Live From Kenya - Another Great Adventure

Our mission team has finished it's first full work day in Kenya! What a day it was. We worked in the Jehovah Jireh orphanage doing medical check-ups and pouring a new concrete floor in the big boys dorm. Seventy-two orphans live at Jehovah Jireh ranging in age from 7 to 20 and cared for by five very dedicated people. We had a blast today interacting, talking about Jesus, sharing about America and listening to the stories of the children. They are so inquisitive and humbled the whole team with their joy in difficult circumstances. I wish everyone could come to Kenya and meet these kids. We have one more day with them before going on to Kitui where we'll work with blind children at St. Luke's.

The team is awesome, as well. Sixteen of us from six different states all with a love for the Lord and a heart for these children. Our youngest is just 13 years old and traveling with her grandmother. This is what living the Christian faith looks like in my book. Helping those in need as a community of believers in concert with our brothers and sisters who are different but the same!

And Now the Very LAST Minute

Any adventurers out there willing to join a mission to Africa on two week's notice here's your chance! We've just had two cancellations for our trip to Kenya. That makes us a team of 16...still larger than any previous team I've led, but we have rooms set aside for 18. If you can join us and want to know more (including special last minute pricing) please contact me right away at 847-287-6678 or by email at timkurth@lutheranchurchcharities.org. The 14 day window for airfare is closing tomorrow.

Preparing for Kenya

Later this month I'll be leading another team to Nairobi, Kenya. There's nothing quite like taking Christians on an overseas mission trip. Any mission trip is a blast because you get to put your faith into action. Out of the seats and into the streets as they say. But when you leave this country the experience is exponentially more powerful. The culture shock, the sights, sounds and smells of another country along with the stark reality of how most the world really lives changes people forever.

There's only so much you can do to prepare for a foreign mission trip. Obvious things like vaccinations and visas but there are also not so obvious things like the mental preparation. Facing many hours of travel, being deprived of comforts you've come to expect, spending a lot of time with a relatively small group of people you can't really get away from and seeing some of the neediest people in the world face to face all combine to make this much more difficult than you might imagine.

There is nothing like this whether you do it once or many times. My prayer for all Christians is that they would get the chance, if even for a week, to experience another place, another people and another level of what it means to be a follower of Christ.