This Is Only The Beginning

Gearing Up For Ministry In Kenya

After a long “day” of travel, we arrived in Kenya Tuesday night, welcomed by the familiar (to me at least) smell of Africa and two lost bags. Thankfully, only one of the two bags belonged to a student (which we have since retrieved and is a story in itself). Our ministry partner, Maurice, and his crew, Mel and Felix, were waiting just outside of arrivals for us. We hopped on the bus and drove the hour or so from the airport to our guest house. I was very grateful that Maurice offered to have dinner prepared for us. By the time we unloaded, it was past midnight, but we were starving and happy to eat a delicious meal.

Meeting Our Ministry Partners

The next day, our Kenyan friends also prepared a late breakfast for us since we hadn’t gotten into bed until 1:30 am the night before. While some senior staff went into town to exchange money and get food and supplies, the team spent the day doing quiet time, organizing their things, and getting some needed rest. That evening, we met the DICE Ministries team, a group of young adult Kenyan believers we’ll be doing ministry with all summer. As with all initial meetings, it was a bit awkward at first, but after some of Maurice’s and my games, they started to get to know each other.

In my opinion, learning the names of our Kenyan friends is much easier than their having to learn ours because we have so many people on the team with the same or similar names. We have Hannah, Anna, Anna, Anna, Annaliese, Emma, Emma, Megan, Megan, Olivia, Liv, Laura, and Lauren. It’s been an interesting challenge to say the least.

Thursday, the Kenyan team joined us for a day of training. One of the focuses of DICE Ministries is going into schools and encouraging the students towards academic excellence and healthy relationships and presenting the Gospel to them. The students will be teaching small parts of each, as well as doing skits to demonstrate points. My favorite part of the day was watching the Kenyans teach our students some of their skits. I love that everything we are doing this summer, we are doing with and alongside the Kenyan students. In ministry, we are one team. Our first school program will be on Monday!

Jumping Into Ministry

Friday was our first day of ministry. We, meaning our team and our Kenyan partners, went to a school for young children from the slums. Some of the team played with the kids while others were outside helping to prepare a meal. This meal was maybe the only thing these kids would eat that day, or even for a few days. Our team loved being with the kids. They danced with them, played games, and just held the little ones. I could not have asked for a better way to kick off our ministry here in Kenya. I wish all of you could have seen not only the faces of the little ones we were loving on but also the faces of each of our team members as they took delight in each of those children.

This morning (Saturday), we will be visiting a children’s home (orphanage). Later, we will attend a youth rally for high school students and join in the fun by performing the dances and dramas we learned at Training Camp. I hope to get the team to an internet café on Sunday after church. But something we have learned very quickly is TIA, which means This Is Africa, and often things don’t go as planned. So please be patient and flex with us as we flex with things here.

Safe And Excited For The Summer Ahead

Lastly, I thought the parents especially would enjoy knowing that Maurice, Mel, and Felix are staying at the guest house with our team. So, on top of the guard and the fence around the property, it's nice to have these guys around to help with anything we need. Although we’ve had some interesting adventures already - having the guys around to help has made everything seem very smooth.

Thanks for your prayers for our travel and our transition. Please pray for continued growth in our team relationships, relationships with our Kenyan friends, and each individual's growth in relationship to the Father. Prayers for continued health and safety are always good!

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For the Kenya Family!

Margaret Fischer

Kenya Trip Leader