Never the Same

Never the same...that could be the description of our days in Kenya.  However, it is intended here to describe the lives and hearts of Chuck, Liz, and Lynne.  We will never be the same.  What we saw and experienced in Kenya has changed us at a very deep level.  And although we are glad to be home, we will miss the people of Kenya and their precious and deep faith, and their indomitable joy.

Let us catch you up on the events of this past week.  We last left you in Kitale on Monday.  On Tuesday morning, we loaded into a car for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Kisumu over some pretty bad roads.  The guys, Rick and Chuck, both have knee issues, so these crowded rides were a challenge as their knees got much closer to their faces than was comfortable!  But never a word of complaint.  We arrived in Kisumu early enough in the day that we got to go out on a "boat" (with one young man on board simply to bail out the water that you could see leaking in from many parts of said boat) on Lake Victoria and watch the hippos!!!  We were so thankful for this experience and the cool breeze on the lake.

Then that evening, as is SO customary, Pastor Apollos, who arranged the Roman's Project Conference in Kisumu, had another Kenyan brother drive us all out to his home for dinner.  Sounds pretty simple.  NOT.  The brother, Pastor Jonathan, who drove us there had a car similar to a Corolla, and the road to Apollos home was FAR away and on one of the worst roads, really just a foot path for the last couple of miles, NOT designed for a small car.  We eventually made it there, had a wonderful dinner and time of fellowship in the pastors mud house, and then headed back to the hotel after dark.  We almost immediately took a wrong turn and ended up on a "mouse trail" as Jonathan put it, totally lost.  In the dark.  In a very foreign place.  Trust me, we had been praying, but now the prayers ascended to heaven in a more rapid form!  After a very dicey back-up and turn around in the bush, on the word of a very young Kenyan along the trail, we headed back and eventually made it out of the bush and back onto the road!  One more adventure goes into the book!

Then Wednesday arrived with the Roman's Project Pastor's Conference.  It was so great to see these pastors coming from near and far to take in this teaching (done by both Rick and Chuck, while Liz and Lynne handled registration and checking their RP workbooks) and to hear their testimonies of how reading through Romans 20 times and then handwriting it had impacted them with some amazing insights and depth in their Christian experience.  Nearly 80 pastors showed up, with another 70 that had signed up but had not yet finished the project so they seem to have felt that they weren't supposed to go.  On faith, Rick left the MP3 players for them with Apollos to give them when they DID finish so that the work will continue.  How helpful and impactful this must be for those pastors, to receive not only the teaching of that day but 500 hours, 800 sermons covering almost every book of the bible!  This is truly the gift that keeps on giving, eternally!

Thursday morning, we again stuffed ourselves into a vehicle for the 7 hour drive to Nairobi.  It was wonderful to see the Rift Valley as we drove, then about 30 baboons right on the road - got some great pictures, and to make it to Nairobi before our muscles and joints totally rebelled.  Every drive is an education in the lives of Kenyans and a view into how differently 80% of the world lives than we do in the U.S.  Humbling and eye-opening.  As we reached Nairobi, traffic ground to a halt.  Picture a city of 4 million with no traffic lights, just some traffic circles that are quite the challenge.  The wealthiest of Kenyans live here in plush homes, mostly paid for by corruption, SO hard to see, so little of the funds intended for the rest of Kenya just don't make it there.  And then a few blocks from the wealthy homes are some of the largest slums, like Kibera and Kawangware.  How do you steal from the people and then watch them die in the streets?  Next door?  May God bring conviction to those causing harm and healing to this land.

In the midst of this enormous city is an oasis, the Mayfield Guest House, associated with AIM.  What a privilege and thrill to spend hours sitting in the "lobby" and talk to all the teams as they come in off the field and hear their stories of what God is doing.  He is calling many to minister to the needs of Kenya, so encouraging!  Connections were made, God's timing always perfect, nice rooms, western food, and rest for the weary!

