The purpose of a mission trip to Kenya is to give adults an opportunity to encounter themselves, others, and God in a challenging and impacting way through the power of the Holy Spirit. This mission trip to Kenya, Africa, is designed for adults and possibly children of the adult(s) going who are ready to take the next step in their relationship with Jesus Christ and allow God to use their gifts and abilities to impact the people of Kenya as they live out their faith. The trip consists of 14 days in a highly relational ministry environment. We will be challenged daily to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and how He has made a difference in their lives. We will also be engaged in relational/evangelistic ministries, prayer walks, listening prayer, door-to-door evangelism, evangelistic Vacation Bible Schools for kids, sports evangelism (outreach), caring for kids at an orphanage, ministry in public school, medical ministry and some work projects. This trip will be challenging and life changing.

KENYA UPDATE 1-20-07

This is my first time in Kenya, Africa. It is really amazing and I am so glad to be here. Today I visited the school. It was a neat experience. It is so beautiful here! I am happy to be able to experience how life is like here.

-Brooke Stensgard

We had a wonderful day today at the local church with Vihiga Village community members who are interested in developing or improving their existing businesses to better sustain their families. We came expecting to meet 2 groups of 6 and were blessed with over 40 people in the community coming to share their hopes for their businesses and obstacles that make it difficult to succeed. We shared information about the kinds of training that will help, belief in their capabilities, and God’s desire to break the cycle of poverty. A plan was made among the community for 4 groups to begin meeting on a regular basis to work toward improving their businesses focused on poultry, tailoring, micro-businesses, and farming. See pictures of our new friends. They are very excited to see greater hope for their future, as we are to come alongside to share our gifts and work with them to help identify the micro enterprise-financing program they need. We experienced a sense of kinship that will bond us toward these goals.

Already potential solutions to issues were being exchanged that were catalyzed by group members sharing with one another. Pastor Francis, Pastor Patrick, and Richard who helped mobilize the members to attend were wonderful in how they shared their vision. Beatrice, the local social worker, came by and further supported the community’s actions. She invited the women of our mission’s team to meet together with the local women from Vihiga to share about our lives. For me, it was wonderful to meet Beatrice, who helped inspire me to come from last year’s video. Lonika brought me into a very moving experience at her medical clinic that I’ll share about next time.

Cathy Cutrell

Yesterday several of us went on a prayer walk; something I thought was out of my comfort zone, but had an amazing experience. As we walked up the road we met many people. Everyone was happy to stop and talk with us, and we prayed with many of them. Mothers brought their small children to meet us, and we gave them a small gift – lots of fun! When we met Carol, a young woman with a child in her arms, we asked her if she was a Christian and she said yes, but when we asked if she was saved, she answered, “no”, but she indicted she would like to be saved by Jesus and Know Him. Randy shared the gospel with her and shared how she could be saved by Jesus, and we prayed with her and she asked Jesus to forgive her of her sins and invited Jesus into her life. Our translator took her name and encouraged her to come to church. Carol was much burdened because there was trouble at home. Please pray for her that her burden would be eased. Thank you for all of your support.

Marie Ludwig

It is amazing to be here once again. The improvements they have made here at the orphanage are incredible. Their dream of becoming self sufficient is well underway. Yesterday, a group of us went to check on a family we meet last year that lost their mother and left a father with seven children. The father has also recently died and the children have all been placed in different places except the oldest son, 22, and his 14 year old brother. We were able to pray with them and will take clothes to them later in the week. It was a blessing to know that the children are all well.

- Kristen Wilson

I have a lot of fun learning to chop wood and playing soccer with the kids. All the kids love my hair, but I don’t.

- Spencer Jenney

Praise God for all the great ministry that is going on here in Kenya. We have already seen one person come to know Christ on a prayer walk, we are meeting many people in the community and showing God’s love in practical ways. Our team of 23 is amazing!! We have some working on the water system, some on prayer walks ministering to people in the community, ministry at the public schools, ministry in Eldoret (where pastor Francis’s church is) leading leadership seminars, caring for the children at Shangilia orphanage, and the list goes on and on! Keep praying for good health and many more ministry opportunities to open up! Thank you for your prayer support while the team is in Kenya!!

