Ice Cream and Coloring

What could be better than ice cream and coloring? How about sharing God's truth using both? 

Today was our first day in the schools - Crossroads Academy in Vipingo in the morning and New Life Academy in Bomani in the afternoon. Denise had some administrative work to do (January is usually her work trip), so the team helped out where we could, and also led the kids in some activities in the meantime. 

One group went to work with the Kindergarten classes. In Kenya, there are three levels of Kindergarten: KG1, KG2, and KG3 with ages 3, 4, and 5, respectively. These young kids do not speak or understand English very well, but what they lack in communication skills, they more than make up for in smiles and love. The group working with the KG kids spent time coloring a picture with them in small groups. They used the pictures they were coloring and songs to talk to them about how much God loves them, working with their teachers to interpret.

Meanwhile, another group worked with the kids in Standard 1 through Standard 8 (1st through 8th grade), teaching them about Jesus feeding the 5000. Ben explained to the kids that the ingredients in Jesus' miracle were 5 loaves of bread, 2 fish, and one boy's willingness to share his lunch. To illustrate that point, we used ingredients of cream, sugar, and vanilla (shaken up in ziploc bags of ice and rock salt) to make ice cream. The classes passed the bags around shaking and shaking the bags, having a lot of fun.

Who wants ice cream? 

You've got to shake, shake, shake.... 

We have a new addition on the campus of our school in Vipingo: Life Spring Children's Centre, which opened in August. This is a rescue center where babies who have been abandoned or are otherwise in need of a stable home are cared for full time. Right now, the center is home to three children, ranging from 2 to 18 months. The team was able to see the new center, meet these precious little ones, and meet the incredible care givers who give these little guys their love.

Life Spring Children's Centre

Sleeping peacefully in a loving, stable home

Hello there, little one! 

The Rescue Center sitting room and kitchen

Finally, we were able to distribute some letters that sponsors have written to the kids. They LOVE getting letters. It really makes them feel cared for. Most of them (perhaps not the littlest littles yet, but all the others) understand that their school, uniforms, daily meals, and education are only possible because of their sponsors' generosity, so they are very thankful to hear from you! If you'd like to contact the child you're sponsoring, look on the back of their photo or email missions@foxriverchristian.org

The medical team had an excellent first clinic day as well! Another post detailing there work will soon follow. Thank you for following our journey with us. We can't wait to share what else God has in store for us here.

Medical Team Update

Did you know there are two Fox River teams in Kenya right now? One team is focused on activaties with the kids at our schools, specifically with the kids who just graduated 8th grade in November and will be moving on to high school soon. The other is a medical team that will be setting up medical clinics and addressing the kids' health needs.  

The medical team arrived safe early this morning at 3:00am. We picked them up and got everyone checked into their rooms. They were a tired but excited group! Some chose to sleep a few hours and others chose to stay up and enjoy their first morning in Kenya.

At 10:00am we headed to Crossroads Fellowship Church in Mombasa. Jim Horne, missionary to our school in Vipingo - Crossroads Academy, gave a good message on starting the new year right and the worship team kept us moving and awake! It was a great way to start the trip and put us in the right mindset for the upcoming week.

We had lunch at the hotel and then did some shopping at Nakumatt (Kenyan version of WalMart) to pick up some snacks and supplies for the week.

When we returned to the hotel we began the fun process of sorting through the supply suitcases and getting our things organized for the week. Everyone made it until after dinner and most retired to their rooms early to catch up on much needed sleep!

Sorting through the medical supplies

We are so looking forward to working with our Kenyan partners this week to provide medical care to the kids at our schools in Bomani and Vipingo as well as Majaoni. Good News Academy in Majaoni is a school that is a part of Bobby & Lisa Bectel's ministry, as is Bomani.

Starting out Sunday

Sunday was a day of worship and preparation for the week ahead.

After our early morning arrival, we had a few hours to unpack and rest before heading out to Crossroads Fellowship for Sunday morning worship. 

The Crossroads Fellowship worship team  

Pastor Robert leading worship

Relaxing on the steps of Crossroads Fellowship after the morning service. 

Pastor Robert led the worship team in several songs of praise, after which Pastor Jim Horne, delivered a message of a spiritual inventory for the new year and the importance of being the church in community. Jim is one of our missionary partners in Kenya. If you attend Fox River, you may remember that he visited us last November. 