On Friday, we headed out from the guest house for a busy day that began with a good-bye to the Uzima children and adults.  What a precious time visiting with the ex-addicts and street women and hear their testimonies, and love on the children who feel SO loved just by being part of Uzima and loved on daily by the staff.  It was also a privilege and JOY to present to Uzima the offering given to Lynne by the members of King Jesus Faith Ministry in Webuye.  We also have good news - they found a new home for the children, a rental much better than where they are currently, but we pray still a temporary place as we are praying for funds to build them a home of their own.  God had STRETCHED our funds we had brought into the country so much that our team was able to leave with them enough money to pay for their first 2 months rent - PRAISE GOD!  It was hard to say goodbye, but so thankful for the time we had with our brothers and sisters there.

That afternoon, we made about a 45 minute foray into a local market similar to our Saturday market to buy goodies for friends back home.  We did not stay long due to recent bombings and terror threats in Nairobi.  What a different world, to have soldiers with machine guns at the entry to most places, checking every person.  Small wonder our brothers and sisters there so often say "if I am still here next year..." - they have a rather deep grasp on the fact that this is not our home, we are just passing through.  After the brief shopping trip, we got to go to the crusade that was in our initial plans for this trip.  They had been meeting in this huge tent every night that week.  We enjoyed some amazing worship and then took in the message.  Back at the guest house that night, as is Rick's VERY VALUABLE custom, we had a great debriefing, lots of discussion about making sure what you do in missions is sensitive to the culture and keeping in context with their lives.  A great learning experience.

Then our final day in Kenya.  In the morning, we took in the Nairobi Game Park, right in the middle of town, except it is well over 1000 acres!  The first hour, all we saw were 3 giraffes, but then we got deep enough into the park and the animals were EVERYWHERE - large herds of hartebeest, impala, gazelles, elands, then a huge herd of water buffalo crossing the road in front of us - got to listen to the sounds and get VERY up close and personal, then some amazing birds, and finished off on the way out of the park by seeing a HUGE rhino!  A once in a lifetime experience for Chuck, Liz, and Lynne.  From there, back to the guest house, Lynne gave the guys haircuts (a worker there stared in amazement the whole time - he'd never seen a mzungu get their hair cut before, had Lynne teach him how so he could to this as a business and blessing for those who come into the guest house.  Heaven help his first customer), then off to the airport.  No upgrades to business class this time, but it really was not bad at all - Emirates Air is the way to fly to Kenya!  The most challenging parts were the 3 to 5 hour layovers in Nairobi, Dubai, and Seattle - so crowded and hot.  But we landed safely Sunday night to warm greetings from family, came home and SLEPT.

I'm sure as we recover our strength and have more time to compose our thoughts, we will do another entry as to specific lessons learned from all three of us.  Just know for now that we deeply appreciated your prayer for us - God carried us through with strength and health.  We so enjoyed getting to know each other on a very deep level - the masks truly came off and we know that we will be friends for life.  And we have been forever changed by the faith of our brothers and sisters in Kenya.  We truly will never be the same, and for that, we thank our Mighty God.

Keeping up with the Calenberg

And you thought keeping up with the Kardashians was "entertaining"!  Rick Calenberg is one man on the move,with an incredible vision and passion that is quite catching!  I'm not sure he's ever had a geriatric team before, but so far, we're keeping up...for the most part. So sorry for the delay in updating the blog but we have been on a dead run.  Let's see if we can catch you up.

Friday (I have no idea what day that was, have lost all contact with that world!), the team all came together as Rick, Liz, and Chuck flew in to Eldoret, where Lynne, Andrea and Jonathan picked them up.  We then drove to Kitale and checked into our accomodations at the ICM Seminary where Rick taught 6 years ago.  Nice clean cottage with electricity most of the time.  We have been cooking our own meals here, which has been an adventure, but very thankful for a safe, clean place to stay.

