My Trip to Death Row

For our second day of ministry, the majority of the team worked in the village during their weekly market, but my teammate Keith and I were sent to the prisons.  On past trips our team would do prison ministry just one time during the week, but Morris asked us to visit prisons everyday this time around.  Our team this year was already pretty small but to accommodate this request, we split our school teams into school/prison teams.  This meant only 2 of us went one place or the other.  This would be my first time to work inside an African prison.

I was the only female in our entourage that day and it was a little intimidating.  Our group included myself and Keith, Pastor Morris, Pastor Samson from Kisule, our translator Isaiah and another Mzungu we had met named Brad Harris.  Brad was currently living with his family in Kisumu and attending Samson's church.  His mission is to disciple and encourage existing churches of the area but I'll tell you more about Brad in another post.

My mind that day was occupied with thoughts of what I would say and my eyes were distracted by all the sites we saw out the window on our drive.  Poor Keith had an un-characteristically quiet Julie to contend with that day!  I was trying to be sensitive to cultural differences as well and lay down my loud-American tendacies - especially as a woman with a van full of men headed to a prison full of men.

There was a lot of driving and waiting that day.  First we had to make the one hour trip back into Kisumu.  Then we waited at a local grocery store - a Kenyan Walmart if you will - to wait for the Prison Ministry liason, Pastor Moses.  Morris was with us that day and he invited us to browse the store as we waited.  For those of you who have met Morris, he is a reserved man of few words.  Crusing hair products and magazines with the man was a little surreal!  Oh, and the things I saw on the magazines were bothersome.  One was a fashion magazine called African Woman and some of the blurbs on front were "Abortion: is it Wrong?" and "The Controversy of Multiple Births".  I wished for my own money at that point so I could pick up the magazine and see what they had to say. 

You see, abortion is currently illegal in Kenya but it is currently being considered for cases where the life of the mother is threatened (and yes, American money is pushing that agenda).  I don't want to get all political on my Africa blog, but for those who follow the abortion controversy, you know what a slippery slope this new legislation is for the people of Kenya.  Enough said about that.

Eventually, Moses arrived and we were off to purchase gifts for the prison.  This led us off the beaten path onto narrow city streets filled with commerce of every kind.  It was fascinating that we could fit our van down those streets at all since they were extremely narrow and congested with all manner of vehicle.  To make matters worse, there were periodic ditches dug right into the center of the road - BIG ditches - like the kind that if you ran into one your whole front end would be swallowed into a hole.

After what seemed like a long time hunting down gifts, we finally arrived at the prison.  Sorry, no pictures at this point but maybe in the future Keith will share some of his with me.  We were ushered into the chaplain's office for formal introductions while the inmates were gathering in the courtyard outside.  The chaplain explained that all the men we would be visiting with that morning were condemned either to life in prison or to death.  Those on death row never knew when their time was up until their name was called and they were taken to the gallows.  Condemned men are hung in Kenya.

My job that day was to share my personal testimony and Keith shared the Gospel.  I was told that the leading problem within the prison system was sexual immorality.  That, coupled with the knowledge of my own story, made me scrutinize how far I should go with my testimony.

We were ushered in by armed guards into a wide courtyard.  Surrounding the courtyard were block houses that looked something like small airport hangers with iron doors on the front.  No windows.  We were told that at night, hundreds of men were locked inside their "block" and left in the dark without any resources, or guards, until morning.  Apparently they were given buckets to urinate in, but that was about all.

The prisoners wore stereotypical black and white striped clothing.  Again, a little initimidating to be the only woman in that crowd, but they were kept at a distance and we weren't allowed to mingle.  After more introductions were made, it was my turn to share.  After sitting quietly in the van for so long, it was good to open my mouth and use my voice.  We didn't have a microphone so I had to project my voice loudly for all to hear.  This was also the first time in a long while that I had shared my testimony.  It just felt good to let it out again.  I can only pray that God was in control of my words since I'm not totally sure what I said.  I tried to explain that I too was a prisoner of shame and guilt and had even gone so far as to condemn myself to death (i.e. suicidal tendancies) before crying out to God.  I also emphasized portions of Psalm 18 as it related to my story:

"The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears." [vs.4-6]

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.  They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me." [vs.16-19]

I encouraged the men that no matter their circumstances, God could bring their hearts and their souls into "spacious places" if they would only trust in him.  Keith shared the gospel and many men received Jesus that day.  I guess I should explain that there were already many believers within that prison.  They even sang worship songs for us when we arrived.  Hope lived amongst the condemned which was a very cool thing to see.
  

