Our Exploratory Trip to Kenya

It has been over a month since we got back from Kenya.  I know that is a long time to wait to post pictures on our blog, but here they are - better late than never, right?  Some of you do not have Facebook to see the pictures from our missions page, so I thought you would like to see these.  I took over 1,000 pictures, so there is no way I could have put all of them on here, but here are a few.

It was a huge blessing to have Marc and Melodie Sankey go to Kenya with us.  Having them there was a comfort and help in so many ways.

This was our first sight of Kenya!  We were very excited when we saw this!!

They piled the buses entirely too high for our comfort in Kenya! 

Keith and Marc outside of the house we stayed in.

Crystal with some of the orphans. 

Marc and Melodie

Crystal and Esther - such a darling little girl.

In Kenya, they drink "spoiled milk"  They milk their cows twice a day, and put the milk in a gourd for about three days, then "plop" (gag) it out into a cup and drink it.  They asked our first morning there, "Do you take spoiled milk?"  We assured them that we did not take spoiled milk. :)   We were feeding this sweet baby her breakfast - spoiled milk thickened with cornmeal.  :)~

I LOVE this lady so much!!  

Three handsome boys  Barak, Eliud, and Felix

Theressa and Little Esther - she was a wonderful hostess to us and as sweet as can be.

Esther and Baby Esther

Keith enjoyed playing with the orphan boys.

The Kenyan people are so hungry for the gospel.  It was wonderful seeing them using their new Bibles and really understanding what it said.  Marc and Keith spoke during the special services they had while we were there and God really helped them.

This is how they wash their dishes.

Melodie and I had special services with kids.  We all had a GREAT time - we learned their songs (they all have LOTS of action songs) and we told them Bible stories, which we had them act out.  A great time was had by all. :D

Crystal and some of the girls after church was over.

Keith and Edwin - a good man.

Very friendly people that want to know all they can learn about God.

Crystal and some of the ladies.  I took head scarves to them - they were very happy.

Keith and Pastor Kennedy.  There are three churches there that are growing and more places wanting churches in their villages.  This man is a pastor of one of those places -It was nice to be able to talk to him - very nice man.

The people there were very interested in how we showed affection toward each other as husband and wife. (Holding hands, sit beside each other, putting an arm around each other)  They said they liked it that we showed everyone that we weren't ashamed of our spouse and they wanted to start doing that.  This couple came to us and proudly proclaimed that they were "Like Americans" because they were not ashamed to publicly show their love for their spouse. :)

The kids loved doing "Funny Faces"

They cannot pronounce "Keith" in Kenya, so they called Keith "Kate" much to our amusement!   One proud man came with this baby and told Keith "we have named our baby after our new missionary.  His name is Miles Kate"   Haha - we got a great laugh (after we left) over that one. 

This beautiful orphan was very, very sick the day we got there.  She could hardly lift her head and was burning with fever.  We prayed over her and by the time we left, she was out walking and playing with the other children.  I'm so thankful!!!

Some of the orphans and the man that takes care of them - Dennis (in the brown and white striped shirt by Crystal) 

How can you not love these kids that have already faced more in their little life than I will probably ever face in my life.  Each one is so very special to us and to Jesus.

Love these people!!!

I don't know how to rotate - sorry!!  Melodie, Theressa and I in our matching wrap-skirts. :)

This is a Massai man from the Massai tribe in Africa - they are the tribe that has kept the old ways and traditional dress.  They are very revered in Kenya.

There is a section of road that we cross through that is FULL of Baboons. :)

Back on the plane!

Mama and Baby!!

We had a wonderful trip to Kenya - it was an exploratory trip to find out cost of living among many other things and we got lots of answers but also came up with more questions.  Instead of rushing over there without being able to fully answer the question, EFM has decided to patiently wait for a time before we go to Kenya. This will give us time to fully answer the questions and let God lead us in His time.

But God had this all in His plan:

Over the last school year, the director of the school in Guatemala passed away quite unexpectedly  and put the school in quite a hard place.  EFM has asked us to consider going to Guatemala for the next school year to help them out until the new director is trained to take over.  This will give us an opportunity to serve on an established mission field for the next year while we get all the details lined up for going to Kenya.

So our plan is to go to Guatemala in January and be there through their school year which ends in October.  Then come back to the states and make plans to go to Kenya.  Over the next year, Keith will be making more trips to Kenya to get things settled and lined out before our family goes full time.

We are very excited and are thankful for God's leading in our life.  Thank you for sticking with us and keeping up with our blog, even though I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with it.  I hope that as our life is more settled in Guatemala, I will have a more regular time to update.

We love reading who is still keeping up with our blog, so leave us a comment and let us know you're still out there.