And VERY thankful to have Jonathan and Andrea added to our team for Friday through Sunday.  Their understanding of the culture and grasp of Kiswahili (it is rather amazing how much Andrea has learned in just 4 1/2 months - must be those Worcester genes) proved invaluable.  It was difficult to see them go Sunday afternoon (especially for the momma - picture swollen eyes here), but before they left, they added some incredible insights and observations. If you're reading this, THANK YOU, A & J, and God bless you abundantly.

Our first stop Friday late afternoon was to see Elizabeth and the chidren.  What an amazing thing this servant of God is doing.  The children, 20 in all, are so happy, well fed, and totally cared for.  We just could not get enough of them, so we went there 3 times!!!  We played games with them, just cuddled, swung them around by the arms, blew bubbles with them, Chuck played the flute for them which delighted them to no end...in short, we had an incredible time just loving on the children and being loved in return.  They also sang us some songs and shared their scripture memory verses. 

Elizabeth now has a team of volunteers who help her with the cooking and washing, and a wonderful woman, Lucy, who is a pastor and also finishing up her education degree, who teaches the children and just is a double Elizabeth.  Also Alfred, who worked in a children's home for years and is now retired.  Truly, the children were well cared for and so very happy, even though maybe 10 or 12 sleep in one room on mats on the floor.  The standard of living is so very different, but the joy of the Lord is present abundantly.

Then on Saturday, after a morning visit to Elizabeth and the children, we went to see Pastor David Mutei and his children at TanJed Orphanage.  The Omega class heard from a young man named Elias who founded Certain Truth Ministries, an organization that has helped to build a school and home for the children.  It was a blessing to see what they are doing, and again, the sacrificial love of these precious servants of the Lord. 

From there, Pastor David took us to see a most amazing feeding program he is involved with in a town nearby. There were so many orphans and vulnerable children in this area that the community came together and brainstormed how they could help them, Kenyans helping Kenyans.  They now have a feeding program that feeds 280 children at least twice a week, with a vision to build houses for them in a sizeable, by Kenyan standards, field.  The Kenyan people are so very communal, so involved in each other's lives, and so aware of how interdependent they are.  They have a prominent saying here - "I am because we are."  Pretty inspiring.

Sunday we attended Pastor David's church, were we heard 3 wonderful sermons, one from Jonathan while we were waiting for everyone to show up, one to the whole congregation (ok, so it was us, the children, 3 pastors, and about 6 women) by Chuck, and one by Dr. Rick Calenberg. And then of course, as is customary and mandatory per Kenyan culture, we were fed a delicious meal.  We have eaten so much ugale, sukumowiki, and chipati that we may explode at any moment.  Delicious and FILLING!

One major challenge here is that everywhere we go, there is an underlying, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt request for money.  When the mzungu comes, they know we have the money to help and they want to make sure they are in the running.  It can be uncomfortable, but as Andrea said, if you had starving children around you every day and you saw someone who could help, wouldn't YOU be very vocal in advocating for them? Of course we would.  It must be such a challenge for them to try to trust God to meet the need and speak up for the need to anyone who can help at the same time.  Another part of the challenge is that if they are SEEN with a mzungu, then their neighbors assume they were given money and they come to demand some.  Even Elizabeth had us clearly tell her staff that we had not given her any extra money.  Wow, truly a different world, brothers and sisters deeply in need.

Today, Monday, we have had a quiet day at the Seminary.  We sat in on the most incredible class on the philosophy of religion and wow did we ever get an education on the issues that pastors here struggle with an the NEED FOR TRAINING OF PASTORS!  It was almost like Rick had planned it so we would see for ourselves the intense need for the training he does with the Roman's project.  So incrediby vital here.  And that's where we are off to tomorrow morning, the next Roman' Project Pastor's Conference in Kisumu. 

Pray with us, please, for continued health and safety, and for the pastors to find their way to the conference unhindered.  We greatly desire and appreciate your prayer support.  Oh, and DO pray we CAN keep up with the Calenberg!

S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D and Exhilarated

Lynne’s time in Webuye

WOW. What an incredible 5 days it has been in Webuye, observing and participating in the work of AOET Kenya. I now have such a great understanding of every blog entry my daughter and son-in-law have made (www.dowellhome.com). And as Andrea expected, I have fallen in love with Kenya and it’s gracious people.

