The Kendalls In Kenya

Live from Kenya

the_kendalls — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:30:39 +0000

The “Class 4″ girls wanted to show Kristin their 4th grade classroom … :0) The largest game of duck duck goose we’ve ever played! Man can they run FAST! Funny how they always tagged the muzungos to be the goose ! I guess they knew they could beat us! ;0)Walking from GGCC to and from the guesthouse, village children would emerge from the bushes on the side of the road , grab our hand and walk with us :0)

First day at GGCC

the_kendalls — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:12:51 +0000

Sent from my iPhone

Tues… August 1st… Home sweet home!!!

the_kendalls — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:16:06 +0000

After a 6 hr jeep ride from the mara to Nairobi, a 2 hr ride from Kenya to Ethiopia, and a 17 1/2 hr planeride from Addis Ababa to Rome to Washington DC, we are finally on homeland soil! Starbucks and Fuddruckers in our bellies, we are catching up on emails and news… And after a 5 hr layover we will be back at home in Charlotte at 3:00pm. Thank you Frances for providing the airport shuttle service!!! And thank you Lisa for the dinner tonight!!! What a wonderful homecoming!!! We can’t wait to upload our pictures to the website tonight ( or tomorrow if we’re laggin’ )!
The safari was unbelievable… An incredible display of God’s creation!!! I was speechless… Jaw on my lap so many times…
The camp we stayed at was absolutely beautiful… Brand new and first class … A true blessing to our team… Thank you Amanimara for your hospitality and special attention!
Calvary, we can’t wait to see you at the post-trip party, and Carmel, hope your flights are going well … We look forward to seeing you back in Charlotte!!!
Thank you to both teams’ leaders… You are inspirations, mentors, and dear dear friends! Love and hugs to both teams… You are like family to us now… I am so glad God wove us together this past month to create an amazing tapestry of service, fun, and lots of wonderful memories!!!
We look forward to sharing over time the things God is doing to grow the seeds He planted over the past 4 weeks in each of us… ” this is only the beginning…”!
Sawa sawa,
Ann and crew

Friday 4:30 pm…July 29… last day at Tenwek

the_kendalls — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:25:26 +0000

We had a great night with the medical director of Tenwek Hospital, Dr. Mike Chupp and his wife Pam last night. He is an orthopedic MD who trained at U of Michigan…and the answer to prayer he brought with him was that a specialist in pediatric prostheses will be at Tenwek just for 4 wks…and those 4 wks begin August 1st!!! One of the littlest angel whom God brought to cross paths with us had lost her leg in a fire and is in need of a limb. Riverside church will once again pour out their tattered pockets into the collection basket to share in the cost of helping this girl. Her mother, the teenaged girl supporting her daughter with prostitution , will give what she can afford…and our team will pay the rest! Within a week this awesome little one will be off and running! Praise God! The 9 mo old with hydrocephalus, Ian, was seen by the surgeons on Tuesday and was deemed a candidate for a shunt. The team and church, in partnership with his mother, Betsy, will make sure he gets his surgery asap! The 6 yr old with hydrocephalus was seen yesterday in surgery and we can’t wait to hear if he is a candidate…if so, we have the funds to get him treated as well…yea God!!!

We went to a faraway school today for soccer and devotion…and duck duck goose! Had a blessed amazing time…child evangelism svcs will follow up after us…small group bible study awaits this public schl…yea Tenwek Community Health…mind, body, and SPIRIT!

We are off in the morning…4 wheel drive landrover to the massai mara…a 4 hr drive to the safaricamp. will go on a game drive tomorrow this time! We can’t WAIT!!!!!

Be in touch soon I hope!