Here's a typical Kenyan security fence...shards of glass mortered onto a fence.  What creative security we choose for ourselves.  Are there prison walls you need to break down with the help of Christ?

 
Our next stop was to what they called the "medium" prison, which was filled with men sentenced for periods of time that would one day be released.  We were told that many of these men came from the surrounding rural areas.  It was a smaller population than the condemned audience, but it was heartbreaking to see how young they all looked.  These were young men who were making bad choices early in life.  I wanted to encourage them to choose differently once they were released.  For this visit I used the Prodigal Son story to frame my testimony.  Again, not totally sure what came out of my mouth, but the point I wanted to emphasize was the restoration displayed in that story.  The son reasons that it would be better to be his father's slave than to continue the life he was living so he decided to beg for a job.  Scripture tells us:
 
"He got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." [Luke 15:20]
 
I just love that.  The father ran towards him and received him as he was!  This is what God did for me and told them it was what God would do for them.  Again, Keith shared the gospel and men came forward to receive.  There were less restrictions with this group of men so we were able to shake hands and encourage our new brothers before leaving that day.
 
Gratefully, Keith and I were deposited back at the hotel that evening instead of journeying back out to Akala to pick up the rest of the team.  I caught a nap and did some journaling and all was right with the world.  The team came back with great stories from the trails and again we enjoyed worshipping together that night.  Hopefully Dave will have time in his busy work schedule to sit down and tell you about his day.  For me, I can only hope that the story of my messed up life before Jesus helped to bring change to at least one person that day.  I will never see those men again this side of heaven, but I'm hopeful some of them will be there to greet me when I go home to the Lord one day.
 
What a great reunion that will be!
 
- Julie

Old Friends and New Trails - The Work Begins

Akala at last!

The village of Akala is Northwest of Kisumu and just past the village of Holo where I had served in 2007 during my first trip to Kenya.  It is a vibrant town with one of the largest weekly markets of that region.  Unfortunately, it took an hour to get there from our hotel and these roads were definately NOT improved!  For those of you who thought anything about these trips resembled a vacation, please know that the beginning and end of each day was spent on one of the worst roller-coaster rides you could imagine...the Kisumu road.  Sections of it were so distorted with crater-sized pot holes that drivers gave up on lanes and just positioned their cars wherever they found a smooth spot - which of course meant that all the cars were gunning for the same areas of road.  The ultimate game of chicken!

Sharp-left = goats, dodge-right = children, hit the hole, gun the engine, beep the horn, dodge the bicycle then sharp-left, hard right BOOM, hit the hole!  Roll down the window. I feel nauseous.  Breathe in the diesel fumes and gag.  Wow, look at that beautiful scenery!

Yes, we had a wild ride each and every day, but what treasures lay at the end of our journey.  One pleasantly weird thing that happened was that as we passed the village of Holo we could see the church I had helped to start off in the distance.  It made me feel like I was "home" in a weird way - like the feeling when you've been away from your parents for a long time and then you pull into their driveway.  Weird to have such a familiar feeling for such a foreign place.

We arrived to the new church late, which meant we missed worship time (boo-hoo! Love me some African worship) but we were greeted by a roomful of familiar faces.  It was so wonderful to smile and hug and visit with our African friends.  Most of the translators this year were men, but we were blessed by the gracious presence of Zappora (whose name I'm sure I misspell).  Zappora is the wise and gentle wife of Boaz, the head master of the Bible College.  The last time I saw Zappora was as Brenda and I were being whisked away from a women's conference in Uganda 2 years ago.  She had inspired us all with a teaching about the lineage of Christ pointing out the colorful women contained therein.

There was also Sosapeter, the pastor from Holo and Eliakim, a much loved young man who we were glad to hear was married and pastoring his own church.  David greeted his translators from years past and introduced me to some of his friends that I did not yet know.  While all this greeting was going on, I looked over the shoulders of the group I was standing with and saw a young man cautiously checking me out from the corner of his eye.  It was my young friend, Martin, who walked the trails with me my first visit to Kenya!  I went straight to him and asked if he recognized me and he said with his finest English, "Yes.  Julie Jacobsen."  How fun to see him after all these years.  It was also an answered prayer since he lives right in the hot-spot of turmoil during the election violence of 2007 and I wasn't sure until that day if he were dead or alive.