The work AOET is doing is so huge. They stand in the gap for orphans and vulnerable children in a most unique way. For those who have read the book, “When Helping Hurts,” about poverty alleviation efforts, they are all about rehabilitation and development. It is amazing the difference sponsorship of one child can make to an entire family. More about that later.

We spent this week going to various homes and schools, driving for hours on roads that to the untrained eye look unpassable. But not to the Pajero! It is by the grace of God alone that my neck and back only need a couple hours rest and we’re back in working order after an 8 to 10 hour day on the road. We drive as far as we can into the interior and then walk from there. Every square inch of land is used to the max – small 8 X 12 mud houses and then corn and beans and other crops planted on their acre. This is a most desperate time for them as the drought has just ended and the new crops have not yet been harvested.

I could tell you SOOO many stories, but let me just tell you what God did today. We went to the school of Lydia, a beautiful young woman that Tom and I sponsor, paid her school fees and then found that she had been sent home because she could no longer see the board or textbooks at all, even though she is a top student. So we picked up her sister Faith and drove out to their mud hut (by the way, the children walk the 2 miles to school, home for lunch, and back to school and back home every day – shoes are rather important!). The poverty was staggering. Mama has 6 children, 1 who is severely mentally and physically impaired yet deeply loved and cared for, all who live in a tiny mud hut that was falling down. One room. So little to eat. Heartbreaking, but yet their joy and trust is God is so moving.

We looked at the paper from the doctor saying Lydia’s sight was 3000/200 – hokey smoke! And then we found out what the combination cost was for her schooling (so vital to have any hope of an improved life) AND her glasses – can anyone guess? Yep, exactly the amount we had sent for her for this term! So we got to load up mama and Lydia and drive them into town to get her glasses!

As I was rejoicing in that and hugging mama, she said something in Kiswahili and the children started scurrying. Out of their abject poverty, they gave us 2 chickens! She was so grateful (and as I have learned, they TRULY and COMPLETELY believe that as they are obedient in giving, God will care for them). Andrea has told so many stories of having live chickens thrust into her arms, and now I have my own story! As they sit in the back deck squawking, I am again humbled and challenged by the faith of these precious Kenyan brothers and sisters.

Next week, Andrea is researching 2 boarding schools for mentally and physically challenged children nearby. Mama’s son mentioned above, Levi, would so benefit by something like this school. Anyone want to sponsor Levi? Or Lydia’s sister Faith, PRECIOUS girl. Or so, so many others. Being here makes me want to get on my hobby horse and URGE you to consider this, but we’ll trust God to move in the hearts he wants moved! If you are curious, check out www.aoetusa.com.

I’m not sure what has been my highlight here: hearing my son-in-law preach, hearing my daughter teach an awesome message from the Word, or seeing all these precious faces and all the good being done in Jesus’ name. But I am leaving here in the morning changed and challenged, stretched and exhilarated. Thank you, Abba Father! And pour your BLESSING on this group and on my children and on “the least of these.”

Greetings from chuck & Liz!

Monday was spent with Steve from Spokane who co-founded Uzima with Fred.  Fred is a wonderful young Kenyan man who was in a very successful secular job selling educational material.  God placed it in his heart to start a private Christian School in this slum area, preschool through Grade 8.  He later met Steve and they saw a huge need to reach out to those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol and in prostitution.  Thus, Uzima was born about a year ago.  Uzima means "Life" in Swahili, and indeed they did begin to bring new life to those who came to the Lord. 

As Steve and Fred worked with these addicts and prostitutes they discovered that so many of them had children with no place to go.  Fred decided to allow them to attend the school he founded for free (and as Uzima funds become available, it will help).  Indeed, they would pay nothing for this education but now there was a need for a children's center where they could live.