- Pastor Randy Stensgard

Kenya update 1-22-07

We have had a wonderful Sunday here. A great Kenyan worship service (our group sang Awesome God for the congregation). I learned Bwana safari means Praise God. Randy preached a dynamite sermon about his experiences smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain that he needs to preach at Centennial. This afternoon the Shangilia soccer team played the Kenyan national team, or at least they looked intimidating, Gary Jardine was the ref. It was quite an accomplishment to lose only by 1-0. The coolest thing was that security was provided by a Masai warrior, regal in his red robe. A cow was grazing in the middle of the field for atmosphere. I wasn’t able to concentrate on the game as I was busy solving Kenya’s problems in heated discussion with a teacher and a farmer. The greeting time after church reinforced that we are in a long term relationship with this community. We are feeling God’s presence here. It helps not to have Bronco games, long commutes to work, or the evening news. Come to Kenya, meet some new Christian friends, and see God at work. ~ Bwana safari, Lee Robinson

I have had a wonderful trip. I went to Kisumu yesterday and the people in Shangilia are much more mice than the people at Kisumu. The kids are really warming up to us fast. Their English is way better than my Swahili. At least they can speak in sentences. My Swahili is just words. These kids love soccer. They had an organized game at the local school. It was nice to play with them. ~ Dallas Jenney Stars Rock!

Beautiful day today… but it is everyday here at Shangilia. What a beautiful place with beautiful people. We have had a lot of good times with our new friends here. We have prayed with our special prayer partners, worshiped together, read the Bible together, made necklaces, played cards, played freeze-tag (well, kinda), played a lot of soccer J, ate some wonderful food, cut fingernails & toenails and painted them with polish, laughed a lot together, carried jugs of water, and tonight we are watching Shrek together! As the movie is playing it is so wonderful to listen to the children laugh & cheer & scream in anticipation for what the movie will show next!!! God is here at Shanglia. Every morning He is seen in the incredible sunrises. Throughout the day He is seen through the children’s eyes. He is in their laughter. He is seen through the hard work of the wonderful staff here. Thank you for praying for us. May you find joy today in your life & may you thank our wonderful Lord for ALL he has blessed YOU with. Blessings, ~ Erin Ortega

This has been a trip of wonder and miracles and sweetness and discovery…at so many levels. The Beauty of the land and people is incomparable and every day brings some new wonderful adventure. There is no “trying” here, just being in the moment with the precious children and staff who love to share their own experience of life and God ….it’s like being a child again oneself. For instance, right now I am writing this in the middle of a church, in the dark, surrounded by laughing, delighted children, watching, for some, their first movie ever. Doesn’t get much better than this. This is a magical place and I only trust (and in my own way) will see that it continues to receive the support it needs for the incredible work it does, for these precious people…our family. I am so thankful stafamily there. ~ Meg Antell.

This is a quick note about the special Sunday church service today. The sheet metal over the pole frame building had plenty of openings to let in the morning breeze under the blue sky. Chairs and benches provided the pews on top of the hard-packed soil floor. Several groups provided special music and included the moms, younger Sunday School groups, and the Colorado Singers. The offering was given during additional singing. Then it was the time for the Holy Spirit inspired and led message from the Pastor. We had prayed as a group for a powerful message from the Lord and Pastor Randy did not disappoint. His preaching and the translation by Robert to Swahili was clear, direct and inspiring. The service was a special part of the day with more to be said later. Hope (Tumaini) was definitely a part of Lord’s message to the congregation. ~Gary Jardine

Yesterday, Sunday, was a wonderfully busy day. On our way up the hill to the 2-hour worship we passed another church with a gaggle of children outside waiting to shake our hands while dancing the music inside. To their delight, I started to dance with them. As we all danced together we laughed until our sides hurt. As we neared the church, we passed the Muslim man we had met the first day on our prayer walk. He said, “Jambo, Marie” (Hello, Marie) – he had remembered my name! At church we sang and worshiped’ Randy did a fabulous job of preaching. In the evening the highlight of the day was watching the movie Shrek with the children; using the projection unit given by Centennial Church. Today we will open the clinic, where I will be working as an RPh (counting out pills and dispensing them as the RNs prescribe). People were already standing in line as we walking up for breakfast. Please continue to pray for us as see Jesus in the Kenyans and they see him in us. ~ Marie Ludwig

At the start of this new day, the first thought that hit me was the complete and total lack of selfishness of these young children. Last night, they were each given a gift bag made Crossroads Youth Group. One young boy, Kennedy, emptied his pack of Smarties into Spencer’s hands. We have seen them share with one another so readily, but Spencer can have Smarties anytime he wants. He tried to tell him to eat them himself, but he insisted, but Spencer walked away very grateful and surprised. How ironic is it that these children, who have very little, are so willing to share with even us, who have basic unlimited resources. We are looking forward to setting up the clinic today. There are already folks on the lawn waiting for us. It was also great fun to be entertainment while carrying water. See Kristen’s paragraph below. ~ Jody Jenney

