Reflections three months latter.

Zach:

During my time in Olepolos I didn't think I would come back a different person. It didn’t seem like my values or priorities were shifting. But somehow, through all of those bush adventures, I came out changed. Maybe it was the bees that lived with me for a month, maybe it love that I saw in my host families. Or maybe it was Christ working in my life.

As I sit here three months later in the plush convenience of North America I can’t deny that my perspective on life has been broadened, and it has led me to narrow my priorities. Olepolos is an unusual classroom where Christ taught me a great deal on life. There are certain lessons which have followed me to America. The simple life, and especially the simple faith that I saw in the Maasai believers lingers with me. And subconsciously that simplicity has become a part of my life. It has caused the line between "needs" and "wants" to loose a great deal of it’s materialistic bias. I now see relationships as more important that tasks.

But most of all, I cannot shake the vision statement: “Every life transformed by Jesus Christ in Olepolos and beyond.” For three months I worked towards that goal in Olepolos. And now, three months latter, I wake up every day to find that I’m still working towards that goal, just in different ways and in a different place.

headin' out...

going.... going.... gone.

Team Letter #14

Recieving the blessings of our Maasai church
at a sending service for us.

ANGELA:
Hello to all! Our time here in Africa is coming to an end. Last week we all enjoyed evangelizing in the name of Jesus and witnessed people come to know the Lord. That was a great time, because we all worked together as a team in unity to share the word of the Lord. And after doing our part in sharing we watched as the Holy Spirit worked among us in revealing himself to the people. On our last Sunday at church the community threw a party for us . They gave us gifts and blessed our Maasai names. We are now enjoying the few days we have to rest and visit families, to have one more cup of shai and say our good-bye's. Olepolos is full of great memories for the four of us. We are leaving our home to go home. So when we leave that time will be full of bitter-sweetness. We all feel that the time God had us here for, is what he prepared us for, so whether leaving will be easy or hard, it is time. May God Have All The Glory!

SAM:
Well, this week has been full of surprises. We thought we'd be winding down. And, in reality, our assigned ministry here is done. But winding down would suggest that we slowed to a stop. Not true for us. This last week of evangelism, we found our niche as a team. We speed up for the final leg, we ended strong. No more awkward stares at eachother, no more waiting for someone else to talk, no more wishing we were off on our own. We finally learnedhow to compliment eachother, and how to really work as a team. It was fun, and it was powerfull!
As a team, we're all about the weary becoming strong - even when its a bush dog. This week we successfully turned a shy, scrawny little bush dog into our guard dog, and a good one at that. We named him D.O.G. (pronounced 'deOOOHgie') in honor of a hippy we met in PA.
So we've started saying our goodbyes. It's hard to believe we'll be leaving this place, this church, these people, this lifestyle. We're certainly not the same people we were when we dropped out of a taxi in the middle of the bush, and we are so indebted to Olepolos. We give God the glory for all the ways we've seen him move - in us, through us, and around us. Olepolos is a part of us now, and we're a part of them. And we are sure to take their vision, "every life transformed by Christ in Olepolos and beyond", with us to America in all we do. Meisisi Yesu!

PRAISES:
~ We are all healthy with no problems in living on our own.
~ God has given us much needed rest spiritually, physically and mentally.
~ God provided us with a friendly pet dog who we feed and enjoy playing with.

PRAYERS:
~ For every life transformed by Christ, in Olepolos & beyond
~ Good closure, meaningful goodbyes, safe travels
~ For God to prepare us to readjust to American culture

Team Letter #13

Who needs a watch dog when you can have a guard zebra?

Zachary:
“Never Know”- It should be the team slogan. We never know what a day will bring, what people are saying, or sometimes, where we are going. But that’s ok…or at least I think so. Life happens and we scramble to cover for our unpreparedness.
We never know what kind of effect we will leave behind or what people think of us. Kenyans always answer in the positive, even if the answer is clearly negative.
“How was my sermon?” I ask.
“Very good”
Even if no one could follow my topic they would never tell me. And we never know what effects our message will have on the people we talk to. We evangelize and people accept Christ. But how will it change them? We will never know.
But all the same we keep doing and saying. And on a rare occasion you we will see something grow from a seed that we planted. For instance there is one family I visit to play with the kids. For an hour we will chase each other around. I’ll tickle them and they will steal my hat. It’s a lot of fun for me. But later I hear the result of my visit. The father has begun to tickle and chase his kids the way I did. I never knew I was being watched, or that people would follow my example and that was ok.
I was told “It’s not what you say, but who you are.” So maybe it is also true to say: You touch people not so much in the ways you intend to, but in the ways you never knew. We will leave in a week and a half and I doubt anyone will remember what we preached on. But I think they will remember us because we cared, and because they were touched by the love of Christ that they saw in us.

RuthAnn:
Hey everyone! Time is ticking away here in Kenya. Soon we will have to say goodbye to our friend's here, which means soon we will get to see our loved ones back home. For me it will be a bitter-sweet time. I am looking forward to coming home!
Things are going pretty good with the team. Last Wednesday, we moved to our final place. For the last two and a half weeks we are camping out in tents. We are also doing some of our own cooking(-=. The community is taking good care of us during this time. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, we have been invited to different houses for supper(-=.
Thursday, Angela got sick to the stomach. She has recovered, and is doing fine, and gradually getting her appetite back. We are all glad that she got over that. Praise the Lord!
Friday, two of us were going to go evangelising, but God knew what was best for us. David Shunkur ended up telling us just to stay back and rest up. He could tell we needed a day off. I was very greatful for that. I used that time to do some much needed laundry, and I also rested some.
Saturday, I (Ang was still a little sick) went to visit Turanda and Melanoi Sadera in their different boarding schools. Mama Sadera, her daughter Senkenoi, and their neighbor also went. We had fun being altogether.
Sunday was a relaxing day. After church we went to pastor Joseph's house (very long walk) for lunch. We played some UNO(-=.
Monday we all had a good, encouraging day of evangelising (for the most part). Three people came to know the Lord! It was cool to see the team work together during this time. Praise the Lord! God bless---Nenkai

Praises:
-Ang is over her stomach sickness
-Evangelism was encouraging on Monday
-We will soon get to see our loved ones(-=

Pray requests:
-Good health
-A sense of closure as we finish
-Perserverance

Team Letter #12

Maasai backpack.

