Somali Ministry Prayer Update

We want to thank all of you who have been regularly praying for Somali ministry and for our family. Here are a few updates for prayer that we wanted to share with you:

* Eastleigh Community Centre.
Please pray for the remaining 30 children who continue to live at the centre while they await their parents to rebuild. We are so thankful for the PCEA church in Eastleigh who celebrated Easter this past Sunday with these kids.

Please pray for Lucy (name changed) a twenty year old Kenyan woman whom Erica has been helping through the centre. Please pray for Lucy's spiritual, emotional, and physical health as she is facing a pregnancy resulting from a sexual assault which occurred in the election violence. Please pray for the thousands of women like Lucy who have been victims of such assaults over the past few months.

Please pray for a new initiative we are beginning with the ECC to mobilize Somali women within Eastleigh. We will be working with the centre's social workers to draw Somali mothers together into a network of community groups. Together we hope to find ways of over coming poverty and barriers to health and sustainable livelihoods within Somali households. We pray for wisdom and discernment as we journey together in the Somali community.

* Northeastern Province
We are thankful for developments in Dadaab, the three teachers serving there are doing much better. They are all looking forward to the April break in the Kenyan school system, which will give them a month off to return to Nairobi and visit with friends and family. Please pray for the primary school as it seeks improve its administration and to become more financially self sustaining. Pray for more teachers willing to come and serve both in Dadaab and Eastleigh.

Also be in prayer for for an opportunity for our friend Yatanni to serve with a medical clinic in the IFO refugee camp. The ongoing medical needs for Kenyans and especially the refugee populations is very great. Please also be in pray for Yatanni as he prepares for his upcoming wedding, this December. He and his bride are already praying about their future and the possibility of coming to live and serve with us as a couple -- potentially moving into our Dadaab compound.

Rutundu

Stopping for a break on the shore of

Lake Alice, Mt. Kenya National Park.

Over the Easter long weekend, we traveled to Mount Kenya with our friends, the Wollers, to stay at their favorite family getaway -- Rutundu. A wildlife trust in the area has two beautiful primitive log cabins (chinked with moss and heated by stone fireplaces) perched on the slopes of the steep table top Mt. Rutundu over looking Lake Rutundu.

Tim and Kathy Woller literally showing us the ropes!

We arrived on Good Friday, after a beautiful drive out of the diesel smoke and noise of Nairobi and into the clear air of Kenya's central highlands. We were treated to a clear view of Mt. Kenya with its snow topped summit, as we drove north crossing the equator. The final 37 kms of the journey took over two hours as we snaked along the off road path to Rutundu. We were greeted by a herd of zebra grazing on the alpine fields near the gorge where we left our vehicles. The cabin has a rope trolley to swing luggage over the ravine, but we had to hike down and up to the other side. Although Erica's mom, Mary, wanted to know if she could use the rope trolley, she made the climb on her own steam.

Tim sporting an authentic Kenyan Umbrella!

On Saturday, Tim Woller and his eldest sons, Spencer and Stuart, led Erica, Tristan, Emma and I on a seven hour hike up to Lake Alice. It was a gorgeous hike into the mountains with a sweeping view of the surrounding peaks including a partially cloud covered view of Mt. Kenya.

Erica and Emma descending into the bowl of Lake Alice.

Little did we know that within minutes after this picture was taken, a heavy thunder storm would come barreling over the high cliffs above us pelting us with hail, rain and freezing winds. We rushed under the shelter of a tall bush that Stuart Woller had scouted out for us, and interlocked out umbrellas to form a shell from the rain. Despite our efforts, within minutes we were drenched to the skin. We would probably still be there now if it wasn't for Cosmo, our Kenyan guide, who skillfully built a roaring fire for us in the midst of the down pour. Over the next two hours as the rain withdrew, we dried our clothing and chilled fingers by the fire, sang songs with the kids and munched on fruit and leftover sausages from our morning's breakfast. It was an incredible experience of trusting God's merciful hand in the midst of the storm.

Erica and Emma on the hike back to Mt. Rutundu.

Once we were dry, and the clouds had lifted, we started back the cabins.


Erica, Emma, Stuart, Tristan and Spencer

playing one of our favorite card games -- PIT.

Together we celebrated Easter with a service around the fire. The kids took turns leading us in worship songs as we celebrated the resurrection and presence of Jesus. We also had a lot of fun hiding candy filled eggs and hunting for them along the paths around the cabins. The children then organized an Easter egg hunt for the Kenyan men who care for the cabins. It was such a thrill to experience their joy as they raced to find the eggs and played with our kids.