We were then partnered with our translators.  David was off to the prisons that day with a group of pastors, but I was partnered with my new friend, Peter, an elder of the Holo church.  After everyone was paired up, Martin volunteered his services to us for the day so I was blessed with two translators instead of one!  It would prove to be a lovely day.

Young Martin from Kisule and Peter from Holo Community Bible Church

Before I left, one of my friends who contributed financially to the trip challenged me to make a difference in the lives of 10 people.  Lisa, I dedicate this day to you!

Walking alone with a translator into an impoverished African village to share the gospel and invite people to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior is an intimidating prospect.  You all know I'm an extrovert, but without fail I always start my trail days anxiously.  I worry that I won't explain things well, or that I'll sound like a crazy person, or that I'll meet a crazy person, or that I'll somehow let God down by messing up the whole thing.  As we started our work that day my mind was racing with pep-talk.  I took a deep breath and thought that I'd just ease into thing a bit.

HA!  God showed us his sense of humor that day.  For Dave it was finding out the night before that he would be preaching in the prisons his first day in-country (not his favorite task) and for me - well, let me explain.

The first group we approached was a gathering of about 10 men sitting under the shade of a bus stop.  Nothing like jumping in with both feet!  They were very attentive and things were going well when all of a sudden, a drunk man named John started asking questions.  I realized he wasn't in his right mind, but he asked some good questions.  He stated that he wanted Jesus but he also wanted his drink.  Not sure what came over me, but I became very direct with this man and told him that the enemy was using alcohol to destroy his life and that ultimately it was his own choice whether or not he chose Jesus or the drink.  All this while the rest of the 10 men watched me intently.  I figured I was just the visiting Mzungu so why not just go for it, right?  Yep, I was in all the way now!

Our next visit was less intimidating as we enjoyed visiting with some women.  Then we walked into farm fields and were invited into private homes.  One older gentleman was eating outside under a tree, but when he saw us coming he left his food and invited us into his home.  We had a good visit with he and his wife and they both received Christ.  Then he told us the coolest thing.  He said that normally he would not leave his food and his work behind to greet visitors, but he said he could sense our good character and saw that a Great Spirit was walking with us so he felt compelled to welcome us.  How awesome is that?!  I had prayed many times that the Holy Spirit would walk ahead of us on the trails and here was a man saying he sensed that very thing!

They were so nice and they asked me to stay for tea.  I respectfully declined and here's where God's humor kicked up again...They offered me a thank-you blessing of avacados and not your run of the mill Haas variety that we find around here.  No, I'd calculate that each of these gigantic avacados weighed at least 1 pound each and they gave me 11 of them!!  Now, one of my worries was that I wasn't physically strong enough to walk the trails this year, yet here I was adding 11 additional pounds to my bakpack that I would have to carry for the rest of the day!  Very funny God!  Yet I was so honored by their gesture of thanks and almost felt like I had been "annointed" by the Avacados.  It was a pleasure to carry them with me the rest of that day.

With one of the avacados I tried to save.  It was shriveling by the time I took this photo, but it still wielded some weight to it!  I had given away all but this one.

We visited with others that day, of course, some believers and others just choosing to believe.  HEY LISA, I had 10 names on my list at the end of the day of people who made a decision to follow Jesus!  Your donation helped to make a definitive difference in the lives of these people but all I did was deliver the message - it will be God who brings the change!  Thank you again for your help.

The final bit of humor God threw my way was in regards to the children's ministry that afternoon.  Running a fun kid's group is not my forte' but I had spent some time the day before getting ready.  Problem was, I realized about an hour and a half before start time that I had left all the children's church materials behind in the van that morning and they were now enjoying a visit to the prisons!  Yep - my whole team had to wing it without any resources at our disposal at all!  That wasn't so funny, but we made it through.

It was a good first day on the trails of Akala.  The people were welcoming and the work satisfying.  We all survived and kept cheerful attitudes intact.  Our prayers were answered and lives were changed.  All the while I felt God's smile upon us throughout our day as if he took real pleasure in being with us.  I'm also pretty sure I heard him laughing!

I hope you enjoy your own laugh with the Lord today!

- Julie

On the Road

Let's hear it for the boys! (L-R) Dave, Keith & Drew, Tommy, Nathan, Tom, Pastor Morris Ogenga

Hey Ladies! (back row L-R) Stephanie, Lisa, Emily, Brenda, Julie, Erin, Leslie, Tessa McG (ground) Tessa part deux and Sherry

Today was road trip day as we departed Nairobi for Kisumu in the capable hands of our drivers Jimmy and Moses.  We were up early for breakfast, worship and devotional then it was hit the road time.

