We completed a Church Building project in Ziwa

The Church dedication began after we had finished the building. It brought many of us to tears as we saw the gratefulness of the people. We were also able to donate $400 of the money we raised to buy this church 2/10 of an acre. As they grow in attendance they will be able to expand and eventually build a larger building. The people rejoiced and again we were humbled to be apart of the experience.

It was quite a scene as 25 Muzungu's (white people) build a traditional mud building. A memory we will never forget.

We are home!

We arrived on time in Boise last night. We were excited to see our families and get all of our luggage. A few of the wooden decorative canes that we were forced to check were broken when we got them in Boise, but aside from that small incident everything else was in on piece and accounted for.

As a team we were starting to get weary as two of our adult team members had horrible stomach flu like symptoms the day before we left. We also travelled over 44 hours and by the time we arrived in Boise we were thrilled to see our loved ones. I missed my babies so much it ached, so holding them last night was beyond what words can describe. :)

Now that we have a strong Internet connection, we should be able to share pictures and stories with our friends and relatives.

The day we left we met Patrick Mwangi.

He lives in a slum area of Limuru and our youth ministry supports him through compassion international. Being able to place a face with his picture and meet his mother and brother was very exciting for our team.

His mother made us tea and sweet potatoes and the students looked at me with udder fear as she was preparing for them to eat. I tried to explain to the leaders that although we were so very grateful for the food, we could not partake of it because we had two sick members and we would be flying out that evening.

We took the sweet potatoes with us (choosing not to eat them, but desiring with all our hearts to show gratitude and thankfulness) and hugged Patrick goodbye.

We left a soccer ball, a new Boise State outfit and hat, some small cars/trucks, pencils, a new toothbrush, a backpack, and we prayed over him and his home. His mother shed tears when we piled into her mud home covered in cow dung and newspaper. Her gratefulness was obvious. I could only pray that our gratefulness radiated as bright as hers did.

There is so many wonderful experiences we could share. One of our students told his mother he would have loved to have stayed in Kenya. Another is changing her major from Elementary Education to Missions. I am certain that these last 12 days will be apart of our lives forever.

Lots of pictures will be loaded shortly....................

Last Day.

We are nearing our final day in Kenya. It has been such an incredible experience. Yesterday at the Vacation Bible School over 1100 children came and over 600 gave their lives to Christ. When we arrived back at the house we were slightly sunburnt, exhausted, but thankful that God gave us the opportunity to be apart of such an incredible day.

Here is our itenerary for the trip home.

Monday, June 21st we will leave Nairobi at 11:45pm on Kenyan Airways (2:45pm Boise time)
Tuesday June 22nd we will arrive in London/Heathrow airport at 6:45am (11:45pm June 21st Boise time)
Leave London/Heathrow at 1:05pm on United Airways (6:05 Boise time)
Arrive in Denver at 4:01pm
Leave Denver at 6:15pm on United Airways
Arrive in Boise at 8:13pm

Thank you for being apart of this incredible and life changing opportunity. 17 teenagers left home and saw first hand the incredible work that God is doing across the world. We are excited to share our pictures, stories, and all that we have learned. This has been a gift, and we are grateful.

We will post more about Sunday services this evening.

Happy Father's Day to our Dad's. We love and miss you....