Love,

Ann

Thurs afternoon July 28 th…4 pm

the_kendalls — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:55:51 +0000

Hard to believe that we’re on our last two days of ministry and then it’s off to safari!
Last night we had a great visit from our dear friend Matilda…one of the smartest Internal medicine doctors Mike and I have ever met. She trained in Nairobi and was part of the Tenwek medical team who came to join the Calvary team on Mfangano. She had invited us to dinner the other night but that was when Ryan was sick. So we spent about an hour together before she had to go to her bible study. We talked at length about the demon she cast out of a patient they had seen at one of the Mfangano med clinics we held, what her dreams and aspirations are, and how they could be effected by the upcoming Kenyan elections in 2012. She spoke of the fixed results of the prior election, the “media blackout” that “just happened to occur” as the votes were being tallied, and the riots and murders that subsequently occurred. The anger at certain tribes was so deep and violent that anyone even suspected to be from that heritage was killed. Her family home was broken into, burglarized and burned in arson …even tho she had nothing to do with any of the targeted tribes. Her mother and sister had just escaped in time.
Tonight’s guests at the greenhouse for dinner were Jonathan Bii and his family …he is the director of Community Health, his wife Joyce is a teacher at Tenwek public Primary School…she teaches Kiswahili and bible study. She told us her class had made it thru all of the regional poetry competitions and 40 of them were driving at 2:00 am this morning to the national competition. If they win they go immediately to perform in front of the president!
They have 4 children, one of which, Allan, is 12 , 3 rd in his class , and wants to be a neurosurgeon. He and Ryan became fast friends.
This morning we returned back to Umoja Orphanage. We were supposed to go deep into the mountains to a remote orphanage named Bosto, but the torrential rains last night made the roads impassable. We had more work to do on the projects we had started at Umoja anyway, so it worked out fine. The women and kids did another VBS story (Jesus calms the Storm), and made tag-tie blankets and salvation bracelets with/ for each of the 44 children. The men continued the digging / cement and gravel mixing / and pouring of the foundations for a food storage pantry and kitchen , and sanding of the boards for the dining room benches and tables. And of course there was lots and lots of soccer!!!
The Pastor training Conference wrapped up…and unfortunately the big Umoja vs Bukatcha soccer tournament got cancelled. Rains today even ended our teams’ 3 hour hike up a nearby mountain for a 360* view of this part of Kenya :0(.
Tomorrow we are doing soccer clinics and devotion at a primary/secondary school, then visiting a medical dispensary that Carmel helped to fund. It is staffed by RNs and serves mainly as a type of urgent care … For minor injuries and illnesses …and routine/preventative medical care, immunizations, HIV info and testing, prenatal care, and training on hygiene and clean water practices. Since there is no river close to this vlg, water of any kind , unless rainwater was collected recently, is very scarce. The hike to any nearby town is many miles. Carmel helped to fund safe water tanks, and a storage bldg so that more medicines and a small laboratory could be housed. The elders and local leaders and pastors wished us to come for a dedication. After that event, the mission that had been set out for us will have been completed…and it will be time to pack and be ready to leave by van after breakfast on Sat. for the Masaii Mara….
The name of the place we will stay at is called Amanimara. Our first ride out into the game park will be that evening. The great migration of the wildebeest is underway, so predators of every kind should be out and feeding.
We have not been able to download pictures onto our website here…but will be able to do it easily as soon as we get home. Until then, you can see some pictures from the past week on The Buttles’ website. The site is : GoWithUsBlog.com
And the password is : beourguest

Still stormy out there…it is the rainy season after all!

Have a great day!,
Ann

Wed afternoon 3 pm

the_kendalls — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:43:49 +0000

Ryan and I just woke up from a nap to thunder and a downpour of rain…hope that hasn’t stopped the team from harvesting maize for the orphanages and hosting soccer clinics and games for four surrounding schools. The games are hysterical…hundreds of kids running in all directions…everyone chasing the ball…uncertain as to who’s on which team…but everyone getting exercise and having a great time! The Carmel team does a great job presenting the gospel during soccer devotional time. Just awesome to see hundreds of kids listening so intently…so many of the older ones knowing the scripture verses and stories…they have written them on their hearts. It’s also so awesome to see the teachers listening …some of them asking to receive bibles so they can learn and study more.
The maize that the team was helping to harvest today is on a 14 acre plot of land that some of the US missions MDs lease and tend to so that the maize harvested can be used to feed four local orphanages. Extra harvest is sold for profit to pay for the kids’ needs. It’s such a wonderful practical way to serve a need …missionary families and adults alongside orphanage children and caretakers…empowerment, fellowship, and service…friendships made…Especially with the Lord.