One of my concerns for this team is that we did not have a worship leader per-se, but again, God exceeded my expectations.  Dave woke up that morning with an old worship song in his head that he not only wanted to lead the group in singing, but he wanted me to come up with a little circle dance for as well!  It was great fun and everybody raised their voices, moved their bodies and had a great time worshipping the Lord.  Then someone else chimed in with a song choice and we sang that one too.  There was so much happiness in that room!  Worship would continue in that vein for the rest of the week with different team members taking turns being the leader by picking worship songs to sing acapella.  Really, it was the best worship ever of all the trips I have been on. 

Nairobi was a mess as always.  I know it had been a few years since I had been back, but it seemed like the area outside the Guest House looked more impoverished and trashy than ever.  There also seemed to be a large population of men peeing on the side of the road!  We probably saw 3 that morning alone, but the trend would continue throughout the week to the point where we began imagining a peeing-man-of-the-month calendar and started labeling those we saw as "Mr. October, Mr. November, etc."  Yep, spend too much time in a van looking at slum-like conditions and your mind can slip right into the gutter!

The long van ride to Kisumu is physically hard because the roads are so rough - although I will say this year they seemed improved - but that long ride affords you the chance to get your mind wrapped around the culture and the people you are about to work with.  Staring out the window, seeing the people and how they live, waving our Mzungu hands at wide-eyed children and making them smile, these are the things that get your head in the game.  I like the long drive and I think Kenya is a beautiful country. 

Not long after getting out of Nairobi you come upon an overlook of the Great Rift Valley.  It was foggy for us so the visibility was low, but I can say from years past that it is stunningly beautiful.  The overlook sits high on a ridge and as you look down there are several large ridges that lead to the valley.  The ridges are natural (I think) but they are spacious enough that people live and farm on them.  Then as your eye scans the horizon it is nothing but flat savanna and farm land as far as you can see.  In the distance you can see a lake with blotches of pink covering it which are actually flocks of fishing flamingos (say that 10 times fast) and when the sun hits the water, the pink is a brilliant highlight to the sparkling blue.

The road then leads you into farmland and eventually into the higher elevations where the tea plantations are.  There is a town called Kericho which is surrounded by tea plantations.  In fact, I'm sure the plantations came before the town since one of the leading brands of Kenyan tea is named Kericho after it's plantation.  The road through this area is higher up and the vista is of rolling mountainside filled with row after row of dense tea hedges.  Surrounding the tea fields are forests of eucalyptus.  Scattered amongst the hedges are men and women harvesting the new growth off the top which is the part used for tea.  This scene continues for several miles. 

Some of the land is cleared for schools and row houses where the workers live.  I asked Aidah if this was a good life to have, working on the plantations, and she said it was a very hard job, but that it was a pretty good life since you were provided a home during harvest season.  For me, it was the closest thing I could imagine to what the deep South might have been at one time.  Yes, the white-washed row houses looked nicer than other homes we had passed, but I wondered in reality how many people lived inside each one and how well they were treated by the plantation foreman.

The road to Kisumu was much improved since my last time traveling it.  There were less pot-holes and sections of dirt-only road.  Still, there is the hazardous practice of passing slow drivers along the way.  Our driver would ride up on their bumper and keep swaying outward checking for a clearing, then when he was ready he would give a friendly "beep-beep" with the horn as warning then gun our little van around the obstacle.  At home, I just don't pass cars unless I have miles of visibility, but in Kenya it's more like a game of chicken.  If you can get in the way first, you can succeed in making the other guy swerve out of your way!  My friends and loved ones must have been praying hard that day because I wasn't nervous about it at all.

The trip to Kisumu took 8 hours, including a lunch break in the town of Nakuru.  We arrived at our hotel exhausted, but glad to be out of the van.  The hotel was decent enough, but the food wasn't great and there were many team members who lacked air conditioning.  I kept reminding myself that the average Kenyan would feel like a King staying in our hotel which helped me keep things in perspective.  My biggest complaint was with the lack of water pressure.  I absolutely hate cold showers and to couple that with not enough pressure to wet my hair...let's just say it was my cross to bear.

Yet still, despite the challenges of the road and the hotel, our team kept in good spirits ready to begin our work.  I had prayed that day for continued cheerfulness no matter what and God answered that prayer.  Throughout this trip I saw Phillipians 4:13 live and in action:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Even cold showers!