Day 6 in the Eyes of Joel

Today, we went to the orphanage (owned by Kip Keino) and two primary schools in the area surrounding Eldoret. When we arrived at the orphanage, we split up into our three groups to take a tour of the orphanage. Compared to most of the buildings that I have seen in Eldoret, the building itself was really nice. There was an open air courtyard which seemed the main focus of the floorplan. When the tour finished, we went outside and were greeted by a bunch of little Kenyans who had just started their playtime. It was amazing to play with them on their expansive playground with many features. Some people rode on a swing, some played soccer, and some climbed over jungle gym equipment. We were then instructed to pick a little kid to walk with and we headed over to the cow farm. Many of the little kids fell asleep in our arms as we walked, and others wanted to walk al0ngside us while holding our hands. We continued our tour and looked at the fields that grew pineapples and beans. We continued walking and saw the old building that used to be used as the orphanage. There was a huge plot of land that the orphanage was on, so it took us a while to make it all the way across. Tori gave me her camera during the walk since I didn't have a child in my care, and I took a bunch of sweet pictures. We would upload some of them onto this post, but the internet connection here is very slow and it would take far too long.
We eventually made our way back to the playground and played with the children for a while longer. Then, we made our way back into the dining room and proceeded to have a feast! The food was absolutely delicious (especially the chapati, which is like a tortilla, but better) and it was in no shortage of quantity. After we had stuffed ourselves to our heart's content, we made our way back to the Golden Eagle (our bus) and left the orphanage.
Then we went to the primary schools to pass out flyers for our VBS tomorrow. The first one we went to was in Kapsoya, and we were greeted by several hundred kids. Missionary Randy introduced us as a group and made a few jokes about us in Swahili so we couldn't understand. We then went down the line and introduced ourselves and said our names. We were then swarmed by many many little kids who wanted flyers and were dying to shake our hands and ask us "How are you?". I'm pretty sure we all got pretty close to breaking the world record for most handshakes in five minutes.
Then we went to the next school and basically did the same thing, except there weren't as many kids. Instead of shaking our hands, they all stood around us and looked at us. We head the word "mzungu" many times, which means white person. After, we headed back to the compound, and I ended up writing the blog for today. So long for now.

Day 5, by Danika and Amanda!

Today we painted a church. We arrived ready and excited to work, and the Kenyans were happy to welcome us. The Kenyans themselves are such happy, friendly, and loving people that it seems they can always brighten our moods. We painted and splattered and took plenty of pictures, giggling all the way! :) It was hard work and took some time however, we managed to hold a smile the whole day through. In the windows of the church little children were watching us crazy "mzungu" (white people) paint and get it all over ourselves as well as each other. The children gradually became comfortable around us and I have a feeling it was mostly because of the suckers Andrea brought. I, Danika, managed to get some of the youngins to paint with us, which was a cool experience on both parts. As more and more kids joined us inside the church they became obsessed with being in the pictures and seeing how they looked. In no time 50+ kids were attacking us, trying to get in the pictures, or get more suckers than the friend with them. As we pulled away from the church a group, a very large group, of the children chased after the bus waving and yelling excitedly.
The hardest part of today was definitely the bus ride back to the compound. Everyone who didn't want to pee in a cornfield really needed to go and the bumps were not helping at all. As Chance put it, "You know you're in Africa when there's more craters in the road than there are on the moon." Everyone was tired, somewhat stinky, and sticky from the paint.
We finally got back to the house, and sat around in the living room with our Kenyan friends that has been helping us the last couple days. We went around the room sharing our testimonies and thanking everyone for all that they've done. There were incredible stories and so many people that were blessed and are continuing to be blessed by the rest of the group and ultimately, the Lord.
Here are a few things we learned in Kenya today.

• Taco doesn't mean taco in Swahili. (It means butt!)
• The Lord can work in incredible ways, even half way around the world
• Even though we Americans and the Kenyans are thousands of miles away from each other, we all serve and worship the same, all mighty God.

We can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us while we're here and we're looking forward to every second of it.

Day 4 through the eyes of Brooke Troutt

So today when we were going to mud the church I was rather unsure about the whole thing, everyone was on edge about parasites in the mud and getting our new clean shoes drenched in mud. However, when we arrived there were a bunch of adorable Kenyan children singing and dancing, praising the Lord. That in itself was touching. These people only have small little mud huts and different mixed matched clothing yet everyone is still fantastically excited and just overwhelmed with joy that we, Americans, came to mud a church for a poor Kenyan community. When they began to make the mud some boys automatically took off their shoes and started squishing the mud with their feet and getting it all in between their toes! Danika and I looked at eachother and instantly took off our shoes and joined in. I did not have the intention of getting 100% covered in mud but then the mud battles began (and it was a BLAST!). Smearing mud on each others faces and in our hair and down our backs and all over our clothing was a very great way for us, as team members, to fellowship with each other and just have fun and do work for the Lord in an amazing, unique way.

It was a really enjoyable experience to help these people who don't have much. They were just over joyed with our help and they sang to us with such passion and love for the Lord. After we worked putting the final coat of mud on the church we all went in and sat down for a short service. The children sang and danced for us again and they announced that we helped them purchase some more land. It was awesome sitting in a church that we helped to build that will be a place of worship for greatful, humble, joyful, beautiful Kenyan people.