We have a fun day planned for tomorrow…we have secured the field at a local high school to host a soccer tournament that the kids from the two orphanages we visited were begging to have…so tomorrow it will be Umoja vs Bukacha… 40 great soccer players vs 40 great soccer players…ages 2 to 18…Upward has supplied the jerseys and we the balls and cheering section. So stay tuned…the thrill of competition and anticipation is in the air! I think my kids and Mike are more excited about this game than the fact that the Pirates are in first place! (ok…maybe not Mike! ;0). )

Have a great day, everybody!
Greet a stranger with a handshake,
Praise the Lord out loud for everything ,
smile at everyone you see…
And you’ll have added a little Kenya into your little world!

We can learn a lot from these wonderful people…

Gotta go feed my boy…he’s hungry! Yea!!! Thank you God!

Blessings and hugs,
Ann

Wed 2:30 post from Ryan

the_kendalls — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:56:24 +0000

Hey everyone!!!!!its Ryan in kenya! This trip is awesome! If Austin is reading this I would like to ask him…
1.what camps are you going to this summer?
2.if ur not in any camps where r u?
3.can you play?
4there is no apple sauce in kenya!
5.but there are Mandazis which r like powdered doughnuts!
But anyway I am having a gr8 time here! This place is the best even though you can get the stomach bug easier… It’s still really humbling to see that they have nothing and they are still filled with the holy spirit and sooooooooo happy!
I would like to tell you the words I learned in swahili!
1.mzungo-white person( I hear that word every day!)
2.jambo-hello
3.habari-how are you
4.mzuri(like the state)-fine
5.sana-a verbal exclamation point!
6.asante-thank you
7.Asante Sana- thank you very much!
8.sasa-wassup!?
9.poa- the slang way of saying I’m good
10.yesu-jesus
11. Christo-christ
12.Sawa Sawa- it’s ok
13.karibu-welcome
14. Yesu akiwa enzini- when the lord is on the throne
15.mambo Sawa Sawa-things are ready better

Well that’s about it! I can’t wait to come home and play the native songs I learned on the guitar! And the new card game I learned called mow!
Bye-bye for now!
Ryan out!!!

Wed July 27th 11:00 am Tenwek Greenhouse

the_kendalls — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:45:37 +0000

Just returned from the hospital and Ryan is having a bite to eat and his medicine. He feels good and rested all morning in bed watching Iron Man while I made the hike up the mntn to the hospital and back. The rest of the team joined the community health group for their morning devotion and then 3 Carmel folks went out to give immunizations to children in the villages. It is a long day for them…the teams immunize upward of 500 babies per outreach and come home late at night. Others are attending the Pastors’ training conference at Riverside Church, teaching 25 pastors from the surrounding area of every denomination how to start childrens’ ministry and in partnership with CEF, distributing all kinds of materials. The pastors are incredible men of God…and work so very hard…there is so much need. They are so excited about childrens ministry…and have waited a year for these materials. They all had lined up workers and space and plans so that as soon as the materials arrived they would be ready to go! They all have far more children who come to worship than adults. The orphans, the schoolchildren, the street kids, and the children from families. They bring their friends and word spreads about the love and hope that is found at the church. They are the hope for Kenya…and the pastors say for all of Africa. Especially with the older generation being wiped out by AIDS…the children are so hungry for God, love, hope, security, guidance, comfort, peace, promise, and a place to turn for help!
The 10 children/youth who are part of the Carmel team have been such an integral and important part of this years’ trip…their unconditional love, wholehearted belief in God, sweet little voices when they pray, and instant way of connecting with the hundreds of children we encounter everyday…it has added another dimension to missions, which Carmel says they will not travel without ever again!
The kids kicked off the opening of the conference with guitar by Ryan and singing by the other nine. The pastors all got out their phones and took pictures and video :0)
People here are always touched that the kids have learned to play their favorite Swahili praise song Mambo Sawa Sawa. These 10 have done skits to act out bible stories, taught VBS songs, dance moves, and corresponding sign language, played soccer(futbol) and ran clinics, prayed over sick children and spent time with them in the hospital, sorted shoes and washed the feet of orphans, shared the salvation story and prayed with new Kenyan playmates who wished to ask Jesus into their hearts, played more soccer, played basketball and pingpong with tired lonely medical residents coming off their long shifts and wanting someone to unwind with, helped watch and play with housekeepers’/missionaries’ children, rocked crying NICU babies, jumped rope/played hopscotch/played parachute and beach ball games/did puzzles/played tag and hide and go seek and duckduckgoose/gave piggyback rides and had tickle fights/ played peekaboo and shared smiles and handshakes and hugs with so many children, mostly orphans…hundreds and hundreds of them! They have offered themselves daily as “human sacrifices”… Enjoying the sweet , shoeless, tattered – clothed, dirty, coughing, runny-nosed, ringworm-covered, wound-covered, sticky- handed , shy but curious, and oh-so-polite and loving children holding their hands, sitting on their laps, staring at them (in some of the remote villages , white people hadn’t come to visit in these kids lifetimes), touching their white skin and playing with the raised veins on their hands (Kenyans have very very
smooth flat dry deep black skin….and they have few freckles, moles, or raised veins ),running their fingers
thru their hair, and braiding it, playing with their fingernails ( ours our white and theirs are brown), and laughing at us trying to pronounce their names, dance , or play sports ( we hardly appear athletic or even coordinated next to them!). The team kids have been flexible, hung in there during long days, been adventurous and grateful during meals, and have complained little, loved much, and gotten along beautifully. They have made us and God so proud and have touched so many Kenyan lives , both young and old!

