Pilgrims' Home

We rearranged the schedule today. We had planned to work a half day beginning at 8:30, but we were invited to see the operation of a coffee farm co-op. This was pretty interesting and depressing. The plantation is a fair-trade certified factory, yet a pound of coffee sells for 20 cents. The cartel of coffee has too many brokers who cash-in while the kenyan coffee farmers are shortchanged. The best way to stop this is to connect with a farmer and buy direct, roast and grind your own.  Following the coffee tour, we went to work for one-half day starting at 9:30. We were able to finish everything and depart by 1:00. We left the home and returned to our quarters for lunch and some rest.  We planned to return to Morning Star for supper that evening. We helped to purchase two live goats for supper! Yes, they were living. I will refrain from details, but Shawn slit the animal's throat and drained the blood. Then the rest of the process prior to throwing ALL of the meat into a boiling...

We were all back together at work today. The roof needed to be completed, cabinets made, a tire swing hung, and the electrical stabilized. It appeared that many of us were tired today. I, for one, slept about two hours, so most of the morning was a struggle to stay awake, let alone not cut my hand with the saw (as I saw a couple of guys almost accomplish). Something you should know: there were two work teams this week. The first included the roofing team: Gunnar, Shawn, Ron, John. The second team included the more highly skilled guys - Dean, Ken, and Kyle under the supervision of Bill Deetjen. We also had two overseers, who worked diligently trying to be sure that the team had everything we needed as soon as possible (which in Kenya time took longer than some desired) - this included Bob and Reuben. Those two guys gave up the joy of working with their hands for the sake of administration and finance. Without these two men none of us would have accomplished anything. We are grateful. O...

The team of four (Ron, CHris, Kyle and John) traveled back to Stars for Jesus today. We traveled via Air Kenya. The group that remained at Stars continued the diligent work of putting trusses on the roof, finishing the water tank, and making the playground secure - we have dubbed the playground "Papa Bill's Village" since he was the creative engineer behind the whole thing.  Also, Bill made spaghetti for supper. The traveler's were unable to join them for the meal, so they stopped to eat at a place in Nairobi. The downside of our delay was that we missed the great meal creation.

Three members of the team departed this morning. Ron, John, and Kyle traveled to Mombassa area to discover a children's home operated by Larry and Kathy Hopkins of Canada and the African Inland Mission (affiliated with Rift Valley Academy).  Chris Okune of First Love, a children's home in Nairobi, traveled with us. He is the director of the home, and his vision and insight into empowering students to live abundantly in the future is one worth replicating. He is a visionary, and his children's home is an invitation to what is possible for the future of Kenyan children. First Love is committed to two things: 1) housing children whose parents have died; 2) feeding 1000 students breakfast and lunch at a local slum school near Kibira (this is the second largest slum in the world). Rifiki Children's Home is a home for 85+ kids and has a dynamically different feel than either Stars for Jesus or First Love. Rifiki is a more conservative home that seeks to prepare the children t...

We departed Amsterdam after a brief four hour layover (it is 7 hours on the way home). Layovers begin to disclose personalities. Some want to sit in a chair and wait it out - the bonus is that these guys watch the luggage. Others want to walk aimlessly in order to get some exercise. Still, others have a destination in mind - Starbucks or a wireless hotspot. I like this about our group. We are now on the plane to Nairobi. Gunnar has met his flight attendant, the two younger women sitting in his row (one is from North Dakota traveling to Kenya to teach English on the South-east coast), and he is the most diligent at walking the aisles. I think that every time he gets up, he meets someone new. The movie of the trip has been True Grit. I have yet to watch it (I watched Chronicles of Narnia 3, instead). But I thought it odd when Ron Russell and Ken Carlson were playing cowboys throughout Schipohl Airport (boys will be boys). John is our watch-out guy. He is always turning around to m...

We arrived at 8:30. Right on time. We were able to secure the luggage quickly and depart to the guest house. It wasnfun to have a welcome team of Reah and bob and Sandra and others. They had a busy day preparing for our arrival, but all seems to be going very well. Please pray that the Kenya power can be put back together so we have power at the home. We spent some time together in one of the sitting rooms. It is a dynamic and verbal group. We tell jokes,interior each other, and several other quirks that will be sure to make the blog this week. We are safe. Stay tuned.

We departed Amsterdam after a brief four hour layover (it is 7 hours on the way home). Layovers begin to disclose personalities. Some want to sit in a chair and wait it out - the bonus is that these guys watch the luggage. Others want to walk aimlessly in order to get some exercise. Still, others have a destination in mind - Starbucks or a wireless hotspot. I like this about our group. We are now on the plane to Nairobi. Gunnar has met his flight attendant, the two younger women sitting in his row (one is from North Dakota traveling to Kenya to teach English on the South-east coast), and he is the most diligent at walking the aisles. I think that every time he gets up, he meets someone new. Towards the end of the flight he met another missionary couple with campus crusade. They used to live in Minot north Dakota. By the end of the flight Gunnar has connected every passenger to either North Dakota or Denmark. Remarkable. The movie of the trip has been True Grit. I have yet to watch...