Day 4

To describe today in words would be difficult. It was by far the best day we have experienced since coming to Kenya. We left early this morning on public transportation. Fifteen Kenyan teenagers from the local churches joined us again today. We drove North from the City of Eldoret to Ziwa. This is a very small village where farming is a means of survival.

In typical African fashion we were stopped by the police twice and our bus broke down. While we waited for the fundi (mechanic) to arrive we walked down to a Kenyan home. The woman who lived in the home, Mary, and her baby were cautious but welcoming. We peered into her tiny mud home with a grass roof, and realized immediatly that she owned nearly nothing at all.

They slept in a pile of ash and one dirty blanket lay across the floor. There was a tiny chicken running through the courtyard. The only thing she asked of us the entire time we visited was for prayer. We prayed over her home and with her. She was thankful. I caught myself holding back tears most of the visit.

Once the bus was running again we headed to Ziwa where a brand new Church building has been built, Bondoni Baptist Church. Our team placed the final layer of mud along the outside of the walls. The teens and adults did not hesitate as they started layering mud from one end of the building to another. As you can imagine 25 white folks mudding a traditional Church would draw a crowd. Indeed, we drew a fairly large crowd of spectators.

After we had completed the Church building we went inside for a Church dedication service. The choir of young adults/children sang traditional African music. It was wonderful. After they sang we were able to share with the Church that as a youth team we had brought enough money with us ($400) to pay for the 2 tenths of an acre behind the tiny property. They would now own enough land to build and countinue to grow. They rejoiced, danced and praised the Lord for the land. This Church started as 4 believers and is now running 110. Tears ran down our faces as we shared in the service with them. The prayers humbled us. The music touch us. The faces burned images into our souls. The joy was intense. It was truly one of the most incredible days of our lives. We will never forget these people, their church for which our hands touched, or people we conversed with. We are so honored to purchase this land for them and to watch them leap as they rejoiced in what GOD has done!

I was dropping things in my room after we arrived back to our host home. Two of the teens with us were conversing in the hallway. I over heard one of them say to the other, "that was the most incredible thing I have ever done....better than playing any video game."

On the way home as we bounced along the road covered in thousands of potholes we saw two beautiful King Cranes. It was the cherry on top of our already incredible day. We enjoyed God's people and saw more of His amazing creation!

P.S. I have tried to upload pictures for an hour without any success. The internet here is not fast and so uploading pictures is difficult. We will share thousands of them with you when we return.

Day 3 by Shane Maxey

Day 3, in the life of Shane while in Africa. This morning at 2 o'clock a.m; I woke up ready for the day, but because nobody else was even awake I took a bath and scrubbed the red clay dirt off of my feet from the day before walking all over the city of Eldoret. I made an ice pack to put on my knees and ankles to help stop the throbbing pain, because I was being dumb and jumping rope with the kids, yes that was a sight I am sure, me jumping rope. While I iced my limbs, I studied my lesson for today. Later, at a normal hour after breakfast we assigned people to different groups for Saturday's Childrens Vacation Bible School type event. I volunteered to be on the puppet team along with Josh, Hailee, and Kelly. I am going to be a camel with one hand and on the other hand I will be a puppet I named Blake. Josh's puppet is a rather large monkey that hangs around his neck and waist. This whole puppet team is hilarious. I cannot recall laughing quite so hard as watching Josh and his monkey torturing his faither. Others will be face painting, teaching songs, telling a bible story, running a snack station, and a game station for the kids. Frankly, I think some of us are a little overwhelmed and excited by prospect of participating in an event dealing with 1000 children. I know I am!


We shopped today and had the opportunity to barter with the shop owners and it was fun to watch the kids try to figure out the barter system. Everyone spent most, if not all of their 2000 shillings, some of the girls, who will remain nameless, spent more than their 2000 shillings and were borrowing from others until we got back to the compound. The shop owners were glad to see me go, because at one point Jeremy was trying to buy a gift for his Father-in-law, and I bartered the lady down to a price she did not want to give him. I said, come on hook a brother up and give him a great deal not just a good deal, finally Jeremy and I got the great price. Later today I went swimming with 12 of the youth and others returned to shopping. Shopping again, are you kidding that was just crazy in my book, shopping one time in a month is one time to many as far as I am concerned. Now it's evening and the group is doing our bible study in James, it's pretty intense. We are safe and having a blast of a life time, Matt is constantly counting heads! Signing off for today, we love you all from Africa, I love and miss you Michelle, Shane!