Have you ever thought about what a blessing it is to turn on the faucet and have clean drinkable water? What a blessing God has given us that we take for granted. Yesterday, a few of us wanted to carry water for our own showers. The Kenyan women helped us walk to the spring and taught us how to carry the water on our heads. We were the entertainment for the afternoon. Many of the little girls came to watch the “Mosungus” (white people) attempt to complete a chore that is something that they do many times a day. Only one of us made it all the way. The buckets weigh 40 pounds and we had to walk up through the rocks and the dirt, trying to see the ground and at the same time hold the buckets on top of our heads, the right way. I hope that I never take this for granted again. I am so excited to be starting the clinic today and cant believe there are already people waiting at only 9:10 a.m. We aren’t even set up yet because we didn’t have the key! May God bless you today. ~ Kristen Wilson



MONDAY’S MINISTRIES:

1. Medical Clinic Ministry – Many people will come for medical care to our medical clinic which opens today.
2. Prayer ministry at the medical clinic – Prayer and relationship building as people are waiting at the medical clinic.
3. Water System ministry – helping build the water system.
4. Ministry at the public school – Teaching art class (Terry Ludwig), VBS in the class rooms
5. Care ministry – caring and building relationships with the 9 staff at Shangilia Orphanage.

Prayer Requests:

1. That our team would continue to be healthy through out our time here
2. All the supplies would come TODAY to continue building the water system. Big need!!
3. That the Lord would lead us to the specific people he wants us to minister too.
4. Healing for Shawn Comegys. He sprained his ankle and is not able to walk around.
5. Continue relational and spiritual impact in the community we are ministering in.
6. We have 4 people on our team in Eldorett (2 ½ hours from the Orphanage ministering. Leading a leadership conference for the leaders of Kings Highway Church (Pastor Francis’s church), Teaching in the schools, and Micro Businesses.
7. Open Air Outreaches Wednesday and Thursday nights, showing the Jesus film in Swahili. We will be sharing the gospel.

Thank you for your prayers. The ministry thus far has been fantastic and the Lord is really stretching and growing us as individuals too. Our sharing and debriefing times each day have been awesome!

Blessings,

Pastor Randy Stensgard

Kenya update 1-24-07

Jambo! Amazing! Kenya itself is only surpassed by its people! I have not passed a person yet who did not greet me and shake my hand. Have you tried that in Denver? While I found Nairobi and my little interaction at Kisumu airport somewhat lacking, probably due to the size of the two cities, the area of Vihiga and Luciola are incredible. We are anomalies among the Kenyans, for obvious reasons. But instead of treating us like outcasts, they embrace us and want to know where we are from and how we like it here. They are warm and genuine.
I was lucky (dumb) enough to play in “the” local soccer game. This was a game with young, extremely athletic Kenyans and a half broken American. Luckily no one hurt me and it turned out to be a great experience, despite me continually asking our team leader to substitute me for a real player. We, Shangilia Orphanage, lost one to nothing (actually wasn’t my fault I don’t think). What a fun experience.
Day in and day out I am amazed by the kids and the staff at the orphanage. If you need an example of faith and compassion, this is it. I feel so lucky to know these people and interact with them. At night they have their worship, which we are allowed to participate in as much as we are possible. They sing at the top of their lungs with beautiful voices and wonderful passion!
Yesterday and today we are in the medical clinic. We have had a couple of very sick people which we have been able to help, thank God! Unfortunately, there are some others who appear to have some significant health issue that we are unable to help and they do not have the financial resources to get medical attention. The reality is that these people will probably not live nearly what we consider a full life. What do I say to these people? All we can do is give them what we can to make their life better, and let God handle the rest.
I am so lucky to be here and learn so much. I have learned an amazing amount of things from the men and women here. They are so patient with us and appreciate whatever we attempt. ~ Tyler Turley

Greetings from Shangilia! When I first learned of this trip last October I had a vision of the children here playing with one of my favorite childhood toys – a paddle ball. The thought later came to me that an object lesson could be done using a paddle ball and the verse in Romans 8 about nothing can separate us from the love of God. I could not get this vision and the thought of Shangilia not having running water out of my mind. God had laid in on my heart to go and serve Him. He reminded me of how much I had been blessed and that it was my turn to go and be a blessing to others. And here I am, finding joy in serving. During one of our morning praise times, the children came to join us which gave me an opportunity to do the object lesson with the paddle balls. I shared with them that as the ball is attached to the paddle by a strand of rubber, we are bonded to God and we can not be separated from him. I showed them how to play with it then read to them Romans 8:35-39, reminding them that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I distributed over 50 paddle balls to the kids afterwards. It was fun to see them playing with something new to them, yet an old favorite of mine. My prayer is that after the toy is long gone, they will remember how much God loves them. Please continue to pray for Shangilia and for the team you have sent here to serve. ~ Mark Braley