- Julie

Mission Accomplished!

We have returned from Kenya!  Our trip went amazingly well and there are stories to tell.  I will attempt to give you a day-by-day account but the posts will be slow in coming.  David is on his way to England and we will be sharing writing duties - with the time difference and the amount of work he is facing there, posting may come slowly.  Be patient and I know you will be blessed.

We were extremely blessed on this mission.  The team worked well together and everyone seemed to embrace a servant's attitude throughout the trip.  It all started with airports, of course, but even in our waiting time, I saw God at work.

For instance, we flew out of Houston, which is a 3 hour drive for us.  We arrived in time to eat a little lunch then sat around waiting for our first flight.  We all wore our Bondo team t-shirts and this young African man was sitting nearby.  Dave started chatting with him then he called me over.  I was introduced to Sean of Nigeria as the "author of the blog".  You see, he saw our shirts and wondered what Bondo was so he googled it on his i-phone and this website appeared.  He asked David about it and he told Sean that he was, in fact, married to the "author" of that very site!  This led to talk about our mission, etc. and before we finished visiting, this young man spoke blessing in God's name over our team and over the work we were heading out to do. 

After 9 hours or so on that first flight we found ourselves waiting in the Amsterdam airport.  Since we were headed to Nairobi there were many Africans waiting for the same flight.  One larger group had just finished a convention in Las Vegas (yes, the epitome of the impression you don't want to leave as an American) and they were passionately discussing the oil leak in the Gulf.  Because of our t-shirts, they struck up conversation with some of our team members about where we were headed.

[A quick shout-out to John Powell of Print This, San Marcos TX for the shirts that got our conversations rolling!]

I hadn't slept well on the flight so I felt zombie-like and kept quietly to myself, but what I observed in that room was a team of people already embracing the African people.  It was really beautiful to see how engaged many of our team members were in various conversations.  At one point, a man from the Vegas group grabbed David by the hand and drug him to the other side of the room to introduce him to the "Minister of Immigration" for Kenya who apparently had some connection to the Bondo region.  Dave said he was introduced then left alone with the man to visit.  Before it was all said and done they had discussed the mission and David was handed a Christian book that some man there had written about Joshua.

After another 8 hours we landed safely in Nairobi.  It was great to see Aidah and Morris again and to hug their necks on their home turf.  We were also happy to see two of our favorite drivers, Jimmy and Moses, who were scheduled to be with us all week.  It was a happy reunion there in the dark of the airport parking lot!

We were taken into Nairobi to the Methodist Guest House for the night.  It was there we ran into a *Mzungu couple that had been on our flight.  Dave and I, plus Tom and Brenda, sat down with them at dinner to discuss why we were all in Kenya.  They were school teachers from NYC who were headed into the slum of Kibera for the week. [check out http://www.kslum.org/aboutkibera.htm for more info].  Not only did we talk about mission work, but we also discussed homeschooling and we were hopefully able to answer some of their questions.

I suppose what I'm trying to emphasize is that the mission work wasn't limited to Akala, Kenya - it began in Houston and continued throughout our travels.  Scripture tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ and like earthly ambassadors, you just don't travel unnoticed.  If you're in the public, you are "on" doing your ambassador thing.  It was so lovely to observe the friendliness of our team in action throughout our travels.  I went to bed that night anticipating that this trip would be one of the best.  God would soon exceed my expectations!

Until next time -

Julie

*Mzungu = White person.  You'll be hearing this word alot from here on out.

Happy Birthday Saida!

She might not appreciate my posting this picture, since nowadays you're likely to see her with her hair done and makeup on, but I liked this photo so...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET SAIDA!  Hard to believe how fast 14 years can pass!  You bring beauty to our family and help to keep all those squirrely boys in their place.  I'm so glad God brought you to us!

Sadly, we will be leaving for Africa on Saida's special day, but we leave her in capable hands and know she will have a wonderful time.  While she is celebrating with friends, we will be boarding an airplane for Kenya!  

Yes, our time of preparation is almost done and the trip has finally arrived.  This blog will remain silent for a couple of weeks since we will not have access to the Internet while we are in-country.  When we return, I hope to relay our experiences to you in detail.   Until then, thank you to all who have followed this journey since "Eating for Africa" and have supported us with your prayers, finances and words of encouragement. 

