the journey up to now...

It's still a few days until we physically leave for Nairobi, but I feel like it's already been a journey just getting to where we are today! It was as early as this March that God began to speak to me about this part of the world, at first through articles I read about the East Africa region and everything going on there. I wasn't thinking "mission trip" at the time, but I was curious about the region and beginning to pray for some of the events going on there. I saw Nairobi as a particularly intriguing place - the most important city in the region and a hub where people from all over East Africa have converged. Driven by conflict and poverty, millions of people have moved to the Nairobi area from Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Congo as well as other parts of Kenya. To me this is pretty exciting because we're called to tell all nations about Jesus, and in Nairobi people from so many of them are all gathered in one place.

Not long after I began thinking about all this, our church received a visit from Pastor Tom Abungu, his wife Anna, and their 2-year-old daughter Julia. Tom had begun to do ministry in Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi, four years ago and was in the United States to tell people about the work and ask for help in growing it. He told us about everything going on, which is a lot - from a community church plant, to a school and orphanage that is currently caring for 100 children(!), to a well-drilling ministry providing people with a source of clean water. Pastor David, myself and others from Celebration were touched by what we heard and felt the Spirit's leading to send a team to Kenya this fall. God clearly called me to be a part of this, and over the following months He called Justin and Alisha to go as well.

So here we are, not 100% sure what to expect but ready to serve alongside our brothers and sisters in Kenya and see what God has for us. We've worked out all the logistics, collected an arsenal of school and craft supplies that would make any homeschool family jealous, set up meetings to learn from people already at work in Nairobi, and prepared activities for the kids through which we can share the love of Jesus. The message we want to get across is that every child - whether an American church kid or a Kenyan orphan - has a Heavenly Father who loves them and, what's more, wants to hear from them and to care for their needs! We're going to tell the kids about Mark 10:13-16 where Jesus says He wants the children to come to Him, and we're going to tell them about Psalm 23 where God promises that if we let Him be our shepherd, we won't ever be in need.

We'll write more between now and Wednesday about what kinds of things we have planned, but for now I just want to invite you to pray with us and get excited about what God is going to do. Like it says in Philippians 1:3-6, I'm so grateful for you all and for your partnership with us as we go!