P.S. We will be mudding a church building tomorrow.  Pictures will be coming......

Day Two from Sara's Perspective

Before we left, I always had in my mind how different things would be in Kenya, however I had no idea what to expect. Today, going through the city with the Kenyans really showed exactly how different things are.
As we began walking toward downtown Eldoret, the first thing I noticed was how many people looked at us. Obviously they looked at us because we were white, but it’s something I’ve never, ever experienced before. The 3 Kenyans that showed us through Eldoret were more than happy to answer all of our very Americanized questions. It was very kind and patient of them. We went through a few small shops that held a lot of jewelry and animal carvings.
The most terrifying part of the entire day was crossing the street. I cannot even count how many times anyone in our group was almost taken out by a Matatu (bus).
Personal space was never an option while walking the streets of Eldoret. People would walk up against you. Though, on another note from personal space, people weren't afraid to walk up to you, shake your hand, introduce themselves, and then want to know about you. I met so many people near the market and they were all so willing to be personable. It's something so uncommon in the states. Why aren't we all willing to meet new people and geniuinely want to know them? When we ask people, "How are you?" how much do we truly want to know how they are? The people here were genuine. They were interested in us. Personally, I wanted to know more about them as well. This is a concept I would more than love to begin doing back home. I want to know people because that's what we're called to do. We all are called to do life together, but in America, we're so independent and need to present to others that WE have it all under control. We have nothing under control. We are but humans. It's all to God that we have everything and we are blessed with what we have. To do life together we must share our blessings, whatever they may be, with others. We're here together, not alone. We must live like that. It's what we were made to be; together.

A day in Eldoret

Today was our first opportunity to truly experience Kenya. In some ways, it defies words. It has to be seen, tasted and felt. We spent the day wandering through Eldoret in small groups with host teens from the local churches. They were so kind and helpful. It was beautiful to see our teenagers bonding with local kids. The boys played soccer, the girls jumped rope and everyone was laughing and smiling. I think this is the reason God brought us here. These relationships can bless and change our lives. The teens showed us the post office, butcheries, stores, markets, funeral parlor, hospital, and we wandered through town. We were seriously puzzled by rocks sold in little bags pregnant women ate to get more iron. I was the most overwhelmed by visiting the hospital. It was crowded, dirty, and filled with broken and sick people. If nothing else will, the hospital will make you grateful for the "easy" life in America. My favorite place was the open market. It was crowded, loud but full of beautiful fruit, vegetables, strange spices, tiny bananas, fish, grains and people. The children, especially, are beautiful. The dark, red dirt is wonderful. It causes all trails and paths to look inviting.

Speaking of Exhausted

We arrived in Eldoret and ate a delicious lunch. You would not believe what happened next.....

We Made It!!!

We left London and 7 hours 45 minutes later we landed on the continent of Africa. What was once a dream for many became a reality. We arrived in Nairobi at 6:30am and slowly made our way to immigration. We completed the finger printing process and headed for our luggage.

We impressed ourselves with our organization as we lined up with our luggage carts and began loading luggage from the carousel. We praise the Lord because every single suitcase made it to Nairobi! An even greater praise; as we went through customs the agent asked who we were and what we had come for. When I explained to him why we had come, he raised his hand and waved us through without opening even ONE BAG! PRAISE THE LORD.

Our Host, Randy, and three public transportation vans were waiting for us outside. We loaded and quickly headed North to the city of Eldoret.

That was a wild ride. We stopped to see the Great Rift Valley and the equator.

A man named Steve showed us that when you are in the Northern hemisphere water runs clock-wise and in the Southern hemisphere water runs counter-wise. When you are standing on the equator water flows straight down. We watched him demonstrate.

I was a wild ride up country as traffic laws are very different than in the USA. They are more of a suggestion and so we learned that more often than not people are passing on your left and on your right. I will never complain about Boise traffic again. :)

We saw Zebra, Baboons, Thompson gazelle, and wildebeest on our way up-country. The Baboon were literally walking along the side of the road. I have to be honest, they are not as cute in real life, they were a little scary looking. Although just the opportunity to see them on the side of the road was worth it.