Pastor Jim Horne and his wife Susie

After church, we returned to the hotel to finalize details for this week, particularly our time spent with the recent graduates of our schools in Bomani and Vipingo. 

Later in the afternoon, we loaded up the bus and traveled to the local shopping center, mainly to stop at Nakumatt. Like a Kenyan version of Walmart, the teams usually stop at Nakumatt for any essentials that we need for the trip, snacks, and additional supplies for the schools.

After Nakumatt, we prepared the supplies we need for tomorrow's day at our schools in Vipingo and Bomani and had some free time for as long as we could stay awake. Some are lasting than others. 

Tomorrow will be out first day at the schools with the kids. Please pray that our time in the schools gets off to a good start! Stay tuned for more updates!

Arrived in Kenya

We have arrived at our hotel in Kenya!

The team did a great job through each of the legs of our journey: a 10-hour flight from Chicago to Istanbul, Tukey; a brief layover; an 8-hour flight from Istanbul to Mombasa, Kenya with a brief stop in Kilmanjaro, Tanzania on the way, customs, luggage, and a bus to our hotel. That much travel can take a lot out of you, but our team held it together very well (Starbucks in the Istanbul airport didn't hurt).

We arrived at the hotel around 4:45am local time and began the process of distributing supply luggage from personal luggage and getting settled in.

Sorting through our supplies and personal luggage is quite the process. 

We plan to attend worship services at Crossroads Fellowship in just a few hours, so some of us are getting a few hours of sleep (in a bed rather than a airplane seat!) and some us will be powering through (and likely collapsing later this evening).

It has already been a blessing to know that so many people are lifting us up in prayer back home and around the world. Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support. Stay tuned for more updates!

On our way!

The team gathered at the Waukesha Campus this afternoon, did a final luggage (and passport!) check, and boarded the bus to Chicago.

We're currently at O'Hara airport, anxiously awaiting the first leg of our journey. We fly to Istanbul, Turkey, have a short layover, and then fly to Mombasa.

Please join us in praying for safe and expedient travel, quick and easy customs procedures, and that even in our travel, God's love would shine from each of us.

Getting Ready to Go!

The mission team that is leaving tomorrow afternoon is so excited at the opportunity to be in Kenya so soon! We have been getting ready and preparing for the adventure God has set before us all week. 

We started the week by joining together to pack the supplies we will need to be effective while we are in Kenya. 

The medical team packing their supplies.  

We will have both a medical team, and a general team over in Kenya this trip. The medical team will be assessing and meeting the medical needs of the people in the communities we serve, while the general team will be celebrating our first 8th grade class graduating as well as working with the schools.  

Our team was also able to be prayed over by our congregation, on Sunday morning. What a blessing! Knowing your prayers are with us as we travel is an amazing privilege.  

The team was commissioned, blessed, and prayed over at Fox River (Waukesha campus) on Sunday.

We will head out at 4:00pm tomorrow and ask that you continue to cover us, and the people of Kenya with your prayers.

It's Christmas, Everywhere!

Merry Christmas! 

We are glad you are reading and following along as we share how God is using Fox River in both Nicaragua and Kenya! 

Today some of our partners will share with us how they celebrate Christmas in their communities.  We all celebrate in different ways, but the one thing that we all have in common is the reason to why we celebrate!  We love how multi-cultural our God is and that we get to share in His ministry in both Kenya and Nicaragua! 

Nicaragua - Pastor Denis and Jorvin

Pastor Denis shares about how they celebrate in their community…

“lo que nosotros hacemos en navidad en la iglesia es una cena navideña, cada miembro de la iglesia aporta una cantidad de dinero para comprar los ingredientes de la cena, los niños de la iglesia hacen un coro navideño y como podemos decoramos la iglesia.en la casa de nosotros la noche del 31 de diciembre hacemos una cena con los muchachos lideres de la iglesia,y pasamos hasta la medianoche con ellos porque ellos no tienen otra distraccion ellos son felices pasar ese dia con nosotros,en las nuves lo que haremos este año es llevar unos regalos pequeños para ellos y un coro que los niños de la esmeralda llevaran.”