We would appreciate your continued prayers throughout our journey since it is clear to us that the enemy has been "prowling around [our team] looking for someone to devour".  He might be hungry for a kill, but the Lion of Judah is going to kick his scrawny butt!  Oh - is that not polite of me to say?

May God bless you, keep you, make His face to shine upon you and give you PEACE.

- Julie

I Know You're There Lord

Tonight the CCC Prayer Ministry Team met with our Bondo mission team to hear our needs and pray over us for the trip.  What a sweet time of togetherness, with each other and with the Lord.  At one point I really want to fall on my knees, but of course second-guessed myself for a while.  When I opened my eyes preparing to make a move, I saw that almost all of our team has prostrated themselves already - so I joined them!  By the end of it all, we had all humbled ourselves before God and it was just...perfect.

Without disclosing details of other people's stories, I was amazed to hear how many of our team have been under spiritual attacks these past few weeks.  Many team members shared how current situations in their lives had been mentally all-consuming, distracting and heartbreaking.  There were many commonalities in our prayer needs.  My heart ached for some of the situations and it really brought losing the UK trip into better focus for me.  In short, I'm okay with it now.

I believe Satan has been trying to divert our team from the battle ahead and I see all of these attacks as an ambush from enemy forces.  Those grenades have really been flying in everyones lives, so I reiterate:

"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD. - Isaiah 54:17

We'll spend the rest of this week in final preparations which for me equates to housework and loving on my kids.  There is laundry to finish, luggage to pack and bug spray to purchase.  Yes, the business of these final days will continue but by the grace of God I choose to give my worries to Him and go about my business enjoying the "peace that surpasses all understanding".

I leave you with a favorite song to enjoy.  Just pretend it is me singing it because I agree with every word sung.

Grenade!

I've been watching the mini-series "Band of Brothers".  That tidbit of Julie trivia will help make sense out of what I am about to say.

Two weeks ago, just about the time we said "Whew! No more fundraising!" we get the word from Dave's work that they were wanting to send Dave to England to help out the UK office and they were possibly considering sending the whole family.  This started us down the road of anticipation, but I was pessimistic.  There was no good reason to send a family of six on the company's dime other than to bless a hard working, long-term employee.  I was shocked when the company came back with an offer to send the whole family for 3 1/2 months! 

As you can imagine, this was a huge mental distraction for us.  Since they needed Dave within days of returning to Africa I suddenly had to prepare for two trips instead of one and I only had about 2 weeks to get it all together.  The logistics were paralyzing at first, but we processed the details and started working a plan.

Did I mention how mentally distracting this was from our Africa trip?

Over the past two weeks we have run the gambit of emotion but we landed in a place of excitement.  Even the kids were warming up to the idea of a family adventure.  This was an opportunity that we could never afford on our own...traveling internationally together.  I felt blessed and I was so glad Dave's company was willing to honor him in this way.  Dave and I waited with anticipation for a meeting with his boss to receive all the logistics, but when that meeting came (yesterday) we were stunned to hear that they would no longer be sending the whole family.

"Disappointed" seems too flippant and "shattered" too severe - but we are very let down.  I mean, I had spent two weeks thanking God for blessing us with an opportunity that I had only dreamed about for my family.  We had prayed about the logistics, contacted a church, found a home group, familiarized ourselves with the area, the weather, the free places to visit, etc.  Now...nothing.

After some time to process the news I've decided that this whole thing was nothing short of an attack by the enemy.  It's like an emotional grenade was thrown into the middle of our lives; it came out of nowhere, sent us scrambling then exploded.  Fortunately, God's word says, "no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD" - Isaiah 54:17  The grenade was a dud, meaning it didn't destroy us, but boy has it left our ears ringing!

It also serves to remind me that we are in a battle for the souls of men.  As I've struggled to re-focus my thoughts towards Africa I realize that Satan doesn't like it one bit when the truth of God goes forth to shine in the darkness of broken lives.  There is definitely a battle and we are foot soldiers in that fight. 

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." - Ephesians 6:11-12

Yes, I am sad about not going to England with the family, but when I stop and consider the scriptures I've shared with you today, I'm encouraged and believe that great things are ready to happen in Akala, Kenya!

Amen Lord, let it be!

- Julie

P.S.  In case you're wondering, yes - we know we might be wrong about all this.  We have prayed and given the whole situation over to God to work out the details as he sees fit, but for me, emotionally, I have to consider the matter closed.  Perhaps circumstances will change so feel free to pray as you feel led.