The Kids and The Partners
Pastor Dennis and his wife Karin
Don Hugo: as a coffee farm owner he pastored the church for many years and prayed for God to provide the clinic. He is a Godly community leader and our friend! (yes, he does like to have fun!)
Donna Woodson is one of our missionaries to Nicaragua and the organizer of our trips. Louis is our bus driver and always considered one of our team. Driving that bus up and down the mountain is hard work. A few years ago the teens nicknamed him the "bus ninja."
Nicaragua - My Story
One of the things the team did to help them build relationships and share their God story was to create a My Story booklet with pictures of their life. They have already been able to use them to share their story with new friends in Nicaragua. The church in La Esmeralda has a strong team of young leaders who are connecting with our team of young leaders to encourage and challenge each other. The Nicaragua team surprised our group by creating their own My Story books to share and had them translated into English.
Life for the Nicaragua Team
The church people built stairs leading to the Morena House to make it easier for the team to haul supplies up the hill.
Meals are prepared in the clinic kitchen and served in the pavilion on the clinic grounds. Even eating is an adventure!
Preparing for activities:
The bus ride up the mountain and to neighboring communities for outreach events is always an adventure!
La Esmerald is in a cloud forest for the team is learning to live with the jungle creatures.
Thankful for the doc when we need to have something checked out!
Nicaragua - Outdoor Fun
Pictures from Nicaragua
The team is doing well. Yesterday, Tuesday they held their 2nd VBS in an area school and hung mosquito nets in area homes. The Bible story they told the children was Noah's ark. They included the children in the telling of the story. You will see children with masks representing the animals and a piece of fabric as the ark. Look for Noah. He has a long gray beard. Enjoy!
Pictures from the craft time and singing:
Kenya Medical Team Return
The Kenya medical team is due to arrive at O'Hare in Chicago just after 6pm this evening. If all goes well with customs and luggage, they should be back at the Fox River Waukesha campus shortly after 8pm.
Journey home
Michelle and I are boarding for our first flight to Addis Ababa. I heard from the team and they were leaving Istanbul about 45 minutes past scheduled departure time.
Team arrived in Istanbul
The medical team has completed their first leg of the trip home, arriving safely in Istanbul. Michelle and I leave in a few hours for the Mombasa airport, flying out at 4:30pm.
Safari
The medical team took some much needed rest and recoup while on safari Monday and returned today. It was a nice opportunity to reflect, process and enjoy the beautiful Tsavo national park. During our closing meeting last night, everyone shared their thankfulness and spiritual growth that has taken place over the past week and a half. It was an encouraging time, and I hope that you will take the opportunity to ask them about their personal journeys.
I am so grateful for these hardworking dedicated people who said yes to God and came to serve in Kenya on this medical trip. I am grateful for all of their time and effort, I know it has been a long and difficult week. Thanks for your service, thanks for your teamwork, and thanks for the love that you have freely given this week.