—“  What we do for Christmas at the church is we have a Christmas dinner. Each member gives a certain amount of money so that we can buy the ingredients of the meal. The children of the church have a Christmas choir. And we also try to decorate the church. On the 31 of December we have all the church leaders come to my house and we spend the evening with them until midnight. We do this because they don’t have anything else to do and enjoy hanging out with us. This year in the community of Las Nubes, we will be taking small gifts to the children and our children choir will sing for them.”—

Jorvin shares about the impact Christmas has for him…

“ES LO QUE ACA ASEMOS PONEMOS UN ARBOL DENTRO DE LA IGLESIA Y LUSES AUQUE NO MUCHAS PERO SEW HACE ALGO PARA RECORDAR EL GRAN REGALO QUE DIOS NOS ENVIO A SU HIJO CRISTO PARA ALUMBRAR AL MUNDO Y QUE PODAMOS QUIARNOS POR MEDIO DE ESA LUS QUE ALUMBRA EN LA TINIEBLA”

—“Here we put a Christmas tree up with a few lights inside the church, it is not much but it helps us remember the greatest gift when God sent his son Jesus Christ. He is the light of this world and we can share that light. Because of this light we celebrate by singing and sharing a Christmas meal together.”—

Most people don't have trees or exchange gifts. If they do get a small gift for someone they just give it to them during the month of December sometime and not necessarily on Christmas day. They save up all year and try to buy something new to wear on Christmas. In Nicaragua people typically celebrate on the 24th at midnight.

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Kenya - Jenna Horgan

What is important to know is that Kenya in itself is very diversified. What you see in the village is not quite what you would see in town. In fact, in town you might find a home that is celebrating Christmas that looks very similar to what you would find in the US. A tree, presents under it, decorations out and about, the works… but what I will describe is what a Christmas looks like for the children out in the villages and the children that you sponsor! 

 In Kenya, at Christmas, it’s all about the food….. Keep in mind that it is usually around 100 degrees or hotter with high humidity. While the USA has winter we are enjoying summer. It certainly feels different. While it is hard for this westerner to get in the Christmas spirit, for Kenyans, it is the norm. Back to the food. A family might save up a buy a goat to be slaughtered. Every part of this goat is used. And the mamas in the village will take time preparing it very specially to make a stew to put over rice where MANY people can enjoy. Another dish one might make is Pilau (which is like spiced rice with chunks of meat and potatoes in it). Or even Biryiani (which is rice that is speckled with orange food dye, and then a curry type tomato based stew with meat in it. This takes HOURS and is worth every minute). Then you’ll buy sodas for 30 shillings each (about 30 cents) and this is a big treat! Every child in the house will get one.

The grandparents may also buy you a brand new outfit that is hung on the wall and not to be worn until Christmas day. There are not toys typically given (that would be very, very rare) but rather new clothes or new black shoes for the upcoming school year.  They might even decorate their house with balloons or banners!

Families will attend church and spend a lot of time worshiping God in song!

That’s a Kenyan Christmas!

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How real and awesome it is to learn how people from across the globe celebrate Christmas! 

Thanks for reading and spending time thinking about our Missions in both Kenya and Nicaragua.  Join us in praying for them today? 

Meet our Missionary Partners in Nicaragua

Introductions

Brian and Rachel Weed started Familia Avance Nicaragua in March of 2002 and have raised their three daughters Karly, Abi, and Brynna while doing the ministry God called them to.   

The Weed Family

Donna Woodson joined the Weeds in Nicaragua in Janruary of 2004 and has been serving along side the Weeds for 12 years.    

Donna Woodson

Familia Advance Nicargua

Familia Advance Nicargua began as a church planting ministry and kicked off in May of 2003 with their first plant in the city of Managua. Since then they have planted 9 churches across the country of Nicaragua.  Now Familia Avance Nicaragua has expanded beyond church planting to feeding centers, sports outreach programs, teen outreach programs, Rancho Nicaragua (a working farm which is being developed into a camp/retreat center), a Christian school (classes will start in 2017), seminary, and a medical clinic.  Their ministry continues to grow as they follow the direction in which God is leading.  