TK and Spence!
We are so glad that we were able to enjoy this weekend with the Wollers. Tristan and their son Spencer have been "best of buds" since we first came to Kenya, and sadly, Spencer and his family will be leaving Kenya to return to the USA this June. We are so thankful for the gift of such wonderful friends that god has brought into our lives in coming to Africa.

Daddy and Tristan going after some trout!

Rutundu is also a great spot to go fishing. Kathy pulled in a brown trout and Tim, Spencer & Tristan came back with a rainbow. Erica and I weren't so lucky! BUT what better reason is there to return! Maybe next year, we'll get to take another trek up to Rutundu and pull in a trout of our own.

Polar Bears in Africa

For the LOST fans out there, we wanted you to know that there are more than just one polar bear in Africa -- though no Dharma collar on this one. Ava has a special fondness for this little white teddy: she likes to share her sippy cup and snacks with him while they cuddle on the couch. She also likes carrying around an old Chewbacka action figure, one of Aaron's childhood toys from the movie Star Wars, that Tristan brought with him to Kenya. She gives him kisses and encourages the rest of us to share her affection with the blue eyed wookie!

In Prayer:

* Please be in prayer for Manasseh, one of the Kenyan teachers serving at the primary school in Dadaab. Along with the soaring temperatures and challenges of teaching children with limited English, discouragement is a huge spiritual battle. Please pray for Manasseh, Yattani and Kenji as they serve together in this Somali village -- for their physical, emotional and spiritual protection.

Tea Anyone?

Emma hosted her 2nd annual Tea Party last Saturday with all the girls from her 1st grade class. It was an afternoon packed with music, games and lots of sweet treats!
Ava made a new friend, Lucah

Tristan joined the girls in decorating cookies. He got lots of attention at the party, being the only boy. He periodically locked himself in the bathroom to escape from the screaming girls who affectionately chased him all afternoon.

The girls blowing kisses at the end of a fun afternoon

Where's Tristan?!

March Days

* Ava hanging out with biker Steve!

This coming week will be a time for us to focus on Short Term Missions as the Kenya team meets with the CBM director of STM, Carmin MacMillan, who is visiting from Toronto. We are excited about several STMs coming to Kenya this year from Canada (many had been postponed in January and February because of the post election unrest).

Lifting up Kenya in Prayer

* We are thankful for the returning peace throughout the country. This week nearly half of the children living in the temporary camp at the Eastleigh Community Centre were able to return to their families. The centre continues to care for about 40 children living in the school and supporting the families who are resettling into the slum from the Red Cross camps.

* We are encouraged by the small developments made in Ava's adoption. Please pray for a hearing happening this week with the adoption agency. We hope to have a court date soon.

* This week has seen developments in Kenya's political situation as the country's leaders follow up on the agreements made to establish power sharing between the PNU and ODM parties. At present, it looks like there will not be a new election for another four years. We praise God for the return to stability in Kenya!

A New Road Ahead!

Returning to work. Tea harvesters picking one of Kenya's biggest exports in the vibrant green hills of Limuru.

A power sharing deal was struck this past Thursday between President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga bringing renewed hope to a weary nation. The past two months of violence and instability have had a crippling effect on Kenya's economy: Tourism, the countries most important foreign revenue earner (bringing in over a billion US dollars last year), has fallen to less than 10% of its previous levels; and the tea, coffee, and vegatable industries have also been hard hit by the internal refugee crisis which had dispersed many of the labourers (leaving crops rotting in their feilds) and increased transportation costs. Kenya's huge export flower industry has been one of the best at weathering the storm, but it too has struggled. Tens of thousands of Kenyans have lost their jobs in each of these industries, and people of all regions have been hit by rapid inflation. Basic stables like sugar, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and other produced have jumped in price even doubling. Transportation costs have soared. And most Kenyans do not have the means to absorb the spike. People are holding on to hope for a lasting peace that will bring the country back to "normal".

Please continue to pray for Kenya as it begins the long and difficult road of rebuilding.


* For the nations political leaders as they return to parliament this Thursday to vote on the National Accord and Reconciliation Act that is necessary to instate the changes for power sharing (including the appointment of Mr. Odinga as a prime minister and the selection of a new cabinet).
* Pray for Kenya as it attempts to address regional economic disparities that lie behind much of the ethnic division which exploded into Kenya's post election violence.
* Pray for unity among the Kenya Churches as they work together to meet the needs of their neighbours in the love and compassion of Christ.