We were privileged to tour the school and greet each classroom.  They had so little in the small, warm, dark, crowded dirt floor room yet their faces were shining.  The principal led us around and as he entered each room the children stood up quickly and greeted him with "Good morning, Sir.  How are you?"  He would respond that he was fine and then tell them they could sit down.  Each of us introduced ourselves and then they often sang a song to us.  It was so special!  How full of joy they were!

Just a street over from the school, Steve and Fred were able to find a center for the children to live.  This is a very humble (by our standards it would be torn down and burned) center.  13 girls sleep in a very small area (maybe 10'x 13') and even more boys in a similar space.  Volunteers handwash the clothes in small tubs of water and a volunteer spends the night with each group.  They have a need for a different place as the merchants in the area say there are too many of them--the children are a "bother"..

We then drove  a long ways to get to the rehabilitation center.  Steve and Fred wanted it to be a long ways away from the slum area so the people wouldn't be tempted to return to their old way of life.  The center will be dedicated this coming Saturday.  The men and women there have earned the right to be there, are serious about following the Lord and are striving for a better life.  They are given counseling and Bible classes.  We sang and shared a meal with these folks and just had a glorious time.  Praise God for their changed lives.
 

Monday night in Kenya!
We arrived in Nairobi, bought our Visas and said goodbye to Lynne.  She couldn't wait to see a certain daughter of hers!  We'll be meeting up with her on Friday, June 1st.

Chuck and Liz found their taxi cab driver and he took them to the Mayfield Guest House which is associated with African Inland Mission and houses Christians who are in Nairobi for all sorts of reasons.  They also serve 3 homecooked American meals everyday.

Sunday we attended 2 separate churches, and lo and behold! at the first one we heard a guest American speaker.  But the 2nd we had a true Kenyan preacher.  We were surprised at how many "American" songs they sing, but also some very meaningful of Kenyan origin.  And they love to sing!  Afterwards, at both churches, we were treated to true Kenyan hospitality with a visitors' tea.

Though this is now our Monday evening (we are 10 hours ahead of PDX) we are signing off.  You will hear some of our "real life" thoughts from today's journey into the slum area, and some wonderful things God is doing there through Uzima in tomorrow's 2-day edition.     Liz and chuck

Humbled

Wow, 2 days here in Kenya feels like a LIFETIME! I can tell that at this pace, there will not be much time for blog entries, so I am going to combine a few things into one. Here goes!

Our travel here went very well. We seem to have found favor in all the right places – thank you to those who prayed! We were, for some mysterious reason, called up to talk the manager at Emirates Air in Seattle, who then gave us new seat assignments for this FIFTEEN HOUR FLIGHT – we were put in business class! The seats recline to almost completely flat, so we got some good sleep, and we were treated like royalty! We just kept saying, THANK YOU LORD!!! We then spent the night in Dubai, paid for by the airlines, and woke up early enough to tour Dubai for 2 hours before catching the final leg of our flight to Nairobi.

The moment of truth would come when we tried to go through customs in Nairobi with our hundreds of MP3 players for the Roman’s Project Pastor’s Conferences. If you read Rick’s email, he had quite the time getting thrm through customs in Ethiopia. But they didn’t even look in our bags or ask us to stop in Nairobi, just waved us on through! Another THANK YOU LORD!!! And The SIM people were there waiting for Chuck and Liz, so off they went, while Lynne caught one more flight to Eldoret. The rest of this entry is about Lynne’s time in Webuye with her daughter Andrea and son-in-law Jonathan.

After spending the night in Eldoret, we rose early the next morning and drove straight to their church in Webuye, King Jesus Faith Ministry. What a wonderful time of worship! Then they introduced and honored the guests there, making quite the fuss over the mama (that would be me. Of course, I did have to get over his comment “we are so thankful that you have come such a long distance at your age” – I must have been looking particularly travel weary! ). I had been put in the front row with the pastor’s wife to begin with, and then as the service progressed, it suddenly seemed that I had been asked to preach that morning!!!! OH MY! I’m so thankful that Jonathan saw it coming and stepped forward to rescue me, brought me on stage to say a few words and then HE preached in my place! What a blessing to get to hear my son-in-law share some powerful truths from the Word!

