t been the bus ride alone, but it had been the past three weeks in Uganda.  We had gone into some dark places.  2 Corinthians 10:3-4 says that, “though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war in the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.”  Although we had gotten physical rest that was much needed, we had been through a spiritual battle.  It was as though our team was weak from battle.  We were drained spiritually and emotionally.  But God knew that.  He knew just what we needed.  It had seemed to us that our holiday was over and that resting time was over and it was time to jump back into battle.  But God is FAITHFUL!!! What we didn’t know was that He had brought us into our next place of rest… rest for our spirit. 

TO BE CONTINUED… TOO MANY STORIES…NOT ENOUGH INTERNET TIME…

Many of you know that Jessica has had a food allergy that prevents her from eating anything with gluten in it.  This includes all types of breads, cereals, crackers, and anything with flour in it.  It causes her to have severe lethargy, dizziness and headaches.  This has been a struggle for her for the past year and specifically during outreach because our food selection is sometimes unavoidable and it is hard for her to get the proper nutrition that she needs.  And just on a personal level she had been unable to eat those really enjoyable and tasty things. 

When we came to Kenya it really started to become a problem because so much of our diet came from bread.  One night Jessica really felt led to ask a staff member Rosemary to pray with her.  We were scheduled to have a team meeting when Jessica came in and asked for a huge handful of muesli.  She told us that she and Rosemary had had a great time of prayer and that she was believing in faith that she was healed!  We rejoiced with her and proclaimed healing in Jesus name.   She went to bed with no symptoms.

The next few days she slowly introduced gluten back into her diet with no negative effects!  It only took a day or two for her to completely silence the enemy’s lies that maybe the symptoms might reappear.  While visiting a church one afternoon Jessica and Cheryl were sitting together when Jessica felt that she should yell out “I AM HEALED!!!”  After a few moments of processing what that was going to look like she yelled it at the top of her lungs and began crying a giving praise to God!  Meanwhile one of the church members came over in bewilderment and Cheryl looked at him and proclaimed “SHE”S HEALED!” Afterwards Cheryl told her that she felt like Satan was whispering doubt into her ear, and when she yelled out  it was as if the power of her words drop kicked him across the fields and over the mountain. That was August 8^th and she hasn’t had one symptom since. 

WE WANT TO THANK GOD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS, FOR TAKING THE STRIPES ACROSS HIS BACK THAT WE COULD BE HEALED.  HE COULD HAVE STOPPED THEM, BUT HE BORE OUR PAIN SO THAT WE WOULDN’T HAVE TO.  HE IS SUCH A GOOD GOD AND SO WORTHY TO BE PRAISED.  REJOICE WITH US AND GIVE HIME PRAISE TODAY FOR HIS AWESOME WONDERS!!!

God is so faithful!  Coming out of the ministry time in Uganda our team was in need of some restoration.  We had been going strong for 18 days and we had begun to feel the effects.  Everyone had recovered from the bout of sickness, but we needed some rest.  Thankfully we had a few days in the city of Kampala for a mid-outreach holiday.  We stayed at a guesthouse that had nice beds and our showers and toilets were in our rooms which was a luxury in itself.  The first thing we did was find a place to do our laundry since everything smelt like the fishiness of Lambu.  We also found an amazing restaurant where we were able to get a 3 course meal, including a steak filet, for 9,900 Ugandan Shilling which is equal to around 6 USD.  We got to use the internet, do a bit of craft market shopping, saw the new Batman movie and of course slept in.  The city was quite chaotic, somewhat like downtown New York without traffic lights.  We all got to experience riding on the motorcycle taxis called boda-bodas.  There are probably at least a thousand of them within the city and they zoom in and out of the “normal” traffic which isn’t normal at all.  At one point Bethany was on a boda that got rear ended by another taxi, this is a normal event being that traffic is in the most literal sense “bumper to bumper.”   With that said one thing we observed was that there wasn’t any road rage, this was hard to believe with the craziness that went on in the streets.  All in all it was a break that was needed before we made the long journey from Uganda to Kenya.