Churches Planted in Nicaragua

Partnership with Fox River

In 2004 the mission started a church in the very remote community of La Esmeralda.  In the spring of 2009 Pastor Guy along with some others took a survey trip to Nicaragua and met up with Brian where they were extremely convinced through God's promptings that Fox River was to partner in starting the medical clinic in La Esmeralda.  We broke ground for the medical clinic in the fall of that same year.  The medical clinic opened its doors in June of 2011, since the doors opened it has impacted the lives of over 32,000 people that did not have the medical care necessary.  Not only has it impacted their physical lives but also their spiritual well-being as the medical clinic partners with the church, each person who visits the clinic receives the gospel message before being treated.  Fox River also partners with the church in their sports outreach program which gives opportunity to reach even more people of that same community.  We are so excited to watch God continue to work and grow these ministries.  What a blessing to be a small part in God's grand plan of reaching the nations!

Clinic in La Esmeralda, Nicaragua

Stephanie's Story

In 2009 I started attending Fox River Christian Church. That first Christmas season is when I learned about “My Gift for Jesus.” I always wanted to sponsor a child, but never really acted on it. I dabbled with giving and then made the decision during the Christmas of 2014 that I needed to be serious about this. I decided that our family would sponsor 2 children as we have 2 children at home.  I selected a little boy and a girl.

Kiligesho

Rukia

I was so happy when I learned that I could be connected with them via Fox River's on-line database and could write letters to them.  Early in 2015 I began writing Kiligesho and Rukia. Kiligesho is still quite young so when I got his response it was written by the teacher and very special. Rukia is older, in 7th grade, so she was able to respond herself. I cannot describe the joy I felt getting a response from her and knowing just how much my contributions mean to her.

In July of 2015 I had the privilege of traveling to Kenya with our High School Ministry team. On our first day visiting the schools I was able to meet Rukia and she immediately embraced me. I knew it was her by that beautiful smile! Over the course of our stay there I was able to spend quite a bit of time with her by my side. We had conversations about what life was like before and after coming to our school. Rukia lives in one of the more rough villages and life is very hard for her there. Before coming to Crossroads Academy she didn’t eat well at all and said she felt there was no hope for her life. Her parents do not make very much money and so her neighbors often pay to send her by bus or taxi to school. If they can not afford to send her on any day then she can’t come.

Stephanie and Rukia meet for the first time in Kenya.

Many of the children that come into the schools there are very malnourished to the point that their hair is actually falling out in clumps.

What our church does for the children of Kenya is so very special. While not every one of you will be able to meet the child in the picture that you choose, know that you are helping to change their future in a huge way.  Without our help, they would not have an excellent education. Without our help, many of them would starve to death. Without our help, many of them would never know the love of Jesus Christ and be able to enter into an eternal relationship with our Savior!

I can not express the gratitude that I have for each person who gives as I was able to see first hand what an amazing impact this has on their lives.

This is a sample of the love I have received from Rukia in a letter:

This year we are planning to sponsor 3 children and I hope to meet them all.

Blessings to you all!!!

Stephanie

Jim & Susie Horne - Partner Missionaries in Kenya

Last weekend Jim and Susie Horne were with us at Fox River. They have been missionaries in Kenya for 40 years and our partners for 9 years. We have several projects in Kenya under Jim's leadership: a school with 370 children, nutrition center, pastor's institute and a rescue center for orphans.

You can catch a glimpse of all of their ministries in Kenya through this video.

Along with the many mission works up and down the coast, Jim pastors a large contemporary church in the Mombasa area called Crossroads Fellowship. Susie uses her music and leadership skills to lead the worship team at church.

Pastor Jim Horne leading worship at Crossroads Fellowship in Nyali, Kenya.

Susie Horne, Pastor Jim's wife, playing the keyboard and singing in worship at Crossroads Fellowship.

Jim and Susie have 3 married children and 5 grandchildren that are spread out in 2 states in the United States and South Africa. Every few years they all gather for Christmas. This year they gather in Georgia for a long anticipated family Christmas with all of them together.

If you missed Jim's inspiring message, "Hope for the World," be sure to catch it here:

Hope For The World from Fox River Christian Church on Vimeo.

November 29th, 2015 - Pastor Jim Horne stops for a visit to teach us one of the many lessons he has learned in his travels across the world. Jim teaches us the message that we are the "hope for the world" and how God's plans for us will help spread his love to others.