We are excited to be here. We are thankful to God for protecting us and giving us this amazing opportunity. We are exhausted.

Kenya or Bust

We arrived at the Boise airport and were truly overwhelmed by the number of families who came to pray over us and with us. Our Church family has showed so much love and support and we truly thankful. Arriving at the airport was an overwhelming experience of excitement, anticipation, and apprehension. We checked in 31 bags, posed for a pictures and rushed through security. I am starting to realize that nothing is a breeze with 25 people. The same few team members seem to have been stopped everywhere we go for a pat down and their bags searched. It was entertaining at first but now we are starting to wonder....:)

We have arrived in London. It has already been a long trip and our energy is lacking, although our excitement and anticipation remains high.

We left Boise and due to the weather in Denver we sat on the plane for several hours. After we finally took off it took us three hours to make an 1 hour and 20 minute flight. They circled around Denver forever before we could finally land. Matt said at one point he saw seven planes circling nearby. There was use of those beautiful little white vomit bags which was no fun...and the turbulence was intense. We arrived 5 hours past our initial plan and it was God's grace that our plane headed to London was still on the ground.

Imagine 25 slightly nauseas people sprinting through the terminal. Sprinting~Home Alone style. We had 28 people on our flight from Denver who needed to connect to the flight to London. The steward on our plane said that United would wait for us because they could not reschedule such a large group (ours being 25) and a few others.

7 hours and 52 minutes later we arrived in London. Heathrow is HUGE and we are learning our buddy/team system and have done well keeping together.

We found our terminal and enjoyed some airport duty-free shopping and some food. Chance, decided to do as the English would and he ordered crumpets. (We have an awesome video of Chance and his crumpets but it would not upload...will try again at a later time.) Shane enjoyed some fish and chips.

Converting pounds to dollars has been a challenge but we will be leaving in three hours for our final destination. Once we arrive in Nairobi we will have five hour trek up to the city of Eldoret. We are tired. Pray for our stamina and some sleep in the next 12 hours. Great things lie ahead and we feel overwhelmed and grateful.

Commissioning Sunday Video

Song by Fee from their CD Hope Rising

Photos by Jennifer Mckinney

46 texts and counting

We are less than 24 hours from leaving Boise. Everyone is getting excited and the questions via text have been pouring in....

Can I bring tank tops?

Can I wear jeans with holes in them?

My luggage is 48lbs is that ok?

How hot is Africa?

Is it alright if I wear a belt tomorrow in the airport?

Can I switch groups?

If I bring $$ how am I going to transfer it to the right currency?

And many, many more.....

We are thrilled that so many friends are coming to pray over us when we leave the airport. Let's see how many hours we actually manage to sleep tonight. :)

Thank you

Dear family, friends, neighbors, and Church family:

Thank you! Thank you for your supporting us. Thank you for giving generously. Thank you for setting aside time to pray for us. Thank you for stopping us in the Church lobby and asking about our vision and our journey. We are humbled and thrilled to have this opportunity.

We leave in less than four days and so our suitcases have found their way out of the closet and into our rooms. We are slowly crossing of items, one by one, on our packing list. We have each taken 4 or 5 trips to wal-mart and Target to make sure we have everything we need. We each have a mental vision of what Africa must be like and what we might feel, although I am certain that reality will be far from what we can imagine.

Our prayer is that during these 12 days that we will allow God to teach us, break us, and speak to us. Kenya is a land that God loves, deeply. I pray that same love will overcome each of our hearts. I don't want to come back the same way I left.

As the internet allows we will be posting our daily journey on this blog. Join us and see what great things lie ahead!!!