God knows what we need when we need it and how much we can take way more than we do.  The team all agrees that God let us be in Lambu a certain amount of time, and just when we thought that we would be stuck there forever… our taxi showed up.  Then we all were so happy to be on holiday, but everything we owned smelled like fish.  God provided a laundry place where we could leave our clothes and have them washed for nearly nothing.  Bam! – Clean clothes!  Thank you Jesus!  So we knew that God would be faithful in bringing us to our next destination.  We also knew that it was going to take 14 hrs on a bus to get there…  The bus that was suppose to leave at 1 o’clock to take us to Kenya had a mechanical problem, so another bus was sent around 2 to pick us up.  This bus was a bit less in quality.  It was only suppose to take us about 3 hrs to reach the Keya border but we had to stop twice due to the bus running out of gas and a minor part malfunction. We arrived at the border at 7.  A bigger bus was supposed to be waiting for us when we got there, but it wasn’t so we all piled back into the small cold bus and proceeded on.  We were often stopped and woken up randomly by large men with large guns asking to see our passports.  Everyone was about to give up on the bigger nicer bus when around midnight we pulled over and found the bigger nicer bus waiting for us!  Thank you Jesus!  Just in time!  After a crazy bumpy night we arrived in Nairobi at 8 am, four hours later than scheduled.  There is a phrase we have learned since being in Africa for over a month… TIA (This Is Africa)… and we love it!

After leaving Pastor Timothy’s we met up with our next contact.   Brent and Virginia Earwicker are a young couple in their 20’s who have been working with the islands of Lake Victoria for the past 2 years. We were able to stay at their house one night in Entebbe before heading out to the islands the next morning. Out first stop on the lake was Busse Island where we set up tents at Osanidde orphanage. There are 160 children at the orphanage and every one of them is amazing. These children get up every morning at 5:30am to do their own chapel service of worship and prayer. It was such an encouragement seeing these kids so full of God’s love. From there we would travel during the day out to other surrounding islands to preach and teach. We also were able to preach Sundays at the churches on Busse Island as well.

After a week spent at Osanidde we packed up and spent a day and night traveling to another main island called Lambu. Our experience at Lambu was much different than the week before. After hours and hours of ferries and sardine style packed taxis we arrived to the place we would be staying. It’s hard to describe what we found but here it goes… millions of minnow sized silverfish where caught every morning and then scattered on nets all along the shore. The smell was probable one of the most unpleasant smells you could think of and it was everywhere. Our ministry at Lambu was so diverse. We did door to door evangelism, shared with many schools, had church conferences and we also had 3 open air evangelism nights. Over all we were able to share the Word of God with so many people while we were there. Also while we were there we had a bit of sickness. It must have been something in the food because in one day all but one of our teammates were throwing up or having major stomach issues. Despite being in the worst place possible to be sick the team pulled through in a couple of days.

The people of Uganda are so eager and willing to receive salvation. Just with one on one evangelism about 20 people committed their lives to Jesus Christ, and many more came to know Him during the open air nights as well as at the schools. We found that there is such a great need for discipleship.

Our experience in Uganda has been so beneficial. We were able to see Western missionaries in the field and work alongside them and their ministry. We were stretched in our views of how we approach evangelism and one on one witnessing. And we learned to persevere and overcome some really tough situations. God has been so faithful to our team, anytime we have stepped out; He has been there to meet us more than halfway. We are definitely learning to trust in Him and to not lean on our own understanding.

We apologize for the lack of pictures. The computers we have access to are to the best and when the plug anything into them it makes it almost impossible to use. So below are a few links to some pics that were able to be uploaded.