But the blessings didn’t stop there. After Jonathan preached, Pastor Solomon spoke a bit more, then did something that will stay with me for life. Let me preface this by saying how very poor this area, actually all of Kenya is. Driving through the countryside from Eldoret to Webuye, I was shocked by the sheer number of people everywhere you looked, crowds so thick you could not see where the side road was you were supposed to turn onto. Then the mud huts, mile after mile, tiny rooms where maybe 6 to 12 people will sleep together on the floor or on small mats, mostly without blankets. It really is not like anything I have seen in any movie or magazine or TV program – it is just amazing, a totally different life for these wonderful people.

So it was against that backdrop that Pastor Solomon called me up on stage and asked the privilege of sowing a seed for the ministry our team would be doing later in Kitale and Kisumu and Nairobi. He said that in obedience to the Great Commission, they wanted to be part of reaching the world for Jesus through what we would be doing. He then put a bucket on my lap and had any in the congregation who wanted to sow this seed to come up and put money in the bucket! One by one, these precious brothers and sisters who have nothing BUT Jesus gave from what little they had with the greatest joy. It was all I could do to not cry the whole time. Doesn’t that remind you just a bit of the group of believers that begged Paul for the privilege of sharing in the offering for the saints in Jerusalem even though they had so little? Andrea and Jonathan counted out what they gave later that evening and were absolutely stunned by the size of the offering! “Mom, you have no idea how huge this is!” were her exact words. I can tell you it was huge to me. And humbling beyond words. May their unshakeable trust in their Deliverer inspire you as it did me.

Getting geared up to go!

Eleven days and counting!  Chuck Altig, Liz Jordan, and Lynne Worcester are in the final countdown in preparation to head to Kenya, where we will join up with our team leader, Rick Calenberg.  We have been poked (with immunizations) and pilled to pieces, but in the end, thankful that our Savior is truly the one who is our shield and defender - MUCH better protection than a vaccine!

For those who don't know the details, here's the scoop:

May 24 through June 10, our team of four will be heading to Kenya to share encouragement, instruction, and their lives with Kenyans.  The team consists of Rick Calenberg, Chuck Altig, Lynne Worcester, Liz Jordan, and Steve Turner (Steve has done short-term ministry with SIM in Kenya). 

The main focus of the trip began as one of encouragement and accountability from the Omega class to Elizabeth Mumbi Kiende.  Elizabeth cares for orphans in Kitale, and for years the Omega class has provided food for the children through monthly donations.  Time for a visit!

Since the inception of the trip, several new opportunities have opened up. 

·         We will also be working with Steve Turner, the co-founder of Uzima Outreach and Intervention (www.uzimaoutreachandintervention.org) in the Kawangware slum of Nairobi, sharing Christ with addicts, orphans, and street women, as well as loving, encouraging and teaching wherever we can.

·         Chuck and Lynne will be assisting Rick as he leads two Roman's Project Pastor's Conferences (Chuck will be teaching).

·         In Kitale, besides visiting Elizabeth and the orphans, we will also spend time with TanJed Orphanage and Pastor David Mutei, loving, encouraging, and assisting.

·         Lynne will be carrying encouragement and supplies to Webuye and the AOET offices (www.aoetusa.com), teaching in the Empowerment Center, and loving on her daughter and son-in-law, Andrea and Jonathan Dowell, who have made AOET and Webuye their home for this season.

The team would very much appreciate your prayer support.

·         For safe travel and health

·        that they would easily pass through customs with hundreds of Roman's Project  MP3 players

·         For wisdom as we teach and minister the word

·         For God's hand of protection as we work in the slums

·         For endurance and stamina to walk through every door the Lord opens

·         For wisdom to know how God would have us respond to the needs we see

·         We thank the Lord that most of the needed funding has come in

Thank you for standing with us in prayer as we head to Africa as ambassadors of Christ.