More later…

Love, Ann

Wed morning

the_kendalls — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:40:30 +0000

Well, to quote Dr Dino Crognale…we continue to get the WHOLE Kenyan experience… Ryan came down with giardia yesterday…he is better this morning and I am headed to the hospital to get his prescription. God has provided everything we need…and angels and prayers and love surround us. Whenever you work to make advances for the kingdom there will always be risks and attacks…God never said there would not be suffering in this world…but He is faithful that if you call upon Him He will give you a peace and comfort that defies understanding. And even tho Ryan was uncomfortable…he has felt so blessed!!!!!
I’ll post more later…we have been so busy and I have not had a computer with connection for a couple days. Great and amazing blessings at orphanages and schools and churches and medical clinics ….
Send comments if you can…Ryan and I are lonely resting in bed all day while the team is gone…but we have been loaned a laptop with Internet for the day so we can chk the blog frequently!!!!!

Sunday…what an incredible sabbath!!!!

the_kendalls — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:13:01 +0000

Just like at GGCC we had our boots knocked off in worship today!!! The Carmel Baptist team arrived safely yesterday afternoon… We were sitting on the curb for over an hr staring down the rd in anticipation… Then exploded in hugs and cheers when their bus arrived from Nairobi!!! We gave them a tour of the hospital and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the greenhouse together as the skies opened up and stormed all night. The greenhouse is just lovely…and our team of 23 fills it up. The view is of tea plantations and the falls…and the chef here is amazing. They boil water with a wood fire at night and we hoist buckets up a pulley system for a minute and a half bucket shower. Fast but warm!!! Had a poisonous 4″ white slug in the women’s bath last night…but that’s the only foe we’ve encountered…mostly domesticated creatures. One of the longterm missionary MDs wives , Amy Bemm, who has a houseful of children of her own and just keeps adopting Kenyan babies (amazing how she finds the time to help organize missions teams!!!!!) met with our team to give the latest updates on the work we are to do this week. She works with orphanages in the surrounding villages and has us harvesting maize with them one day, sanding and building dining room benches for another on another day, and providing. Samaritans Feet shoes for a third on another. We met with the director of Tenwek Community Health and will be doing medical outreach one day. They have 70 employees and go far and wide to help the surrounding communities . But the needs are great, and most of the villages only have a med team come to them one day per month. We will be having soccer clinics at local schools…one school alone has 350 students…all of whom will take the field with us!!! As a gift we are bringing oranges…350 of them! Headed to the local dukas in the morning to buy all they have! The oranges are green here…and sour…but the Kenyans seem to love them that way. The bananas are so cute and tiny…and orange on the inside…and very sweet and sour…kind of like a sweet tart . They are delicious! And so inexpensive! Only 5 Kenyan schillings each ( 88 Ksh per US dollar). The Coke company has the Mkt here…but I’ve heard that Pepsi is making an entry…the medical residents were cheering when they learned that their precious Mountain Dew would soon be available! Coke caters to the population it serves…and Kenyans love it very very sweet. They make a sour lemon soda I love called Krest…and a Ginger soda I can’t remember the name of but I hear they only make it in Nairobi. Well…it’s chai time again…10 and 4… What a nice tradition!
Frances, I just heard about Bob thru the Buttles!!! Did he make it back from China yet? I’m sure after his illness/ hospitalization he will be so glad to be home! Blessings of complete healing, our friend!!!!!We are so sorry for all that you have had to go thru!!!