We love you all and thank you so much for your prayer and support! Much love and many blessings! - The Africa Team

www.mattsdomain.blogspot.com

We arrived in Uganda safe and sound with all of our luggage in tow.  Pastor Timothy was there waiting to take us to his home.  We all piled into a van with all our bags and had our first “African” bus ride.  After traveling about an hour Pastor Timothy said that the next 45 min would be quite bumpy… and he wasn’t joking.  Some of us actually hit our head on the ceiling of the van!  Although we were all really tired, we laughed the whole way there.  We arrived at about 10:30pm and received a very warm welcome from Pastor Timothy and his wife Jennifer.  Jennifer had prepared dinner for us so the first thing we did was eat.  We found out soon that we were so blessed that Jennifer was such a good cook.  Her authentic cooking as was of the highlights of our time with Pastor Timothy.  After the long bus ride and dinner we all had our first encounter with a real “African” toilet… This consisted of  small square hole  on a cement floor… thank you Jesus! (in a Mark Parker accent) It took some (a lot) of getting used to, but we managed.  After a long day it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep, which was great because the day ahead were packed full of stuff to do.

Our first full day of being in Uganda was full on.  Pastor Timothy coordinates with a boarding school/orphanage in his village of Katosi.  We began the day by breaking into groups and going into the classes getting to know the children.  After going back to Pastor Timothy’s house for lunch we went back into the classes to do a bit of teaching.  Later in the evening we had a youth night where we did our skit while Jessica played the drum since there wasn’t a way to play the song.  Bethany and Rochelle shared their testimonies and Dortje gave a message to tie it all together.  It was really a time to step out in faith as we had not officially prepared anything throughout the day.  God completely met us more than halfway and everything went so well.   The team all came together and worked so well with one another.  All together is was an exhuasting day, but we had a great time being pushed beyond our comfort zone.

The next two days looked a lot like the first day.  We were able to go to a nearby fishing village where we went got to evangelize to everyone there.  There were several encouraging opportunities.  There was one lady who said that she had know God at one time, but felt that she had gone away from Him.  It was great to share with her that God is like a father and no matter what we do He never stops loving us and He is so happy when we come back to Him.  After praying with her and telling her that if she had asked God to forgive her that she was forgiven a huge smile formed on her face.  It was a great moment to see someone be able to feel the love of God again. 

By the end of our time with Pastor Timothy and his family we were completely wiped out.  God had blessed us with so many opportunities to share about His love.    Jonathan had a chance to help lead someone to the Lord and there were a few other people who made the decision to dedicate their lives to Jesus.  It was hard to leave the people, but we know that there is much more to do.  We thank God for how blessed we felt while we were there and thank God for Pastor Timothy and for allowing us to come and serve. 

God Bless – Team Africa

Tonight is our last night in South Africa. We have had a great time here and have made some great friendships. For those of us who got the chance to work in the crèche (nursery), our hearts were stolen by the little ones. Everyone had a chance to work with the site team and we all made real connections with the people we were working alongside with. We will never forget chopping down bamboo with machetes or building the brick and tire walls. The children were on holiday so we were able to spend a couple days just hanging out and playing games with them. Bethany started a game of capture the flag that ended in an all out boy verses girl war. It was great to be able to spend one on one time with the kids.

Friday night we had another youth night. We started off the night with a few games, one where we split up into groups and had to act out stories from the Bible. The youth had a fun time performing on the stage, it was a great way for the kids to be expressive and it was great to see them stepping out and performing. Diane gave her testimony as well as Sarah, the team leader from the UK group. Diane did a great job. After the testimonies Cheryl and Dortje did a skit about the woman who had lost her coin. At the end of the night we split up into small groups to have a discussion time. We were surprised at how the kids had paid attention to the testimonies and the drama and were able to discuss what had stood out and what they had learned. We found that we were faced with many hard questions from the youth and were led by God as to how to answer them. Jonathan was the MC and did an awesome job of leading the night. It was great to see everything come together as we had planned and we all had a great time.