SAM:
Is it possible that we have less than three weeks left?!! Where has all the time gone?As I think about how we're only one day away from moving out of our last host home, I am shocked at how long 4 months once seemed. Its beginning to annoy me that time never asks my permission to pass. And that 'reality' doesn't come with "pause", "slow", or"rewind" buttons. This past week has hinted to us that our time here is winding down. Ever since coming back from Nairobi to get our passports renewed, it's seemed like we're in our final stretch. Lately we've been doing a lot of evangelism around the area, in Olepolos, Incoben (where Zac & I currently live), and beyond. It's been great to spend our days just meeting new people, all kinds of people, and talking with them about God. I'm still amazed at the interest Kenyans take in their guests, and I've been wondering if this kind of evangelism could ever be as effective and enjoyable in the states. This past Sunday, I preached at the Olepolos Community Church again. I taught on "O ti Auluo" -the part of the church's vision statement that refers to the world beyond Olepolos. It's strange that I'd be teaching them about this - people like David and Stanley Shunkur have taught me how sweet it really is to be spent for the spread of the gospel. So anyways, this week we move into tents, and we see if we can survive Maasailand on our own.

ANGELA:
This week has been a mixture of many things. We spent some time in Nairobi at the beginning of the week to renew our visa's for the small amount of time we'll be here. We also had the chance to catch up on what's playing in the theaters. Upon returning to Olepolos we went right into evangilising in Incoben, which is right across the river from Olepolos. My group had Ruth Ann and David Shunker (chairmen of Olepolos). God had arranged an appointment with us and the Chief, who apparently is never around when people evangilize in that area. We had several hours with him and in the end resulted in him wanting to plant a church with our help! God is definitly moving! I also was given the privillage to speak at a woman's seminar. I gave my testimony and spoke about prayer. The Holy Spirit was moving, because it went right in with everything else. The rest of the week God gave us more oppurtunities to minister to one another and those around us. Time here is quickly slipping by, but not without God moving, working and revealing himself to us and those we meet along the road. Our Father is so Faithful!

PRAISES:
~ We renewed our visa's with no problems
~ We are all healthy and being used by God
~ We are seeing and hearing of the fruit from our ministry here!

PRAYERS:
~ A strong team unity
~ Our adjustments to a new tent lifestyle
~ For God's Spirit to move in Olepolos & beyond


P.S.: We have no clue what happened to our pictures! Sorry, we hope all of you got to see them all before they just up and dissappeared for no reason whatsoever!

Team Letter #11

Chillin' at Lake Victoria.

RuthAnn:
Dear family and friends,
How have all ya'll been doing? I hope good. Things are going good here in Kenya. Our days here are quickly winding down. We've been so busy traveling here and there. Here's an overview of our past week.
On Sunday, the team had a suprise Birthday party for me(-=. That was fun and relaxing. I appreciated it very much, and will never forget it. We went down to the river and had a picnic which consisted of PBJ sandwiches, cookies, chocolate, and pineapple quencher (a drink kind of like cool-aide). After lunch we went over to Jer and Jen Janzen's house and watched a movie(-=.
On Monday, we (the team and two other's) took our "adventerous" road trip (using public transportation(-=) to the YWAM base on Lake Victoria. Most of us were not quite sure what to expect from this trip. I was thinking it could be pretty busy, but it ended up to be a pretty relaxing week. That was nice, because the previous week was pretty stressful on some of us.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we helped out at a local Christian school. Tuesday we held chapel for the children. On Wednesday we spent the morning helping out in different areas of need. They were short one cook, so Zack and Angela helped out in the kitchen. The school feeds the children twice a day. Sam and I did some tutoring, and we also helped a little in the garden.
On Thursday they took us on a fun, long boat ride on the lake (you could lable us as fried egg's(-=). It was beautiful. We got to see a lot of birds and some big monitor lizard's. That evening we went to a resort for supper. After we got back from that, we spent some time around a campfire praising God together---God bless

Zachary:
Rest; we all needed it and God seemed to know it. This past week at Lake Victoria was unbelievably refreshing. A week of toilets with lids, speaking English, and complete independence couldn’t have been better. But it wasn’t entirely a vacation, we stayed in tents, there were bugs, and we worked in a school for aids orphans several times. But it was really good for us.
Cultural stress is one of those things that you understand best right after you leave a culture. Being on a YWAM base was like being in a tiny North American bubble. It was a bubble that allowed us to see what was wearing us down, and gave us a chance to evaluate life.
Highlights from the week included scaring fish poachers with our motor boat, exploring islands filled with exotic birds, and playing guitar on the public bus. This next week we travel to Nairobi to renew our visa’s .

Prayers:
-The guys have a stressful home situation. Pray that we will have understanding.
-Continued health and safety.
-Continued energy and good spirits.

Praises:
-We had a relaxing week at the Lake.
-Our health is good.
-Our team is strong in unity