Trip Itinerary

Friday, June 11th

leave Boise @ 4:30pm

arrive in Denver @ 6:20 pm

leave Denver @ 7:59 pm

Saturday, June 12th

arrive in London/Heathrow @ 12:15 pm (5:15am Boise time)

leave London/Heathrow @ 8:00 pm (1pm Boise time)

Monday, June 13th

arrive in Nairobi @ 6:30 am (9:30pm June 12th Boise time)

Monday, June 21st

leave Nairobi @ 11:45 pm (2:45pm Boise time)
Tuesday, June 22nd

arrive in London/Heathrow @ 6:45 am (11:45pm June 21st Boise time)

leave London/Heathrow @ 1:05 pm (6:05am Boise time)

arrive in Denver @ 4:01 pm

leave Denver @ 6:15 pm

arrive in Boise @ 8:13 p

YARD SALE FUNDRAISER

SATURDAY MAY 1, 2010

8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

1408 W State St Boise ID 83702 FBC Student HUB

Bring cash. Items for sale will include furniture, electronics, clothes, toys and more. We will have hotdogs for $1 and sodas for $ .25 All proceeds go toward our team fundraising goals.

We are headed to Eldoret, Kenya June 11th and the team plans to visit schools, orphanages, and help build and clean churches.

Have donations? Deliver them Friday from 2 - 10 or early Saturday morning.

We appreciate the support and prayers that have already been delivered up to God for this mission and we are so close to our fundraising goals. Thank you!

We look forward to seeing you stop by on Saturday and finding something new-to-you!

Swahili Words

As part of our effort to learn what we can about the culture of Kenya we are learning a few words which will help us communicate while we are there.

Jambo - Hello

Habari yako? - How are you?

Jina yangu ni __________ - My name is ________

Asante Sana - Thank you very much

Nimeshukuru - I am thankful

Imetosha - That is enough

Kwaheri - Goodbye

Tutanana - See you later

Choo - toilet

Maji - water

Chakula - food

Meet the Team Members

Danika, 15

"I want to go to Kenya because God is doing something amazing there and I want to be where he is."















Kelly

"I want to go to Kenya for inspiration."
















Andrea

"I want to go to Kenya because I'm thrilled to be a part of this opportunity and to experience what God has in store for my family, our youth ministry, and personally in my life."














April

"I want to go to Kenya because the Holy Spirit prompted me to embark on an adventure to serve Him in a new way... very far away."














Jeremy

"I want to go to Kenya because I want to share God's love with the less fortunate of the world."















Tori
"I want to go to Kenya because I'm so excited to share my passion for missions and other cultures with these teens."
















Shane
"I want to go to Kenya to witness how the Lord changes our youth's lives."
















Marissa, 15
"I want to go to Kenya to share and minister to the people and see something I've never seen before and realize how lucky I am!"















Kyliegh, 12
"I want to go to Kenya to minister to people and tell them about God."
















Hailee, 15
"I want to go to Kenya to share God's word with people in a different country and serve the less fortunate."
















Sara, 19
"I want to go to Kenya to share the unconditional, sacrificial love Jesus has for everyone!"
















James, 15
"I want to go to Kenya because I want to know what it's like to live on a $1 a day."
















Van, 15
"I want to go to Kenya because I would like to see what it's like outside the U.S. in countries that aren't as privileged as we are. I'm excited to spread God's word to people in need."















Joel, 15
"I want to go to Kenya because I want to spread the love of Christ."
















Josh, 15
"I want to go to Kenya because it will be a life-changing experience. It will be fun to help someone in need."
















Kayla, 16
"I want to go to Kenya because I want the long-term effect to change my life forever."
















Caitie, 15
"I want to go to Kenya because Africa is the bomb and it's going to be the best experience of my youth!"















Amanda, 15
"I want to go to Kenya because I would love to help all the needy people and spread God's love with them."

*There are some team members not shown.

Airline Itinerary

Friday, June 11th
leave Boise @ 4:30pm
arrive in Denver @ 6:20 pm
leave Denver @ 7:59 pm
Saturday, June 12th
arrive in London/Heathrow @ 12:15 pm (5:15am Boise time)
leave London/Heathrow @ 8:00 pm (1pm Boise time)
Monday, June 13th
arrive in Nairobi @ 6:30 am (9:30pm June 12th Boise time)
Monday, June 21st
leave Nairobi @ 11:45 pm (2:45pm Boise time)
Tuesday, June 22nd
arrive in London/Heathrow @ 6:45 am (11:45pm June 21st Boise time)
leave London/Heathrow @ 1:05 pm (6:05am Boise time)
arrive in Denver @ 4:01 pm
leave Denver @ 6:15 pm
arrive in Boise @ 8:13 pm