After a long week we had the opportunity to go on a hike with Josie’s brother Wayne. We went to Mountain Park Sanctuary were we spent the whole day hiking and climbing through a gorge. We also were able to do a bit of abseiling. For most of us it was the first time. Although it was quite scary leaning back and “trusting the rope” it was also very rewarding when your feet finally hit the ground. We all agreed that we were able to see a part of Africa that we didn’t even know existed. The landscape was beautiful with amazing rock formations and pools of crystal clear water. We were so blessed to be able to experience such a great day – thanks Wayne and Nick!!! This morning we went to The Barn and the Refilwe church for the last time…tear. Today was spent packing and washing clothes.  Also, Cheryl got her hair braided and it looks pretty sweet!  She said it was really painful, but worth it.  This evening we cooked a huge three coarse meal and had a few of the workers over for dinner. Phineas, Piet, and Isaac are young men who are long term workers here. It was great to spend time with them talking and sharing stories of encouragement with one another. We are going to miss everyone here and we will forever have wonderful memories of our time here. Uganda here we come!!!

God Bless – Team Africa

Hey everyone!

Well, we’ve been here in South Africa for a little over a week now. After 24 hours of travel time, we made it to Refilwe exhausted, but safe and sound. Thankfully we arrived in the evening and were able to head to bed. We didn’t have too much time to recover from jet leg, (we are all just finished recovering now, a week later!), as the next day they had has working hard mixing concrete by hand! Luckily it was a Friday, so it was a short day, and we had the weekend to recover our sore muscles and jet leg! We, over the week have experienced the massive gap between the 1^st world, and 3^rd world. Saturday we spent a good portion of the day at the mall getting some essentials and groceries, and even enjoying a movie together as a team. Sunday we enjoyed 2 church services; one at “The Barn” which was pretty western feeling, and the second here at Refilwe, which was truly African. Monday through Friday, we split off into separate teams to serve in various ways. One main way we’ve been serving here is on the “site” team. This consists of all the construction, and grounds keeping jobs, everything from mixing concrete, to digging up roots, to building brick walls. Also, we’ve been working in the nursery. Every day there is about 15 kids under the age of 2. They are a joy to be with, and most definitely rambunctious. Finally a few of us had the opportunity to visit the informal settlements. It was definitely a heartbreaking experience to see how people live with next to nothing. Apart from these 3 formal ways to serve, we are enjoying building relationships with the people living around us. We even had an opportunity to spend an evening in prayer and worship with 2 other teams who are here to serve. We also took part in a youth service Friday night where we were able to minister through drama. After putting in a week worth of hard work Wayne (Josie’s brother) blessed us with an evening at his place after a day shopping and experiencing an African market. We were so incredibly thankful to be able to relax fully. It was truly a blessing for him and his family to take us in and make us feel so welcomed.

This past Sunday morning, God proved himself amazingly faithful once again, as an amazing financial gift was given to some members of our team at church this morning. Throughout the week we had many times where God provided for us and protected us in amazing ways. Bethany got a stick in the eye during work one day and had to visit the hospital to make sure there was no internal bleeding or scratches on her eye… thankfully God’s hand of protection was on her and her eye is completely fine. Also, a couple of us have been pretty sick, one involving another trip to the hospital. Thankfully Dortje did not have to stay overnight but was ordered 3 days rest; it was only a viral and a bit of bacterial infection in her system. She is recovering well, thank you for your prayers. God is so good. Jessica also had an amazing God orchestrated visit with her brother in Johannesburg. That was incredible blessing not only for her but for the whole team. It has been awesome to see God move in many ways.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Love – The Africa team! Matt, Jessica, Jonathan, Rochelle, Dortje, Bethany, Diane, and Cheryl.

Well, after an intense 3 months of life change and preperation, we are finally ready to head off to AFRICA! There is a huge amount of excitement and anticipation in the air as we wait for our final evening to come to an end. We are heading off bright and early to our first destination, South Africa!

This will be an exhuasting and challenging time as we transition from New Zealand to Africa, please keep our team in your prayers as we travel.

Our hope for this blog is to update it at the end of every destination to share stories and prayer requests! We also look forward to hearing feedback from you!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Love,

Team Africa!