Our Sunday worship today was spent with the Riverside Church…an African Gospel Congregation in Bomet…about a 15 minute ride from Tenwek. Our team leader, Don Hoover , felt the Holy Spirit lead him to stop by to visit that church a couple of yrs ago, and an instant relationship was formed which has been a blessing to both churches. Carmel has seeded a fund which Riverside has multiplied to grow their church exponentially and bless the surrounding community. They have tripled their sanctuary size..and the seats have filled already…they add new members not by the week but by the day! They have built a fellowship hall which they use for all kinds of ministries…especially for children…they have at least 100 of them….almost all orphans or from single parent homes. The children tell their classmates about the love they get at their church and make invitations for worship. The kids at once feel the love that radiates from this place and bring their parents the following week. The pastor there says he desires to be different from the other churches in their tribe that seek to invite mainly the rich…he believes all are equal and important in Gods eyes. Also, none of the African Gospel churches have schools…and he visions one at Riverside in the near future. They already have their sights on a parcel of land nearby. They are praying the Lord will provide. They woman who donated the church the land they currently own and built on had a fire in her home 2 nights ago…the church held a love offering in the worship service and shillings were poured out of every pocket. They love and generosity of these people was so evident.
Ryan played the guitar and we all were his backup singers…Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord, How Great is Our God…and everyone’s favorite : Mambo Sawa Sawa!
All of our kids danced and sang to the Lord with all of the kids of the congregation…worship was for 3 hrs…and all of us gave our testimonies. The gift of the Peruvian Altar Cloth from the Harrison Latino Community touched the hearts of the Riverside people deeply. They return the prayers and bless you! They treated us like kings to a lunch of rice, chapatis, peas, soda, and beef stew. While there, the pastor introduced us to two of their youngest members who had medical needs. One five yr old boy had hydrocephalus, and his mother had run off. He was living with his dad who makes a living of selling small trinkets and cakes at a roadside stand. They have no money for medical care. Another was a six yr old girl who had lost her leg in a fire. She had been dragging herself around the ground for transportation until last month when the church built her some crutches. Their dream for her is to have a prosthesis…something Tenwek is capable of. Her mother works the streets to make a living…but doesn’t have the funds to pay for such equipment. We were headed into the fellowship hall for lunch when Pastor Rubin told us that someone named Betsy had come onto the property for prayer for her sick child…and wondered if some of us would join him. We laid hands on her and her precious 9 mo old boy Ian…a sweet little face on an enlarging head…another child in need of a shunt ( cerebral spinal fluid building up and putting pressure on the brain). We took their names and contact info and will pray tonight for direction. We have seen God connect us specially each day with just one or two individuals whom He has raised up for healing and blessing …and today was no different. In a land of so much need, it intrigues me how He has specific plans for a few. Then again…Jesus didn’t heal everyone…but offered peace and salvation to all, using the gift of healing for a specific purpose in a few. Working alongside of Him, He has guided us to do the same thing. So much need and suffering is overwhelming…and we spent our first few wks trying desperately to help as many as we could…but left a clinic or school or orphanage sad and tired and frustrated. We had human limitations…and for as many as we help there are SO many more. But as is written in scripture, “We will always have the poor”…but with God’s help we do what we can do, and most importantly, we make ourselves available for Him to work thru us. He is
in control…and is worthy of our trust. So we will be obedient and forge ahead…hand in hand with our
master…into whatever He holds in store for us tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing chai-time with me!
Going to go get the kids from the basketball court and take some bucket showers!

Love,
Ann