Today was another busy day in the medical clinic. It is heart-breaking to pass by the clinic in the morning on our way to breakfast and see that there are people already lined up, waiting to see us. We not only have our health, but we also will start our day with food in our stomach… So many people we see are uneducated regarding simple medical treatment we think of as common sense. For example, I helped treat a woman today who has had the same dressing & bandage on her leg for 4 weeks. She had seen a doctor 4 weeks ago, the doctor told her to come back in 3 days, she wasn’t able to, so she kept the bandage on. In doing this not only was the wound unable to heal, it actually made the infection worse, but the tissue around her wound has also started to die. Another has had a sore throat for 1 year. The visual in her mouth was startling. She appears to have cancer and certainly will not live what we term a “full life”, oh ya, and she is only 30 years old. Anyway, we also treated & were able to help numerous people which is a true blessing from God. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for praying for Shangilia. God is here and doing amazing things. ~ Erin Ortega



I had a great day today! I played with kids outside of the medical clinic. Later on that day I went to the school. I showed the fifth grade class pictures of Colorado and of my school to the kids. I also read them a book called Wonderful Wizard of Oz. They seemed to enjoy it but I’m not sure if all of the kids understood the book because I read it in English. Today I had a great day! ~ Brooke Stensgard

Our second day at the medical clinic was again a busy one. The village folks started arriving early in the morning and our numbers increased throughout the day. It was a day of healing at many levels and not always physically or with medicine. Some of the diseases were beyond our ability to treat but no one left without support, love, direction and prayer. And all were so appreciative. The young men of Shangilia served as translators for us and were remarkable, sensitive, thorough and happy to be a part of our medical team. It was a day of blessing and each of us are so happy we came! ~ Meg Antell

Ministry has been good but challenging. Supplies (pipes) for the water system finally came to today after being promised by Mr. Pabari (the local home depot guy – nothing like home depot though!) for many days. We only have 2 and half days to work on the water system, time is running out. We are hoping that we will see it totally completed. This was truly a huge under taking. Thank you Centennial Covenant Church for the blessing of sending us and the money for this water system, you have no idea the blessing that this will be when it is completed. I got sick late Monday night and had to stay in bed most of Tuesday to try to recover, but feeling much better now. Tim Read has been an amazing blessing as he has taken on the water system and been in charge of ordering all the supplies and making sure we have everything. Lee and Gary are other blessings to the water system, we could not have gotten this far on the water project with these three servants. We were also welcomed into the local public school for ministry today and any day we would like to go to the school. We are excited about how God will use us in July with our senior high ministry coming back. The school is very exited for our high school students to come into the schools and share the gospel. Continue to pray for our team. We have some of us in Eldoret doing ministry and they will be back on Wednesday. Below I will list Prayer requests and ministry schedule.

Thank you, Centennial Covenant Church, for allowing us this life-changing experience and an opportunity to represent our church as we make a HUGE impact in this community. ~ Pastor Randy Stensgard



PRAY REQUESTS:

1. Good health for our team
2. For Mike and Dan as they do another church leadership seminar on Wednesday at the church
3. For Cathy as she meets with many more people about micro loans and micro businesses.
4. Randy would feel better and to continue to lead strong.
5. Open Air Outreach on Thursday night. Who from our team will preach and that many people would come and would come to know Christ. We will be showing the Jesus film outside in the village or Luciola.
6. The water system would get completed before Friday when we leave. We are close, but we have had many glitches.
7. Medical ministry ~ That our medical team would really be used by God to help the hundreds of people that will be coming to the clinic
8. Saying good buy to the children and people we have met here. It will be difficult for us and for them.
9. That God would continue to impact our personal lives on this trip.

SCHEDULE:

Wednesday:
Morning: Our team will go to Kisumu for a morning away to buy souvenirs and have a well deserved break. Unfortunately some of the team will stay behind to continue to work on the water system. After noon ministries: School ministry, Medical clinic, water system, time with the children at the orphanage, micro loan/business seminar, and church leadership training.

Thursday:
Morning/after noon ministry: School ministry, water system, prayer walks, medical clinic ministry, etc. Evening: Open air outreach. We will meet outside in the village and do some worship, share the gospel, give an invitation, and also show the Jesus film on the big screen outside.

Friday
Morning/after noon ministry: School ministry, water system, prayer walks, medical clinic ministry, etc Leave and say goodbye to Shangilia orphanage and the many friends we have met. We have an early evening flight to Nairobi from Kisumu.

Saturday:
Early morning through early afternoon: Safari in Nairobi. Late night flight back to the United States.

Sunday:
Back in Denver